Marc Handelman | West After West

February 11, 2027

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June 20, 2027

West After West, a fascinating and expansive series of paintings by Marc Handelman, takes a fresh and critical look at the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery Expedition (1804-06), a landmark moment in the story of American westward expansion. Inspired by the plant specimens collected by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark during the expedition, Handelman reimagines this early colonial archive through richly layered and beautifully haunting paintings that blur the boundaries between scientific document, botanical illustration, landscape, history painting and abstraction. Each canvas reflects on how legacies of Imperial Botany and the American landscape have been recorded and instrumentalized to justify expansion and narratives of national identity, both in the past and in today’s political and environmental landscapes.

Here in Sioux City, a gateway to the Great Plains where Lewis and Clark’s party passed in 1804, these works resonate deeply with our local history. For other cities and communities located along the Expedition route, this journey shaped how the West was mapped and understood, including the plants, animals, geology, and Native nations they encountered.

Image:

Marc Handelman
Oumessourit Territory, Upper River, 1806, 2025
Walnut ink and polymer on canvas, 20 x 30”
Courtesy of the artist and Sikkema Malloy Jenkins