Carl Cheng: Nature Never Loses
A landmark retrospective, Carl Cheng: Nature Never Loses is the first in-depth survey of the six-decade career of a pioneering Los Angeles artist whose genre-defying work explores environmental change and the role of technology in society. An overdue and deserving examination of his wide-ranging accomplishments, the exhibition brings together approximately 50 rarely exhibited artworks and archival ephemera and is accompanied by a comprehensive catalogue. On view at ICA LA September 26, 2026, through February 28, 2027, the museum is further honoring Cheng’s legacy and local impact by commissioning a new work that exemplifies his enduring fascination with water as both sculptural and conceptual material.
A central figure in the arts of Southern California, Carl Cheng (b. 1942, San Francisco; lives and works in Santa Monica) began his career in the 1960s in the context of global political unrest, artistic experimentation, and the booming aerospace industry, resulting in artworks that operate at the intersection of identity, technology, and ecology. Through ephemeral, process-based artworks that connect both the artificial and natural worlds, Cheng pushes the boundaries of traditional object-making, and expands the histories of post-minimalism, systems art, environmental art, and social practice.
Cheng has consistently questioned nature’s agency and the extractive impact of humans on the environment. An undeniably timely topic, the exhibition title is drawn from the artist’s frequent declarations that when considering humanity and nature, “nature never loses.” Yet, he also underscores our agency in imagining alternative tools and creative solutions to mitigate manmade problems.
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