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person people schedule Apr 10, 2026 visibility 74 link 36 artists, 2 galleries

Shoptalk: New Guggenheim Director Melissa Chiu on How She Got the Job

Melissa Chiu has been appointed as the new director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, transitioning from her long-standing leadership at the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. The appointment was the result of a confidential search led by Mariët Westermann, the Guggenheim’s overall director and CEO, who determined that the expanding global "constellation" of museums required a dedicated leader for the New York flagship. Chiu will officially assume the role in September, just ahead of the highly anticipated opening of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi in 2025.

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rodrigo padilla whitney museum collector

Rodrigo Padilla, a hairstylist who built his career at Sally Hershberger and now serves on the Whitney Museum’s Drawing and Print Acquisitions Committee, discusses his art collection with his husband Elliott Trice. The couple’s Midtown flat features works by Latin American and diaspora artists including Wura-Natasha Ogunji, Amy Bravo, Verónica Vázquez, Angel Otero, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Dagoberto Rodríguez, and others. Padilla credits Whitney trustee Brooke Garber Neidich with inspiring his collecting journey by advising him to “see everything.”