Last chance to see UPSIDE DOWN ZEBRA, the most colorful show of the year at The Watermill Center

 Finger Painting Room Installation Shot. Photo by Lucie Jansch

By NOAH BECKER May 21st, 2026

Open through May 30, Upside Down Zebra is an unprecedented survey of mark-making that traces the stages of childhood development. Beginning with young children’s primal scribbles in the first rooms, the exhibition progresses through drawings of amorphous shapes and finger paintings, then to simple, expressive figuration, culminating in the final gallery with complex representational drawings created by children ages 11 to 13. The show is a vibrant celebration of children’s art, presenting more than 900 works from the collection of Rhoda Kellogg, an early childhood educator and researcher who dedicated her life to studying children’s artistic development. Kellogg was awestruck by the inherent wisdom, magic, and synesthetic innovation of children, who create with unbridled enthusiasm and what seems like an endless well of creativity.

Josh Smith, Untitled, 2024, with children's works from the Rhoda Kellogg collection

Belott and Noah Khoshbin co-curated this ambitious educational show, presenting the children’s work alongside 40 of the most established New York-based contemporary artists. They chose artists who are deeply inspired by children’s art in their own creative practices in choices of color, style and approach to artmaking. Among these are Christopher Wool, Ugo Rondinone, Richard Tuttle, Terry Winters, Joe Bradley, Josh Smith, Eddie Martinez, Jamian Juliano-Villani, Katherine Bernhardt, Carroll Dunham, and Misaki Kawai. The artists sprawl out over the center’s six expansive galleries, presented non-hierarchically intertwined with children’s works.

Marria Pratts, The Sun, 2025, with children's works from the Rhoda Kellogg Collection. Photo by Lindsay Morris

Brian  Belott, who has been working with Rhoda Kellogg’s collection for the past ten years, takes a professional interest in the colorful, wild, whimsical, experimental, and unexpected. In his plans for the show, he wrote, “Children's scribbles drop a piano on convention's head. Abruptly, the adult world recoils from an unexpected spaghettification of meaning. Gears of the porcupine prick with etiquette and current quills. Meaning mills insist that standards must be imbued, instantly coaching and redirecting these crib scribes’ sparkmarks. What's in this glowing putty of smears? Bowls of smiles, barcode pony thunderbolt or upside-down zebra? The world's alphabets and all the timeless symbols—these are the subjects of toddlers' markings.”
 

Chris Martin, Big Sun, 2023, with children's works from the Rhoda Kellogg Collection. Photo by Lindsay Morris

This is the largest show The Watermill Center has done to date. Wander inside the double-height room, covered floor to ceiling in finger paintings. Explore abstract paintings hung on windows with the Hamptons’ forests as their backdrop. Get lost in little hallways of children’s drawings meticulously documented and categorized by the late Kellogg. Enjoy the color, excess, fun, and excitement of imagination, play, and upside-down zebras.

Joe Bradley, Untitled, 2025, with children's works from the Rhoda Kellogg Collection. Photo by Lucie Jansch 
 

Alongside 900 works by children form the Rhoda Kellogg Collection, the show features: Darren Bader, Donald Baechler, Brian  Belot t, Katherine Bernhardt, Joe Bradley, Jenny Brosinski, Matt Dillon, Carroll Dunham, Rosabel Ferber, Gerasimos Floratos, Petrit Halilaj, Isla Hansen, Gerald Jackson, Jamian Juliano-Villani, Misaki Kawai, Christopher Knowles, Jonathan Lasker, Sivan Lavie, Eric N. Mack, Chris Martin, Eddie Martinez, RJ Messineo, Bascha Mon, Robert Nava, Andrea Pearlman, Walter Price, Marria Pratts, Anna De Los Reyes, Kes Richardson, Ugo Rondinone, Leomi Sadler, Michelle Segre, Daisy Sheff, Alake Shilling, Ross Simonini, Josh Smith, Keith Sonnier, Richard Tuttle, Terry Winters, Christopher Wool.
 

Sivan Lavie, Being Born and Staying in Lightness Are Hard to Do at the Same Time (But When It Does Happen, It's Magnificent), 2025, with children's work from the Rhoda Kellogg collection. Photo by Lindsay Morris

Upside Down Zebra at the Watermill Center runs until 30 May, and is open by appointment. The closing party is on Saturday May 30, 2 to 4pm with performances, workshops and an open house of the center. 39 Water Mill Towd Rd, Water Mill, NY 11976. To make an appointment to visit, email visit@watermillcenter.org