Tyler Mitchell makes Time for a New Sky II soar above Chelsea on the High Line’s 18th Street Billboard

Rendering courtesy of the artist and the High Line.

The High Line unveiled Time for a New Sky II, a new art billboard by acclaimed photographer Tyler Mitchell. Presented through early September 2026, the work is on view on the billboard adjacent to the park at 18th Street and 10th Avenue, at the gateway to the Chelsea gallery district. As Mitchell’s first presentation in a large-scale, public format, Time for a New Sky II broadens the horizons of the photographer’s compositions of Black pleasure, leisure, and fantasy.

“Tyler Mitchell’s Time for a New Sky II offers an image of swept-up expanse that teases the line between reality and fantasy, natural and constructed, smoothing out the sky,” said Cecilia Alemani, the Donald R. Mullen, Jr. Director & Chief Curator of High Line Art. “We’re pleased to present this gentle disruption to the built environment of Manhattan buildings and streets along the green cradle of the High Line.”

In Time for a New Sky II, a solitary figure stands atop a painted scenic sky backdrop, attempting to pull this artificial scene over the actual sky above him, as if ushering in the dusk. Reflecting Mitchell’s ongoing interest in bodily suspension and one’s relationship to the sky, this dreamlike work captures a tension between the natural and the constructed, mirroring the High Line’s own identity as an invented landscape suspended above the city. With the monumental New York skyline visible behind it, Time for a New Sky II is, ultimately, a work about self-possession and possibility: the whole sky gathered in one figure’s hands.

Mitchell is known for his vibrant, playfully theatrical compositions that foreground the style and beauty of Black subjects, often within pastoral landscapes and familiar domestic settings. Frequently situated between the real and the imagined, his photographs draw from conventions of portraiture, fashion, and film to create compositions that offer visions of empowerment, tenderness, and camaraderie. Mitchell’s work explores the visual and emotional textures of the American South, where he is from—a tire swing over a muddy lake, hula-hooping in a school parking lot—not as simple emblems of nostalgia, but as charged sites where play, pleasure, and leisure coexist.

Tyler Mitchell’s Time for a New Sky II follows works by Nora Turato, Katherine Bernhardt, Mickalene Thomas, and Roe Ethridge this year in the ongoing series of artwork presented by the High Line at that location in Chelsea. The billboard at 18th Street, once a remnant of the neighborhood’s industrial past, is now solely dedicated to the presentation of art, and artworks change every few months to mimic the cadence that advertising populated it in its previous life. Past artists featured include John Baldessari, Faith Ringgold, and Louise Lawler, Alex Da Corte, and Glenn Ligon, among many others.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Tyler Mitchell (b. 1995, Atlanta, Georgia) lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Mitchell has presented his work in solo exhibitions at institutions around the world, including C/O Berlin, Berlin, Germany (traveled internationally) (2024); High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia (2024); North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, North Carolina (2024); Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, Georgia (2023); International Center of Photography, New York, New York (2020); and Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2019). Mitchell’s work is held in numerous private and public collections, including the Brooklyn Museum, New York, New York; Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio; Columbus Museum of Art at the Pizzuti, Columbus, Ohio; Detroit Institute of the Arts, Detroit, Michigan; Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Hessel Museum of Art, Bard College, Annandale-On-Hudson, New York; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts; The Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York; and National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC.

SUPPORT

Lead support for High Line Art comes from Amanda and Don Mullen. Major support is provided by The Brown Foundation, Inc. of Houston and Charina Endowment Fund, and Shelley Fox Aarons and Philip E. Aarons. Major support of High Line Art’s digital infrastructure is provided by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Program support for High Line Art is provided by Sarah Arison, Suzanne Deal Booth, Charlotte Ford, Molly Gochman, and Joyce F. Menschel. Additional support is provided by Agnes Gund and Shane Akeroyd.

High Line Art is supported, in part, with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the New York City Council, under the leadership of Speaker Julie Menin.

ABOUT HIGH LINE ART

Founded in 2009, High Line Art commissions and produces a wide array of artworks on the High Line, including site-specific commissions, exhibitions, performances, video programs, and a series of billboard interventions. Led by Cecilia Alemani, the Donald R. Mullen, Jr. Director & Chief Curator of High Line Art, and presented by the High Line, the art program invites artists to think of creative ways to engage with the unique architecture, history, and design of the park, and to foster a productive dialogue with the surrounding neighborhood and urban landscape.

For more information on High Line Art, please visit thehighline.org/art.

ABOUT THE HIGH LINE

The High Line is a public park on the West Side of Manhattan operated, maintained, and funded by the nonprofit conservancy Friends of the High Line. Through our work with communities on and off the High Line, Friends of the High Line is devoted to reimagining public spaces to create connected, healthy neighborhoods and cities.

Built on a historic, elevated rail line, the High Line was always intended to be more than a park. You can walk through the gardens, view art, experience a performance, enjoy food or beverage, or connect with friends and neighbors—all while enjoying a unique perspective of New York City.

Nearly 100% of our annual budget comes through donations. The High Line is owned by the City of New York, and we operate the park under a license agreement with NYC Parks.

For more information, visit thehighline.org and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

@HighLineArtNYC @tylersphotos