“I like work that pushes the envelope,” says Dan Cameron, who has worked as a curator since his student days at Bennington College. In 1982 he was one of the first to organize a groundbreaking exhibition of gay and lesbian art, and a few years later he brought shows of cutting-edge American artists—Robert Gober, Phillip Taaffe, Jeff Koons, and Peter Halley—to European audiences, eventually becoming the first U.S. Commissioner for the Aperto section of the Venice Biennale.

Cameron’s eleven years as senior curator at the New Museum of Contemporary Art (1995-2005) re-positioned that institution as the only one in New York devoted to a fully global program. He also presented in-depth exhibitions of American artists, beginning with an overview of Carolee Schneemann’s career in 1996, and continuing with retrospectives of Carroll Dunham, Paul McCarthy, Faith Ringgold, David Wojnarowicz, and Martin Wong.

But perhaps his greatest coup as a curator was organizing Prospect New Orleans, which became a means of bridging the gap between the ravaged city in its post-Katrina state of neglect and a contemporary art community wanting to help but unsure how.

Articulate, smart and passionate, Cameron offers us a glimpse inside the mind of an exceptional force in contemporary art. Our slideshow offers selections from exhibitions he has curated over the years.