Galleries devoted to contemporary art launch with 2 visually vivid exhibitions
By
Klint Lowry
| 10:20 a.m. December 18, 2019
Arts + Culture
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After 16 long years, the Sarasota Art Museum opened to the public Dec. 14. And it did so fully prepared to meet the community’s anticipation and assume its place as Sarasota’s first museum dedicated to contemporary art. It probably would have been enough just to open the doors and let the public see the masterful renovation done on the old Sarasota High School, but the venue showed up dressed for duty, with two exhibitions chosen to represent the gallery’s identity. The first is large-scale retrospective of works by Vik Muniz, whose compositions and choices of materials are meant to make people think about their perceptions. The second is “Color. Theory. & B/W,” the first in a series of exhibitions that will examine the art and science of color.
Vik Muniz created a life-size replica of his favorite Matchbox car, right down to the chipped paint.
As a means of surprising viewers, Vik Muniz uses all sorts of materials to create his art, as with his "Peanut Butter and Jelly Mona Lisa."
Christian Sampson's installation "Vita In Motu. uses the building's architecture ad the movement of the sun to create a room where colors change from moment to moment and step by step.
Jean Shin’s "Celadon Landscape"is a comment on cultural heritage in an age of global consumerism. The two massive vessels are made from discarded pieces of broken pottery.
Muniz specializes in creating art from unconventional materials. His large-scale cityscape of Paris is made from bits of postcards — of Paris.
Vik Muniz' "Medusa," appears in a plate of spaghetti.
Muniz' "Sugar children," portraits of child sugar-cane plantation workers, are made from sugar.
From a distance, this Muniz portrait depicts a ghostly image of a soldier from the distant past ...
... a closer look reveals that the portrait is made from hundreds of plastic army men.
The first installment of a series titled "Color. Theory. And B/W" explores the effects of color on human perceptions.
Sarasota Art Museum Executive Director Anne-Marie Russell describes the permanent photo installment of the workers who did the work on the museum's restoration.
The photo wall was conceived while work was done to refurbish the old Sarasota High School so that years from now people will know who was responsible for the museum's existence.
Decorative plates available for sale in the museum are based on Vik Muniz designs taken from blown-up images of deadly bacteria.
