Orlando, FL — September 6, 2018
The Mennello Museum of American Art is pleased to announce Shifting Gaze: A Reconstruction of The Black & Hispanic Body in Contemporary Art from the collection of Dr. Robert B. Feldman. This exhibition will be on view at the Mennello Museum from October 19, 2018, through January 13, 2019.
Shifting Gaze: A Reconstruction of The Black & Hispanic Body in Contemporary Art presents a selection of works from Dr. Robert B. Feldman’s extensive collection of contemporary art. The artists gathered in the exhibition have all drawn upon art history, American history, and popular culture to create powerful works that, independently and collectively, present a broad range of concepts about identity, beauty, belonging, and religion, as well as work with deep gravitas around poignant issues of race, sexuality, violence, displacement, vulnerability, erasure, and visibility.
Shifting Gaze curator and Mennello Museum Executive Director Shannon Fitzgerald states: “The work by 25 internationally regarded artists selected for this exhibition resonates in timely considerations into race and identity, and most poignantly, the Shifting Gaze that is occurring in our global society right now with artists at the fore in challenging perceptions about the way we may or may not look at the ‘other.’ The power behind these images—all referencing the body or its absence—in painting, drawing, photography, and sculpture, proposes a new visual language as an alternate to constructs about the black and brown body, the male and female gaze thereby reconstructing multiple narratives.”
The title is evocative and an emblematic reference to art history and the critical social agency of our current times. Through various media, such as painting, sculpture, drawing, and collage, the Black and Hispanic body (physical and metaphoric) is implied or materializes with subtlety in some instances, beautifully unfolds in others, and in a few, is direct, dramatic, and heartbreaking. The symbolic framework of the Shifting Gaze and Reconstruction helps generate a larger dialogue between the works on view and the specificities of a diverse African & Hispanic Diaspora in our current physical, social, and political landscape, as revealed through each artist’s personal experience and distinctive aesthetics.
The Shifting Gaze — who is looking at who — engages perception, seeing and objectification while Reconstruction represents a rebuild, new articulation, and possibly new constructs via a new voice – from the past and projected into a resonant now. The power of this collection, conceptually, formally, across contexts, sensibilities, and interests is the result of the extraordinary vision and passionate quest of the Winter Park collector Dr. Feldman who shares with us an unparalleled visual intellect fueled by his knowledge, curiosity, humanity, and keen eye.
Shifting Gaze: A Reconstruction of The Black & Hispanic Body in Contemporary Art features works from the following artists:
Nina Chanel Abney
Farley Aguilar
Radcliffe Bailey
Yoan Capote
Nathaniel Donnett
Mark Thomas Gibson
Luis Gispert
Clotilde Jiménez
Jennie C. Jones
Samuel Levi Jones
Kyle Meyer
Lavar Munroe
Toyin Ojih Odutola
Ebony G. Patterson
Lamar Peterson
Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz
Paul Henry Ramirez
Jamel Shabazz
Vaughn Spann
Shawn Theodore
Mickalene Thomas
Hank Willis Thomas
Carlos Vega
Lynette Yiadom-Boakye
Nate Young
“The artists in Shifting Gaze are powerfully breaking boundaries in the conversation about identity and culture in America—especially through the lens of seeing the body and that body having agency,” says Dr. Feldman. “I am inspired by their work and vision and honored to support them as critical artists at the forefront of important dialogues in our culture.”
A full-color exhibition catalog will be produced on the occasion of the exhibition and includes an essay by Shannon Fitzgerald and an interview with Dr. Feldman by Katherine Navarro, Associate Curator of Education, Mennello Museum of American Art. A book release and signing will be announced.
Shifting Gaze: A Reconstruction of The Black & Hispanic Body in Contemporary Art is curated by Shannon Fitzgerald, Executive Director, Mennello Museum of American Art.
Please save the date for the opening reception of Shifting Gaze: A Reconstruction of The Black & Hispanic Body in Contemporary Art
Opening Reception
Friday, October 19, 2018
Members-only Preview
5:30–6:30 p.m.
Public Reception
6:30–8:00 pm
Free for members | $10 for Guests
Panel Discussion on the occasion of the exhibition
Shifting Gaze: A Reconstruction of The Black & Hispanic Body in Contemporary Art
Saturday, October 20
Orlando Museum of Art Auditorium
11:30 am – 1 pm
Mennello Museum Executive Director Shannon Fitzgerald will moderate a panel discussion with artists and gallerists from the exhibition: Radcliffe Bailey, Joeonna Bellorado-Samuels, Mark Thomas Gibson, Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz, Vaughn Spann and Carlos Vega.
PLEASE NOTE THE BELOW REQUIRED CREDITS FOR IMAGES:
Hi-res images: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/yuyrxvyxe0j83um/AAD1NXy_-L83AGl89aB7TnPOa?dl=0
Images:
Nina Chanel Abney, #33,2018, © Nina Chanel Abney. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York. Collection of Dr. Robert B. Feldman.
Clotilde Jiménez, Fruity Boys, 2016, mixed media on paper. Courtesy of the artist/Mariane Ibrahim Gallery.
Radcliffe Bailey, Zion Crossing, 2016 © Radcliffe Bailey. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.
Mickalene Thomas, I’m not the Woman You Think I am, 2010 © MickaleneThomas. Courtesy of the artist and Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects. Photo by Robert Wedemeyer.
Ebony G. Patterson, Untitled IV (Khani + di Krew) from the “Disciplez” series, 2009. Courtesy of the artist and Monique Meloche Gallery,Chicago.
Kyle Meyer, Unidentified 61, 2018 © Kyle Meyer. Courtesy of the artist and Yossi Milo Gallery.
Vaughn Spann, Slip and Slide (McKinney Pool Palette),2018. Courtesy of the artist and Fredericks & Freiser, New York.
Mission, Vision and Values
Mission
The Mennello Museum of American Art endeavors to preserve, exhibit, and interpret our outstanding permanent collection of paintings by Earl Cunningham. The Mennello Museum of American Art also seeks to enrich the public through temporary exhibitions, programs, educational initiatives, and publications that celebrate other outstanding traditional and contemporary American art and artists across a broad range of disciplines to reflect the rich diversity of American art, while making it accessible to all. The Museum also shares extraordinary works of American art donated by our founders, the Honorable Marilyn Logsdon Mennello and Michael A. Mennello.
Vision
The vision of the Mennello Museum of American Art to be a distinguished and thriving institution that will build on its City of Orlando base of support through strong board and community relationships resulting in an improved operating environment and a reputation for being a local and national treasure.
Values
Quality. We believe the City of Orlando deserves only the best; we aim to excel at everything we do.
Accessibility. We believe in creating a welcoming space and experience for all; we are friendly, welcome diversity, and are inclusive of all.
Curiosity. We never stop learning or thinking; we continually push boundaries and explore new ideas and strive to remain relevant and provide meaningful experiences.
Collaboration. We believe community partners are essential to mutual success; we work to build relationships and co-create with individuals and organizations.
Stewardship. The Museum will serve in perpetuity; to ensure this, we build and care for our collections, make smart use of our financial resources, and continually invest in our future.
Accountability. We exist to benefit the community; we demonstrate our success and value to the residents of Orlando and our visitors.
About the Museum
The Mennello Museum of American Art, owned and operated by the City of Orlando, is located on the beautiful shore of Lake Formosa in Orlando’s Loch Haven Cultural Park. The museum provides residents and visitors welcoming opportunities to understand and value creativity through innovative experiences with art further connecting it to nature and communal gathering. Our goal is to encourage creative and diverse experiences with art that nurtures audiences while reflecting the dynamic relationship between art and society. In addition to housing the permanent collection of folk modernist Earl Cunningham, the museum presents temporary exhibitions that feature a broad range of American art from traditional to contemporary practices.
On view through October 7, 2018:
Our Orlando: Making Sense of Our WorldandAmerican Youth: Our Future
The Collectors Passion: Paintings by Laurence A. Campbell
View all of our upcoming events: www.mennellomuseum.org/events
The Mennello Museum is located at 900 E. Princeton Street, Orlando, FL 32803.
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The exhibitions and the Mennello Museum of American Art are generously supported by the City of Orlando and Friends of The Mennello Museum of American Art. Additional funding is provided by Orange County Government through the Arts & Cultural Affairs Program and United Arts of Central Florida. Sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture.
Francesca Ascione
Marketing & Graphic Design Coordinator
The Mennello Museum of American Art and Public Art, City of Orlando
francesca.ascione@cityoforlando.net
407.246.4113