#Orlando Museum of Art

[merelygifted]

The museum sued its ousted director for financial and reputation damages over the show raided by FBI agents last year.

The Orlando Museum of Art is pursuing a potential settlement in its case against ousted museum director Aaron De Groft and the owners of the paintings included in last year’s scandal-ridden “Heroes & Monsters: Jean-Michel Basquiat” show, per new court documents and a report in the Orlando Sentinel Tuesday.

According to the filing with the Orange County circuit court, in August the museum sued De Groft and the group who collectively owned a series of paintings contentiously attributed to the late artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. The museum has alleged that the two parties leveraged the show to lend legitimacy to the works so they could be sold afterwards, despite well-publicized doubts to their attribution. De Groft has been accused of working out a deal to pocket a cut if the works found buyers.  ...

...  De Groft and the owners of the supposed Basquiats have denied wrongdoing and maintain that the pieces are real.

In its lawsuit, the museum has claimed significant financial and reputation damage due to its hosting of the 2022 show “Heroes & Monsters”, which was shuttered early in June that year when FBI agents seized its contents—25 paintings attributed to Basquiat—from the premises in view of visitors. De Groft was ousted by the board of trustees only four days after the raid.

De Groft and the paintings’ owners unveiled the paintings to the public in February of 2022, claiming that the works were created around 1982 by Basquiat while he lived and worked in the Los Angeles residence of dealer Larry Gagosian. Per their story, the works were sold without Gagosian’s knowledge to a private collector, who forgot them in a storage unit for decades. An FBI affidavit provided evidence to the contrary, including an interview with the purported original owner of the paintings who swore he had never patronized the famed artist.  ...

[longlistshort]

Above is Cara Despain's installation for the 2023 Florida Prize in Contemporary art at the Orlando Museum of Art. Her work feels especially timely with the recent release of Oppenheimer, a film about the scientist who led the effort to create the first atomic bomb. Her installation for this show is captivating- eerie glowing green glassware  surrounds the entrance to a mesmerizing video installation, Test of Faith, where atomic explosions fill three walls as a Mormon hymn plays.

The museum's information on the artist and her work-

Miami-based artist Cara Despain was born and raised in Salt Lake City, and the experience of growing up in the West informs much of her work. Through video, sculpture, photography, and installation she critiques a range of issues pertinent to the region that are also internationally relevant. These issues stem in part from the nineteenth-century concept of Manifest Destiny, the belief that Providence intended for American civilization to extend across the continent and benefit from all its yet untapped resources. That philosophy gave rise to such virtues associated with the character of the American West as optimism, independence, and self-reliance. It also engendered an unchecked hubris which has sometimes had tragic consequences. Among these unintended consequences are the human and environmental costs of atmospheric nuclear weapons testing from 1945-1962 which polluted vast areas of the West and inflicted disease and death on many of the region's residents. Being from this region and having family that lived there during those tests, Despain has long had a deep concern about lingering effects of this exposure for the people downwind.

Despain's two-part installation begins with six cabinets of glowing green glassware. This inexpensive Depression-era glass was popular for its vibrant green color. As a bonus, the glass is fluorescent and glows hauntingly in the dark under ultraviolet light. This seductive coloration is ominous, though, being produced by adding small amounts of uranium oxide to the glass mixture. While now we would not consider using radioactive dinnerware, Despain is demonstrating our once innocent relationship with this toxic element that made the atomic age possible.

The domestic, fragile uranium glass flanks the entrance to Test of Faith, an immersive video installation that is menacing and enthralling. The room is filled with a series of atomic explosions edited from vintage nuclear test footage from the Nevada Test Site, which was less than 150 miles from where her family in southern Utah originates. Projected simultaneously on three walls, billowing clouds in swirling tones of blue, green, and yellow build to a crescendo then fade before the next explosion. To heighten the darkly supernatural sensation, Despain shows each mushroom cloud divided in mirror form like Rorschach inkblots and we are left to see within these abstract patterns our own fears and trepidations. Accompanying this vision of cosmic destruction is the sound of the Mormon hymn "Love One Another" rising and falling in step with each detonation. The digitally altered synthetic timbre of the song completes the experience of facing the apocalypse and is reference to the insidious appeal to the assumed patriotism and obedient nature of the largely Mormon and ranching populations in the fallout region to support the testing.

Today, nuclear weapons testing may seem like a remote episode in American history associated with the Cold War and the once alarming spread of global Communism. Despain's work is intended to remind us that the nuclear threat is still present, with more nations than ever expanding their arsenals or developing and testing new weapons.

[dewitty1]

Crashing Waves II, by Frederick Judd Waugh (1861–1940), Orlando Museum Of Art

[transfloridaresources]

Experience the power of art in a welcoming and inclusive space! LGBTQ+ students and their families, along with their closest allies and loved ones, are invited to unleash their creativity at the Orlando Museum of Art.  Guests will tour the museum’s galleries and explore powerful queer stories, identities, and artists from OMA’s permanent collection before engaging in a reflective art journaling workshop with a queer teaching artist. Don’t miss out on this unique opportunity to create meaningful art, explore queer stories, and connect with a supportive community!  This program is sponsored by Macy’s and is completely FREE! Preregistration is required; please call 407.896.4231 ext. 262 or email education@omart.org to register. Each session has limited attendance. Program Dates: Friday, December 29, 2023 1:00 - 3:00 pm Friday, March 22, 2024 1:00 - 3:00 pm Friday, June 7, 2024 1:00 - 3:00 pm Appropriate for LGBTQ+ Youth (13-24 years old), families, friends, and allies.

[karmaalwayswins]

Orlando, Florida February 24-27, 2023

1. Orlando B.I.G. Salsa Festival 2023.

2. LOUSY “Vampire” at Orlando Museum of Art. 

3. Pepperoni and Pepper Pizza, Hyatt Regency Orlando Market. 

4. Mills 50 District.  

Photo Credit: karmaalwayswins

[michdoodles]

When the plans you had for the upcoming week are all in danger cuz a hurricane is forecast to possibly hit your area

[bricknificent]

I created from LEGO "Bob Ross: Studio & Paintings" and submitted it to LEGO IDEAS. Do you want this to be real? Please consider clicking on the link and vote. With 10 thousand supporters this can become real!

My creating is an art gallery with Bob Ross his studio from ‘’The Joy of Painting’’ and six famous paintings. You can arrange the art gallery walls by your choise, for example by folding it like a heart. The build is multifunctional, so there is the ability to detach paintings and display them as picture frames, or hang them on a real wall.

[magnificentmoose]

the joy of having time to do stuff that isn't schoolwork? unparalleled

[marissalenoble]

a calm day spent in Winter Park, FL

[scum-li]

📍 Orlando Museum of Art.

[jules-has-notes]

Sh-Boom — VoicePlay music video

VoicePlay as a group has its roots in barbershop music, so tackling a doo-wop classic was a natural fit. But being the innovative bunch they are, they couldn't just recreate the sound of the original recording. It's a feel-good song, and they had to have a little extra fun with it. With some retro inspiration and a dash of 21st century zhuzhing up, they delivered a real bop.

Details:

title: Sh-Boom (Life Could Be a Dream)

original performers: The Chords

written by: James Edwards, Carl Feaster, Claude Feaster, James Keyes, & Floyd McRae

arranged by: Geoff Castellucci & Hannah Juliano

release date: 30 August 2019

My favorite bits:

the slightly static-y, muffled sound and muted colors of the intro section to pay homage to the original version

Earl's clear, sweet timbre on the lead vocals

using Layne's percussion entrance as a transition to full audio

that lovely bell chord leading into the second verse

the steady swingy-ness of the rhythm section

Geoff gesturing along with the delayed ♫ "a-bove" ♫ while waiting to continue his bass line

the cool record-skip effects they added

the lovely descending riff Earl puts on ♫ "so fine" ♫

that bouncy little descending bass transition into the second chorus

J.None coming in slightly early on a belted ♫ "above" ♫

Layne slipping in some more modern record scratching and electronic sounds as the rhythm of the lyrics gets more adventurous

Geoff's scoop up into the lead melody and lyrics

that slightly dissonant harmony behind Geoff's first line

the rhythmic freedom in Earl's belted ♫ "I'm the only one you love" ♫

J's adorable head waggle as the trio starts "ya-da-da"-ing

the center trio's coordinated pop up into falsetto

that crunchy ending chord

the captions describing Layne's final descending ingressives as a "slow wind down like a tired robot with a hangover" 🤖 💤

additional props to Eli for wearing some darn snazzy shoes, knowing that they'd be very visible from where he's perched

Trivia:

In a departure from their usual studio spaces, VoicePlay filmed this video at Oliver's Classic Cars in Winter Park. It was a combination of a vintage automobile showroom / museum, and an event venue. The guys were quite taken with it.

Their camera operator for the shoot, Chadd Winston, was an old friend from the theme park performance circuit. Among their many shared jobs, he had been in the City Sounds street singers rotations at Universal Studios with the guys in the early 2000s, both with Eli in Japan, and with the 4:2:Five/VP boys in Orlando.

The cover art was once again designed by Rek Dunn.

The Chords' songwriting for this piece was inspired by the sounds of their neighborhood, and many of the seemingly nonsensical lyrics refer to people and places they heard every day.

VoicePlay's version of the song was recorded 65 years after the original topped the Billboard charts in 1954.

The video premiered on Geoff's mom's birthday, and he made sure to give her a shoutout in the YouTube comments. (Aww.)

Their Sing-Off colleagues, Street Corner Renaissance, had recorded their own version of the song back in 2012.

[remindingpersephone]

Festival of Trees at the Orlando Museum of Art

All trees are auctioned off for charity. Even the Swiftie tree.

[longlistshort]

(Alison Elizabeth Taylor, “Anthony Cuts under the Williamsburg Bridge, Morning”, 2020 Marquetry hybrid (wood veneers, oil paint, acrylic paint, inkjet prints, shellac, and sawdust on wood)

Currently at Orlando Museum of Art is The Outwin: American Portraiture Today, an impressive collection of work in a variety of mediums.

From the museum’s website-

Launched in 2006 to support the next wave of contemporary portraiture in the United States, the National Portrait Gallery’s celebrated triennial Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition is a major survey of the best American portraiture selected by internationally prominent jurors and curators. Now in its sixth edition, The Outwin: American Portraiture Today presents 42 works selected from over 2,700 entries, that foreground the vibrancy and relevance of portraiture today. In addition to paintings, photographs, drawings, and sculptures, The Outwin includes video, performance art, and textiles, highlighting the limitless possibilities of contemporary portraiture.

Open to both emerging and established artists, this year’s entrants were encouraged to submit work that moves beyond traditional definitions of portraiture, and to explore a portrait’s ability to engage with the social and political landscape of our time. The variety of media and subjects featured in the exhibition invite audiences of all backgrounds to find relation in the human experience.

Since its inception, finalists for the exhibition have been determined by a panel of jurors including three Portrait Gallery staff members and four external professionals (critics, art historians, artists). The competition is endowed by and named for Virginia Outwin Boochever (1920 – 2005) who, for 19 years, volunteered as a docent at the Portrait Gallery. Her commitment to advancing the art of portraiture is continued through the support of her children.

Below are a selection of works from the show and information about them from the museum.

Alison Elizabeth Taylor– Anthony Cuts under the Williamsburg Bridge, Morning, 2020 (pictured above)

On walks around her Brooklyn neighborhood during the COVID-19 lockdowns, Alison Elizabeth Taylor encountered the hair groomer Anthony Payne, who,with his workplace shuttered, had taken his scissors, mirror, and chair to the streets. Payne sought to financially support the Black Lives Matter movement, especially in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, and turned over proceeds from his donation-based haircuts to organizations advocating for social justice.

Taylor’s process, one she developed and named “marquetry hybrid,” incorporates vivid paints, inkjet prints, and the natural grains of over one hundred veneers. Marquetry, with its inlaid combination of woods, can “memorialize,” Taylor notes. She acknowledges the history of the craft, which was favored by Louis XIV (1654-1715) when he was acquiring furniture for Versailles. By giving Payne this “royal treatment,” Taylor aims to pay tribute to him. ”I want him to see how much his example meant to me,” she explained.

Kira Nam Greene– Kyung’s Gift in Pojagi (From the series “Women in Possession of Good Fortune”), 2019, Oil, gouache, colored pencil, and acrylic ink on canvas

In this mixed-media work, by Kira Nam Greene, the artist Kyung Jeon faces us with relaxed self-assurance. She is carefully positioned on her couch as her long black hair falls over her orange and turquoise tunic. In the foreground, a wooden cylinder containing paint brushes reveals her medium of choice. A plate with persimmons, consumed during the harvest festival Chuseok to celebrate good fortune, brims with potential while the rest of the painting pulsates with action.

Greene situates her friend in a fantasy world that echoes Jeon’s artwork and their mutual interest in the traditional Korean fabric quilting technique of pojagi. Two rabbits, representing Jeon’s Chinese zodiac, appear to be concocting a potion. Flowers sprout as kaleidoscopic patterns envelop her. The reference to pojagi, the visible paint drips in the background painting, and the hands of the sitter- left unfinished- invoke the role of tradition, process, and exploration in artmaking.

Stuart Robertson–  Self Portrait of the Artist from the Out and Bad series, 2020, Aluminum, earth, acrylic paint, enamel, paper,metallic bubble wrap, sequins, and gold foil on wood

“In my world, skin is high-tech, amorphous, and armored,” the artist Stuart Robertson observes. “Blackness is percussive, lustrous, flexible, and indestructible.” Self-Portrait of the Artist depicts a fragment of a man- half of his face and his upper torso-shiny and monumental. A black beard delineates his jaw, and a small gold hoop adorns his ear. Although the figure is cropped beyond recognition, the work’s title provides a clue.

Through the alternation of flat and repoussé aluminum sheets, Robertson achieves a hypnotic effect, a poignant tension playing on what he reveals or hides from us viewers. His refusal to depict his entire face or figure challenges the notion of what a portrait should be and blocks the objectification of the Black male body, so often sexualized in visual culture. Simultaneously, Robertson delivers an irrepressible, resplendent image of that body, one inspired by the aesthetics of Jamaica’s dancehall culture.

Vincent Valdez– People of the Sun (Grandma and Grandpa Santana), 2019, Oil on canvas

An elderly couple faces us with the gentle authority that old age provides. People of the Sun (Grandma and Grandpa Santana) is a portrait of Vincent Valdez’s maternal grandparents. “My grandparents spent most of their time outside,” the artist recalled. “Grandpa spent his entire life working under the blazing Texas sun as a carpenter and yard worker, cutting lawns in the wealthy communities of San Antonio right up until he passed away. Grandma was constantly working with her hands–raising kids, washing, sewing clothes, and tending the plants in her yard.”

The Santanas are depicted in a space defined by details the artist remembers: their vintage AM radio, their plants, their homemade clothes. The bedsheet, like the Virgen de Guadalupe’s aura, signals their spiritual role in the family. This portrait connects the pair to the Indigenous and mestizo cultures of the American Southwest, including the Aztec and Maya, who honored the sun.

Elsa María Meléndez–  Milk, 2020, Canvas with silkscreen, embroidery, ink, and other textiles

Elsa María Meléndez routinely crosses the boundaries between artistic mediums in large-scale artworks that command space and attention. Combining silkscreen, drawing, and various needlework techniques, Milk portrays the artist charging forward, determined. She carries a limp bull and advances while her breasts drip glistening drops of milk.

Created six months into the COVID-19 lockdown, this artwork encapsulates Meléndez’s reflection on the fight for gender equality in Puerto Rico. As people went into quarantine, gender violence escalated around the world. In Puerto Rico, where femicides increased substantially, feminist organizations took to the streets, demanding that the government declare a state of emergency. They received the scorn of substantial sectors of society, across gender lines. In response, Meléndez created Milk, an icon of indomitability that recognizes the strength of women and their life-sustaining force while acknowledging their willingness to nurse the beast that sustains patriarchy.

Timothy Lee– A portrait of the comet boy as a bearer of memories, 2019, Silk, heat-transfer ink, gold leaf, and oil on canvas

In his practice, Timothy Lee investigates his struggles with anxiety, which he feels stem from his Asian American, queer, immigrant, and diasporic identities. Yet, while drawing from his personal narratives more broadly, Lee also attends to the disquieting complexities that are intrinsic to growing up as part of two cultures.

The ironic figure of the “comet boy,” visualized here as if emerging from a halo, is both an embrace of and a departure from the artist’s past. The dynamic interplay of light, shadow, and texture evince the layered nature of Lee’s inquiry. A keen attention to materials and precision, as evidenced by the incised cuts throughout much of the work’s surface, allude to the artist’s earlier scientific training. Snapshots of the artist’s childhood in South Korea emblazon the comet boy’s body. Memories, and with them the past, become part of the flesh, like tattoos.

Clarissa Bonet– Glimpse, 2019 from the City Space series, Inkjet print

The discovery of a figure amongst a grid of windows and vertical blinds conjures the disorienting situation of coming upon an unknown face peeking through a window. With that chance encounter comes the recognition that one is being watched, possibly even surveilled. Glimpse is part of a series that explores urban life, specifically the relationship between private and public spaces and the daily experiences of those traversing these areas, including those of the artist.

Though made before the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, for Clarissa Bonet, this photograph brings to mind the recent state of being “isolated from the public spaces we all used to enjoy freely.” The unidentified woman may be looking onto an unknown subject left out of the composition, or onto nothing at all.

Ilene Spiewak–  Deeper into the Isolation of Self Information and Gender, 2020, Acrylic paint and charcoal on canvas

For over fifty years, Ilene Spiewak has focused on the relations between color and visual space, painting at the edge of representation and abstraction. The introspection and solitude brought by the pandemic made her compositions more sparse and her palette more restrained. “I realized what I had in my studio was myself always. . .. I began to insert myself in my paintings more than I was conscious of in the past.”

In this self-portrait, Spiewak outlines her silhouette in charcoal. Her face and nude torso are rendered in soft shades of white, pink, and gray that push against the yellow background. With frankness, she paints her aging body, countering centuries of idealized, youthful, slender female nudes in art. By placing her figure off-center on the picture plane, with her right arm extended but truncated, Spiewak subtly allows us into the intimate act of observing and painting herself.

Inga Guzyte–  Cutting Edge, 2020, from the Kindred Spirits series, wood and used skateboards

Inga Guzyte recycles old skateboards, sawing and reassembling them into new sculptural configurations. Cutting Edge, a portrait of Alison Saar, is from Guzyte’s series “Kindred Spirits.” which honors women who have made their mark in the art world. The ethos of bravery and independence that is part of skateboard culture conveys the tenacity and perseverance of Guzyte’s role models.

Aptly made from reclaimed wood, a recurrent material in Saar’s sculptures and installations, this portrait stands between painting and sculpture. Saar’s expression evokes her fierceness and commitment to her practice. Her headdress points to her Afro-diasporic background, while its dynamic red and orange twists suggest her fiery creative energy. Like a flame, the headwrap attracts a multitude of moths, which recur in Saar’s work to signify a go- between for the real world and the spiritual world.

This exhibition is on view until 10/8/23.

[power-chords]

Souvenirs from the City of Angels. I had never been to Disneyland — only Disney World in Orlando — and it was easier on Dad’s hips and back to sit on trams and theme park rides than to spend a day walking around various DTLA art museums, so we opted for the East-meets-West trip down Childhood Nostalgia Lane.

Much of the magic is sadly gone, and not for any newfound fault on the Golden Age and Renaissance IP that mesmerized me as a kid. My adult perception remains amazingly resilient to the untainted experience of wonder. It’s that, for me, wonder and wander are cognate verbs. A visitor to the park can no longer roll up to Anaheim on a whim. You need a reservation, a plan, a fucking smartphone to navigate everything from crowds to timetables to sitting down for a bite to eat. (Fortunately they do still offer beautifully illustrated paper maps at the information kiosks, and my father was probably a converso cartographer in a former life, so we relied on a good old-fashioned glossy brochure to find our way around. As a talking clock once wisely joked, “If it ain’t baroque, don’t fix it.”) The Disneyland app is where spontaneity goes to die, and with it, enchantment. So much for my dial-up teenage dreams of a virtual Wonderland. “Augmented reality” is a poor substitute for the dying art of brick and mortar spell casting. The rides are world class — better than ever! — but then you disembark to squint down at a screen again, and there goes the neighborhood. Immersion is broken. These days Lake Compounce and Rye Playland are the true elder statesmen of American middle class wizardry. And you won’t need to take out a second mortgage for the privilege!

[linguenuvolose]

2024 goals - March progress

I can't claim I focussed on my goals at all this month... Idk I don't really see them as goals either they're just kinda.. things I keep some track of. I know I said this last month but I think April will be more productive because this month for sure spring will feel like it's here (we're still waiting for the trees to turn green, it snowed A Lot last week, just to give you an idea of the situation).

Anyway love and light below are some reflections on my specific goals :)

Get back into a reading routine

I've kept on reading Orlando by Virginia Woolf and I only have 35 pages left. I'm still not consistent at all with it, I read a bit about once a week. I find it so hard to reach for the book instead of my phone, it's annoying because I really do enjoy the book.

Meet friends at least once a month

I've had some good hangouts this month, mostly others that have been reaching out. I'm happy because one of my friends came to my boyfriend's show and was so excited about it and I'm happy they are bonding! In April I have plans to go visit a friend who lives in another city (one of my closest friends who will also meet my boyfriend for the first time) and I'm also planning to reach out to another friend!

Do the damn exercises for my back :(

I did them like.... 2,5 times :( not good at all. And my salsa classes stopped in the middle of the month and I've decided to not continue so it's not looking perfect. Hopefully with the extra light we get now I can have more energy to do them in the evening.

Get better at Portuguese

I signed up for the Portuguese course at uni <3333 Hopefully I'll get in and I'll be able to do that in the fall. I studied in some way 11 days of the month which isn't nothing!! Started doing Clozemaster and I really like it, especially on the writing mode (let's be honest, all my knowledge in Romance languages makes the "choose from these four options" a walk in the park for me). It's super annoying that the free plan only allows you 30 words a day. What I really should do is produce more, write little texts and stuff.

Get my license

We're still waiting for the permit to be able to practice driving with my boyfriend but it's taking a while... I've had 2 lessons though (was supposed to have 3 but one got cancelled). I don't know that I feel that I'm getting any better but I do really have to start studying the theory. It would be nice to talk to my instructor also and ask him what he thinks a reasonable time frame would be for me. In my head I'm seeing myself getting the license during the summer but who knows.

Get back into the habit of going on walks

I have been on some walks this month but more in the sense of I am somewhere and walk a bit instead of taking the closest subway. But I mean now with the change of the hour and the warmer weather I for sure am seeing myself going on more walks!

Go to the theatre more (youth discount my beloved) and also to some museums!

I went to the Maurizio Cattelan exposition at the Modern art museum because my friend had a free entrance with her job. I actually really liked it! Unfortunately I was in a bit of a hurry so I didn't have time to meander or look at the other expositions but I would love to go back! They do the free entry on Friday evenings so I think I might go!

Improve my sleeping schedule

I actually compiled my statistics for this this month (yay!). Slept an average of 7h15 but if we just look at work nights it's 6h20. Not great... It's not something I've paid particular attention to this month but I think I should. I think a goal could be maybe sleep before 1 more often (this month it was 3 times hihihi ma come siamo messi raga).

[jgrantbrittain]

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My very first Museum Exhibit starts this weekend at the Orlando Museum of Art and runs into January 2025