Orlando Museum names Florida Prize winner from 10 artists showcasing diversity of Sunshine State
Works by 10 Sunshine State visual artists displayed at Orlando Museum of Art highlight interconnectivity, cultural heritage, the natural world and personal stories.
The 10th-anniversary edition of the Florida Prize in Contemporary Art features creators from South Florida, Jacksonville, Tallahassee and Orlando, all chosen during a statewide search led by the museum’s chief curator, Coralie Claeysen-Gleyzon.
“This is a combination of many years for the artists to come up with these works, many months for our team and many weeks in the gallery installing,” she said, noting this is the 10th year for the signature exhibition. “We’ve now had 100 artists who have been blessed with a space and an opportunity to showcase their work — anywhere between 500 square feet to 1,000 square feet, depending on the artists’ needs and vision.”
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Miami-based mixed-media artist Yanira Collado was chosen as the winner of the $20,000 Florida Prize, which is underwritten by Gail and Michael Winn. Juror Timothy Brown, the director of IA&A at Hillyer in Washington, D.C., was responsible for selecting the winner.
On Friday night, opening night guests voted to select Njeri Kinuthia as the recipient of the $2,500 People’s Choice award.
While the common thread shared by artists represented in the exhibition is their location in Florida, the creators vary widely in the media they use, their cultural background and the stories they share through their work.
Visitors to the exhibition will first see a colorful tiger on canvas hung from the ceiling in an installation dreamt up by Orlando multimedia artist Hai Van (Boy Kong). He used a spoon to ladle 20 gallons of paint dot-by-dot over the surface in a work that pays tribute to his Vietnamese roots. Viewers are invited to walk around the piece and under the giant canvas hung from the ceiling.
In the adjoining gallery space, museum guests can explore Miami painter Bernadette Despujols’s portraits of family and friends lounging in their homes in works that appear raw and sometimes partially incomplete on purpose.
Miami writer, photographer and artist Onajide Shabaka has conceptual works that create a unique visual language inspired by the natural world, inviting viewers on a quest.
Jacksonville multidisciplinary artist Sheila Goloborotko drew on her background as a master printmaker to create a towering 3D acrylic sculpture with shapes from our natural world dangling from the ceiling, drawing attention to the interconnectedness of all life forms. Her second body of work on display includes cast iron objects with the words “me” and “you,” reflecting the relationships between people.
Collado’s work forms a site-specific installation that draws on history and identity through found materials, textiles and objects. Through the narratives of women and migrants, she recreates and remembers a collective past.
Njeri Kinuthia, a Kenyan-born mixed media artist now based in Orlando, weaves a tapestry of fabrics from her home country in two large pieces stretching up to the ceiling. Her artistic expression centers on the oppression of women in her home country, while the nearby work of photographer Mona Bozorgi is printed on silk fabrics, making a statement about the repression of Iranian women.
Jason Seife’s sculptural vases and detailed paintings, which mimic the patterns of carpets, take over an entire space when combined with the paint on the gallery walls.
The final two gallery spaces are occupied by the futuristic works of two Miami-based artists: Carol Prusa and Francesco Lo Castro. Prusa’s work takes inspiration from the solar eclipse and moon, while Lo Castro weaves an abstract network using music, projected video and sculptures.
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If you go
The 10th Florida Prize in Contemporary Art is on display through Aug. 25 at 2416 N. Mills Ave. in Orlando. The museum is open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Friday and noon-4 p.m. Saturday-Sunday. Tickets are $20 per adult, $12 per senior ages 60 and older, $10 per student with ID and $8 per child ages 6-17. Children ages 5 and younger, active-duty military, veterans and first responders enter for free. More information: omart.org