"Outside In: Murals Inspired by Dali" at the Dali Museum

Portion of mural by Chad Mize

After a couple of somewhat lackluster exhibits at the Dali Museum, I was beginning to wonder if the curatorial team had run out of ideas for shows connected with Dali's art and life. It's gotta be hard to be limited in this way. But they knocked it out of the park with "Outside In: Murals Inspired by Dali" exhibit. It's fun! It's local! And as a bonus it encourages people to explore/revisit the permanent collection to search for the connections between the murals and Dali's paintings. All in all, it was a highly satisfying art outing. 

Chad Mize's contribution to the project -- a mural that wrapped around two walls -- was perhaps my favorite. It was fun and funny and loaded with Dali references. There's the molten watch and the ants and lobster claws. (The other portion of the mural featured the famous lobster phone.) There's a take on what might be my favorite work by Dali -- "Venus de Milo with Drawers." And Dali himself is smack dab in the middle of things, which is exactly where he liked to be. 

Mize is a St. Pete-based artist whose goal is to "inspire and lift viewers...with colors and concepts that radiate happiness." (Note to Mize: Your mural made me feel very happy.)  In addition to creating his own art, Mize curates exhibits in St. Pete and beyond and collaborates with companies like Disney and the Tampa Bay Lightning. In his artist statement, Mize noted that his references in this mural include Dali's "Apparatus and Hand" and "The Peristence of Memory" as well as Philippe Halsman's photograph "Dali Atomicus." For more on Mize, click here. 

Mural by Marina Capdevila

The Dali references weren't quite as obvious to me in Marina Capdevila's mural, but that doesn't mean they aren't there. Capdevila, like Dali, is from Catalonia, and she evokes the spirit of the Catalan women in this work. For a more specific reference, she looked to the "Reimagining Nature: Dali's Floral Fantasies" series. 

In her artist statement, Capdevila says, "...Seated at a table set with traditional Spanish dishes, some drawn from Dali's own cookbook Les Diners de Gala, these women embody the joyful unapologetic spirit of aging. They are imagined as retirees from Costa Brave -- Dali's birthplace -- who now bask in the eternal sunshine of St. Petersburg, forming a vibrant bridge between two coastal worlds...It's a celebration of beauty in all stages, where reality blurs with imagination and life...is best savored slowly, in good company, surrounded by wonder." I can only wish to live with so much abandon as I (continue to) age. For more on Capdevila, click here. Her work makes me smile. 

Mural by Miss Crit (Laura Spencer) 

Miss Crit's mural is a bit darker homage to Dali and his world. Again, multiple Dali paintings are referenced in her work. I particularly liked her substitution of the "Welcome to St. Pete" tower for the middle building in Dali's "The Temptation of St. Anthony." The crutch supporting the cat's tail -- which also serves as a frame for a window from the Dali Museum -- recalls "The Weaning of Furniture Nutrition." As an aside, I just learned that the nurse in that work originally wore a swastika armband. Dali later painted over the symbol due to the uproar that ensued within the Surrealist community. The artist's embrace of fascism and his fascination with Hitler did not sit well with those progressive artists. But I digress. 

The pixelated pattern at the bottom left of the image is a reference to "Gala Contemplating the Mediterranean Sea Which At Twenty Meters Becomes the Portrait of Abraham Lincoln (Homage to Rothko)." What a title! To say it was a challenge for me to see Abraham Lincoln in that painting the first time I encountered it would be an understatement. Suffice it to say that it took the assistance of my friend Maggie, a security guard and a pair of sunglasses for me to suss out the image. Overcoming that challenge left me with a particular fondness for the painting. 

Miss Crit calls her style of art "a little bit spooky and a little bit psychedelic." Her art frequently includes figures with a third eye, a symbol of enlightenment in Buddhist and Hindu art. (The yogis among you have probably heard this reference. I hope you've had more success tapping into that source of energy than I have.) For more on Miss Crit -- and to see her at work on the mural -- click here.

Gracing a faux brick wall with Oscar   

I'll leave you with my small foray into the world of AI. (I am very resistant and have yet to even use Chat GPT.) At the end of the exhibit visitors have the opportunity to immortalize themselves (in the digital world at least) as the subject of a street mural. Fun! Oscar and I settled in on the seat, smiled for the camera and waited for our image to appear. Within moments, this portrait appeared on screen. I like it (but for the fact that my smile kind of reminds me of the Joker). We declined, however, to purchase a hard copy of the portrait as we exited through the gift shop. 

"Outside In: Murals Inspired by Dali" runs at the Dali Museum through October 26th, so there's plenty of time to catch the show. For more information, click here.