Exploring the FSU Museum of Art

"The View that Legitimizes a Status" by Harold Garcia V (2020)

Just to be clear at the outset, we are a University of Florida family. My sister, brother-in-law and one nephew went to school there, so I have an allegiance as well. That didn't stop me, though, from visiting FSU's Museum of Art during a recent road trip. It was the first time I set foot on FSU's campus. The exhibits were terrific.

"Water Ways: Indigenous Ecologies & Florida Heritage" is a collaborative effort among the Museum, the FSU Native American and Indigenous Studies Center, the Department of Religion and the Council on Creativity and Research. The description of the exhibit explains that its title "plays on the dual meaning of 'ways,' exploring both the physical paths and routes shaped by water as well as the ways ... through which Indigenous communities express their relationships with water." The exhibit also raises environmental issues such as water access and climate resilience. 

"Florida Keepsakes" by Harold Garcia V (2020)

I was taken with a series of watercolors by Harold Garcia V collectively entitled "La Mode Pratique." The works highlight what happens when waterways are commoditized. In the image above, a woman is wearing a Victorian dress with a pattern featuring aerial views of a community of cookie cutter homes built in the Everglades. The matting of the painting continues the theme. The juxaposition is jarring. In a time of corsets and parasols, a neighborhood built in the Everglades would have been hard to imagine even though development in the "River of Grass" began in the late 19th century. To further emphasize the losses wrought by man's intervention, the woman's hat boasts a plume from a wading bird endangered by suburban expansion. 

The second image features a gentleman dressed in a fabric covered with alligator feet. The material is a reference to the fashion trend of using the reptiles' hides to make purses and the like. The work is supplemented by a back scratcher made of an alligator foot. My nose wrinkles up every time I think about it. As yucky as the use of this gator appendage might seem, you can apparently find these souvenirs -- along with key chains made with gator feet -- in many tourist shops and drug stores. Don't be concerned, though, that buying one endangers the species. The wall card notes that proceeds from the sales of these souvenirs fund alligator farms that in turn release 17% of their gators into the wild. It's an oddly symbiotic relationship. For more of Garcia's work, click here. 

Nascan Vessel with Harvester Figure (300-500 A.D.)

From there it was on to explore "Conversaciones: Latin American Indigenous Art." The exhibit included both pre-Colonial and contemporary artwork that "invites viewers to consider how present day artists are reimagining traditional Indigenous motifs and methods."

I was amazed to learn that this ceramic vessel dates back to circa 300-500. It is in incredible condition. But what really caught my eye was the super cute figure of a harvester. (His identity is conveyed by the tools by his side and plants growing from the earth -- and the wall card.) 

The vessel was created by a Nascan artist living in an arid coastal valley of southern Peru. Given the climate, you might wonder how this figure has had such a successful harvest. The Nascans developed an irrigation method featuring underground channels dug into the mountainside until an aquifier was reached. It must have been backbreaking work. The water that accumulated in the channels was moved to irrigation canals that in turn supplied the fields with water. What an impressive piece of early engineering. 

"San Cristobal" by Kukuli Velarde (2014)

Kukuli Velarde's "San Cristobal (IV)" served as a terrific counterpoint to the Nascan works on display. If you live in Sarasota and are thinking this work looks familiar, you're right. The sculpture is from her "CORPUS" series, a portion of which was featured in an exhibit at Sarasota Art Museum.

Velarde is a Peruvian-American artist who draws inspiration from her heritage. This series of works features 15 ceramic sculptures referencing the annual Corpus Christi festival in Cusco, Peru. (In case you're not up on your Catholic holidays, the festival celebrates the belief that the Eucharist contains the real presence of Christ.) Worshipers first go to mass and then pour onto the streets for a procession in which efigies of various saints are held up by the priests for all to see. 

In this sculpture, San Cristobal (or St. Christopher) has baby Jesus perched on his shoulder and fish swiming by his feet. As the legend goes, St. Christopher ferried many travelers across a river to safety, including a young Jesus. He is thus known as the patron saint of travelers. I have to admit to not previously knowing the genesis of the designation. For more on Valerde's series, click here. 

"Pequeno Chacmool (Mickey)" by Nadin Ospina (1998)

I'll leave you with "Pequeno Chacmool (Mickey)" by Nadin Ospina. At first, you might think this reclining Mickey Mouse was created as a joke that the viewer is in on. But Ospina has a serious message here -- the appropriation and commodification of Indigenous culture. 

The reclining figure is a staple of art history. "Venus of Urbino" by Titian and "Olympia" by Manet are just two recognizable works in this genre. They are symbols of wealth and power and eroticism. Chacmools, on the other hand, were created in pre-Columbian Mesopatamia as symbols of slain or captive warriors. They often hold a bowl with offerings to the gods. It is this latter slice of art history to which Ospina is referring in her work. 

The size of Opsina's "Pequeno Chacmool (Mickey)" reinforces her message of cultural appropriation. The work is small enough for a tourist to bring home in her luggage as a memento of her trip. I can just imagine vendors peddling their wares near Chichen Itza, where this classic chacmool was discovered. To see more of Ospina's work, click here.  

My first visit to the FSU Museum of Art was a good one. It's definitely worth a stop if you're in the Tallahassee area. For more on the Museum, click here. 

Next up: "French Moderns: Monet to Matisse, 1850-1950" at the Harn Museum of Art at the University of Florida