BIG ARTS to unveil exhibition featuring works by FSW alumni
BIG ARTS will host seven up-and-coming artists who are alumni of Florida SouthWestern State College in an exhibit, titled “Fast Forward,” from June 4 to July 31 in the Dunham Family Gallery.
“Fast Forward” is a multi-media exhibition in which the artists imagine the future from the vantage point of the historically turbulent and uncertain time. It features work by Martha De la Cruz, Dalton Howard, Alejandro Gómez Hernandez, Claire Malécot, Leila Mesdaghi, Kirsten Pettifor and B.A. Wikoff and showcases a wide variety of styles and mediums.
The public can also experience the show virtually from the comfort of their home at bigarts.org. Starting on June 9, viewers can take a stroll through a high-definition 3-D rendering of the gallery.
The exhibit was curated by Dana Roes, art professor and chair of FSW’s Humanities and Fine Arts.
“‘Fast Forward,’ when conceived, was incredibly timely as the world wrestled with the uncertainty of what our future might look like,” she said. “I selected artists who I have had the pleasure of working with and following throughout their careers. Each one of them is brilliant, innovative and profoundly in touch with things that matter in the world today.”
“The work on display ranges from pieces as personal as sewing together one’s cultural and familiar heritage, to work that explores the wider world and interrogates colonialism and income inequality,” Roes added. “These artists explore the past and present (personal and political) to offer a path to the future.”
The seven artists in the exhibit are as follows:
– De la Cruz is a Dominican-American artist who through video, installations and sculpture investigates issues of race, decolonization, identity and hierarchical power.
– Howard is a multidisciplinary artist based in Florida whose work pulls from interests of mortality, fragility, consumer culture and the current situations of the world. Through assemblage, humor and everyday materials, he challenges others’ notions of how they look at the purposes and potential of everyday objects.
– Hernandez is a multidisciplinary artist from Matanzas, Cuba, who focuses on cultural identity, family and immigration. Through his paintings, sculptures and installations, he aims to spotlight particular and unique aspects of his nationality.
– Malécot is a multidisciplinary artist based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Through her work, she attempts to process the uncertainty of communication, largely expressed by incorporating ephemeral materials in a constant liminal state.
– Mesdaghi is an interdisciplinary artist of Iranian-Columbian heritage based in Fort Myers. In addition to painting, she works between performance, video and installation to create multi-sensory experiences to explore her subject matters. Mesdaghi is interested in relationships, and her work challenges how people observe, relate and respond to the “others” and the world.
– Pettifor is an interdisciplinary artist currently transitioning to film. Her practice revolves around human relationships, trauma and the ways in which people find comfort.
– Wikoff is a Florida-based artist whose work is constructed through abstract, collaborative and interdisciplinary practices. Her process mostly involves using her audience as a means for collaboration, often collecting data from secondary media sources regarding the population as a whole and/or retrieving specific information from individuals first-hand by engaging with them.
“BIG ARTS has a long history of catering to a sophisticated community who love art and literature. They also have a gorgeous new gallery space set within the natural beauty of the island itself,” Roes said. “It seems like the perfect venue for former locals to return home to share their materialized experiences.”
The public can view the exhibition between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. For more information, call the box office at 239-395-0900 or visit bigarts.org.
BIG ARTS is at 900 Dunlop Road, Sanibel.