From centuries-old Asian stoneware to a provocative look at racism: Jacksonville art museums debut new shows
Three new shows at two of Jacksonville's art museums provide a great way to escape the summer heat and encounter some thought-provoking artworks.
Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens
Through Sept. 18
Money was no object for the Rockefellers when they started collecting Asian artworks in the 1940s. They put together a collection of sculptures, bronzes, pottery and other pieces to show American art lovers pieces they'd never otherwise have a chance to see. Eventually, the pieces got so pricey that even the Rockefellers had to bow out.
"They stopped collecting in the mid-'70s because they were being priced out of the market," said Holly Keris, chief curator at the Cummer Museum, during a press preview of the show.
The Cummer show, originally slated for 2020, features more than 60 pieces, some more than 2,500 years old. The pieces come from Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tibet and Vietnam.
Almost all of the pieces were originally created to be displayed, rather than used, and in some cases, have likely been on display for centuries. There are gorgeous porcelain pieces that rival anything in the Cummer's extensive collection, an elaborate bronze Shiva stomping out ignorance, a carved stone Buddha head that dates back to the second or third century. A sixth-century food vessel adorned with dragon handles may have actually held food at some point, but it works better as art.
"The work had to be high quality," Keris said. "They really wanted stuff that would grab the audience."
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Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville
"Kara Walker: Cut to the Quick"
Through Sept. 25
"Maud Cotter: what was never ours to keep"
Opens July 9. Through Nov. 13
Walker's MOCA show, which opened in May, comes with a warning: "This exhibition contains mature content, including depictions of physical and sexual violence. Viewer discretion is advised." That should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with Walker's work, which combines paper silhouettes with prints, drawings, paintings, sculptures, metalworks and film to take an unflinching look at racism and exploitation.
MOCA has even set aside a "reflection space" near the third-floor exhibition where people triggered by the images can decompress, find meditation resources and leave thoughts about the show. "Perspective is everything," commented one person. "More exhibits like this need to be displayed," remarked another.
The show is a retrospective of Walker's career. She calls herself "an unreliable narrator."
One thing you won't find in Walker's show is color. All of the pieces are in black, white and shades of gray. In one part of the show, she superimposes black silhouettes on Civil War-era images from Harper's Weekly to put Black people into the images. There's a whole section on the opera "Porgy and Bess," which includes a papercut book and another book in which she illustrates the lyrics. "The Emancipation Approximation" takes 27 images to explore the idea of freedom through the ancient Greek myth of Leda and the Swan.
Cotter's show is in MOCA's towering central stairwell and is the Irish artist's first commissioned piece in the United States. During the early stages of setting up last week, Cotter said she expects the finished product to be different from what she first envisioned. "I am responding to this space," she said, looking at the 40-foot-tall atrium she was planning to fill with a cascade of bundled strips of birchwood to create "liquid flooding down, not actual water, and vegetative matter flowing off these verticals." It's all about understanding our place in the material world, she said, and learning to move with it rather than trying to possess it. Acrylic mirrors at the bottom of the walls are intended to put viewers into the piece, she said.
Cotter's show spills out into MOCA's main lobby, a first for a Project Atrium installation. This is the first American commission for the Irish artist, and the work is being supported by a grant from the Irish government.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville art museums Cummer, MOCA open provocative new shows
