The annual Fish Art Contest is now open! Students in kindergarten through 12th grade can create an original piece of artwork and compete in this free contest for a chance to win state and national honors and prizes.
In partnership with Wildlife Forever, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is excited to announce the second annual category for a Florida Native Fish Award! This State Specialty Award is an additional award to the national Fish Art Contest that participating students will qualify for by submitting a Florida native species from the specified list below. The goal of the Florida Native Fish Award is to celebrate fish species native to Florida’s inland and marine waters.
“The Florida Native Fish Award is an amazing opportunity to introduce students to some of Florida’s most iconic native fish species in a fun and creative way,” said FWC Commissioner Sonya Rood. “This award helps connect Florida’s students to the fish species that help make Florida the Fishing Capital of the World, which is critical in inspiring the next generation of fisheries resource stewards.”
One first place winner and one runner up will be selected for each grade bracket (kindergarten through third grade, fourth through sixth grade, seventh through ninth grade, and 10th through 12th grade), one for illustrating the best freshwater fish species and one for the best saltwater fish species. Digital artwork will not be accepted this year, all submitted pieces must be created with a traditional media. All first-place winners will advance to the National Competition to be judged for top prizes, such as Best of Show. The deadline to enter is Feb. 28, 2024, so start designing!
To enter, students from Florida should submit their entry at Wildlife Forever – Florida Art, consisting of the following:
Note: Digital artwork will not be accepted this year, all submitted pieces must be created with a traditional media.
Florida Prizes:
Sol Calero, “La Escuela del Sur (The School of the South)” (2015), mixed media, installation view. Photo by Andy Keate. All images courtesy of the artists and Phaidon, shared with permission
Dubbed the essential survey of artists living and working across Latin America, a monumental new book catalogs three centuries of output across 20 Spanish and Portuguese-speaking regions. Latin American Artists: From 1785 to Now, forthcoming from Phaidon, spans 352 pages of contemporary and historic paintings, sculptures, installations, photographs, performances, and more. Large imagery accompanies brief texts introducing 308 artists who’ve made significant contributions to the canon, including Frida Kahlo, Tomás Saraceno, Leonora Carrington, and Ernesto Neto. Arranged alphabetically, the tome brings together myriad styles, techniques, and methodologies to highlight the vast range of work coming from the region.
Latin American Artists: From 1785 to Now will be released on October 4, and you can pre-order your copy on Bookshop.
Simón Vega, “Tropical Space Hostel” (2019), wood, metal sheets, plastic, found objects, and light, 98 2/5 × 137 4/5 × 98 2/5 inches, installation view, Summit Tulum, Tulum, Mexico. Image courtesy of MAIA Contemporary
Sandra Eleta, “Edita (la del plumero) Panamá (Edita (The One with the Feather Duster) Panama)” (1978–80), from the series ‘La servidumbre (Servitude),’ 19 × 19 inches
Sonia Gomes, “Sol” (2018), stitching, bindings, different fabrics, and laces on wood and wire, 36 1/4 × 47 1/4 × 39 3/8 inches. Photo by Bruno Leão. Image courtesy of Sonia Gomes and Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo / Brussels / New York
Tomás Saraceno, “NGTS-2 b/M+MB” (2017), stainless steel, rope, fishing line, metal wire, and mirror panels, 25 5/8 × 41 3/8 × 41 3/8 inches. Image courtesy of Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York / Los Angeles
Claudia Martínez Garay, “Chunka Tawayuq Pacha (PACHA #14)” (2022), tufting, 98 3/8 × 61 3/8 inches. Image courtesy of GRIMM Amsterdam / New York / London
Eduardo Navarro, “Instructions from the Sky” (2016). Photo by Timothy Schenck, commissioned and produced by Frieze Art Inc. for Frieze New York
Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article An Enormous New Book Celebrates 308 Latin American Artists Across Three Centuries appeared first on Colossal.
The Reina Sofía museum in Madrid has lifted its ban on photographing “Guernica,” saying it hopes to enhance the experience for those viewing the antiwar painting.
“No foto!” was long the refrain from guards at the Reina Sofía museum in Madrid if a visitor dared to attempt to take a picture of “Guernica,” Picasso’s 1937 antiwar masterpiece. But as one couple took a selfie on Wednesday and another woman adjusted her hair while smiling shyly into her phone’s camera, those guards were relaxed, offering tips about audio guides rather than yelling.
The museum lifted its longtime ban on photos of “Guernica” this month, belatedly joining the Instagram era. Still prohibited in Room 205.10 are the use of flash, tripods and selfie sticks, out of concern that the 25-foot oil painting could be damaged.
“Allowing photographs to be taken of ‘Guernica’ is intended to enhance the experience of viewing the painting, bringing it closer to the public and allowing what has been possible in other museums for a long time,” a spokesman from the Reina Sofía wrote in an email.
The spokesman added, referring to advances in technology, “The fact that the means have advanced and that they do not endanger the work did not justify, at this point, the prohibition.”
Ten minutes after the museum opened its doors on Wednesday, a crowd of about a dozen people gathered in front of “Guernica.” Many of them stood close to the painting before shifting away for a different perspective.
Ronny de Jong, visiting from Rotterdam, the Netherlands, spent about 45 minutes taking in the work, a black-and-white Cubist painting that depicts the horrors of the Spanish Civil War and disturbed those who saw it at the 1937 World’s Fair in Paris.
De Jong said that he loved to remember his museum visits through photos, and that he was slightly annoyed that the nearby Prado museum, home to many of Spain’s most important pre-20th-century artworks, banned photographs altogether.
“I did make some pictures — like stealthily — and no one was harmed,” he said.
Another visitor, Flavia Morelli of Rimini, Italy, praised the Reina Sofía’s recent decision to allow photographs of “Guernica.” “I think it’s a way to create a stronger link between people of varying levels of culture and art,” she said.
The Reina Sofía did not explain the origins of the ban on photographing one specific painting, but museums have long struggled with how best to conserve artworks and manage resources while trying to remain relevant to the public. For example, visitors cannot take photos inside the Sistine Chapel in Italy, and photography and filming are prohibited in some special exhibitions at museums because of copyright or lending concerns.
Nina Simon, the author of “The Participatory Museum,” said one reason museums originally banned photos was a fear that people would not visit in person if they were able to see the images online. That worry has abated, she said, but there is still genuine fear that works could be damaged by distracted visitors, and that their photographs could fundamentally alter museum programming.
“There becomes a concern that the museum becomes the backdrop to your perfect Instagram life,” Simon said, “or that the museum shifts the design of exhibits to cater to create great Instagram moments, which could be seen as cheapening in some way.”
Along with the vocal guards, visitors to the Reina Sofía have traditionally been separated from “Guernica” by a long divider that spans the length of the artwork.
But the painting, which Picasso lent to the Museum of Modern Art in New York for decades while Gen. Francisco Franco was in power in Spain, has not always been so restricted. When it was on view at MoMA in 1974, Tony Shafrazi, an artist who later became a successful art dealer, sprayed “Kill Lies All” in red foot-high letters on the canvas.
The painting, which avoided permanent damage because of a heavy coat of varnish, was returned to Spain in 1981.
Seema Rao, who leads Brilliant Idea Studio, a firm that focuses on museum experiences, said museums must learn to keep up with the demands of visitors who have traveled from around the world to see works like “Guernica.” “If you can’t hold on to that, it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t feel like it has value,” she said.
“Museums are basically becoming dinosaurs,” Rao continued. “They are so behind the times. In order to be a part of society they have to update these policies.”
One visitor at the Reina Sofía on Wednesday, Richard Rottman of Los Angeles, called “Guernica” an important Picasso shortly after someone tapped his shoulder.
“I was in the way of their photo,” he said, laughing.
When the contemporary artist Mariah Robertson first started playing around in her darkroom with light-sensitive paper, hand-applying chemicals and trying out different exposure techniques, a whole new world opened up. Colors bled and burst. Streaks and specks were features, not bugs. All the carefully laid out rules of traditional photography now felt mutable. “I thought, This is totally insane,” she says. “I had no idea this was possible.”
In the 15 or so years since those first happy accidents, Robertson has honed her practice of camera-less photography, creating ferocious photograms with explosions of pigment that slingshot you to another dimension. Thirteen such transportive works go on view today at Van Doren Waxter in New York. The featured photograms in “Everything counts & local reality,” all made this year using a type of photographic paper called RA4, conjure distant galaxies.
Mariah Robertson. 2016, 191, 2023. Photochemical treatment on RA4 paper.Photo: Charles Benton
To make her large-scale experimental pieces, Robertson has to cede much to chance. “A lot of photography is holding on to things,” she says. Her process is the opposite: she has to let go of control. It’s a concept she thought about a lot while making the new pieces for this show.
Many of the works are spliced together from cut rolls of paper, with their jagged, curling edges exposed. These are part of Robertson’s ongoing Lost Puzzle series. In 364, 365, 366, 367, 368, 369, 370, 371—Robertson’s titles nod to her image-sequencing process—the glossy blues and greens erupt like algae bloom. The luxurious 481, 482, 483, 484, 485, 486 reminds me of melted, molten candy.
(CBS DETROIT) – If you’re driving down Woodward Avenue this week, you may notice a few muralists adding some color to brick buildings throughout the city of Detroit and Highland Park.
It’s all a part of the BLKOUT Walls Street Art Festival, a bi-annual Black-led festival first held in Detroit in 2021.
“This is the city of blackness, and [it] feels so right and fitting that it’s here,” Sydney G. James said.
The festival was co-founded by James, a native Detroit Artist, Thomas “Detour” Evans of Denver, Colorado, and Max Sansing of Chicago, Illinois, as a direct response to their shared history of participating in mural festivals throughout the country, where participating artists aren’t compensated, and there’s limited racial diversity among the artists represented.
The purpose of BLKOUT Walls is to celebrate art and community while helping beautify the city.
“BLKOUT Walls is full of artists that actually are from here, live here, and spaces similar too,” James said.
“So, it’s nuances we understand. We get the culture, and that’s what we’re giving the people. We’re giving the people us but on a main stage.”
James says she’s using the street art festival to breathe life into some of the city’s bleaker areas, and she has a team of muralists, many like Ijania Cortez, creating in their own backyard.
“It’s right up the street from my house,” Cortez said. “It’s right around where I grew up. So, it meant a lot for me to do this.”
Others, like Ghanaian artist Mohammed Awudu, traveled thousands of miles to help bring the vision of BLKOUT Walls to life.
“I feel like home, trust me,” Awudu said. “I want to come back here and paint all the time.”
The festival showcases monumental murals that send a message, some of hope, some of heroism, and some that simply help us feel whole.
“I want people to walk about feeling something, this piece especially,” local artist Bakpak Durden said. “I want them to feel at home.”
