Mark Messersmith: Fragile Nature - The Florida Artist Series

Smithsonian Institution Affiliations Program

The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum Florida International University 10975 SW 17th St. | Miami, FL 33199 t: 305.348.2890 | e: artinfo@fiu.edu w: thefrost.fiu.edu

Image on cover: Deceptive Nature, 2006 (detail) Oil on canvas, carved wooden elements, mixed media predella, 72 x 74 inches, Courtesy of the Bernice Steinbaum Gallery Miami, FL

The Frost Art Museum receives ongoing support from the Steven and Dorothea Green Endowment; the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, the Cultural Affairs Council, the Mayor and the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners; The Miami Herald; Target; and the Members & Friends of The Frost Art Museum.

Support for this exhibition has been provided by: Helen Berger Bernice Steinbaum

Florida is a land of fantasy – a River of Grass, with 1.5 million

acres of swamps, saw grass prairies and subtropical jungles; lush forests; mangroves teeming with tiny sea creatures; sea

coasts with beautiful beaches, and home to rare and endangered species, including the American Crocodile, the Florida Panther and the West Indian Manatee. Exotic birds, butterflies,

and rare orchids, join an extraordinary variety of insects,

animals, flora and fauna. Florida is an artist’s paradise – and continually threatened by the very people who call it home.

Mark Messersmith has captured the beauty and drama of

Florida, from its reality to its mythology, as his complex, dramatic

and multi-layered works tell the story of nature’s bounty disappearing due to the destruction resulting from human intrusion. In

his works, animals metaphorically represent the struggle for survival in this spectacular land, unlike any other place in our

country. Messersmith knows there is violence in the struggle and creates a maelstrom of images that collide and jostle for attention in densely packed compositions, often interrupted by a real object, bird, ladders, wood fragments – decorative elements

that disrupt the illusion and create their own narrative and theatrical setting.

This fantastic world is enhanced by saturated

colors that capture the intensity of the landscape, verdant greens, blue waters, and brilliant skies.

The Frost Art Museum is proud to exhibit the work of a Florida artist who can so sincerely capture the splendor of our state, our fantasy, and our hope for its survival in all its beauty forever.

Carol Damian Smithsonian Institution Affiliations Program

Summer, 2010 (detail), Oil on canvas, carved wooden elements, mixed media predella 84 x 67 inches, Courtesy of the Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, Miami, FL

Director and Chief Curator

Top to bottom: The Night They Returned, 2011 (detail), Good Night Going Badly, 2011 (detail), Halcyon Days, 2011 (detail)

Florida is a land of fantasy – a River of Grass, with 1.5 million

acres of swamps, saw grass prairies and subtropical jungles; lush forests; mangroves teeming with tiny sea creatures; sea

coasts with beautiful beaches, and home to rare and endangered species, including the American Crocodile, the Florida Panther and the West Indian Manatee. Exotic birds, butterflies,

and rare orchids, join an extraordinary variety of insects,

animals, flora and fauna. Florida is an artist’s paradise – and continually threatened by the very people who call it home.

Mark Messersmith has captured the beauty and drama of

Florida, from its reality to its mythology, as his complex, dramatic

and multi-layered works tell the story of nature’s bounty disappearing due to the destruction resulting from human intrusion. In

his works, animals metaphorically represent the struggle for survival in this spectacular land, unlike any other place in our

country. Messersmith knows there is violence in the struggle and creates a maelstrom of images that collide and jostle for attention in densely packed compositions, often interrupted by a real object, bird, ladders, wood fragments – decorative elements

that disrupt the illusion and create their own narrative and theatrical setting.

This fantastic world is enhanced by saturated

colors that capture the intensity of the landscape, verdant greens, blue waters, and brilliant skies.

The Frost Art Museum is proud to exhibit the work of a Florida artist who can so sincerely capture the splendor of our state, our fantasy, and our hope for its survival in all its beauty forever.

Carol Damian Smithsonian Institution Affiliations Program

Summer, 2010 (detail), Oil on canvas, carved wooden elements, mixed media predella 84 x 67 inches, Courtesy of the Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, Miami, FL

Director and Chief Curator

Top to bottom: The Night They Returned, 2011 (detail), Good Night Going Badly, 2011 (detail), Halcyon Days, 2011 (detail)

Smithsonian Institution Affiliations Program

The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum Florida International University 10975 SW 17th St. | Miami, FL 33199 t: 305.348.2890 | e: artinfo@fiu.edu w: thefrost.fiu.edu

Image on cover: Deceptive Nature, 2006 (detail) Oil on canvas, carved wooden elements, mixed media predella, 72 x 74 inches, Courtesy of the Bernice Steinbaum Gallery Miami, FL

The Frost Art Museum receives ongoing support from the Steven and Dorothea Green Endowment; the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, the Cultural Affairs Council, the Mayor and the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners; The Miami Herald; Target; and the Members & Friends of The Frost Art Museum.

Support for this exhibition has been provided by: Helen Berger Bernice Steinbaum