Mark Messersmith in "Menagerie, Art and the Animal Kingdom" Exhibition

FSU Art Professor Mark Messersmith four pieces, Silent Procession (Wayfarers), and 3 drawings,  Summer Series III, Summer Series V, and Summer Series VI, that are going to be included in The Grace Museum’s upcoming group exhibition Menagerie, Art and the Animal Kingdom, from November 12, 2015 – April 2, 2016. There will be an opening reception on December 3, 2015.

The human fascination with representing animals is as old as art itself; from the earliest cave paintings to today’s cutting-edge installation art, artists have created thousands of ways to depict our furred and feathered friends. Whether animals are portrayed as companions, entertainers, specimens, prey or beasts of burden they continue they continue to inspire depiction in a wide variety of media.

The main gallery group exhibition, MENAGERIE, will feature art by Helen Altman animals subjects created with fire, paper, wood and wire. Also included are celebrated contemporary paintings by David Bates and original nineteenth century prints by John James Audubon’s scientific studies of birds of North America. The snide side glance of John Alexander’s Angry Heron portrays the ever-present human tendency to humanize animal behavior. Melissa Miller’s artwork featuring animals explores personal as well as global concerns. Sculpture by David Everett, Luis Jiménez, Joe Barrington and Charles Umlauf celebrate the power of animal presence in the third dimension.

Mark also has work in Objects of Interest: Recent Acquisitions for the Permanent Collection, Ogden Museum of Southern Art,  New Orleans, LA  Current Exhibition,  September 21, 2015-February 5, 2016