by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
If you haven’t been to the Museum of Contemporary Art lately and would like to see things never before seen in Jacksonville, now is the time to visit.
The new feature exhibit, “East/West: Visually Speaking,” opens tonight for members-only from 7-9 p.m. and opens to the public Friday.
Nonmembers may attend tonight and join MOCA to take part in the opening festivities and be among the first to view the collection of paintings, embroidery, sculpture and video by some of China’s most gifted contemporary artists.
In addition to the traveling exhibit organized by the Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, several pieces in the exhibit are on loan from galleries in New York City and Miami.
“The general concept is Chinese artists using Western art history references,” said MOCA Curator Ben Thompson. “Most of the artists were born after 1971. Contemporary Chinese artists are being inundated with Western culture. They are assimilating hundreds of years of art history that was unavailable during China’s Cultural Revolution.”
References to Western art from Greek sculpture to Van Gogh and Cezanne to the pop art movement can be seen in the work.
The arrival of other cultures is also a theme with the inclusion of consumer products familiar to people all over the world for years, but only recently available in China.
“All of the artists are extremely technically proficient. There are some great art schools in China,” said Thompson.
Thompson also said it’s the first exhibit of its type at MOCA and offering a look at such an unfamiliar collection is an “educational and cultural opportunity. This is what’s happening now in Chinese contemporary art. You can see it here in Jacksonville.”
Opening Friday is a new exhibit by faculty from the University of North Florida Department of Art & Design and an exhibit of photography curated by UNF Assistant Professor Paul Karabinis. In addition, several new pieces from the museum’s permanent collection are on display in the second-floor gallery.
“East/West: Visually Speaking” will be at MOCA through Jan. 2. For museum hours and ticket prices, visit www.mocajacksonville.com.
356-2466