The third installment of “Project Atrium” at the Museum of Contemporary Art, a mural by painter Mark Licari, opens to the public Saturday.
However, due to the scale of the work and its location — the three-story space at the top of the stairs in the museum’s lobby — it’s available for view now as a work in progress.
Licari started laying out the design of his latest creation Thursday afternoon and began his site-specific wall drawing Friday. He’s on a deadline.
“I have to have it finished before the opening for members Thursday,” he said.
Licari was born in Atlanta and lives and works in Los Angeles. He studied fine art at the University of Colorado Boulder and then earned a Master of Fine Arts degree at the University of Southern California.
He has had solo exhibitions at Honor Fraser in Monterey and Venice, Calif.; Baldwin Gallery in Aspen, Colo.; and Disjecta in Portland, Ore., among other venues.
His work is included in public collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the Monterey Museum of Art in California and The Hague in the Netherlands.
Licari said Project Atrium is the tallest piece he has done and one of the few that are vertical.
As he was surveying the expansive space Friday morning, Licari said he always starts with an idea and he works without using a preliminary sketch that is enlarged to fit a specific space.
The theme behind Licari’s images is “the natural world and the manmade world growing together in somewhat dysfunctional ways,” he said.
The MOCA mural also will represent the latest element of an ongoing phase of work. Licari said his previous work will contribute to Project Atrium, which will contribute to his next commission.
“One thing leads to another,” he said.
Licari wasn’t sure Friday exactly what the mural will look like when it’s finished, but he said “leaky” came to mind.
“I have lots of ideas, but I never know how it will unfold. It’s always a little bit of a surprise to me, but that’s part of my process and I’ve gotten used to it,” Licari said,
“I hope it makes people think. It will have some serious themes, but also some whimsy. Hopefully, it’s fun and generates some ideas,” he said.
MOCA will host a members-only preview at 6 p.m. Thursday. The public is invited to meet Licari and hear him discuss his work at 2 p.m. Saturday in the MOCA Theater.
Project Atrium is presented by Regions Bank and supported by Driver, McAfee, Peek & Hawthorne.
Visit mocajacksonville.org for more information about Project Atrium and the museum’s other exhibits and programs.
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