Mark Messersmith: Scenic Delusions of Ordinary Disappointments

Start
16 Apr 2011
End
10 Jul 2011
Location
500 Main Street

Opening Reception: 6-8 p.m., Friday, April 15, 2011

Mark Messersmith’s mixed media constructions deal with many issues related to conservation and over-development in Northern Florida and its effects on the indigenous wildlife. His recent body of artwork contrasts the natural and almost untouched Florida painted by Martin Johnson Heade, a 19th Century romantic landscape painter, with that of today. Many of his large works are over 80 inches in height and are composed of three to four elements: a detachable carved, painted and decorated panel; a framed, densely complex, oil painting; and a series of dioramic predella panels. The bright colors, density and layering of these works encourage audiences to become engaged with the rich, visual narrative.