The Real Sister Skinner: Fantasy Gallery Show

ArcMonSki

(Arcimboldo - Grupo Mondongo - Skinner)

Here is my response to the challenge by artist/professor/curator David Michael Lee to design an imaginary gallery show using the guidelines presented in the Gallery Production class at Coastline Community College.

The show features works by five living artists (three from South America, two from North America) and one 16th century Italian artist and will reside in the Museum of Fine Art in Houston, Lower Level Gallery #5 (LL5 on the map).

On a recent visit to the Museum of Fine Art in Houston, I was introduced to the work of the Grupo Mondongo. The trio of young artists from Argentina who formed the Mondongo Collective – Augustine Picasso, Manuel Mendanha and Juliana Laffitte – use plasticine to create complex designs that are rich in texture and color and compel the viewer to move in for a closer look. Their series of skulls (sculpture and mixed media wall hangings that resemble paintings) work as a political symbol with sometimes whimsical, always clever, references to greed, excess, and pop culture.

Interesting factoid: Mondongo means "tripe" in Spanish

Interesting factoid: Juliana Laffitte of Mondongo is married to Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons

Mondongo's skulls reminded me of the work of Giuseppe Arcimboldo, an Italian painter best known for creating imaginative portraits made entirely of such objects as fruits, vegetables, flowers, fish, and books. He painted these objects on the canvas arranged in such a way that the whole collection of objects formed a recognizable likeness of the portrait subject.

Having learned the rules, I have decided to break them for this fictional show by ignoring the one about having a local artist in the show. And, since this is MY fantasy show, my fantasy of showing my own artwork in a world class museum with other world class artists will be realized. For this show, I've chosen three mixed media pieces that each feature a container which is filled with interlocking symbols which describe a theme.

On with the show ...