Florida Hurricanes Inspire Sarasota Art Museum Fall Exhibition Featuring Judy Pfaff
The monumental installation marks the artist’s largest solo show since 2017
SARASOTA, Fla. (Oct. 5, 2023) – As residents along Florida’s coast endure the busiest months of hurricane season, a New York-based artist is preparing to transform Sarasota Art Museum of Ringling College of Art and Design’s galleries with a site-specific installation inspired by one of the state’s costliest natural disasters.
Judy Pfaff: Picking up the Pieces, on view Nov. 19, 2023-March 24, 2024, explores the devastating impact of Hurricane Ian that battered southern Florida as a Category 4 storm in September 2022. In her largest solo show since 2017, Pfaff will present paintings and sculptures that celebrate Florida’s beauty and acknowledge its vulnerability to environmental threats.
News coverage of Hurricane Ian’s extensive damage sparked the idea for the installation. Pfaff often keeps the televisions in her studio tuned to the news and was struck as she watched the storm ravage the homes and vegetation in its path. A January 2023 visit to Florida’s Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel Island gave the artist a first-hand look at the destruction left by the storm that killed more than 150 people. For Pfaff, exploring the area was reminiscent of her childhood in post-World War II London and her experiences living in New York during 9/11 when white dust blanketed the area following the collapse of the World Trade Center.
“Seeing with my own eyes the major impact Ian had on the land and homes completely shook me. In Picking up the Pieces, I use ordinary materials and natural detritus to distill what I saw during my visit to Florida,” said Pfaff. “Since moving to the Hudson Valley 10 years ago, I have become more aware of the wind, rain, and sun in the extreme. Winter can be extremely fierce and harsh, and because of that, I repair and repurpose a lot of elements around me to put new life into them.”
Pfaff routinely uses elements from her garden, hand-painted and digitally manipulated images, welded steel, aluminum, Plexiglas, wood, photographs, expanded foam, melted plastic, blown glass, neon, and LED lights to build captivating, large-scale installations that invite viewers on a fantastic and unexpected journey. Welded metal trees, photographic flower wallpaper, and painted metal flowers often anchor her work. As a carpenter, welder, printer, painter, designer, and glassblower, Pfaff partners with several studio assistants to bring her hypnotic installations to fruition.
Picking up the Pieces will be divided into two parts. Pfaff will design the first section to be unstable, acknowledging the tumult of the storm. Optimism abounds in the second section as the artist inspires thoughts of using what remains to put one’s life back together—“making lemonade.”
Mixed media. Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Peter Aaron/OTTO.
Wooden beams, fluorescent light bulbs, expandable paper, painted steel, expanded foam, chalk, glass drops, steel weights, steel column, and wooden cutouts. Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Alon Koppel.
Pfaff created a plethora of new objects for Picking up the Pieces, including several translucent fiberglass boats made from a mold at her studio and numerous glass pieces made at Pilchuck Glass School this summer. She is also fashioning her two- and three-dimensional works in response to the unique architecture of Sarasota Art Museum, which is housed in the building that was once the historic Sarasota High School.
“Judy Pfaff sees the echo of an enormous wave in the shape of the galleries,” said Rangsook Yoon, Ph.D., Sarasota Art Museum’s senior curator. “The gallery in the center has a ceiling that soars 30 feet high, while two galleries flanking that space have lower ceilings. The artist will use the Museum’s architectural elements to help inform her massive and electrifying installation that will be rich with sensory stimuli. Pfaff’s distinctive visual language communicates, both directly and suggestively, global concerns about climate change.”
Pfaff, whose artistic practice spans more than five decades, made her museum debut in Sarasota over 40 years ago. Later, she advocated to bring a contemporary art museum to the region when Sarasota Art Museum’s founders launched ARTmuse, a visiting artist program to support renovations that would transform the former high school into an art museum. She was among the first artists to participate in ARTmuse in 2009 to foster awareness for what would become the region’s newest and only contemporary art museum. A year later, she returned to the former high school building to share a large-scale printing demonstration.
“Sarasota Art Museum is devoted to engaging the community with exhibitions and programs that provide enriching experiences that encourage learning, experimentation, and relevant dialogue,” said Virginia Shearer, Sarasota Art Museum’s executive director. “Pfaff’s recent work advances that goal. We are grateful for her longstanding commitment to Sarasota and excited to welcome her back this fall.”
Pfaff was born in London and relocated to Detroit as a preteen. She holds a Master of Fine Arts from Yale University (New Haven, Connecticut) and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Washington University (St. Louis).
Pfaff has held more than 100 solo exhibitions in the United States and abroad and received numerous awards, including an International Sculpture Center’s Lifetime Achievement Award (2014), a MacArthur Fellowship (2004), and a Guggenheim Fellowship (1983). She represented the United States in the 1998 São Paulo Biennial, and her works are in the permanent collections of The Museum of Modern Art (New York), the Whitney American Museum of Art (New York), and Tate Britain (London), among others.
Sarasota Art Museum is Ringling College of Art and Design’s dynamic laboratory for the exploration and advancement of contemporary art. As Sarasota’s only museum solely focused on contemporary artists and their work, Sarasota Art Museum showcases art that is happening now. Audiences can learn more about Picking up the Pieces by visiting sarasotaartmuseum.org/judy-pfaff.
Related Public Programs:
Opening Day Talk: Judy Pfaff
Nov. 18 from 1-2 pm
Sarasota High School Alumni Auditorium | Sarasota Art Museum
Free for Museum Members, $20 for Not-Yet Members (includes Museum Admission)
Join renowned artist Judy Pfaff for a conversation with Rangsook Yoon, Ph.D., senior curator at Sarasota Art Museum. Pfaff will share her sources of inspiration and processes for creating Picking up the Pieces and discuss her five decades of remarkable and genre-defying artmaking.
Director’s Tour: Judy Pfaff: Picking up the Pieces
Dec. 18 from 1-2 pm
Meet in the Wendy G. Surkis & Peppi Elona Lobby
Free for Members, $20 for Not-Yet Museum Members (includes Museum Admission)
Sarasota Art Museum’s executive director, Virginia Shearer, will lead a walkthrough of the exhibition Judy Pfaff: Picking up the Pieces, offering insights into the artist’s methods and practice. As this talk will be exploring works in the galleries, there will be standing room only.
Art at Noon with Joe Fig
Dec. 19 from 12-1 pm
Meet in the Wendy G. Surkis & Peppi Elona Lobby
Free for Members, $20 for Not-Yet Museum Members (includes Museum Admission)
Enjoy discussions with specialists and artists covering various topics related to Sarasota Art Museum’s exhibitions, architecture, and areas of interest. Joe Fig, Ringling College of Art and Design Fine Arts department head and practicing artist, will offer a closer look at Judy Pfaff: Picking up the Pieces.
Curator Tour: Judy Pfaff: Picking up the Pieces
Jan. 29, 2024 from 1-2 pm
Meet in the Wendy G. Surkis & Peppi Elona Lobby
Free for Members, $20 for Not-Yet Museum Members (includes Museum Admission)
Join Rangsook Yoon, Ph.D., Sarasota Art Museum’s senior curator, for a tour of Judy Pfaff: Picking up the Pieces. She will share in-depth curatorial insights about the artist’s pioneering career and her site-specific installation on view.
About Sarasota Art Museum
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