Although the coronavirus pandemic has transformed how we interact in public spaces, the good thing is that virtual events have emerged to help us explore the world around us without leaving our homes.
The Boca Raton Museum of Art is hosting several virtual events perfect for art lovers, so you don’t have to travel to Florida to see the new Black History Month installments.
At no cost, attendees can glimpse new artwork by Renee Cox and the late Benjamin Patterson online at the museum.
Cox’s “The Signing” makes its museum debut at the institution. The work is a reimaging of the signing of the 1940 oil painting by Howard Chandler Christy, which depicts the scene at the signing of the U.S. Constitution. Cox’s work shows men and women of color taking the place of the founding fathers. Now on display, the Boca Raton Museum of Art will exhibit the piece through September 2021.
The 12-foot photograph includes modern people dressed in 1700s period clothing, traditional African attire and contemporary fashion.
“It’s about time we reimagine our own constitutions,” Cox said. “This work aims to unleash the potential of the ordinary and bring it to a new realm of possibilities.”
Patterson also has artwork on display. “My 13 Presidents” is a wry series, in which the sole Black member of the Fluxus Art Movement uses humor to show the 13 U.S. presidents that served during his lifetime from 1936 to 2016. Beginning with Franklin D. Roosevelt and concluding with Barck Obama, the ironic artwork fuses astrology, symbology, nature and political policies.
Patterson died in June of the 2016 election year, so viewers can only wonder how these depictions would have evolved with the Donald Trump administration and the Joe Biden administration.
