Editor's note: The Pensacola Museum of Art provided source material to Resource Library Magazine for the following article or essay. If you have questions or comments regarding the source material, please contact the Pensacola Museum of Art directly through either this phone number or web address:
"John A. O'connor: Conceptual Realism, Blackboards 1985-2003" and "Parlour Tricks: The Sculptures of Christopher Saucedo"
The Pensacola Museum
of Art (PMA) and the University of West Florida are taking 
Northwest Florida back to the classroom with a collaborative
exhibition John A. O'connor: Conceptual Realism, Blackboards 1985-2003
on display at the PMA and the University of West Florida Art Gallery August
29 - October 4, 2003. (right: John A. O'Connor, The Play's the
Thing, 1998, acrylic on board.)
John A. O'Connor is an artist from of Gainesville, Florida where he has taught at the University of Florida for over 30 years. His current exhibition is comprised of works on canvas that are precise, photo-realistic images of the blackboard, one of the most recognizable icons of the educational process. A comment made in a catalogue of O'Connor's works states "In defying us to determine real from false, this artist's trompe l' il chalkboards invite us to ponder what "reality" means. He sends our senses back to school in order to find out."
This exhibition is sponsored by the University of West Florida and will be on display at both the PMA and the University of West Florida from August 29 - October 4, 2003. UWF will have O'Connor's collection of studies for his blackboard series and the PMA will have the blackboards. Along with the exhibition will be tours and gallery talks. On Friday, August 29 there will be a special gallery talk by the artist at the University of West Florida Art Gallery from 3 to 4 pm. The opening reception for the exhibition will be on August 29 from 5-7pm at the PMA.
The Pensacola Museum of Art is further spicing up the end
of summer with an exhibition of 
New
Orleans artist Christopher Saucedo and his exhibit Parlour Tricks: The
Sculptures of Christopher Saucedo. The exhibition opens August 22 and
continues through October 11, 2003. (right: Christopher Saucedo,
Rain Delay, 1991, paper, wood, bronze, aluminum, styrofoam.)
Saucedo's works are the physical result of his fascination with construction, both natural and man-made. His body of works runs the gament of subjects from sculptural renderings of floral arrangements to the massive gears and sprockets of the Industrial Revolution's machinery.
Comments the artist "Always embracing this history of object, I make things; the burdens and rewards of which are my passions. Yet, I strive to find that elusive place where object-ness begins to dissipate, simultaneously reemerging as icon. Hopefully my sculptures are things you have not yet experienced - but already know."
Parlour Tricks: The Sculptures of Christopher Saucedo will be on display August 22 - October 11, 2003 at the PMA. This exhibition was put together by the PMA in collaboration with Christopher Saucedo. Along with the exhibition will be gallery talks and tours.
Read more articles and essays concerning this institutional source by visiting the sub-index page for the Pensacola Museum of Art in Resource Library Magazine
Search for more articles and essays on American art in Resource Library. See America's Distinguished Artists for biographical information on historic artists.
This page was originally published in 2003 in Resource Library Magazine. Please see Resource Library's Overview section for more information.
Copyright 2012 Traditional Fine Arts Organization, Inc., an Arizona nonprofit corporation. All rights reserved.