On Friday, November 18th, FIorida International University’s Department of Art & Art History hosted their second Studio Crawl with guest speaker, Mark Dion. The event was curated and organized by Master in Fine Arts student, Michael Gray, who created a unique and creative to way to showcase the MFA students current work.
This night marked a special occasion for the FIU art department. Mark Dion, a highly celebrated American conceptual artist, was an invited speaker and delivered a compelling lecture about his installations worldwide and an insight to his inner sense of drive and motivation for the art industry.
Dion, a graduate from the Hartford Art School, is considered a significant influence is the modern artistic and archaeological world. His work combines the use of scientific presentations and examinations of the dominant ideologies that shape our view of history and the natural world. His unique perspective combined with his interest in Post-Minimalism and the Renaissance period, generates pieces of art that stand out in world fill with of contemporary art.
Excavating through grime, dirt and trash is one of his approaches is discover cultural artifacts to create his collection of items. Together with a team he manages to clean, classify and catalog the discovered relics to produce cabinets of curiosities similar to the ones from the created during the Renaissance. His impressive art work has been exhibited at Miami Art Museum; the Guggenheim Bilbao; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, Connecticut; and Tate Gallery, London.
As Mr. Dion presented his lecture, he explained his global installations and his inspirations help construct his method of art. He mentioned that when he graduated from art school he felt disillusioned at first but an inner drive helped him accomplish to produce unique, innovative installations that distinctive within art and archaeological scene.
When asked what he thinks about up and coming artists just graduating college he said, “The only thing for young artists to do is create situations for themselves, like what Michael is doing,” he continued, “At the moment, it is really hard to plug into the existing system so it is a tremendous benefit to formulate your own opportunities. The model of being this reclusive artist hidden his studio waiting to be discovered is rubbish; you have to makes thing happen.”
Dion’s sound advice to recent graduates is something worth following in order to succeed within the art industry or post-college. Future plans for Studio Crawl are still pending.
To read more on Mark Dion’s work, please click here.
Featured image credited to: Alexander Mirchuk | Gallery images credited to: Alexander Mirchuk
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