Gary MONROE on Purvis Young & Self-taught Artists in Florida

Gary MONROE on Purvis Young & Self-taught Artists in Florida: ArtSPEAK@FSW lecture
Sponsored by The Richard & Julia Rush Endowment
Bob Rauschenberg Gallery at Florida Southwestern State College
Thursday, June 6th - 6:00pm (doors)/6:30-8pm lecture and Q. & A.
Free and Open to the Public
Florida Southwestern State College is delighted to announce renowned photographer, author, curator and collector Gary Monroe’s ArtSPEAK@FSW lecture/presentation “Purvis Young & Self-taught Artists in Florida” at the Bob Rauschenberg Gallery on Thursday, June 6, 2024 at 6:30pm. As a scholar and author of seminal books about Florida self-taught artists and the Highwaymen, Gary Monroe will discuss his personal experience, friendship with the artists and share his great depth of knowledge about their work in conjunction with our ongoing “Purvis YOUNG: Honey in the Sky” exhibition.
Born in 1951 and raised in the changing environment of Miami Beach, Gary Monroe attended the University of South Florida for his undergraduate degree and received a master’s degree in fine arts from the University of Colorado in 1977. Returning to Miami Beach, he began photographing the life of South Beach, and in particular, the disappearing Jewish culture. For ten years he documented the changes occurring in the area and has left an astonishing visual record of the period. In 1980 Monroe became interested in the Haitian refugees who were sailing to South Florida’s shores and received unprecedented access to photograph the area’s Krome Resettlement Camp. He would continue to document Haitian’s acculturation in South Florida and the Haitian Diaspora in general, eventually travelling to Haiti twenty-four times under the aid of a Fulbright fellowship in order to document life in the nation.
Moving to Central Florida in 1987, Monroe would become intrigued with tourist attractions and in particular, commercialized Disney World presenting documentary realism under the auspices of the Florida State University Museum and grants from the Florida Humanities Council. Many of his images have been concerned with foreign cultures since 1990 with Monroe traveling to such locations as India, Egypt, Israel, and Brazil documenting the socio-political realities of the nations and mounting exhibitions concerning his various photographic series. Since the mid-1980s, Monroe has worked to write and educate the public about different groups of artists. Monroe was appointed to the Florida Humanities in 1998 and he has authored several books on Floridian artists. He has lectured nationwide, and assists collectors and museums in education about photography, international cultures, and Florida and the artists that have called the state home.
Sponsored by The Richard & Julia Rush Endowment in conjunction with our on-going “Purvis YOUNG: Honey in the Sky” exhibition, this special, one-time-only ArtSPEAK@FSW event is FREE and Open to the Public. Seating is limited and first-come, so doors will open at 6pm for the 6:30pm event.
About Us: The Bob Rauschenberg Gallery was founded as The Gallery of Fine Art in 1979 on the Lee County campus of Florida Southwestern State College/FSW (then Edison Community College). On June 4th 2004 the Gallery of Fine Art was renamed the Bob Rauschenberg Gallery, to honor and commemorate our longtime association and friendship with the artist. Over more than three decades until his death, the Gallery worked closely with Rauschenberg to present world premiere exhibitions including multiple installations of the "¼ Mile or Two Furlong Piece. " The artist insisted on naming the space the Bob Rauschenberg Gallery (versus the “Robert Rauschenberg Gallery”) as it was consistent with the intimate, informal relationship he maintained with both our local Southwest Florida community and FSW.
For additional information please call: 239-489-9313 or visit us on Facebook.