The Brief
“The Art of the Spectacle” exhibition is on display at Art Center Sarasota until April 18.
Lifetime performer Maria Schaedler-Luera juried the show. A juried show is a curated art exhibition where a panel of experts (“jurors”) selects participating artists and artwork based on quality, originality, and technique.
Schaedler-Luera drew from her own experiences while viewing the submissions.
SARASOTA, Fla. – As juror, Maria Schaedler-Luera viewed the submissions for the Art Center Sarasota exhibition “The Art of the Spectacle”, she drew from her own experiences of the world’s live performance.
“I felt seen by these artists in different ways, whether I connected with their art form or not, I could still recognize a moment and understand how that spoke to my experience as a performer,” Schaedler-Luera said.
The backstory
“The Art of Spectacle” is the juried show for this round of four exhibitions at the center. Because of her performance experience, Schaedler-Luera was asked to juror the show last year.
She viewed every submission, picking the pieces for the show. Afterward, she spent time at the exhibition, deciding which pieces would take home awards.
“For me, you could walk around first contemplating,” Schaedler-Luera said. “I think letting the meaning arrive to you and making those connections, I think it’s a great way to experience art.”
Dig deeper
One of the prompts of the exhibition is to “create a visual celebration of performance, where costumes, movement, and theatrics take center stage.”
“The visual artists here did such a wonderful job of connecting, and it’s so beautiful when artists see each other in that way,” Schaedler-Luera said.
Like many art shows, the mediums vary. This show features paintings, photos, sculptures, and a handful of other outside-the-box pieces.
For the First Place Award, Schaedler-Luera selected a piece by Gary Eisenberg called “Circus Performers Intermezzo.” It’s a painting of four performers gathered after a show.
“I am not a circus performer, but I kept walking by this. The first thing that I was able to say was, like, wow, I feel seen,” Schaedler-Luera said. “This painting shows the cost of performance. It’s not that glitter moment. It’s that human experience behind the scenes after the show.”
What they’re saying
Schaedler-Luera defines spectacle as glitter, big shiny extravaganzas. While she says that part is well represented within the exhibition, along with storytelling, tension and seduction, she said the winning piece highlights what the audience tends not to see.
“That’s reality too, and it should be honored,” Schaedler-Luera explained.
The Source
Information in this story comes from interviews done by FOX 13 photojournalist, Barry Wong.
