An annual showcase of contemporary art in Casselberry is spotlighting four Florida-based artists who all have their own unique stories to share.
“Experience Contemporary (Myth and Storytelling)” presents a group exhibition of paintings, sculptures, drawings and printed materials created by Boy Kong, Emily Martinez, Libbi Ponce and Tom Rosenow. The show, which opens on Aug. 30 at the Casselberry Arts Center and is on display through Nov. 21, is curated by Justin Luper, the City of Casselberry’s arts and marketing supervisor.
“With the artists that I chose, all of their work includes elements of myth and storytelling. I wanted to emphasize our human nature to make meaning and to tell these stories,” Luper said. “As artists, what they’re doing visually is telling their own stories that are personal but larger than themselves as well.”
Emily Martinez is one artist represented in “Experience Contemporary (Myth and Storytelling)” with one of her paintings, “Runaways,” at the Casselberry Arts Center. (Patrick Connolly/Orlando Sentinel)
Martinez, an Orlando-based artist, has three large-scale works in the show that were partially inspired by Mexican muralism. The colorful and vibrant “Runaways” presents a new take on fashion, which is one of the painter’s inspirations.
“I look at a lot of fashion magazines, so the way they position the body is not natural. It’s very fake to show off the fashions,” she said of the painting that depicts three people running while wearing unique shoes and clothing. “I was interested in the position of them.”
Her other works create new stories using brown bodies and religious iconography, forming new ties between her cultural heritage and the fantasy worlds she creates.
Boy Kong, Libbi Ponce, Tom Rosenow and Emily Martinez are artists represented in “Experience Contemporary (Myth and Storytelling)” at the Casselberry Arts Center. (Patrick Connolly/Orlando Sentinel)
Boy Kong, a prolific Orlando artist who works in watercolor, painting, illustration, sculpture, assemblage and mural art, has a diverse representation of his portfolio in this show.
“Boy had a lot to a lot of work to choose from and very different works. I was instantly drawn to the ant and the dinosaur that he’s got,” Luper said. “Those spoke to me as, like, hero characters. To me, those jumped out as protagonists in a story or something.”
In the gallery, a painting of a cheeky purple dinosaur munching on leaves sits next to a creation of an “Ant Wearing Sneakers.” He said some ideas are jotted down in his journal and then later become reality.
Boy Kong has multiple works that are part of “Experience Contemporary (Myth and Storytelling)” at the Casselberry Arts Center. (Patrick Connolly/Orlando Sentinel)
“It’s like a pissed off ant with shoes on,” he said. “I had it in my journal for years and figured I should paint it before I forget.”
Other Boy Kong works depict toy soldiers, natural scenes, figures, stars and new abstract works.
“I like the process of creating abstracts. It’s just basically paint until you don’t feel like painting anymore,” he said. “With abstract work, you’re just making a mess for fun. You don’t feel like you’re trying to keep the paper clean or drawing things to look like something. So it was just fun exercising this abstract feeling, just painting feelings.”
The sculptural work of Ponce takes inspiration from ancient cultures and historic folklore. One of the exhibition’s focal points is a sculpture based on a decorative motif found on a witch’s pot from the pre-Colombian Milagro-Quevedo culture of coastal Ecuador. Other works depict a brown anole lizard, a unicorn and “a theory on love” with two swans meeting and forming a heart of glass.
The sculptural works of Libbi Ponce are part of “Experience Contemporary (Myth and Storytelling)” at the Casselberry Arts Center. (Patrick Connolly/Orlando Sentinel)
Rosenow’s experimental printmaking work translates digital collages into analog prints, subverting the disposable nature of online content. Through combining chaotic, violent and politically-charged imagery next to low-brow jokes and memes, the artist simulates the experience of browsing online content through algorithms that place recommended content in front of viewers.
Viewers will have a chance to interact with the artwork by using index cards to reimagine and sequence the stories told by the visual imagery.
Boy Kong is one artist represented in “Experience Contemporary (Myth and Storytelling)” at the Casselberry Arts Center. (Patrick Connolly/Orlando Sentinel)
Luper hopes the exhibition will help viewers become more comfortable with the process of viewing and digesting art.
“By focusing on our natural inclination to tell stories and extract meaning out of the things we see, I am hoping to encourage people to observe themselves doing the work of interpreting what they are looking at,” he said. “Some visitors have asked me, ‘How am I supposed to look at this art?’ This exhibition is intended to help answer that question.”
Find me @PConnPie on Instagram or send me an email: pconnolly@orlandosentinel.com. Stay up to date with our latest travel, arts and events coverage by subscribing to our newsletters at orlandosentinel.com/newsletters.
If you go
“Experience Contemporary (Myth and Storytelling)” opens with a reception from 6-9 p.m. Aug. 30 at 137 Quail Pond Circle in Casselberry. More information: facebook.com/CityofCasselberry
