Ringling College of Art and Design offers the antidote to Instagram culture with Photography & Film Constructs, the latest exhibition coming to the RCAD Willis A. Smith Galleries and featuring 20 works in photo and film from more than 15 award-winning international artists. Through a curated collection of constructed images, the show highlights artistic intentionality in the form while simultaneously celebrating the richness of the medium and evoking its power through history. “All of these images I chose because they’re layered and the artists are commenting on contemporary culture,” said Mark Ormond, curator of exhibitions at Ringling College. “In our daily lives, we have to be very focused, and these open our eyes to things in the world that we miss.”

As constructed shots, the work on display represents a discipline apart from the ubiquity of throwaway candids permeating the social media landscape, each being the result of careful planning and direction towards a purposeful image. Some challenge convention, such as Yasumasa Morimura’s gender-bending self-portrait as Marlene Deitrich or the distorted subjects of Adam Magyar’s statement on urban density in Urban Flow 293. Others are more enigmatic but no less intriguing. An untitled work from Gregory Crewdson looms large on one wall—a house in the road, neighbors peeking from windows, emergency vehicles on the lawn—each detail dictated by the artist through months wrangling hundreds of people to capture one moment in time. In the opposite room a pair of Louisiana photographers restage The Sacrifice of Isaac in the dead of night on the bed of a pickup truck.

The other side of the exhibition is, in a way, a love letter to the form and it’s legacy. Adam Fuss distills the discipline to its photochemical bones, working with light sensitive materials sans camera and celebrating the science that made it all possible, while Stan Douglas’ Powell Street Grounds simultaneously echoes modern concerns and nods to the political power of photography with a dramatization that captures every detail of a 1912 protest broken up by police officers with clubs and whips. Vik Muniz commemorates the work of photographer Lewis Hine, whose shots of child laborers led to landmark legislation in American industry. Recreated as a paper pulp construct, Muniz expands the image to 10 times its original size so it can’t be missed.

All the works are large-scale, a further hint to Ormond’s design—that these are singular images in a world of double-prints and digital backups. “It’s very important for the students, the faculty and the community to see the objects, not to see them online or in a magazine,” said Ormond. “If this were a 3x5, you’d never see the detail.”

Photography & Film Constructs opens today in the Willis A. Smith Gallery at Ringling College of Art and Design and runs until April 2. 

Pictured: "Olive & Black Market Sreet" by Julie Blackmon. Courtesy of RCAD.

Internationally acclaimed resin artist Andrea Dasha Reich takes over Alfstad& Contemporary tonight with the opening of a pair of exhibits showcasing the artist’s latest explorations and innovations, including the debut showing of her recent foray into resin sculpture. Entitled Flying Colors and Resin Renaissance, the pair act as complement and contrast to better understanding the artist and her chosen medium.

Crossing the threshold first into Flying Colors on 5th is like entering another world—a kaleidoscopic fever dream of color and shape where Reich’s boundless enthusiasm comes through in polychromatic stereo. Installations crawl the walls like some vibrant marine life magnified to prehistoric proportions, leading the eye overhead to a series of equally brilliant tubular sculptures that in turn direct sight to the opposing display giving the whole building the feeling of a single installation experience. Smaller geometric sculptures peppered through on pedestals provide counterpoint to the large-scale organic creations.

Painting in resin for 20 years, Reich has long played with sculptural techniques and dimensionality in her work, and fans will recognize her signature style in wall-mounted resin paintings so textured they’re nearly sculptures themselves, but the jump to sculpture proper represents a marked evolution, one that excites Reich. “It was like finally I could fly,” she said of the revelation. “It opened a whole other door for me.”

Advancing farther into Alfstad&, through a hallway adorned with resin streaks dangling like floating agate wind chimes and past the video room where a recorded Reich helpfully explains the ins and outs of working with resin, Resin Renaissance awaits. A monochromatic display seemingly at odds with Flying Colors, these 15 or so pieces forgo the coloring to focus on the form, with Reich’s resin creations presented white on black.

Opening tonight in Alfstad& Contemporary with a reception at 5:30pm, Flying Colors and Resin Renaissance will be on display through April 1. 

If you are among those who feel that wine is best served warm, enjoy this recipe released by Beso Del Sol Sangria for National Mulled Wine Day, which was yesterday in case you were wondering. But never mind the calendar, you can heat this treat up during any day of the year.

Spicy Simmered Sangria

Ingredients: 1 liter Beso Del Sol Sangria; 3 cinnamon sticks; 3 pieces of fresh ginger, about 2 inches; 6 pieces of cloves; Nuts as desired (hazelnuts, blanched almonds, and raisins); Sliced fruit (oranges, apples, lemon); Sugar (to preferred taste); Blackcurrant juice (to preferred taste).

Combine and heat up to 140 degrees Fahrenheit and strain before serving. Crush or chop nuts and raisings into small bits and add as desired. Add slices of orange, apple and lemon. Add blackcurrant juice and sugar to preferred taste. 

Beso Del Sol Sangria

Sam Budd, Goodwill Manasota’s materials management director, was named to the Goodwill National Cooperative Purchasing Program advisory board. The NCPP is operated by the Goodwill of Central and Coastal Virginia and serves as an independent purchasing agency that works to leverage the collective purchasing power of Goodwill organizations throughout the nation. The purpose of the NCPP is to ensure the best prices and discounts supported by manufacturers for all Goodwills. Members of the NCPP advisory board are tasked with verifying that the Goodwill NCPP is aligned and operates in accordance with the purchasing needs of Goodwill affiliates. 

Goodwill Manasota

Sarasota Memorial Health Care System was named one of the nation’s 100 Top Hospitals by Truven Health Analytics. The Truven Health 100 Top Hospitals study identifies hospitals and leadership teams that provide the highest level of value to their communities, based on a national balanced scorecard measuring overall organizational performance across 11 key analytic measures including patient care, operational efficiency and financial stability. The study has been conducted annually since 1993. This is the third time Sarasota Memorial has been recognized with this honor by Truven. 

Truven Health Analytics