Pictured: Selby Garden's Koi Pond. Photo by Cliff Roles.

As a prominent part of the “Cultural Coast”, Sarasota is home to many prominent artists, from actors and directors to painters, illustrators and sculptors. One of these artists is none other than John Pirman, a Sarasota-based designer and illustrator known for his unique and modern style.

This summer, Pirman’s work is being featured in the Marie Selby Gardens summer exhibition John Pirman: Diving Into Nature, which opened this past Saturday and will run until September 17. Pirman, who made a name for himself as a freelance illustrator in New York City in the 1980s, working for publications such as The New York Times, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal and many more, has illustrated many of Sarasota’s iconic locations such as Historic Spanish Point and the Historic Selby House.

“This indoor-outdoor exhibition is perfect for the summer,” says Jennifer Rominiecki, President and CEO of Selby Gardens. “It features lots of sun and fun images created by Sarasota artist John Pirman that showcase our region’s environment, architecture, and most popular sights including iconic views that he illustrated of Selby Gardens. It’s also the first exhibition to include many works from John’s illustrious career in NYC before he relocated to Sarasota where he worked for clients like Bloomingdales and Nickelodeon, Nick at Night, and many more.”

The exhibition, which acts as a retrospective of Pirman’s career, features prints of Pirman’s work both inside the Museum of Botany & the Arts as well as large scale aluminum prints displayed outside amongst the gardens. “Pirman has really been known in Sarasota for capturing these iconic views of Sarasota in his own style, which is a very modern, very graphic illustration style,” says Rominiecki. “And we were thrilled by several illustrations he did of Selby Gardens–he did one of our Moreton Bay fig tree, the Historic Selby House and of our iconic koi pond as well. We thought it would be wonderful to show these illustrations next to the real thing–it’d make for a very meta experience.”

John Pirman: Diving Into Nature, July 22 to September 17, Downtown Sarasota Campus, 1534 Mound Street, Sarasota.

Pictured: Selby Garden's Koi Pond. Photo by Cliff Roles.

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