MARK HANDFORTH: ROLLING STOP
Knight Exhibition Series
November 30, 2011 – February 19, 2012
MOCA is currently celebrating its 15th anniversary in its Joan Lehman Building. An important part of the museum’s history is its strong support of Miami-based artists. Mark Handforth was the first Miami artist to receive a solo show at MOCA, North Miami in March 1996. He has since achieved major international recognition and has become an important role model for Miami artists. This exhibition makes a strong statement about MOCA’s role in shaping Miami as an international center for contemporary art.
Handforth’s large-scale sculptures take their inspiration from everyday objects. Items such as an illuminated lamppost resting on the ground, a crying neon moon, a monumental coat hanger and a giant traffic stop sign are poetic, lyrical, and comical objects that wryly comment on daily life and human interaction. By blowing up their scale and distorting their form, Handforth imbues each object with a distinctive personality. Although each sculpture is a self-contained work, Handforth intended for groups of works to be shown together and has conceived the installation at MOCA as a landscape through which viewers can wander. The exhibition brings together over 30 works, including a major new light installation occupying over 80 feet of the museum’s wall that will highlight the unique space of MOCA’s current galleries designed by Gwathmey Siegel & Associates and will lead to the groundbreaking for its new expansion. The exhibition will spread out to locations throughout South Florida, including an installation of Electric Tree, located in Griffing Park, North Miami that consists of a giant banyan tree illuminated by over 60 fluorescent light fixtures. Mark Handforth: Rolling Stop is organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami and is curated by MOCA Executive Director and Chief Curator Bonnie Clearwater.