These galleries present an overview of some of the major projects with artists that have taken place in the first five years of the Art of Our Time program. In addition to the significant acquisitions of art for the permanent collection made by the museum, a number of important donations have also been included.
The Ringling is pleased to announce the presentation of the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei’s 12 monumental bronze sculptures, Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads. A sculptor, photographer, installation artist, architect, and social activist, Ai is one of the most renowned artists working today.
This exhibition is not only a celebration of artistic practice in the Tampa Bay area, but also an exercise in collaboration as it is shared between three institutions: The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota; the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg; and the Tampa Museum of Art.
This exhibition features are works by many preeminent 20th century artists such as Richard Avedon, Cindy Sherman, Diane Arbus, Edward Weston, and Andy Warhol. The Warhol images include Poloroids from his entourage and inner circle during the 1960s and 70s.
Posters celebrating the remarkable intelligence and highly developed skills of these four-legged performers once covered walls and fences across America. Today these historic posters can be seen as part of the exhibit Amazing Animals on display in the Circus Museum’s Tibbals Learning Center
Active in the US and Middle East, the artists in the exhibition depict the conditions and people caught in the crossfire of wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Palestine, and Israel from a variety of perspectives.
Approaching the Border (working title) will feature video works by five international artists that challenge us to examine our thinking about the US/Mexico border.
Alfred Eisenstaedt was one of the luminaries of American photojournalism. The German-born Eisenstaedt learned his craft in Europe in the 1920s and 30s, pioneering the use of the small Leica 35mm camera to get closer to his subjects and create more candid pictures.