The Frost Art Museum to open three exhibitions focusing on peace, impermanence and the human condition

The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum will unveil three new exhibitions embracing peace and focusing on the impermanence of life: “The Missing Peace: Artists Consider the Dalai Lama”; “En Vista,” by  Eduardo del Valle and Mirta Gómez, and “l a c u n a i n t e s t i m o n y,” by Navjot Altaf.

The opening reception is Friday, Oct. 9,  from 6-9 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

Era & Donald Farnsworth, Dharmakaya, 2004, Jacquard tapestry, cotton, 116 x 79 inches

For “The Missing Peace: Artists Consider the Dalai Lama,” curator Randy Rosenberg of Art Works for Change asked artists to create works capturing the essence of the Dalai Lama.

As a result, a collection of tapestries, photographs and paintings were created with multiple images, themes and media that mirrors the many roles the Dalai Lama plays within the world. Each of the artists not only explores the Dalai Lama himself, but also discovers and explores other multiple features of the leader.

The multimedia exhibition includes an inflatable Buddha, video installations and even the Dalai Lama’s shoes.

“The Missing Peace: Artists Consider the Dalai Lama” includes the work of more than 40 artists, such as Chuck Close, Jenny Holzer, Anish Kapoor, Richard Gere, Marina Abramovic and Michele Oka Doner, among others. The exhibition will remain on view through January 2010.

“En Vista,” a new exhibition by the husband-and-wife team of photographers Eduardo del Valle & Mirta Gómez, takes us on a rare and astonishing journey into the transformation of the human form after death.

The exhibition offers a strikingly beautiful and memorable selection of 17 chromogenic photographs, printed by the artists from original negatives, and opens with an insightful excerpt from “The Labyrinth of Solitude” by Octavio Paz. “En Vista“ is part of the Florida Artist Series and faculty exhibition of the FIU Art & Art History department. It will be on view through Dec. 7.

Continuing the journey into the human condition is celebrated Indian artist Navjot Altaf, who uses photography and videos in her installation “l a c u n a i n t e s t i m o n y” in an attempt to listen to the testimonies of those affected in communal riots in India’s Gujarat State in 2002.

Her video raises questions about whether one can enumerate and describe often opaque and confounding events and how events in India are relevant to violence and oppression throughout the world. Altaf’s video installations reflect her interest in a broad range of art media, societal issues and social unrest.

“l a c u n a i n t e s t  i m o n y” will remain on view through January 2010.

For more information on these and other Frost Art Museum exhibitions and programs, call 305-348-2890.