Art Center Sarasota is the place to see contemporary artists with an opportunity to collect their work. Join us for opening receptions 5-9 p.m. on the first evening of the shows. Gather with friends and artists in the sculpture garden with fabulous food trucks, entertainment and adult beverages while you peruse the new exhibits.

Kim Anderson
Anderson, associate professor of art at New College of Florida, will have a solo exhibit opening Jan. 30-March 6, 2020, at Art Center Sarasota. Anderson is fascinated by early 19th century photographs and creates artworks inspired by found vintage photos. She invites audiences to participate as voyeurs by observing them through hand-held stereo viewers. In these large hyper-realistic oil paintings, Anderson navigates the challenges of women as subjects, consumers and practitioners of art. 

Ryan Buyssens
Ryan Buyssens, professor of art at New College of Florida, will also have a solo show opening Jan. 30-March 6, 2020 at Art Center Sarasota. Buyssens will exhibit his moving sculptures that use proximity sensors, activating them as viewers walk past. He combines motion design, mechanical engineering and fine art aesthetics to create work that fluctuates based on audience interaction. Buyssens approaches the gallery as a space to illustrate the “what if?” in the evolution of technology.

Black Muse 2020
Black Muse 2020, an annual exhibit during Black History Month will open January 30 and closes on March 6, 2020, at Art Center Sarasota. Artists from ASALH (Association for the Study of African American Life and History) will participate in a show juried by Michele Parchment and Dan Denton. This exhibit is an opportunity for visitors to see highly skilled contemporary artists who depict lives, struggles and celebrations of their experiences in their work. The show is curated by Michele des Verney Redwine and Paul Toliver. Several of the artists will speak about their work in a free public event on February 3, 2020, at Art Center Sarasota.

Pop-Up: Tom Stephens and John Pirman
A special one week only “pop-up” exhibition of works by highly collected local artists Tom Stephens and John Pirman will be on view March 9 -14, 2020. A free opening reception for both artists is March 9, 2020, from 5-7 p.m. All work is for sale!

Tom Stephens will unveil new paintings that reflect the environmental effects of Sarasota’s surge in downtown construction. Stephens, who has spent the majority of his life fishing off the west coast of Florida, now depicts the once limitless coastline with the forceful vertical lines of condominium towers.

John Pirman, an illustrator best known here in Sarasota for his back page illustrations in Sarasota Magazine, branches out and reveals his personable, humorous side. Pirman will exhibit a new series of quirky and light-hearted Sarasota portraits. The new work describes his contemporary Sarasota experience, including tourists kissing under Unconditional Surrender or a friendly face driving past on the Ringling Causeway.

Art Center Sarasota has four free and welcoming galleries which rotate every 6-8 weeks. The 2020 season prospectus is available here.