Exhibition of 140 Portraits Opens May 21 at Foosaner Art Museum

‘Ray Turner: Population’ Features Images
of Community Member, Others

MELBOURNE, FLA. — Ray Turner: Population, a solo exhibition featuring over 140 portraits, will open May 21 at Florida Institute of Technology’s Foosaner Art Museum.

The portraits, painted with oils on glass, include 18 depicting Brevard County community members, such as Florida Tech President Anthony Catanese and his wife, Sara, the university Director of Museums, Carla Funk, and local philanthropists.

The exhibition is sponsored in memory of longtime museums patron and Textile Advisory Committee member, the late Judy Roach. It will remain on view through Aug. 6.

The portraits, all 12-inches by 12-inches, are displayed in a grid pattern that unites the subjects, thus alluding to the title of the show and to species living in the same geographical area. But the expressive style of each portrait reinforces the uniqueness of each subject, inviting viewers to contemplate both individual and collective identity.

In addition to the individual portraits, Population includes a complementary “Good Man/Bad Man” series of works created purely from Turner’s imagination. Here he exaggerates the genre of portraiture through abstraction, distortion, smeared paint and lurid coloring.

Turner lives and works in Pasadena, California. He received his bachelor of fine arts degree from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena in 1985 and taught there as a professor of painting for 13 years. His work has been exhibited regularly since 1990, with shows in Long Beach, California, San Francisco, New York, Miami, Chicago and Berlin.

Turner will offer a lecture on his exhibition at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, May 21, at the Foosaner’s Harris Community Auditorium. Admission is $5 per person. There is no charge for museum members and Florida Tech students, faculty and staff.

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