by donald dusinberre imartsyfartsy@gmail.com
MOCA Jacksonville offers our city a unique commodity. Nowhere else in Jacksonville can you find a substantial collection of artwork from notable and famous modern artists alongside an ever-changing display of new works by contemporary artists from all over the country.
Instead of reviewing one their recent exhibitions, I’d like to talk about the function of MOCA in the community. Don’t worry, I’ll get to the new exhibits soon.
Given the nature of the art they’ve shown in recent history, what can we surmise about our museum? Two things. First, you have to be an open-minded kind of person to enjoy its contents. Second, it doesn’t matter what city the museum happens to be in, the art on display would probably be pretty similar.
The artists in Jacksonville are currently in the midst of an interesting argument, and MOCA Jacksonville is the centerpiece. Some of the artists believe that MOCA doesn’t do enough for the artists right here in Jacksonville. They think MOCA should include local art more regularly in their exhibition space.
Other artists think that MOCA does indeed offer enough opportunity to the locals. Many Jacksonville artists have had their work on display, including Thomas Hager, Ian Chase, Jay Shoots, and most recently, James Greene. In fact, the museum has a gallery dedicated to local artists, the snazzy named Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida Education Gallery.
Yes, they do occasionally display work by local artists, but it’s usually in a fashion that leaves no question as to the work’s geographical origins. Not surprisingly, many of the artists who are not complaining have had their work displayed there.
So again, the real question is this: What function does MOCA serve in the community? Among many others, Byron King has been hosting this discussion on jaxcal.org for quite some time now. On his blog site, he says, “The question still remains to a lot of us, is MOCA Jax really the people’s museum or just the museum of the private collection of Mr. Haskell? I have a feeling it’s the latter even though there is... a wonderful show in the local fifth floor gallery by James Greene. And I’m not sure if things will really ever change until an open dialogue is begun by MOCA Jax with the community.”
He’s right about the open dialogue thing, and the community is definitely talking. Ever since the Folio printed their interview with George Kinghorn (MOCA’s curator), artists and art lovers have been loud on numerous blogs, including jaxcal.org, createjacksonville.com and urbanjacksonville.info. Unfortunately for the discussion, MOCA and Kinghorn are not as animated.
But perhaps they don’t need to be. Maybe we should accept that MOCA’s responsibility to the city’s art culture is to bring us outside influence. Shouldn’t someone be reminding us of what’s happening outside our line of sight?
Let’s draw a silly comparison. Let’s say that you make the best homemade macaroni and cheese this side of the Pecos. No matter how great your macaroni and cheese tastes, Publix isn’t going to let you walk in and put it on the shelf. There are other, more appropriate places to sell your special recipe. As Byron King also wrote, “It’s not up to the museum to change the local art scene, but up to us. Waiting for that blue moon might never come.”
Readers: What do you think? Email me at imartsyfartsy@gmail.com and lets decide this once and for all.
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