Welcome Back Art Lovers!

This summer, a comprehensive trip around the art world can be experienced without ever leaving The Palm Beaches. From Italian glass and Japanese painting to a major sculpture from a British contemporary art superstar and works by homegrown artists, you’ll find something artsy for everyone at museums and arts attractions throughout the region. Boca Raton Museum of Art “The raw energy, the surprise imagery, the unrestrained observations — they’re not beholden to conventional manners — it’s free flowing, it’s elemental.” That’s how Gary Monroe explains his obsession with Florida’s outsider artists, an obsession that led him to eventually collecting more than 1,000 objects, the highlights of which are on view through Sept. 5 at the Boca Raton Museum of Art in the exhibition, “An Irresistible Urge to Create: The Monroe Family Collection of Florida Outsider Art.” “Outsider” artists are untrained. Their work often features found objects and discarded objects, and as the show’s title suggests, their artwork emerged from compulsion. “For these artists, making art was as essential as breathing,” said Irvin Lippman, executive director of the Boca Raton Museum of Art. “Their artistic freedom was a pure, sincere and intimate means of communication.” Many of the artists created as a form of escape from lives filled with deep conflict and personal struggles. Their art regularly served as a form self-care, a defense mechanism or a therapy of sorts. “It (was) not a business either,” Monroe said. “Most of them didn’t consider themselves artists until someone told them.” Before GPS, Google Maps and cellphones, Monroe logged thousands of miles touring every corner of the state during the 1990s searching for these artists, using an atlas, word-of-mouth and payphones to guide his journey. “A lot of these people lived, tucked away, doing their thing without any sense of wanting to show the work or being known for it,” Monroe remembers. Outsider art confounds conventional norms and expectations of what will be seen inside art museums. Prepare yourself; the experience can be bracing. “The effect it has is visceral; if you’re going to stop that because you don’t think it fits a mold, you miss much of the greatness of the art,” Monroe said. “I find it all to be so immediate and powerful and interesting, but you do have to realize it does break all the rules.” A full turn in the other artistic direction, yet simultaneously on view at the Boca Raton Museum of Art, “Glasstress Boca Raton 2021” highlights 30 international artists who have created dramatic artworks in collaboration with the master glass artisans at Berengo Studio on the island of Murano in the Venetian lagoon in Italy. Details of "Blossom Chandelier" by Ai Weiwei; photo courtesy of the Boca Raton Museum of Art As is the case with “An Irresistible Urge to Create,” much of the work on view here has never been seen publicly before, but unlike the outsider artists, these creations are the result of partnerships between some of the most high-powered international contemporary artists working today, including Ai Weiwei, and craftspeople steeped in an artistic lineage going back hundreds of years who received thousands of hours of training to achieve the fantastically intricate forms on view.  More in link.