Tesoro

In Tesoro, Pepe Mar—an artist who marries a broad range of visual references and personal obsessions spanning art, fashion, queer history, and Mexican culture—has created an installation drawn from the Frost Art Museum’s collection. Mar envisions the museum’s permanent collection of art from Africa, the Americas, Asia, Australia, and Europe, as special treasures and presents them as gifts to the public. “I wanted to make a collage of the collection as an extension of my artistic practice,” Mar reflects “to create new definitions for the objects on view and encouraging unexpected connections throughout the installation.” 

Organized visually across thematic chapters such as Theatre of the City; Mirror, Mirror; Procession; and Cabinet of Curiosities, Tesoro’s highlights including masks, ceramics, and paintings by René Portocarrero, Thornton Dial, and Purvis Young, alongside select loans.

An FIU alumnus who has been living and working in Miami for the past twenty years, Pepe Mar’s recent solo exhibitions include presentations at the Mattress Factory Museum of Contemporary Art (Pittsburgh) and Locust Projects (Miami). He received his MFA from Florida International University and his BFA from the California College of the Arts.

This is the second presentation in a series of exhibitions re-envisioning the museum’s permanent collection.

Photography and virtual tour by Zachary Balber.