Skyway 20/21: A Contemporary Collaboration
June 14 – September 1, 2021
USF Contemporary Art Museum + Online
USFCAM HOURS + ADMISSIONS
Monday-Friday 10am-5pm; Closed Weekends and USF Holidays (July 5) – Reservations required for visits June 14–25. No reservations required starting June 28 when USF lifts COVID restrictions on public access to campus.
Admission to the Museum is free; however, a USF parking permit ($5.00 daily) or pay-per-space parking is required. Please call (813) 974-4133 for questions regarding reservations, parking, directions, or more information on events associated with the exhibitions.
CAM EXHIBITION ONLINE
Exhibition Home // Essay by Sarah Howard // Foreword + Acknowledgements
Rosemarie Chiarlone // Danny Dobrow // Babette Herschberger // Akiko Kotani
Cynthia Mason // Ry McCullough // Casey McDonough // Kodi Thompson
CYNTHIA MASON
Cynthia Mason’s recent series explores the artifice of humanity’s authority over the natural world in our age of the Anthropocene. Fascinated by the overlap and edges of topographies, her work references the corporeal and the geological with fleshy folds, sagging forms, prickly limbs, and gaping orifices that gesture to a link between our own skin and the surface of the Earth. Limp grids and stacks, precariously supported by loose threads and armatures that threaten to unravel and collapse, suggest the instability of our infrastructure and inadequacy of social systems to respond to our fraught relationship with the natural environment. Stained with pigments and adorned with aristocratic beauty marks, the soft sculptural works incorporate contrasting materials of rich velvet and utilitarian canvas to comment on society’s preoccupation with superficial status as we grapple with an impending climate crisis.
Artist's Website: cynthiamason.com
Artist's Instagram: @CynthiaMasonvisualart
INSTALLATION VIEWS
Installation view of Skyway 20/21 exhibition at USF Contemporary Art Museum. Left to right: works by Cynthia Mason, Kodi Thompson, and Akiko Kotani. Photo: Will Lytch.
Cynthia Mason, Limp Grid with Structure, 2021. shredded documents, polyester fiber, porcelain, rubber, velvet, glitter, mica, graphite, soft pastel, ink, fabric dye, gesso, acrylic, grommets, thread, wood, canvas. 81 X 87 X 26 in. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view of Skyway 20/21 exhibition at USF Contemporary Art Museum. Photo: Will Lytch.
Cynthia Mason, Limp Grid with Arm, 2021. shredded documents, polyester fiber, charcoal, soft pastel, ink, mica, salt, gesso, fabric dye, acrylic, velvet, alpaca fiber, thermoplastic lacquer coating, wire, grommets, thread, canvas. 90 x 98 x 43 in. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view of Skyway 20/21 exhibition at USF Contemporary Art Museum. Photo: Will Lytch.
Cynthia Mason, Limp Grid XV, 2020. shredded documents, graphite, charcoal, soft pastel, salt, ink, fabric dye, velvet, canvas, thread, grommets. 77 x 70 x 16 in. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view of Skyway 20/21 exhibition at USF Contemporary Art Museum. Photo: Will Lytch.
Cynthia Mason, Limp Grid XV (detail), 2020. shredded documents, graphite, charcoal, soft pastel, salt, ink, fabric dye, velvet, canvas, thread, grommets. 77 x 70 x 16 in. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view of Skyway 20/21 exhibition at USF Contemporary Art Museum. Photo: Will Lytch.
Cynthia Mason, Limp Aristocratic Grid with Arms, 2020. shredded documents, polyester fiber, velvet, charcoal, soft pastel, gesso, grommets, thread, canvas. 92 x 82 x 18 in. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view of Skyway 20/21 exhibition at USF Contemporary Art Museum. Photo: Will Lytch.
Cynthia Mason, Limp Aristocratic Grid with Arms (detail), 2020. shredded documents, polyester fiber, velvet, charcoal, soft pastel, gesso, grommets, thread, canvas. 92 x 82 x 18 in. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view of Skyway 20/21 exhibition at USF Contemporary Art Museum. Photo: Will Lytch.
Cynthia Mason, Limp Pricks and Plants in Rising Water, 2021. shredded documents, polyester fiber, graphite, soft pastel, ink, acrylic, fabric dye, gesso, flocking powder, glue, grommets, thread, canvas. 68 x 64 x 25 in. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view of Skyway 20/21 exhibition at USF Contemporary Art Museum. Photo: Will Lytch.
Cynthia Mason, Limp Pricks and Plants in Rising Water (detail), 2021. shredded documents, polyester fiber, graphite, soft pastel, ink, acrylic, fabric dye, gesso, flocking powder, glue, grommets, thread, canvas. 68 x 64 x 25 in. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view of Skyway 20/21 exhibition at USF Contemporary Art Museum. Photo: Will Lytch.
ABOUT CYNTHIA MASON (b. 1975, Groton, CT)
Cynthia Mason’s works have been exhibited in galleries and museums across the United States. Mason received a Professional Artist Grant from Creative Pinellas and has participated in a number of artist residencies nationally including The Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico, Taos, NM; the Jentel Artist Residency Program, Banner, WY; and the School of Visual Arts Artist Residency Program, New York, NY. She received her BFA from Ringling College of Art and Design, Sarasota, FL, and her MFA at the University of South Florida, Tampa, FL. Mason is a member of the artist-run Quaid Gallery, Tampa, FL and lives and works in St. Petersburg, FL.
Skyway 20/21: A Contemporary Collaboration at the USF Contemporary Art Museum is supported by the Gobioff Foundation, the Stanton Storer Embrace the Arts Foundation, the Lee and Victor Leavengood Trust, and Dr. Allen Root in honor of his late wife Janet G. Root.
