Curated by the City of Orlando’s Public Art Collection, the exhibit holds the largest and most complete assemblage of works published by Flying Horse Editions, which is on view at Mennello Museum now through May 30, 2022.

“We’re fortunate to have Flying Horse Editions, a world-class printing program at the University of Central Florida, our community’s renowned research institution,” said Mennello Museum Executive Director Shannon Fitzgerald. “Flying Horse Editions has attracted some of the most prominent artists working today in the role of visiting artists who have had the opportunity to create limited-edition master prints with exceptional printmakers in a state-of-the-art facility. Following the trajectory of the artists and their output from Flying Horse Editions is a visual narrative and a testament to the immense talent we have coming to Orlando.”

Contemporary Expressions: Prints from Flying Horse Editions (1996 – 2021) presents a survey of limited-edition prints, artist books, and printed objects from over 60 internationally-renowned artists electrifying the art world today. Artists including Diana Al-Hadid, Odili Donald Odita, Will Cotton, David Humphrey, Chakaia Booker, James Sienna, Luis Gispert, Inka Essenhigh, Jiha Moon, and Mark Thomas Gibson are on view, engaging patrons with a dialogue about perception and understanding.

“The sustaining spirit of Flying Horse Editions is a collective endeavor,” said Theo Lotz, executive director, Flying Horse. “One of our first collaborators—and certainly one of the longest partnerships—has been with the City of Orlando’s Public Art collection. We’re thrilled that Mennello Museum is showcasing these works together and presenting such an in-depth survey of the various artists who have worked here over the past 30 years.”

For over three decades, esteemed painters, sculptors, and multimedia artists have worked in fellowship with Flying Horse Editions’ Master Printmakers at the University of Central Florida. This partnership encourages artists to experiment with methods and skillfully translate their distinct practices in painting, photography, and sculpture into the arena of printmaking.

Many of the artists presented here approach their creative practices conceptually and methodologically, as a means of researching, solving, expressing, and effectively visualizing increasingly complex theories and stylistic ideas across time and disciplines. They have drawn upon personal experience, art history, advances in science, and popular culture to create works that unify formal art theory with current understandings in fields including anthropology, biology, math, philosophy, physics, and psychology. Broadly, the themes explored by the artists fall into reobserving and reimagining of traditional subject matter and the emotional content imbued in still lifes, landscape, and the figure.