Living history at the Art Ovation Hotel

Arts & Culture

Pictured: Alexander Solotzew: My Valentine’s Angel 2017 Oil on canvas 43 x 48 inches. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Living history is displayed on the gallery walls of Sarasota’s Art Ovation Hotel. The hotel, which Francine Birbragher, the gallery’s curator, calls “a cultural center with rooms” houses six separate art exhibitions by internationally renowned artists ranging from paintings by Cuban artists Andres Valerio and Ana Albertina Delgado to the Rainier Hildebrant’s collection. original painted tiles from the Berlin Wall. These unique exhibitions create distinct atmospheres around the spaces of the Art Ovation Hotel and will be on display until Tuesday, September 6.

The paintings by the late Andres Valerio, featured on floors three, four and five in “Tribute to Andres Valerio”, are of particular significance to the hotel. “We had talked to him about doing a show at the hotel before he died and since then his family has gotten in touch with us. This exhibit is largely in his honor,” says Birbragher.

On floors six, seven, and eight, “Ana Albertina Delgado: Human Mysteries and the Indifference of the Universe,” highlights the work of another groundbreaking Cuban artist. “She is one of the few Cuban artists who approach femininity/motherhood in a unique way in terms of figures and colors,” says Birbragher.

On the first floor and in the hotel lobby are “Alexander Solotzew: Life in Color” and “The Rainer Hildebrandt Collection: Original Painted Tiles from the Berlin Wall”. “Solotzwez, who was born in Russia, splits his time between Germany and Sarasota, creates beautiful, vibrant canvases inspired by his travels that depict the happiness of life,” says Birbragher.

“The Rainer Hildebrandt Collection: Original Painted Slabs from the Berlin Wall” includes six pieces – five in the lobby and one on the eighth floor – painted by two different Russian artists. Those in the hall are by Vladimir Schmachtin and those on the eighth floor were made by Tamara Dubinovskaja. The exhibition will also include an original work by Ringling College of Art and Design student Franziska Fleissner, an Austrian-born artist who won a competition to paint a work on an original, unmarked slab of the Berlin Wall.

Additionally, exhibits, “Peter Jacob Christ: Disappearing Signs of Life” and the Florida Watercolor Society’s 2021-2022 Traveling Exhibit will be on display in the hotel restaurant through April 29.

Art Ovation Hotel, 1255 N Palm Ave, Sarasota, 941-316-0808.

Pictured: Alexander Solotzew: My Valentine’s Angel 2017 Oil on canvas 43 x 48 inches. Photo courtesy of the artist.

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