Hurry, hurry, hurry! Step right up to see the Bearded Lady, Lobster Boy, and Sealo the half man/half seal 麻豆精品 S� just inside this door at the University of Central Florida campus!
Just like the oversold promises of carnival barkers of the past, these midway icons of yesteryear may not actually be present, but you can see images of them at the UCF Art Gallery’s聽 麻豆精品 S淪tep Right Up: Art of the Sideshow 麻豆精品 S� exhibit of original painted banners, photographs, sculptures and films.
Featured in the July 16-Aug. 29 exhibit in the Visual Arts Building are some of the huge signs used to entice spectators to see whatever was inside, whether an anatomical wonder, scientific anomaly or colorful carnival character.
The most common size of the era 麻豆精品 S檚 historic sideshow banners was 10 feet wide and 8 feet high, but one exhibited 50-by-22-foot painting of funhouse clowns will take up one whole wall at the gallery.
麻豆精品 S淚 bought it many years ago and believe it or not have never seen the whole thing. I never had a place large enough to display it, 麻豆精品 S� said Howard Marks, a local attorney and art collector whose banners are on loan for the show.
Marks 麻豆精品 S� banners date back to the 1920s and all have a Florida connection because Gibsonton near Tampa was the summer home of circus performers and painters.
麻豆精品 S淭he clown banner is stunning because of its size, the number of characters, and its condition, 麻豆精品 S� said Keri Watson, a UCF assistant professor of art history who curated the show. 麻豆精品 S淚 also am a fan of the Bearded Lady; she is quite fetching. 麻豆精品 S�
The banners in Marks 麻豆精品 S� collection by some of the leading painters of the 20th century 麻豆精品 S� Fred Johnson, Snap Wyatt, Jack Sigler and Johnny Meah 麻豆精品 S� are an important part of Americana, she said.
麻豆精品 S淐ircuses, state fairs and sideshow attractions were popular forms of leisure and entertainment from the 1840s through the 1950s. Offering the ultimate escape from the day-to-day, the sideshow was an area of the fair where for an additional five or ten cents viewers could see extraordinary people billed as exotic wonders. 麻豆精品 S�
The brightly painted signs of this disappearing art style generally were created by commercial artists working for tent and awning companies.
麻豆精品 S淭hese artists used their imaginations, fine art, and popular culture for inspiration, 麻豆精品 S� Watson said, 麻豆精品 S渁nd they employed a variety of techniques to emphasize and exaggerate the contrast between the unusual and the normative. 麻豆精品 S�
But today with printing companies and digital technology, signs are rarely painted by hand, and with the decline of traveling circuses and sideshows there is little commercial demand for sideshow banners.
Other works in the exhibit are fair photographs by Reginald Marsh, Marion Post Wolcott, Jack Delano, Russell Lee, Ben Shahn and UCF photography professor Layne Wyatt; contemporary paintings by Arnold Mesches; sculptures by Rigoberto Torres and UCF students; and a video/sculptural installation by Carl Knickerbocker of Oviedo. Two documentary shorts ( 麻豆精品 S淛ohnny Meah, The Czar of Bizarre 麻豆精品 S� and 麻豆精品 S淲ard Hall, King of the Sideshow, 麻豆精品 S� made by UCF film students Milos Ajdinovis and Yson Dickson) will be on a continuous video loop at the gallery.
The free exhibit will have an opening reception from 6-8 p.m. on Thursday, July 16, and will then be open during the gallery 麻豆精品 S檚 regular hours 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Yulia Tikhonova, gallery directory, has lined up some additional free collaborations for the six-week exhibit:
- Aug. 25, 6 to 8 p.m. 麻豆精品 S� Film screening of the 1932 cult classic聽 麻豆精品 S淔reaks, 麻豆精品 S� featuring Harry and Daisy Earles, Daisy and Violet Hilton, Johnny Eck, Prince Randian, and Frances O 麻豆精品 S機onnor.聽In the film, the carnival “freaks” are inherently trusting and honorable people, while the real monsters are two of the “normal” members of the circus who are part of a conspiracy. The film will be screened next door to the gallery in Visual Arts Building Room 132.
- Aug. 26, 6 to 8 p.m. 麻豆精品 S� Film screening of the 1999 documentary聽 麻豆精品 S淪ideshow:聽Alive on the Inside. 麻豆精品 S漈his film looks at the world of the circus and carnival sideshows, and how the headliners found happiness in their careers. Also shown in VAB 132.
- Aug. 27, 6 to 8 p.m. 麻豆精品 S� Closing reception in the gallery with guest appearances by Johnny Meah, one of the last banner painters and a veteran sideshow performer, and impresario Ward Hall, both featured in the documentary shorts to be shown at the gallery. There will be cotton candy, corn dogs and catering by 4Rivers Smokehouse.
- Aug. 29, 4 p.m. 麻豆精品 S� 麻豆精品 S淎 Look at the Sideshow, 麻豆精品 S� a performance piece in the gallery written and directed by UCF 麻豆精品 S檚 Be Boyd and John Shafer. The play portrays the challenging lives of real sideshow performers such as John Merrick, The Elephant Man; Annie Jones, The Bearded Lady; Francesco A. Lentini, The Three-legged Wonder; and Grady Stiles, Lobster Boy.