“Icons” opened at Art Center Sarasota on Aug. 20. It’s a visual exploration of figures, symbols, and moments that shape culture, influence society, and transcend time.
It required a special curator.
“The juror for that [show] is a Sarasota icon, John Pirman,” noted Director of Exhibitions Christina Baril.
Pirman’s juxtaposition of one-dimensional palm trees against historic Florida architecture reflects a career in New York City as a freelance illustrator for such iconic publications as Vogue, Glamour, Travel & Leisure and Cosmopolitan along with his work at Viacom branding and promoting shows such as “Mary Tyler Moore,” “I Love Lucy” and “The Dick Van Dyke Show.”
“Icons” reflects Pirman’s perspective on what it means to be iconic—whether through fame, influence, or artistic interpretation. It’s a show heavy on portraiture with a large dose of nostalgia. Part of the fun in walking through this exhibit is identifying the faces that appear on the walls … and recalling what made them legendary.
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From historical legends to contemporary trailblazers, this exhibition examines what it means to be iconic. Whether celebrating, critiquing, or reimagining icons, this exhibition seeks bold and thought-provoking perspectives.
About John Pirman
John Pirman graduated in 1979 from Kent State University with a BFA in graphic design and illustration. He went on to study in Brissago, Switzerland, with Paul Rand and his work is clearly influenced by Swiss design, pop culture, posters of the WPA era, and mid-century modern design.
In the fall of 1979, Pirman moved to New York City and began a career as a freelance illustrator. He created editorial art for Fortune, Hemispheres, Vogue, Wallpaper, Glamour, New York Magazine, The New York Times, Forbes, Time, The Wall Street Journal, Travel and Leisure, Advertising Age and Cosmopolitan magazine.
During his tenure at Viacom, he not only created 10-30 second TV ads for “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “I Love Lucy” and “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” but also designed promotional premiums such as mugs, dishes, clocks, neckties, and scarves.
For 15 years, The Museum of Modern Art has included Pirman's holiday cards in its retail store.
The Times Square Alliance included Pirman’s art in its Urban Forest Project banner campaign to promote the “Greening” of Times Square.
His advertising clients include Jet Blue, American Express, Pfizer, Macy’s, Merck, NV Energy Company, Fordham University, Sarasota Orchestra, and The Ringling Museum of Art.
Since 2013, Pirman has created over 125 monthly illustrations for Sarasota magazine’s last page, “Only In Sarasota,” featuring iconic places in town. His work has been exhibited at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, Art Center Sarasota, Center for Architecture Sarasota, Pansy Bayou and Bird Key Yacht Club.
His current practice in Sarasota celebrates the natural beauty and historical architecture that makes the region special.
“Artists come to Florida for the light; John Pirman, however, is unusually adept at understanding and manipulating that special light’s relationship to color,” wrote Matthew McLendon, the director and chief curator of the Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia. “Geometry becomes the canvas on which these key compositional components are explored. These works, in their flat, built-up planes, are related to his earliest practice of cut paper composition, but in these scenes illustrated by hand on the computer, he is able to add that quintessential Florida, that light, that shadow, that interplay of the two between the palm fronds animated in the Gulf breeze. You can just hear the cicadas tuning up in the late afternoon shadows and the ice cubes clinking in the margarita.”
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.
