Beautiful Mysterious: The Extraordinary Gaze of William Eggleston
through Sept. 3, 2017
Mennello Museum of American Art
900 E. Princeton St.
407-246-4278
In June, the Mennello Museum of American Art opened a show of work by William Eggleston, America's most famous color photographer and widely acknowledged as a national treasure. Not only was it a thrill to see Eggleston's intense, hallucinatory prints in the flesh (so to speak), it was also gratifying to see the Mennello making moves toward significant contemporary art made by living artists. City-funded facilities, not under the same immediate impetus private galleries are to earn money by selling, should always take some risks. Showing challenging work instead of art that matches the sofa fulfills that mandate to expand visitors' visual tastes and inspire future artists; we can only hope for more to come.