St. Pete, Florida

FloridaRAMA Project

The Last Sea: Diorama, stained wood boat, stained wood windows, miniature plastic bottles, rust and tea-stained silk organza, cheesecloth, human hair, thread, yarn, color prints, tree branches, sand and stones
The Last Sea: Diorama is a desolate Florida landscape. The waters are rising and a lone boat filled with animals has landed in a house. We don’t know if the animals are dead or alive. The floor of the house is filled with sand and debris, about to be consumed by the rising waters. The scene feels like the crisis of a beached whale. The animals symbolize our humanity and remind us that we are the planet’s caretakers and must act before it is too late. Our question is this: When do we recognize and act? About FLORIDARAMA, Babs says “This is the first time I have created a diorama and it has been an interesting process. It has inspired an idea for a new, large-scale installation. In some ways it is a maquette. I would love to see this on a large scale! And I had to adopt some new methods and materials.”

Bio—
Venezuelan-born American artist Babs Reingold creates sculptures, drawings and installations focusing on beauty, the environment and poverty. For Babs, climate change and environmental issues are the existential crisis of our time. Florida is a particularly vulnerable state and without taking some action to combat climate change, it will suffer immeasurably. As an artist, she believes it is her role to create awareness of this crisis. And her ultimate hope in exploring and exhibiting this work about the environment is to inspire others to confront climate change and take action.


Babs has an extensive showing history with solo exhibitions in galleries in NYC, LA, Atlanta, Savannah, St. Pete and Buffalo. Museum shows include Jersey City Museum, Albright-Knox, Tampa Museum of Art and Museum of Fine Arts, St. Pete. Her awards include three recent grants from Florida State and Pinellas County, as well as awards received from the Whitney Museum’s Barbara Haskell, Michael Auping of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery and a residency at the Atlantic Center for the Arts. Babs has an MFA from SUNY-Buffalo and a BFA from Cleveland Institute of Art. Her major studio is in St. Pete and she has a viewing space in New York City.