World’s Largest Art Store Resurrected at CVC

Monumental Installation by Barry Fellman Recreates Icon Pearl Paint

MIAMI – Center for Visual Communication is pleased to present the installation Art Store, a monumental life size recreation of the now shuttered Pearl Paint main store. Art Store is currently on view at the Center’s main gallery located in Miami’s Wynwood Art District.

Art Store recreates, using original art materials, the central core of the last remaining Pearl Paint Art Supply Store. The installation is comprised of four complete aisles from Pearls largest store including the art products, display cases and store fixtures, all rescued from the company’s liquidators. Fellman’s installation pays homage to this icon of the art community which supplied both the famous and novice artist with their canvas, paint and brushes from 1933, when it opened the first of 25 nationwide stores, until 2014 when its last store closed.

The installation provokes questions about the availability of art supplies, how they are purchased, and how their use is changing as artists adopt digital technology and new forms of presentation. Art Store extends Duchamp’s seminal “Readymades”, sourced from consumer culture, to a collection of mass produced objects actually used to create art.

Basic knowledge of the mark making materials in Art Store and how to use them are important in developing visual communication and critical thinking skills required to survive and thrive in a world focused more than ever on images and visual culture. But the loss of stores like Pearls and the continued reduction in school budgets in many communities have led to a shortage of visual art supplies and resources available to our children.

Art Store in its Miami presentation brings to light the dwindling support for art education in local schools today as a result of budget cuts and the reallocation of funding from arts to other areas. Many public school teachers are left to purchase supplies out of their own pockets. Art Store challenges the community to support its students and schools by serving as a rallying point for the donation of art supplies for classroom use. CVC is partnering with Miami based Arts for Learning during Art Basel to provide materials and funds for their visual arts programs serving K-12 schools in South Florida.

Art Store will be launched in 2020 as a traveling installation to activate communities nationwide by serving as a point of engagement to support local museums, schools and organization involved in arts and education. Institutions may contact CVC program director Kathryn Garcia for more information on exhibiting Art Store in their community. Information on corporate sponsorship of Art Store is also available.

Art Store will be on display to the public daily during Art Basel 2019 from 11:00 am to 5:30 pm. Preview viewing by appointment.