'Contemplating Vermeer': Sarasota Museum of Art exhibition highlights experiencing art
SARASOTA, Fla. - An exhibition at the Sarasota Museum of Art, ‘Contemplating Vermeer’, highlights the art of experiencing art.
Joe Fig, department head of Fine Arts at Ringling College of Art and Design, has been creating content for his ‘Contemplation’ series for a decade.
"I'm watching people look at those works as well as look at the works in the rest of the exhibition," Fig said. "I'm really looking for people and how they stand."

An exhibition at the Sarasota Museum of Art, ‘Contemplating Vermeer’, highlights the art of experiencing art.
The exhibition showcases museums and galleries from around the world, along with the visitors who view the work inside.
The backstory:
"The people depicted in the paintings need to be at that exhibition. They don't necessarily have to be in front of those paintings at that particular time," Fig explained. "Where the creative magic happens is, I do photograph a lot of people looking at work, and then usually there's one or two people that are anchors in the composition. I build off of that, moving people around and making them larger to appear closer, smaller to appear distant. I move the figures around to kind of create a rhythm."
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‘Contemplating Vermeer’ is made up of 16 paintings at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
Tickets for the entire four-month exhibition sold out quickly. Works by the Dutch painter, Johannes Vermeer are well-known, including ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’.
"That's one of Vermeer’s most iconic paintings of all time. When I'm composing the images, how much to put the figures interacting with the artworks? How much do I bring the figure in, into that frame without blocking the painting?" Fig recalled.

An exhibition at the Sarasota Museum of Art, ‘Contemplating Vermeer’, highlights the art of experiencing art.
Fig usually only selects a couple of pieces to highlight and paint. Because of the sold-out nature of the Vermeer show, he decided to focus on a large group of Vermeer’s work.
What's next:
He believes ‘Vermeer’ will be one of the final times for people to observe Vermeer’s work. ‘Vermeer’ features 28 of his 37 known paintings.
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‘Joe Fig: Contemplating Vermeer’ will be on display until April 13.
"As artists, all we really hope for is that someone comes to see an exhibition. If you're lucky enough, especially to have one in a museum, it's a real honor, and you really just want someone to take the time to appreciate the work that you're doing," Fig said.
The Source: Information for this story was gathered by FOX 13's Barry Wong.
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