Creativity in an Uncreative Place
May 2-June 27, 2020
The drive to create can be undeniable, even in a place as bleak, depressing, and dangerous as a prison. Creativity in an Uncreative Place showcases artwork made by inmates in Florida prisons, drawing from the collection of David Gussak, Ph.D., ATF-BC, Professor for Florida State University Graduate Art Therapy program. The bulk of the collection is comprised of the unique paintings by “Candy Man,” an inmate who paints with brushes made from locks of his own hair, and creates his own pigments from the colored dye of M&M candies. Other artists in the exhibition used shoe polish, trash bags, cardboard, and other found objects to make their contraband works of art. Gussak’s stresses that “as long as there has been incarceration, there has been art. Prisons are filled with creative energy needing an outlet.”