In conjunction with the exhibition Happy!, NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale brings Rob Pruitt’s Flea Market to Fort Lauderdale on January 18 and 19, 2020. The internationally renowned contemporary artist, who The New York Times has called one of the art world’s most popular provocateurs, has been staging his nomadic flea markets around the world since 1999 in locations from New York to London’s Tate Museum. Pruitt is inviting local artists and vendors to sell their wares during the two-day happening, which will be held at NSU Art Museum (One East Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale, FL).

Taking the form of a traditional open-air bazaar, Rob Pruitt’s Flea Market is an opportunity to meet artists and take home an original artwork in a relaxed atmosphere.  By highlighting bartering and haggling as both economic and performative, and featuring a diverse array of goods from artwork to housewares, Pruitt’s Flea Market blurs the line between art and commerce.

The Flea Market will be open Saturday, January 18, 11 AM – 5 PM and Sunday, January 19, Noon – 5 PM. Admission is free to the public.

NSU Art Museum will also present a conversation with Rob Pruitt and NSU Art Museum Director and Chief Curator Bonnie Clearwater on Saturday, January 18 at 2 pm.  Pruitt’s work is currently on view at NSU Art Museum in the exhibition Happy! The talk is free with Museum admission. RSVP at moareservations@moafl.org or call 954-262-0258.

A central focus of NSU Art Museum’s Happy! exhibition is a 2013 installation by Pruitt titled US, that includes 127 paintings with faces that express the full range of emotions. “These paintings, as the title suggests, represent collective humanity,” notes NSU Art Museum Director and Chief Curator Bonnie Clearwater. “Flea Market dates from an earlier period of Pruitt’s career, when direct social interaction between artist and viewer was an important element among many of his peers. The Flea Market is a performative work of art that is activated through the interaction between the artist vendors and the viewers.”

View Rob Pruitt’s flea market at the Tate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjeB4oYEAfk

For more information, visit nsuartmuseum.org or call 954-525-5500.

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