Image: Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida, Fort Collins
The Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg is urging visitors to see ‘Ali Banisadr: The Alchemist’ before the exhibition closes on July 12. The notice, issued in the museum’s weekly Happenings newsletter, frames the presentation as a final opportunity to encounter Banisadr’s mythologically inspired paintings in the MFA’s galleries.
The museum describes the exhibition as a space for “a rich world of imagination,” and says the works are inspired by mythology, history and imagination. In the same newsletter, the MFA groups the Banisadr exhibition with ‘The Last Library IV: Written in Water’, which is also scheduled to close on July 12, while ‘Yvette Mayorga: Magic Grasshopper’ remains on view through July 26.
‘Ali Banisadr: The Alchemist’ is organized by the Katonah Museum of Art, with curatorial credit to Michelle Yun Mapplethorpe, director and chief curator of the Katonah Museum of Art. The MFA’s newsletter also notes that the exhibition received generous support from ART BRIDGES, with additional funding in part from the City of St. Petersburg and the Margaret Acheson Stuart Society, and media partnership from WUSF Public Media.
Banisadr’s exhibition appears at a moment when the MFA is presenting a tightly programmed summer schedule that includes exhibitions, after-hours events and family activities. The museum’s website places ‘Ali Banisadr: The Alchemist’ within its current exhibition lineup alongside projects such as ‘A Terrible Beauty: Photographers Amid Chaos’, ‘Yvette Mayorga: Goddesses of the Great Hall’, ‘Magic Grasshopper’ and ‘Babs Reingold: After Venus’. That broader context underscores the museum’s current emphasis on contemporary and conceptually driven exhibitions.
The newsletter also links the Banisadr exhibition to public programming designed to deepen visitor engagement. On July 2, the MFA is offering a Book + Banisadr Book Club: Sound + Composition, presented in partnership with Book + Bottle, with a guided discussion of Jennifer Egan’s ‘A Visit from the Goon Squad’, paired with a gallery talk, wine, popcorn and conversation. The museum’s description says the event is intended to help visitors discover ‘Ali Banisadr: The Alchemist’ through literature.
The exhibition’s closing date makes it part of a compact window for summer viewing at the MFA. The museum says visitors can explore Banisadr’s paintings before the show ends on July 12, alongside ‘The Last Library IV: Written in Water’. The MFA’s messaging presents the final days as a chance to see works that invite visitors into Banisadr’s layered visual world before the exhibition comes down.
