VBMA Exhibition - Well-Dressed: Artworks from the Permanent Collection

Well-Dressed: Artworks from the Permanent Collection
February 10–September 14, 2025
Schumann Gallery and Titelman Gallery

Well-Dressed: Artworks from the Permanent Collection explores the intersection of fashion, identity, performance, and self-expression. The show is VBMA’s first major thematic permanent collection exhibition in recent years and brings together dozens of artworks, some familiar and others rarely on display.

Well-Dressed begins with portraits of individuals in various kinds of dress, often wearing colorful garments. Some clothing items, like the yellow dress in Joseph Stella’s painting Joy of Living, starkly contrast with their surroundings, while others, such as the photograph, Punzante by Argentinian artists Raúl Eduardo Stolkiner (known as RES) and Constanza Piaggio, emphasize pattern and materiality, presenting a woman adorned in a stole made entirely of wire.

A section of the exhibition examines the concept of "collective dress," highlighting works that portray groups of individuals wearing similar or identical outfits or uniforms. Another section focuses on the attire of dancers, performers, musicians, and actors. The final section showcases artworks that depict only clothing or accessories; pieces such as Michael Craig-Martin’s Untitled (Sunglasses) and Karen LaMonte’s Reclining Dress Absence. These function almost as surrogate portraits, allowing viewers to imagine whom they might represent.

The exhibition is organized by the Vero Beach Museum of Art.

IMAGE CAPTION: Karen LaMonte, Reclining Dress Absence, 2005. Cast glass, 20 x 63 x 15 inches. Museum purchase with funds provided by the Alice and James S. Beckwith III Endowment; Mr. and Mrs. Rex L. Brophy Endowment for Acquisitions; William B. and Marcia H. Howell Endowment Fund for Collections and the Museum Acquisition Fund in celebration of the Museum's 30th Anniversary, 2016.2

The exhibition is free with Museum admission.