Mennello Museum Hosts Isamu Noguchi's 'Metal the Mirror' in First Central Florida Showing in Over 20 Years
From August 28, 2026, until February 28, 2027, the Mennello Museum of American Art will feature an exhibition called Metal the Mirror, showcasing nine sculptures made from hot-dipped galvanized steel by the artist Isamu Noguchi, who lived from 1904 to 1988. This marks the first time in over two decades that Noguchi's work will be seen in Central Florida. The sculptures, created between 1982 and 1983, were made by cutting a steel sheet with a plasma torch, folding it, and then dipping it in boiling zinc, giving them a unique, reflective quality. This show is the museum's first major indoor sculpture exhibit and is the only Southeast stop on the national tour. The exhibit also includes a thought from Noguchi about the merging of opposites.
Key facts
- Metal the Mirror features nine hot-dipped galvanized steel sculptures by Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988).
- The exhibition runs from August 28, 2026, through February 28, 2027, at the Mennello Museum of American Art.
- It is organized by Art Bridges.
- It is the first presentation of Noguchi's work in Central Florida in more than two decades.
- The sculptures were conceived in 1982–83, near the end of Noguchi's six-decade career.
- Each sculpture is cut from a single sheet of steel with a plasma torch, folded, and dipped in boiling zinc.
- The process leaves surfaces that are subtly mottled and mirror-bright, and they will keep changing as the metal takes on a patina.
- Metal the Mirror is the Mennello Museum's first large-scale indoor sculpture exhibition and the only Southeast venue on the exhibition's national tour.
Entities
Artists
Institutions
- Mennello Museum of American Art
- Art Bridges
Locations
- Central Florida
- Florida
- United States