“Powerless Puffer”™ & © 2017 Dr. Seuss Enterprises. All rights reserved.
STONE HARBOR – This Father’s Day weekend, Ocean Galleries is delighted to present a compelling selection of limited edition artwork from The Art of Dr. Seuss Collection.
“If I Ran the Zoo” opens at Ocean Galleries, 9618 Third Ave., Stone Harbor, on Friday, June 16 and runs through Monday, June 19. Exhibit hours are 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., with all artwork available for acquisition. Guests will have the opportunity to enjoy curatorial lectures by noted Dr. Seuss expert, Jeff Schuffman, at receptions taking place 7 to 10 p.m. on Saturday, June 17 and 1 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, June 18.
Eighty years have passed since Theodor Seuss Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss, produced what he called his “Collection of Unorthodox Taxidermy,” an amazing menagerie of Seussian animals often constructed from real animal beaks, antlers, horns, lions’ teeth, rabbit ears and turtle shells.
Celebrating the release of Dr. Seuss’s “Powerless Puffer” — the final Marine Muggs cast-resin sculpture in the “Collection of Unorthodox Taxidermy” — a traveling exhibition is being launched to feature all 17 of these incomparable artworks. This new exhibition, “If I Ran the Zoo,” marks the first time all 17 sculptures have been presented together in an exhibition dedicated to Dr. Seuss’s sculptural heritage.
The exhibition highlights Dr. Seuss’s little-known sculptural legacy and spotlights the fascinating correlations between his two-dimensional artworks and three-dimensional sculpture. A featured example of this relationship will be presented as a special tour edition, re-created from Ted Geisel’s 1931 pen and ink drawing depicting two gentlemen in tuxedos and top hats, unsuccessfully attempting to hunt down more than 25 wonderfully Seussian animals.
The Art of Dr. Seuss Collection is relatively unknown by the general public, however, art aficionados have avidly followed and collected estate-authorized editions from the collection for nearly two decades. More than half of the collection’s 17 taxidermy sculptures are sold out, making the exhibit’s premiere of the “Powerless Puffer” an enormous event for art collectors and fine art galleries around the world.
Along with the sculptures, the exhibition will feature rarely seen estate authorized limited editions from the Secret and Archive Art Collections.
In addition to an extraordinary collection of artwork and custom-framing, Ocean Galleries also offers a variety of hand-made crafts from local, regional and national artists in America, such as glass, pottery, jewelry and furniture. All summer exhibitions take place at the Stone Harbor location of Ocean Galleries, which is open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. throughout the summer season. The Avalon location of Ocean Galleries, 2199 Ocean Dr., is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call (609) 368-7777 or visit oceangalleries.com.