The Tallahassee International is an annual juried competition organized by Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts. The competition is open to all media and is juried by a panel of faculty from within the College of Visual Arts, Theatre and Dance at FSU.

A painting by LSU School of Art painting & drawing instructor and alumnus (BFA 2007) Jonathan Mayers has been selected for inclusion in the 29th Tallahassee International, which opens on August 25 and runs through October 5, 2014. A reception will be held at the Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts on Friday, August 29, 2014, from 6 to 8 p.m.

Image details:
Rougarou vs. Gojira, 2011
Acrylic on old wood, drafting table top
31″ x 42″

In this painting I address the disruption of our environment through the representation of images from Cajun folklore’s Rougarou, also known as the Loup Garou, a legendary ghost-like werewolf that lurks in the swamp for mischievous children, and Godzilla, a pop-culture icon known for his nuclear transformation after atomic bomb testing in the Marshall Islands. The Rougarou’s size and mutation in this work symbolizes the consequences of oil pollution in southern Louisiana and mirrors Godzilla’s significance to Japan.

View more of Jonathan Mayers’s work at jonathanmayers.com.