Flo (Flores) McGarrell, an American artist and gender activist, was born in Rome, Italy on August 31, 1974. He died in Jacmel, Haiti in the earthquake of January 12, 2010.
As a student at Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore (1993-1997) his work and interests quickly moved from figurative painting and drawing to huge inflatable sculptures, and pursued this interest during graduate studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His first one-man show was at he Lisa Dent Gallery in San Francisco (2004). For the last three years of his life, he focused attention on projects for sustainable living: "Agrisculpture,"
involving live plants; and the use of recycled plastic, first shown at the Roswell Museum and Art Center, Roswell, NM (2007) ; a mosaic of broken and recycled solar cells that could be used to recharge cell phonbes and laptops in Jacmel, Haiti, where McGarrell was director of the FOSAJ (Fanal Otantik Sant d'A Jakmel)
art center. He had been deeply interested in Haitian art and culture since childhood. He was art director of the film "Maggots and Men" (2005), and at the time of his death had produced a short film based on Kathy Acker's Kathy Goes to Haiti as participation in the 2009 Ghetto Biennale of Port-au-Prince. He also exhibited at the AVA Gallery and Art Center of Lebanon, New Hampshire.
His life and untimely death inspired the creation of a new art center in Jacmel (Jakmel Ekspresyons) and the film le Jour y Est by Claudel (Zaka) Chery.
He is survived by his brother Andrew McGarrell of St. Joseph, Missouri, and his parents, James and Ann McGarrell of Newbury, Vermont. For additional information about Flo McGarrell's life and work, please contact Andrew at
mcgarrel@missouriwestern.edu or Ann at mewzer@gmail.com
Words and Pictures of Flo
There are plans to rebuild Flo's site; in the meantime there is a capture of the site from the Wayback Machine.
Art21 Blog: in-depth interview
Flo's Flickr album
Collection of pictures gathered by Kiku
Godfather Barnaby's video footage of Flo in Jacmel, days before the earthquake
Tributes from friends
Flo's Facebook page
"Going with Flo" tribute blog
Tribute from Jeanene, who made friends with Flo in Haiti in the weeks before the earthquake hit
Photographer Julie Dermansky's blog posts about Flo
Friend Winnie's tribute (Village Voice)
Brother Andrew's tribute
Wikipedia article
From organizations associated with Flo
flashback memorial to Flo's Roswell project
MICA news release
NEWSgrist
Main Street Museum
Media stories
Baltimore Sun obituary
Wall Street Journal
San Francisco Examiner
Seven Days, Vermont's independent newspaper
Washington Post
Baltimore City Paper
Bay Area Reporter
WPTZ (New England TV station)
NPR
