Ogden Museum of Southern Art

925 Camp St
New Orleans, LA 70130
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Collection Focus Mario Petrirena

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Collection Focus Mario Petrirena


Mario Petrirena, Across the Divide, 2007, Clay, Collection of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art


August 1 - September 8

Mario Petrirena was born in 1953 in Cuba. In 1962, when he was eight years old, Petrirena was sent to the United States as part of Operation Pedro Pan. He lived for months in a Colorado orphanage before his parents and other siblings arrived in the U.S. The traumatic experience of separation from his family and of being a political refugee – combined with the reality of his bifurcated identity as both Cuban and American – has informed much of his art practice.

When Petrirena’s mother arrived in the U.S., she brought with her a small statue of her patron saint, Barbara. The artist includes a cast of that statue’s face in his work to speak to issues of family, heritage and culture. The recurrence of the house form in his work references concepts of home, safety and a sense of belonging. Petrirena’s poetic use of interior and exterior spaces in his vessels and forms speaks to his bifurcated sense of  identity. Working intuitively from his subconscious and drawing from personal experience, Petrirena engages his art to both express his place in the world, and to understand it.

Mario Petrirena is a multi-media artist based in Atlanta, Georgia. His studio practice includes collage, ceramics, assemblage and installation. He attended the Rochester Institute of Technology School for American Craftsmen and the University of Florida. His work is held in many private and public collections, including the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA; the Nova Southeastern University Art Museum, Fort Lauderdale, FL; The Cintas Foundation, New York City, NY; the Carter Presidential Center, Atlanta, GA; the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia, Atlanta, GA; and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art.


Mario Petrirena, Wishing Place, 1996, Mixed media, Collection of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art
Mario Petrirena, All Saints, 1997, Unglazed white earthernware, Collection of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art
Mario Petrirena, and then there is no pain, 1997, Unglazed white earthernware, Collection of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art
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Museum Hours

Come See the South 7 Days a Week!

Monday: 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Tuesday: 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Wednesday: 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Thursday: 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.*
Friday: 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Saturday: 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Sunday: 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

The last admission to the Museum is 4:45 p.m.

*Thursday admission from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. is free to Louisiana residents, courtesy of The Helis Foundation

Current Exhibitions

  • Knowing Who We Are: From 19th Century Academic Painting through Southern Regionalism MADE POSSIBLE BY THE TERRA FOUNDATION FOR AMERICAN ART
  • Knowing Who We Are: The Rise of Abstraction, Vernacular Art and Photography MADE POSSIBLE BY THE TERRA FOUNDATION FOR AMERICAN ART
  • Knowing Who We Are: The Contemporary Dialogue MADE POSSIBLE BY THE TERRA FOUNDATION FOR AMERICAN ART

See The Collection

Deep DiveHwy 70, ArkansasUntitledGrowing BiggerSedge FieldDeath of the Crow

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