It’s hard to think of a more potent metaphor for the chaotic state of America in 2026 than a sinking ship. That’s the idea behind a new show from painter Mark Thomas Gibson at KDR Gallery in Miami.
Functioning as a homecoming show for the Miami-born artist, “The Voyage” brings together 10 new canvases from Gibson, all featuring nautical scenes that offer macabre commentary on the condition of our culture and where it’s going.
“The idea of ‘The Voyage,’ for me, has been a lot about, well, who’s leading? Who’s steering the ship, and what’s our idea around the future?” said Gibson. “Who speaks in a way about the future that brings us all together so we can all get on this vessel together and move forward? And I don’t think I hear that. So, I have to put that out there too.”
A few sets of work make up the exhibition.
(Courtesy of Mark Thomas Gibson and KDR Gallery)
“Returns on a Homeward Tide,” 2025, is part of Mark Thomas Gibson’s show at KDR Gallery in Miami.
One is a diptych of a ship before and after its wreckage. Gibson took inspiration from the “Ship of Theseus,” the philosophical parable that could easily apply to a changing America: Is a ship (or any object or entity) that has had all its parts replaced still the same as the original, or is it a different thing altogether?
(Courtesy of Mark Thomas Gibson and KDR Gallery)
“Bound to Roost,” 2025 is an homage to the chickens that roam freely in Miami neighborhoods
The other depicts a series of scenes featuring various people and objects treading water amidst flaming wreckage. The human figures – no faces, just limbs flailing about – are all in the midst of some unseemly activity. In “Crew of Saboteurs,” one suited, pale-skinned hand punctures a lifeboat while another in a pinstriped sleeve cuts a vital rope lifeline. In another work, “Swept Away,” two sets of feet stick out of a raft, one in men’s dress shoes and the other wearing red stiletto heels. A blue bikini top has been conspicuously cast aside.
(Courtesy of Mark Thomas Gibson and KDR Gallery)
Mark Thomas Gibson’s “Swept Away,” 2025
Florida iconography also makes its way into the paintings, sometimes in unflattering ways. “Bound to Roost” features a flock of chickens and roosters, referencing the birds’ ubiquity in Miami.
“Everybody who’s from Miami has a relationship culturally to the rooster and chickens, from African-Americans to Haitians and Cubans and Latin Americans,” Gibson said. “Conspirators at Sea” features the state flag amid a tangle of white-robed arms, one holding a match near a pair of wooden beams conspicuously placed in the shape of a cross.
(Courtesy of Mark Thomas Gibson and KDR Gallery)
“Conspirators at Sea,” 2025, pairs the Florida state flag with Ku Klux Klan imagery.
“Being from here, you know you’re in the south,” Gibson said. “And if you’ve ever shared space with people, with their flags and their beliefs, if you’ve ever had dinner with people, you will find that often people don’t want to talk about their politics. They don’t want to broach that line, because a lot of those lines have very specific cultural histories that are also attached to them. But at the same time, with humor, everyone has to deal with the power dynamics that kind of give humor its fuel.”
Though he now lives in Philadelphia, Gibson knows the territory of Miami well, having spent much of his early life here. He attended the New World School of the Arts before moving on to Cooper Union and Yale, and his father served as postmaster of Homestead after Hurricane Andrew. The flat, yet vibrant colors in the paintings are as much a reflection of the culture in South Florida as they are a tribute to his father, who became an artist himself and an aficionado of Caribbean art before he passed away in 2023. In particular, Gibson praised his “strong, steady hand and a great sense of space,” as well as a knack for color.
“He started painting after he retired, and it turns out he was actually kind of good,” he said. “I was like ‘damn it, he can actually do this.”
Gibson learned of his father’s artistic skills one day when he asked his son to take him to an art supply store. He later found out he had always had artistic talent, but sacrificed a potential creative career, including a scholarship to study architecture at Northwestern University, in order to support his family. It wasn’t until he finally retired that he decided to explore this side of himself in earnest.
“He really started becoming interested in Caribbean art, and looking at stuff from Haiti and looking at things that had a very particular kind of stacked, flat sense of space,” Gibson said. “I want to push-pull on that. I want to figure out ways to like, deal with bright color, deal with radiant things, deal with things that don’t exactly quite fit, and with some of the style and some of the ways I’ve been painting over the years.”
Despite Gibson’s history in Miami, the artist has rarely exhibited in his hometown, making the homecoming show something of a special occasion for KDR Gallery and its owner Katia David Rosenthal.
“Mark has shown in some of the best museums and galleries, and as a Miami-based gallery, as a regional gallery, it’s sometimes hard to call on artists that have had such an extensive resume,” Rosenthal said. “So, it’s very special to have an artist like this come show in Miami, especially in my space.”
Rosenthal first became interested in working with Gibson after seeing a painting of his at the NADA (New Art Dealers Alliance) art fair in Miami. They kept in touch for several years before Gibson came for a visit in person.
“We spoke about works that I really loved that he was making, and he kind of riffed on that,” she said. “I think it’s like a very interesting time to have the show open, especially a few weeks past what’s happening here in the U.S.”
Likewise, Gibson hopes the work will provoke some kind of response in viewers, although he doesn’t see himself as putting out any specific call to action.
“Maybe they can find in the show that they can convene and have those conversations and maybe do some actual action,” Gibson said. “But I’m not the leader. I’m the drummer. It’s more about the backbeat. It’s more about witnessing. I’m witnessing a train wreck. I’m witnessing a shipwreck. I’m witnessing something falling apart. And we can do that wearing very nice clothes and driving very nice cars, but it’s all going to end up in the same place. That’s how I feel.”
IF YOU GO
“Mark Thomas Gibson: The Voyage”
KDR Gallery, 790 NW 22nd St., Miami
Through Feb. 23
11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Closed Sundays and Mondays.
Free admission
305-392-0416