Jennifer Angus' largest insect art installation dazzles at the MFA, St. Petersburg

When you think of insects, art may not be the first word that comes to mind. Where many see nuisance pests and recoil, artist Jennifer Angus looks deeper and embraces their natural beauty — the rainbow colors of their giant wings and exoskeleton, the wispiness of an antenna, the jagged design of their legs. In her eyes, insects are not to be feared, but celebrated. Angus, one of the top contemporary installation artists in the country, hopes her latest project at the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg will rekindle a sense of discovery and respect for the importance and beauty of what she calls the “six-legged kingdom.” ‘The Grasshopper and the Ant’ and Other Stories, as told by Jennifer Angus, on view through January 5, 2020, creates a wondrous environment where thousands of exotic, brilliantly-colored insects reign in the nearly 7,000-square-foot gallery space within the MFA’s Hough Wing.