The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of September 15, 2026

A horizontally oriented abstract oil and acrylic painting in frenzied layers of pink, orange, and yellow overlays a map with grid lines barely visible on the edges. Just legible at the top of the map are the words "VERTICAL AND LATITUDINAL DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMAL LIFE." Swirls of blotchy purple paint like tentacles dominate the upper right corner, fluffy strings of yellow the lower right, on a plane of frenetic pink and red strokes occasionally specked with yellow.

Untitled (Plate 36. Vertical and Latitudinal Distribution of Animal Life)

2022

Firelei Báez

(American, b. 1981)
America
Oil and acrylic on archival printed canvas
226.7 x 271.1 x 3.8 cm (89 1/4 x 106 3/4 x 1 1/2 in.)
Purchased with funds donated by Scott Mueller 2023.6
© Firelei Báez
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

The 1911 map used beneath this painting was sourced by the artist from the David Rumsey Map collection, an encyclopedic collection of historical maps and diagrams.

Description

The base layer of this painting is a reproduction of a 1911 map charting the distribution of animal life across the globe. On top of this historical imagery Firelei Báez poured paint whose chance spills she transformed into the shapes of plants, folkloric figures, and animals. Her resulting composition reimagines the spread of life throughout the world as a frenzied explosion of creation, untethered from rigid scientific study. Pulsing with life, the painting invites us to consider how global ecosystems are studied and how their inhabitants defy categorization.
  • 2022
    Collection of the artist
    2023
    (James Cohan Gallery, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    2023–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Báez, Firelei, Carla Acevedo-Yates, Mark Godfrey, Thelma Golden, Eva Respini, Legacy Russell. Firelei Báez : To Breathe Full and Free. New York: Gregory Miller & Company; New York: James Cohan, 2022.
  • Contemporary Art Rotation - Spring 2023. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 7-September 24, 2023).
  • {{cite web|title=Untitled (Plate 36. Vertical and Latitudinal Distribution of Animal Life)|url=false|author=Firelei Báez|year=2022|access-date=15 September 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2023.6