Fine Arts
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Mass MoCA Installation by Richard Nonas
The Man in the Empty Space
By: - Aug 22nd, 2016Now in his mid seventies Richard Nonas switched from anthroplogy to sculpture in his thirties. His work is featured in Building Five of MASS MoCA the largest space for contemporary art in North America.
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Gounod's Romeo and Juliet
Santa Fe Opera Orchestra
By: - Aug 22nd, 2016The Santa Fe Orchestra under Harry Bicket charges in the introduction to Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet with a dark gusto. On stage, the Capulets in blue sword fight with the Montagus in red. We quickly cut to the choral summation of the famous tale of ill-fated lover who pave the way to peace among naturally-born enemies.
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Provincetown Arts
31 Years of Publishing
By: - Aug 17th, 2016Mid summer, since 1985, we anticipate the annual issue of Provincetown Arts. The current magazine features whimsical works by the figurative fantasy painter Tabitha Vevers.
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MASS MoCA Fall Schedule
Program Through December
By: - Aug 03rd, 2016MASS MoCA heads into the fall with the 6th annual FreshGrass Festival on September 16-18, a rollicking weekend largely devoted to artists in roots and acoustic bluegrass music — and powers through until December when Dinosaur Jr. takes the stage in a night of power-grunge. In between, swoon for Benjamin Clementine in the Hunter and Eisa Davis up in the Club — and witness what might be one of the most powerful, poignant, and political works we have ever exhibited.
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Summer Nudes in Williamstown
Splendor, Myth, and Vision: Nudes From the Prado
By: - Jul 05th, 2016In the quid pro quo of museum trades, through October 10, the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown is hosting “Splendor, Myth, and Vision: Nudes From the Prado.” This includes 28 paintings by primarily Italian, Flemish, and Spanish masters of the 16th and 17th centuries.
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Aaron Siskind's Photographs
Art Institute of Chicago
By: - Jun 27th, 2016The beautifully curated exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago shows the full range of Siskind’s abstract expressionist photography in scenes shot in Chicago, New York, Gloucester, Martha’s Vineyard, Rome and other locations all over the world.
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Ken Moffett at 81
First Contemporary Curator of the MFA
By: - Jun 22nd, 2016During the 1970s Kenworth Moffett, while a full professor at Wellesley College, was hired part time as the founding curator for contemporary art at the Museum of Fine Arts. After a long illness he passed away at the age of 81. Long after our days as aesthetic adversaries we remained friends. During annual visits to Palm Beach we would meet for lunch in Ft Lauderdale where he was director of its museum. In 2015 we collaborated on an extensive interview which is linked to this obituary.
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"Rodin — Transforming Sculpture” Peabody Essex Museum
Human Form Shaped With Emotional and Psychological Complexity
By: - Jun 21st, 2016Rodin was the first truly "modern" sculptor. His work was an evolving process in creating figurative pieces that expressed and integrated emotional, psychological and even spiritual notions of humanity. Rodin sometimes mixed, recycled,, and re-combined used “spare parts”: plaster-cast heads, torsos, arms, and legs. His mix-and-match sensibility was the inevitable result of his deep belief that art is always in transition, never complete. And these hybrid assemblages were put together in ways that are intended to evoke passion and reaction. This PEM show is a visual treat.
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Stefan Stux Closes New York Gallery
Started in Boston in 1980
By: - Jun 12th, 2016When Stefan and Linda Stux, with a partner, opened a gallery on Newbury Street in Boston in 1980 it was a year before they made a sale. The partner left and they continued to support the gallery while working full time jobs. His brother asked how long he intended to maintain his "museum." The answer was "forever." But now that day has come with the closing of the New York gallery after some 35 years of ups and downs. Stefan and Linda had an enormous impact during the era of Boston's cultural revolution in the 1980s.
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John Leavey at Prince Street Gallery
Selected Works 1963 to 2016
By: - Jun 11th, 2016A passion for the Italian Renaissance informs the approach of the artist John Leavey. The Berkshire resident who lives and works in Pownal, Vermont is exhibiting a selection of work spanning 1963 to 2016 at Prince Street Gallery
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Gagosian Asks Who Reads Poetry?
Vulgarian One-percenters Trump the Art World
By: - Apr 30th, 2016In the contemporary art world bigger is better. Presiding over the complex ever more decadent global art world is mega dealer Larry Gagosian. As king of the heap he makes no apology for catering to the whims and vulgarian taste of one-percenters. The benefit to the general public is that they can enjoy his museum-level gallery exhibitions free of charge. Critics may debate the quality of the work on display but their opinions have long since been marginalized by those who write the checks. De gustibus non est disputandum.
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Susan Schwalb at Garvey|Simon
Abstract Metalpoint Works on View in New York Gallery
By: - Mar 19th, 2016An exhibition by Susan Schwalb features abstract, linear compositions of mixed metalpoint on colored surfaces, many of which investigate absence or the void as a constructive element The exhibition at Garvey/ Simon Gallery in New York will run from April 28 – June 4, 2016
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Nasreen Mohamedi at Met Breuer
Work of Exquisite Indian Artist Launches Rebranded Museum
By: - Mar 15th, 2016The Metropolitan Museum of Art has leased the iconic Madison Avenue building that was formerly the home of the relocated Whitney Museum. The artist Susan Schwalb offers an insightful and personal view of the work of the Indian artist Nasreen Mohamedi (1937-1990) which launches the new space.
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Ancient Oracles
Horror Vacui
By: - Mar 09th, 2016In the mid 1960s while working in the basment of the Egyptian Department of the MFA ancient oracles were packed into a dense drawing. It was sold during my second exhibition. I used the money to buy an Alpha Romeo. While organizing files I recovered that vintage image.
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Ferrin Contemporary at Mass MoCA
RE—Reanimate, Repair, Mend and Meld
By: - Mar 03rd, 2016The exhibit at Ferrin Contemporary features work by contemporary artists whose pieces imitate, replicate, or honor inventive repairs of the past. Reanimate, Repair, Mend and Meld examines the current interest in materially related forms and graphic material by leading artists who exploit and explore surrounding issues. The show was originally presented as a special exhibition at the New York Ceramics & Glass Fair 2016.
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Stunning Intersections at Peabody Essex Museum
A Beacon for Remembering Beauty of Islamic Creative Culture
By: - Feb 26th, 2016In a period of radicalism and terrorism, Intersections serves as a beacon for remembering and cherishing the sensitive beauty of the best of Islamic creative culture. This is a must-see visual and environmental experience.
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A Very Hungry Caterpillar on Broadway
Berkshire's Eric Carle's Stories and Art Live
By: - Feb 07th, 2016Puppets in the collage-inspired work of Eric Carle engage in story-telling on Broadway. Three actors tell four of Carle's stories in the magical tones of familiar classics, the audience is incanting phrases like, "but he was still hungry." The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Art and its literacy programs in Amherst benefit from this production of Jonathan Rockefeller's charming puppetry.
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Art of the Ozarks
From the Old Frontier to Fine Arts
By: - Jan 24th, 2016From Little Rock, we traveled to Fort Smith which is located on the Arkansas-Oklahoma border. Fort Smith was established in 1817 on the banks of the Arkansas River. Wild West history is celebrated in Fort Smith. During the Civil War, the North met the South here and there was lots of blood shed.
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John Stomberg Discusses Hood Museum
51 Million Expansion Designed by Tod Williams and Billie Tsien
By: - Jan 13th, 2016Recently we visited Dartmouth College where we learned that the Hood Museum of Art will close in March for renovations to begin this summer. We discussed these plans with an old friend, John Stomberg, who has just arrived in Hanover as the new director of the museum.
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Giant White Bunnies at the Lawn on D
Down the Pop Culture Rabbit Hole
By: - Jan 12th, 2016In recent years several serious artists, Amanda Parer among them, have created giant inflatable pieces with the aim of making cultural and political statements. Last year, five giant white rabbits took over the Lawn on D for a few days. They were not just visually compelling but intellectually provocative.
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Robert Morgan's Large Watercolors
AVA Gallery and Art Center, Lebanon, N.H
By: - Jan 11th, 2016The occasion of an opening for Large Watercolors by Robert Morgan inspired a winter break weekend. On Friday night we visited the spacious and lively AVA Gallery and Art Center in Lebanon, N.H. We spent Saturday at Dartmouth College in nearby Hanover viewing the Orozco murals and works in the Hood Museum of Art. There was a lot of remarkable work to enjoy and think about.
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Dinosaurs in Their Time in Pittsburgh
Displayed at Carnegie Museum of Natural History
By: - Jan 11th, 2016What began in 1899 with the discovery of Diplodocus carnegii eventually led to the museum’s current Dinosaurs in Their Time, the first permanent exhibition in the world to feature scientifically accurate, immersive environments spanning the Age of Dinosaurs—arranged chronologically and filled with actively posed original fossil specimens.
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Patrick Dougherty's Stickwork
Architectural Sculpture That Interweaves Myth and Reality
By: - Jan 10th, 2016By weaving and intertwining branches and twigs, environmental artist Patrick Dougherty crafts primitive yet metaphorical structures around the world. These structures are at once mythic and primitive touching chords on our human instrument. A wonderful installation was set adjacent to the Peabody Essex Museum for several months in 2015. Rather than just closing, the environmental statement had begun to deteriorate back into its earlier natural form.
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Dazzling Architectural Allusions at the deCordova
Exploring Presence of Architecture in Contemporary Sculpture
By: - Jan 08th, 2016After years of a yard full of junk, the current curatorial staff at the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum has cleaned up its act and created a wonderful sculpture environment. Architectural Allusions is a stunning exhibit underscoring architectural gesture as sculpture and sculptural form as architectural statement. Now, everybody wins.
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The Rain Room in LA
Bone Dry California Enjoys Unique LACMA Exhibition
By: - Jan 06th, 2016How does the special exhibition at LACMA, The Rain Room, work? Tim Rushby-Smith of the Royal Academy of Engineering said, ”The Rain Room installation includes injection moulded tiles, solenoid valves, pressure regulators, custom software, 3D tracking cameras, steel beams and 2,500 litres of water creating a downpour of a thousand litres of rain each minute.
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