Opinion
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Francesco Clemente's Encampment at Mass MoCA
With Jim Shaw to January, 2016
By: - Jun 13th, 2015During the Pluralism of the 1980s the Italian born artist Francesco Clemente was a part of the neo expressionist movement. Having recently reinvented himself the artist who lives in New York and India had a series of glitzy decoratve tents fabricated by artisans. The artist has painted the interiors with provocative, fluid, naive narratives. This imajor installtion in Mass MoCA's vast Building Five has been paired with the cartoon inspired, theatrical scaled paintings of the populist artist./ musician conceptualist Jim Shaw. The work is obviously fun and accessible but skates on thin ice.
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Hippy
Stranger Than Fiction
By: - Jun 15th, 2015Old men in the waiting room comparing aches and pains. First thing in the morning appointment for cortisone shot. Checking e mail. Note from a colleague updated on postponed hip replacements.
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ICA Boston to Survey Black Mountain College
Leap Before You Look: Black Mountain College 1933–1957
By: - Jun 16th, 2015When the rise of the Third Reich led to closing the Bauhaus in 1933 the architect Walter Gropius and his wife the weaver. artist Anni regrouped in rural North Carolina to establish a small experimental outpost for advanced art and design Black Mountain College. The faculty and students were intended to build their dorms and studios as well as grow their food and raise livestock. Never having a solid endowment the experiment ended in 1957. Gropius went on to Harvard and the rest of the faculty scattered. The impact on post war American arts was indelible. Organized by former curator Helen Molesworth this promises to be one of the most ambitious and informative exhibitions of the fall season. It will be on view in Boston Oct. 10, 2015 to Jan. 24, 2016 and then travel to LA and Columbus, Ohio.
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Basment Tapes
Tales from the Crypt of the MFA
By: - Jun 16th, 2015During my recent book launch at The Mount my friend private art dealer Jim Jacobs regaled playwright Mark St. Germain with stories of our time together as interns in the Museum of Fine Arts back in the 1960s. At Mark's suggestion this has now inspired a suite of poems gathered as The Basement Tapes. It is my first attempt to create an extended work an idea which previously was suggested by my poet friend and mentor Stephen Rifkin
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June
From Town to Country
By: - Jun 17th, 2015Migrant workers. The annual move from loft in North Adams to house in Adams. Summer and winter just minutes from each other. Odd to some makes perfect sense. Seasonal chores of planting flower and vegetable beds. Hopes of harvest and bouquets in the house. Glorious life in the bucolic Berkshires.
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Fireworks
First Kiss Fourth of July
By: - Jun 17th, 2015Circling each other in the art world connected at CAVS event. Came late to my holiday party new house in East Boston. First date and kiss that week. Fireworks then and ever since.
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Under the Apple Tree
Backyard Wedding in East Boston
By: - Jun 17th, 2015We hired our neighbor Ritchie, a chef, to prepare food for our backyard East Boston wedding. The inept students I hired never bothered to turn on the oven. They were too busy being guests. So we served the backup lasagna I made that morning. Then I got dissed by my best man and sister. It was quite the occasion.
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Hosta la Vista Baby
Morning Manta
By: - Jun 17th, 2015Never met a hosta I didn't like; the vinyl siding of landscape gardening. We have a number of varieties. Each spring some of them split to start new ones. Circles around trees and dramatic accents in flower beds. My favorite is viewed each morning over coffee from our dining room window. Last year critters got to it and ruined my summer meditations.
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Son of a Beach
Screw Skull and Bones
By: - Jun 19th, 2015Time was when parents bragged about their kids getting into Ivy League Schools then on to law, medicine or an MBA. Not anymore.
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Cancer
Panic Attack
By: - Jun 20th, 2015My mom, Dr. Flynn, had an instant cure for cancer of the elbows.
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Hook
Abstract Art
By: - Jun 22nd, 2015Cracking the code of complex concepts for most people it helps to have a humanizing hook. What is the anecdote and eureka moment that allows us to connect with daunting aesthetics and technologies? It is the sizzle which enhances the flavor of the steak.
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Tarzan
Swingers in the Berkshires
By: - Jun 22nd, 2015A reunion this summer in the Berkshire church that Ray and Alice made famous. This time though I won't be swinging on the rope. Planning to keep both feet on the ground.
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Null
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Kerouac
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Nudie's of Hollywood
Gonzo Rhinestone Cowboy
By: - Jun 24th, 2015The orange suit with bolero jacket and rhinestone designs was made for a one hit wonder who never picked it up. Since it was a perfect fit Nudie, the designer of the stars, made me an offer I could not refuse. Wearing it always resulted in total gonzo adventures.
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Sublimating Text into Image & Image into Text
Pictorializing the Linear Barcode Symbology at Berkshire Artist Museum
By: - Jul 01st, 2015The art historian, Keith Shaw, has organized That '70s Show which is part one of a Then and Now project for the Berkshire Artist Museum in North Adams, Mass. He asked 15 artists to exhibit selections from some 40 years ago as well as their current work. In the case of Robert Henriquez his single piece is both Then and Now. The concept was conceived in the 1970s but it it only recently that digital programming has progressed sufficiently to realize a singular work of art. This research and technology has resulted in a stunning work of museum level quality.
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Charity
Helping the Homeless
By: - Jul 04th, 2015The homeless hag hit on me for something to eat. That was cool but she pulled a fast one.
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Provincetown's Chris Busa on Ekphrasis
Publisher of 30-year-old Provincetown Arts Magazine
By: - Jul 23rd, 2015This summer Chris Busa has published the 30th annual issue of Provincetown Arts Magazine. The publication which is organized as a non profit is a widely respected compendium of the arts in the Lower Cape, past and present. The award winning magazine covers the fine arts, literature with and emphasis on poetry, film and theatre.
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Van Gogh and Nature at Clark Art Institute
Summer Blockbuster in the Berkshires
By: - Aug 04th, 2015The blockbuster summer exhibition, through September 13, is testing the limits of the recently renovated and expanded Clark Art Institute to handle maximum visitation even mid week. Only a few of the 50 works in the exhibition Van Gogh and Nature will be readily familiar to visitors. Many of the works on view, gathered from major collections, rarely travel to special exhibitions such as this. The curators have provided an intimate view of his daily practice and meticulous study of nature.
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Thoughts
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Fishing
No Luck with NOAA
By: - Aug 05th, 2015The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) regulates fishing. They say there's no cod out there. Tell that to lobstermen with their traps clogged.
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Seeing Is Believing
À la recherche du temps perdu
By: - Aug 05th, 2015How long does it take to look at a work of art and remember it, or not, forever?
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Roberto Lugo an Emerging Ceramics Artist
Ferrin Contemporary Opening on Aug.22
By: - Aug 06th, 2015Roberto Lugo, at 33, has emerged on the local art scene, thanks to Leslie Ferrin and her outreach program for artists in the ceramics, pottery world. His show opens on the Mass MoCA campus at Ferrin Contemporary on August 22.
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Tom Krens Proposes a New North Adams Museum
The Global Contemporary Collection and Museum Planned for Route Two
By: - Aug 12th, 2015While director of the Williams College Museum of Art Tom Krens initiated plans for Mass MoCA. When he left for a 20 year career at the Guggenheim Museum in New York that project moved forward under Joe Thompson. Now Krens, a Williams graduate and Williamstown home owner, is proposing to create a for profit museum on leased land fronting the high traffic corridor between MoCA, Williams College and the newly expanded and renovated Clark Art Institute.
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Mostly Mozart Presents Emerging Talent
Cape Cod Chamber Music, Met Opera Baritone Plus Bard Pianist
By: - Aug 18th, 2015Mostly Mozart. adding a soupçon of musical interest for its audiences and a splendid opportunity for rising young talent to perform in important venues, offers a concert pre-concert, in which you might even hear Emmanuel Ax. Avery FIsher Hall, configured for the Festival, is an acoustically satisfying, intimate experience.
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