Whitney Museum of American Art

It started as an e mail dialogue. During a drive through the South West we arrived at the studio of the renowned Native American artist and activist, Jaune Quick To See Smith. That led to an exhibition of all new works on paper that I curated for the gallery of the New England School of Art and Design at Suffolk University. On that occasion Janune gave a special lecture to a general assembly of Suffolk students.This report is reposted from a 2005 article in Maverick Arts Magazine.

When we spoke with former Fogg Art Museum curator, Linda Norden, she was in the process of developing a project for the American Pavilion of the Venice Biennale with the California based artist Ed Ruscha. This dialogue is reposted from a 2005 article in Maverick Arts Magazine.

Following World War II the matrix of global contemporary art shifted from Paris to New York with the development of abstract expressionism as the leading movement of contemporary art of that era. During the 1950s there was much speculation about a Return to the Figure. Young artists who flocked to Provincetown to study with Hans Hofmann and Henry Hensche explored a synthesis through Figurative Expressionism. A number of these artists showed with Sun Gallery in Provincetown and Hansa Gallery in New York. The exhibition "Pioneers from Provincetown: The Roots of Figurative Expressionism" curated by Adam Zucker, Co-curator, Stephanie DeTroy focuses on this important movement.

When I got to Berlin in April, I looked up the artist Bonnie Woods who was staying here. I’ve known Bonnie for about 30 years—ever since we were both actively involved in the Boston Chapter of the Women’s Caucus for Art. In recent years she has spent considerable time in Germany, where her family lives.

The American Chapter of the International Society of Art Critics (AICA) announces its annual awards. There are a number of categories from site specific works to gallery and museum exhibitions.

Jaune Quick to See Smith is one of the foremost Native American artists of her generation. She will exhibit work on the theme of Water and War at the Accola Griefen Gallery in New York City from February 28 through April 6.

With the Whitney Museum of American Art winding down its time on Madison Avenue and preparing for a move downtown near the popular High Line the curators appear to have concoted a yard sale of ho hum exhibitions. There is a deadly combination of the recycled- Richard Artschwager! and Sinister Pop- and a signifier of the alleged bright future Wade Guyton: Os which I just don’t buy into.

Sarah Bapst, Katarina Burin, Mark Cooper, and Luther Price were named finalists for the 2013 James and Audrey Foster Prize, the ICA's biennial award and exhibition program for Boston-area artists, the museum announced today. Bapst, Burin, Cooper, and Price will participate in an exhibition organized by Helen Molesworth, Barbara Lee Chief Curator, on view at the ICA from May 1 through July 21, 2013.

ArtsEmerson: The World On Stage announces a second round of curated programming for the Paramount LED Windows on the façade of 559 Washington Street. The old Arcade Building LED Wall, first programmed last fall, now features a new show of work by three contemporary artists.

Back in 1932 the first Whitney Annual was unique. Since 1973 it has been the Whitney Biennial. Now there are lots of global Biennials. In that context the Whitney tries it keep up and stay relevant. The current version curated by Elisabeth Sussman and Jay Sanders has fewer works displayed with more space. As a signifier of recent trends one floor is devoted to performances not necessarily by artists. The downsized project is easier to digest but also quicker to forget.

Two new exhibitions open Aug. 1 at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston. The ICA is presenting the first solo U.S. museum exhibition of Brazilian street artists Os Gêmeos and work by Dianna Molzan who is creating an all new body of work for ICA exhibition

Sculpture, painting, installations, and photography—as well as dance, theater, music, and film—fill the galleries of the Whitney Museum of American Art in the latest edition of the Whitney Biennial. With a roster of artists at all points in their careers the Biennial provides a look at the current state of contemporary art in America. This is the seventy-sixth in the ongoing series of Biennials and Annuals presented by the Whitney since 1932, two years after the Museum was founded.

This June, the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston presents the first museum survey of Josiah McElheny. McElheny uses the ancient and labor intensive medium of glass to create objects of exceptional beauty and formal sophistication. An artist of diverse interests, McElheny draws on art history, politics, and cosmology (a branch of astronomy that deals with the structure of the universe) to encode his glassworks with information, turning these exquisite objects into repositories of meaning. A mid-career survey of the artist’s work, Josiah McElheny: Some Pictures of Infinity

The line between what is art and what is design is a wonderful area of connected delight. The late Isamu Noguchi was one of the greatest practitioners of this hybrid form usually as creative functional sculpture. His elegant furniture and furnishings are still in production and cherished today. His minimalist abstract sculpture are still strong statements of his eloquent visual language. Noguchi erased the line between form and function.

This is the seventy-sixth in the ongoing series of Biennials and Annuals presented by the Whitney since 1932, two years after the Museum was founded. The 2012 Biennial takes over most of the Whitney from March 1 through May 27, with portions of the exhibition and some programs continuing through June 10.

In 2001 David A. Ross, after a four year "honeymoon" was fired as the director of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Prior to that he served as director of Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Since departing as a museum director Ross has been a chameleon after decades in the art world with more than nine lives. Today he performs as lead singer with the band Red. His day gig is running a graduate program for the School of Visual Arts in New York.

The first special exhibition in the newly renovated Linde Family Wing of Contempoary Art is a survey of wood sculptures by Ellsworth Kelly. With this project the MFA honors one of the most distinguished among the alumni of its Museum School. During the opening Kelly spoke with the media about studying with Boston Expressionist Karl Zerbe.

On the occasion of the opening of the Linde Family Wing of Contemporary Art we reflect on a troubling history. There has been a struggle going back to the 1930s and the founding of the Institute of Contemporary Art. There has been an awkward relationship between the ICA, MFA and other museums in the area. It is now time for art workers to unite and throw off their chains.

Last given in 2006, the Maud Morgan Prize was initially established as a purchase prize for under recognized midcareer women artists. The MFA has been criticized for nor awarding this prize by the local community. It has now been slightly changed to be a direct cash prize of $10,000 rather than the initial $5000 purchase prize. Another change is that recognition will now be given to more distinguished women artists. A small MFA exhibit of the artist's work is part of the prize. This year's recipient, Wendy Jacob combines high purpose with sculptural forms.

During the tenure of Carl Belz as director of the Rose Art Museum I frequently reviewed the exhibitions and interviewed him for Art New England and other publications. During an extended dialogue Belz spoke in depth about presiding over one of the great collections of modern and contemporary art in the New England area.

For the past few decades, cities and prominent institutions have focused on creation of iconic buildings by star architects to underscore their prominence. After three major attempts in the last 25 years, The Whitney Museum of American Art has given up on building expansion of their Marcel Breuer designed iconic structure and are building a new museum downtown in NYC's Meatpacking District. This is a major statement about institutional icons.

Steve Nelson, president of the Music Museum Of New England, was the manager of legendary 1960s rock and blues club The Boston Tea Party. It was owned by Ray Riepen, a lawyer who came from Kansas City to become the leading entrepreneur in the Boston/Cambridge “counterculture” of the era. This second part of an extended dialogue with Charles Giuliano looks at how the Tea Party started and became a phenomenon.

The MIT List Visual Arts Center and the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston present the first museum survey of the work of media art pioneer Stan VanDerBeek (1927-1984). Surveying the artist's remarkable body of work in collage, experimental film, performance, participatory, and computer-generated art over several decades, Stan VanDerBeek: The Culture Intercom highlights the artist's pivotal contributions to today's media-based artistic practices.

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum announces the nominees for Rob Pruitt’s 2010 Art Awards, the second annual celebration honoring the notable individuals, exhibitions, and projects that have made a significant contribution to the field of contemporary art during the past year. Awards in 14 categories will be presented at a fundraising event to benefit the Guggenheim Foundation and visual arts non-profit White Columns on Wednesday, December 8, 2010, at the nightclub and music venue Webster Hall.

The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) announced today that Artistic Director Diane Paulus, Pulitzer prize-winning writer Suzan-Lori Parks, and two-time Obie winner Diedre Murray have been chosen by the Gershwin Trusts and the Heyward Trust to re-imagine the Gershwins’ seminal American opera Porgy and Bess.