Presented as part of the College of the Holy Cross’s Arts Transcending Borders program, the Cantor Art Gallery, One College St., Worcester, Massachusetts, is hosting an artist residency with Kevork Mourad, for which the Syrian-Armenian visual artist has created “Memory Gates” that will be on view from March 4 through April 11. Using his “signature style of spontaneous drawing and printmaking techniques,” the immersive installation is encouraged to be “imagined as a series of doors and passageways that visitors can pass through, will explore themes of cultural plurality and collective memory.” The gallery is open by appointment only Tuesday through Friday from noon-5 p.m. with limited Saturday availability.
An exhibition of large-scale acrylic paintings on shaped canvas and watercolor on paper by Clare Asch, “Round Dances and Convergences,” will be on view from March 5 through 28 at Galatea Fine Art, 460 Harrison Ave. #B-6, Boston, Massachusetts. “In this series of paintings, I continue to explore the interaction of gestural abstraction and geometry, with the circle being my main focus,” she explained. “I find the implied motion and fluidity of the circle fascinating. For me, circles bring to mind wheels. They are also associated with the universal symbol of wholeness as can be seen in mandalas and medicine wheels.” March will also see “Clues: New Drawings and Prints” by Cynthia Maurice at Galatea.
Warwick, Rhode Island-based Eveline Luppi and Holliston, Massachusetts- based Richard Kattman are paired in “Perspectives” from March 7 through 26 at the Providence Art Club, 11 Thomas St., Providence, Rhode Island “My four artworks are large abstract paintings completed either in studio or plein-air at awarded Artist Residences, Fruitlands Museum and Brush Creek Ranch, Wyoming. The series is based on the colors red, yellow, blue and green, as a palette developed to insure a constant source of ideas,” Kattman said. Luppi noted that she’s entering a new phase with her work, with a lot of positive response to a new style she is exploring, which she said, “synthesizes my origins in abstract expression, with a sequel to years of painting geometrically. This new style is spontaneous, integrating a color-field approach in blue and associated accentuating colors, revealing subconscious symbols and deeply structured emotions.”
“Anthropause” — a term that’s been coined to describe the dramatic interruption in human activity as a result of the pandemic lockdowns — is the title of an exhibition of works by Jeanne D’Amico, Natalie MacKnight, Brent Mathison, Peggy McClure and Judith Stein at 6 Bridges Gallery’s temporary location at 63 Nason St., Maynard, Massachusetts. Each artist is presenting new bodies of work that reflect their personal responses to these extraordinary circumstances. “The pandemic’s societal interruptions influenced and shifted the artists’ connections with nature, leading them to new explorations of techniques and approaches, and deepening their artistic practice. Works in the exhibit include ceramics, drawings, photography, collage and mixed media paintings.” The show continues through March 27.
“Christina Pitsch: Love so so ordinary” remains on view through April 16 at the Anna Maria College Art Center Gallery, 50 Sunset Lane, Paxton, Massachusetts. “The work is in constant dialogue with itself,” writes gallery director Darrell Matsumoto in the exhibition’s catalogue, noting that the installation, “provides a unique view, challenging the conventions of beauty, utility, and the familiar. Pitsch’s challenge to the viewer presents a fascinating visual conundrum. She has chosen commonplace objects, which subvert the typical definition of beauty and value. It is clear that the forms are elements usually found at a construction site, storage yard, or in a tip bin. However, the ubiquitous, cast-mold form, which is produced/ reproduced painstakingly in elegant porcelain and bone china, presents its inherent dichotomy to the viewer.”
One of our most popular covers ever (May/June 2008) was Robert C. Jackson’s “Doggone” painting of two balloon dogs sitting on top of his signature collection of vintage soda cartons that was taken by many as a humorous take on Jeff Koons’ large glass animals. While that collection represents 15 to 20 percent of his back catalog, when the Mattatuck Museum asked for a show of only his balloon dog paintings, Jackson was initially disappointed. Since that request, he found himself feeling that as our battle with COVID-19 seems never ending, it might just be the kind of exhibition that presents just what we all need right now. “I became thrilled at the opportunity to put such a smile on people’s faces,” he wrote in a recent Facebook post. “The show presents an overwhelming sense of color and fun.” “Unleashed: The Art of Robert C. Jackson” is on view through April 18 at Mattatuck Museum, 63 Prospect St., Waterbury, Connecticut. Timed tickets are available at mattmuseum.org.
Three “New Media” themed exhibitions will be on view from March 31 through May 2 at the Kingston Gallery, 450 Harrison Ave., Boston. Working primarily on her iPad with the Procreateappthatallowshertoanimate her artwork in layers, Ilona Anderson’s “Flying Without a Parachute” will feature lively animations that celebrate being alive despite the world’s horrors. Kledia Spiro’s “Too (un)Familiar?” a multimedia experience combining photography and a video performance of her weightlifting practice, is augmented by a reality and installation that challenges ideas surrounding immigration, the sense of home and the passage of time. Nat Martin’s “All Is Well” combines photography and gifs to describe anxious thoughts that creep up in the middle of the night, spinning a narrative of nostalgic eeriness.
The Bennington Museum, 75 Main St., Bennington, Vermont reopens on April 2 with “Neveruses: Beyonder by J Stoner Blackwell.” Drawing on Blackwell’s interest in early Americandesign,especiallyShakerfurniture,the centerpiecesoftheexhibitionaretwolarge-scale works in which Blackwell explores new directions for her ongoing Neveruses, which originated over 10 years ago “as singular, self-contained objects composed of a single-use plastic bag that had been altered and embellished to become a work of art,” explained curator Jamie Franklin.
Artist and composer Guillermo Galindo’s “Sonic Biogenesis: Genomics and Mutant Jungles” continues through May 2 at Beacon Gallery, 524B Harrison Ave., Boston. The exhibition features Galindo’s “genome scores” which consist of graphic representations of his musical compositions and artwork merging textures of plants, animals and microbes, its pieces illustrating, in Galindo’s unique symbolic language, how research and data have historically expressed and sustained systems of power, particularly relating to colonialism. “Galindo calls this body of work an ethno-futurist ‘window to mutant environment’ as he sees a direct link to his artwork and the human-made environmental modifications that are ushering societies around the world towards dystopian futures,” the gallery noted.