Ralph Mercer at Galatea Fine Art by Brian Goslow Needham, Mass.-based photographer Ralph Mercer earned his BFA in photography and education from the Rhode Island School of Design and his MFA in visual arts from the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth. His current show, “Body and Soul: Discovering My Muse,” on view at Galatea Fine Art through Nov. 29, features work from his “Myths” series and “implies a spiritual connection through merging of a human figure with a natural organic subject.” This Saturday (Nov. 21) at 2 p.m., Mercer will be giving a special kind of gallery talk in which he’ll be staging a live photography shoot and demonstration with a live figure model, then take the final work and combine it with an existing file from his photo archive to compose a final image. A few days prior to the event, Artscope’s managing editor Brian Goslow “cornered” Mercer to … [Read more...] about Cornered
Visual Arts
Brattleboro Street Artist
Borofsky in Brattleboro by Brian Goslow During the monthly First Friday Brattleboro Gallery Walk, which takes place from 5:30-8:30 p.m., there will be a reception at the Latchis Theatre Art Gallery, 50 Main St., for a multi-media installation featuring paintings, photographs and films. Works on paper used for creating downtown outdoor artworks will also be shown and offered for sale in a silent auction, with all proceeds going to benefit public art projects in downtown Brattleboro. The Barber Building Lobby, 68 Main St., will also be open during the Gallery Walk for public viewing of murals and restoration done there by Borofsky. The original painting, “The Story of Fresh Water,” which inspired one of the two murals, is included as part of the Latchis Gallery installation. On Saturday (Nov. 7) , there will be a reception at 1 p.m. in the parking area of the Cultural … [Read more...] about Brattleboro Street Artist
Cornered
CORNERED: JOE FIG: INSIDE THE ARTIST’S STUDIO AT CARROLL & SONS Last month, Princeton Architectural Press released “Inside the Artist’s Studio,” the second book by Joe Fig, in which 24 “painters, video and mixed-media artists, sculptors and photographers” share their production tools and techniques and the habit and strategies for getting work done — including background music, work hours and relationships with family, friends, gallerists and curators. This week, an exhibition of the same name featuring new paintings, sculptures and drawings by Fig goes on view at Carroll and Sons, 450 Harrison Ave., Boston; the opening reception takes place on Friday night (Nov. 6) from 5:30-7:30 p.m. The exhibition runs through December 18. For more information, call (617) 482-2477. Artscope magazine editor Brian Goslow “Cornered” Fig to discuss both the new exhibition and … [Read more...] about Cornered
Sunday at the SoWa
If you missed South End Open Studios, First Fridays are the next best thing; visiting with Ann Strassman & John Gonnella by Shem Tane (Artscope is proud of its intern program which has an end goal of helping area college students polish their writing, reporting and research skills to help develop the next generation of art reviewers and critics. We also think this provides a valuable insight to artists and galleries to see what kind of first impressions they give those students who’ve invested their lives to find their place amongst their profession.) Last month, I traveled down to Boston’s SoWa neighborhood to take in the South End Open Studios. I was expecting the gallery to be set up in one room with each artist standing by their work. Instead the gallery was split up among different rooms and floors. Traveling down the semi-florescent floors reminded me of … [Read more...] about Sunday at the SoWa
Untangled
Percy Fortini-Wright: Entangled Lines at the Copley Society of Art by Shem Tane Using acrylic or spray paint, the art style of Percy Fortini-Wright’s, whose “Entangled Rhymes” exhibition opened last Thursday, Oct. 8, at Boston’s Copley Society of Art, focuses on the background of the urban environment. His latest works are heavily rooted in black and white contrast and how each color interacts with each other; graffiti has been one of his main influences in his catalog of work. In creating one piece, “My Left Hand Stuck in the Matrix, I'm the Apex I steal Science off Spaceships,” he said that he strived to combine, “the feeling of order and chaos.” The perspective of the piece is slightly distorted, with the diagonal border between the cityscape and the checker floor. The perspective itself also creates the image to be compressed, yet expansive with the collection of … [Read more...] about Untangled
Cornered: Circling Around Nebraska City with Lisa Barthelson
By J. Fatima Martins Lisa Barthelson, who lives in Rutland, Massachusetts, and maintains a studio in Worcester, is a master mixed-media sculptor and printmaker, encaustic artist, experimental photographer and occasional curator and arts administrator. She is an Artscope Magazine favorite who has been mentioned and discussed in several past essays and was the feature, along with Carrie Crane, in a review of their collaborative exhibition “Here, Now” (2011). Barthelson is now at a transitional point: having left the “emerging artist” stage long ago, she’s getting comfortable being within the “established artist” domain. Right now, she’s participating in five New England exhibitions — listed here at the end of the interview section. In one of her most recent emails to me, Barthelson wrote a casually wise send off that captured poignantly the purpose of art making. Her words … [Read more...] about Cornered: Circling Around Nebraska City with Lisa Barthelson