FEATURED GALLERY
COURTING THE UNCONTROLLABLE, PARTS I & II
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF WOMEN ARTISTS OF MASSACHUSETTS
GALATEA FINE ART
460 HARRISON AVENUE B-6
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
PART 1: JANUARY 3 THROUGH 28
PART 2: FEBRUARY 1 THROUGH 25
by J. Fatima Martins
In her statement about “Courting the Uncontrollable I & II,” artist Marsha Nouritza Odabashian explained why she was selected as exhibition juror: “Establishing a relationship to the uncontrolled is an interest of mine, through the stories extracted from onion skins randomly poured onto paper and canvas. While I have enjoyed developing and jurying these two shows, my work is only included through imagery to help clarify my choices.”
“Courting the Uncontrollable I & II” are the inaugural shows in the Curator’s Platform at Galatea Fine Arts, Boston, and the theme of the exhibition was developed by Jennifer Jean Costello, co-vice president and exhibitions chair of the National Association of Women Artists of Massachusetts (NAWAMA).
As you would expect, the exhibitions offer diversity, although abstraction predominates the presentation. In her juror’s statement, Odabashian explained what the exhibition attempts to communicate: “The works range from simply musing or dreamlike, to playfulness and obsessing. The uncontrollability of the external world of politics to the imaged natural forces of the psychological and internal plays on human relationships. Through our art we express our past, we interpret our world, we comment on our condition, and we express our hopes and fears about the future.”
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SNOWED IN: ARTISTS REFLECT ON IMMINENT CHANGE
THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM
ATTLEBORO ARTS MUSEUM
86 PARK STREET
ATTLEBORO, MASSACHUSETTS
SEPTEMBER 16 THROUGH 23
by Suzanne Volmer
Inspired by Emily St. John Mandel’s novel “Station Eleven,” “The Calm Before the Storm,” an exhibition of original snow globes at Attleboro Arts Museum, is a short-term show taking place from September 16 through 23 and is the visual art component to the National Endowment for the Arts-funded Big Read initiative taking place this fall in Attleboro, Mass.
The exhibition, curated by museum director Mim Brooks Fawcett, explores ideas that arise in relation to concepts brought forward by St. John Mandel’s novel — Attleboro’s Big Read book selection — a dystopian fiction and National Book Award finalist. The exhibition and related programs are funded primarily as a tandem community initiative between the Attleboro Arts Museum and Attleboro Public Library, along with other community partners.
Because walking figures are cited prominently in the book, some out-door walks are planned. Free copies of “Station Eleven” will be available at the museum, library and partner locations while supplies last.
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YOU DON’T SAY?: COMING TOGETHER AT CHAZAN
REVIEW
IT’S WHAT YOU DON’T SAY: AN EXHIBITION
OF WORKS BY JACQUELINE OTT,
LISA PEREZ AND SEAN RILEY
CHAZAN GALLERY AT WHEELER
228 ANGELL STREET
PROVIDENCE, RI
OCTOBER 19 – NOVEMBER 8
by Suzanne Volmer
During the past year, as a conscious step to break the isolation of studio practice and perhaps informally give a nod to the concept of a kinder, friendlier Rhode Island, Jacqueline Ott, Lisa Perez and Sean Riley — and a few other artist friends — decided to meet regularly to discuss their work. The meetings led to the proactive step taken by the three artists mentioned to apply together for a group exhibition at Chazan Gallery, which advertises its open call for artists every two years. Most often, those selected are not unknown to the jurors, who with this knowledge create informed pairings. In this case, Ott, Perez and Riley had an idea of correspondence they wanted to highlight by focusing attention on the similarities and differences in their work, while paying homage to the experience of shared critique time, which they used to advance their aesthetics as artists.
During my visit to Jacqueline Ott’s studio to view her artworks prior to the Chazan Gallery exhibition, she seemed somewhat like the living embodiment of the show title: “It’s in what you don’t say.” Initially, there was a sort of vacuity of silence that resonated with irony. Gracious as she was about fulfilling the request to see her artwork, an interview per se was perhaps not in the cards. From the silence, she offered few clues to understanding the work. When pressed for information, Ott related she preferred the viewer to step forward with an interpretation of the meaning or contextualization of her reductive, geometric, pattern-based works. After a while, she said that she wanted to choose colors for this suite of work that would have neither masculine nor feminine connotation
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WALK OF LIFE: VAUGHAN OLIVER AT LESLEY
COVER STORY
VAUGHAN OLIVER: WALKING BACKWARDS
LUNDER ARTS CENTER, LESLEY UNIVERSITY
1801 MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE
CAMBRIDGE, MA
SEPTEMBER 5 – OCTOBER 22
by Lisa Mikulski
There is a good amount of graphic design work that reveals itself as being quite pedestrian. And then there is the work that elevates the field and serves to inspire not only the design community, but the target audience — the consumer — as well.
The work of legendary designer Vaughan Oliver reminds me why I love graphic design: it’s wizardry.
Elegant and message-honored, Oliver’s work is known for its emotional and ethereal quality. His influence has inspired not only graphic designers, but also fashion designers, advertising creatives, music journalists and film directors.
Vaughan Oliver has enjoyed a 35-year career as an art director, designer and typographer. He built his reputation on creating work for the record company 4AD, designing its album covers, posters and lyric booklets. The beauty of this work is in the ways he devised visual interpretations that aspired to be the equivalent of the music itself.
“Walking Backwards,” on view at Lesley University’s Lunder Arts Center, features selections taken from Oliver’s extensive archive and reveals the work of a man who is an interdisciplinary connector, a unique art director of image and text and a generous collaborator of practices.
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Greg Lookerse: Literary Soil at Fruitlands Museum
By Taryn Plumb
Harvard, MA – “Moby Dick”: Herman Melville’s classic tale of obsession. Adored by academics and mere lovers of the English word; abhorred by others forced to dissect and regurgitate it in high school and college.
But for Greg Lookerse? It’s not only an inspiration for art — it is art.
For his solo exhibition, “Literary Soil,” the California-born artist tore pages from his copy of the 1851 classic, then smeared them with pigments to simulate roiling waves or thick oil slicks, and grew salt crystals atop them to create a briny, crusty sensation.
The end result is a tactile representation of the written word.
“Overall the show for me is about the roots and ideas that come from reading,” said Lookerse, “and so each piece is somehow tied to a specific book or story or legend or myth.”
The exhibit will be on display at Fruitlands Museum in Harvard, Mass., through August 20; the work was crafted during Lookerse’s 2017 artist-in-residence at both Fruitlands and The Old Manse in Concord.
Lookerse, who describes himself as a “reader who does not know how to write,” creates complex, thought-provoking pieces that intertwine elements of classic literature and religious practices, and explore what he calls the “incongruities” between the physical and metaphysical planes.
“A huge influence of my work is looking at western art history and the ways in which religion and philosophy intermix,” said the artist. “I’m trying to come full circle and think about all of these different disciplines, all of these different ideas, and see how it works within the context of the literature pieces.”
For example, in one piece he cut and folded pages from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Nature and Other Essays,” arranging them in a mandala pattern that could be a flower — or an ornately-decorated cathedral window.
Meanwhile, Henry David Thoreau’s journal is transformed into a labyrinth encircling and curling around a stark praying bench.
Other pieces in the show — around 30 in total — include a wall of 50 black icons with a kneeling bench, and rocks of various sizes, colors and shapes encased under glass domes.
Lookerse, who identifies as a sculptor, painter and performance artist (among other descriptors,) embraces abstraction. Words, after all, he said, are just that.
“Abstraction as a whole I think is really misunderstood outside of the academic art culture,” he said.
He added that, “There’s a level of absurdity through all art, and then there’s the artist asking the audience to have a bit of faith in what they’re presenting,” whether that’s purely enjoying the aesthetics, thinking about its implications, or developing their own interpretation.
Lookerse’s particular style of abstraction arises not only from his themes, but his process.
He describes himself as “a little like a Swiss Army knife,” using whatever tools and materials he needs in the studio — manipulating them to explore their limitations and figure out new ways to use them – to bring tangibility to an idea. There’s a lot of tinkering; a lot of mistakes.
“It’s a process of exploring and trying new things,” he said. And eventually, “you find a little nougat of ‘Hmmm, that was interesting.’”
(“Greg Lookerse: Literary Soil” remains on view through August 20 at Fruitlands Museum, 102 Prospect Hill Rd., Harvard, Mass. For more information, call (978) 456-3924.).
Da Vinci — The Genius at the Museum of Science
By Kate Kenney
Cambridge, MA – Inside the Museum of Science is a dark room full of realized dreams that’s hosting a temporary exhibit from Grande Exhibitions and Pascal Cotte, France: “Da Vinci — The Genius,” an exhibition that allows visitors into Leonardo da Vinci’s world with a behind-the-paintings look at some of his most infamous creations.
One side of the room is decorated with large wooden models depicting da Vinci’s finest experimental designs. What were once simply notebook sketches have now been realized into life-sized hand-crafted models. Structures range from a canvas parachute that could be easily mistaken for architectural art piece, to a Jules Verneian — and honestly terrifying — diving suit complete with webbed flippers. Many of the objects show da Vinci’s curiosity in military engineering. A large wooden catapult and tank show his imaginative ideas on how to revolutionize defensive weaponry. Placards of da Vinci’s original sketches are helpfully displayed before the model, giving one a sense of how detailed his visions actually were.
One of the show’s most exceptional pieces is “Meccanismo d’Orologio,” a wooden clock designed from da Vinci’s sketches by a 90-year-old artisan from da Vinci’s home of Vinci, Tuscany. True craftsmanship and the delicate arrangement of art and function give viewers a sense of the timelessness of da Vinci’s creations. A surprising find in the exhibit is a set of two costumes da Vinci crafted for a duke, Ludovico Sforza. Both men’s and women’s dress are featured with draped yellow velvet and green embroidered trim. They are both elegant and fun in color and design.
Across the room is the artwork of da Vinci with a focused look at the “Mona Lisa.” A replica model of the painting hangs in a clear glass display that allows viewers a 360 degree look at the painting, unframed, as only a curator or specialist would see it. A feature on recent studies of the “Mona Lisa” with The Layer Amplification Method show the various pieces of the painting that have been painted over or hidden by the artist. With new advances in technology curators have uncovered certain hidden aspects, such as small pentagrams, which give evidence that earlier sketches of the “Mona Lisa” were that of a goddess or saint.
“Da Vinci — The Genius” gives viewers at glimpse of the artists’ virtuoso spirit and a love for invention and craft. One can only marvel at da Vinci’s work brought to life with such detail and care.
(“Da Vinci— The Genius” continues through February 26, 2017 at the Museum of Science, 1 Science Park, Boston. For more information, call (617) 723-2500 or visit mos.org/exhibits/da-vinci-the-genius.)