For two nights, on April 26 and 27, the small city of Broad Brook, Connecticut came together to celebrate art, skateboarding and music as one. The K. Simon Center for the Arts held the show, “Going Places,” where hand-painted and printed skateboard decks lined a wall, New England artists showcased their work in colorful displays for visitors to purchase, and rhythmic beats reverberated throughout the second-story room. Creativity pulsed through the space. Featured vendors included MelRose Denim (@melrose_denim on Instagram), creators of denim jackets with vintage and iconic printed images like Polaroid, Bob Marley and MTV, as well as other repurposed denim items like placemats. Positive State Apparel (@positivestate_apparel) also sold clothing with their signature Positive State name repeated row after row on t-shirts, ending with “have a nice day,” inspired from the plastic grocery … [Read more...] about STREET STYLE: ‘GOING PLACES’ AT THE K. SIMON CENTER; PAINT FOR PREVENTION EVENT ON MAY 11
REVIEW: INDECENT AT THE HUNTINGTON AVENUE THEATRE
The original author of “Indecent,” now playing at the Huntington Avenue Theatre through May 25, was a poet living in a small village in Poland in the first decade of the last century. Sholem Asch was newly married, young and hopeful that he had the talent to express himself not only in a few volumes of respectable verse but on the wider stage of drama, thereby impressing a larger audience with the passions that stirred his soul. The birth then, of “Indecent” came not in English but in Yiddish. It was a drama titled “Got fun Nekome,” which translates to the melodramatic “God of Vengeance” starring a strong-minded Jewish father and brothel entrepreneur who was determined to marry his daughter to a learned and pious Jew in order to capture a higher social status than the one which bubbled so profitably, but, let’s face it, meanly, tucked away in the basement of his mansion. The … [Read more...] about REVIEW: INDECENT AT THE HUNTINGTON AVENUE THEATRE
WELCOME: FROM BRIAN GOSLOW
As we were putting the final touches on this issue, our 80th, our publisher, Kaveh Mojtabai, told me, “The fashion work on our cover harkens back to an era of family, honor and Sufi creed (compassion, love, patience and peace with all religions and people) to keep unity within tribes and clans for the betterment of future generations. It reminds me of one the most popular shows in the world on Netflix, Diriliş — or ‘Resurrection’ in Turkish, taking place in the 13th century during the founding of the Ottoman Empire.” The storyline follows a nomadic Kayı tribe caught “in the designs of a violent world that has lost its way,” with different tribes pitted against one another and innocent villagers being plundered in the process. “Eventually, the tribe can settle and create a new era based on its cultural humanitarian values.” It doesn’t sound too different from how today’s arts … [Read more...] about WELCOME: FROM BRIAN GOSLOW
AN EXCEPTIONAL EXPERIENCE: PHOTOGRAPHING THE FEMALE AT THE BEACON
Being a woman by society’s standards means presenting a face of beauty to the world, one brushed with makeup and a smile. It means keeping up with fashion, spraying perfume to smell like sweetness, staying slim, keeping her inside processes discrete, being a wife, caring for kids, cooking and cleaning, all while holding down a job to support the family. But being a woman carries much more than this. Being a woman truly means strength, having confidence in her own skin. In “Photographing the Female,” on view at Beacon Gallery through June 2, the photographs curated by Danish photographer and writer, Sarah Høilund, show how different cultures mold a woman in various ways. But, there is an underlying feeling of unity, a kind of cosmic connection, a harmony between all of the women in focus. “It’s been an exceptional experience just putting the show together from the point of view as a … [Read more...] about AN EXCEPTIONAL EXPERIENCE: PHOTOGRAPHING THE FEMALE AT THE BEACON
SHAPED BY OIL: MATHEWS DOCUMENTS LIFE IN THE CASPIAN STATES
Photographer Chloe Dewe Mathews brings the environmental and cultural facets of the five countries bordering the Caspian Sea to viewers in the recently-opened exhibition, “Caspian: The Elements.” In October 2018, Mathews published a book under the same title with 125 of her photographs. Now, 30 of those photographs are being displayed at Harvard’s Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnology in a captivating exhibition. Mathews spent five years traveling through Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan, capturing the lives of their peoples and the various unique landscapes surrounding the sea, while showing how natural resources influence the regions and their inhabitants. Each nation has different ways of using their resources and varying climates, but the Caspian Sea still unifies these countries. The exhibition provides an immersive experience for the attendees, … [Read more...] about SHAPED BY OIL: MATHEWS DOCUMENTS LIFE IN THE CASPIAN STATES
SHOOTING FOR PEACE: BRODSKY’S PHOTOS BRING MOVEMENT TO KEENE STATE
There are events in human history which irrevocably alter the course of a life, a people and our global family. We have all seen images of the aftermath of cataclysmic natural disasters, but when catastrophe is deliberately imposed by another, there is no measurement for its human toll. Yet among the untold tragedies inflicted on the innocent, there are stories of individuals who have been able to transcend, and even transform these cruelties into expressions of empathic witness and universal relevance. In 1979, the brother of Argentine-born artist Marcelo Brodsky, Fernando Brodsky, was abducted by the Argentine Security Forces operating under the military government who were installed to power following the violent coup of March 1976. From an affluent Jewish family, Fernando Brodsky was known to be involved in socialist causes, and was “disappeared” among close to 30,000 persons … [Read more...] about SHOOTING FOR PEACE: BRODSKY’S PHOTOS BRING MOVEMENT TO KEENE STATE