I’ve written hundreds of reviews of galleries, museums and fine craft shows over the years, with many clever theme titles, but I must say this is among the cleverest titles I’ve seen. “Suspended Animation” is a fresh look at the concept and how it can be expressed as art. The mixed mediums of five artists span from assembly work, watercolor and oil paintings to found materials. The artwork selected for this exhibition offers perspectives on daily living and our connections to the spaces and structures of our lives. The diversity of this show adds immensely to the joy of experiencing it. There’s Andrew Chulyk, who won’t be limited by well-defined expectations. His career spans five decades and includes product and package design and works featured by the Society of Arts and Crafts and Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. His paintings have also been exhibited widely in museums and … [Read more...] about SUSPENDED ANIMATION
Features
AN INSPIRATIONAL PAIRING
Merriam Webster provides a primary and secondary definition of Indigenous: “produced, growing, living or occurring natively or naturally in a particular region or environment” and “of or relating to the earliest known inhabitants of a place and especially of a place that was colonized by a now-dominant group.” Both definitions might be applied to the cultural foundations of two expansive exhibitions running concurrently at the Hood Museum in Hanover, New Hampshire. “Park Dae Sung: Ink Reimagined” and “Maḏayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala” embody the preservation and development of personal and artistic identity in the wake of occupying influence, and the enduring strength of cultural tradition. Born in Kyŏngsang Province in 1945, the year Japan surrendered its decades-long annexation of Korea, Park Dae Sung was five years old when he lost his … [Read more...] about AN INSPIRATIONAL PAIRING
FIRE IN THE ATHENEUM
A trend of social commentary has emerged among the latest generation of glass artists, a conceptual development evident in “Fired Up: Glass Today,” an exhibition curated by Brandy Culp, Richard Koopman Curator of American Decorative Arts at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut. There are over 100 artworks by 57 artists in the exhibit. Included are works by luminaries of contemporary glass such as Dale Chihuly, Lino Tagliapietra and others, that foundationally frame perspectives by a new generation of glass artists combining consciousness raising content with aesthetics and technical skill. I spoke recently with Aaron Schey, co-owner of Habatat Detroit Fine Art, which represents a number of artists in “Fired Up: Glass Today” (including UK artist Hannah Gibson whom I met at the exhibition’s press opening). Schey and I discussed the current of activism as a … [Read more...] about FIRE IN THE ATHENEUM
‘3,800 HIDDEN TREASURES’
“Sixty Years of Collecting,” a two-semester exhibition at the University Museum of Contemporary Art (UMCA) at UMass Amherst, showcases 112 works from the museum’s permanent art collection. To some visitors, descending the concrete plazas, steps and ramps of 1960s Brutalist architecture leading to the Fine Arts Center’s entrance may recall academic fortresses and student protests. To younger ones, it’s a skateboard park. Although backpacks must stay outside, inside around the corner hangs Ryan McGinness’s silkscreened skateboard, lush with vegetation, and Keith Haring’s low-slung aluminum pyramid shimmers with teal and gold pictographs, beckoning to all ages. On an early October afternoon, moments of stillness and bursts of color draw me through the museum, past frequent doublings, folding, mirroring and reversals. Alison Saar’s sewn lithograph, a flip-flop image of an African and a … [Read more...] about ‘3,800 HIDDEN TREASURES’
A WELCOMED RETURN: DIVERSE DANFORTH ANNUAL CONTINUES TO BREAK GROUND
An annual tradition upended by a move to a new home on the Framingham Center Common, an April 2018 merger with Framingham State University and a worldwide pandemic, the 2022 return of the Danforth Annual Juried Exhibition is much needed both as a place where artists can show their work and as a place for both artists and art lovers to get out and see each other again. Featuring 72 works by 72 artists, the show was juried by Jessica Roscio, director and curator of the Danforth; Brian Bishop, professor of art at Framingham State University; and Juliet Feibel, executive director of ArtsWorcester. Most of the entries came from Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The show is a diverse collection of artists and styles that took three days to install until it had the right feel, so it’s only right to give installers Tim Johnson and Frank Graham a shout-out, because the end result is an … [Read more...] about A WELCOMED RETURN: DIVERSE DANFORTH ANNUAL CONTINUES TO BREAK GROUND
TEXT MESSAGES AT CCP: A CONVERSATION ON PRINTMAKING WITH KIMBERLY HENRIKSON
Kimberly Henrikson, the executive director of The Center for Contemporary Printmaking (CCP), curated its autumn exhibition “Text Messages,” that opens on September 11 and runs through October 30. I recently spoke with Henrikson about her curatorial choices for this show and the blue chip and emerging artists that reflect today’s text-based trends including Ben Beres, April Bey, Mel Bochner, Robert Cottingham, Lesley Dill, Shepard Fairey, Glenn Ligon, Edie Overturf and Lucas Samaras. Two of the names are of past CCP Resident Artists: April Bey (2019) and Edie Overturf (2021). “I am always scouting fairs and galleries to see what’s current, who is doing what — and to bring new ideas and artists to the community at CCP,” said Henrikson, talking about the excitement of first seeing prints by Ben Beres at Satellite Print Fair in New York City in 2019. “Davidson Galleries had the … [Read more...] about TEXT MESSAGES AT CCP: A CONVERSATION ON PRINTMAKING WITH KIMBERLY HENRIKSON