Modern collage, invented by George Braque, Pablo Picasso and others in the early 20th century, lives on today in the exhibition “Embodied” by Robin Colodzin at the famous Copley Society of Art in Boston. Founded in 1879, the Copley Society has long been the bastion of painting in the romantic realism tradition, and many of its artist-founders are honored as America’s great painters. In an effort to be more contemporary, the Copley selection committee is now including experimental artists who deal in the latest, hottest social problems and that is to be commended. However, deciding which experimental artists will be the next “great artists” is a tricky question and the solo exhibition of Colodzin makes the case that emerging artists can be both brilliant and also falter in their visions. Her artistic conceptual goal, expressed in her press release, is in line with women’s body imagery … [Read more...] about EXQUISITELY IMPERFECT CONDUITS: COLODZIN’S EMBODIED COLLAGES AT COPLEY SOCIETY
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HELL BENT TO KICK THE EDGES: CHELSEA ELLIS AND TODD WATTS AT MMPA PORTLAND
When I say, “photographic arts,” what or who comes to mind? Annie Leibovitz? Ansel Adams? Alfred Stieglitz? Richard Avedon? Different genres. Different styles. Different expressions. The two artists who are currently exhibiting works at the Maine Museum of Photographic Arts in Portland are creating work that has osmosed into a totally different expression of the genre. They are photographers, no doubt, and both have interest in sculpture. But all assumptions end there. Todd Watts works are represented in major museum collections — including the Art Institute of Chicago, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fogg Museum and Yale University Art Gallery. In his early days in art school, his interest was sculpture. He didn’t own a camera until after he graduated, and he said that he’s been learning photography ever since. He began making photos — he insists that he doesn’t take photos, he … [Read more...] about HELL BENT TO KICK THE EDGES: CHELSEA ELLIS AND TODD WATTS AT MMPA PORTLAND
A LIFETIME OF WORKS AT THE CLARK: MUNCH’S CONTRAST OF EXUBERANCE AND MELANCHOLY
At the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts is a comprehensive exhibition that includes Edvard Munch’s earthbound paintings, spanning decades. The paintings are energetic, reading as an exploratory of the artist’s emotional life through his observation of the natural world. This important exhibition was carefully and mindfully curated by Jay A. Clarke from the Art Institute of Chicago; Trine Otte Bak Nielsen, curator from Munchmuseet, and Jill Lloyd, an independent curator, drawing upon knowledge of Munch’s early life of emotional upheaval, loss and confusion. The curators reveal that the immersion of the artist into the natural world magnetized him out of his own whirlpool of an emotional unconsciousness into one of self-realization. The artist was able to step outside the bondage of the miasma of his early life and join his emotional world with the workings of the … [Read more...] about A LIFETIME OF WORKS AT THE CLARK: MUNCH’S CONTRAST OF EXUBERANCE AND MELANCHOLY
SOCIAL JUSTICE THROUGH ART: PAUL S. BRIGGS NOT-SO-HIDDEN MESSAGES AT LACOSTE
Paul Briggs’s ceramic work is a conversation between medium and artist resulting in contemplative objects with healing qualities. Briggs purposefully infuses his clay works with metaphors and meanings. Throughout his life journey as a young athlete, undergraduate student, and ultimately, an artist, clay has always accompanied him. Since his early days attending summer camps, Briggs’s talent and passion for this type of craftsmanship have never left his side. Eventually, he wholeheartedly embraced his artistic career, becoming a mentor, lecturer, speaker, role model, successful artist and a scholar, as well as a beloved teacher. As a ceramic artist, Briggs goes beyond manipulating clay; he engages in dialogue and interactions with the material, contemplating its qualities and focusing on its manifestation. By approaching clay as a meditative exercise, Briggs merges his ideals and … [Read more...] about SOCIAL JUSTICE THROUGH ART: PAUL S. BRIGGS NOT-SO-HIDDEN MESSAGES AT LACOSTE
INTENTIONALLY PROVOCATIVE: ‘USED’ SPARKS A DIALOGUE AT ATTLEBORO ARTS MUSEUM
“Used” is the intentionally provocative title for the 2023 National Juried Exhibition that’s on view at the Attleboro Arts Museum through July 14. The name for the show was conceived of internally at the museum a year ago, as a starting point to spark a dialogue of visual possibilities and pertinent aesthetic connections that charge the air currently. The word “Used” implies material process and emotional connection and like a lot of four-letter words is exceptionally rife with connotations. It is a verb and a feeling. It is a concept rooted in some of the same unresolved conditions that caused Jack Kerouac, in a different historic moment but not dissimilar era, to suddenly label himself and friends as “beat” — meaning forgotten misfits — which was about identity, lack of identity, and later coined into the term “Beat Generation,” indicating scale of the discontent. The selected … [Read more...] about INTENTIONALLY PROVOCATIVE: ‘USED’ SPARKS A DIALOGUE AT ATTLEBORO ARTS MUSEUM
SUBLIMINAL MESSAGES: DANFORTH’S ANNUAL SHOWS NOT SO QUIET SOCIAL ACTIVISM
Always one of my favorite exhibitions, thanks to its constant combination of new artists and the latest career progression by familiar names, the 2023 Annual Danforth Juried Exhibition did not disappoint. Juried by Rachel Passannante, Collection Curator, Danforth Art Museum; Leslie Starobin, Professor of Art, Framingham State University; and Erin Becker, Executive Director, Norma Jean Calderwood Director of the Cambridge Art Association, its imminent opening was announced through a Danforth Art Facebook page featuring a picture of C.A. Stigliano helping to install his “Galatea” sculpture. Named after a sculpture by the legendary Greek sculptor Pygmalion, held Pinocchio-style by four strings from the ceiling, it was awarded the exhibition’s First Prize. Standing face to face with it, exploring its marking and tattoos, one looks into eyes that feel real and that contain a soul that’s … [Read more...] about SUBLIMINAL MESSAGES: DANFORTH’S ANNUAL SHOWS NOT SO QUIET SOCIAL ACTIVISM