In a time when mass migration is increasing, and the right to immigrate is dramatically contested, the individual experiences of immigrants are often absent from the discussion. “Artists, Born Elsewhere - Selections from the UMCA’s Permanent Collection” at The UniversityMuseumofContemporaryArt,UMassAmherstillustrates both individual narratives through imagery, and culturally specific expressions of the effects of displacement and relocation which resonate as being universally shared. Drawing from a collection of varied media pieces by artists whose work incubated within such diverse cultural backgrounds as Syria, Diana al-Hadid; Germany, Josef Albers; Viet Nam, An-My Lê; Hungary, André Kertész and Iran, Y.Z. Kami, the exhibition includes portraits, still-lifes, landscapes and abstract, sometimes fantastical prints and drawings. Many of the prints were acquired from Exit Art Gallery … [Read more...] about RELEVANT AND UNIVERSAL: ARTISTS, BORN ELSEWHERE, FIND HOME AT UMASS AMHERST
Artscope Issues
A HARMOANIOUS FUSION: ENTRANCING MODERN NATIVE AMERICAN ART AT BATES
Imagine, if you will, having lived in the lands which are now America for thousands upon thousands of years. Then aliens from across the sea spread over your land like blood from a wound, bringing smallpox and cholera, diseases for which you have no resistance; cheating you out of your land, using it for settled agriculture as a commodity, not for sustainable self- sufficiency; bringing noisy and pol- luting railroads, telegraphs, mining, industrialization; destroying your game animals; coming after you with armies which commit atrocities; distorting your sophisticated spiritual beliefs with an overlay of their monotheistic, judgmental God, forcing you into their coercive schools; giving you no option but to join an extractive economy which is so far from your non-monetary, cooperative sharing way. How would you feel? How could you express that rage, sorrow, displacement as you become a … [Read more...] about A HARMOANIOUS FUSION: ENTRANCING MODERN NATIVE AMERICAN ART AT BATES
BOSTON PRINTMAKERS AT 75: A BRILLIANT LEGACY CELEBRATED AT BU’S 808 GALLERY
In celebration of their 75th year, the Boston Printmakers 2023 North American Print Biennial at Boston University’s 808 Gallery is a spectacular exhibition of the works of 121 contemporary printmakers and a wide variety of styles and techniques. Chosen by juror Elizabeth M. Rudy, the Carl A. Weyerhaeuser Curator of Prints at the Harvard Art Museums, the show is cleverly and beautifully curated in the newly renovated 808 Gallery, full of natural light and well- arranged space to interact with the works on display. An exhibition like this is always exciting, as there is no determined focus, though the curators do group works together that share thematic notes, and it is not defined by one specific printmaking process. The artworks are completely diverse in their size, use of color and dimension. Folks not familiar with the vast range of printmaking techniques, will wonder at … [Read more...] about BOSTON PRINTMAKERS AT 75: A BRILLIANT LEGACY CELEBRATED AT BU’S 808 GALLERY
WELCOME November/December 2023: FROM BRIAN GOSLOW
Dear Artscope reader, It felt too familiar, too similar to December 14, 2012, when the events at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, unfolded as we were putting our first issue of 2013 to press. The October 25 shooting in Lewiston, Maine took place, for us, under similar circumstances, the Artscope staff pulling together this issue that includes a preview of the “Native Exploding Inevitable” exhibition that was scheduled to open a few nights later at the Bates College Museum of Art, an opening postponed when most of the surrounding area went into a safety lockdown. The long-planned exhibition was intended to be a celebration of Indigenous people and through modern artworks, a door to new discussion on recognizing their contributions, past, present and in the future, to the land on which we live. Lee Roscoe, author of “Wampanoag Art for the Ages – Traditional and … [Read more...] about WELCOME November/December 2023: FROM BRIAN GOSLOW
WELCOME September/October 2023: FROM BRIAN GOSLOW
Welcome to our 106th issue! Like many of you, we’ve spent the past few months catching up on long delayed projects and getting to see the artists, galleries and museums we’ve been away from for far too long. After hearing reports of strong sales in Boston’s SoWa District, especially during First Friday and Sundays during SoWa Open Market,when large crowds are in the neighborhood, it seemed like a good idea to start the fall previewing several of the exhibitions taking place there this September and October. Just as we arrive on the streets, Krystle Brown’s “Better Homes Than Gardens” exhibition which explores displacement, on both a global and local scale, opens for a September run at Kingston Gallery. Marjorie Kaye, who recently announced that she’s stepping down from her longtime position as director of Galatea Fine Art, profiles sculptor Christine Palamidessi and previews her … [Read more...] about WELCOME September/October 2023: FROM BRIAN GOSLOW
CAPSULE PREVIEWS: SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2023
Photographers Bremner Benedict, Ville Kansanen, Ellen Konar, Steve Goldband, Jason Lindsey, Connie Lowell, Simon Norfolk and Camille Seaman seek “to shed light on the critical issues of climate change and the water cycle, using the power of photography to evoke awareness, empathy and action” in “Ceding Ground” that opens September 8 and continues through October 15 at the reopened Griffin Museum of Photography, 67 Shore Rd., Winchester, Massachusetts. “Through their distinct lenses, these artists explore the intricate relationship between human activity, climate patterns, and the earth's life-giving waters.” “Portrait of an Unlikely Space,” a historical-contemporary exhibition “bringing together small-scale portraits — from miniatures and daguerreotypes to silhouettes on paper and engravings in books — of African American women, men, and children from the pre-Emancipation era,” will be … [Read more...] about CAPSULE PREVIEWS: SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2023