To appreciate the beauty of life is to see it change over time. A sunset morphs from beginning — when the sun first starts to dip and the sky comes alight with mesmerizing hues — to end, as the sun finally lowers out of view and the sky becomes dark. In his artwork displayed in “Time and Space: Boundless,” at Miller White Fine Arts, Oscar Andrew Hammerstein sets out to capture every phase of life’s tantalizing moments all at once. “My pictures take time,” said Hammerstein in a phone conversation. “That’s as close as I can describe it. I seem obsessed with time and space and trying to make one do the other.” In his paintings, Hammerstein follows the modernist tradition with touches of futurism sprinkled throughout. In doing so he attempts — and succeeds at — distilling a series of moments into a static image. In his 2020 painting, “False Regret,” a haze of multi-colored circles … [Read more...] about ‘MY PICTURES TAKE TIME’: HAMMERSTEIN’S IMPROVISATIONAL TONES AT MILLER WHITE

“An artist once said that paint picks up what life does to us. My practice has always been informed by my experience in the world. The act of painting is a bodily response and a gestural event where energy passes from the heart to the brush, absent of self-conscious thought. This leads to a place of authenticity, possibilities and clarity. These paintings were an attempt to escape the sabotage of the conscious mind and allow the paint to maintain its physicality and rawness, mirroring the intensity of the subject.” — Wendy Cretella Hodge, introducing the paintings featured in her “Ukraine: Heart and Brush” series. Since war broke out in Ukraine in February, I’ve had trouble focusing on the stories and images coming out of there each day because of the horrific, irreversible damage being inflicted on the country physically, emotionally and psychologically. Having spent more than three … [Read more...] about EXPRESSING WHAT WORDS COULD NOT: CRETELLA HODGE’S UKRAINE SERIES AT GALLERY 55

Is the pandemic over? It looks like social behavior will be the determinant of that! So far, 2022 has been shaping up to be a memorable and celebratory artful year. Could the art world mark the ending of this global health crisis? All corners of the world are finally hosting biennials, triennials, retrospectives, art fairs, festivals, and the cherry on top is that traveling resumes. We are back in business, not business as usual... but something in between. For those who don’t have a magic carpet or cannot attend exciting and glamorous art events abroad, there is no shortage of local and regional options to experience the art world. Located eight miles from Boston in Watertown, the Dorothy and Charles Mosesian Center for the Arts presents, from May 5 to June 30, an exhibition that brings artists’ personal experiences, including fiction and non-fiction narratives, with political, … [Read more...] about DISPLACEMENT ACROSS CULTURES: SELF-REFLECTION & HEALING AT MOSESIAN CENTER FOR THE ARTS

Five exhibits are currently on display at the RISD Museum, “Drawing Closer: Four Hundred Years of Drawing from the RISD Museum,” “Trading Earth: Ceramics, Commodities, and Commerce,” “Striking Chords: Music in Ukiyo-e Prints,” “Variance: Making, Unmaking, and Remaking Disability,” and “Inherent Vice.” And each exhibition highlights a different aspect of the RISD Museum’s collection and mission as an institution. First, “Drawing Closer” brings together 67 works by European artists dating back to the 16th century that “consider how and why drawings were created, paying special attention to the materials they were made of and to the functions they served both in the artist’s studio and in the world outside it.” While each of the drawings in this exhibition is a masterful example of illustration, two in particular stuck out. First, Jane Ogden’s “Bluebells and Primroses with a Bird’s … [Read more...] about POIGNANT REFLECTIONS: 400 YEARS OF METHODS AND TECHNIQUES AT RISD MUSEUM