“The only American master who interests me is Ryder,” said Jackson Pollock, and he was not alone in that sentiment. Generations of artists took inspiration from Albert Pinkham Ryder. Now, for the first time in 31 years, Ryder’s work is once again on display. “A Wild Note of Longing: Albert Pinkham Ryder and a Century of American Art,” on display in the Wattles Family Gallery at the New Bedford Whaling Museum, bridges the gap between past and present by showing Ryder’s paintings alongside contemporary artists inspired by his work. Ryder has not been seen on this scale since a 1990 retrospective at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Elizabeth Broun, director emerita of the Smithsonian, had a hand in curating both shows. “It was all meant to be, it felt cosmic,” said Broun at a press conference, describing the exhibit’s opening night, a homecoming for the New Bedford-born … [Read more...] about A WILD NOTE OF LONGING: ALBERT PINKHAM RYDER RETURNS TO NEW BEDFORD
Exhibits
ACTIVATING SPACE: WATER 2021 COMES TO DOWNTOWN NEW BEDFORD
Underneath the usual sound of honking cars and seagull calls in downtown New Bedford, Massachusetts, a soft rumbling can be heard from Swain Gallery at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Visual and Performing Arts. The source of the noise is one of three exhibits in “WATER 2021,” the latest show by the Massachusetts Design and Technology Institute (DATMA). DATMA, a non-collecting contemporary art institute in New Bedford is known for bringing public art displays to the city. With “WATER 2021,” DATMA shows three exhibits that explore the role of water in the histories, cultures and economies of several countries and the South Coast of Massachusetts. “WATER 2021” consists of “280 prepared dc-motors, cotton balls, cardboard boxes 13″ x 13″ x 13″, 2011/2021,” by Swiss artist, Zimoun; Hyung S. Kim’s, Phil Mello’s, and Craig Easton’s photo series in “Harvesters of … [Read more...] about ACTIVATING SPACE: WATER 2021 COMES TO DOWNTOWN NEW BEDFORD
Unification
Roya Khadjavi Projects opened Unification, Zahra Nazari’s solo exhibition at the High Line Nine Gallery in New York on May 1. Open until May 15, noon to 6 pm or by appointment at royakhadjaviprojects.com, the exhibition of acrylic paintings, sculptures, works on paper and installations features the work of Hamedan, Iran born artist Nazari’s remembrances of renowned buildings and archeological sites in one of the oldest continuously inhabited Iranian cities. Merging abstract linear paintings and drawings with the clear lines of architecture, the lines seem to be scaffolding holding up the structure she has created from memory and imagination of buildings in Persia. Her experience shines through in the curvilinear rendition of Safavid architecture. At Ali Qapu Palace in Isfahan, Iran where her memorialized vaulted ceiling is rendered but contemporized in abstracted, freeform … [Read more...] about Unification
DONNA DODSON’S AMAZONS AMONG US & ANDY MOERLEIN’S WOOD STONE POEM AT BOSTON SCULPTORS GALLERY
As we left the two solo shows just opened at Boston Sculptors Gallery, my wife Madeleine exclaimed with an eloquent and breathy sigh: “Whew! What imagination! How are you going to review that?” Indeed, it is strenuous, albeit delightfully so, to hitch your own imagination to the flights of two sculptors who share a studio and a life in nearby Maynard, Massachusetts. The trick is to husband your strength. Take advantage of pauses, sit, look out the window. Say to your over-heating imagination: “It’s only wood, after all.” Then, plunge in, once again. Andy Moerlein’s wood is both found and transformed. Since Moerlein was present at the gallery, as he expects to be every Saturday, he mimed for me a trip through local woods, a metaphorical axe over his shoulder, on the lookout for wood with the kind of sinuous life-path he favors. Not just any wood, but wood that bulges and curves with … [Read more...] about DONNA DODSON’S AMAZONS AMONG US & ANDY MOERLEIN’S WOOD STONE POEM AT BOSTON SCULPTORS GALLERY
17 PRINTMAKERS, PAINTERS & SCULPTORS ARE (UN)CONFINED AT FORT POINT ARTS COMMUNITY GALLERY
At first I was haunted by a distinct feeling of confinement as I entered the just installed exhibition “(un)confined: The Artists of Shepherd & Maudsleigh Studio” at the Fort Point Arts Community (FPAC) Gallery at 300 Summer Street in the Fort Point District. And then I realized that just going indoors and down the stairs to an interior courtyard opening onto a modestly sized gallery meant leaving the expansive skyline and sloshing green seas, the industrial era bridges and the brick and stone buildings all gilded with the spring sunshine of Boston’s waterfront. Grumbling, I entered the artificial lighting, the four walls, of this promised revelation and realized how unfair had been my initial impression. It was an old acquaintance, Liz Shepherd, doing her time at the gallery desk whose art and person always enlightens and enlivens me. Shepherd and her co-partner, Rebekah … [Read more...] about 17 PRINTMAKERS, PAINTERS & SCULPTORS ARE (UN)CONFINED AT FORT POINT ARTS COMMUNITY GALLERY
DUALITY OF WOMXN CELEBRATED IN NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF WOMEN ARTISTS: MASSACHUSETTS CHAPTER ONLINE EXHIBITION
In “Womxn,” an exhibit by the National Association of Women Artists: Massachusetts Chapter, is filled with what it means to be a womxn in this day and age. Confusion or a sense of self pulls through within the paintings. The abstract paintings are like the abstractness of gender. The artwork explores being “masculine and feminine at the same time”, as said in the blurb for the exhibit, just like some people do. The exhibit is a chance for people to examine how others feel about themselves, such as a “Swirl of Confusion,” a painting done by Donna Caselden. I was involved with masculine and feminine colors, or what is thought to be associated with the words. In “The Daisy Field” by Candace Whittemore Lovely, there are shades of pinks, oranges and purples to feminize the average meadow and the lady in the painting adds to that femininity. “Womxn” encapsulates what it feels like to … [Read more...] about DUALITY OF WOMXN CELEBRATED IN NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF WOMEN ARTISTS: MASSACHUSETTS CHAPTER ONLINE EXHIBITION