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Artscope Magazine | January/February 2022

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Artscope Online

LONG WEEKEND OR DAY TRIPPING? VISIT NEW BEDFORD’S KILBURN MILL OPEN STUDIOS THIS WEEKEND

// Artscope Online, Current Exhibits, Visual Arts

by Sheila Oliveira

This weekend, October 23 and 24, Kilburn Mill Artists are opening their New Bedford art galleries and working studios to the public and invite visitors to explore and view the creative process each day from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. In addition to seeing a wide variety of art works, including fine art painting, printmaking, sculpture, photography, ceramics, textiles and jewelry, the Kilburn Mill, a city within a city, contains three popular well known art galleries offering a collection of individually curated exhibitions. Situated on Clark’s Cove in the South End of New Bedford, Massachusetts, Kilburn Mill is surrounded by the waterfront for which New Bedford is famous (most notably, through Melville’s “Moby Dick”). The Kilburn is an artists’ destination, home to art galleries and studios, as well as an event center. It has become the region’s most versatile space with a rooftop deck providing … [Read more...] about LONG WEEKEND OR DAY TRIPPING? VISIT NEW BEDFORD’S KILBURN MILL OPEN STUDIOS THIS WEEKEND

FARSAD LABBAUF: REVISITING FRAGMENTS & ENTITIES AT THE HIGH LINE NINE GALLERY

// Artscope Online, Current Exhibits, Visual Arts

by Nancy Nesvet

I remember, a few years back, pre-pandemic, a show of Farsad Labbauf, in a downtown gallery, showing colorful, linear patterned portraits. But those colorful portraits have taken a back seat to his newfound production of images from his past and Iran’s history, in an honest exploration of what motivates him. His latest show, “Revisiting Fragments and Entities,” sponsored by Roya Khadjavi Projects at High Line Nine Gallery 9.1, New York, N.Y., from September 23 through October 16 reveals his newfound interest in creating myth and stitching together his history. We find images of a ballerina, oil production facilities and old wooden bridges in “Rotation Ceremony #8,” (2000, paper, thread), all symbols of power. The ballerina is upside down, hanging from trapeze-like threaded lines, perhaps symbolizing the upside down and rotating power structure that exists. I think of culture … [Read more...] about FARSAD LABBAUF: REVISITING FRAGMENTS & ENTITIES AT THE HIGH LINE NINE GALLERY

RICHFIELD’S BUDDHA + CHRIST AT GALLERY KAYAFAS CELEBRATES REMEMBERING THE DEAD THROUGH OUR DIFFERENCES

// Artscope Online, Current Exhibits, Visual Arts

by Jack Lynch

Photographer Robert Richfield’s exhibition “Buddha + Christ” exhibition, on display until October 16 at Gallery Kayafas, depicts burials from different parts of the world including Guatemala, New Mexico, Portugal, France, Spain and Vietnam. When one first hears the name of the exhibition, they may think that the exhibition is going to be some kind of a combination between the two religions of Buddhism and Christianity into a unique beauty. However, “Buddha + Christ” is really about showing the individual beauty of various religions and how they all remember the deceased in different ways. The exhibit also chronicles Robert Richfield’s travels to different parts of the world where he studied different cultures. Regarding his fascination in different religious practices, Richfield is mainly interested in the different ways that different religions and cultures remember the dead. He … [Read more...] about RICHFIELD’S BUDDHA + CHRIST AT GALLERY KAYAFAS CELEBRATES REMEMBERING THE DEAD THROUGH OUR DIFFERENCES

THE BOSTON LYRIC OPERA BLOSSOMS, AGAIN, WITH WATERFRONT PERFORMANCE OF CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA

// Artscope Online, Theatre

by James Foritano

We had plenty of time as we slow-walked to the Boston Lyric Opera’s new venue, on the waterfront this time, at the Leader Bank’s Pavilion (for two performances on October 1 and 3 as part of its “Street Stage” performance at outside venues), a huge tent just a couple minutes’ walk from the Silver Line’s “Silver Way” stop — third from South Station. Grey skies and seagulls… Who knew that not only would the venue be so accessible, but also the theme of Mascagni’s late 19th century opera, “Cavalleria Rusticana,” set in a Sicilian Village, on Easter Sunday — morning to be exact — so resonate with our own times — at least to this auditor. At the opera’s opening, Turiddu, sung by Adam Diegal, has just returned from military service, a return which already sounds both familiar and ominous. Turiddu is singing, lyrically, of his ardent love for Lola, which love sounds to the … [Read more...] about THE BOSTON LYRIC OPERA BLOSSOMS, AGAIN, WITH WATERFRONT PERFORMANCE OF CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA

MARIANO IN HIS MANY, MANY GUISES AT BC’S MCMULLEN GALLERY

// Artscope Online, Exhibits, Visual Arts

by James Foritano

What would you do if you were headed up from Cambridge across the Charles River to Boston College’s McMullen Art Gallery just outside the main campus on Commonwealth Ave — #2101 to be exact — looking for a little color to brighten up the gloom of an early fall New England morning? I had promised our two art lovers in the back seat a short, scenic drive plus a destination with bongo drums and banana plants enriched by the bodacious senoritas and testosterone-fueled senors to be met with on every yard of Cuba’s balmy shores. And without the bother of international flight! Ah, but, as usual we had reckoned without the artist, and what academics call, if you will, ‘inspiration!’ We arrived at Boston College’s McMullen Museum of Art to view “Mariano: Variations on a Theme | Variaciones sobre un tema,” a retrospective exhibition of 140 oil paintings, watercolors, and drawings that … [Read more...] about MARIANO IN HIS MANY, MANY GUISES AT BC’S MCMULLEN GALLERY

SURvIVING THE LONELINESS OF COVID: LIZ SHEPHERD’S POWERFUL UNGATHERED AT BOSTON SCULPTORS GALLERY

// Artscope Online, Exhibits, Visual Arts

by Beth Neville

Rare is the contemporary artist who can make the “personal” universal. Liz Shepherd is one of these special artists. She experienced agonies with Covid-19: her contraction of the virus, loss of creative time, total isolation and a non-Thanksgiving. Her brush with death, loneliness and confusion is translated into a positive vision at the Boston Sculptors Gallery, one all viewers may relate to. Shepherd is an artist who has spent decades exploring many media, and is in total control of her craft. She confidently mixes soft-media papier-mâché with the unyielding hardness of welded steel. A lost Thanksgiving meal is her symbol for the devastation wrought by the virus. Three empty black-wire chairs surround a non-existent table. An exquisitely crafted paper pitcher, a serving bowl and ladle float in the air, Empty placemats hang nearby. On a wall close-by, 16 colorful … [Read more...] about SURvIVING THE LONELINESS OF COVID: LIZ SHEPHERD’S POWERFUL UNGATHERED AT BOSTON SCULPTORS GALLERY