Eco-art is en vogue. The renaissance of the form has cropped up in conjunction with broader social movements dedicated to and demanding action on the now lived reality of climate catastrophe. The young Zoomer generation has a voice through the Sunrise Movement. The Green New Deal is a heated policy point in this year’s Democratic primary. Passages from the long eco-political poems of Walt Whitman and Edward Carpenter are popping up regularly in certain circles, and from time to time, one finds the odd quote from Thoreau’s “Walden” in their Instagram feed. The actuality of climate change and its effect on our daily lives has become ubiquitous. “WILD,” on view through March 14 at Cambridge’s Gallery 263, is a honing of this invigorated energy. It brings together the work of 28 artists from across the country and was juried by Jane Winchell, director of the Peabody Essex Museum’s Dotty … [Read more...] about WILD AT GALLERY 263

Since its opening two years ago, the Palestine Museum US, in Woodbridge, Connecticut, just outside New Haven, has given ample space to women artists. The prominent artist Samia Halaby, for example, has supported this remarkable institution from the beginning with loans of her paintings, and an exhibition of her searing drawings of the Kafir Qasim massacre is planned. Halaby’s large abstract paintings will be shown along with paintings, drawings, sculptures and textiles from 49 other female Palestinian artists from the Palestinian homeland and far flung places in the Diaspora from five continents in a massive exhibition of more than 150 works. “Telling the Palestinian Story,” which opens on March 8, will be the first curated exhibition the museum has mounted, and it is an opportunity to interrogate directly the very concepts of Palestinian identity that the museum was formed to … [Read more...] about TELLING THEIR STORY – 50 PALESTINIAN WOMEN LET THEIR ART DO THE TALKING AT PALESTINE MUSEUM US

Where do we find neon lighting nowadays? They still glow out of liquor store windows and behind bars. They illuminate luxurious, minimalist stage designs at the theater. We sometimes see them in contemporary films that try to capture a mood of the past, while not necessarily being set in the past. Neon is dreamy, holds a shrewd kind of longevity, and is rather expensive. (Like the resurgent mad love for vinyl records, neon is a touch of analogue in an ever more digital, pixelated world.) “Neon Shadows” is John Powell’s latest exhibition of new work. It is also his final. Powell passed earlier this year at the age of 73. That his final show is at the Howard Yezerski Gallery is fitting, as Powell had had a long relationship with the gallery. Hiding around the space are a few of his works on permanent display, including a touching neon tribute to his spouse titled “Shed … [Read more...] about JOHN POWELL: NEON SHADOWS AT HOWARD YEZERSKI GALLERY

Two images. One is a photograph of an immaculate kitchen. The design is sparse and clean; the wood of its cabinets is light tan. Everything is linear and the palate is neutral, with the exceptions of a navy fruit bowl and a creamy-mint shaded vase high up on the shelf. The other image is a canvas that is filled with a forest scene that is blurred, abstract. It holds at least a half a dozen shades of green, the trunks of the trees are colored blush, there’s a rich topaz sky between the canopies. The architect of the first and the painter of the second is the same artist, Shane Neufeld, whose show, “Other World,” is exhibiting now at the Alpha Gallery in Boston’s SoWa District. Neufeld is a man of two artistic minds. In one, he works as an architect, based out of Brooklyn, New York. In the other, he is a serious painter, with an eagle-eyed look for landscapes. His firm — L/AND/A … [Read more...] about SHANE NEUFELD: OTHER WORLD AT ALPHA GALLERY