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
Artscope Online
LYRIC STAGE COMPANY’S ‘BE HERE NOW” IS INFECTIOUS
Currently at the Lyric Stage is a warm, quirky and increasingly electrifying meeting between four characters who hail from the same small town located somewhere outside of The Big Apple, but not quite close enough to visit. Shani Farrell plays Patty Cooper and Katherine C. Shaver, her aunt, Luanne Cooper. We meet them seated at a work-table doing a menial job along with a third worker, Bari. The three women are clipping labels from women’s clothing revealing that each garment was ‘Made in China’ so that buyers’ will feel good as they gift phony clothing to people they wish to impress. As viewers, we could feel sorry for them, stuck in such paltry, dead-end jobs, but the two sisters possess some joie de vivre which is infectious. Both young, buoyed by their youth and happy to be employed, they each have passionate interests they are busy sustaining: Luanne, her … [Read more...] about LYRIC STAGE COMPANY’S ‘BE HERE NOW” IS INFECTIOUS
WORKING IN A MULTITUDE OF MEDIUMS, SOWA ARTIST STEVEN LUSH REFLECTS HIS INFLUENCES
Artist Steven Lush, who operates out of Studio #220 in the SoWa Artists Guild Building at 450 Harrison Avenue in Boston’s South End, has led an extraordinary career. His work reflects the extraordinary life and approach towards life as an artist that he took. Born to an artistic family, Lush’s mother was a major influence on his decision to go into art. She was an artist herself as well as a musician. She taught him how to draw and paint when he was five years old, which led to him developing an interest in drawing and ultimately becoming a self-taught artist. Despite his interest in drawing early on in his life, for a period of 15 years, Lush’s work was primarily done in the medium of watercolor on paper. His inspiration to use this medium came from looking at the watercolor work of Winslow Homer in a magazine that his mother owned when he was growing up. Other artists are not … [Read more...] about WORKING IN A MULTITUDE OF MEDIUMS, SOWA ARTIST STEVEN LUSH REFLECTS HIS INFLUENCES
Finding Happiness Together Again At Parcours
Parcours, in French, means Journey, and the Journey around and in the city of Basel at various sites designated for 12 art installations, was, even online, for me, meaningful and a constant reminder of the still-Pandemic world. Answering the question posed by Parcours’ title, “Can We Find Happiness Together Again?” Samuel Leuenberger, Director of Parcours, led the audience, in person and online, in a resounding Yes, Ja, Si, Oui! Beginning on Monday, September 20, the first day of Art Basel, British artist, Hamish Fulton, who famously climbed Mt. Everest, organized an hour-long participatory walk on the Marktplatz (marketplace). It was a voyage of discovery for Fulton as it was for those who followed him, but also an ethnography of artworks at the Parcours sector of Art Basel. Seeing work displayed on the trail the trekkers pursued was not unlike the voyage we all took this past year, … [Read more...] about Finding Happiness Together Again At Parcours
ART MEETS TECHNOLOGY AT ART BASEL 2021
Although the first VIP day at Art Basel was crowded, Anna Gav, on the ground, noted that the crowd was younger, the lack of older (and richer) collectors largely due, as they said in conversation with Anna, to fear of contracting Covid 19, and to the intentional limiting of admissions to maintain social distancing. At VOLTA, the crowd was noticeably slimmer, also due to the location away from Art Basel and the limited shuttles for rides offered accounting for intentional emphasis on limited spending by the fairs. Prices of work sold so far at both VOLTA and Art Basel are considerably down, reflecting the absence of major, older collectors and the lower pricing by galleries eager to sell work that they could not at galleries closed due to pandemic restrictions. Due to the wonders of technology, particularly the internet, online, I’ve been able to view the exhibits at the art fairs in … [Read more...] about ART MEETS TECHNOLOGY AT ART BASEL 2021
SLOW AND STEADY AT VOLTA AS ARTISTS SHARE THEIR VISIONS OF A BETTER AND BRIGHTER WORLD
With 69 galleries representing five continents, 50 cities and 40 nations, VOLTA Basel 2021 is showing beautiful work. Evoking nature in several exhibitions, it satisfies my and probably your craving for natural beauty amid the emptiness and depressing devastation of cities during Covid. At Charlie Smith, London, artist Dominic Shepherd paintings are inspired by fairy tales, including “Hedge Witch-2021” and “The King is Dead, Long Live the King 2.” As we have all learned, fairy tales can be both delightful and frightening and Shepherd’s paintings attest to that duality. Iranian artists at three galleries new to VOLTA this year, Bavon Gallery, Mohlsen Gallery and Saradipour Gallery (SARAI), repeat the natural beauty motif. At Saradipour Art (SARAI), Mahdieh Abolhasen’s layers of land and history interacting in her grey, drawings encourage a slow, contemplative connection with … [Read more...] about SLOW AND STEADY AT VOLTA AS ARTISTS SHARE THEIR VISIONS OF A BETTER AND BRIGHTER WORLD