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Artscope Magazine | September/October 2019

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Visual Arts

ART DRIVING SOCIAL CHANGE GLOBALLY: THE NEW MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE GALLERY

// Artscope Online, News, Visual Arts

by Nancy Nesvet

The Middle East Institute (MEI), based in Washington, D.C.,  launched its highly-anticipated gallery for Contemporary Middle Eastern Art on September 13.  Featuring socially engaged work by seventeen artists, from Morocco to Afghanistan, spanning video, painting, sculpture, installation and performance, the artists’ inspirations, from Sufi poetry to folk art and popular culture challenge stereotyped identities while celebrating cross-cultural influences, breaking down political, linguistic and religious borders.   In a town rich with galleries and institutes, the new gallery at MEI brings a different kind of diplomacy.   Talking about the art with old and new friends and strangers, standing shoulder to shoulder with those of all differences, attitudes, nationalities and opinions, it is empathy for the human condition that holds us together. Talking to each other, crying together, … [Read more...] about ART DRIVING SOCIAL CHANGE GLOBALLY: THE NEW MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE GALLERY

Step into the Studio: SOWA September 21-22

// Artscope Online, Current Exhibits, News, Visual Arts

by Olivia MacDonald

A variety of art from over 200 artists resides in SOWA, the South End’s art district and this sunny weekend, the artists open their doors for an excursion that the whole family can experience. Saturday and Sunday from 11am to 6pm marks the start of the fall season of open studios, where visitors can wander through old factory buildings which have been renovated into artists’ studios. This is a unique event to meet artists behind their craft, whether it be painting, wire art, jewelry making, or repurposed natural materials. Visitors can observe artists in their creative environments and discover the process of a piece’s creation or purchase a piece that speaks to them. In studio 219 of 450 Harrison Ave, Ann Strassman, displays realistic acrylic paintings on corrugated cardboard that reflect everyday portraits of street life. She recycles cardboard in her own way in her wide open studio … [Read more...] about Step into the Studio: SOWA September 21-22

AMERICA REVEALED: LIE OF THE LAND AND STRENGTH IN UNITY AT BOSTON SCULPTORS GALLERY

// Artscope Online, Current Exhibits, Visual Arts

by J. Fatima Martins

Christopher Abrams’ “Lie of the Land” and Christina Zwart’s “Strength in Unity” arrive out of our collective anxiety and offer a question: how did we as an American people get ourselves into the political, cultural and economic situation we are in now? For Abrams, the answers are in American history. His mini-dioramas spotlight the elements of American nation-building and the transformation of a constructed identity. For Zwart, the answers are found in cultural understanding, core values, and civilizing actions. Her monumental bundle of painted tree branches function as a communication tool — a warning, telling us how we should behave if we want to survive. Together the two artists encourage an examination of important keywords: Lie and Strength, and Land and Unity. “Lie of the Land” is an installation of five, skillfully crafted, mini-dioramas: “State of the Union,” … [Read more...] about AMERICA REVEALED: LIE OF THE LAND AND STRENGTH IN UNITY AT BOSTON SCULPTORS GALLERY

All Artists, All Abilities: “TechnoGateway” at Gateway Arts Center

// Artscope Online, Current Exhibits, Exhibits, Visual Arts

by Olivia MacDonald

Art is a process, a feeling, a place where peace, hope, expression, safety, and purpose live. While kneading thick clay, melting paint into blank canvases, and drawing new shapes on an iPad, over 100 students at Gateway Arts Center in Brookline, Massachusetts call art home. Each of these students has a disability, but holds a different story within themselves that they use art to convey. The center’s current exhibit titled “TechnoGateway,” based on artwork created or inspired by technology, fills the walls with imaginative creatures and bright color. In Darryl Richard’s Untitled acrylic on canvas piece, a cartoon pear holds a “rock on” sign, a hot dog carries a boom box, and an onion raises a walker above its head in the center, amongst other food part of the crowd. Each piece of food has its own personality and the vibrant color creates energy and movement within the piece. For … [Read more...] about All Artists, All Abilities: “TechnoGateway” at Gateway Arts Center

“Pink Dreams in a Land with No Name. Shahram Karimi & Sara Madandar”

// Artscope Online, Current Exhibits, Exhibits, Featured, Visual Arts

by Nancy Nesvet

Relating the Sufi story’s words, “her force is in my hands”, Shahram Karimi refers not only to a mother but to his motherland.  Her force inspires paintings of the artist from Shiraz, Iran, home to Persian poets Hafez and Saadi and the mystic Ruzbehan.  Karimi spoke to me of his paintings filled with music, flowers and village life, in his new show, with the artist, Sara Madandar at Elga Wimmer PCC in New York, September 11-September 24.   His paintings in “Pink Dreams: A Land with No Name”, depict veiled women, angels, farmers, horses and clowns, and bright red flowers.  His gently moving projections making video paintings draw on his experience as Shirin Neshat’s long-time production designer, envisioning the vibrant colors of her films. Schooled in Stoic philosophy, Karimi paints to change our minds, to see beauty around us.  Visions of red and pink flowers slowly unfold a land of … [Read more...] about “Pink Dreams in a Land with No Name. Shahram Karimi & Sara Madandar”

BEYOND THE DIAGNOSIS: CHILDRENS’ DETERMINATION POWERS TRAVELING SHOW

// Artscope Online, Exhibits, Featured, Featured, September/October 2019, Visual Arts

by J. Fatima Martins

The body is physical, but the soul is not. It is soul that defines our soft truth, but it is body that defines our everyday tangible hard reality. If you can’t walk, your daily reality — the actual physical living — is challenged, but if the soul is solid, it can and will motivate you to find and create beyond the challenge, beyond the diagnosis. It is soul and spirit that motivated Patricia Weltin, founder and curator of “Beyond the Diagnosis,” to create an art exhibition program that spotlights the intangible — the soft truth, the essence, the angel light, the soul of children who, by no fault of their own — live with physical challenges and rare diseases that mark them in the harsh world. But beyond the physical, they are pure beauty. The Rumford, Rhode Island-based “Beyond the Diagnosis” is a traveling art exhibition of mostly traditional portraits, in a variety of painting … [Read more...] about BEYOND THE DIAGNOSIS: CHILDRENS’ DETERMINATION POWERS TRAVELING SHOW