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Artscope Magazine | July/August 2019

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Visual Arts

BASEL 2019 DAY FOUR: VOLTA AND LISTE

// Art Basel Switzerland, Artscope Online, Featured, Visual Arts

by Nancy Nesvet

Day four in Basel, Switzerland, took me to the Volta and Liste art fairs. Volta, Basel’s art fair that declares itself the show of “new international positions”, made good on the name. Paying close attention to the precarious predicament of the world’s inhabitants due to climate change and political upheaval, Volta subtly informed and involved those who viewed the work at the fair. Geraldine Swayne’s, oil and acrylic canvas painting, “Queer Altarpiece,” 2019, at CHARLIE SMITH LONDON’s booth was perhaps the most beautiful figurative work on view. Depicting a seated woman, looking off to the side, the figure’s haircut, clothes and mood recalled artists’ work of 1930s Germany, explaining the title. A quiet, thoughtful work, it allowed painting, done in a contemporary way, to elicit empathy for the subject. Valerie Hegarty’s “Five Tulips with Frame Elegy,” 2019, made of wood, wire and … [Read more...] about BASEL 2019 DAY FOUR: VOLTA AND LISTE

ART BASEL 2019 DAY THREE: GALLERIES, AND STATEMENTS

// Art Basel Switzerland, Artscope Online, Exhibits, Featured, Visual Arts

by Nancy Nesvet

The work in Galleries, the biggest sector of the Art Basel 2019 art fair, with 273 galleries displaying artwork, ranged from very bad to superlative. From large, childlike, messy, grease crayon drawings and similarly unfinished paintings to the refined glitz, and smooth stainless steel and optic glasswork, this sector provided the low and high points of the fair. Not surprisingly, there was much handmade textile work, the best being Sheila Hicks’ “Calligraphy Sauvages,” a 2019 sculpture of 15 chords of silk, wool, linen, bamboo and synthetic fiber — in bright, coordinated colors. Her 2018 linen line drawing, “Je veux être seul,” reminded me of 1930s Bauhaus geometric work. Robert Mapplethorpe’s “Stars,” created in 1983, of stained wood and carpet, presented a rare foray into Mapplethorpe’s textured relief sculptures. At Sperone Westwater’s, New York, New York, booth, Emil Lukas’ “Twin … [Read more...] about ART BASEL 2019 DAY THREE: GALLERIES, AND STATEMENTS

ART BASEL SWITZERLAND 2019 DAY TWO: THE BEST OF UNLIMITED

// Art Basel Switzerland, Artscope Online, Exhibits, Featured, Visual Arts

by Nancy Nesvet

Unlimited, a sector of the Art Basel art fair, took up most of my second day there. Earlier in the day, at the Art Basel press conference, Marc Spiegler, the global director, pointed out that this year’s artists were more open-minded with broader practices than 10 to 15 years ago. He noted that “our old notions of borders are broken down.” Spiegler referred to art’s borders — those of materials and labels. It is difficult, if not impossible, to label installations — sculptures or paintings — with the overarching mixed media category prevalent, and installation being the preferred term to include sculpture and two-dimensional work. It seems that as new borders are erected and maintained between nations, art’s boundaries have widened to include diverse practices, subject matter and artists. That subject matter includes references to — current and in the recent past — events and … [Read more...] about ART BASEL SWITZERLAND 2019 DAY TWO: THE BEST OF UNLIMITED

ART BASEL 2019: FIRST DAY AT PARCOURS

// Art Basel Switzerland, Artscope Online, Exhibits, Featured, Visual Arts

by Nancy Nesvet

Amidst pouring rain, carefully walking on the cobblestones of the Messeplatz in Basel, Switzerland, I explored Parcours at Art Basel. The exhibits in buildings leading up to and surrounding the Messeplatz were concerned with environmental and political issues but did not have the impact of the similarly concerned exhibits I recently saw at the Venice Biennale 2019. Rather, they slowly caused me to think about the concerns presented. The best of them, Lawrence Abu Hamdan’s “The Recovered Manifesto of Wissam (inaudible),” a 2017 arrangement of artificial orange trees, mini-cassettes, speakers painted to look like stones, printed sheets and 3-channel audio, explored the intersection of sound and politics. The accompanying literature pointed out that old cassette tapes are wrapped around fruit trees to keep birds and insects from eating the fruit. One day, Abu Hamdan discovered a … [Read more...] about ART BASEL 2019: FIRST DAY AT PARCOURS

Washington D.C.’s Newest Museum

// Artscope Online, Featured, News, Visual Arts

by Nancy Nesvet

Encompassing the history, arts and culture of Palestinians, the Museum of the Palestinian People located at 1900 18th St. NW, near Dupont Circle is the newest museum to open in Washington, D.C. Work by contemporary Palestinian artists and artifacts illustrating the history and culture of Palestine will be displayed, including paintings by Palestinian artist Ahmed Hmeedat and a video, “Borders & Promises,” by renowned videographer, Haya Zaatry. The museum will host its opening ceremonies on Saturday, June 15, from 3–7 p.m. and Sunday, June 16, from 12–6 p.m., featuring tea and Palestinian sweets, contemporary visual art, historic artifacts and performance. The reception will include folk dancers performing the Dabke (meaning “stamping of the feet”), an Arabic folk dance first created in the villages of the Levant to remember the line formed by villagers joining hands and stomping … [Read more...] about Washington D.C.’s Newest Museum

PRESCIENTLY MODERN RHAPSODY CLOSES BOSTON BALLET SEASON

// Artscope Online, Theatre, Visual Arts

by James Foritano

“Rhapsody”, which opened on May 16 and continues through June 9, is Boston Ballet’s end-of-the-season farewell to its fans and supporters before they return from the summer break. Appropriately, there is a looking-back quality to the selections from classical ballet as well as a jazzily modern ring to the centerpiece: “ELA, Rhapsody in Blue.” Leonid Yakobson, a 20th-century Soviet choreographer, who starts off the program, shares both neo-classical and modern qualities with his audience. His first piece, “Pas de Quatre,” leads off with four dancers who exude grace and stature in a sure-footed threesome that dance the whole short piece without ever unlinking hands which over arch all their movements. The unshakable grace is supremely classical. One could imagine the Russian Czar and his family watching a ballet such as “Pas de Quatre” and leaving re-affirmed in their belief … [Read more...] about PRESCIENTLY MODERN RHAPSODY CLOSES BOSTON BALLET SEASON