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