Man vs. Nature at Hall Art by Elizabeth Michelman For Victorian critic John Ruskin, the “sublime” described an aesthetic experience of awe and magnificence accompanied by subjective and even violent emotion. Guest curator Joel Sternfeld, a photographer and videographer teaching at Sarah Lawrence College, re-visits this concept in “Landscapes After Ruskin,” selecting from over 6,000 works of post-World War II art in the collections of the Hall family and Hall Art Foundation. Quaintly staged in the buildings of a former Vermont dairy farm, the exhibition asks whether we can ever separate the human mark from nature. Its imagery challenges us to recognize a world outside that increasingly fails us as we fail it. Sternfeld favors digital and photographic imagery, painting, and drawing, with a smattering of sculptures, installations, and videos. Familiar German names — Joseph … [Read more...] about Redefining the Sublime
Visual Arts
Cornered
Debbie Nadolney, Art Market Provincetown by Brian Goslow Earlier this year, Art Market Provincetown (AMP) moved to a new location in the beloved art colony’s East End (it first opened its doors in 2012). Artscope managing editor Brian Goslow visited the gallery on two occasions this spring and exchanged follow-up questions via email with gallery director/curator Debbie Nadolney about the relocation, the start of the 2016 season, her gallery’s intense, high-quality schedule and how she attracts new potential buyers for AMP and its artists. HOW HAS THE SEASON BEEN SO FAR FOR AMP AND PROVINCETOWN? It’s only mid-June, but the 2016 season for AMP Gallery, and Provincetown in general, has begun with a great sense of fluidity. Many people are wandering into town, great weather … a good feeling all around. HOW HAS THE MOVE EARLIER THIS YEAR TO THE EAST END (432 COMMERCIAL … [Read more...] about Cornered
Report from Art Basel 2016: Saturday
By Nancy Nesvet In Hall 1 at Art Basel 2016, prominent worldwide galleries showed work of artists they represented and work offered by potential sellers of work in their collections. In Hall 2, Unlimited, work by contemporary practicing artists on the second floor, and large installations on the first floor, shared concerns. Parcours, in town on and around Munsterplatz, next to the Cathedral, Interventions in churches, former schools and outdoor spaces, furthered trends seen in the main exhibition spaces. The use of reflective materials in Olafur Eliasson’s “Wave,” showing a series of reflective balls painted with ocean waves, Anish Kapoor’s large reflective disk, Alberto Binsi’s huge red disk bisected by a long black vertical seeming to provide an opening into the disk, Zhan Wang’s “Artificial Rock,” of highly reflective stainless steel, all beg the viewer to see him or herself in … [Read more...] about Report from Art Basel 2016: Saturday
ARCK’s Inspirational I Am/We Are Mural
By Kristin Wissler Boston, MA — On June 14, I stood among a group of people eagerly awaiting the reveal of a mural. “I Am/We Are” stood sandwiched between Fenway Park and Yawkey Station, covered by a blue tarp. The crowd buzzed with excitement. One artist, Mark Cooper, had already arrived, but the rest were still en route. When they finally arrived, it was a school bus that dropped off the young student artists from Gardner Pilot Academy, a school in Allston, Massachusetts. The mural’s development was headed by the Art Resource Collaborative for Kids (ARCK), an organization dedicated to bringing art programs to Boston schools. ARCK had been working with Gardner Pilot Academy since 2012, when the first sixth-graders enrolled in the school. Lauren Lafferty, director of extended services at the school, is the person who facilitates the partnership. ARCK’s mission is important to … [Read more...] about ARCK’s Inspirational I Am/We Are Mural
A Commitment to the Arts in Boston
By Meghan Richter The Boston Creates initiative is a newly launched cultural planning process designed to empower everyday citizens to design their own social policy, and above all else, create. While City of Boston Mayor Martin “Marty” J. Walsh’s administration has had a great deal to do with this planning, it was the passion of Boston artists that made it all possible. They called upon City Hall to increase its support for the arts, to “create a sustainable cultural plan, increase performance and work spaces, and embrace the rich diversity” of Boston. Walsh has been working to make the city a municipal arts leader since he was elected in 2013. This initiative is the first of its kind, and intends to provide more artistic resources to schools, and incorporate the arts into all of its new building projects. It also re-appropriates space within the City of Boston, one resource that … [Read more...] about A Commitment to the Arts in Boston
Report from Art Basel 2016: Friday
By Nancy Nesvet Art Basel 2016 is going on this week. In 3 different halls at the Messerplatz in Basel, there are 157 galleries presenting the work of myriad artists. The work might best be summed up by one of the speakers at Artists this. afternoon. Kos, an artists collective in New York City, spoke of art as a community endeavor noting that the people who have come together here are a community of artists, gallerists and art lovers and seekers. The tremendous amount of art here so far viewed by this writer falls into two categories: The first category is art that is politically engaged. Ranging from landscapes that speak to issues including global warming, deforestation, immigration and personal and national security. Photography, sculpture, painting and installation work all engage these issues. The second category expands the boundaries of artistic practices and blurs the … [Read more...] about Report from Art Basel 2016: Friday