Artscope Magazine

New England's Culture Magazine

Login
Artscope Magazine | November/December 2024

Subscribe to the Magazine

A vibrant, dynamic magazine with arts news, reviews and info you can use, delivered right to your door!

Subscribe now

Sign up for our Email Blasts!

Special Artscope updates in your inbox every two weeks!

Sign up

January/February 2020

NEW BEDFORD TODAY: NEARBY WATERS INSPIRE SERIES OF EXHIBITIONS

// Current Issue, Issue Articles, January/February 2020

by Don Wilkinson

Two painters well-entrenched in the tradition of modern American realism, a computer animator working with experimental painting and drawing processes, and a sculptor with a site-specific work that will evolve over a period of half a year are in the spotlight in three spaces within the New Bedford Art Museum/ArtWorks! Displayed in the Heritage Gallery, painters Art Ballelli and Roy St. Christopher Rossow make a formidable and complementary pair in their exhibition called “Warmed by Sunshine, Lit by Starlight.” Ballelli, a native of Westerly, a perfect picture postcard town in southwestern Rhode Island, displays a series of acrylic paintings highlighting the Victorian era houses in his community. His style is crisp, almost to the point of starkness, and his “painted ladies” are visually cropped in a thoughtful manner that highlights their exquisite architectural details. The … [Read more...] about NEW BEDFORD TODAY: NEARBY WATERS INSPIRE SERIES OF EXHIBITIONS

A CLASS REUNION: SCHOOL PHOTOS A SURPRISING DISPLAY AT THE HOOD

// Current Issue, Issue Articles, January/February 2020

by Marguerite Serkin

To most people who have ever attended school, sitting for a school photo is a recognizable annual rite of passage. For those who can afford it, the white envelope with prints arrives, opened secretively then proudly shared with friends and family, or ashamedly hidden in the recesses of a dresser drawer. It is a ritual which at once unites and divides along lines of appearance, status, ability, language, and adherence to the perceived norms demanded by society. “School Photos and Their Afterlives” at the Hood Museum of Art from January 8 through April 12, has taken the commonality of the school photo and elevated it to a conveyance of historical significance and social accountability. Drawing on vast archival photographic records augmented by the work of artists including Marcelo Brodsky, Steven Deo, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Mirta Kupferminc, Silvina Der-Meguerditchian, Diane Meyer, Vik … [Read more...] about A CLASS REUNION: SCHOOL PHOTOS A SURPRISING DISPLAY AT THE HOOD

PRINTMAKING UNDER THE INFLUENCE: DREAMS AND PASSIONS FUEL MULTI-TALENTED COMMUNITY

// Current Issue, Issue Articles, January/February 2020

by Kristin Nord

From its beginning in 1995, the Center for Contemporary Printmaking’s mission has been to support, preserve and advance the art of original prints. Located in a converted stone carriage house in Norwalk, Connecticut, CCP is equipped to accommodate intaglio, lithography, monotype, silkscreen, woodblock printing, papermaking, book arts and digital processes.   This year, with the CCP’s Members Show, on display through February 9, viewers are also being introduced to the interior thoughts, dreams and passions that are fueling the work of this multi-aged and multi-talented community. With the theme “Under the Influence” to guide them, members responded with wide-ranging essays that have accompanied their art as wall text. Kimberly Henrikson, CCP’s executive director, said that she has been delighted by the responses not only of the participating members, but of the visitors who … [Read more...] about PRINTMAKING UNDER THE INFLUENCE: DREAMS AND PASSIONS FUEL MULTI-TALENTED COMMUNITY

Mentors and Mentees: A LASTING LEGACY AT PINE MANOR

// Current Issue, Issue Articles, January/February 2020

by Leah Hamilton French

“Legacy: Passing the Torch,” curated by Stephanie Mahan Stigliano, presents the work of Boston and New England area artist educators in a variety of media, side by side with that of their students. The show explores the bi-directional influence of the teacher-student relationship, both through the pairings of work as well as through the reflective artist statements accompanying each piece. Presenting the work in this context, said Stigliano, allows us to “ ...explore and support the complex, cooperative, and long-ranging influence of both teachers and students — relationships that begin in an academic environment and are transformed and invigorated when mentors and students become colleagues.”   Proximity reveals what might not otherwise be noticeable; pairing allows the viewer to see the subtle influences of the mentor on the work of the student. In Juan Perez’s “JD Martinez … [Read more...] about Mentors and Mentees: A LASTING LEGACY AT PINE MANOR

IMAGE IS EVERYTHING: IT’S A MOD MOD WORLD AT WAM’S PHOTO REVOLUTION

// Current Issue, Issue Articles, January/February 2020

by Suzanne Volmer

“Photo Revolution: Andy Warhol to Cindy Sherman,” at the Worcester Art Museum through February 15, explores the evolution of photography at the hands of the baby boom generation. The exhibition brackets the time frame after WWII but before smartphones and illustrates forces that have shaped popular culture, resulting in currently different standards in contemporary art. Curator Nancy Kathryn Burns invites audiences into this show, which is a roaming look at our cultural climate when photography quickly insinuated itself into daily life, and in the process, eventually achieving equal footing among painting and sculpture as an art form. The exhibition catalogue opens with a quote from Marcel Duchamp responding to Alfred Stieglitz’s question, “Can a photograph have the significance of art?” Duchamp wrote, in part, “I would like to see it make people despise painting until something else … [Read more...] about IMAGE IS EVERYTHING: IT’S A MOD MOD WORLD AT WAM’S PHOTO REVOLUTION

MYTHOLOGIZING AND ROMANTICIZING: SERGEI DIAGHILEV’S REVOLUTIONARY BALLET COMPANY BROUGHT TO LIFE

// Current Issue, Issue Articles, January/February 2020

by Beth Neville

What a wonderful day of discovery! On a cold and dreary November day to find a new (for me) museum, a new artist and a new town with good restaurants! The Museum of Russian Icons in Clinton, Massachusetts, opened in 2006, is exhibiting the marvelous photographs of Emil Otto Hoppé (British, 1878-1972) of the Ballets Russes. The exhibition is sponsored by Artscope Magazine. Hoppé, one of the most famous photographers of his day, had exclusive access to Ballets Russes, the revolutionary ballet company founded by Sergei Diaghilev in Paris, France (1909-1929). Hoppé’s 73 ballet photographs provide an eye-popping view into the balletic revolution that moved away from 19th century heavily costumed, stylized, drama-ballets to the modernism of “The Rite of Spring,” “The Firebird,” “Petrushka,” “Le Carnaval” and others. What a sensation Diaghilev and his company caused; offended patrons rioted … [Read more...] about MYTHOLOGIZING AND ROMANTICIZING: SERGEI DIAGHILEV’S REVOLUTIONARY BALLET COMPANY BROUGHT TO LIFE