NEW ENGLAND IMPRESSIONS by Suzanne Volmer South Beach Miami, Florida - Art Fair Week in Miami and Miami Beach is an exciting citywide celebration akin to Mardi Gras, with a cerebral edge. Miami Beach seized a moment 14 years ago by accepting an opportunity that was offered by the UBS-sponsored Art Basel franchise. Today, the presence of contemporary art and specifically art collecting energize this city. Miami’s art scene has personality; it is a dialogue of considerable public participation. The management of art presentation in the city enlists a powerhouse of brand identity, inviting global participation. During this year’s Art Fair Week, Adam Adelson of Boston’s Adelson Galleries exhibited at Miami Project; Mike Carroll from Provincetown’s Schoolhouse Gallery exhibited at Scope; and William Baczek of William Baczek Fine Arts of Northampton, Mass. exhibited at Pulse. … [Read more...] about MIAMI’S ART FAIR WEEK
January/February 2016
ART BASEL MIAMI BEACH 2015
THE ART WORLD IS HOT, HOT, HOT by Suzanne Volmer South Beach Miami, Florida - Upon entering Art Basel Miami Beach, one was met with Rosemarie Trockel’s large, abstract, reptilian-looking wall installation, a monochromatic work with scales sprung slightly from the wall in low relief. The trends of relief and monochrome echoed as one progressed through the hallways and booths ahead. Although the color vibrancy for which Miami is known was retained, the current of its profusion was less. Trockel’s swift amplification of textural influences and physical movement was installed adjacent to a large photographic print by Andreas Gursky. Placed at the fore on the outer booth wall of Sprüth Magers Gallery, both works started a dialogue of substrates reflecting trends later evident amid this year’s overall fair content. The artworks explored the idea of process and texture informing … [Read more...] about ART BASEL MIAMI BEACH 2015
SIX DAYS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD
EPPRIDGE’S TIMELESS LOOK AT THE FAB FOUR by Brian Goslow Danbury, Connecticut - It was, inarguably, one of those moments in which everything changed. On February 9, 1964, The Beatles played on the Ed Sullivan Show for the first time, setting Beatlemania into full gear and sparking a cultural shift that still echoes today. Photojournalist Bill Eppridge documented the Fab Four’s first tour of the United States for Life magazine, taking “Three thousand images on 90 rolls of film” — only four of which ended up being printed in the publication at the time. “Bill was in the Life magazine offices early on the day that the Beatles were scheduled to arrive at JFK Airport,” said Eppridge’s wife, Adrienne Aurichio. “The director of photography, Dick Pollard, saw Bill and asked him if he wanted to shoot their arrival. It was not planned as a six-day assignment. Bill turned it into … [Read more...] about SIX DAYS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD
FEELING BLUE IN VERMONT
TOM FELS’ CYANOTYPES by Arlene Distler Brattleboro, Vermont - To view Tom Fels’ cyanotypes this January at Mitchell • Giddings Fine Arts (MGFA) is to enter a magic kingdom, a secret world of trees and leaves revealed by alchemy. The process of cyanotype goes back to the mid 1800s. Then, and well into the 20th century, it was primarily used to make “blueprints” of notes and diagrams. The origin of the nomer is obvious — cyano- types are made by the application of light-sensitive chemicals to paper or fabric. These chemicals, ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide, give a deep blue hue to the paper. The color is equivalent to Prussian blue in painting. The first use of cyanotypes as art, as an esthetic phenomenon in its own right, is credited to Anna Atkins, who created cyanotype “photograms” of seaweed. Because of her work with cyanotypes, Atkins is … [Read more...] about FEELING BLUE IN VERMONT
A Medium For Social Change
INTERNATIONAL POSTERS AT LAMONT by Linda Chestney Exeter, New Hampshire - It’s a fine art to be pithy while at the same time capturing your activist message in an image. That is the goal of “Graphic Advocacy: International Posters for the Digital Age 2001-2012,” the exhibi- tion that will be gracing the walls this January and February at Lamont Gallery on the Phillips Exeter Academy campus. Curated by Elizabeth Resnick, professor and chair of graphic design at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston, the show features 122 posters by artists and designers from around the world who present powerful visual statements addressing pressing social, political, economic and environmental concerns — issues ranging from global warming and freedom of expression to equality, poverty, terrorism and so many more. DISSENT MADE VISIBLE Resnick considers posters … [Read more...] about A Medium For Social Change
ALT CLAY AT PINE MANOR
THREE ARTISTS SHAPE THEIR VISIONS by Elizabeth Michelman Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts - Clay has always served as a carrier of culture, from creation myths and cookery to architecture, painting, sculpture and writing. Three sculptors currently exhibiting hand-built clay structures at Pine Manor College have adapted this medium to their contemporary idiom. Each one experiments to fulfill her individual aesthetic, expressive and communicative goals. Pursuing a woman-centered vision of birth, death and eroticism, Ellen Schön creates objects that exude desirability. Her centered vessels are typically rounded or lobed, with the largest dimension under 24 inches. They call forth in either sex the primal wish to be suckled at the breast and enveloped in the womb. Their profiles allude to many organic forms — pods, fruits, fungi and feminine mysteries. Despite their controlled … [Read more...] about ALT CLAY AT PINE MANOR