Marylin Arsem at the MFA by Elizabeth Michelman Boston, Mass. - Tuesday, December 8. I’m attending Day 29 in a series of 100 unique perfor- mances at the MFA this fall and winter by Boston’s leader in performance art, Marilyn Arsem. Arsem has not yet shown up, but I can already hear her disem- bodied voice musing over the previous day’s performance. The wall text before me explains that each day’s performance provides the inspiration for the next. 10:30 a.m. I enter the all-white Towles Gallery, no larger than a college classroom. A paper calendar on the wall reads “Day 29.” I take a seat on a bench along the wall. The artist, wearing a black sweater-dress with black leggings, black socks and black slip-ons, is already at work. A square wooden table, flanked by two wooden chairs and a black-and- chrome floor lamp, occupies the center of the room. Black coats and … [Read more...] about The Clock Is Ticking
January/February 2016
IN CELEBRATION OF THE PENCIL
Leaving a Mark at D'Amour by Marguerite Serkin Springfield, Mass. - Graphite occurs naturally in many forms, and its appli- cation for modern inscription has a history dating back to sheep marking in 16th-century England. Formerly referred to as “Plumbago,” graphite was used as a paint base in Neolithic times by the Marita culture of the Danube to decorate ceramic pottery. Versatile, easily manipulated, and widely found in nature, graphite serves as an accessible and functionally effective tool in both art and science. It is used in nuclear technology, batteries and brake linings. And, of course, in pencils. “Leaving Our Mark: In Celebration of the Pencil,” on view through March 27 at the D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts in Spring eld, offers a unique perspective on “pencil art.” Organized by New England artist Steve Wilda and curated by Spring eld Museums curator Julia … [Read more...] about IN CELEBRATION OF THE PENCIL
Welcome January/February 2016
Welcome to our first Artscope magazine of 2016. We hope you had a chance to follow our coverage from Art Basel Miami Beach on Instagram and Facebook in early December; this issue features two reports by Suzanne Volmer from the event and its satellite fairs as well as impressions from three of New England’s top gallery directors — Adam Adelson of Adelson Galleries, Mike Carroll of Schoolhouse Gallery and William Baczek of William Baczek Fine Arts. As we were putting this issue together, we learned that we’ll be returning to the Art Basel Collective Booth in Basel, Switzerland this June and more pressingly, will be represented in the media exhibition area at Art Palm Beach in West Palm Beach, Florida from January 20-24, allowing us to continue our mission to bring New England’s artists, galleries and museums to the attention of audiences and collectors outside the region. Art … [Read more...] about Welcome January/February 2016
Capsule Previews
Thirteen large-scale works in oil by Vermont- and Massachusetts- based David Brewster — who says his creative process has always “sought out a kind of theater, often choosing opulent interiors and sylvan landscapes that are somehow distressed” — are featured in “Power- line” from November 4 through 28 at Chase Young Gallery, 450 Harrison Ave. #57, Boston. “Throughout my development I have continued to revisit these same scenarios, with their heightened sense of drama, movement and collapse, inviting the spectator to cross a threshold to confront aspects of our culture that are evolving or perishing.” Bayda Asbridge, a graduate of Syria’s Tishreen University, had one prerequisite for artists submit- ting work for her “Healing Fibers: War and Peace” group exhibition on view from November 7 through 28 at the Sprinkler Factory, 38 Harlow Street, Worcester, Mass. — fiber had to be … [Read more...] about Capsule Previews