When Scott Prior walked into the Cahoon Museum of American Art in Cotuit, he said it was a “very emotional experience — after such a difficult year — to look back” over five decades of his life’s work. “They did a spectacular job hanging the pieces” — some 35 of his Cape Cod related paintings, prints and drawings in his long overdue first solo exhibition on the Cape. (His work has appeared in over 100 exhibitions and hangs in at least two dozen museums and private collections). He calls himself a realist, eschewing other labels. “There are always movements in art history.” Some follow the trends, and “some artists do their own thing and eventually come back into fashion.” Like Wyeth, who was so dissed for his realism only to be “rediscovered” recently. Prior said an artist should “be who you are in the time you are in and try to be honest.” (To read more, pick up a copy of … [Read more...] about TRANSIENT, TIMELESS DREAMSCAPES: THE CAHOON’S SCOTT PRIOR EXHIBITION FEELS LIKE HOME

Painter Jo Ann Rothschild has always registered the political through the personal. The daughter of a prominent Chicago civil rights lawyer, she arrived in Boston as the Vietnam era was ending. Her abstract vocabulary of marks and grids already betrayed a singular responsiveness to human turmoil and social justice. By 1989, Rothschild was creating luminous off-stretcher canvases of heroic scale. A few years later, her looming expanses of intersecting lines and translucent blocks of color garnered her the first Maud Morgan Prize, awarded by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, to honor a Massachusetts woman artist. (Despite this notoriety, several of her giant canvases entrusted to non- profits through the now-defunct Art Connection have sadly gonemissing; Rothschild is hoping some of them will still turn up.) (To read more, pick up a copy of our latest issue! Find a pick-up … [Read more...] about JO ANN ROTHSCHILD AT HALLSPACE: A YEAR OF LOOKING BACK AND PAINTING FORWARD

Jennifer Wen Ma’s massive “An Inward Sea” installation, which opens on May 13, is part of the New Britain Museum of American Art’s 2020/20+WOMEN initiative celebrating female-identifying artists throughout American history and its NEW/NOW series spotlighting emerging and established contemporary artists. I recently discussed “An Inward Sea” with Ma prior to its completion. We spoke about content, the artist’s career in overview, and how the pandemic impacted her life and creative practice. Our conversation also touched on the unexpected delay of custom-made elements from China, “bound for the New Britain show,” that were delayed due to blockage of the Suez Canal by a huge container ship, Ever Given, cutting things close for the show’s timely installation. (To read more, pick up a copy of our latest issue! Find a pick-up location near you or Subscribe Here.) … [Read more...] about A GOLD MEDAL INSTALLATION: OLYMPIC ARTIST JENNIFER WEN MA’S NEW BRITAIN SHOWCASE

Artist Youngsheen A. Jhe paints everyday scenes with rare resonance. After an initial glance, her work quietly deepens in both tone and symbolism; it conjures the world as a space in which shadow and color are not merely byproducts of light and objects, but significant clues into emotional states. Fashion runways, city streets, and rooftops serve as backdrops for silent networks of people who are merely crossing paths. Their gazes, often pointing far into the distance, evoke a curious magnetism. We ask: What are they thinking? What have they left behind? What are they longing for? These figures, whose sullen, often melancholy faces are typically within inches of one another — and yet, despite their proximity, they never connect. Conversations are never had. Eye contact is never made. Fashion runways are walked on and forgotten while crowds dig into their glowing … [Read more...] about THE ART OF LONELINESS: YOUNGSHEEN A. JHE FEELS AT HOME AT GALATEA