I’m in the atelier of Alexandra Rozenman in her Joy Street Studio in Somerville just beyond Union Square, its majestic length filled with the mostly quiet energy of artists of all persuasions working industriously in their brick studios. Joy Street ends at the appropriately named Brickbottom Building where on January 27, Rozenman will be featured in their lobby gallery space, along with two other artist/ colleagues, in a month-long exhibit entitled “Space ←→ Color ←→ Movement: Lyrical Realism into Poetic Abstraction” with each word of the title joined to the other with a two-headed arrow to illustrate how in the process of painting, in deft hands, all these elements are joined in tension and harmony. (To read more, pick up a copy of our latest issue! Find a pick-up location near you or Subscribe Here.) … [Read more...] about HIGHLY PERMEABLE BEINGS: ROZENMAN, GERSTEIN & ROTHSCHILD ALIGN AT BRICKBOTTOM
Issue Articles
“WE ARE STILL HERE”: VISIONARY, LIVING, IMPORTANT: INDIGENOUS AMERICAN ART
It is not just for the expression of an aesthetic and experience of lifeways, history and ceremony thousands of years old, nor because it connects us to, reminds us of the values of living in balance with each other and earth, but because it is a form of revolutionary resistance against the oppression of white supremacy, colonialism and fascism that Indigenous art is so important. As any native person from Wampanoag to Kwakiutl will tell you, “We are still here.” And they have been fighting the misapprehension that they are extinct, fighting to have their real history included in curricula, fighting to let it be known what genocides were done to them, culturally, linguistically and physically, by war, religion, forced education, economies, disease — and to let the rest of non-native America know that they have, in spite of all, persisted, and in some cases thrived, despite injustice, … [Read more...] about “WE ARE STILL HERE”: VISIONARY, LIVING, IMPORTANT: INDIGENOUS AMERICAN ART
INSTINCTIVE, PLAYFUL, METICULOUS: RODRIGUEZ USES HER ART TO OVERCOME PAST TRAUMA
To experience the dream of another is something that many regard as an impossible feat. The closest we may come is by being immersed in the extraordinary video installations of Cuban-American interdisciplinary artist Allison Maria Rodriguez at the Nesto Gallery at Milton Academy. “There is power in creativity, there is strength in imagining,” Rodriguez said, noting that imagination is a force encouraged in childhood and suppressed in adulthood. Her exhibition, “Worlds Within,” is comprised of several digital animations from Rodriguez’s ongoing series, “Legends Breathe.” The subjects of Rodriguez’s stunning installations are female-identified and nonbinary creatives in her community, invited by the artist to share visually detailed descriptions of their childhood fantasies. These fantasies are dreams and stories her subjects created during childhood in order to overcome traumatic … [Read more...] about INSTINCTIVE, PLAYFUL, METICULOUS: RODRIGUEZ USES HER ART TO OVERCOME PAST TRAUMA
COMPLEMENTARY AESTHETICS: TRUONG AND SELVAGE EXPLORE LIGHT AT BOSTON SCULPTORS
At Boston Sculptors Gallery, audiences have the opportunity to see “Bespoke” by Kenson Truong by simply parting a curtain and walking into a pitch-black gallery. The idea is to stand in that space shining a flashlight at any one of the four walls to see text printed in red and blue, which is visible only when using the high intensity black light provided. Viewers in the dark connect with the text as they search for narrative revealed with the radial glow cast by their flashlights. In this way, not too much of the narrative is shown at any given moment. There is mystery. Audiences enveloped in darkness can absorb at their pace. In this seemingly liquid environment Truong hones a metaphor of the unconscious creating a story of innocence, treachery, mortality, angst and the will to survive. I talked with Kenson Truong by phone. He described his technique for screen-printing text … [Read more...] about COMPLEMENTARY AESTHETICS: TRUONG AND SELVAGE EXPLORE LIGHT AT BOSTON SCULPTORS
MAKING A STATEMENT: TRIEDMAN’S WINDOW FRAMED COLLAGES ARRIVE IN CONCORD
I first discovered Kim Triedman’s multi-layered work in ArtSpace Maynard’s 2018 exhibition, “Waste Not,” in which most of the work engaged the feelings of discourse taking place in the United States at the time. Having loved old buildings and old things, I was immediately drawn to her use of old window frames as frames for her collages. It took several close looks – some of those not taking place till I had returned home to review photos I had taken as a reference for my notes — to realize how much else was going on in her pieces — and what their true intention was. “I think that every act of art-making is an act of throwing out a line for someone else in the universe to catch," Triedman said. “Anytime we as viewers approach a piece of art, we come at it with our own set of experiences and emotional history – but essentially blind as to the artist’s own intentions and processes. So, … [Read more...] about MAKING A STATEMENT: TRIEDMAN’S WINDOW FRAMED COLLAGES ARRIVE IN CONCORD
A TIME FOR FRESH AIR: HARRIS AND MAHONEY MOVE INTO THE SPOTLIGHT AT BROMFIELD
Last fall, I was honored to be asked to jury the Bromfield Gallery’s SOLO 2022 Competition. I set out on the task looking for work that would call out to passerby in a neighborhood filled with top-rate galleries and artists. This January, Virginia Mahoney and Anne Birutė Harris will present work to carry you away visually, in experience and in thought. Harris’ “PEAK” solo show combines painting, performance, photographyandvideoinintroducingherseven-year“collaboration” with the tallest mountain in Massachusetts, Mount Greylock. Her working relationship there began after she had spent several years visiting different waterfalls and forests in Massachusetts that eventually led her out west to The Berkshires. “One day I was thinking about yearly foliage drives my family went on as a kid, and it was in this moment I remembered North Adams’ Hairpin Turn, and the mountain pass through … [Read more...] about A TIME FOR FRESH AIR: HARRIS AND MAHONEY MOVE INTO THE SPOTLIGHT AT BROMFIELD