Featuring an impressive list of names and focused on artists of color, “Viewpoints: 20 Years of Adderley,” on view through December 6 at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, spotlights visual storytelling that includes the abstract and the narrative bound into a journey of identity, relationship and originality. The entirety is framed as a celebration to highlight the achievements of those who have been speakers in MassArt’s Adderley Lecture Series over the last 20 years. Displayed are works by artists of considerable prominence in the contemporary art world who contribute to the strength of its multi-cultural momentum. Chakaia Booker’s tire sculptures are installed to reach their tentacles into space, and the effect is consistent with her aesthetic. Her work is presented in a wonderful cameo moment, dramatically anchoring the exhibition. This is achieved because Booker’s black … [Read more...] about Viewpoints: 20 Years of Adderly
November/December 2014
IMPRESSIONS OF NEW ENGLAND XIV – PORTRAYING THE HUMAN SPIRIT
Approaching The Bennington Center for the Arts, one is reminded of landscapes quintessentially Vermont. Built in a field off Gypsy Lane on the outskirts of Bennington, this is not the traditional locale for a museum. Based on the barn paintings of Eric Sloane, its architecture honors the Center’s commitment to traditional Americana. White clapboards cover a meticulously maintained primary building and connecting galleries, with a recreated covered bridge just beyond. The Center now holds seven galleries and a 300-seat theater. Several life-sized sculpted moose flank the Center’s entrance, including a fiberglass rendition completed by Berkshire artist Suzanne Little-Stefanik. With an apologetic expression and adorned with a pelt of painted grape leaves, the sculpture is regional yet eclectic, understated yet pronounced — contrasts which appear throughout the museum’s varied … [Read more...] about IMPRESSIONS OF NEW ENGLAND XIV – PORTRAYING THE HUMAN SPIRIT
THREE EASY PIECES: Simon Fujiwara
Simon Fujiwara’s aesthetic vocabulary is varied and inclusive. In his exhibit at Harvard’s Carpenter Center for Visual Arts, he skips lightly between media — shuffling text, sculpture, photographs and video with apparent aplomb. In years past, this may have left guests curiously pondering artistic boundaries and teleology. But the current environment frees us from media restraints and expectations and allows Fujiwara to focus on the narrative of the relationships he weaves through deeply personal installations. “Three Easy Pieces” may be a slightly misleading title. Three pieces comprise the show, but none of them is particularly easy to interpret in the effortless way the title seems to suggest. That’s right where Fujiwara wants you — reflecting on the relationships between memory and reality, the West and foreign cultures, parent and child, past colony and present identity. And in a … [Read more...] about THREE EASY PIECES: Simon Fujiwara
Welcome
Welcome to our final issue of 2014. Many of the stories are the result of longterm planning, including Kristin Nord’s artist profile of Michael Madore, whose work has been on our radar for a few years. This is the first opportunity we’ve had to cover him in conjunction with an exhibition — “Castellology,” currently on view at the MS17 Art Project at the Atrium at Harris Place in New London; in December, it’ll be displayed at Connecticut’s Office of the Arts, Department of Economic and Community Development in Hartford. Artscope publisher Kaveh Mojtabai and I were in New London in late September to visit the galleries of Canal Street and attend the grand opening of CreateHereNow’s Experience the Power of Place Discover New London; nearly a dozen formerly vacant storefronts were brought alive through the creative arts — the kind of development many New England communities strive … [Read more...] about Welcome