Boston, MA - Venturing down the 10 or so stairs to Galatea Fine Art at 460 Harrison Ave. in Boston’s SoWa District has always held the promise of discovering a new favorite artist, whether through its monthly spotlight exhibitions of collection of members work that sometimes threatens to steal the show in its own right. The three exhibitions on view through October 28: Philip Gerstein’s “Sometimes There Is Bliss”; Barry Margolin’s “Play of Wakefulness” and “Ronni Komarow’s “Tender Mercies” have lots to deliver, so plan on a second or third walk around the gallery space to see what revelations you missed the first time around. The first work in Gerstein’s collection as you turn into its viewing area, “Count O’Litski,” has the immediate feel of process thanks to the sharpness of his drawn lines and the marking and filling in of space on the canvas. In “After the Humans,” you can … [Read more...] about OCTOBER TREAT: GERSTEIN, MARGOLIN & KOMAROW AT GALATEA
Exhibits
PLAY ON PHILADELPHIA! JANET ECHELMAN’S PULSE & DAVID BREWSTER’S ROGUE WAVES AT GROSS MCLEAF GALLERY SHARE THE LOVE
Philadelphia is an art city. When I first encountered Philadelphia’s City Hall on a bright sunny day in early October, I was enchanted by the extent and excellence of the installations and sculptures I encountered, beginning with bronze statues of historical figures that included John Wanamaker, President William McKinley, General McClellan and William Penn. Penn’s statue, created by Scotsman Alexander Milne Calder and installed in 1894, graces the top of the tower of Philadelphia’s City Hall. The city’s website claims it is the largest, at 37 feet tall and heaviest, at 53,000 pounds of any statue worldwide. Challenging the size of Penn in the same plaza is Claes Oldenburg’s “Clothespin,” which is joined by Robert Indiana’s “Love” sculpture, with red letters, and blue sides mimicking his 1976 painting. Jacque Lipshitz’s “Government of the People” (1976) looks like a tangle of human … [Read more...] about PLAY ON PHILADELPHIA! JANET ECHELMAN’S PULSE & DAVID BREWSTER’S ROGUE WAVES AT GROSS MCLEAF GALLERY SHARE THE LOVE
Synesthesia: Music-Inspired Art and Mindscapes by Lennie Peterson at the Narrows Art Center
Lennie Peterson’s “Synesthesia,” on view through October 15 at the Narrows Art Center in Fall River, Massachusetts, is a must-see exhibition of over 40 original mixed-media drawing-paintings (and a few reproductions of originals in Giclée on board), a hanging sculpture and a behind-the-scenes video of Peterson at work. In the video, we see Peterson creating with a live-performance format, which he is now famous for doing, and get a glimpse of some of his lesser known and fascinating practices. There is a revelation in the video: he takes a substrate and places it in water and sand in a beach environment, allowing the materials to arrive at a natural unrehearsed condition. This act is important because it is Peterson’s fundamental guiding force — flow. The exhibition itself features some of Peterson’s best-known and best-loved portraits of many iconic musical figures, including … [Read more...] about Synesthesia: Music-Inspired Art and Mindscapes by Lennie Peterson at the Narrows Art Center
Elevated at Copley Society of Art: Quietly Powerful
There are moments in contemporary art where one is confronted with the big question: Why do I need to contemplate an exhibition when it looks conventional? Hasn’t this been done before? “Elevated” at Copley Society of Art (CoSo) is one of those scream-less conundrum exhibitions. It is a quiet medium-sized national photography show featuring 30 works by both CoSo members and non-members juried by Robert Klein of Robert Klein Gallery that’s on view through October 3. As expected, in a contemporary exhibition, the works on view are in black and white and color formats and range in subject from landscape to figurative, and the display set-up is commercial in that the work is framed and easy to sell. The photographers showcased are Doug Adams, Frank Bartucca, David Lee Black, Sally Bousquet, Dan Cook, John Dalterio, Jim Ferguson, Tim Hale, Robert Hein, Andrea Kemler, Keri McAndrews, … [Read more...] about Elevated at Copley Society of Art: Quietly Powerful
NEW ENGLAND COLLECTIVE IX AT GALATEA FINE ART
For its ninth annual juried show, “New England Collective IX,” Galatea Fine Art, located in the heart of Boston’s SOWA District, enlisted the expertise of Marni Elyse Katz to jury the show. The show features over 50 artists including Bredt Handy, Elizabeth Pogor and Laura Fischman. Katz is a freelance design journalist, a consultant and an art curator that sources art for private collectors; she is the main blogger for stylecarrot.com and is a contributor to The Boston Globe, Design New England and Boston Home. In this exhibition, Katz does a stellar job of selecting pieces that are not only strong in their own right, but are complementary to the other works hanging on the walls of the gallery. In this exhibition, one can observe that Katz was drawn to works that are slight abstractions on everyday objects and scenes. Each piece deals with subject matter tied to daily life, but … [Read more...] about NEW ENGLAND COLLECTIVE IX AT GALATEA FINE ART
GALLERY SPOTLIGHT: BOSTON’S 1PERCENT GALLERY AND THEIR VISION TO “REDEFINE UNDEFINED SPACES”
Piano Craft Gallery located in the South End of Boston is a gallery space that rents out to various dealers, curators, and artist collectives. Its most recent show was a “featured artists” exhibition by 1Percent Gallery that closed on July 30. It featured artists of all mediums from painting and sculpture to textiles and prints with a focus on connecting artists from different worlds and creating a space in which these worlds collide and complement each other. As intriguing as the art was, the more interesting aspect of the show was the gallery putting it on. 1Percent Gallery is an online gallery that represents artists from all disciplines. They represent visual artists, musicians, fashion designers and skateboarders. As it doesn’t have its own permanent space, 1Percent Gallery travels from gallery to gallery and completely transforms the room. Its mission can be summed up into three … [Read more...] about GALLERY SPOTLIGHT: BOSTON’S 1PERCENT GALLERY AND THEIR VISION TO “REDEFINE UNDEFINED SPACES”