Article Excerpts
WELCOME: FROM BRIAN GOSLOW
by Brian Goslow, Managing Editor bgoslow@artscopemagazine.com We were putting this issue together as publisher Kaveh Mojtabai and national correspondent Nancy Nesvet were preparing to return to Switzerland for Art Basel 2018, where once again, Artscope has been selected to have its latest issue (the one you’re holding) available at the Collective Booth in the Magazines Sector. We always take pride in bringing the best of the season’s exhibitions and artists from the New England region to the penultimate art fair. ...LAYERS AND LIGHT: JOHNSON AND MEHTA AT BEACON
FEATURED GALLERY LAYERS & LIGHT: THE ARTWORK OF AJA JOHNSON AND LORI MEHTA While much of what a gallery owner or curator does goes unseen — the behind-the-scenes tasks of running an arts business — to me, one of the primary jobs of this profession is making connections. It is the connections found between artists, their work, the public and the art market that can infect an audience with enthusiasm (or not) and can bring art to life. A certain ...SKYE GALLERY PROVIDENCE:DIVERSE AESTHETIC CONTENT
GALLERY SPOTLIGHT SKYE GALLERY 381 BROADWAY PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND In developing her Providence-based gallery, Jonny Skye’s modus operandi involves supporting creative voices that she views as under-recognized. Her hope is that artists’ works can “bubble up from the Earth’s crust to express their truths.” In a recent conversation, Skye discussed her commitment to support artists’ dialogues of diverse aesthetic content. Economic empowerment and fair trade practices for artists are concepts that she has made intrinsic to the gallery’s paradigm. With ...ILLUSION AT FULLER CRAFT: MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE
REVIEW TRICKS OF THE TRADE: ILLUSIONS IN CRAFT-BASED MEDIA FULLER CRAFT MUSEUM 455 OAK STREET BROCKTON, MASSACHUSETTS THROUGH NOVEMBER 18 The tradition of trompe l’oeil painting dates back to at least ancient Pompeii, although the French term — which translates to English as “to deceive the eye” — didn’t originate until the Baroque era. It refers to a hyperrealistic painting style that employs spatial illusion — tricks of perspective, composition and shadow — to fool the viewer into believing that ...BITTEN BY THE SAME BUG: IN THE GARDEN AT SHELBURNE
REVIEW IN THE GARDEN SHELBURNE MUSEUM 6000 SHELBURNE ROAD SHELBURNE, VERMONT THROUGH AUGUST 26 On the eve of New England’s fourth Nor’easter (with a fifth predicted), I am listening to installation artist Jennifer Angus speak about the insects, dirt and decay — yes, all those things we cringe at — that are the inspiration for her current exhibition at the Shelburne Museum. Angus is fascinated by bugs — their wispy wings, the intricate design of their antennae, the moiré-like sheen ...EARLY MODERN MASTERS: THE PRENDERGASTS AT NEW BRITAIN
REVIEW AMERICAN POST-IMPRESSIONISTS: MAURICE & CHARLES PRENDERGAST NEW BRITAIN MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART 56 LEXINGTON STREET NEW BRITAIN, CONNECTICUT THROUGH JUNE 10 “American Post-Impressionists: Maurice & Charles Prendergast,” now at The New Britain Museum of American Art (NBMAA), serves up a bounteous survey of these two important, early modern masters. More than 100 works — including paintings, sculptures, frames, sketchbooks, photographs, letters and tools — have been drawn from the NBMAA permanent collection and the Prendergast Archive & Study Center ...ALLURE OF VENICE: LANSIL AT WHISTLER
REVIEW THE ALLURE OF VENICE WHISTLER HOUSE MUSEUM OF ART 243 WORTHEN STREET LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS THROUGH JUNE 23 Whistler House Museum of Art, in partnership with Fry Fine Art, is presenting a special exhibit of paintings by underappreciated late 19th century New England artist Walter Franklin Lansil. “Allure of Venice” presents 70 paintings depicting the lagoon, canals and architecture of Venice, one of the world’s great cultural sites. Venice’s fabled appeal to artists and writers begins with the city’s unique ...MICROCOSMS OF LIFE: ARTSPACE MAYNARD’S BIOMORPHIC ALCHEMY
REVIEW BIOMORPHIC ALCHEMY: KAY HARTUNG + MICHELLE LOUGEE ARTSPACE MAYNARD 63 SUMMER STREET MAYNARD, MASSACHUSETTS THROUGH MAY 18 “Biomorphic Alchemy,” the second joint exhibit of Kay Hartung and Michelle Lougee, presents works inspired by life forms closely observed and fancifully imagined. Hartung studied photographs from electron microscopes and uses them as a jumping-off point in producing intricate, multi-layered, abstract paintings depicting cellular sub-organisms. The surface texture and the richness of her colors come from successive applications of encaustic, pot pastels ...ART FROM THE SOUL: NINE LIVES AT ROCKY NECK
FEATURED EXHIBITION ART FROM THE SOUL: NINE PAINTERS THE CULTURAL CENTER AT ROCKY NECK 6 WONSON STREET GLOUCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS THROUGH MAY 13 Nine women painters founded “Art from the Soul,” a group led by mentor and teacher Nella Lush. Exhibiting together at the Cultural Center at Rocky Neck, their paintings exemplify a style I call “Romantic Abstract Expressionism.” (See Nella Lush profile, page 36.) The painting techniques employed by Lush and her students demand a new vocabulary to describe them. ...SOOTHING THE SOUL: NELLA LUSH
FEATURED ARTIST FOR MORE INFORMATION: NELLA LUSH CONTEMPORARY PAINTER NELLALUSH.COM Nella Lush paints in a style I will call, “Romantic Abstract Expressionism.” Mentor, group organizer and supporter of women’s careers, Lush is one of those extraordinary people who cares deeply about others. In addition, she is a fine painter who will be exhibiting in a number of galleries this spring and summer in Nantucket, Provincetown, Gloucester and her Boston studio. Born in Italy, she speaks with a lilting accent about ...THE POWER OF MYTH: JAMES DYE AT WAM
SPOTLIGHT ARTIST EXPLORING THE MYTHS OF JAMES DYE WORCESTER ART MUSEUM 55 SALISBURY STREET WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS THROUGH SEPTEMBER 2 It didn’t take long after James Dye had heard his name announced as the winner of the Sally R. Bishop Prize for Best in Show at the 2017 ArtsWorcester Biennial for the enormity of what had just occurred to set in. Along with a cash prize, he would receive a solo exhibition at the Worcester Art Museum — and he had ...LAYERS OF CALM AT BOWDOIN: POUSETTE-DART GOES DEEPER
FEATURED MUSEUM RICHARD POUSETTE-DART: PAINTING/LIGHT/SPACE BOWDOIN COLLEGE MUSEUM OF ART 245 MAINE STREET BRUNSWICK, MAINE THROUGH SEPTEMBER 16 An idyllic and incredibly expensive prestigious liberal arts college, Maine’s Bowdoin College boasts a fabulous art museum. The campus and the museum reek of history, gorgeous architecture and a gleefully rich endowment. The current direction of the museum is the hands of three refugees from Washington’s Smithsonian. Most uniquely, the titular heads of the institution, the co-directors, are actually a husband and ...A WHOLE NEW VIEW: NOWINSKI’S GROTESQUE BEAUTY
ARTIST PROFILE BERKSHIRE ART MUSEUM 159 E. MAIN STREET NORTH ADAMS, MASSACHUSETTS JUNE THROUGH SEPTEMBER FOR MORE INFORMATION: MAGGIE NOWINSKI INSTALLATION ARTIST MAGGIENOWINSKI.ORG Viewing Maggie Nowinski’s “wHoles” is akin to studying the basic building blocks of yourself. Look into a microscope at your own skin. What might you see? Could those millions of cells inhabiting your internal spaces transform into braided rings of yarn, hair scrunchies or floating jellyfish hoods? Deceptively simplistic on the surface, these complex circular discs we ...DIVING TO DYNAMIC DEPTHS: SEA OF HEARTBREAK AT NEWPORT
REVIEW JOAN HALL: SEA OF HEARTBREAK NEWPORT ART MUSEUM 76 BELLEVUE AVENUE NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND MAY 19 THROUGH JULY 29 “Plastic is here to stay — what matters is what we do with it; if my art falls into the ocean it’s going to biodegrade, and that’s exactly what I want it to do,” explained artist Joan Hall while describing the process of making organic paper pulp for her newest major installation, “Sea of Heartbreak,” at the Newport Art Museum. ...PARAMNESIAC IN NEWPORT: BELIEVE THE IMPLAUSIBLE
REVIEW CRISTI RINKLIN: PARAMNESIAC NEWPORT ART MUSEUM 76 BELLEVUE AVENUE NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND JUNE 15 THROUGH SEPTEMBER 2 In her artist statement, Boston-based painter Cristi Rinklin notes that she is inspired by the visual language of constructed reality that permeates the history of pictorial space. Through that declaration, she seems to have given herself permission — with inspiration from and full respect to those who’ve painted before her — to utilize anything and everything from the past in making her ...THE TIES THAT BIND: RELATED VISIONS ON THE CAPE
ARTISTS SPOTLIGHT ODELL ART STUDIO AND GALLERY 423 MAIN STREET CHATHAM, MASSACHUSETTS RELATED VISIONS: CAROL ODELL, TOM ODELL AND JOHN HOWELL WHITE PROVINCETOWN ART ASSOCIATION AND MUSEUM 460 COMMERCIAL STREET PROVINCETOWN, MASSACHUSETTS MAY 4 THROUGH JUNE 24 According to W. J. Clinton, “Great rewards will come to those who can live together, learn together, work together, forge new ties that bind together.” Carol Odell, Tom Odell and John Howell White are bound together by art, blood and commitment. Carol and ...A THOUGHTFUL OBSERVER: KALIAN BEARS WITNESS AT COSO
COVER STORY LUCY KALIAN: WITNESSES COPLEY SOCIETY OF ART 158 NEWBURY STREET BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS MAY 17 THROUGH JUNE 17 Lucy Kalian always wanted to be an artist. As a young child, she enjoyed sitting in the kitchen watching her Armenian female relatives mold edible shells to fill with food. The shells seemed to be sculpted, she recalled. “I was always making things and everything I saw or heard excited me,” Kalian said. “I was unusually observant and highly sensitive. Every ...SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS: FRAONE’S DOS AND DON’TS
BUSINESS Almost 18 years ago, fresh out of a five-year career as a technology business journalist and working my first art gallery job, there was a lot of conversation in my new profession on how the Internet was changing how collectors purchased art. Some wondered if the experience of visiting our brick-and-mortar art galleries would be replaced by e-commerce web sites. This isn’t quite how things turned out. Brick and mortar galleries and the Internet have formed a symbiotic relationship. ...ART BASEL 2018 PREVIEW: WHAT’S NEW?
EVENT ART BASEL MESSEPLATZ 10 4005 BASEL SWITZERLAND JUNE 14 THROUGH 17 Artscope Magazine is again represented in the Publications Section at the 49th edition of Art Basel, taking place from June 12 through 17 in Basel, Switzerland. As the art market shifts from physical galleries to increasing online and art fair sales, 290 galleries from 35 countries will exhibit in Halls 1 and 2 on the Messe Basel as Art Basel stages the world’s biggest art fair. Sixteen mid-size ...TRANSCENDING SPACE AND TIME: SUGIMOTO’S LIMITLESS VISION
NATIONAL IMAGE BUILDING: HOW PHOTOGRAPHY TRANSFORMS ARCHITECTURE (GROUP SHOW) PARRISH ART MUSEUM SOUTHHAMPTON, NEW YORK THROUGH JUNE 17 SEEKING STILLNESS (GROUP SHOW) MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON THROUGH SEPTEMBER 3 WHAT ABSENCE IS MADE OF (GROUP SHOW) HIRSHHORN MUSEUM AND SCULPTURE GARDEN WASHINGTON D.C. THROUGH SUMMER 2019 FOR MORE INFORMATION: SUGIMOTOHIROSHI.COM Hiroshi Sugimoto — a photographer, landscape designer, philosopher and architect — is again adding to his multifaceted resume. A brilliant photographer who told me that photography was his ticket ...MOLDING THEIR VISIONS: STATE OF CLAY IN LEXINGTON
REVIEW 10TH BIENNIAL STATE OF CLAY LEXINGTON ARTS & CRAFTS SOCIETY 130 WALTHAM STREET LEXINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS MAY 5 THROUGH JUNE 3 There are forlorn figures of bare-foot young women wearing insects as accessories. “Wooden” Trojan horses with functional wheels. A modern-day interpretation of Cerberus, the (typically three-headed) Greek hound of Hades bearing an inscription from Virgil, “And his triple jaws forgot to bark.” Varying in scope, size and subject matter, the unifying element of these pieces is one of the ...CAPSULE PREVIEWS
Juxtaposing the “satiated and the hungry,” the 10-panel “The Hunger Dream” highlights the “Ronald Slayton: Master of Watercolor” exhibition on view from May 1 through June 29 at the T.W. Wood Gallery at the Center for Arts & Learning, 46 Barre St., Montpelier, Vermont. Seen as one, the 1985 work “becomes more than the sum of its separate parts. Slayton’s almost naive, simple, boldly stated images directly confront the viewer today as much as in the past.” It’s joined by ...