REVIEW INVENTUR — ART IN GERMANY, 1943-55 SPECIAL EXHIBITIONS GALLERY HARVARD ART MUSEUMS 32 QUINCY STREET CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS THROUGH JUNE 3 by James Foritano Our quintessential American humorist Samuel Clemens — better known under his pen name, Mark Twain — upon hearing that his obituary had appeared in a prominent newspaper, is reported to have announced from his own public podium: “The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.” It was equally assumed that when the Second World War came to an end, of sorts, in the year 1945, with 55 million people killed, a goodly portion in infamous extermination camps, that the fragile bloom of German art had also died with them. The thesis of “Inventur — Art in Germany, 1943-55,” an exhibition currently at the Harvard Art Museums’ special exhibition rooms on the third floor, is that this assessment is also an … [Read more...] about INVENTUR AT HARVARD: TAKING STOCK OF GERMAN ART
Germany
Thomas Demand: Dailies at Matthew Mark Gallery
By Cole Tracy New York, NY- As opposed to his normal practice of working from news images, Thomas Demand turns his focus onto the everyday shots from his cellphone in “Dailies,” an exhibition on view through December 21 at the Matthew Marks Gallery in New York City. The strange paradigm of looking at these ordinary moments, sculpturally recreated by Demand and then photographed, is serendipitous yet simultaneously meticulous. Each photograph shows a moment of solitude within an urban setting, with the end result looking like a visual diary. But each image was produced over several months, during which time Demand perfects these quiet moments into a miniature reality. The dye transfer prints look almost surreal; the information attained and the beautifully accurate color saturation give the images an even stronger life-like feel. This show addresses the everyday, and lonesomeness … [Read more...] about Thomas Demand: Dailies at Matthew Mark Gallery