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Artscope Magazine | January/February 2021

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Russia

"The 'Door to Hell.'" In 1971, Soviet geologists were drilling in the Turkmen desert when the land gave way beneath them, leaving a seventy-meter-wide, noxious gas–emitting crater. They ignited the gas to try to burn off the excess, but the crater has been ablaze ever since. Darvaza, Turkmenistan, 2012. Courtesy Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University. © Chloe Dewe Mathews.

SHAPED BY OIL: MATHEWS DOCUMENTS LIFE IN THE CASPIAN STATES

// Current Issue, Issue Articles, May/June 2019

by Isabel Barbi

Photographer Chloe Dewe Mathews brings the environmental and cultural facets of the five countries bordering the Caspian Sea to viewers in the recently-opened exhibition, “Caspian: The Elements.” In October 2018, Mathews published a book under the same title with 125 of her photographs. Now, 30 of those photographs are being displayed at Harvard’s Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnology in a captivating exhibition. Mathews spent five years traveling through Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan, capturing the lives of their peoples and the various unique landscapes surrounding the sea, while showing how natural resources influence the regions and their inhabitants. Each nation has different ways of using their resources and varying climates, but the Caspian Sea still unifies these countries. The exhibition provides an immersive experience for the attendees, … [Read more...] about SHAPED BY OIL: MATHEWS DOCUMENTS LIFE IN THE CASPIAN STATES

Nevet Yitzhak, WarCraft (detail), 2014. Photography by Thomas Seely. Courtesy Yossi Milo Gallery, New York.

Common Threads: Contemporary Fiber Art at the Gardner

// Issue Articles, November/December 2018

by Bryanna F. Drew

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is known for many things: the beautiful Venetian palazzo-inspired architecture, the unconventional way it displays its pieces of art, the largest and still-unsolved art heist in history, and Isabella Stewart Gardner’s wide taste in art — from Italian renaissance and medieval European to Asian and Islamic art; from paintings and sculptures to rare books and textiles — to name a few. Keeping in tradition with her love of textiles, “Common Threads: Weaving Stories Across Time,” is on view through January 13. The exhibition features work from contemporary artists who are continuing the tradition of conveying stories and histories in their works while pushing the boundaries of textile art and distorting the line around what can be defined as a tapestry. Their works are housed in both the Hostetter Gallery as well as the Tapestry Room. Walking into the … [Read more...] about Common Threads: Contemporary Fiber Art at the Gardner

Bear and man wooden toy.

Tinsel Time in Clinton: Russia’s Holiday Icons Show Our Similarities

// Issue Articles, November/December 2018

by Brian Goslow

While the post-Cold War 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union brought the promise of closer relations and great cultural exchange between the United States and “Mother Russia,” recent political tensions between the two countries suggest the divide still exists, possible deeper than before. Two shows running this holiday season at the Museum of Russian Icons have the goal of serving to show visitors that even when the Space Age and threat of Nuclear War cast us as arch enemies, our holiday traditions suggested that our similarities were much greater than our leaders may have wanted us to believe. Curator Laura Garrity-Arquitt said the museum had wanted to present a show of Soviet holiday ornaments for some time but had “the worst luck finding a collection or exhibit available nearby where it would fit in our budget.” Enter collector Frank Sciacca, who had loaned the museum many of … [Read more...] about Tinsel Time in Clinton: Russia’s Holiday Icons Show Our Similarities