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By KIMBERLY POTVIN Print this article Although it is difficult, let’s be realistic. There are two primary goals that every artist has while struggling through the mish-mash, aptly titled, “graduate school.” The first, and most important achievement is to be a big art star. We all know the drill. It is just like boot camp. Go to New York, make connections, starve and pine away, attempt to exhibit in the big name galleries, and hopefully, if all goes well, have your name immortalized in an art history book. There is nothing like…
By MICAH MALONE Print this article MJM: In your essay for the last issue of Big Red and Shiny you use Eve Sussman’s video and the Nicholas Berg beheading tape to frame your argument. I’m wondering if you could expand a little bit on the function of the “video frame” and how context can really affect the consumption of a video. A blackened gallery projection and a shaky internet feed offer very different frame works of viewing. Does the “frame” of video override the “frame” of painting or art in general? Or…
By NATALIE LOVELESS Print this article After a series of interviews with local performance artists and organizers, as well as attending all the performance events I could manage over the past few months, I sat down to write something about the state of performance art, here, today. Of course, I found myself not knowing where to begin. And perhaps this is important. It may be that a summary distinction is the last thing that I should offer for a discipline that prides itself on challenging the seduction of formula, script, and code,…
By BIG RED Print this article Having failed to deliver the needed revenue to cover expenses of operation, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston has laid off 23 staff members thoughout various departments in an attempt to balance the budget for the fiscal year. This announcement comes among a series of cuts over the past few months to help slash more cash from the budget. The MFA is, unfortunately, in good company. In a post 9/11 economy, many insitutions have experienced poor attendance and a sag in the endowment. Detroit Institute of…
By BIG RED Print this article We are proud to announce that we have launched a new and improved FORUM here at Big RED. It is a free, perl-based forum called YABB (Yet Another Bulletin Board) that was recommended by one of our forum users. The new FORUM boasts individual user login and preferences, threaded forums, individual IM, and much more. We hope you like it, treat it well, and make it a place for conversation and ideas to flourish. Click the FORUM link to the left, or go here.
By BIG RED PUBLISHER Print this article It took a lot of work and a long time to get Big RED & Shiny online, to shape its vision and build our core group of writers and reviewers. For the first seven issues, C. Sean Horton was the executive editor at the center of it all, and now we must bid him a fond farewell. This summer, Sean has taken a position at the Firehouse Gallery in Burlington, VT, and will be distancing himself from Big RED. In his own words, he will…
By MICAH J. MALONE Print this article Google-ing the Real is a group show of 11 artists from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, all engaged in the “complex interaction between technology and everyday life.” For this exhibition, a so-called “everyday life” should not be accounted for without addressing the ever changing and manipulative aspects of technology that govern our present condition. With such a tall order on hand, one might even say impossible, I remain both skeptical and encouraged at these artists attempts to tackle such potent subject matter.…
By KIMBERLY POTVIN Print this article Upon entering the NAO Project Gallery, one is instantly taken aback by the flawless appearance and high quality of Asuka Ohsawa’s work. Each painting consists of a tightly rendered gouache-on-paper drawing, blending together solid black and the occasional soft yellow, blue, red, or other pastel. The lines are crisp, clean, and accurate, while the overall appearance of each image resonates with a still beauty that is rarely found in most contemporary painting. Each of Ohsawa’s paintings visually unfolds an open-ended narrative involving animal-like characters with human…