NEW IDEAS. NO, I MEAN IDEAS THAT NO ONE HAS HEARD OF BEFORE. By Christian Holland Part 1 of a 3-Part Series. I regret to inform you, but there are no New Ideas. I checked. When I began my quest to…
Tim Griffin, the Editor-in-Chief of Art Forum wrote an introduction to the annual year-in-review December issue of Art Forum titled “Snapshot of 2008”. In his somewhat bland prologue that reads like the wall text of a neophyte curator’s first big…
SPINNING RHETORICAL WHEELS IN RHETORIC: AN ESSAY ON THE ESSAY By Christian Holland Every piece published on Big RED and Shiny is an essay in some form or another. The following is an attempt, an ‘essay’ if you will, to…
Today Harvard announced the gift from class of 1936 alumna Emily Rauh Pulitzer, a former curator at HUAM and wife of the late Joseph Pulitzer Jr. The gift is part of the Pulitzer family’s ongoing philanthropy in support of the…
JOGGING WITH THE PRESIDENT OF RISD By Christian Holland Several times a month, John Maeda, the recently inaugurated president of RISD hosts a community jogging event called “Jogging with John.” This issue, Big RED & Shiny offers a short podcast about…
RECONSTITUTION CONSTITUTED: VIEWERS RESPOND By Christian Holland Sosolimited performed a visual and aural remix of the first presidential debate between Senators Barack Obama and John McCain last Friday night at the ICA, and the sound posted below is a sampling of…
A CONVERSATION WITH EVAN GARZA By Christian Holland September 18, 2008 – I talked with Evan Garza at the opening for “Hecho a Mano: New Visions of Latin Contemporary Art” at the Center for Latino Art. Garza moved to Boston…
FALL PREVIEW By Christian Holland The fall is when Boston returns to its routine. The melancholy season marks the beginning of the familiar discomfort we know as New England weather and, for hundreds of thousands of young Bostonians, it’s back to…
On Friday, August 28, 2008 a group of artists chosen by The Berwick Research Institute, Island Alliance and Studio Soto will set up camp on the 30-acre Bumpkin Island of the Boston Harbor Islands and remain there for at least…
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR By Christian Holland I set out to find a writer to critique the Olympics’ opening ceremony. I had heard they were directed by filmmaker Zhang Yimou and out-of-this-world visually stunning. But I couldn’t find anyone, at least…
MEAT JOY @ THE PIERRE MENARD GALLERY By Christian Holland Nathan Censullo managed to singlehandedly lift what appeared to be half of bovine carcass wrapped in a clear plastic sheet out of his pick-up truck. It was one of the hottest…
HEIDE HATRY ON MEAT (AFTER “MEAT JOY”) By Christian Holland Christian Holland: In your words, what does “Meat After Meat Joy” mean? Heide Hatry: Carolee Schneeman’s Meat Joy performance was among the seminal works of sixties happening and performance art. It…
By CHRISTIAN HOLLAND Print this article It’s difficult to find context within a polarizing issue. We see it now with our presidential election. Marked blocs of the country’s population are congregating around different candidates because of beliefs, the way they…
By CHRISTIAN HOLLAND To the opening for the art exhibition, Experiencing the War in Iraq, Jeff Carpenter wore a slimly tailored black corduroy blazer over a casual button down shirt with slacks, but just five days previous, in the gallery-cum-recording…
Last night, James Nadeau, Christian Holland, Greg Cook and I met to record an episode for Bad At Sports. We used the recent AICA Awards as our starting point for discussing the state of the arts in New England –…
On the night of Boston Mayor Thomas Menino’s 2009 “State of the City” speech, students from Boston Latin high-school gathered to remind the Mayor how important art education is. They rhythmically shouted “S.O.S. Save our Schools” outside Boston’s Faneuil Hall…
By CHRISTIAN HOLLAND The following questions were submitted to Big RED and Shiny by artists and organizers in the arts in Massachusetts. The questions were sent to four members of the state’s legislature and State Treasure Timothy Cahill. Each one…
By CHRISTIAN HOLLAND Boston: the Red Sox are going to the World Series, the Revolution are in the finals, and the Patriots can’t seem to lose. The harder I search for relevance in the success of Boston’s sports teams to…
By CHRISTIAN HOLLAND In the past couple weeks we’ve been buckling down for the new school year: putting the final touches on our lesson plans, picking up our tweed blazers from the cleaners, or, in my case, actually going back…
By CHRISTIAN HOLLAND In Merging Influence: Eastern Elements in New America Art, the word “east” has a somewhat dubious meaning. It does not necessarily mean the “Far East,” but means what is not the West. The idea brings about a…