“A book, or a work of art [culture] cannot by itself change the world, but by asking the questions that matter, it might attempt to be an act of articulation against violence, both the brutal and casual kinds. It might…
Yearly Archives: 2017
In DisInterRuptions at Rafius Fane Gallery, artist Jeffrey Schiff explores the alchemical possibilities of materials. Schiff structures a series of situations in which contrary things are brought together to generate curious objects straddling sculpture, installation, collage, landscape, and photography. Rather…
Silent. Silence. Silenced contemplates sound and its absence via the work of Boston-based artists Charlene Liska and Christine Palamidessi, with contributions from the French sound artist Christine Coënon and the mobile artist John Wilkinson. The exhibition’s location, in the Atlantic…
“The ‘21st-century naturalist,’” curator Ruth Erickson explains in an introductory text to the exhibition Mark Dion: Misadventures of a 21st-Century Naturalist currently on view at ICA/Boston, “investigates nature as part of culture and society rather than separate from them—exploring how folk…
In Matt Keegan’s 45-minute video Generation – the centerpiece of his solo exhibition at the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts – he takes a deceptively simple approach to tackle the knotty intersections of family and identity with funny, thought-provoking…
It is now almost ten years after the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and sixteen since China joined the World Trade Organization. Three decades have elapsed since the Tiananmen Square protests, and half a century since the beginning of the Cultural Revolution.…
“A book, or a work of art [culture] cannot by itself change the world, but by asking the questions that matter, it might attempt to be an act of articulation against violence, both the brutal and casual kinds. It might…
“May you live in interesting times.” – Chinese curse With the fate of the planet hanging precariously in the balance, there’s at least one thing about which we can all be certain: we are living in interesting times. While it’s…
Drive-By Project’s Who Am I? The Sequel successfully deals with the anxiety of Trump’s America. On view through November 11, a year after the 2016 election, the thematic group exhibition provided a response to our volatile political climate. Like the…
Anchoring the SoWa district of Boston on Harrison Ave is Samson, a veteran gallery venerated for showing contemporary and meaningful exhibitions over the last 14 years. Their current (and final) show, “Immigrancy” focuses on the concepts of mobility and movement…
Slip the straps of the eight-pound backpack over your shoulders, buckle it around your waist, and try not to tense up as an attendant tightens your virtual-reality headset. In a moment, the large, mostly empty room at the MIT Museum…
Painters & Photographers, curated by Jamilee Lacy, starts the gears turning with it’s title. Are these paintings or are they photographs? Yes, most of the artists presented use traditional photo processes to create their images, film, camera, enlarger, etc., but…
“Identity intersects other times and places to survive histories we’ve come through.”- Awam Amkpa Curated by Awam Amkpa, Professor, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, WOLE SOYINKA: Antiquities Across Times and Place is the first exhibition composed of African art…
Artists take new directions in their work all the time: inspired anew by an idea, a medium untried, current events, or perhaps another artist’s work. Acclaimed international artist Annette Lemieux, known for decades for her conceptual, politically charged art, turned…
Those crazy female foreigners are alive and kicking. So claims—in texting-slang—the title of Scottish artist Claire Ashley’s current solo exhibition at Boston University’s 808 Gallery, (((CRZ.F.4NRS.AAK))). It’s an attention-grabbing statement, and much the same can be said for the art…
Jacqueline Ott, Lisa Perez and Sean Riley conceived of It’s What You Don’t Say, now on view at The Wheeler School, over a year of conversations and visits to each others’ studios. The result is a harmonious group show, reflecting…
Gallery Director Deborah Davidson’s We Dream | Beauty Beyond and Beneath gathers together an ensemble of artists to present visions of beauty broad in scope and varied in manifestation. The group is comprised of professional artists who are represented by…
Pat Falco’s latest project, a retail intervention called “Luxury Waters” at Open Gallery in Boston is a faux marketing and sales office for an imaginary 62-story luxury development in Fort Point Channel. The building, as conceived by the artist, is…
At the center of Sandra Erbacher’s exhibition is an unsettling discovery found in an unlikely place. While flipping through the book Office Furniture from 1984 on adjustable desks and modular furniture, she found an image of men and women seated…
Despite an increase of U.S. citizens traveling to Cuba in the recent past, the popular American image of that island nation remains a combination of ‘50s cars and fine cigars, symbols of a discourse stuck on insularity and trade restrictions.…