Newest Features
By STEVE AISHMAN Confessions of an Art Nerd Throughout my life I have been called a nerd. This has always been fine for me because I am a nerd. In fact I am multiple types of nerd. To make things a worse, I seem to live in a perpetual state of Nerd Rage. Statements that have sent me into nerd rage: “Greedo shoots first.” (SW nerd) “Selig should overturn Joyce’s call to give Galarraga the perfect game.” (Sports nerd: not considered a type of nerd by many, but should be classified with…
By MICAH J. MALONE In most biographical accounts of the late Al Taylor his identification and origin as a painter, as opposed to a sculptor, is almost always noted. Also, and more pertinent to my interests, was his trip to Africa in 1980 where he became impressed with “making do with what is on hand.” Upon returning to New York City and finding himself too poor to buy canvas, Taylor began the work he is most known for: Quirky and lyrical assemblages, or “constructions” made from found sticks, dowels, broom handles and…
By KURT COLE EIDSVIG What could be left to say about Claude Monet? The iconic Impressionist has been the subject of major shows dotting the globe for each of the past ten-plus years, many times simultaneously. There are notepads, calendars, screensavers, action figures and lunchboxes that attest to the recognition and attention the artist continues to receive. If anything, one would expect an awkward silence at this point in the conversation, not a stirring testimonial. Enter Paul Hayes Tucker and the Gagosian gallery. While much has already been said around Late Work,…
By JOHN PYPER The New England Conservatory and the Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice (SICPP) demonstrated their commitment to new music by devoting an evening at Jordan Hall to 20th century German composers. Steffen Schleiermacher, a guest artist for SICPP, performed six solo piano works on Tuesday evening, June 15th. He started with his own composition Lîla(2003), a selection from Helmut Lachenmann’s Ein Kinderspiel (1980), Nicolaus Richter de Vroe’s Gabbro (1998), Friedrich Goldmann’s Four Piano Pieces (1973), Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Klavierstuck 1-4 (1952), and finished with Wolfgang Rihm’sNachstudie (1994). The evening started…
By JAMES NADEAU So it is finally upon us: the reality show about artists and the art world brought to us by the Bravo Network and Sara Jessica Parker. I am having a hard time reconciling my disdain for Work of Art: The Next Great Artist with my enjoyment of it! I am lured in both by its topic (art and artists) and the fact that I am a pretty big fan of this format (love Top Chef et al). Yet in a bothersome twist I find myself cringing and getting pissed…
By BIG RED Friday, June 14th, 2010 Candid photos from a Big RED night on-the-town at the galleries of SoWa for the First Friday openings. Gallery Kayafas Steven Zevitas Gallery/OSP Laconia Gallery
By ROBERT MOELLER Tavares Strachan is perhaps best known for a sculptural project called The Distance Between What We Have and What We Want (Arctic Ice Project). It is essentially a refrigerated block of Arctic river ice, with electricity provided by solar power. The sculpture, weighing almost five tons, was initially shipped to Nassau in the Bahamas before making the rounds at Art Basel Miami and then several sites in New York City, somewhat mitigating the implied conservation themes of the work — or reinforcing them, depending on how you view such…
By JESS T. DUGAN A few weeks ago, I saw the newly-released documentary Play in the Gray at the Brattle Theatre as part of the Boston LGBT Film Festival. First-time filmmaker Kaitlin Meelia spent several years filming the members of the Boston-based drag and cabaret inspired theatre troupe All the Kings Men (ATKM), and beautifully combined many years worth of footage into a stunning documentary. Meelia first discovered ATKM performing at a bar in Jamaica Plain, where she was “blown away by their work and how they made such complicated gender issues…