Newest Features
By STEPHEN V. KOBASA Do you remember Franz Kafka’s drawing machine? It is the executioner’s device of the story In the Penal Colony, where it punctures the text of the violated law onto a prisoner¹s body. In Daniel Heyman’s images of Iraqis abused in the war’s prisons, the testimonies of the tortured serpent across the paper, like tattoos of agony. One such thread of words in the man¹s image entitled I Did Not Have a Beard reads “there is one other thing that happened…but I cannot talk about it”. We know from…
By MATTHEW GAMBER Michael Bühler-Rose lives and works in New York. He received a Fulbright Fellowship to India, received his BFA (2005) from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and MFA (2008) from University of Florida. His work is currently on view at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston as part of the current the SMFA Traveling Scholars exhibition. Currently, he is a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Rhode Island School of Design. He spoke with Matthew Gamber this April on his most recent show at Carroll and Sons…
By JUDY KERMIS BLOTNICK Sometime in early March I was walking across the Tufts campus and saw a flyer asking this question “Manliness: What is it?” I picked one off the wall that it was loosely taped to and tucked it into my pocket. I absolutely wanted to know what manliness was in 2010, especially since I have been a card-holding member of the gender neutrality fan club for at least 20 years. Still, being female I had very specific ideas of what manliness was but have not been able to corner…
By CHRISTIAN HOLLAND Some of the most unforgettable moments from our childhood come from visits to the hospital. Those of us who made it through our formative years without a memorable trip to the emergency room still spent a great deal of time fretting about the white walled rooms with nothing between ourselves and another ill stranger but a thin pale sheet. We remember pain, fear, and quiet, caring parents, but little color, if any. Even the shimmer of a television screen from your roommate’s bedside was a reprieve in the week-long…
A big hole will appear on Newbury Street this summer. At 130 Newbury Street, to be specific, where the Judi Rotenberg Gallery will have existed for decades. The gallery will close its doors for good on June 19, 2010, ending a 40-year span of exhibitions that marked the commencement of the careers for generations of artists from New England. The Rotenberg Gallery has a reputation for taking uncommon risks for a commercial space, especially for Newbury Street real estate, but in so doing thrust many emerging, recently MFA’d, and conceptual artists into…
By LIZ HALL The problem with the Fundred Dollar Bill Project is that it’s really hard to explain in ten seconds or less. Attention spans are short these days, so spending exorbitant amounts of time outlining why this is a worthwhile cause usually means most people have zoned out by the time you get to “And the way that YOU can help…” Another problem is that lead contamination is not a “sexy” cause. Not that any charitable organization is especially “hot”, but lead contamination is pretty invisible, so a nationwide collaborative art…
By CHELSEY G. H. PHILPOT French choreographer Xavier le Roy did not think he gave his best performance on April 2 at the ICA. In fact, he candidly told his audience during the question and answer session, “I had some concern, and that’s not good for this piece.” For some reason this made some people chuckle. Why? I don’t know. Le Roy was obviously being earnest–as he delivered his response he clasped his microphone tightly and shook his full head of mushed gray hair like a perplexed scientist whose experiment has unexpectedly…
By JUDY KERMIS BLOTNICK On the First Friday in April, Russ Gerard, owner of Gurari Collections whose standard for measuring the timelessness of work is exacting, proudly exhibited the work of Vico Fabbris, the recipient of two Mass Cultural Council Awards in painting. The gallery was crowded with work that spans decades and with people who were fully engaged in looking. Fabbris was born in Italy and has come to the US clutching an MFA from L’Accademia di Belle Arti, in Florence. Apart from his stringent painting practice, he is also a…