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City Councilor Michael Flaherty is the only candidate of the four men running for mayor of Boston that has an official written position on the creative economy, artists and arts&culture. We’ve posted a copy of Councilor Flaherty’s “Ten Point Plan for Boston’s Creative Economy” below. Flaherty’s 10 points are as follows: 1. Cabinet Level Position for Culture 2. Budget Reform 3. Services for Individual Artists of All Disciplines and Small Arts-Related Business Owners. 4. City Sponsored Annual Artist Day Event. 5. One Percent for Public Art. 6. Space for the Arts. 7.…
By STEVE AISHMAN So the other day, I was at the Museum and I overheard two people talking about a Georgia O’Keefe. “Oh they are clearly vaginas,” said one person. “No, they’re just beautiful shapes and colors based on flowers, you’re imposing something that’s not there,” said the other. “Well, flowers are sex organs, so work based on sex organs will always be suggestive, right?” So I decided to try and find as many suggestive nature pictures as I could find on the Internet. As usual with my column, I’m not sure…
By THOMAS MARQUET #53: Feeling obliged to have feelings about the passing of a contemporary artist. Thomas Marquet is a cartoonist, sculptor, and critic, based in Brooklyn.
By SUSAN SACCOCCIA The artistic kinship between Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986) and Arthur Dove (1880-1946) is the subject of a luminous exhibition,Dove/O’Keeffe: Circles of Influence, recently on view at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown as well as a superb catalog that reproduces the works on view. Both were developed by independent curator Debra Bricker Balken, who in 1997 organized a Dove retrospective shown at the Addison Gallery of American Art and the Phillips Collection. While rarely in each other’s company, Dove and O’Keeffe shared a mentor—Alfred Stieglitz (1864-1946), photographer…
By SAM MCKINNISS To the left of the Rose Art Museum’s front entrance, down a short path, an abject oasis awaits, appearing from a distance like an abandoned backyard pool party. An above ground pool, the wooden deck, a potted palm tree, party lights, some gnarly abstract sculpture. When I visited in August, it was hot as hell, and from far away this partially shaded scene looked like heaven. Not so, one quickly observes. The pool is polluted with dozens of plastic storage bins floating amid other variety of trash, dead leaves,…
By JUDY KERMIS BLOTNICK Scott Schuman has logged some 15 years in the fashion industry during which time he learned the same truth that Yves St. Laurent stumbled on in the early 70’s. The best ideas, the most creative approaches to dressing can be found on the street. The way someone puts themselves together makes the difference between great personal style and just clothing. Frequently having to make do with less generates the freshest looks. Schuman’s blog, The Sartorialist, where he features photographs of ordinary yet spiffy looking people celebrates their spontaneity…
By JAMES A. NADEAU A week or so ago I had the opportunity to visit the studio of Jeffrey Lipsky. Lipsky is an artist who is exploring the opportunities of both art making and art dealing in the online virtual space of Second Life (SL). I was visiting his studio on the occasion of an “Art Fight Fundraiser.” The art fight was to take place in Second Life with Lipsky, using his SL alter ego Filthy Fluno, against Genevieve Silvercloud (whose non-SL name I didn’t learn). Lipsky was painting in his real…
While I still haven’t heard back from Mayor Thomas Menino’s campaign regarding my questions about their arts policies that I sent a few days back, today I did receive a mass email from John Crowley of the Mayor’s Office of Arts, Tourism and Special Events touting Menino’s record. Menino is the longest-serving Mayor in Boston history, and is challenged by Sam Yoon, Kevin McCrea and Michael Flaherty in the upcoming election. From Crowley’s email: As both a City Councilor and Mayor, Thomas M. Menino has championed the cultural community in Boston. Below…