Newest Features
By Karen Schiff One fine morning at the Harvard Art Museums, at about this time last year, I poked into the Fogg’s ongoing Bernini exhibition, mounted in a cozy room to the left of the entrance. I wanted to check out the famous old master’s works in person. I was surprised to encounter tiny, fresh sculptures — more on these in a moment — but what stunned me the most was finding a small Gerhard Richter painting, hanging in a dark back corner. Hah! What was that doing here? Surely it couldn’t…
This Wednesday kicks off the Provincetown International Film Festival. It is an event not to be missed. I had my very first festival screening there back in 2000 to great acclaim! Screening on a bed sheet in the back room of the Crown and Anchor is something I suggest all budding filmmakers experience. It cannot be beat. It gives you so much perspective. You think crits in art school are tough try showing your film to people who actually paid money to see it! I must say that the first time is…
By STEVE AISHMAN This last First Friday in Boston had a different air about it. For me it was like watching a family member move to Beijing or having a last drink with a co-worker before they move on to a new, better job. It’s not like any one has died, but the feeling just sucks. All anyone can say is a bunch of hollow semi-philosophical things: “Things have to end.” “People have to move on.” “You’ll see each other again.” You know the lines… All of this is a little weird.…
By JAMES NADEAU Tom Kalin returns to feature film directing with his new project Savage Grace. Based upon the book by Natalie Robins and Steven M. L. Aronson, the film details the decadence and downward spiral of the wealthy socialite Barbara Daly Baekeland and her son Antony. Barbara was a middle-class actress and model who married Brooks Baekeland, the heir to the Bakelite fortune. Bakelite is a synthetic compound used in kitchenware, toys and jewelry. It was developed between 1907 and 1909 by Brooks’ grandfather Leo. Barbara and her son became famous,…
INTERVIEW WITH JOSEPH CARROLL By Jess T. Dugan Jess T. Dugan: To provide a background for this conversation, can you speak about how you came to work at the Bernard Toale Gallery as well as a brief history of the gallery itself? Joseph Carroll: I joined Bernard Toale Gallery in May of 2003, just after Bernie reopened his gallery in its current space. Bernie’s first gallery was on Newbury Street, one floor below Howard Yezerski’s gallery and across the street from Barbara Krakow. I used to visit their spaces before I had any…
By RITA LOMBARDI A fly on the wall of the Bernard Toale Gallery will hear all kinds of speculation about Abelardo Morell’s new work. The image visitors see when they enter the gallery (or walk past it) is a color digital print of a Nadelman marble sculpture in front of a Hopper painting. Conspiratorial whispers of “it’s Photoshop” or “that’s superimposed on that” abound about the work, Nadelman/Hopper – Yale Art Gallery. In truth, the image is as straightforward as they come: Morell had the statue placed in front of the painting.…
By CHELSEY PHILPOT When Mark Morris first staged his interpretation of the 17th century English opera “Dido and Aeneas,” what audience was he trying to reach? Did he intend to seduce opera aficionados with modern dance juxtaposed against familiar sounds? Was he meaning to introduce contemporary dance fanatics to the sensations opera creates with notes instead of bodies? Was he reaching out towards romantics? Or was he seeking to convert cynics with his choreography? Whatever his reasoning or whatever his purpose, in Morris’ interpretation of Henry Purcell’s opera love story, which itself…
By JON PETRO “I feel like everything I do has something to do with filling up space. I dunno, almost the way I drum is the way I draw: It’s like I’m covering every little space with a beat or a hit or something.” I never would have thought that this rather innocuous quotation, by Providence-based uber-artist Brian Chippendale, would bring into focus the idea of generational artistic influences. Over the past several years I’ve tried, in vain perhaps, to define a common aesthetic quality in the art of artists from specific…