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By JENNIFER MCMACKON The current exhibition at Toronto’s Gallery TPW was curated by the gallery’s Programming Director, Kim Simon. It features two video works by Polish artist, Artur Zmijewski. The first of these, Singing Lesson 2, (2003) plays on a medium sized flat screen monitor very nearly at the entrance to the gallery. On the monitor a choir of young people appear to be singing in church. As one seats oneself and pulls a set of headphones over one’s ears, strains of remotely familiar music, specifically (I glean later) Bach’s Cantata, Heart…
By CHELSEY PHILPOT On Friday April 11, 2008, as part of a CRASHarts presentation at the Institute of Contemporary Art, a piece by Kinodance, a Boston-based troupe with a mission to “make transparent the boundaries between dance, cinema, and visual arts,” was the heart of the show. “Fuse,” Kinodance’s second world premiere piece of the evening, was as oddly captivating as a horror film. At times during the piece you might have wanted to turn away from the flashing lights or have plugged your ears against the cacophony erupting from the tinny…
By MATTHEW GAMBER Imagine: a table set, a set of chairs, all beautifully crafted – a desirable set of furniture. However, the only interruption, transgressing one’s desire for the object, are the large intersecting planks, symbolizing invisible light from a bare bulb, emitting from an also finely crafted lampshade above. This object has a familiar yet immediately foreign presence. A table, a basic piece of home furnishing, is understood that its form is used to evoke shortcut analogies. Here it was, this table, made of wood, a familiar material noted in catalogs…
By BEN SLOAT Helping to close out the academic school year is a diverse MFA thesis show at Tufts University. With work ranging from painting and mixed media to film and video installation, certain works exhibit an unusual mix of risk and skill, producing a layered and compelling experience. An example can be found in the downstairs Koppelman Gallery at the Aidekman Arts Center where Kathleen Rugh has built an elaborate system to feed 16mm film continuously through a film projector. Normally relegated in a movie theater to silence in a sequestered…
By JESS T. DUGAN Jess T. Dugan: How did you begin making photographs? Adi Nes: When I finished my army service I began thinking about what I wanted to study. Since I had artistic tendencies, I thought about studying industrial design, graphics or film making. Though I had painted at the time, I was more focused on acquiring a practical profession since I come from a family that was not well-off financially. When I arrived to register at the Academy of Art and Design the numerous possibilities confused me and I kept…
By BEN SLOAT Larry Sultan has pushed the boundaries of photographic practice since the publication of Evidence in 1977, a collaboration with Boston based photographer Mike Mandel, of found institutional photographs. Their collaboration over the years has produced numerous bodies of work such as redefined advertising billboards, municipal public art projects, and further negotiations of photographic archives. In 1992, Sultan published his highly influential book on his family, Pictures From Home, and followed that up with The Valley, a look at the narratives surrounding adult film sets, in 2004. Sultan is currently…
Just days after we confirmed that The Rhys Gallery is leaving town, owner Colin Rhys is featured on the cover of Stuff@Night in their “Players 2008” issue. Below is their description of Rhys and his gallery, which is actually quite accurate. In his few years as a gallerist in Boston, Rhys has shown some great work and his departure will certainly make a dent in our arts culture. It’s nice to see him getting this kind of praise, and a shame he’s leaving. Colin Rhys opened his first Rhys Gallery for a…
Last night at the opening of the Artadia 2007 exhibition at the Mills Gallery, much of the talk was about the various changes happening in Boston’s commercial gallery scene. There are still a lot of rumors and speculation, but at least on rumor was confirmed: The Rhys Gallery is leaving Boston for L.A. Rhys Gallery director Lydia Ruby confirmed that owner Colin Rhys will be moving the gallery to L.A. soon, and that she will not be joining him. So, one less rumor confirmed, and more changes among the art galleries in…