Newest Features
By BIG RED January 13, 2008 Several arts groups directors, visual artists and performers gathered there for a mock funeral for themselves and their organizations in response to The Boston Foundation’s (TBF) recent report on the Arts Economy of Boston, “Vital Signs.” The “funeral” was for any artists who wished to participate in the evening’s “Die-Off” by drinking Kool-Aid (think Jim Jones’ Peoples Temple). TBF’s suggestion that struggling arts groups’ directors “consider exit strategies” has incensed many local arts leaders and lead to calls for an apology. The evening included lively conversation…
By BIG RED January 4th, 2008 Candid snaps from a Big RED night on-the-town at the Harrison Street Galleries for First Fridays.
By THOMAS MARQUET #27: What do you do with it? “The White Cube” comics can be read in series in the Big RED & Shiny Collections section. Need a visual aid — click here and scroll down.Thomas Marquet is a cartoonist, sculptor, and critic, based in Brooklyn, New York, which is an admittedly unoriginal place to be pursuing any of these things. Get The White Cube every day at Tom’s blog.
By MATTEW GAMBER Snowing. Snow over the area in New England. At least that is what I anticipate; this is the anticipation. Based on this report, come my following sentences: In between digging out your spot, and salting the steps, warm your hands on your laptop reading the pages of Big Red and Shiny, number seventy-five. For those that haven’t noticed, we have section below each article or review for reader comments. Since we silently implemented it, it has slowly become a forum for audience participation. The recent discussions demonstrate the diversity…
By STEVE AISHMAN So I admit it: I listen to metal. Not the derivative, inauthentic pop-rock that tries to co-opt metal’s brute force by copying its base-line. I listen to the kind of metal can’t be downloaded to the most recent piece of iCrap where everything sounds “good”. No, the metal I like has to be listened to on a crappy tape deck and if you’re not screaming while you’re listening to it, you’re doing it wrong. I listen to metal because it’s what I grew up on. Metal was defining itself…
By JENNIFER MCMACKON JM: Lee Goreas, how did you become an artist? LG: I became an artist by chance. A good friend enrolled me in an art program at a local college. After one year in the program I realized that art school was a place where I had access to a studio, tools, a community of peers and art history, so I stayed. JM: Where did you go to school? LG: I went to art schools in British Columbia and Ontario. I have a diploma from the Okanagan College in Kelowna,…
By JAMES NADEAU The Diorama. We’ve all made one or at the very least experienced one at some point in our lives. Arising out of the theatre in the mid 19th century, dioramas have grown both more complex and somewhat invisible culturally (museums being the most consistent users of the diorama today). Yet the diorama itself continues to fascinate whether it be in miniature or on the scale of the exhibits in the Museum of Natural History. They are simultaneously simulacra and fantasy spaces encapsulated within a box. Dioramas operate as liminal…
By MATTHEW NASH Approaching Gallery XIV from the street, one sees five small paintings by Michael Costello in the front window. These are brightly colored and amusingly straight-forward paintings of Sesame Street characters (Elmo, Grover and Ernie), a stack of Marshmallow Fluff containers and a stack of Spam cans. If one were to walk on by without entering the gallery, and only experience these small works, they might be left with the impression that this show is about pop culture, childhood fascinations or puppets. With these paintings, however, Costello introduces us to…