Newest Features
Sarah Hutt forwarded along this link to an article about Boston-based artist Janet Echelman’s troubles down in Phoenix. Although the city has dedicated $2.4M for a large-scale public art piece, which the article describes as “a floating jellyfish”, the city has considered canceling it because they are afraid it “will reignite debate over what’s proper public art.” This paragraph, though, really sums things up: Mayor Phil Gordon said in a statement the art work was “not a lot of return” for $2.4 million, saying the piece would only withstand the elements for…
Was I the only one who was disappointed in the turnout and energy at this last First Friday? What happened to the festive atmosphere, the fast-paced conversation about the work, the frantic dash to try to see it all before the night ended? I mean, there wasn’t even a line for the cheap wine, and several places I went to had half-empty bottles at the end of the night: unacceptable. Part of it, I think, is that many of the SoWa galleries have decided change their schedules and ignore the first Friday…
By SHANE LAVALETTE Shane Lavalette: How did you first discover photography and when did you realize it was the right medium for your ideas? Michael Schmelling: My parents have had an interest in photography, both as a hobby and as collectors of sorts, since the early ‘70s. When I was a kid, they built a darkroom in the basement. Around the same time, my mother started collecting photos from the 19th century American West, mostly anonymous or uncredited work, some Edward Curtis books, photos of Indians and desert landscapes. Lots of dusty…
By MARIA LACRETA The artist Maira Kalman and fellow cartooning hand Roz Chast gave a talk a couple of weeks ago at the ICA, entitled, A Shaky Yet Curiously Enlightening Evening with Roz Chast and Maira Kalman Who Will Show Work and Then Answer with Chipper Doubt Any Questions You Might Have About This, That, or the Other. Kalman and Chast, who for years have both had persistent and committed stints as illustrator and cartoonist for the New Yorker, came with two different approaches to discuss and show their work. Kalman, who…
By PHAEDRA SHANBAUM Attending exhibitions of video or time-based new media art, can be a tedious and belaboring experience as these types of works tend to be curated inconsistently and installed poorly. The exhibition spaces are darkened (forget about trying to read the didactics), claustrophobic spaces with poor acoustics; and the viewer must squint, battle poorly hung or off kilter projectors, and trip over wires in order to properly view pieces than range from two to 25 minutes in length. Time-based, or new media works, are complex oftentimes created through the use…
By MICAH J. MALONE The sparse and poetic work of Avantika Bawa seems at once both subtle and authoritative. “Sit/Stack”, the title of her exhibition at Portland State University’s Autzen Gallery, came to me like a command, a forceful voice telling viewers what to do. However, the voice of a poet emerges from her use of drawing and its relationship to three-dimensional space. Indeed, the very paradox that separates these disciplines serves to find the forever-existing gap that divides them. Walking into the gallery, one is met with a series of drawings…
By ARTHUR WHITMAN Even though Stop. Look. Listen. represents the culmination of a half-decade’s worth of dedicated video-collecting at the Johnson, it has the feel of something out of the blue. Moving images fill most of the modest museum’s temporary exhibition space. The two underground levels are filled with a maze of temporary mini-theaters. Screens spill out into the lobby. At night, projections color the building facade (this has actually been something of a Johnson tradition, although mainstream Hollywood movies are as common as art videos). The overall effect is audacious but…
By JENNIFER MCMACKON Sandra Meigs’ exhibition at Susan Hobbs Gallery is called Scenes for My Affection. In the main gallery the artist presents two clusters of small colourful paintings. The first is an untitled set of three, each of which has a neon “dummy” or funny face embedded in a mise en scene, creating an electric double entendre. The second family of six works entitled, Scenes for My Affection, initially appears as an arrangement of monochromes – an impression that disintegrates as one draws closer, discovering imaginary, interior realms etched into the…