Newest Features
By CHRISTIAN HOLLAND In Merging Influence: Eastern Elements in New America Art, the word “east” has a somewhat dubious meaning. It does not necessarily mean the “Far East,” but means what is not the West. The idea brings about a colonialist sense of the world, as it generalizes the scope of the show and narrows its point of reference. It is also difficult to discern what is meant by the phrase “New American Art.” The artists all live in the United States, so they are “American.” They are all contemporary artists, so…
By JON PETRO “Spencer Finch: What Time Is It on the Sun?” now on display at Mass MoCA, consists of over 40 groupings of art, 160 individual pieces in total, four of which the press-release states as major new works. One such work, Composition in Red and Green, is comprised of a long, motorized, chute device, maybe 30 feet in length, suspended from the ceiling on an angle and loaded with fresh apples that are dropped every few minutes onto a 20 foot square of AstroTurf. Ok, I guess I’m supposed to…
By BEN SLOAT I’ve debated the merits of Edward Hopper over a number of years. Always I’ve thought of him as a Willy Loman figure, an unobtrusive traveler of New York and New England, quietly painting the slow failures of society passing him by, unwilling to shout, to be impolite. With the large and complete Hopper show at the MFA, a somewhat new figure is cast. Overall, Hopper still embodies the very post-Depression sensibilities of looking at the fabric, the characters, and the landscape of the ordinary, all in the face of…
By JOE LEDUC Immanuel Kant once wrote that “a man abandoned on a desert island would not adorn either himself or his hut” to demonstrate the essentially social nature of art. While it may be created in solitude, art for the philosopher demonstrated our nature as sociable beings. A little over 200 years later, University of Southern California urban planner Elizabeth Currid argues in her new book, The Warhol Economy: How Fashion, Art, and Music Drive New York City, that social life still makes the culture move—and that it can be big…
By MATTHEW NASH Art Interactive, the Cambridge-based alternative space focusing on new media and interactive art, has recently announced that they will be moving to an as-yet-undecided location, and that there have been some significant changes to their Board of Directors. Below is a conversation with AI director and curator Natasha Khandekar concerning the changes at AI, and the future of this important new media gallery. MN: Can you talk about the changes happening at Art Interactive? How is AI evolving into the future? What changes are (or are not) in the…
By HEIDI MARSTON AISHMAN At 5:00 on August 28th, people lined up outside the frosted glass doors of Rhys Gallery. They all knew the doors wouldn’t open until 6:00, it was hot, humid, and everyone was anxious. As they waited in the heat they began to wonder, “What wall do I want to head for?” “Will I have to trip someone to get the piece I want?” “Will I get a postcard by someone famous, oh who cares, I’m just going to get what I like.” By 5:45 there were lines at…
By MATTHEW NASH On August 11th, a group of artists gathered at the Design Center in Boston for an over-the-top photo shoot. The Superheroes Project, created by Brian Burkhardt and Tanit Sakakini, gathered 18 artists to dress as superheroes in order to create an iconic image that will be used in an advertising campaign to promote the arts of New England. I was included in the group of artists, and after the shoot I had several email conversations and phone chats with Burkhardt and Sakakini about the intention and the meaning of…
By VICTORIA Z. ALEXANDER Only painting which itself succeeds in beings a monstrous act succeeds in resolving and in reabsorbing the monstrosity of our lives, only painting that succeeds in becoming a mythic operator also succeeds in resolving the monstrosity of the social and of the social order… (Baudrillard in Genosko, 2001:42). I paint for eternity… I never use the word ‘art’… Art today has no meaning. It provides a service like an electrician does, or a baker. Since there are no rules in art, I am not an artist. So I…