Newest Features
Photography is arguably the most popular medium for visual expression in the contemporary world. With the ever-increasing availability of digital cameras, billions of people have access to photographic technology. Millions of photographs are shared daily on social media detailing the minutiae of daily life. The status of photography today makes the medium a potent subject for historical inquiry. Early Exposures: 19th Century Photography from the Collection, on view at the RISD Museum through July 19, 2015, gives viewers the opportunity to see photography as it once was: precious, scientific, and exclusive. The…
This piece has been updated, click here to view it. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston has found itself mired in controversy over an in-gallery program responding to Claude Monet’s La Japonaise, a portrait of the artist’s wife Camille clad in a kimono and posing with a fan. Replicas of the red kimono are available during free hours on Wednesday evenings through July for visitors to try on in the gallery, providing the opportunity to “channel your inner Camille #Monet.” Unsurprisingly, the educational program/PR stunt has been met with negative reactions. A…
The artist known as Katsushika Hokusai (he was to use thirty-one different names during his ninety years) is probably the most widely celebrated Japanese artist of the Ukiyo-e period of Japanese art. By 1760, Edo (now Tokyo) was probably the largest city in the world. The term Ukiyo-e, or “Floating World,” was not so much an artistic style (though woodcut and painting were its primary mediums) as it was a philosophical meditation on life’s transitory pleasures. The popularity of Ukiyo-e lasted from roughly the 1670s to the mid 1800’s; its gradual decline…
“Boston Common” highlights the people and organizations that shape Boston and New England’s cultural sector by going straight to the source to find out who they are, what they are doing, and how and why they do it. We hope that the interview series will champion some of the exemplary work being done, shed light on neglected issues facing our arts scene and community, build connections among individuals and organizations, and expand the networks on which we rely. In our newest installment, we talk to Corey Oberlander and Lindsey Stapleton of GRIN,…
In an effort to provide an in-depth look at single works of art on view across the region in permanent collections, temporary exhibitions, and installations, the staff at Big Red & Shiny will be reviving Art for Breakfast, a series of short reflections on individual pieces. The title of this series is an homage to a blog of the same name, artforbreakfast.org, a project developed and managed by Margaret Rew. Boston has a new addition to its skyline: Janet Echelman’s installation, As If It Were Already Here. The large aerial sculpture…
Every two years the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston (ICA) selects up to four Boston-area artists as to receive the James and Audrey Foster Prize. In addition to a cash award, finalists are given the opportunity to mount a show in the ICA gallery space. Since 1999, this has been a time for the ICA to showcase local talent, ultimately contributing to a larger discourse about the role that arts institutions play in supporting Boston’s creative economy. The 2015 Foster Prize has been awarded to Ricardo De Lima, Vela Phelan, Sandrine Schaefer,…
In early 2015, the City of Boston began its first cultural plan; an approximately fifteen month process that begins with developing a comprehensive view of Boston’s arts and culture sector, and ends with implementing a custom-made plan to strengthen and grow Boston’s cultural ecosystem. The cultural plan has been named Boston Creates; it will be led by the Cultural Planning Group, a contracted consulting firm, and will be overseen by Julie Burros, Chief of the newly formed Arts + Culture Department for the City of Boston. On June 2, a public town…
I do not see why the loss of faith in the known image and symbol in our time should be celebrated as a freedom. It is a loss from which we suffer, and this pathos motivates modern painting and poetry at its heart. -Philip Guston, from the catalogue for the 1958 Whitney Museum of American Art exhibition, Nature in Abstraction. Philip Guston’s late return to figuration haunts contemporary painting. His presence is so heavily felt in the work of so many, it’s surprising that an exhibition on his continued influence wasn’t conceived…