There is no abstract art. You must always start with something. Afterwards you can remove all traces of reality. There’s no danger then, anyway, because the idea of the object will have left an indelible mark. — Pablo Picasso “It feels very natural and good to be using figures again as the bones of these new paintings,” said Dana […]
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There’s a magical-realist novella by the Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes, in which one of the characters creates dolls in the image of all the members of their family, and moves the dolls through the days of their lives. Keith Mayerson’s My American Dream, on view now at MOCA, along with the regional exhibit Constant as the Sun, is a little […]
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“After the Pedestal” is the Sculpture Center’s tenth exhibition of smaller works. How small? Not small enough to be distracting. This isn’t a competition to see who can make the smallest recognizable image, or to cram the most detail into a compressed space. But even the largest pieces could be carried by one person (save perhaps Mark Rubelowsky’s aptly-named “Table.” […]
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How do you choose the exhibits you go see? Last night I went to 3204 Studios only compelled by the whimsical name of the show there: Some Nice People Made Some Nice Things. That sounded . . . you know . . . nice. The nice people were Grace Frank, Erin Guido and John Paul Costello. If you are familiar […]
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Dan Tranberg, who died of heart failure after a struggle with leukemia at age 53 this week, was an incomparably valuable human being. I can’t begin to imagine how many real tears are being shed over him now, how many people felt that he was close to them, that whatever warmth or insight he shared with them was among the […]
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Out of 520 items submitted by 222 individuals, 93 pieces by 75 artists were accepted for display in the eighth annual May Show at Lakeland Community College. This might sound like an imposingly high number of works to take in at one time. However, the quality of the pieces assembled will energize viewers as they make their way through the […]
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The empty suit on the floor, topped by the orange head of Donald Trump vomiting his mushroom cloud of braggadocio and absurdity is just one of the installations you will remember if you got to Rooms To Let the weekend of May 20 & 21. This was in the Hosmer House, curated by Dana Depew. Artist David King was responsible […]
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In contrast to tweet-driven instant history, the spineless communications backbone of the first 100 days of the Trump administration, Yoko Inoue is interested in taking a longer, deeper look at certain affairs. Her own “Tea Taste Democracy and Upside-Down Objects” exhibit at SPACES that runs concurrently with “The First 100+ Days” takes a look at the last 80+ years of […]
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“100 days, 100 nights / To know a man’s heart” sang the late, great Sharon Jones, fitting her voice tightly against the pounding retro-soul sound of The Dap Kings. Of course, when that hit song was first recorded almost a decade ago Donald Trump wasn’t yet known as a political heavy-hitter. But on the evening of November 8, 2016 Sharon […]
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It is a rare exhibition that shocks viewers into remembering just what art is capable of. Charles Kanwischer’s Marking Time at Shaheen Gallery is such a show. It absolutely must be seen in person to appreciate. Now in its last week on display, Marking Time features about twenty of Kanwischer’s graphite drawings of construction sites, suburban homes, and woodlands. The […]
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