My grandmother used to say: you can laugh or cry, but you must choose. She passed when she was 101 years young, at home in her own bed, sound of mind, body, and spirit. Despite that life offers inconveniences, perhaps daily, and sometimes, mind-bending tragedy, her strategy of pursuing joy throughout her life appeared to work. Brooklyn-based artist Judy Giera […]
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Velocity stands still in the portraits and interiors by Justin Brennan in his solo show, Wide-Eyed, on view at HEDGE Gallery until June 30, 2023. There’s flurry all awry here, in the unfinished movement of living. Portraits of the famous and not-famous gaze right back atcha, gallery-goer, triumphant in their purples and teals and blues and peaches. These armatures of […]
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In his solo exhibition at the Massillon Museum, Awaken in the Garden My Love, Davon Brantley extends us an invitation to step into the darkest corners of the mind. Through vulnerable subject matter, we witness as the artist battles his innermost thoughts. Brantley utilizes self-portraiture and psychology to unleash the ugliest parts of human nature, connecting them to the seven […]
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Cleveland-based artist Kristen Newell’s sculptures harness the scent of freshly burnt sage: mild but potent, transformative, warm and redemptive. The figures, animals, and vessels she sculpts all seem to carry the sound of water: rain, tears, the silence of shallow vernal pools, a rushing river, the crash and hush of an oncoming or receding tide. Adamantly whole and conspicuously vulnerable […]
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The 51st Student Art Show and Merit Scholarship Exhibition at the Galleries at Cleveland State University was a show filled with fresh, experimental works where students–many for the first time–submitted and exhibited art, and some received awards. Eighty four students are exhibiting 166 works, and attracting significant audiences: nearly 1200 attendees since the show opened. The judges were George Mauersberger, […]
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Ray Caspio creates site-specific multimedia installations that are simultaneously immersive and ephemeral. In his most recent work, THE WALL at 1300 Gallery at 78th Street Studios, curated by Kelly Pontoni, he combines the ambient sounds and storytelling in this dynamic exhibition of pandemic-era performance, installation, painting, and other media. His immersive work interweaves sensory and mental information to open new […]
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There are a few things I miss about living in Cleveland, proximity to my son Noah being #1, but if you pressed me about naming a specific public space I’ve pined for most since departing for Knoxville last year it would have to be the Cleveland Museum of Art. I took serious advantage of its availability through the 15 years […]
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At its current point on the gentrification/revitalization arc, Hingetown might seem an unlikely place to find a new commercial art gallery, and even more so one selling works by an artist who has never before had a proper show. That’s the situation at Sixty Bowls Gallery, though, where you can find Roger von Golling’s first ever exhibition, The Appearance of […]
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Aching traceries of grasses arch and sway across colossal canvases as part of Sam Falls’ exhibit, We Are Dust and Shadow, at moCa Cleveland now until June 11, 2023. Bits of the forest have disappeared and leave only white silhouettes behind, maybe answering the question, “What void does the natural world leave when it goes away?” Falls’ work is at […]
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What makes an event worthy of documentary film? Of course the answer can be the story-telling as much as the subject, and the substance as much as the newsworthy moment. Where We Overlap: The Motion Picture is a documentary by Cleveland-based director Wayne Smith III, which appeared on the Local Heroes shorts program at the Cleveland International Film Festival. It’s […]
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