Some Nice People Made Some Nice Things: 3204 Studios

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

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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Upside-Down Worlds: Yoko Inoue at SPACES

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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Damage Assessment: The First 100+ Days, at SPACES

“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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Ongoingness: Charles Kanwischer is Marking Time at Shaheen Gallery

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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Public Imagination: Mike Meier’s Man Out of Time at Forum

At some point pop history will pick itself up and move beyond robots and rayguns, Mayberry, Dragnet, and the stylized, beaming consumption of toothpaste and toasters. But even in 2017 those cold war era tropes retain an oddly timeless value as currency of the imagination, embedded (however cynically or sarcastically) in the world marketplace of profit and power. Long outmoded […]

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MAKERS: Grace Frank

“I like making art that makes people laugh,” says Grace Frank in her Lakewood studio, as I’m contemplating a painting of an ice cream cone lounging on a car. It’s great. Then she explains that it was a gift for her boyfriend, and is a self-portrait – inspired by their frequent trips to get ice cream. Even better. Frank has […]

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Katy Richards: Fluid Depths at HEDGE

Katy Richards’ new work showcases her classic exuberance for the materiality of oils, as well as her obvious firsthand knowledge of her new waterlogged subjects. The paint oozes around the surface of the works, alive, about to swim off the canvas. The scale of Richards’ new work is impressive, with statement pieces like “Dance of the Butterfly” as large as […]

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