by Sandy | Dec 4, 2015 | Art, Blogroll, Museums
The Detroit Institute of Art presents “A dynamic showcase of contemporary art by African American artists…”
“Identity, triumph, tragedy, pride, prejudice, humor and wit. 30 Americans: An exhibition bound by one nation and divided by 30 experiences… See more than 50 paintings, sculptures, installations, photographs and video… created by many of the most important African American artists working over the past 30 years, including Kerry James Marshall, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Kara Walker, Nick Cave, Kehinde Wiley, Carrie Mae Weems, Robert Colescott, Glenn Ligon and Lorna Simpson.”
“30 Americans”
October 18, 2015 to January 18, 2016
Detroit Institute of Arts, 5200 Woodward Avenue, Detroit, Michigan
(Image: “Bird On Money”, Jean-Michel Basquiat , 1981
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by Sandy | Nov 30, 2015 | Art, Arts, Entertainment and Music, Blogroll, Exhibits, Museums
“No Boundaries: Aboriginal Australian Contemporary Abstract Painting brings together the work of nine Aboriginal Australian artists: Paddy Bedford, Janangoo Butcher Cherel, Tommy Mitchell, Ngarra, Boxer Milner Tjampitjin, Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri, Tjumpo Tjapanangvka, Billy Joongoorra Thomas, and Prince of Wales (Midpul). “
“This exhibition highlights the distinctive vocabularies and modes of gestural expression that define each of these artist’s paintings and works on paper. Relating to cultural systems, religious beliefs, and social structures, these intricate works are at once distinctly grounded in the context of Aboriginal life and profoundly resonant with abstract painting of the 20th and 21st centuries.”
“No Boundaries: Aboriginal Australian Contemporary Abstract Painting”
Until January 3, 2016
Perez Art Museum Miami / PAMM
1103 Biscayne Blvd., Miami, FL
(Image: “Travels of the Black Snake”, 2004, Billy Joongoora Thomas)
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by Sandy | Nov 26, 2015 | Art, Arts, Entertainment and Music, Blogroll, Exhibits, Museums
“The first survey of American still life in three decades, Audubon to Warhol: The Art of American Still Life features 130 oil paintings, watercolors, and works in other media representing the finest accomplishments in the genre from its beginnings in the late 1700s to the Pop Art era of the 1960s…
Still life is generally an art of intimacy, intended for display in homes and other private settings. From the perfect serenity of tabletop compositions created by Raphaelle Peale (1774–1825), to the trompe l’oeil illusions of William Michael Harnett (1848–1892), to the explosive floral abstractions of Arthur B. Carles (1882–1952), still lifes provoke the senses and reward close looking. The exhibition will employ theatrical displays and interactive technologies to encourage substantive, personal encounters with the works. “
“Audubon to Warhol: The Art of American Still Life”
Until January 10, 2016
Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2600 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA
(Image: “Covered Peaches”. Raphaelle Peale, 1774-1825)
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by Sandy | Nov 20, 2015 | Arts, Entertainment and Music, Blogroll, Directors, Film, Movies, Writers
They’re doing it again. AMC cable TV is offering an 8 hour “The Godfather” immersion event on Thanksgiving , November 26, 2015. (Hey! Not everyone “streams”, ok?) Times will vary according to location.
“The Godfather” films by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the books by Mario Puzo, live on. Parts 1, (1972) and 2, (1974), re explode every 6, 12 months on some TV channel. If you don’t have 8 hours to devote to the entire saga, you could plug in whenever – meal times, in between telephone calls or text messages – and remember dialogue and revisit scenes that have soaked into our collective bones without even knowing it:
“It was never personal Michael, it was just business”
“I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse.”
“I know it was you Fredo, your broke my heart!”
“Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.”
Never gets old, still 2 of the best films ever. “The Godfather” is #2 with a bullet on the American Film Institute list of 100 best movies. Parts 1 and 2 are such a neat package, a single experience. ( I never mention part 3.) Great stuff. Soooo entertaining!
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by Sandy | Nov 9, 2015 | Arts, Entertainment and Music, Blogroll, Drawing
“The representation of human emotion through facial expression has interested western artists since antiquity. Drawn from The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collections of drawings, prints, and photographs, the diverse works in this installation, ranging from portraits and caricatures to representations of theater and war, reveal how expression underpinned narrative and provided a window onto the character and motivations of the subjects, the artists, and even their audience.“
“About Face: Human Expression on Paper”
Until December 13, 2015
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
5th Ave and 86 Street, NYC
(Image: “Medea”, ca. 1715, Charles Antoine Coypel (French, 1694–1752)
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by Sandy | Oct 25, 2015 | Art, Blogroll, Exhibits, Museums
“American and European Art From the 1920s and 1930s”:
“Bounded by the First World War, the period saw the birth of Jazz, widespread use of the automobile, voting rights for women, as well as the hardships of the Great Depression and the destructive slide into political conflict. Throughout these dramatic times, during both the highs and the lows, artists responded to the world in which they lived in dramatic fashion.”
Some of the artists included are Pablo Picasso, Everett Shinn, André Derain, Reginald Marsh, Isabel Bishop, George Grosz.
“American and European Art From the 1920s and 1930s”
Until November 15, 2015 – Phoenix Art Museum
1625 N. Central Avenue, Phoenix, Arizona
(Image: Kees Van Dongen, Lady with Beads, 1923)
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by Sandy | Sep 10, 2015 | Artist, Arts, Entertainment and Music, Blogroll, Museums
“Throughout his career, the celebrated American painter John Singer Sargent (1856–1925) created exceptional portraits of artists, writers, actors, dancers, and musicians, many of whom were his close friends.”
“Sargent: Portraits of Artists and Friends brings together about ninety of the artist’s paintings and drawings of members of his impressive artistic circle. The individuals seen through Sargent’s eyes represent a range of leading figures in the creative arts of the time such as artists Claude Monet and Auguste Rodin, writers Robert Louis Stevenson and Henry James, and the actor Ellen Terry, among others.”
Sargent: Portraits of Artists and Friends
Until October 4, 2015
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
5th Ave and 86 Street, NYC
(Image: “Madame X, 1884”)
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by Sandy | Aug 27, 2015 | Art, Artist, Blogroll, Culture, Photograhy
Roy DeCarava, 1919 – 2009, left behind a treasure trove of black and white images spanning over 6 decades. He captured images of the famous of the day, Paul Robson, John Coltrane, however, his pictures were usually of the regular inhabitants of Harlem and their everyday life. DeCarava said that “black people in America were not viewed as worthy subject matter” for art but rather were usually “portrayed either in a superficial or a caricatured way or as a problem.” … he wanted to achieve “a creative expression,” not a “documentary or sociological statement.”
Harlem born DeCarava encouraged and influenced the work of many black photographers over the years. He was the first African American to win the Guggenheim Fellowship in 1952 and was awarded a National Medal of Arts in 2006. He collaborated with poet Langston Hughes, another Harlem native, for the acclaimed book, “The Sweet Flypaper of Life” in 1955.
(Image: “Man Coming Up the Stairs”, 1952)
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by Sandy | Aug 17, 2015 | Blogroll, Exhibits, Museums, Photograhy
“In 1948, Gordon Parks (1912–2006) became the first African American photographer to be hired full time by LIFE magazine… In 1950, Parks returned to his hometown in Kansas to make a series of photographs meant to accompany an article that he planned to call “Back to Fort Scott” …focusing on the realities of life under segregation during the 1940s, but also relating to Parks’ own fascinating life story. “
“Back to Fort Scott”
Until September 13, 2015
Museum of Fine Arts Boston
Avenue of the Arts, 465 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA
(Image: Mrs Jefferson, Fort Scott, Kansas, 1950)
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by Bob Martin | Aug 6, 2015 | Art, Artist Residencies, Culture, Photograhy
nyc subway “What the future looks like…” Photo Cybel Martin
Art rejuvenates cities and gives them new vitality. Large cities are where you get to see what the future is like. Cities are the most fun just before they are recognized as being fun, before the big bucks move in trying to buy the culture up. Culture is like an ocean, it goes where it wants and ignores the concept of money.
Cities are transformational experiences
Public transportation, like New York’s Subway is the best way to get around in a city, where your imagination is brought to life, where you can hear your own heart beating in sync with everyone else’s and where you are confronted with everything that is not you. Cities are where you can see the diversity of our young people and imagine the future.
Culture is like an ocean, it goes where it wants and ignores the concept of money.
A strong artist community can bring a city back to life.
Detroit is one of those cities that is poised for a creative comeback. Everything is in place. Those that left could not take with them the city’s creative possibilities. Those that stayed have to be hungry about making a positive difference otherwise they too must leave and make space for the dreamers.
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