Monthly Archives: December 2011

Aspects of a New Kind of Realism

Cezanne's Studio

Aspects of a New Kind of Realism explores the roles of realism and process in painting today. The exhibition is curated by highly regarded writer, curator, and program director, Michael Klein; and features works by artists David Bates, Richard Bosman, Squeak Carnwath, Glenn Golderg, John Hartman, Kathryn Lynch, Thom Merrick, Joan Snyder, and Xiaoze Xie. Klein surmises that for these artists, and many others, there is a quite conscious choice of content that reflects more than just a still life or portrait; that their ambition is to “present through painting ideas that suggest and suppose and present painting as a means by which questions can be raised and observations made about and for a contemporary audience.”

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Luis Cruz Azaceta: Shifting States

Exhibition Dates: January 7 – February 18, 2012 Opening Reception: Saturday, January 7 from 6 – 8 pm Gallery Location: 434 Julia Street, New Orleans, LA 70130 Hours: Tuesday – Saturday,… 

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Morgan as Mentor at the Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum

Elemore Morgan, Jr. (1931 – 2008) was a renowned artist in Louisiana. Known primarily as a landscape painter, Morgan was also a beloved and influential teacher. As a member of the UL Lafayette (known then as the University of Southwest Louisiana) Art Department for over thirty years, Morgan’s influence as a mentor was profound. The University Art Museum will honor the artist and teacher with an exhibition of works by artists who credit Morgan as their artistic mentor.

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“A multifaceted art exhibit meriting the ‘visions’ in its name,” Crosscut.com

Lesley Dill’s Poetic Visions: from Shimmer to Sister Gertrude Morgan focuses on two bodies of work by the versatile artist: one is metallic sculpture and the other is an installation inspired by the late folk artist, preacher, and New Orleans phenomenon Sister Gertrude Morgan. This exhibit is what you dream those dusty Smithsonian displays could be. It is history gone wild; a show of visual might that makes one feel like a child entering Disneyland.

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“James Drake: Salon of a Thousand Souls,” THE Magazine

HOW TO ADDRESS GREATNESS? I find it surprisingly difficult to write about an exhibition by an artist whom I greatly admire – James Drake, in this case, and his show of works from the 1980s through the present. Salon of a Thousand Souls was so intelligently presented by curator of contemporary art Laura Addison (with the artist’s input) that I fear anything I might add would appear as the slobbering gibber of a sycophant. I am reduced, therefore, to description, with the endorsement that you go see the exhibition, stat.

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“Soul Man,” Journal North

All artists build imaginary spaces. James Drake is fully cognizant of the human tendency to project subjective history and meanings into the spaces he opens and constructs. Even before the visitor reaches the formal entry of his current exhibition at the New Mexico Museum of Art, the artist has placed three functional steel sculptures that announce his personal point of view. These include two benches and a graceful child’s table stacked with books of art and literature that are meaningful to him. There are monographs on Goya, Daumier, Rubens, the Mexican muralists, the novel “Blood Meridian” by Cormac McCarthy, two books of poetry by Jimmy Santiago Baca, including “Que Linda la Brisa” (2001) with photographs by Drake, and the 2008 University of Texas survey of the artist’s 35-year career.

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