Multimedia artist STEPHANIE PATTON uses humor, word play and an attention to materiality to address the universal human experiences of suffering, comfort and healing in her quilted sculptures, videos and installations.
When you find out that Kate Blacklock uses a scanner for a camera, you react in one of two ways: “Everything is a miracle” or “Nothing is a miracle.” Either you dismiss her photos as an unorthodox divergence from the strict definition of the medium, or you are intrigued by what she might be able to do with a flatbed, office-type scanner. You may look at her subject matter and decide that her “Still Life” or “Nightscape” work is unremarkable, but this would be overlooking many aspects of the work, most of all the strange and wonderful process of how she makes it. It was Albert Einstein who proposed that there are basically just the two ways to live life. We must assume that the German Jewish scientist whose name has become synonymous with the word “genius” lived like everything was a miracle – he was himself kind of a miracle.
Luis Cruz Azaceta: Dictators, Terrorism, War and Exiles explores the human impact of war and isolation. Newark, New Jersey—Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art is pleased to present Bending the Grid. Luis Cruz Azaceta: Dictators, Terrorism, War and Exiles, a major survey exhibition of paintings by a leading Cuban-American artist which explore the possibilities of formal experimentation with political and social issues. Redefining Expressionist painting into a humanist narrative, Cruz Azaceta bears witness to the impact of war and isolation. An opening reception, gallery walk and catalog signing will take place on January 23, 2014 from 6 to 9pm with the artist and curator Alejandro Anreus, PhD., Professor of Art and Latin American Studies, William Patterson University, NJ. Luis Cruz Azaceta was born in Havana, Cuba. As a teenager, he witnessed many acts of violence on the streets of Havana which created within him a sensitivity towards violence, human cruelty, injustice and alienation—later these became central themes in his work. At 18 years-old, Cruz Azaceta left Cuba for New Jersey then, New York City. In 1969 he graduated from the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. Cruz Azaceta’s “apocalyptic pop” style characterized his initial entry into the art world. By the end of the 1970s Cruz Azaceta was working in a highly personal vocabulary that synthesized bold colors and thick outlines. Today he is considered one of the great expressionists, utilizing the artform as a social and moral force.
Decisive Moments is drawn from the extensive, rich collection of 20th-century and contemporary photographs assembled over 40 years by Jim and Cherye Pierce, including works by Luis Cruz Azaceta, Dawn DeDeaux and Deborah Luster.
A surprising number of Midwestern artists have ended up in New Orleans over the years. Some became influential educators in local universities, where their work ethic set a certain tone even as their art often succumbed to the pervasive tropical surreality of their surroundings. Gene Koss, the founder of Tulane University’s glass program, exemplifies that work ethic, but his vision remains firmly rooted in the rural Wisconsin landscape, where he grew up on a family farm. His rural outlook can seem paradoxical from a fine arts perspective. Farming is hard work that requires great physical and emotional endurance, and generations of farm boys have looked to universities and the arts to escape the monotonous toil that defined the lives of their parents. Koss is a rare exception. His vision embraces the heartland ethos of soil, toil and tenacity, in works that can weigh more than eight tons and look as rugged as they are precisely constructed. Yet his single-minded pursuit of his unique vision has paid off, as his influence has only grown over the years. In an age when critical irony has become a default position in the art world, Koss celebrates not only the elemental physicality of the land and the people and machines that work it, but also their mythopoetic resonance.
Images of Arthur Roger Gallery December 2013 Opening: Pard Morrison, Kate Blacklock and David Halliday
This fall saw the opening of not one but two solo shows by Luis Cruz Azaceta: Falling Sky, on view through December 15 at Lyle O. Reitzel Gallery in Santo Domingo, and Louisiana Mon Amour, on view through February 8 at the Acadiana Center for the Arts in Lafayette, Louisiana. Concern for climate change, environmental disasters, and other upheavals (natural, social, and political) is a common thread running through both shows. Falling Sky presents a series of recent works under that title. Louisiana Mon Amour presents works from a thematically related series, Shifting States, as well as an earlier series, Museum Plans. The show’s title work is an installation of more than 20 objects, constructed and reassembled using duct tape—a metaphor for life after Hurricane Katrina, the BP oil spill, and other environmental catastrophes.
As someone who was born and brought up in Bosnia, educated in Germany and is now based in New York, why should artist Amer Kobaslija have reacted as passionately as he did on hearing about the earthquake and the tsunami that struck Japan’s Tohoku region on March 11, 2011?
The Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky has rolled out his “Water” project this fall with the synergistic marketing aggression of a Hollywood blockbuster. Seven galleries in six cities and three countries have been selling gigantic examples of the work, which offers his global perspective on water and civilization. Some prints are 10 feet across. “Watermark,” a feature-length documentary he co-directed with Jennifer Baichwal, has opened in select cities across Canada. The big, handsome and pricey catalog ($128), published by Steidl, even has an interactive iPad app.
If you’re an art aficionado, you know that the place to be in early December is Miami, where the international art show “Art Basel — Miami Beach” fills dozens of pavilions with works by artists from nearly every continent. The event and its satellite shows, ending today, attract nearly 60,000 people over six days. It’s the only annual art show that the Arthur Roger Gallery in New Orleans takes part in.