“Art For Arts’ Sake fall art festival paints the town Oct. 4 in New Orleans,” The Times-Picayune
Art for Arts’ Sake 2014- A one-night festival of gallery openings to kick off the art season.
Monthly Archives: September 2014
“Crystal Visions,” Artforum
As I walked from one end of the Crystal Bridges Museum’s vaulted entrance lobby and restaurant, beneath a big gold Jeff Koons heart, across one of two enclosed suspension bridges spanning the natural spring that lends the building its name, a wall label caught my eye. “These opportunistic predators build their webs in the Museum’s large, illuminated windows to take advantage of the many insects that are attracted to them by night. Our grounds crew uses a variety of environmentally friendly methods,” it reads, “of discouraging the spiders; however, the hungry arachnids persist. The return of cool temperatures in the fall will eliminate the spiders eventually.” Outside, a warm rain darkened the building’s concrete. “In the meantime, enjoy this close-up look at Mother Nature at work.”
Luis Cruz Azaceta
The first book on the extensively exhibited and widely collected Cuban American artist’s life and creations, Luis Cruz Azaceta traces the artist’s career and explores the themes that are the focus of his singular art. Alejandro Anreus discusses how the Cuban diaspora, above all, has shaped Cruz Azaceta and how the experience of exile has found expression through starkly forceful self-portraiture.
Own Original Art by Gene Koss, Support a Newcomb Scholar
Own Original Art by Gene Koss, Support a Newcomb Scholar. Tickets are available now for the Newcomb Alumnae Association’s first fundraiser in support of the Newcomb Scholars program. The winner of the raffle will receive a one-of-a-kind sculpture—Ridge Road Climb, Series III—created by Professor of Art Gene Koss, world-renowned glass artist. Entries are $50 each and the drawing will be held on Monday, December 1, 2014. The piece is an exquisite solid glass sculpture with cane and etched drawings [17”(h) x 12” (w) x 5” (d)] valued at $2,800.
Dave Greber: 7000-Day Candles
7000-Day Candles, Dave Greber’s third exhibition with the gallery, explores the notions of spirituality, technology and transhumanism, and touches on spiritual folkways celebrated in New Orleans’ history. The installation, vibrant and revelatory, consists of four video monitor-based objects and a Stasseo (stained-glass-video) – a technique the artist developed utilizing multiple projections, painting and 3D elements to realize large, installed-video compositions.
Deborah Kass: feel good paintings for feel bad times
This exhibition of neon works and large-scale paintings on canvas is Deborah Kass’ second with the gallery. Drawing from contemporary society, Broadway musicals, Yiddish and prominent art figures, she continues to incorporate lyrics and vernacular, melding art history and pop culture in vibrant, resonating compositions reminiscent of Frank Stella and Ellsworth Kelly. The work is depictive of the current posture of popular and political culture and the ensuing dysphoria, especially in contrast to the optimism of the postwar era.
Lesley Dill: Beautiful Dirt – Ballgowns of Lightness & Dark
Beautiful Dirt: Ballgowns of Lightness and Dark is Lesley Dill’s ninth exhibition with the gallery and was inspired by the ballroom culture of New Orleans and the adornment of the body. Featured are nine gowned figures centered by a cascading chandelier. The figures range in size from a tabletop sculpture to 7 feet tall, and are constructed of billowing fabric adorned with embroidered letters, flowing skirts of hand-cut copper, or hundreds of pieces of metal foil and feathers. Some of the figures have dramatic head embellishments or collars and others are donned with small, bird-like heads, paying homage to surrealist Max Ernst.
Troy Dugas
This exhibition, Troy Dugas’ fourth with the gallery, includes the artist’s familiar, meticulously created mandala-like compositions as well as evolved works incorporating paint in synthesized large-scale portrait and still life assemblages. Shredded product labels in golds, reds and browns are intricately arranged to form mesmerizing works reminiscent of mosaic patterns and stained glass. Others form rhythmic, kaleidoscopic shapes with juxtaposed brightly colored labels.
“Review: Segregation Story,” Gambit
At first glance, many of these photographs of Alabama in 1956 suggest the mellow, nostalgic visions of traditional American life that we associate with Norman Rockwell’s illustrations or Ronald Reagan’s speeches.
“State of the Art at Crystal Bridges: Pure Pop for Now People,” Glasstire
The new big show called “State of the Art: Discovering American Art Now” at Crystal Bridges in Arkansas is a survey of contemporary art made by American artists who aren’t on the national radar even if they’re popular back home.