Monthly Archives: December 2011

“Mixed-Media Photographs and glass sculpture at Arthur Roger Gallery,” Gambit

In December, New Orleans is brimming with art events including Prospect.2, photo shows at PhotoNOLA’s array of gallery shows and the architecture expo DesCours, presented by the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects. It’s a bit much. Among the photography shows, Arthur Roger Gallery got a jump start with Ted Kincaid’s archaic looking land, sea and sky scenes resembling 19th century “wet-plate” photographs, a process prized for its poetic imperfections, but Kincaid’s work is mostly digital. Here the landscapes are dramatically otherworldly, as if some 19th century romantic artist like Alfred Bierstadt had suffered many darkroom mishaps but still got some occasionally inspired results.

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James Drake at the New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe

Throughout his career, James Drake has examined the theme of humanity in all of its triumphs, failures, and follies—including violence and war; love and desire; greed and gluttony; and the realities of life along the U.S.-Mexico border. The exhibition James Drake: Salon of a Thousand Souls includes sculptures and works on paper by the Santa Fe-based artist dating from the 1980s to the present day. Among the dozen works to be shown are a never-before-exhibited 21-foot red pastel drawing and a wall drawing done in the museum galleries specifically for this exhibition.

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“Lin Emery: Unique Forms of Continuity in Space and Time,” Sculpture Magazine

Originality has an inside and an outside. Understanding the nature of originality in sculpture requires an understanding of both—of the inside, what it is in the sculptor’s life that created her artistic personality, and the outside, what sets her work apart from that of other artists of similar inclination. In Lin Emery’s case, there is a strong connection between these two sides of originality: the personal dynamic of her artistic evolution explains her place in the history of kinetic sculpture. There is a consistent element of autonomous discovery in Emery’s artistic life, as well as a highly personal mix of philosophical and artistic influences. In some ways, her work constitutes a logical part of the tradition of kinetic sculpture that descends from Constructivism. But her sensitivity to natural forms and modes of movement sets her work apart and enriches that tradition.

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