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.
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.
Allison Stewart’s new paintings, as always, abstract plant forms – or, more to the point, abstract from plant forms.
Interview with Deborah Kass: Paul Kasmin showed your “4 Barbras” series at Frieze New York. You called Streisand a role model in your NYFA acceptance speech. I’d love to hear more about how Streisand has been a role model.
John Waters has been thinking a lot about the half-century lately. Mr. Waters, the filmmaker, author, artist, performer and provocateur, was considering the passage of time because on Friday, the Film Society of Lincoln Center will unveil Fifty Years of John Waters: How Much Can You Take?
To view “Bloodflames Revisited,” an incendiary show of works by more than two dozen artists, you step up an inclined plane onto a wooden runway painted red.
As curated by Brooklyn Rail founder Phong Bui, “Bloodflames Revisited” riffs on the 1947 exhibition “Bloodflames” at New York’s Hugo Gallery.
Not to be outdone, Arthur Roger Gallery will mark the occasion with three shows opening in its adjacent gallery spaces on Julia Street. Painter Francis X. Pavy explores issues concerning the Louisiana wetlands in a series of new works on view in the gallery’s main space at 432 Julia, while a suite of never-before-seen photographs from a 1956 Life magazine photo essay assignment by Gordon Parks (who was also the subject of a major exhibition at the New Orleans Museum of Art last year) will be shown next door at 434 Julia. An interactive digital video piece by New Orleans artist Robert Hannant in the gallery’s video room will round out the offerings.
Artist Francis X. Pavy’s psychedelic swampscapes at Arthur Roger gallery are cosmic pleas for the unspoiled wetlands of the distant past.
