Tag Archive "andrea-kirsh"

Daniel Eatock, Contrarian Designer

Cover of Imprint with Eatock’s Holley Portrait, made by a verbal self-description laid out to follow the lines of his thumbprint. Each copy of the book is marked with Eatock’s autograph thumbprint on the spine. He invites others to make Holley Portraits and posts them on his website.Daniel Eatock; Extra Medium at Arcadia University Art Gallery (through Oct. 26, 2008)Daniel Eatock Imprint (Princeton Architectural Press, ISBN 978-1-56898-788-0) I remember Charles Eames’ description of how designs were generated in Eero Saarinen’s workshop: in response to the brief, they came up with ten solutions; then ten variations on each solution; then ten ... More » »

Angry Populism: Peter Saul (coming to PAFA)

Peter Saul Donald Duck Crucified (1964) oil on canvas, 63 x 59 in., collection Karen E. Tappendorf When Jeff Koons’ work sells for millions and Paul McCarthy’s chocolate butt plugs do brisk business at an international art fair, it may be hard to remember that not too long ago some art had the power to offend. Peter Saul’s anger directed at American social and political mores, delivered in a style wrought from popular culture (Mad magazine to Disney) and with his finger often directed at the eye of political correctness, did offend. And the offense outlasted all of those younger ... More » »

Make Room for Books

Installation view of Volume Attempts; the space of books at Tyler Gallery The premise of the extraordinary exhibition, Volume Attempts: The Space of Books at Tyler School of Art’s Temple Gallery in Old City (through October 25, 2008) is that books are more than passive containers for ideas. Rather they are malleable objects with which we have intimate relationships, usually conducted in private and involving our touch as well as our gaze. It’s the only book exhibition I’ve ever seen that acknowledges that books must be held and perused page-by-page in order to be appreciated. If you love books, don’t ... More » »

Around and About: Gee’s Bend Quilters, Cecelia Condit and Kurt Schwitters

Ruth Kennedy Blocks and Stripes (2003) corduroy, 86 x 75in, the Tinwood Alliance The Evolution of Quilting and/in MuseumsGee’s Bend is a small and isolated African American community in Alabama most of whose population is descended from slaves who worked the local plantation.T he women of Gee’s Bend developed a repertory of quilting designs that may reflect the tradition of African textiles but has evolved into a recognizable local style; quilts from Gee’s Bend burst into the museum world in 2002 when the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFA Houston) organized an exhibition of their work that toured twelve museums ... More » »

Beyond the White Cube: Martin Puryear at the National Gallery of Art

Martin Puryear Self (1978) stained and painted red cedar and mahogany, 69 x 48 x 25″, Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Museum purchase in memory of Elinor Ashton, © Martin Puryear When Brian O’Doherty famously described the white cube that is the setting for much contemporary art it was to critique its ideology, the illusion it fosters that the art it encloses is separate from all life outside, separate from history, society, labor, commerce. But the white cube is also an architectural space and that profoundly affects the art as well. This was dramatically brought home when I saw the Martin ... More » »

Good news from Afghanistan

Fragment of a bowl depicting bearded bulls, Tepe Fullol, gold (2200-1900 B.C.) National Museum, Kabul, photo © Thierry Ollivier/Musée Guimet. This was part of a burial cache accidentally discovered by farmers in 1966. The motif comes from Mesopotamia, confirming an ancient trade route. For most of us the name Afghanistan brings thoughts primarily of war. My associations prior to the past three decades’ conflicts were twofold: that most of the world’s lapis lazuli has always come from Afghanistan (in addition to its use in jewelry and precious objects the stone was finely ground to produce ultramarine, the most stable, beautiful ... More » »

Arabesque: a new angle on contemporary Arab and Persian culture

Behrouz Hariri (Iran/Canada) Tehran Techno promotional poster (2005), from Arabesque, © the artist. When Arabesque; Graphic design from the Arab World and Persia (Berlin: Gestalten Verlag, 2008, ISBN 978-3-89955-206-5) landed on my desk I didn’t know what to expect. I knew that Arabic calligraphy is central to the visual arts of the Middle East, often serving as a decorative element for architecture, textiles, ceramics and elsewhere in a use of script unknown in the West. But its contemporary use? A black hole in my consciousness. The book makes for very interesting reading and looking and adds another chapter to the ... More » »

Fresh Blood: Bruce Campbell

Bruce Campbell, The Golden Moment of Realization (2007), 38 x 37″, yarn; photo courtesy of the artist. I first saw Bruce Campbell’s work in a group exhibition at the late, lamented Falling Cow Gallery (S. 4th St., Philadelphia) last year. He showed two pieces in which I detected a debt to Eva Hesse: The Golden Moment of Realization and A Million Little Pieces. Both were made of the most modest materials (yarn and paper straws) yet occupied significant visual and psychic space. I decided to follow up with a studio visit and found the artist in a large loft near ... More » »

Serious Fun at the PMA

Alexander Calder Necklace (1930), brass wire, ceramic and cord loop, 15 3/4 in., photo © Maria Robledo, courtesy of Calder Foundation, N.Y. Calder made this for his mother as a 64th birthday present and wrote her that he’d found the fragments of ancient pottery along the parapets of the citadel in Calvi, Corsica. The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) is filled with wonderful and entertaining exhibitions at the moment, and what’s more they are shows that will appeal to family and friends who may be wary of art. They’re all thoroughly respectable academically as well as funny – and I ... More » »

Irish Museum of Modern Art: Miquel Barceló and Janaina Tschäpe

Miquel Barceló Domo, Africa(2005)mixed media on paper, 75 x 53 cm, photo courtesy of the Irish Museum of Modern Art. The Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) has monographic exhibitions on through September 28 of two artists whose work hasn’t been seen in nearly such depth in the U.S. Miguel Barceló was one of an international group of artists in the 1980s who popularized expressionistic, figurative painting on a large scale (and I haven’t seen much of his work since then). Miguel Barceló; The African Work is a survey of work done during the past twenty years when the artist ... More » »