Artblog | Reviews

January 6, 2022 by Susan Isaacs

‘Afro-American Images 1971’ exhibit is restaged by Delaware Art Museum in a museum mea culpa

“To write about the Black presence at the Delaware Art Museum is to recall the absence of curators, exhibitions, and artists,” says art historian and artist Simone Austin in the catalog for the re-staging of the exhibition ‘Afro-American Images 1971,’ now at the Delaware Museum. Our contributor Susan Isaacs gives the story of the current exhibition and its historical predecessor, and says, “The show is very important.”

January 5, 2022 by Alex Smith

Impassioned creativity plus awareness of being watched, in ‘Dark Sousveillance’ at Vox Populi Gallery

Alex Smith reviews Logan Cryer’s latest curation ‘Dark Sousveillance,’ inspired by Simone Browne’s research on Blackness and surveillance. The group show features Black and predominantly queer artists, examining “wanting to be seen by each other, and wanting to hide from the violence of hypervisibility.” The exhibition is on view at Vox Populi, by appointment, thru Jan. 16, 2022.

December 17, 2021 by Andrea Kirsh

Amber Robles-Gordon’s anti-colonial quilts and personal histories at American University Museum at the Katzen Center

An artist’s visit to her mother’s birth place in Puerto Rico awakens her to the complexities of immigration and family – and to the dubious socio-political actions and inactions by the U.S. government in its far-flung territories. Our reviewer Andrea Kirsh is moved by the powerful collage works and double-sided quilts of Amber Robles-Gordon. The show closed Dec. 12.

December 15, 2021 by Susan Isaacs

Powerful show of art by women and non-binary artists working in the region today, at the Delaware Contemporary

Regional women artists of all ages ply various media, from plaster and paint to fibers and installation, in a show that is a demonstration of women and non-binary artists’ power to create. Our reviewer Susan Isaacs says: ‘Given the particularly fraught moment we are facing now regarding… voting rights and control of women’s bodies and those with a uterus, “Fields and Formations” is an especially important statement about the creativity and commitment of women and non-binary artists. “ We encourage you to see this exhibit, up now to January 7, 2022.

December 13, 2021 by Janyce Denise Glasper

Quiet, beautiful and atmospheric, Jennifer Packer’s people and funerary bouquets at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles

Filled with saturated color and light emanating from unexplained places, Jennifer Packer’s atmospheric works suggest a “provocative harmony,” says Janyce Denise Glasper, in her review of the artist’s solo show at LA MOCA. The show is up to Feb. 21, 2022. Packer also has a solo show at the Whitney Museum right now, on view til April 17, 2022. Be sure to catch this rising star, whose approach to figuration is truly new.

December 2, 2021 by Andrea Kirsh

Books for holiday giving, Part 2

Part two of Andrea Kirsh’s annual round up of the best in art books is here, including two intriguing books: one on abstract art; the other on art world forgeries and hoaxes! These are great for those interested in 20th/ 21st century abstraction, or those who enjoy mysteries/ detective stories. Make sure to check out “Books for Holiday Giving, Part 1”!

November 30, 2021 by Janyce Denise Glasper

Inclusive and engaging, the Scantland Collection’s “Present Generations” at the Columbus Museum of Art shows contemporary art’s power to connect

The Scantland Collection show of contemporary art at the Columbus Museum of Art is inclusive and powerful and invites a more engaged public, says reviewer Janyce Denise Glasper.

November 23, 2021 by Susan Isaacs

‘Seeing Climate Change’ with artist-activist Diane Burko at American University Museum

In her review, Susan Isaacs calls Diane Burko’s art an activist response to the call to arms to save the planet. “Diane Burko: Seeing Climate Change,” on view until Dec. 12, 2021, at the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, is a wide-ranging overview of Burko’s beautiful abstract, photography- and map-linked paintings of eco-catastrophes today (melting glaciers, dying coral reefs).