Artblog | Reviews

October 22, 2018 by Andrea Kirsh

Rachel Whiteread’s sculpture at the National Gallery of Art, elegies to daily life in melodies we all can sing

Andrea calls the humanist sculptural works of Rachel Whiteread, powerful, poignant and accessible without gimmicks. She praises the sculpture, cast from domestic objects as big as a house and small as a hot water bottle, which evoke absent bodies.

October 21, 2018 by Carl(os) Roa

Roberto Lugo gets crafty in Taller Puertorriqueño homecoming show

Did you know that Kensington-grown art star (and Artblog favorite) Roberto Lugo has been in residence at Taller Puertorriqueño since mid June? Here Carl(os) Roa reports back on what Lugo’s been up to in his hybrid exhibition/studio space and reflects on the strength and creativity that come from embracing what you have and where you come from. Check out this great project before the residency and exhibition close on October 27, 2018.

October 19, 2018 by Logan Cryer

Don’t Miss Me, a not-so-solo show by Lane Speidel at Vox Populi

Logan Cryer walks us through Lane Speidel’s elaborate and deeply personal show, “Don’t Miss Me.” Get some nonlinear healing and some treasure-trash before it closes on October 20th.

October 14, 2018 by Sydney Cox

The Plant That Heals May Also Poison, Ree Morton lights up the ICA

New Artblog contributor, Sydd Cox takes in the retrospective of Ree Morton’s playful body of work, on view at the Institute of Contemporary Art through December 23, 2018. “The Plant That Heals May Also Poison” includes sculptures and installation works from Morton’s brief but fruitful career infusing post-minimalism with idiosyncratic material riffs on the maternal.

October 13, 2018 by Michael Lieberman

Piece Together, The Quilts of Mary Lee Bendolph at Swarthmore’s List Gallery

Michael visits “Piece Together: The Quilts of Mary Lee Bendolph,” an important retrospective of quilts and prints by one of the most prolific and well-known of the Gee’s Bend quilters of Boykin, Alabama. Part of a tradition that stretches back to the era of slavery, Bendolph makes works that elicits comparisons to the spontaneity of jazz and the masters of modernism. If you’ve never had the pleasure of viewing her stunning work in person (or even if you have), make sure to visit Swarthmore’s List Gallery before they come down on October 28.

October 12, 2018 by JuWon Park

Abigail Lucien Reconsiders the Tropical Caribbean at Vox Populi

New Artblog contributor, JuWon Park, reviews “Face Tan/Night Swim,” the current solo show by Haiti-born, Virginia-based installation artist, Abigail Lucien. On view at Vox Populi through October 20, her show critiques popular images of the Caribbean as an exotic tourist haven through the subtle arrangement of artificial smells and man-made materials.

October 8, 2018 by Andrea Kirsh

Bill Traylor’s coded images of the segregated South at the Smithsonian American Art Museum

Andrea Kirsh visits DC and reports back on the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s new retrospective on self-taught folk artist Bill Traylor. “Between Worlds: The Art of Bill Traylor” presents a thoughtful and nuanced (if overly-ambitious) reframing of an artist who developed his vibrant and graphic style of image making during one of the darkest eras in this country’s history. Catch it now through March 17, 2019.

October 6, 2018 by Logan Cryer

Finding Feminism at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival

Logan Cryer attends two very different shows at Philly Fringe, both of which explore the complexities and failures of capital “F” Feminism. In “White Feminist,” Lee Minora corrals her audience into a critique rooted in irony and identification. Radiant Bloom Productions’ “The F Word” takes a more direct, multi-vocal approach.