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The new biopic about Tom of Finland tells the story of a gay man in post-WWII Finland, who escaped his country’s and family’s rejection of his homosexuality by celebrating gay love in his erotic art. Censored for years, the art of the stylized and beefy gay men nonetheless circulated and “…played an important part in the movement towards gay liberation,” says Michael in his review. This movie, with brilliant acting, was produced in Finland, an appropriate reparation. It brings the important and under-known artist and his struggle and triumph to a new audience. Opening in Philadelphia at the Ritz Bourse, Nov. 24.
Read More“Faces Places” is a road trip movie and a buddy movie made by French artist and activist, JR, and Belgian-born filmmaker, Agnes Varda. The ebullient, energetic 30-something (JR) and introverted 80-something (Varda) make an odd couple, traveling around rural France in JR’s photo studio on wheels, says Michael, in his review of the new documentary. But he also says the movie is beautifully executed, moving and inspirational. The easy camaraderie between the two intense artists is unexpected, and the country people and their stories, as they get photographed and their faces become part of JR’s public oeuvre, are totally heartwarming. Faces Places opens at the Ritz East on November 2.
Read MoreArtblog contributor, Flora Ward reviews the first monographic exhibition of works by Wifredo Lam currently showing at the Lehigh University Art Galleries. A descendant of Cuban, Chinese and West African heritage, Lam’s artwork is often overlooked by other avant-garde painters. The exhibition marks the outcome of a steadfast commitment to bring his work to the United States, which ultimately took the Galleries over three decades.
Read MoreSome solo shows are like conversations, Roberta says. Some are like monologs and some are like mission statements. Astrid Bowlby’s “When the shadow is not your shadow” is a conversation that leans towards a mission statement, and the mission is communication, about important things like love, loss, death, redemption, and engagement in the world.
Read MoreArtblog contributor Andrea Kirsh shares some notable niche periodicals that she recently discovered in the entry area of MoMA PS1. The art institution is dedicated solely to contemporary art, and has annually hosted Printed Matter’s NY Art Book Fair for the last several years, so it seems fitting for them to carry their own large selection of art, design and visual culture periodicals. Andrea casts light on this typically overshadowed genre.
Read MoreKazuo Ishiguro just won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Our contributor, Nancy Chen, had a close encounter with the writer’s oeuvre one summer and writes about how the works affected her. Note, the piece contains some plot spoilers.
Read MoreArtblog’s Andrea Kirsch reviews an inspired exhibition at The Modern Gallery, Museum of Modern Art, which she discovered on her recent trip to Slovenia’s capital, Ljubljana. “The Heritage of 1989. Case Study: The Second Yugoslav Documents” is a recreation of a 1989 exhibit, which after nearly three decades allows audiences to witness a transitional moment in Yugoslavia’s history with a new lens.
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