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.
Read MoreAndrea 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.
Read MoreLogan 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.
Read MoreMatthew Rose reviews Julie J. Thomson’s new book of interviews with late mail artist Ray Johnson. What emerges is an affectionately-rendered composite image of an elusive man whose whimsical patterns of speech and thought closely mirrored his approach to making work.
Read MoreIt’s easy to take the security that shelter provides for granted — until you find yourself out in the cold. Here Deb Krieger reviews “Shelter,” a new show at Davinci Art Alliance, presented in conjunction with Philadelphia Sculptors, which explores the vulnerability not only of our built environments, but of our own bodies and minds. This moving and topical exhibition closes September 26, 2018, so catch it while you still can!
Read MoreJessica Rizzo takes celebrated choreographer, Trajal Harrell to task over his newest piece, “Caen Amour,” which showed at the Fringe Festival earlier this month. According to Rizzo, Harrell’s piece, which was inspired by the hoochie-coochie performers of the late 19th century, falters not only in its attentiveness to history (and its audience) but in its treatment of the female body.
Read MoreAndrea Kirsh gives her take on the late, great Jack Whitten’s newest retrospective. The exhibition, which focuses on the artist’s richly-textured wood sculptures and African-inspired assemblages originated at the Baltimore Museum of art and is now turning heads at the Met through December 2, 2018.
Read MoreDeb Krieger visits “The Contour of Feeling,” Ursula von Rydingsvard’s current exhibition of imposing wooden sculptures and evocative works on paper at the Fabric Workshop and Museum. Read her reflections on process and catch the show before it closes on August 26, 2018!
Read MoreLogan Cyer is back with a review of “Big Boys,” the newest Open Call exhibition at Little Berlin, on view through August 26. For them the works on view raise a number of important questions about the politics the personal and what it means to take up space.
Read MoreImani attends the first of three screenings at Lightbox of archival footage from NEWSREEL, an activist film collective that operated during the late 1960s and early ‘70s. Against the inescapable backdrop of America’s current moral crisis, this series takes a sobering look at the social and political upheavals of 50 years ago and the independent journalists who documented them.
Read MoreRoberta reports on a book documenting the African and African American art collected by Peggy Cooper Cafritz, who died last February at age 70. The book, with many full-page color plates and an autobiographical section, and short writings by artists in the collection, captures a woman who was as on fire about collecting art as she was about educating museums, curators, other collectors about the excellence of art by contemporary black artists.
Read MoreAndrea Kirsh visits the moving retrospective of multi-disciplinary artist and AIDS activist David Wojnarowicz, one of three exhibits on the artist currently on view in New York. Kirsh also takes a look at the catalog for this timely exhibition, which does important research that should open the door for more. The show runs through September 30th at the Whitney Museum.
Read MoreLogan Cryer visits Sloppy Seconds, the 2-person show at Space 1026 featuring work by Wit López and Heather Raquel Phillips. It’s a whimsical affair and both artists draw heavily from craft aesthetics to celebrate brown, queer desire. NOTE: The closing reception is Tuesday, July 24, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM with a performance by Kol-Kez. The exhibit closes July 28.
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