New Artblog contributor Deborah Krieger visits Maria Dumlao’s latest solo exhibition at Vox Populi Gallery, “History in RGB.” Comprised of densely-layered, multi-colored posters set amongst draped mosquito netting and potted tropical plants, this work imagines colonialism (in Dumlao’s native Philippines and beyond) as a cacophony of myths and half-truths. Colored film viewfinders, installed along the gallery wall, approximate a kind of worldview by allowing visitors to literally filter their experience of work and its histories. “History in RGB” is on view through April 22, 2018.
Read MoreMandy Palasik visits Spanish-born architect and industrial designer Patricia Urquiola’s first solo exhibition stateside, at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through March 18th. “Patricia Urquiola: Between Craft and Industry” celebrates Urquiola’s innovative use of familiar forms and traditional techniques to activate both mind and body.
Read MoreArtists James Bouche, Jared Rush Jackson and Devin N. Morris explore individual experience through the prism of mass culture in Punctual Reality, a group show currently at High Tide gallery. Contributor Olivia Jia praises all three artists for handling the subject of identity with the subtlety it so urgently requires. Punctual Reality is on view through March 17th.
Read MoreMichael visits “How Wide is the Gulf?”, a timely group exhibition now at Gravy Studio + Gallery. Presenting a thematically-tight cluster of three artists who address North America’s migratory past and present, curator Rebekah Flake highlights the power differentials that exists between nations and the (brown) bodies that navigate them. Not to be missed, “How Wide is the Gulf?” is on view through March 13th.
Read MoreImani Roach ponders “Went Looking for Beauty: Refashioning Self,” an exhibition of photographs by Deborah Willis currently at the African American Museum in Philadelphia. On view through April 29th 2018, this partial retrospective shows thematic highlights from Willis’s decades-long journey documenting the richness of black aesthetic and cultural practices, and demonstrates her continuing evolution as an artist.
Read MoreContributor Ron Kanter talks with Painted Bride supporters, staff and board and finds he still has questions about the community center’s putting its building on the market in an attempt to continue — building free — as a nomadic programmer in pop-up locations. A timely look at an organization that’s lifting anchor and sailing out on an adventure that has some supporters worried.
Read MoreMatthew Rose visits Florence, Italy, once home to Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, and, for the last 20 years, home to Clet, the French sticker artist whose “canvas” is the city street signs. Clet alters street signs with charming interventions that the city pretty much leaves up. Matthew rounds up pictures and writes about the artist’s many interventions.
Read MoreSeventeen years after the feature documentary, “Rivers and Tides” debuted, Director Thomas Riedelsheimer brings back to the screen British artist, Andy Goldsworthy and his magical, shamanistic works with nature. Roberta says the new film, “Leaning into the Wind,” is a film poem, and a loving embrace of this unique artist who paints with leaves and with rain and whose humble affect masks a life of hard work, repeated failure (and triumph) collaborating with a tough and changeable Mother, Nature.
Read MoreKara Springer works at the intersection of sculpture, photography and language to activate bodies in space. Born in Barbados and raised in Ontario, Canada, this former industrial designer grounds her minimalist aesthetic with careful attention to history and geography. Springer speaks with Artblog’s Imani Roach about diaspora, legibility and her current installation at The Galleries at Moore — Ten Days Before Freedom, a Hymnal. What can perilous landscapes teach us about the nature of built space? Listen to find out. Imani interviewed Kara at Moore College of Art and Design’s TGMR radio station on February 26th, 2018; the podcast is 34 minutes long.
Read MoreAndrea reviews an exhibit by Jacqueline Hoang Nguyen that critiques the Stockholm Ethnography Museum and its “collecting” of non-Western, cultural artifacts and stories. Many museum goers are already aware of moral and ethical problems underlying ethnographic collections. For those not aware, this exhibit will be valuable, Andrea says.
Read MoreNew Art Writing Challenge winner Huewayne Watson is back with his reflections on Ten Days Before Freedom, A Hymnal, Kara Springer’s current show at The Galleries at Moore. This evocative photo-installation looks to the remote Bahamian community of Fox Hill, and its annual celebration commemorating the news of emancipation from slavery arriving some ten days after its decree. Ten Days Before Freedom, A Hymnal will be on view through March 17th, 2018.
Read MoreAs a Chinese-born artist making a life for herself in Philadelphia, Yixuan Pan thinks a lot about translation and the limitations of language. In fact, since earning her MFA from the glass department at Tyler School of Art last year, she has built a rich and varied practice around the insights gained from living with confusion. Here she speaks with Matt Kalasky, ahead of her February 28th collaborative performance at Vox Populi Gallery, about starting with wonder and chasing art across media. Can a conversation where no questions are allowed qualify as studio time? Listen to find out. Matt interviewed Pan at Moore College of Art and Design’s TGMR radio station on February 13th, 2018; the podcast is 21 minutes long.
Read MoreSometimes a show can be too big. Andrea talks about the new, 277+-work exhibition combining outsider and mainstream art at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and says it includes many gems that are wonderful to see, but that the show breaks no new ground and winds up overwhelming even the hard-bitten art lover. She provides a few tips on what’s not to be missed.
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