Evan gives props to the famous New York portraitist, Chuck Close, for being a virtuoso of photo techniques (everything from daguerrotypes to large-format Polaroids). But in a show of 90 prints, all very well executed, some of the works — and especially the celebrity photographs — fail to ignite empathy or excitement, he says. NOTE: This post was written prior to the sexual harassment charges against Close were made public. The article is about the artist’s photographs and does not deal with his behavior towards women.
Read MoreAndrea Kirsh runs down to Richmond to check out the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and touch base with its Chief Curator and Deputy Director for Art and Education, Michael Taylor. We at Artblog remember Michael fondly when he was Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the PMA! It looks as if he’s brought some of his Philly love to the VMFA with acquisitions of works by Tristin Lowe and Daniel Heyman! Andrea reports.
Read MoreJust for you, we offer this annual curated list of notable people, groups, books, and other art world stuff from the outgoing year: The 2017 Liberta Awards!
Read MoreOver the summer, Roberta and her husband, Steve, and their friends, Chuck and Iris, visited the marvel of construction and decor, Fonthill, in Doylestown, PA. Her report — and Chuck’s pictures — highlight the concrete castle’s details and its maker’s obsession with creating both a home to live in and a showpiece for his tile-making enterprise. Sometimes, Roberta says, the best trips are hiding in plain sight in your own backyard.
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.
Read MoreArtblog was at the opening of Philadelphia Assembled at the Perelman Building of the Philadelphia Museum of Art last weekend. We talked with lead artist Jeanne Van Heeswijk about her vast 4-year project brewing in the community and now assembled in the Perelman Building, with art, conversations, programs and workshops. Jeanne told us she will be in attendance each day the show is open (to Dec. 10) to greet people, talk with them and serve coffee. Go, and be sure to talk with this amazing artist and her collaborators. The show encapsulates conversations — including uncomfortable conversations — that have taken place so far. They are now looking for you to come in and talk. Thanks to Artblog’s new Community Intern, Carly Bellini, for this great 3-minute video overview. We hope you enjoy.
Read MoreRoberta talks about Documenta 14 and the two tours she took with members of the “chorus,” people trained to facilitate discussion and ask questions rather than answer them. The quinquennial art festival is up in Kassel, Germany, until September 17, 2017.
Read MoreThe small group exhibit, Jarring, creates a contemplative space to memorialize victims of racial hate crimes and to remember our shared humanity. Like great monuments in the public realm the works in this exhibition are accessible to all and valuable as history-telling by artists who care about what history is told.
Read MoreThe Woodmere Annual is a juried exhibition open to artists living within 50 miles of the Chestnut Hill art museum. In it’s 76th year, Woodmere Art Museum selected a timely theme, and they “invited artists to submit work that contends with the importance of art in an era of heightened political uncertainty.” The exhibit is juried by Harry Philbrick who is the Founding Director of Philadelphia Contemporary. Michael Lieberman tells us more.
Read MoreBegun in 1955, the quinquennial art festival, Documenta, in Kassel, sprawls across the small German city in venues large and small, some easy to find and some, more challenging. Documenta 14, this year’s version, involves multitudes of artists and two cities, Kassel, Germany and Athens, Greece. The curatorial theme is displacement, dispossession, power, colonialism and restitution. Some art lovers feel that theme personally, as they struggle to find the art, get lost and experience their own lack of power. Roberta visited and reports.
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