Ilana’s trip to Galerie St. Etienne brings her face to face with political art by Käthe Kollwitz and Sue Coe, including several works made by Coe 30 years ago that cause her to ruminate on today’s identity politics and the question of who owns the right to depict another’s pain. It’s a good read.
Read MoreIlana visited Argentina recently, where she was fortunate to run into a cosmically-focused exhibit in Buenos Aires by Tomás Saraceno, whose unique architecture and science-researched installations were a surprise and a delight.
Read MoreIlana reviews the larger than life oil paintings of Lynette Yiadom-Boakye currently on view at the New Museum. Considering how Yiadom-Boakye’s work is in close dialogue with historical European portraiture, Ilana tells us more about her inspiration, and how she came to choose her subjects.
Read MoreA collaborative project between local artist Sinéad Cahill and the Albert M. Greenfield School, Narrative as Soft Sculpture focuses on students, schools, and activism in and beyond the classroom. Ilana reports.
Read MorePeople got connected with art at our recent Look/Draw/Write workshops. We are very happy to share their responses written about the art of Michelle Angela Ortiz.
Read MorePlayful and serious at the same time, Lenka Clayton’s Object Temporarily Removed at the Fabric Workshop and Museum raises important questions about art’s audiences and its value. Inspired by Constantin Brancusi’s “Sculpture for the Blind,” Clayton asks, what if this sculpture were really made by the blind? And what makes Brancusi so special if other artists at the same time were making similar work?
Read MoreWorkshop participants shared their visions, memories, thoughts about Puerto Rico in poems written in response to Roxana Perez-Mendez’s complex and beautiful art. Perez-Mendez is Puerto Rican and her video installations at Taller Puertorriqueño embody the artist’s own fears and hopes for the island. The show closed March 25.
Read MoreAn exhibition at Asian Arts Initiative, organized by artist and community organizer Jaishri Abichandani, suggests that blackness is experienced by all people of color, who deal with the experience in various ways. The show’s 20 artists confront complex issues about race and ethnicity and Ilana recommends everyone see the exhibit before it closes April 21.
Read MoreWorks by two painters with different sensibilities and subjects but similar color choices have a great conversation at the University City Arts League. Ilana Napoli gets in on the conversation and tells you about it in her review. The show closes today (March 24) at 5PM. Run over and see it!
Read MoreArt made of “trash” is a concept that has both political and social meaning in Material Memory. As the product of Olanrewaju (Lanre) Tejuoso’s time at The Village of Arts and Humanity’s SPACES residency, Material Memory represents several firsts for the organization. It is first time a SPACES artist’s residency has aimed to provide an intangible (rather than concrete) social impact, and the first one that has resulted in an exhibition.
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