March 6, 2017 by Andrea Kirsh

Yayoi Kusama’s mind-bending mirrors at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

The Hirshhorn exhibition, curated by Mika Yoshitake, is serious and respectful of the artist, even if it overemphasizes the more spectacular work, and it accommodates an intimidating number of visitors with well thought-out and executed logistics. It offers those unfamiliar with Kusama an introduction to her world, and will undoubtedly leave everyone wanting more.

December 31, 2016 by Andrea Kirsh

Forging Mexican Modernism – Paint the Revolution at the PMA

The exhibition clearly demonstrates that the widely-known work of Rivera, Orozco, Siqueiros, Tamayo, and, in recent decades, Frida Kahlo, is but a small spectrum of a much broader artistic scene. It brings up topics such as the tension between work intended for private viewing versus the obviously propagandistic intent of work meant to be seen in public–both murals and inexpensive prints; the Mexican response to European modernism; European, Soviet, and U.S. responses to Mexican art; the tension between a cosmopolitan artistic language which reflects international ideas about modernity versus a local style that draws upon indigenous art, and with that, the ongoing attention in Mexican art to the spectrum of racial difference.

December 30, 2016 by Matthew Rose

A year in the country – Jamie Newton’s natural constructions

This past year, Jamie Newton has been making ephemeral sculptures, captured solely in photographs which are then uploaded to his Instagram account, concretewheels. His project is a year-long visual poetic diary of constructions created from nature’s golden crumbs.

December 7, 2016 by Roberta

Olanrewaju (Lanré) Tejuoso talks of his sculptural community project

Lanré, who is Yoruba, works with recycled materials and his art communicates a message about our fragile globe being overwhelmed by waste. His sculptures are labor intensive, and here in Philadelphia he worked with North Philadelphia community members in “sewing circles” to fabricate the individual components (he refers to them as “bricks” to build a skyscraper) that will go into his big new sculpture, which debuts on Friday. The piece is a memorial to loss, which is experienced in a personal way by all.

November 28, 2016 by Neil Marcello

Urban Expressionism – Leroy Johnson’s Views of Philadelphia at the Asian Arts Initiative

Most of the works focus on the results of gentrification that continues to take place in Philadelphia, where the the displacement of people and things have transformed them all into a kind of debris. While it’s not stated overtly, the emphasis on impoverished people and forgotten neighborhoods infuses the show with political meaning. Due to its political content and focus on urban decay, debris, and poverty, you won’t find pretty views of Philadelphia.

November 11, 2016 by Roberta

Talking beautiful wrecks and House Gallery with Michelle Marcuse

Michelle Marcuse flirted with sculpture-making for a long while, but only when she started channeling her memories of childhood in suburban Capetown, South Africa, did she find her 3D voice. Marcuse, who along with her partner, Henry Bermudez, runs House Gallery also found her materials — recycled cardboard, glue — and aesthetic that is primal and playful, combining both pieces of her childhood experience.

October 30, 2016 by Flora Ward

Lorrie Goulet’s Sense of Stone

At 91, Lorrie Goulet’s dedication to the carver’s art is unwavering, even though she cannot wield the carver’s tools like she could as a young woman. Throughout a recent wide-ranging conversation I had with her at her home and studio in Chelsea, I was struck by Goulet’s deep commitment to the physical work of carving, its tools, techniques, and materials. Her eyes light up and her gestures become animated when talking about stone, its myriad types, colors, and textures. For Goulet, stone–her primary material–is alive, and each stone has its own personality. “I put my life with the stone’s life,” she told me, following up with “I don’t have many stones left.”

September 24, 2016 by Andrea Kirsh

Between Text and Textile – Ann Hamilton’s “habitus”

Hamilton always invokes more than one sense with her work; here it is the sight of the swirling fabric, the oddly musical sound of the pulley mechanisms, and the touch of the pulleys–which visitors are encouraged to operate–as well as the physical sense of wind on the body from both the swirling fabric and the river breezes.