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Must-see exhibit at the Frameworks Gallery

The current show at the Frameworks Gallery, “Polly Norman – Summer Blast,” offers an unexpected treat—while Norman’s photography alone is worth seeing, it is sharing space with some very fine paintings and sculptures by a diverse group of artists.    

"Clarin y Caja"

Hugo Mercado, a painter who recently moved here from Cajamarca, Peru, is showing works that capture the colors and popular culture of his native land. His oils on …more…

Expose Yourself to (Public) Art

Michael Ryerson_expose-yourself-to-art

Visitors to Portland, Oregon are sometimes astounded by the number of public art installations in the downtown area.  Strolling through the central city, a person encounters a diversity of artworks on nearly every block.

Since 1980, the City of Portland and Multnomah County have required a percentage of the cost of new construction or major building renovation projects within their jurisdictions to be earmarked for purchase of permanent artworks. …more…

Art in the Library

You stumble through the library, city after city, and it’s more or less the same old same old:  a bunch of books and computers.  Right? Wrong.  In Santa Fe, The City Different, home to many things art, the Main branch (situated in the Plaza and steps from art galleries, storefronts and Native artisans selling their wares at the Governor’s Palace) hosts some tasty eye art food every month.

On this particular …more…

A View of America’s Past: Timothy O’Sullivan’s King Survey Photographs

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri is known for showing works that have had significant impact on the American mindset. Its current exhibit of “The King Survey Photographs” by Timothy H. O’Sullivan is one such body of work. Taken between 1867 and 1872 as well as 1868 and 1869, the King Survey photographs were part of an exploration of land in Wyoming, California, Nevada, and parts of …more…

Portland Photo Month

April is Portland Photo Month, an event which is not a product of any one organization, but rather a collaboration of art galleries, nonprofits and individual artists. Portland, Oregon is a city of artists and art enthusiasts and accordingly is home to a multitude of artists who express themselves through the medium of photography.

Numerous Portland art galleries specialize in photography. Among these are Black Box Gallery, Blue Sky Gallery, Camerawork …more…

Julie Blackmon: The Power of Now and Other Tales From Home

Julie Blackmon: The Power of Now and Other Tales From Home, is the current exhibition at Houston Center for Photography until April 22nd. Blackmon’s work is inspired by Seventeenth century Flemish and Dutch paintings, a subject she studied as an art history major in college. More curiously, she also cites illustrators like Edward Gory and Tim Burton as influences as well as her own family and friends’ families. When asked …more…

Words and Pictures: “365D, Three Hundred and Sixty-Five Days of a Woman”

“365D, Three Hundred and Sixty-Five Days of a Woman” at the Icebox Gallery may seem like an exhibition of photographs of 365 Italian women. Indeed, there are 365 photos pinned to the walls of the tiny gallery in the Northrup King Building in Northeast Minneapolis. But the original intent of the project, the brainchild of creative director Marzia Messina, was to present an alternative view of women through their “photographs …more…

Frostbite and Long Tongue: Tim Remick and Preston Singletary at the Anchorage Museum

One thing to love about the Anchorage Museum: its artists render beauty from some very… remarkable materials, like seal intestines, and walrus oosik. Two new shows at the museum, solo exhibitions of the photography of Tim Remick and the glass works of Preston Singletary, don’t use remarkable body parts, but depict them. ...more...

Zoe Strauss and her Philadelphia Party

It’s the month of Zoe Strauss at the PMA. Or should I say months? Her 10 Year retrospective is on view now and has received much critical acclaim. (I heard even Joe Biden took a break from his vice presidential duties to come see it.) She’s throwing dance parties in the museum and sitting for office hours to meet viewers. It all feels very Strauss-esque in the desire to make sure she hasn’t created too much of a distance between herself and those she photographs. ...more...

Don’t Miss 31K Portraits for Peace at the Mexic-Arte Museum in Downtown Austin

Portrait by Diego Huerta for 31K Portraits for Peace exhibition.

31,000 is a lot of portraits, especially when you realize the significance of the number.

Diego Huerta and project partner Daniela Gutiérrez have compiled this number of portraits in order to represent the over 31,000 people killed throughout the ongoing drug wars in Mexico during the last four years. They have titled the project 31K Portraits for Peace (Retratos por la …more…

“Light Years” brings together Photography and Conceptual Art

Last post, I mentioned that there are some great photography shows up around Chicago right now. While the Art Institute of Chicago offers a glimpse of how artists are utilizing the medium today in ”Exposure”, the museum is also offering a thorough look at photography’s recent past. “Light Years: Conceptual Art and the Photograph, 1964–1977” brings together more than 140 works by 57 artists in the first major survey to explore photography’s role in the conceptual art movement – a show that is exclusive to Chicago. ...more...

Moments in Time: the Landscape and Wildlife Photography of Gero Verheyen

(Credit: Nfutvol of Wikimedia Commons)

Gero Verheyen’s travel and nature photographs are on display at the Enoch Pratt Free Library in downtown Baltimore.  The exhibit is on display in both the Fine Arts Reading Room and the Maryland Reading Room. Both black and white and color photographs are included. Moments in Time: the Landscape and Wildlife Photography of Gero Verheyen will be at the Central branch of the Enoch Pratt …more…

What were they smoking?

The moment I walked into the Fleming museum, located on the edge of the University of Vermont campus, I felt targeted.  They were selling my favorite local coffee, Speeder and Earls.  The next signal that I was being stereotyped was the free admission.  How did they know I love free things?  When I read the title of the current exhibit, “Up in Smoke” I knew, this couldn’t have been a random occurrence.  UVM students love to smoke and whoever ran the Fleming museum was taking advantage of this to purposefully draw in UVM students.  They knew students wouldn’t be able to resist the temptation of anything having to do with such an activity. ...more...

Reginald F. Lewis Museum Celebrates Black Men of Style

“Dandy Lion: Articulating a Re(de)fined Black Masculine Identity” is a show consisting of photographs and films featuring well dressed African American men. “Black Dandyism” is a style that combines African influence with European fashion. Curators at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum developed this show in response to concerns about the one sided images of black masculinity as shown through dress. Modern black dandyism developed as a reaction to young black me who wear informal styles such as baggy pants with boxer shorts showing. The curators seek to provoke discussion on black male identity and style. ...more...

The Art Institute of Chicago’s “Exposure” features Emerging Photographers

Photography has always been one of my loves. Luckily for me (and for you, if you enjoy photography or are just curious about it) there are a variety of exhibitions up across Chicago right now that feature photography and reexamine its place in the art world.

The first stop is the Art Institute of Chicago’s Modern Wing, which is home to a small but impressive exhibition, “Exposure,” featuring the work of …more…

Zoe Strauss Celebrates 10 Years!

Billboard 13: ”Fortune,” Atlantic City, NJ by Zoe Strauss Zoe Strauss: 10 Years at the Philadelphia Museum of Art is causing quite a stir in the city. Not only is there a beautifully curated retrospective, but located throughout Philadelphia are enormous billboard-sized photographs by Strauss. The project features 54 different billboards structured around the idea of the Odyssey. Strauss will also be working with the Philadelphia duo MegaWords on …more…

First, Last or All

Many cities set aside one day a month where art galleries are either open late or have a special event to encourage the public to come see their shows. Last year marked the 25th anniversary of Portland, Oregon’s First Thursday, by now a venerable institution in Downtown and the Northwest Portland Pearl District.

When condominiums replaced dilapidated warehouse and industrial buildings in Northwest Portland, many artists and galleries were priced out …more…

Man oh Man!

I walked into the BCA (Burlington City Arts) firehouse gallery shaking from the frigid Burlington air.  I had ventured out into the cold to see Adam Putnam’s “magic lanterns” exhibit.  Maybe my brain was still frozen, but for some reason I wasn’t too excited about the exhibit and haphazardly walked upstairs to the second exhibit.  On the second floor photographer Evie Lovett’s exhibit, “Backstage at the rainbow Cattle Co.”  caught …more…

An Interview with Isaac Layman: A Seattle Artist Finding Paradise in His Own Home

Isaac Layman. Untitled, 2011. Photographic construction, ink-jet on paper. 95" X 59".

Isaac Layman has taken the art world by storm with his evocative, large-scale photographic constructions, which transform the banal into the hyper-realistic, haunting and enigmatic. Drinking glasses, used tissues, heating vents: Any object in Layman’s Seattle home can become the object of an intense visual meditation, captured over and over from subtly different angles by the artist’s high-resolution, …more…

Five Hot Seattle Art Shows to Catch This Year End

Time is running out for 2011, as it is for a number of top-notch Seattle-area exhibitions. If you’re yearning for a little culture fix to fill your holiday leisure hours, here are five shows to catch in the next few weeks: ...more...

Through the Looking Glass

Once again the Portland Art Museum (PAM) in Oregon has delved into its permanent collection to mount an exhibition. This time, the Museum is mining its photographic print archive of approximately 5,000 images produced throughout the 19th and 20th century. The exhibit, titled “Through the Looking Glass: Photography’s Use of Windows, Doorways, and Mirrors,” runs through the end of February 2012 and includes over sixty photographs in which these objects play a dominant role. ...more...

Kiang Goes Out with a Bang

Kiang Gallery, one of the most revered galleries in the Atlanta art scene, ends its remarkable 20-year tenure in the city with 16 Sided Crystal, a solo exhibition presenting works by local artist Ben Steele. The 16 oil on panel works, paintings based on straight photographs that are both transcendental and technological, aim to “simulate a digital vocabulary through physical form…through crystals and prisms, of actual physical constructions.” ...more...

‘Infinite Balance’ Creates A Global Buzz

“Infinite Balance: Artists and the Environment,” currently on view at San Diego’s Museum of Photographic Arts (MOPA) seeks to address global concerns around sustainability through an eclectic mix of small and large scale photography. “Infinite Balance,” in fact, is also the first U.S. presentation of artists shortlisted for the Prix Pictect, the world’s leading prize for photography and sustainability. It’s no wonder then that the diverse backgrounds of the artists featured, from China to Germany, speaks to the larger message of the exhibition at hand. ...more...