A shamsa (literal meaning, “sun”) from the Met’s new Islamic Art wing One of my favorite books right now is Between Artists: Twelve Contemporary American Artists Interview Twelve Contemporary American Artists. I have so much more to say about this book, and hopefully I will write about it in more detail later on. But right […]
Repetition, the Ritual of Obsession
The inimitable Thomas Derrah plays Mark Rothko in the Speakeasy’s New England premiere of Red, by John Logan. The play runs through February 4th. In John Logan’s Tony award-winning play Red, Mark Rothko delivers a steady stream of tough love lessons on the meaning of art to his young studio assistant. Advice is rarely this […]
Apparent Glimmerings
Curator Stephanie Hobart hanging my show, Apparent Glimmerings Apparent Glimmerings, a show of my paintings in Cape Elizabeth Maine, has been installed and is ready for the opening reception on January 13. Curator Stephanie Hobart did the vetting in my studio two weeks ago and ended up picking out 31 pieces that span about six […]
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Output/Yield Ratios
Crooked timber and all that jazz Kingsley Amis, from his review of Don DeLillo‘s latest book in the New Yorker: When we say that we love a writer’s work, we are always stretching the truth: what we really mean is that we love about half of it. Sometimes rather more than half, sometimes rather less…I […]
In Search of the Minor Exceptions
Only one tree in my Brookline neighborhood is hosting a playful colony of shell-like parasols My last post elicited several provocative comments and instigated a number of compelling conversations over the last few days. As a result I have continued to sit with several of ideas presented in The Tree, by John Fowles. It is […]
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At Home in the Wild
A favorite small book, The Tree by the novelist John Fowles, is just the right place to turn for wisdom on this last day of the year. A memoir and a meditation on human and natural notions of control, The Tree can be read again and again. W. S. Merwin claims that he has carried […]
Loving Schubert, in Any Form
Three Pianos, currently playing at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, is another successful production in line with the theatrical proclivities of artistic director Diane Paulus—theatrical mastery, audience engagement, crisp production values, meaningful content (and context,) and the delivery of an evening out that is both fun and informatively rich. Paulus has demonstrated a deft […]
I Feel You
Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Linear Minnie Pwerle, Bush Melon Seed It is in the nature of an artist to look for commonalities between contemporary concepts of form and those of ancient or indigenous cultures. Brahms and Schubert wandered the countryside listening to and absorbing native, folk and gypsy musical idioms, incorporating many of those traditions into […]
- Aesthetics
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Northern Exposure: SFMOMA
Francesca Woodman, Polka Dots, Providence, Rhode Island, 1976; gelatin silver print; courtesy George and Betty Woodman; © George and Betty Woodman A few highlights from a day spent at the San Francisco Museum of Art, a visit that followed the feast that was Pacific Standard Time in Los Angeles over Thanksgiving… Francesca Woodman‘s life was […]
Pacific Standard Time: More on a Theme
More on Pacific Standard Time… PST encompasses over 60 venues, so my coverage from just a week in Los Angeles is limited. Here is an overview of other PST exhibits worth highlighting (as well as a few others thrown in for good measure): Now Dig This! Art and Black Los Angeles 1960-1980 Hammer Museum Breaking […]