Andrea Kirsh writes about a decorative installation by Talia Greene at Glen Foerd that draws attention to a historic house’s wealthy’s occupants and the hidden story of the poor workers who built it, tended it, and served the owners. She says the historic house’s current caretakers are making some of the hidden histories visible on their website.
Read MoreNathalie Du Pasquier is one of the founders of the influential Italian Postmodern design group Memphis. Her colorful and immersive installation at ICA is both art and design. Ephraim calls it playful yet rooted in the artist’s adherence to principles of design, structure and systems. A walk through the paintings, rugs, furniture and still life paintings of objects and furniture exposes a seamless and natural interplay between art and design.
Read MoreIlana’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 More“Philadelphia: Finding the Hidden City” is a dense and fact-filled rumination on the character of the city of Philadelphia as reticent, wallflowerish, and modest — a hidden city. Written by self-titled urban observers Nathaniel Popkin and Peter Woodall, and including over one hundred stunning photographs by Joseph E.B. Elliott, of iconic architectural spaces and places in the city, the book has many charms (including the photos and the beautiful hardback cover). Michael says it’s a difficult read, however, as the narrative about the city’s character, written in densely-packed paragraphs with history references galore, is at times overwhelming.
Read MoreThe new biopic about Tom of Finland tells the story of a gay man in post-WWII Finland, who escaped his country’s and family’s rejection of his homosexuality by celebrating gay love in his erotic art. Censored for years, the art of the stylized and beefy gay men nonetheless circulated and “…played an important part in the movement towards gay liberation,” says Michael in his review. This movie, with brilliant acting, was produced in Finland, an appropriate reparation. It brings the important and under-known artist and his struggle and triumph to a new audience. Opening in Philadelphia at the Ritz Bourse, Nov. 24.
Read More“Faces Places” is a road trip movie and a buddy movie made by French artist and activist, JR, and Belgian-born filmmaker, Agnes Varda. The ebullient, energetic 30-something (JR) and introverted 80-something (Varda) make an odd couple, traveling around rural France in JR’s photo studio on wheels, says Michael, in his review of the new documentary. But he also says the movie is beautifully executed, moving and inspirational. The easy camaraderie between the two intense artists is unexpected, and the country people and their stories, as they get photographed and their faces become part of JR’s public oeuvre, are totally heartwarming. Faces Places opens at the Ritz East on November 2.
Read MoreArtblog contributor, Flora Ward reviews the first monographic exhibition of works by Wifredo Lam currently showing at the Lehigh University Art Galleries. A descendant of Cuban, Chinese and West African heritage, Lam’s artwork is often overlooked by other avant-garde painters. The exhibition marks the outcome of a steadfast commitment to bring his work to the United States, which ultimately took the Galleries over three decades.
Read More
