Some of the most compelling sequences in Wright’s documentary consist of the artist’s reflections on perception, perspective, and space. After a painful breakup with his longtime partner, Peter Schlesinger, Hockney made a series of etchings based on Wallace Steven’s poem, “The Man With the Blue Guitar,” which was in turn based on Pablo Picasso’s famous 1903-04 Blue-period painting, “The Old Guitarist.” Hockney was drawn to the poet’s insistence on “things exactly as they are,” using his etchings to play with realistic and illusionistic depictions of space, all within the emotional frame of the artist’s life and relationships with others.
Read MorePhiladelphia’s Magic Gardens will debut a new program beginning June 5 titled Philly Free Week.The program gives Philadelphians free access to the outdoor labyrinth, the Isaiah and Julia Zagar exhibition “Dear Julia” and daily gallery talks. On the kick-off date, there will be music by Bridgeset Sound and a photo booth.
Read MoreThe tension between rules and improvisation is at the heart of much musical practice, but it is unusual to see it played out in the context of a collective audience performance. As a participant, the experience was thought provoking and occasionally frustrating, and I left with a new appreciation for the importance of rules for all of us who listen to and perform music.
Read MoreWu Hung’s Contemporary Chinese Art will be required reading for anyone wanting an introduction to the subject, and will also be useful to readers who want to understand the history of international art of the period, since Wu presents Western movements with as much clarity as he charts the uses Chinese artists made of them. It is a more nuanced and complete picture of a recent art culture than any other I know. The essays in The Dynamic Library present a variety of historical and theoretical approaches in clear language that are likely to interest scholars in the humanities, artists interested in classification, and anyone who owns enough books to be concerned with how to sort them.
Read MoreMike Durkin and the performers of The Renegade Company offered an amusing and thought-provoking interpretation of Bosch’s medieval masterpiece. The deliberately loose and open structure of the performances allowed us as audience members to pick and choose our sins, and gave us space to reflect on their meaning.
Read MoreNEA awards $807,000 to local arts organizations to foster learning and engagement. Congratulations, all!
Read MoreLike Romare Bearden’s collages, Musson brings together a spirit of formal experimentation with a deep-rooted cultural awareness. The title of his canvas Knowledge God may refer to the 1995 song of the same name by Raekwon, of the Wu Tang Clan. The repeated patterns of the Coogi fragments echo like musical phrases across the canvas, creating a sort of sweater sound collage. Just as Bearden’s collages often evoke sense of communal ritual (as in his series, The Prevalence of Ritual), Musson draws on shared reference points that span high-brow to low-brow to create visually arresting and thought-provoking work.
Read MoreThe safari began on the fourth floor with a visit to photographer Jeffrey Stockbridge’s gallery and Fine Art Print Shop. Stockbridge discussed several of his projects with the safari, including “Kensington Blues.” This on-going project documents the people of one of Philadelphia’s most impoverished and underserved communities.
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