Tania Candiani: Sounding Labor, Silent Bodies at the Contemporary Arts Center
I walked into the second floor gallery just as the choir began imitating the sound of pigs being slaughtered. “Four Industries,” the mesmerizing centerpiece of Mexico City-based artist Tania Candiani’s exhibition Sounding Labor, Silent Bodies at the Contemporary Arts Center, is a three-channel video installation in which an a cappella women’s choir mimics the sounds […]
Slim Aarons, Twenty20 (Miller Gallery Pop-Up shop)
For decades, from the 1950s through 1970s, Slim Aarons (1916-2006) recorded the lives of the “rich and famous” He caught them at their favorite watering holes: Beverly Hills, Palm Beach, Park Avenue, Capri, Gstaad, the French and Italian rivieras. You name it and he was there. He was a documentary photographer as sure as Walker […]
Survey of a Century of Cincinnati Art
Cincinnati Art Galleries is on the bandwagon of regionalism with its current offering entitled: Panorama of Cincinnati Art 2020. The Queen City stands out historically in the Midwest region as a hotbed of art, music and culture. In the fine art field, the confluence of collecting, commissioning, and teaching legacies resulted in supporting a flourishing […]
Top 10 Los Angeles Exhibitions of 2020
Little need be said about the strangeness of 2020: A year inundated with historic events has brought to a standstill the customs and contact that once defined our lives. In March, as the reality of the pandemic set into Los Angeles, museums and galleries closed with the lockdowns, leaving in their wake a slew of […]
Best Fiction of 2020
2020 was a terrible year for most of us, between a rampaging and terrifying pandemic and a bizarre election that tested the very limits of democracy, but it was a splendid year for fiction. I’m offering my annual “best fiction of 2020” list this year, as I have for decades now. My list is very […]
Our World and Others: “Art Ascendant: Creativity Triumphs Over Chaos,” at Cincinnati Art Galleries, October 23, 2020-November 27, 2020
“Art Ascendant” at Cincinnati Art Galleries on 6th Street is a great show to see on a fall day. It’s a full show, with about 100 works on display by about 20 artists covering all of the gallery’s walls. The exhibit drew upon many of the CAG’s stable of living painters (and one sculptor). In […]
Weary, but Awake: Black and Brown Faces at the Cincinnati Art Museum
The Cincinnati-based Paloozanoire organization dedicates itself to creative collaborations and community health, linking the arts to the pursuit of mental wellness. In 2020, when the ravages of a pandemic combined with the shockwaves of racist violence, the need to support psychological and social wellbeing could hardly be plainer. Paloozanoire’s Black and Brown Faces at the […]
Issues of the Day: How They Relate to Art
Emerging Arts Leaders had a creative and Facebook conversation about The Catalyst of Black Art on October 28. Participants included Emmitt Rider, education and community engagement coordinator, Cincinnati Arts Association, panelists Asha White, Latausha Cox, Brandon Hawkins, Adoria Maxberry, Cedric Michael Cox and Vinay Duncan. They talked about their experience in creating the Black Lives […]
Allora & Calzadilla’s “Specters of Noon” at The Menil Collection, Houston
Like the skies’ lightning, a flash of energy has come … to infuse its magic into history’s wavering course. …Then the gates of the possible swung wide. – Georges Bataille Two lightning strikes bracket Allora & Calzadilla’s exhibition at The Menil Collection in Houston. The first is a pine tree which the artists have presented […]
“War Zone” at Gallery Askew, 2868 Colerain Ave. Hours: 12:00-4:00pm Friday and Saturday. October 10 – November 21, 2020
On a dry breezy November Saturday morning I was greeted at the door of Gallery Askew by Stewart Goldman, creator of “War Zone.” The exhibit had opened October 10th during Camp Washington open studios and gallery day. Attendance had been minimal as it has been for most gallery exhibits during the pandemic. Indeed, I was […]