Deliberate Bridges: 21st Century Art on Display at Carl Solway Gallery
Though the idea of automatons had been present in mythology for centuries, the term “robot” wasn’t introduced to the public until R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots), written by Karel Čapek, debuted at Prague’s National Theater in 1921. His play popularized the term, but Karel credits his brother Josef, a noted Czech painter, with its invention. The […]
Capital Campaigns to Fund Two Theaters in Metroplex
Capital Campaigns to fund two theaters in metroplex Shakespeare new performance space named Otto M. Budig Theatre In the September 2015 issue of Aeqai, I discussed Cincinnati’s cultural building boom, as evidenced by the renovations and expansions at Christ Church, Cincinnati Union Terminal, and Music Hall. Now we are seeing additional major building projects for […]
Review of Celant Lecture at Opening of FotoFocus
On Friday evening, October 23, FotoFocus invited about one hundred people to dinner and to a kick off lecture by Italian curator/critic/thinker/museum professional Germano Celant, widely regarded as one of the first and finest independent curators in the world. The event was the precursor for the one day Symposium organized by New York FotoFocus Curator […]
NSFW: Notes on Mapplethorpe in the 21st Century
A photograph of a black man’s flaccid, uncircumcised penis exposed through a three-piece suit may best represent the themes of sexuality, race, class and style that pervades his work. The photograph, titled “Man in Polyester Suit,” possesses a startling clarity and crispness that makes it seem somehow commercial, a glossy advertisement for the turbulent restraint […]
Perfect Mess: “After the Moment: Reflections on Robert Mapplethorpe” at the Contemporary Arts Center
Robert Mapplethorpe was an aesthete’s aesthete, trying with each photograph he took to capture a kind of formal blissfulness that shreds philosophy, politics, conjecture, and any other form of bull-shit standing in the way of that “perfect moment” when what you see is exactly and horrifyingly and gleefully what you get, devoid of values, faith, […]
High Style
While in the past AEQAI’s fashion focus has been on the international runways of fashion’s luxury giants, this month we are staying decidedly close to home at the Cincinnati Art Museum, up the hill on Eden Park Drive. The Cincinnati Art Museum’s many departments strive to invigorate Cincinnati with works and exhibitions that are both […]
Havana at Malton Gallery
Susan Schuler’s paintings in the exhibition Havana at Malton Gallery in Hyde Park/Oakley speak for themselves, which is fortunate as the background information I asked for consisted of a statement by the artist relating to an earlier show, and when I requested a press release on this exhibition I was told they no longer do […]
The Collection of Dr. Jack and Shirley Chewning
10/30 thru 11/2 2015, Mary Ran Gallery, 3668 Erie Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio 45208 Collectors are a rare and wonderful breed. Through them art gains a purpose, functioning as a separate world wherein personal affairs of the heart are gathered together, for no other reason than that the gatherers cannot resist them. Often we hear of […]
“Surface” Phyllis Weston Gallery, O’Bryonville
On the basis of some of the works, “Surface” may be described as a portrait show with an agenda beyond the business of likeness. Colleen Kelsey exhibits 2 works showcased in the front room. “Artist”,a graphite/charcoal drawing on a pinky cream sheet, depicts the rendering of likeness of one Heather Lea Reid. Utilizing scribble shading […]
Michael Wilson
Editor’s Note: Area photographer Kent Krugh, who has become Aeqai’s photography editor, and will be selecting photographers’ work from the region, nationally, and internationally and offering our readers photo essays of the work he selects for us. Michael Wilson is a freelance photographer born and raised in Cincinnati. While known for his portraits of musicians, Wilson also produces […]