Letter from the Editor
The summer issue of aeqai combines the months of July and August. and is now available to our readers. We assure you that many of the shows recently opened are some of the best of the year: once upon a time, in the fifties, for example, most visual arts programming was virtually dead in the summer, as it was presumed that the rich, the sole audience for the arts, were away for the summer. If some still are, we owe much to our arts organizations community outreach programs, and to the new interest in diversity, as so many people are available in the summer months to see such exceptional shows.
Before I begin to list all the superb articles, let me mention that Chris Hoeting’s review of a group works on paper exhibiton at Phyllis Weston Gallery will be posted on our site on Monday; we regret the delay, but he had a death in his family. And we hope that Marta Hewett’s review of the enamelist show at The Carnegie will also come soon; Hewett was in a car accident (she is fine, now) and was literally unable to write for awhile.
That said, we urge you to read Karen Chambers’ review of a group show at The Lloyd Library downtown. This eccentric place is full of information on things botanical, and they have been having splendid art shows in the past couple of years. This show has been ten years in the making; it is curated by area artist Kate Kern, and deals with the horrors of The Civil War (remember, we are right on the edge of the North here, and our Kentucky friends were in The South). The curatorial concept is excellent, the artists selected are nearly perfect, and the show and the review are both superb works of art themselves. We may say the same about Jonathon Kamholtz’s review of “Seeing Opera”, guest curated by area artist Stewart Goldman, at The Weston Gallery at The Aronoff. Goldman is a multi-talented man, a retired teacher at The Art Academy, a group of his paintings was displayed a few years ago at the art museum, where Goldman has just been elected to the Board of Trustees. We have also reprinted a review of Galileo Galilei from an area blog, by Rafael De Acha, so that those of you who are less familiar with opera can get a feel for how visual an operatic performance is.
Fran Watson, who lately has been teaching abstract painting (she is a woman of many talents), reviews two shows of abstract paintings by area artists: Jackie Frey and Barb Ahlbrand at the YWCA downtown, and Kim Krause, Frank Herrmann and Standby at Marta Hewett Gallery; the former show exhibits paintings in large scale , the latter studies for future paintings. Watson shows us how paintings are made and then analyzes them.
Keith Banner reviews a show of images of athletes at The Dayton Art Institute with his usual sophistication and aplomb. Shawn Daniell takes a look at the work of three artists on display at The Fitton Center in Hamilton (if you haven’t been there, like The Lloyd Library, it’s a must-see place). Maxwell Redder gives us his interpretations of poems by two area artists who are reinterpreting poems by William Blake; Redder’s new poems appear near the end of this issue. Jane Durrell examines the exuberant show of “Faces” at AEC in Covington.
Kevin Ott tells us what’s up at the 2lc hotel downtown, their plans current and future and of their hopes for collaborative efforts with other area institutions, while Laura Hobson’s monthly profile is of independent curator and occasional private dealer Kip Eagen, one of Cincinnati’s most favored of sons. And we are proud to introduce graphic designer Danelle Cheney, who will be writing about the graphic design for aeqai; she begins with an overview of what it is, and how it applies in the visual arts. Dustin Pike , a designer himself, gives us his thoughts on the origins of artwork in graphics like The Seed of Life, another brilliant meditation into the origins of what we now call art.
We are also pleased to have new writers from both Lexington and Louisville, as aeqai expands its coverage into both cities: Chase Martin was in Chicago recently, and reviews a show at the long-running Rhona Hoffman Gallery; Chelsea Gifford takes a look at the 7 Borders show in Louisville, and Julie Gross gives a most astute look at a show at LOL in Louisville, focusing on the photographs of award-winning Louisville photographer Bob Hower.
We offer series of photographs by Louis Zoellar Bickett of Aaron Skolnick’s opening at the RARE Gallery in New York, photographs both before and after the opening, and also some photos of Cincinnati artist Cedric Cox’s recent opening in Brooklyn. Since aeqai isn’t reviewing shows in New York yet, we thought seeing photographs of these openings/shows might appeal to you.
UC Professor Jim Cummins offers us two new of his brilliant poems; Hick and Willie are on vacation, having earned grants to do so….we also add a new poem by Louis Zoellar Bickett, his first poetic offering to the world. And Saad Ghosn , the curator of the “Faces” show at AEC (a man for all seasons, Saad), offers his monthly column “Art for a Better World”.
I review the new novel, Transatlantic, by Colum McCann, a contemporary masterpiece.
We have asked IU professor of art Tim Kennedy to write an essay on the career of Marcel Duchamp, which we post this month. The article is the first in a series of essays we are asking arts leaders here to write on the topic “what is contemporary art”. Twenty-two arts leaders, curators, directors of area institutions, and academics of note, along with specifically targeted area artists, have been inivited to address that topic, which will dominate our September issue: we think we are raising an important question, and look forward to the myriad answers that come to us. We intend to spark an open dialogue on this topic regionally and nationally. Look for those essays in September.
We hope you are having and continue to have a good summer. Thanks, as always, for your support, send us your comments when you want to, and we’ll be back around Sept. 20.
Daniel Brown
Editor , AEQAI