The May issue of Aeqai has just posted, and it again reflects wide swaths of the visual arts communities here and in other areas/regions/cities. Our coverage this month begins with a thoughtful and sensitive review of a photography show at Iris Book Cafe, curated by William Messer, known widely for his superb aesthetic eye, and reviewed by Zack Hatfield. Sue Ann Painter, our architecture and historical preservtion/conservation expert, gives us a look at the newly renovated Rauh House, a gem of early modenist architecture in Cincinnati, originally commissioned by Harriet and Fritz Rauh, and lovely restored by their daughter , Emily Rauh Pulitzer. Painter’s piece interweaves an intereview with architect Paul Muller, President of Cincinnati Preservation, as well. Fran Watson has returned (and we certainly welcome her back to Aeqai) with a superb analysis of work of three formalist abstractionists at the C-Link Gallery at Brazee Studios in Oakley, curated by the multi-talented area curator Mary Heider (we’ll be posting a profile of Ms. Heider in an upcoming issue).
Kevin Ott’s Letter from New York so well reflects that energy buzz we all get when zooming around New York looking at art (and hearing music, eating good food , etc.) that we post it up front this month. The ‘top five’ is completed by a brilliantly astute review of the American Impressionist painting show at the Dayton Art Institute by Jonathan Kamholtz, who’s reviewed several l9th century landscape shows at Cincinnati’s Taft Museum of Art, and this exhibition in Dayton can be seen as part of a spectrum of Kamholtz’s reviews of landscape painting in America over a hundred year period. Karen Chambers looks at Kevin Kelly’s new landscape paintings at Cincinnati Art Galleries downtown (they’ve completed their renovations and are back on the first floor downtown). This show is Kelly’s second landscape show, and his new direction in painting parallels his new interest in Zen Buddhism and long hikes in the mountains of the American West, as he moves away from his Neo-Pop work. The Aisle Gallery on Findlay Street is back, with work by Kim Flora and Bill Rentschler, among others, and the show is thoughtfully reviewed for us by Emil Robinson.
Sue Ann Painter also reviews paintings by Peter Waite at Solway Gallery, all interpretations of Cincinnati scenes. Jane Durrell, who worked at the Cincinnati Art Museum in the 70s and 80s, was part of a reunion organized by Terrie Benjamin of the museum, of women who worked in the ‘back offices’ at the museum in those years.
Durrell’s essay shows the difference between the museum then and now, in many ways, but the reunion was a joyous one, so we asked Durrell to write it up for Aeqai. Laura Hobson’s profile this month is of painter Velma Morris, a mostly self-taught artist, and one of the first African-American women artists to show regularly in this region.
Anise Stevens is back with two reviews from Greater Los Angeles, and Susan Byrnes also reviews an out of town show (we post more of these reviews from other cities as our writers travel more and as our readers ask for more of them; Stevens has become Aeqai’s regular correpondent from L.A.). Jennifer Perusek , Aeqai’s fashion critic, returns this month with an analysis of cruisewear, particularly looking at the Dior line and the setting in France chosen for its unveiling (by terrance). Saad Ghosn returns with his monthly column, Art for a Better World, and Mike Rutledge’s look at The Springfield Art Center is the first of an occasional series, where Rutledge will be roaming around Ohio looking at and writing up thoughts on Ohio museums and visual arts centers for Aeqai.
Aeqai also offers new poems by Huck Fairman and Maxwell Redder, and I wrote three book reviews this month. Aeqai is posting a little early this month, so that our review/analysis of The Price Hill studio tour benefiting The Weston Gallery at The Aronoff will appear next month, as it just took place yesterday. And our Chicago corrsponding editor, Cynthia Kukla, will also be back next month. We hope you find the May issue stimulating, and always welcome your comments.
Daniel Brown
Editor, AEQAI