The visual arts in Greater Cincinnati have been dominated this fall by the third biennial celebration of photography/lens based art, so that a large number of our reviews in this October/November aeqai are of photography shows, of which there have been a plethora, generating much discussion about the medium itself and giving area viewers the opportunity to see some of the best photography made anywhere during the month of October, with some spillover into September and November. Aeqai has reviews of the following shows, by the following writers: Christopher Carter, who’s new to aeqai this month, looks at both “Zanele Muholi: Personae” exhibition at The Underground Railroad Freedom Center (this curted by FotoFocus New York Curator Kevin Moore), and at the “PhotoSpeak” show at Art Beyond Boundaries in Over-the-Rhine, curated by Director/photographer Jymi Bolden, which features some of the best regional photographers. Cynthia Kukla, recently returned to Greater Cincinnati after retiring from full-time teaching in Illinois, offers two reviews, one of the Taft Museum of Art’s Western landscape photographs, and a show at The Mercantile Library downtown, a collaboration between The Library and The Cincinnati Art Museum; this show also looks at Western landscapes. Jonathan Kamholtz takes a long and thoughtful look at the Lexington Camera Club exhibition at The Cincinnati Art Museum, which, alas, is the last offering from Museum Photography Curator Brian Sholis, who’s departed for Toronto. Hannah Leow looks at regional photo superstar Connie Sullivan’s new work at AngelaJones Gallery in Camp Washington, too.
Other photo shows reviewed in this issue include two shows at The Art Academy of Cincinnati, reviewed by photography expert (and Iris Book Cafe curator) William Messer, and Karen Chambers’ review of the Duane Michals’ exhibit at Carl Solway Gallery. Jane Durrell offers a review-cum-interview piece revolving around the show at Behringer-Crawford Museum in Covington, Kentucky, which features work by five Greater Cincinnati photographers, who all taught in area universities from the early ’70s to the near present, so they’ve (Cal Kowal, Barry Andersen, Jane Alden Stevens, amongst others) have seen the medium change and grow over several decades. And Kent Krugh has selected what he considers to be some of the best images from all of FotoFocus in his fotofolio visual essay this month. Aeqai’s review of the Roe Ethridge show at The Contemporary Arts Center Ala will appear in our December issue. Alas, we had several illnesses amongst our writers this month, so that four photo reviews didn’t come in this month. (Our review of the Art Museum’s Van Gogh show will also appear in December).
Fran Watson, one of Cincinnati’s best long-term art critics (and painter, and printmaker, and haiku poet…..) died a few weeks ago, and I offer a memorial tribute to Fran, with whom I’ve had the great joy of working for nearly forty years, and Jane Durrell also offers her thoughts about Fran for our readers.
Aeqai also welcomes new critic Annie Dell’Aria, who’s teaching Media Studies at Miami University, and she reviews three recent films shown at the Micro Cinema in OTR, all about the alleged failures of modern architecture in cities like St. Louis, particularly in high rise housing. Kim Rae Taylor continues her occasional series for Aeqai with an interview/profile of artist Nabil El Jaouhari, a Lebanese artist who’s been in residence at UC/Clermont and recently showed his work there. The series focuses primarily on figurative artists. Laura Hobson offers a fine feature on 6 new galleries which have opened in Greater Cincinnati in the past year or so, too.
LA critic Anise Stevens reviews new work by Elisabeth McGrath at Corey Helford Gallery in LA; Joelle Jameson reviews two shows at The Blaffer Gallery at The University of Houston, with her usual flair and wit. Jack Wood offers three reviews, of work by artists Camille Iemmolo at The Lonely Stage in Chicago, work by Michael Scoggins at Texas A & M, which resonates quite nicely with those suffering from post-election blues; and also work by Michael Krueger in St. Louis.
Maxwell Redder’s back with three new poems, and I offer two book reviews. Next month, I’ll write my list of the best fiction of 2016, as well (new books by Ward Just, Francine Prose, T.C. Boyle, Zadie Smith, Michael Chabon, and Jonathan Lethem have all just hit the bookstores, too, so I’ve a lot of reading to do in the next month or so).
We always enjoy your comments (in the last issue, a lively conversation between Aeqai’s Emil Robinson and the CAC’s Steven Matijicio appears under Robinson’s review of The Glenn Brown painting show at CAC), as always, hope for end of year donations from you to continue to support Aeqai, and we’ll be back in December with more reviews and profiles. We hope that you have a pleasant, stressless Thanksgiving, too. Click onto www.aeqai.org to go right to the site.
–Daniel Brown