The September issue of Aeqai has just posted. We’re in that twilight time when summer drags on and autumn’s holding out, as the art season will be revving up in full swing shortly.
In the meantime, we’ve got stimulating columns for you, starting with Ekin Erkan’s incredibly important review of video work by Turkish artist Uktay Ince (Erkan is Turkish, himself). Ekin Erkan’s second column this month discusses the role of posthumanism, as he sees it in the work of video artist Caitlin Berrigan at Art in General in Brooklyn.
We’re running this column first because of its immense importance; Ince has participated in real violence in real recent Turkish protests, and his video work documents that (Erkan explains various types of “truths” and “realities” in his column, and cautions us Americans about the differences between genuine participation when one’s life may be at stake and what I presume he takes to be a certain poseur attitude of “political art” here. His column is a must-read, and, for those current on critical theory in the arts, you won’t do better than to read Erkan.
Chris Carter reviews a rather whimsical show at Caza Sikes in Cincinnati, work by area and national artists who may be considered folk artists, in this extremely charming show. Karen Chambers reviews the installation by Cincinnati artist Alice Pixley Young at The Taft Museum (every year, The Taft selects one area artist to have a show in the tiny Sinton Gallery upstairs, and Pixley Young’s is an installation. Her work also appears in Josh Beckelhimer’s review of “Enhance”, the opening show at The Weston Gallery in downtown Cincinnati, a nod at lens-based and other artists working with light, which deliberately coincides with the biennial “BLINK” three-day celebration/festival of light upcoming in October in Cincinnati and Covington. Other artists whose work appears in that show are Tom Bacher, Connie Sullivan, and C.Jacqueline Wood, amongst others.
Jonathan Kamholtz reviews the 40th anniversary of Tiger Lily Press print show at Kennedy Heights Arts Center, featuring the work of many of Cincinnati’s finest printmakers, and Amy Bogard review the print show downtown at l628 Gallery (there are overlaps of artists in these two shows). Will Newman looks at paintings and sculptures by multi-talented Cincinnati artist Robert Fronk at Thundersky Gallery in Northside. Kent Krugh’s FotoFolio photographer this month is Cuban photographer Raul Canibano.
We asked Ena Nearon, who’s curating splendid show, often about race, at The Women’s Y Gallery in downtown Cincinnati to write a guest essay on the topic of intersectionality (wherein race, gender, class and power relationships intersect in artists’ work, an extremely important cultural construct. And Cynthia Osborne Hoskin, at our request, wrote a tribute to her dear friend Alice Weston, whose recent death has deeply saddened the arts community here (among other things, The Weston Gallery downtown is named for her and her late husband , Harris; the Westons were important philanthropists here, and Alice Weston herself was a very gifted photographer.
The Westons’ collection of modern and contemporary art, one of the best in this region, has been bequeathed to The Cincinnati Art Museum, and Alice was also a huge patron of The Contemporary Arts Center here).
Laura Hobson gives us a terrific feature on The Carnegie Library and Arts Center in New Albany, Indiana (Andrew Carnegie gave the money for thousands of such libraries to be built across America). I offer three book reviews this month, of new fiction by Colson Whitehead, Tea Obreht, and Taffy Brodesser-Akner; two of these novels (not the Obreht) have been nominated for The National Book Award (though why Obreht’s wasn’t is beyond me).
We hope that you find this issue stimulating, as always, and we welcome your comments. Also, Aeqai, now in its 13th year of operation, will be holding its annual benefit party/art auction on November l4 at Pendleton Street Photography in the Pendleton Annex in OTR and we hope many of you will come and that those who can’t will consider making a tax-deductible donation (send checks to Aeqai, Inc., c/o Daniel Brown, 810 Matson Place, Unit 1505, Cincinnati, Ohio 45204; admission is $50,but donations in any amount are most welcome). This is our only fundraiser of the year.
To go directly to the site, click onto www.aeqai.org and you’ll go right to the new issue.
Daniel Brown,
Editor, https://www.aeqai.org