Greater LA Fails to Convince in NY
The “Greater LA” survey of Los Angeles artists showing in SoHo has its highlights and humor, but fails to achieve coherence.
Reviews
Reviews of current gallery shows and museum exhibitions by ArtCulture staff and guest contributors
Mud and Magic: Richard Long at Sperone Westwater
Richard Long: Flow and Ebb at Sperone Westwater in New York is a beguiling exhibit of sculptures, photographs, painting and text works. Reviewer Hank Leschrogge visits.
Rejoicing in Aluminum: the Donald Judd Boxes at David Zwirner Gallery
Reviewer Hank Leschrogge finds radiance and reason in the anodized aluminum boxes of Donald Judd, now on display in New York at David Zwirmer gallery.
Art Sanctums: a Visit to the Walter De Maria SOHO Installations
A visit to “The Broken Kilometer” and “The New York Earth Room”, two permanent installations in SOHO by Walter De Maria, managed by the Dia Art Foundation.
Olmec Art of Ancient Mexico at LACMA Resnick Pavilion
Olmec sculpture, European high fashion, and Renzo Piano architecture are all on display as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art opens its new Resnick Pavilion.
Human/Nature at the Berkeley Art Museum
The Human/Nature exhibition at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA) is beautiful, both in concept and content. Among other qualities, the show achieves an aura of maturity and real world-relevance that stands in quiet contrast to some of the contemporary art world’s less noble celebrations of cultural currency and market value. It [...]
Scott Goodwillie’s Reluctant Gods
What is it about certain mythologies that lend themselves so well to visual interpretation? The museums are full of paintings that retell, and perhaps shed new light, on stories that we all know well. New York-based artist Scott Goodwillie creates images both mythical and personal in Reluctant Gods, on exhibit through March 28 in Seattle’s [...]
Artist Update: Etsuko Ichikawa at BAM
Seattle-based artist Etsuko Ichikawa seems to be showing everywhere at once these days. Last year ended for her with two shows at the Art Basel Miami Beach fair and the opening of her solo exhibit Traces of the Molten State at the Bellevue Arts Museum. This winter has also included exhibitions in Washington D.C., Chicago, [...]
Post-Communism and Visual Culture
What happens to a country’s visual culture when it moves from Soviet communism to post-Soviet liberalization? A pathbreaking exhibition in the former Soviet Central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan, Epoxa (‘Epoch’) grapples with this question. It presents the republic’s initial independence years, 1991-2005, under the rule of the country’s first post-independence president, Askar Akaev. The Akaev [...]
An Odd But Elegant Process
After brewing a cup of tea, we hardly even consider the possibilities of a used tea bag before we toss it in the trash. In general, little thought is given to what we discard and any alternate uses it may posses. Although a majority of us don’t ponder prior to tossing, one exemplary artist, Tilla [...]
