Front Page
-
The Pentalum at Lawn on D
A Marvelously Trippy Light Show
By: - Jan 10th, 2016A temporary structure set up for a few days by an English/French consortium that uses maze space and color to transform awareness and spatial sensation. This environment is just a lot of fun to experience--an aesthetically infused inflatable bouncy castle to the nth degree for the whole family. This was one of two exciting environmental art events produced at the Lawn on D (a park adjacent o the Boston & Convention Bureau in South Boston) in 2015.
-
Patrick Dougherty's Stickwork
Architectural Sculpture That Interweaves Myth and Reality
By: - Jan 10th, 2016By weaving and intertwining branches and twigs, environmental artist Patrick Dougherty crafts primitive yet metaphorical structures around the world. These structures are at once mythic and primitive touching chords on our human instrument. A wonderful installation was set adjacent to the Peabody Essex Museum for several months in 2015. Rather than just closing, the environmental statement had begun to deteriorate back into its earlier natural form.
-
Dazzling Architectural Allusions at the deCordova
Exploring Presence of Architecture in Contemporary Sculpture
By: - Jan 08th, 2016After years of a yard full of junk, the current curatorial staff at the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum has cleaned up its act and created a wonderful sculpture environment. Architectural Allusions is a stunning exhibit underscoring architectural gesture as sculpture and sculptural form as architectural statement. Now, everybody wins.
-
Jazz Singers at Library of Congress
Exhibition on View in D.C.
By: - Jan 07th, 2016An exhibition opening next month at the Library of Congress will offer perspectives on the art of vocal jazz, featuring singers and song stylists from the 1920s to the present. "Jazz Singers" will open on Thursday, Feb. 11, in the Performing Arts Reading Room Foyer on the first level of the Library’s James Madison Memorial Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, D.C.
-
Casa Abril Selections: Special Wines from Spain
Alma de Vino and Casa Abril Coupage Debut in America
By: - Jan 06th, 2016Two great wines from Spain debut in America. Wine guru and personality, April Cullom selects two wines from Spain to begin her portfolio of wines. Casa Abril Coupage is from La Mancha and Alma de Abrilhails from the Ribera del Duero region.
-
The Rain Room in LA
Bone Dry California Enjoys Unique LACMA Exhibition
By: - Jan 06th, 2016How does the special exhibition at LACMA, The Rain Room, work? Tim Rushby-Smith of the Royal Academy of Engineering said, ”The Rain Room installation includes injection moulded tiles, solenoid valves, pressure regulators, custom software, 3D tracking cameras, steel beams and 2,500 litres of water creating a downpour of a thousand litres of rain each minute.
-
Strandbeests — Theo Jansen’s Divine Machinery
Kinetic "Living" Sculptures Delight at Peabody Essex Museum
By: - Jan 06th, 2016A thought-provoking life work by Dutch artist Theo Jansen that explores the notion of movement, robotics, nature and artificial intelligence. It is gracefully done with a smile and a deft touch. Here engineering becomes art, and art becomes fantasy and even myth.
-
Mother Courage Produced in Germany
Brecht's Epic Timely as Ever
By: - Jan 05th, 2016In this powerful current production of the play at the State Theatre in Pforzheim, Germany, the artists have taken the liberty of adding lines to Brecht’s. It makes the play more of the moment. It also illustrates how Brecht, often called an epic playwright, is also a playwright for all time. The Volkswagen emissions scandal is hurled at us. Mrs. Merkel’s constant assurance that “We can manage,” is suggested at moments when it is clear not no one on stage or in the audience can. When Mother’s Courage’s daughter is raped, she says, “All you have to do to get raped is go to Cologne.” Less than a week ago, a very large group of young male immigrants attacked and raped women in Cologne, Germany.
-
Visiting Exotic Andalusia
The Moorish Heritage of Spain
By: - Jan 04th, 2016Muslims and Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492. But their heritage strongly identifies unique architecture, culture and cuisine in Andalusia. During the winter season it is the warmest region in Europe for leisure, vacations and tourism.
-
Shaz Khan Star of the Feature Film Moor
Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival
By: - Jan 04th, 2016One of the largest film festivals in North America is the annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF), now in its 27th year. This year my focus is “Award Buzz” film entries. These films have an opportunity to be considered as candidates for Oscar nominations in the category of “Best Foreign Film for 2015.
-
2015 in the Arts
Hiphopera, Tap, Berkshires and Beyond
By: - Jan 02nd, 2016In some of the most exciting and insightful productions and performances of the year there was a notable cross pollination and invention as vernacular street cultures and indigenous art forms conflated into high art. Classic works were not just revived but reinvented from the insight out. The best works of 2016 raised the bar through risk taking and challenging audiences. These rare experiences tend to make the majority of what we experience ordinary and enervating. In an era signified by ubiquitous standing ovations what is truly worthy of special recognition?
-
Where Time Meets Space
James Crump's Troublmakers: The Story of Land Art
By: - Jan 02nd, 2016“Troublemakers” documents Virginia Dwan’s unflinching belief in projects unimaginable to most – in sheer vastness of scale and sometimes limitlessness of time to realize. Her generous patronage made some of the most profound Land Art projects realities, like Heizer’s “Double Negative,” Smithson’s “Spiral Jetty” and more recently in 1996, Ross’s solar spectrum environment for the Dwan Light Sanctuary in Montezuma, New Mexico, to name but a few. Her philanthropy continues to this day with her 2013 bequest of her collection and archive to the National Gallery of Art, of which “From Los Angeles to New York: The Dwan Gallery 1959-1971” is being curated by James Meyer to open in the newly renovated East Building in 2016.
-
Phil Woods Memorial Concert at Barrington Stage
Grace Kelly With Brian Lynch, Bill Mays, Steve Gilmore and Bill Goodwin
By: - Dec 31st, 2015“Phil and Grace Kelly had a special relationship that evolved from mentor to collaborator to friend,” said Jill Goodwin, Woods’ wife and business manager of 40 years. “From the moment they stepped on stage in Pittsfield, and especially after he passed the torch by putting his cap on her head, their relationship grew. Phil was proud to be a part of ‘Man With The Hat,’ and they appeared together at major festivals around the world. Phil and Grace were in touch frequently, up to the day he died. Joining Phil’s group again will be a very special moment for all of us.”
-
Finally Public Art Booming In Boston
Boston’s Visual Art Ethos Safe and Non-experimental Beginning to Change.
By: - Dec 30th, 2015For decades, no centuries, public art in Boston was a bronze statue of mostly historical men sometimes on horses. Unlike most contemporary cities, there were few and mostly small examples of public art sprinkled throughout the city and the region. The long time Mayor Menino regime was frightened of public art. Conservative institutions and universities seemed to ignore what was happening outside the region as well. Public art was something other cities invested in, but not Boston. However, the year 2015 began to demonstrate that there was a new flowering of public art. And about time, too!
-
Pop Art Design in Chicago
Museum of Contemporary Art Through March 27
By: - Dec 29th, 2015The new Pop Art Design exhibit at Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art pairs 150 art works and design objects in an exhibit that sparkles with wit and irreverence. And it reminds you of how Andy Warhol's "Campbell soup can art" was first received with ridicule...by non-connoisseurs. That was just about the time that the elite collectors woke up and began buying Warhols.
-
Vigne Surrau's Wines Sardinian style
Old World Grapes meet New World Technology,
By: - Dec 28th, 2015Vigne Surrau is a relatively new producer that focuses on Sardinia's age old grapes to craft wine that is memorable of centuries before. Using state of the art technology, this small vineyard is gaining worldwide popularity.
-
Abstract Artist Ellsworth Kelly at 92
Graduate of Boston's Museum School
By: - Dec 28th, 2015In 2013 we interviewed abstract artist Ellsworth Kelly during an exhibition of his relief series in wood at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. A graduate of the Museum School he maintained close times with the city and its museum. He passed away yesterday at his home in Spencertown, New York.
-
The Golden Bride by National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene
Museum of Jewish Heritage Hosts Opera
By: - Dec 27th, 2015Inspired immigrants, excited by their new land and still carrying a touch of the old with them, created works for the Second Avenue Theatre early in the 20th century. The joy of the forms they created lives on today, in the original works and the work they inspired in the Broadway musical theatre.
-
Paul Goldberger on Frank Gehry
Book by Former NY Times Critic
By: - Dec 26th, 2015This is Paul Goldberger's eighth book, but his first on an individual architect. I had a chance to review his book and interview him recently. Goldberger spent 4.5 years and many hours in conversation with Gehry and his clients and colleagues in writing the book, published last month by Alfred A. Knopf.
-
Lobster Thermidor for British Christmas
Made Me Green with Envy
By: - Dec 26th, 2015Britain's Jane Baker was among the artists living near South Station back in the day. She was an incredible fashion designer. Jane created a complete set of outfits to go on a cruise with the legendary Oona Tropicana who was rumored to be mobbed up. During a recent holiday chin wag she revealed that she served lobster thermidor to her extended family for Christmas. That made me bonkers with envy.
-
Black Ensemble Theater's Dynamite Divas
Soul Music in the Windy City
By: - Dec 26th, 2015Dynamite Divas features appearances (via Mr. Maurice's "Assimilator") by soul singers of the past such as Nina Simone (performing "Mississippi Goddam" and "Young, Gifted and Black"), Dinah Washington ("This Bitter Earth"), and film excerpts of sensational older divas. There's even a cameo by a Beyonce impersonator, asking "Why Not Me?"
-
Xavier Jones, a 4 Star Chef
Paddy's Bistro In Dalton, Mass
By: - Dec 25th, 2015Paddy's Bistro (645 Main Street) in Dalton, Massachusetts, adjacent to Pittsfield, doesn't even have a website. To get news and weekend specials, the only way to find them is to visit their Facebook page or call them at 413-684-1111.The lack of marketing is a real ploy for the consumer that looks for fine dining.
-
Athena LaTocha: Curated by Jaune Quick-to-See Smith
Exhibition at CUE Art Foundation in Chelsea
By: - Dec 25th, 2015CUE Art Foundation presents a solo exhibition of new work by Athena LaTocha, which has been curated by Jaune Quick-to-See Smith. The show features a large-scale immersive installation of an ink-wash drawing by LaTocha that spans the entire length of the gallery. While the work depicts a landscape, its more abstract elements leave the viewer to decipher what they see.
-
Bridges of Madison County
LA's The Ahmanson Theatre
By: - Dec 25th, 2015The musical Bridges of Madison Country premiered at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. It moved to Broadway for a successful run. Now it is being produced by regional companies. Jack Lyons reviews a production at The Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles.
-
A Christmas Journey Near Carnegie Hall
Holidays at the Rosens
By: - Dec 24th, 2015Joe Rosen celebrated the season with a holiday concert that took us around the world of music, in time, and place and style. Aram Katchaturian’s Trio was a highlight of the concert. The virtuosity of each instrumentalists was on display. The moods of the movements drastically changed, marking gypsy tones and mournful joy.
<< Previous Next >>