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Iain Machell’s Curating by the Book, James Cowlin’s Desert Reveries, and Eleanor Heartney on May 19th
 
On this gloomy Monday (at least here in Taos), I found myself remembering how we were a year ago—about six weeks officially into the pandemic—and turned to the newsletter archive on the site to see what I included in the May 5th bulletin in 2020. I wrote about L.A. critic Christopher Knight’s ruminations on an art historian’s groundbreaking study of the way the Black Death changed the course of European history. I mentioned Kim Levin’s chapter on art in the age of AIDS from her book Elsewhere: The Tainted Garden and Other Essays on Art, Life, and the Anthropocene. I wondered how Vasari21 artists were responding to Covid-19, and I directed readers to a photo essay on the site of photographer Zoe Zimmerman’s “Self-Quarantine Still Lifes.”

Phew!

Amazing how much can change in a year. We have new cause for hope in the White House, and as of April 30, 100 million Americans had been vaccinated against the virus, almost a third of the population. Summer is looking brighter, we can make travel plans again, and there is good reason to suspect that civilization will limp along at least for another generation or so. 

To commemorate the turning tide, we have a couple of exuberant visual celebrations on the site this week. I love it when a V21 member takes over and offers up a “fantasy curation” of works he or she would like to see assembled in a dialogue of like-minded aesthetics. Iain Machell pulled together a show called “Beyond the Book,” spotlighting artists inspired by the many physical properties of bound (and unbound) volumes. He included both well-known artists like Barbara Kruger and Gary Hill, along with ambitious talents new to me, such as Hunter Reynolds, Doug Beube, and Hamilton Finlay. You can check them out Machell’s provocative collation here.


Doug Beube, Removed Definitions, 2019, altered dictionary
 
I have now lived in the Southwest for almost ten years, and I still find the landscape around me an often disquieting sight after a lifetime spent mostly on the East Coast. I appreciate the high drama of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and the Rio Grande Gorge (though I can’t walk the bridge across the chasm because of severe acrophobia), and I understand why photographers and painters are drawn to this part of the earth. James Cowlin’s portfolio of Saguaro National Forest delighted me with its eccentric population of prickly cacti, exuberant flowers, and mysterious spiral petroglyphs. You can check them out in this week’s Photography Portfolio.



James Cowlin, Beginning

And now here’s the latest from members….

Lisa Blas is part of a show called “Fit to Print” at the Print Center in Philadelphia, PA, an online endeavor that examines “the use of newspapers in art from the post-war era to the present day,” says the press release. “It addresses how artists work with the medium of newsprint as a nexus where the studio, everyday life and current events perennially merge and collide. This exploration is particularly timely in an age when truth in news is fractured and suspect, due to the proliferation of sensationalist stories pitted against traditional sources of journalism.” Other artists include Chryssa, Paul Thek, and V21 member Donna Ruff. There will be a Zoom curatorial tour with Lisa and Dr. Ksenia Nouril on May 5 and a panel discussion on June 16. Click here for full details.


Lisa Blas, First(s), Monday’s image, v. 2, 2021, dye sublimation unique print on silk, 40 by 30 inches. Photo: Brad Farwell

The redoubtable Joan Snyder just opened a show at the Parrish Art Museum in Southampton, NY, called “Affinities for Abstraction: Women Artists on Eastern Long Island, 1950-2020” (through July 25). She will also be part of “Art of the Garden: Double Bloom” at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum (May 28-July 18). And in September 2021, she will have a solo show at Galerie Haas Zurich (more details on that later in the summer). “Snyder’s work, which spans over fifty years, brings non-traditional materials to the canvas, such as burlap, cheesecloth, dried flowers, poppy pods, papier-mâché, glitter, mud, and twigs,” notes the PAAM website.  “Her process is in full view, spontaneous but methodically worked with marks and strokes....Her work is personal and autobiographical, expressing a unique vocabulary that creates its own language.”



Joan Snyder, Weeping Cherry Tree & Thee (2020), mixed media on linen, 90 by 96 inches

Long-time V21 member Daisy Patton is the subject of a book from Minerva Projects called Broken Time Machines: Daisy Patton. “It is Daisy’s work that provides impetus for this written conversation: her art and her activism draw authors forward, compelling them to write with freedom and intention about memory, erasure, decay, disappearance, pattern and ornament, maximalism and minimalism, and women, whose stories, against all odds, prevail,” says the announcement for the book. You can find out more and order a copy here.
Through May 22, Patton is also having her first solo exhibition, called “To Help You Remember Me,” with J. Rinehart Gallery in Seattle, WA. The title “The title of the exhibition comes from an inscription written on the back of one of Patton’s found photographs. Once the images are enlarged to life-scale, each portrait takes on a new life. Portraits of women embellished with flowers, vines and bold color make up the entirety of the exhibition. Viewers are invited to sit in communion with the women depicted, navigating the likeness of painting and the fleeting exactitude of photography.”


Daisy Patton with Untitled (Family Portrait on the Rocks)

Ellen Pliskin’s photograph is featured in the spring 2021 issue of Flora Fiction: A Literary Magazine, to accompany a poem by Mary Anna Zammit, “When You Come Back.” Writes Pliskin: "This photo was taken by me on a recent trip to Japan. I was in the mountains and had been disappointed that I had missed the cherry blossoms in the valley.  Suddenly, I turned and saw these late blooms in the mist.” The issue’s theme, significantly, is “Revival.”



Irene Nelson is part of a two-person show (with Sheila Ghidini) called “Shapes and Spaces” at Gear Box Gallery In Oakland, CA (through June 5). “The easiest access into the work for the viewer might be the basic visual elements that initially confront them; line, shape, form, color, value and space,” notes the announcement for the show. “Layered within these are the ideas of the work. Irene Nelson uses strong interrelated shapes to convey her notions about being in the world, about facing fear, about being still in the act of self-discovery. The negative spaces take on the responsibility of holding the parts together, while the vibrant colors hold the viewer's eye to the work.”


Irene Nelson, Unturned Stones (2021), acrylic on wood panel, 48 by 48 inches
 
Lily Prince is one of 46 artists who will be featured in “Sunrise/Sunset,” an exhibition in the Concourse A Gallery of the Albany International Airport in Albany, NY from May 15 through August 30. “Sunrises and sunsets have long been rendered and allegorized to signify beginnings and endings,” says Kathy Greenwood, director of the airport’s art and culture program. “Yet, at a glance, how are we to tell whether we’re welcoming a new day or the approach of the night? Much the same can be said about our recent experience of time passage when for many it could be hard to distinguish one day from the next or discern what the future might hold.” For this show, Greenwood chose work in a wide range of media, including video and still photography, as well as sculpture, installation, painting, fiber, and collage by artists who are emerging along with those who occupy an international stage.


Lily Prince, American Beauty 13 (Bryce Canyon), 2020, acrylic on canvas, 20 by 20 inches

“My painting All that Jazz (Warm) is part of an innovative program, ‘Notes on 57th/ARKAI,’ a storefront performance series that brings live music back to the streets of New York,” writes Regina Silvers, “The painting shares window space with two talented young musicians, cellist Jonathan Miron and violinist Philip Sheegog. They perform live a few times each week, piping the sound out to the street.” This looks like a very cool and innovative series, featuring graduates of the Juilliard School. For dates, programs, and venues, click here.


Regina Silvers, All that Jazz (Warm), 2012, oil on canvas, 36 by 48 inches

I’m a little late with posting this, but you have one more day—till May 4—to check out Saya Behnam’s show ”The Illusion of Time” at the Mansion Galleries at the Strathmore Art Center in Rockville, MD, “This is the first time I am exhibiting my wall sculptures after creating them three years ago (I didn’t find a large-enough space to show),” Behnam writes. Strathmore also has the room to show the artist’s other series realized with tea, saffron, and other natural materials. A five minute video tour, with lots of fun close-ups, is here.



Saya Benham, What Time It Is, clay, ashes, tree trunks, pieces and parts of clocks, feather, sand, mulberry paper with written poems on them, 7 by 7 feet

The challenges mothers have been facing in the year of Covid-19 have been the subject of many reports in the media, so it’s perhaps not surprising that an exhibition devoted to mothering is opening in upstate New York . Called “(s)mother 2.0 care in (a time of) crisis,” the show is curated by Anna Adler and runs from May 8 to May 29 at the Bethany Arts Community in Ossining, NY. The announcement describes it as “a cont’d exploration of an expanded definition of a demystification of mother/ing/hood,” and Vasari21 member Jackie Skzrynski is one of many artists taking part. There will be a Zoom talk and a curated nature walk later in the month. Click here for details.


Jackie Skzrynski, Warm Milk (2005), 12 by 9 inches

As a reprieve from the gloom of the pandemic, Sunny Chapman is pleased to announce the opening of the Birdhouse Gallery, a miniature showplace of tiny contemporary art. “Located at street level at 499 East Front Street in Hancock, NY, the gallery is about the size of a large birdhouse,” she writes, adding that “the inaugural show. ‘A Certain Blue,’ will feature a group of notable contemporary artists from New York City and beyond, and all the miniature artworks will feature the color blue.” The opening party will be outdoors on Saturday, May 15 from 2 to 6 pm, and the show will be viewable during daylight hours from May 15 until June 15. Below, the gallery and a work from the inaugural show.







Laurie Fendrich has six paintings in the exhibition “11 Women of Spirit, Part 3,” curated by Gwenolee Zürcher at Galerie Zürcher on Bleecker Street in New York. The show opens today and runs concurrent with Frieze, closing on May 9. “Femmes d’esprit was an 18th-century French term that referred to independent-minded female painters, writers, and intellectuals routinely under-recognized by their male contemporaries and the public,” notes the press release. “In keeping with the spirit of artistic salons, ‘11 Women of Spirit’ involves the presence of the 11 participating artists. Salon Zürcher offers collectors an intimate alternative to the large-scale, superstore style art fairs. Here, visitors have the rare chance to speak directly with the artists.” Zürcher Gallery is located in the East Village, within walking distance of the New Museum, the Lower East Side, and TriBeCa gallery districts. For more information on hours, click here.


Laurie Fendrich, Dolores Heights (2021), acrylic and gouache on clayboard, 20 by 16 inches

“We Know What We Like” is the name of a conversation featuring curator and critic Karen Wilkin, and artists and critics Christina Kee and David Humphreys, which will take place via Zoom on May 18 at 7 p.m. EST, with an “afterparty” at 8.30. The trio will be “discussing some of the most exciting artwork being made today by Triangle alumni,” says the announcement (artists include Larry Poons, Frances Barth, and Ingrid Calame). The event is free, but a donation will help support Triangle, a visual arts residency in New York founded in 1982 and dedicated to providing  life-changing work environments for committed artists through free studio space, shared community, and introductions to curators and other experts. More details on the event are here.


Larry Poons’s print Paw Up is one of the works under discussion on May 18.
 

I’ve officially scheduled critic Eleanor Heartney for an hour-long Zoom conversation on May 19 at 5 p.m. EST, so please let me know if you’d like me to add you to the list.
 
Coming up soon: Another drawings round-up! Get a jump on your summer reading with some notable memoirs. And Vasari21 member Sandra Filippucci takes on the NFT challenge and tells it like it is.

And, of course, a very happy Mother's Day to moms, and to my child-free friends, Sylvia and I send thanks for keeping the world a quieter place.
 
See you again soon,



Top: From Iain Machell’s “fantasy curation” this week, Lesley Dill, Faith and the Devil, 2011, acrylic paint, oil pastel, silver leaf, gold leaf, mixed media on cotton panel oil pastel, sil

 

 
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