Visual Arts
By Adrienne LaFrance View Gallery BOSTON, Mass.— We’ve seen it before: Hundreds of multi-colored cows descending on cities and towns across the globe. Since 1999, herds have made their way through Chicago, New York, London, Paris, Athens and towns– some of which have plenty of cows already– across Middle America. This summer, a new collection…
Read MoreBy Adrienne LaFrance BOSTON, Mass.— Feeling too productive? Not procrastinating enough? Austrian artist Erwin Wurm has the answer. Why not stay in your pajamas all day? You could also fantasize about nihilism, be indifferent about everything, or even take a nap on the office toilet. These are just some of the activities depicted in Wurm’s…
Read MoreBy Adrienne LaFrance EVERLY, Mass.— Those with messy desks and piles of clutter take note; things aren’t out of place, they’ve simply found their natural congruency. At least, that’ s what artist Kiki Smith, 52, told a group of about 325 people on Wednesday, March 29 at Boston University’s second-annual Tim Hamill Visiting Artist Lecture,…
Read MoreBy Lindsey McCormack View Gallery BEVERLY, Mass.— From 1924 until his death in 1976, Baldomero Alejos was the premier photographer of Huamanga, a provincial capital in the remote Andean region of Ayacucho. His studio was a magnet for locals who wanted to record a life event — a romance, marriage, birth, or death — or…
Read MoreBy Ken George View Gallery BOSTON, Mass.—John Ashcroft once had statuary at the Justice Department clad in thousands of dollars worth of drapery. An unruly aluminum breast had apparently unnerved the then attorney general, an assiduously religious man. Chalk it up to residual Puritanism, the ascendancy of the religious right, political correctness run amok or…
Read MoreThe subjects of David Hockney’s portraits have been totally absorbed into his art and autobiography. “David Hockney Portraits” at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA By Peter Walsh BOSTON, Mass.— The biggest crowds at the MFA’s “David Hockney Portraits” hover near a wall of large-format etchings titled “A Rake’s Progress” (1961-63). Based on a…
Read MoreBy Lindsey McCormack View Gallery The acclaimed photojournalist Antonin Kratochvil delivered an afternoon talk at Harvard University recently, as black and white images of war zones and industrial wastelands flashed across a screen behind him. Few photographers alive have created such stunning chronicles of the global scope of war and environmental destruction. Yet what makes…
Read MoreBy Ken George December 19th, 2005 Given that many American museums fear controversy and distain art that lacks any commercial sex-appeal, it should come as no surprise that contemporary Palestinian art is hard to find. Thankfully, a smattering of shoe-string galleries across the country are accepting the challenge.
Read MoreBy Karl Baden View Gallery I’ve been spending far too much time in secondhand bookstores. I’ll waste hours in the shelves, looking, mostly without success, for those iconic photo books that I couldn’t afford when I was younger, and now are as rare as hen’s teeth. While prowling the stacks, I began to notice that…
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Visual Arts Commentary: John Singer Sargent — A Particular Sort of Loner