While it’s too soon to call it timeless, the vitality in Philip Guston’s art has proved durable. But the structure around it – the “art world” in its blinkered, stultified form, institutional and academic in the worst senses of those words – has died and encased it.
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Visual Arts Review: “Fabrics of a Nation — American Quilt Stories”
The quilts serve as landmarks whose significance is evolving with shifting times and demographics. Where have we come from, they ask. Where are we going? The answers are no longer what they were.
Visual Arts Review: “Lucian Freud Self-Portraits” — Pictures of a Cool Narcissist
I recommend this show for Lucian Freud’s highly polished craftsmanship, but his wry game of psychological hide-and-seek is not all that satisfying.
Visual Arts Review: “Collecting Stories” — Yarns Worth Viewing
Almost every painting here is a discovery worth making.
Visual Arts Review: “Graciela Iturbide’s Mexico” — Casting a Coolly Warm Eye on Life and Death
In Garciela Iturbide’s photographs, the living and the dying are often joined at the (exposed) skeletal hip.
Film Review: “Nowhere to Hide” — A Potent Documentary about the Never-ending War in Iraq
How palpable is the combat in Nowhere to Hide!
Dance Film Preview: Mapping the Taps — Two Superb Documentaries
The tap challenge, sometimes good natured, sometimes prickly, is at the heart of both of these remarkable documentaries.
Film Review: “Kékszakállú” — Obliquely Inspired by Bartók
What follows is a succession of images and tableaux static enough to make Michelangelo Antonioni look like an action-movie director.
Visual Arts Review: “Showdown!” at the MFA — More Like Kumbaya!
A face-off between these two artists is ridiculous because picking a favorite is pointless.
Visual Arts Review: Matisse in the Studio — Objects Inspiring Art
Matisse said his objects were his “working library,” sources to mine for formal qualities and their ability to evoke an emotional response.