Museum of Modern Art

There were just 250 works to convey Russia! Nine Hundred Years of Masterpieces and Master Collections at the Guggenheim Museum. This exhibition was interesting in view of efforts to write a history of 19th century art and modernism that does not entirely focus on Paris. The highlight of the exhibition conveyed the brilliant but brief Great Utopia that emerged with the Russian Revolution until the rise of Stalin after the death of Lenin. This review of the 2005 exhibition was posted to Maverick Arts Magazine.

As research for the exhibition Native New Yorkers we interviewed artists, a curator and collector. We found that questions led every deeper into a richly diverse and little understood field of contemporary art. The article is reposted from Maverick Arts Magazine.

Yinka Shonibare: Double Dutch was shown at the Kunsthalle Wien in 2004. He was one of the most interesting artists included in the controversial 2000 exhibition of the Charles Saatchi collection Sensation at the Brooklyn Museum. This article is reposted from Maverick Arts Magazine.

The retrospective of Dieter Roth begged the question of the difference between treasure and trash. One waded through an enormous amount of stuff created by an amazingly original and prolific artist. This article was posted in Maverick Arts Magazine on April 6, 2004.

By 1913, as the leader of the Russian movement of Suprematism, Kazimir Malevich pushed abstract art to the limit. During the initial liberation of the Russian Revolution he held a position of authority over the fine arts. That Utopia ended with the rise of Joseph Stalin after which the fine arts retreated to the conservative, agit-prop movement of Social Realism. This review is reposted from 2004 article in Maverick Arts Magazine.

Blinky Palermo a name adapted by a German artist from the genre of American boxing was a student of Joseph Beuys. But, in a brief career, he went in a different direction. In the relatively small Serpentine Gallery in London we had the rare opportunity to see his work in depth. This report was posted to Maverick Arts Magazine on May 29, 2003.

During a 2002 tour of the Rhine we visited Wiesbaden to view the special exhibition of work by the American artist Eva Hesse. This review is reposted from Maverick Arts Magazine.

It started as an e mail dialogue. During a drive through the South West we arrived at the studio of the renowned Native American artist and activist, Jaune Quick To See Smith. That led to an exhibition of all new works on paper that I curated for the gallery of the New England School of Art and Design at Suffolk University. On that occasion Janune gave a special lecture to a general assembly of Suffolk students.This report is reposted from a 2005 article in Maverick Arts Magazine.

The figurative artist, Chawky Frenn, has followed 100 Boston Painters with 100 Boston Artists. The books are handsomely designed and printed with superb reproductions. Although he consulted with many experts in the field he made the final selections. This has resulted in an eccentric and uneven overview with a mix of major and minor artists. One of the strong points of the second volume is a fresh and insightful critical essay by Debbie Hagan the former editor of Art New England.

Following World War II the matrix of global contemporary art shifted from Paris to New York with the development of abstract expressionism as the leading movement of contemporary art of that era. During the 1950s there was much speculation about a Return to the Figure. Young artists who flocked to Provincetown to study with Hans Hofmann and Henry Hensche explored a synthesis through Figurative Expressionism. A number of these artists showed with Sun Gallery in Provincetown and Hansa Gallery in New York. The exhibition "Pioneers from Provincetown: The Roots of Figurative Expressionism" curated by Adam Zucker, Co-curator, Stephanie DeTroy focuses on this important movement.

We met with Native American artist Lloyd Oxendine in his New York apartment in 2006. He related early efforts to promote the artists of his heritage in the 1960s and 1970s. Recently we learned that not long after the interview the artist became homeless and nothing has been heard from him since then. In 1985 he became Director/Curator of New York's American Indian Community House (AICH) Gallery/Museum. During his tenure he organized some 40 exhibitions and worked to promote reviews and sales.

The National Design Awards program celebrates design as a vital humanistic tool in shaping the world, and seeks to increase national awareness of design by educating the public and promoting excellence, innovation, and lasting achievement. This year's award-winners are from a variety of design disciplines.

Tate Britain today announced the four artists who have been shortlisted for the Turner Prize 2013. This year the exhibition will be held at Ebrington in Derry-Londonderry as part of the UK City of Culture 2013. The artists are (in alphabetical order): Laure Prouvost, Tino Sehgal, David Shrigley and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye.

Michelle Dorrance, Artistic Director of Dorrance Dance, is lauded as "one of the most imaginative tap choreographers working today” (The New Yorker). A 2012 Princess Grace Award Winner, 2012 Field Dance Fund Recipient, and 2011 Bessie Award Winner, Dorrance is among the world’s most sought after tap performers, teachers, and choreographers today.

The American Chapter of the International Society of Art Critics (AICA) announces its annual awards. There are a number of categories from site specific works to gallery and museum exhibitions.

L’Abbraccio, (The Hug) the name of the exhibition, refers to a cabinet designed by Gaetano Pesce in 2009 of two people locked in an embrace. In addition to its “namesake” cabinet, the exhibition will feature some of Pesce’s rarely seen drawings, maquettes, lighting and furniture from the 1970s. On view at Fred Torres Collaborations from March 21-May 25, 2013.

The Latino List: Photographs by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders exhibition is a portrait survey of 30 important Hispanic Americans by photographer and documentary filmmaker Timothy Greenfield-Sanders. The exhibition debuted in 2011 at the Brooklyn Museum. It is on view in Atlanta's High Museum of Art from March 17 through May 19.

Jaune Quick to See Smith is one of the foremost Native American artists of her generation. She will exhibit work on the theme of Water and War at the Accola Griefen Gallery in New York City from February 28 through April 6.

From the Frist Center For The Visual Arts, in Nashville, its originating venue, the Carrie Mae Weems retrospective travels to the Portland, Oregon Art Museum, (February 2-May 19, 2013), The Cleveland Museum of Art (June 30-September 29, 2013, Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University in California (October 16, 2013 – January 5, 2014), ending its run at the Guggenheim Museum in New York (January 24-April 23, 2014).

The vast vaulted space of Building Five is roughly the length and width of two, end to end, football fields. Globally, there are only a handful of similar spaces. The basic approach of artists over the last 13 years has been to jam it full or leave it relatively empty. The current installation "Phoenix" by Xu Bing realizes its full potential. In this second and final installment of an extensive dialogue Mass MoCA director Joe Thopson discusses the museum's programming and challenges.

Ada Louise Huxtable was the first architecture critic at the New York Times (1963) and the first architecture critic to win the Pulitzer Prize (1970). Her clearly stated analytical prose was always accessible and enlightening. She was a voice of reason and often a voice of conscience. Ms. Huxtable's thoughts and refined wisdom will be missed from our civic conversation. Reprinted here is a 2008 review of the last major compendium of her writings.

Oscar Niemeyer passed away just short of his 105th birthday on December 5, 2012. A Brazilian, he was one of the most prolific and influential architects of the 20th Century. Influenced by Le Corbusier, however Niemeyer championed the curve over the right angle. His portfolio included the major buildings of Brasilia, the planned new capital of Brazil, the United Nations complex in New York City and several significant museums and headquarters buildings.

Sarah Bapst, Katarina Burin, Mark Cooper, and Luther Price were named finalists for the 2013 James and Audrey Foster Prize, the ICA's biennial award and exhibition program for Boston-area artists, the museum announced today. Bapst, Burin, Cooper, and Price will participate in an exhibition organized by Helen Molesworth, Barbara Lee Chief Curator, on view at the ICA from May 1 through July 21, 2013.

Approaching design from differing points of view, Liminal Objects initiated a conference series at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design about design that aims to identify pressing issues within the field by exploring the designed object’s role in diverse spatial practices. Designers, academics, critics and curators looked objectively at the designed object.

The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute will honor artist, writer, and critic Brian O’Doherty with the 2012 Clark Prize for Excellence in Arts Writing by recognizing his continuing contributions to the visual arts. Established in 2006, the Clark Prize recognizes insightful and accessible prose that advances a genuine understanding and appreciation of the visual arts.