Sunging

Image of a house on a mountain top, Sung Dynasty Guston could easily play with the notion that the working artist aspired to be a demigod and, as such, would have to experience a peculiar kind of hubris—Guston’s own idiosyncratic hubris. This was one of his most distinctive leitmotifs, expressed in another way when he […]

Enduring the Mystery

A close up view of Candara, from a painting series inspired by space and planetary bodies 1. Tina says what if dark matter is like the space between people When what holds them together isn’t exactly love, and I think That sounds right—how strong the pull can be, as if something That knows better won’t […]

The Noncanonicals

Lenore Tawney, “A Wreath for Lillian,” 1969 My view of how art history is assembled and canonized was changed inexorably after seeing Pacific Standard Time in Los Angeles last fall.* The Getty’s outrageously ambitious and sensationally successful mega-exhibit about Southern California art between 1945-1980 featured 1300 artists at over 200 museums and art galleries. Many […]

Color as the Breath of Bodies

Kathy Butterfly, Pillow Sue Williams, Color Pile Figuring Color at the ICA features works by Kathy Butterly, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Roy McMakin and Sue Williams. The intent of the exhibit is to explore the use of color and form to speak to the body: McMakin’s brightly colored and quirky sculptures address the human form; Butterly describes […]

Going Direct

Moira Dryer In the last few weeks I have had a number of conversations with artists and gallerists (using that term freely) about changes that are coming at us, each with its own velocity. Some are moving like a sea change, some are seismic. But the old forms are morphing, of that I am certain. […]

Dreaming of Shambhala

Tangka from Seeking Shambhala (Photo: MFA) The MFA’s small show, Seeking Shambhala, is a quiet treasure chest opened up in a corner gallery of the Asian Wing. With a mythical utopian location at the heart of the exhibit, Shambhala (or as it is sometimes referenced in the West, Shangri-La) offers an open invitation to blend […]