Giant Fagends, 1967, one of Claes Oldenburg‘s soft sculptures, is currently on view at the Whitney Museum.
Jul 212022
Jul 012022
Magenta Swimming in Yellow, 2015-7, by Rona Pondick from her solo exhibition at Zevitas Marcus. The sculpture was created using pigmented resin and acrylic.
From the Zevitas Marcus press release–
In 2013, Pondick began an intensive period of experimentation with materials that were new to her practice: resins and acrylics. Over a period of five years, she developed complex methods of working with these materials and came to understand their sculptural potential. This exhibition is the first time this body of work has been seen on the West Coast.
Since her career began in 1984, Rona’s work has consistently referenced the body, in both a metaphorical and literal sense. Her sculptural practice has been no less defined by her ceaseless exploration of new materials and methods. Stainless-steel was Rona’s primary medium for the better part of a decade beginning in 1998. Her newest works are made from resins, acrylics and modeling compound.While thematically related to Rona’s earlier work, these new sculptures are notable for their extraordinary use of color and the way in which the artist’s hand is ever present, elements which heighten the sense of fragility and humanity that have always been achingly present in her work.
Also worth checking out- this ODDA magazine interview with the Pondrick from this year (2022) and her Instagram.
Mar 152022
Artist Sophie Calle’s Here Lie The Secrets of the Visitors of the Green-Wood Cemetery, a 25 year long public artwork. The project debuted on April 29th and 30th, 2017.
From Creative Time’s website-
To inaugurate the project, the public was invited to Green-Wood Cemetery, a National Historic Landmark, in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, to privately unburden and inter their most intimate confessions.
During the two-day opening, in a setting nestled among the mausoleums and monuments of Green-Wood’s verdant rolling hills, visitors transcribed their secrets onto paper, and deposited them into the earth below, through a slot on a marble obelisk of Calle’s design. The artist was on hand during the two-day event to receive some visitors’ secrets.
The two-day performance was free and open to the public. Guests were invited to spend the day exploring the sculptures and monuments throughout Green-Wood, a tradition that dates back to the early 1800s. Free maps of the cemetery, specially designed to accompany Calle’s installation, were be available. Guided walking tours emphasizing the cemetery’s symbols and iconography were offered at no cost.
Visitors to the Cemetery can now see Calle’s installation during regular cemetery hours and independently deposit secrets into the marble obelisk. Calle has also pledged to return periodically over the next 25 years, each time the grave is filled, to exhume and cremate them in a ceremonial bonfire service and moment of remembrance.
Everyone has a secret to tell, now there’s a place to put one of yours.
Mar 102022
Sharon Norwood’s Polite Conversation, 2019, part of Spaces Between, the 2021 artist-in residence group show at McColl Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.
She currently has a solo show at Washington and Lee University Museums in Lexington, Virginia, running until May 28th, 2022.
Oct 112021
Happy Indigenous People’s Day! The work above, Because You Enter My House, It Becomes Our House, is by Choctaw-Cherokee artist Jeffrey Gibson. The sculpture was commissioned for Socrates Sculpture Park in New York, but is currently located at deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln, Massachusetts.
The deCordova website gives the following information about Gibson and the work-
Jeffrey Gibson weaves together his Choctaw-Cherokee heritage and queer identity into vibrantly patterned painting, sculpture, video, performance, and installation. Drawing on Indigenous process and materials and queer camp aesthetics, his artistry aims to transcend binary thinking and corrects nostalgic views of indigeneity. Merging styles and historical references, Gibson states, “I have continued to think about my practice as encompassing the past and present while considering the future.” Gibson often integrates phrases and words into his artwork, with language drawn from pop songs to activist slogans, to offer open-ended declarations of love, community, and liberation.
Standing over 40 feet wide and 20 feet tall at the entrance to deCordova’s Sculpture Park, Gibson’s Because Once You Enter My House, It Becomes Our House commands attention to its stepped form and psychedelic facade. Originally commissioned by Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City, this installation expands Gibson’s signature artistry and collaborative process to a monumental scale. He took inspiration from North American Indigenous history, as well as queer nightlife to create this monument advocating for Indigenous space and culture. The tri-layered form references the earthen forms of the ancient Mississippian city of Cahokia which flourished in the seventh through the fourteenth centuries before European contact.
The title, Because Once You Enter My House, It Becomes Our House, comes from the song “Can You Feel It” by Mr. Fingers (Larry Heard). Gibson evokes 80s and 90s-era house music and night clubs as they provided welcoming spaces for queer communities and people of color. Mr. Finger’s lyrics embrace intimacy, generosity, acceptance, and community. This installation echoes this broad communal ethos as Gibson invited fellow Indigenous artists–Eric-Paul Riege (Diné), Luzene Hill (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians), and Dana Claxton (Hunkpapa Lakota)–to co-create the wheat-pasted posters covering the façade of the installation and stage performances on and around the ziggurat.
Oct 082021
For more of Tony Tasset’s work, check out his website
Oct 052021
Kim Anderson, “Alone Together”, 2021
Stereoscope for viewing the above painting
Skyway 20/21: A Contemporary Collaboration, is the second iteration of a joint exhibition across four institutions that highlights contemporary art created in the Central Florida region. Artists selected by a jury are from five counties- Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Manatee, and Sarasota. The exhibitions are an excellent sampling of the work being made in the Tampa Bay area.
The works shown in this post are from the exhibition at the Tampa Museum of Art. The museum has a video playlist on YouTube that includes all of the artists in the exhibition discussing their work. The links below are to the artists’ websites or those videos.
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Jaime Aelavanthara and Amanda Sieradzki – Hillsborough
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Kim Anderson – Sarasota
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Wendy Babcox – Hillsborough
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Janet Folsom – Pinellas
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Samson Huang – Hillsborough
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Jason Lazarus – Hillsborough
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Kirk Ke Wang – Hillsborough
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Cassia Kite – Sarasota
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Jenn Miller – Hillsborough
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Sarah O’Donoghue – Sarasota
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Herion Park – Sarasota
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Anat Pollack – Hillsborough
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Libbi Ponce – Hillsborough
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Selina Román – Hillsborough
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John Sims – Sarasota
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Mike Solomon – Sarasota
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Jill Taffett – Sarasota
Selina Román “XS” 2019
For Selina Román’s XS series, she created abstract self portraits that examine standards of beauty in relation to expectations of weight and body. The title XS references an extra small size and alludes to the word excess.
This exhibition closes 10/10/21.
Sep 202021
Jake Troyli, “Shhh…this is the best part!”, 2018
Jake Troyli, “Shhh…this is the best part!”, 2018 (detail)
Jake Troyli, “Shhh…this is the best part!”, 2018 (detail)
Jake Troyli, “Shhh…this is the best part!”, 2018 (detail)
Skyway 20/21: A Contemporary Collaboration, is the second iteration of a joint exhibition across four institutions that highlights contemporary art created in the Central Florida region. Artists selected by a jury are from five counties- Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Manatee, and Sarasota. The exhibitions are an excellent sampling of the work being made in the Tampa Bay area.
The works shown in this post are from the exhibition at the The Ringling in Sarasota. I’ve included links for these artists as well as those not pictured.
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Carrie Boucher – Pinellas
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Ya La’Ford – Hillsborough
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Kalup Linzy – Hillsborough
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Noelle Mason – Hillsborough
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OK! Transmit – Pinellas
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Eric Ondina – Hillsborough
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Heather Rosenbach – Hillsborough
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Jake Troyli – Pinellas
Heather Rosenbach, “American Dream Byproduct”, 2018
Heather Rosenbach, “Class Warfare Shooting Star”, 2019
Eric Ondina, “Miss 911”, 2018
Eric Ondina, “Miss 911”, 2018 (detail)
Eric Ondina, “Palms”, 2020
Eric Ondina, “Keep the Change”, 2020
Ya Levy La’ford “American/Rōōts”, 2021
This exhibition closes 9/26/21.
Aug 142021
Casey McDonough “the immeasurability of this cosmological collider”, 2021
Casey McDonough “the immeasurability of this cosmological collider”, 2021 (detail)
Casey McDonough “the immeasurability of this cosmological collider”, 2021 (another view)
Skyway 20/21: A Contemporary Collaboration, is the second iteration of a joint exhibition across four institutions that highlights contemporary art created in the Central Florida region. Artists selected by a jury are from five counties- Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Manatee, and Sarasota. The exhibitions are an excellent sampling of the work being made in the Tampa Bay area.
The works shown in this post are from the exhibition at USF Contemporary Art Museum. I’ve included links for these artists as well as those not pictured.
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Rosemarie Chiarlone – Hillsborough
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Danny Dobrow – Pinellas
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Babette Herschberger – Pinellas
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Akiko Kotani – Pinellas
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Cynthia Mason – Pinellas
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Ry McCullough – Hillsborough
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Casey McDonough – Pinellas
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Kodi Thompson – Pinellas
Cynthia Mason, “Limp Grid with Arm”, 2021
Cynthia Mason, “Limp Pricks and Plants in Rising Water” 2021
Akiko Kotani, “Red Falls”, 2021
Akiko Kotani, “Red Falls”, 2021 (detail)
This exhibition closes 9/1/21.
Aug 132021
Dolores Coe “Perimeter”, 2019
Dolores Coe, “Borderland”, 2020
Dolores Coe, “Borderland”, 2020 (detail)
Skyway 20/21: A Contemporary Collaboration, is the second iteration of a joint exhibition across four institutions that highlights contemporary art created in the Central Florida region. Artists selected by a jury are from five counties- Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Manatee, and Sarasota. The exhibitions are an excellent sampling of the work being made in the Tampa Bay area.
The works shown in this post are from the exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg. I’ve included links for these artists as well as those not pictured.
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Robert Aiosa – Hillsborough
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Dolores Coe – Hillsborough
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Keith Crowley – Sarasota
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Becky Flanders – Hillsborough
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Dakota Gearhart – Pinellas
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Bassmi Ibrahim – Pinellas
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Morgan Janssen – Sarasota
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Ezra Johnson – Hillsborough
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Karl Kelly – Hillsborough
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Savannah Magnolia – Hillsborough
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Jon Notwick – Hillsborough
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Gabriel Ramos – Pinellas
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Lynne Railsback – Sarasota
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Matthew Wicks – Hillsborough
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Janelle Young – Hillsborough
Gabriel Ramos, “Mi Isla”, 2021
Gabriel Ramos, “Mi Isla”, 2021 (detail)
Savannah Magnolia, “Chemical Inhalation”, 2019
Savannah Magnolia “In Big Pharma We Trust”, 2019
Savannah Magnolia “In Big Pharma We Trust”, 2019 (detail)
Savannah Magnolia “In Big Pharma We Trust”, 2019 (detail)
Keith Crowley, “Rain Season”, 2019
Keith Crowley, “Nocturne”, 2020
Bassmi Ibrahim, “Awareness 41”
Bassmi Ibrahim, “Isness 158”
Bassmi Ibrahim, “Isness 158” (detail)
The exhibition at this location closes 8/22/21.