Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland Archives

Ohio Art Shows- Andrea Bowers at Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland

Art, Art Shows by Location, Artists, Cleveland, Conceptual Art, Drawing, Installation Art, Mixed Media, Ohio Art Shows, Painting / Painters, Photographers / Photography, Politics, Printmaking, Sculptors / Sculpture

May 222024

Artist and activist Andrea Bowers is based in Los Angeles but was born and raised in Ohio. This provides the connection to the work in Exist, Flourish, Evolve, currently on view at moCa Cleveland, which advocates for environmental protections for the area. The educational material informs the viewer, while the artwork reminds us how much beauty there is to lose.

From the museum-

LA-based artist Andrea Bowers bears witness in her work, drawing attention to and inspiring movement around the most urgent issues of our time. Her drawings, sculptures, installations, and films chronicle and preserve history as it occurs, documenting collective action and amplifying the labor and lived experiences of activists dedicated to socio-political change.

Developed through an ongoing partnership with the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) and activist Tish O’Dell, Exist, Flourish, Evolve is a new, multi-site, multimedia campaign that builds awareness and action around the dangers facing Lake Erie and all of the Great Lakes ecosystems. It features a monumental neon sculpture installed on a waterfront balcony of the Great Lakes Science Center; a documentary investigating the impact of factory farming on Lake Erie’s ecosystem; and a presentation in moCa’s Lewis Gallery that includes a newly-created drawing of the Lake Erie Bill of Rights, first-of-its-kind legislation protecting an entire US ecosystem that is part of the global Rights of Nature Movement.

Bowers was raised in the small town of Huron, Ohio and spent her childhood on the shores of Lake Erie, connecting to the lake itself like a member of her family to be cared for, cherished, and protected. Yet, Lake Erie and its watershed are abused and endangered by corporate practices such as contaminant dumping, toxic runoff from industrial farming, and the introduction of non-native invasive species. Exist, Flourish, Evolve demands justice for the Great Lakes, urging us to prioritize the preservation of our natural ecology over industrialization and capitalism.

Within moCa’s gallery, a timeline connects Bowers’s new and recent artworks with historical facts and archival materials using two catastrophic climate events as bookends to Bowers’s life thus far: the 1969 fire on the Lake Erie-connected Cuyahoga River (a result of oil slicks covering the water) and the massive 2014 algae bloom that blanketed Lake Erie and invaded Toledo’s water systems, preventing residents from using tap water.

From the Maumee to the Cuyahoga, the works in Exist, Flourish, Evolve come together to share the histories of our water, demonstrate the interconnectedness of ourselves and our natural world, and remind us, as Dr. Vandana Shiva states, “nature is not out there; we are a part of it.”

This exhibition closes 5/25/24.

Ohio Art Shows- Manabu Ikeda at Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland

Art, Art Shows by Location, Artists, Cleveland, Drawing, Illustration, Ohio Art Shows

May 222024

The amount of detail in Manabu Ikeda’s pen and ink drawings is astounding. You could spend hours, if not longer, looking at the many works currently on view at moCa Cleveland for his exhibition Flowers from the Wreckage.

From the museum-

Manabu Ikeda, from Saga, Japan, specializes in highly technical and detailed pen-and-ink drawings. He grew up in the 1970s and 1980s, a period when Japanese anime gained wide spread popularity. Using a nib pen, Ikeda creates imagery on paper reflecting his interests in outdoor activities, pop culture, civilization, and nature, thereby bringing a unique perspective to his work.

Ikeda’s art often incorporates insects, animals, rock climbing, and fishing, allowing him to explore nature from various angles. His creations seamlessly blend daily life, spiritual beliefs, and cultural insights, creating a mix of truth and fiction that might resonate with viewers.

Central to Ikeda’s practice are metaphors of grief and the undeniable aspects of life that are often beyond society’s control, such as the fundamental forces of Mother Nature. Ikeda’s drawings also reveal human resillience and the ability to rise above devastating situations even when it seems impossible.

Flowers from the Wreckage is Ikeda’s first solo retrospective in North America. Showcasing over sixty artworks, the exhibition highlights the complexity of Ikeda’s artistic endeavour, introducing viewers to this master artist’s pictorial allegories and immanent messages about the interconnected world.

Many of the works also reference specific landmarks and events. Pictured above is Rebirth, created from 2013-16 at the Chazen Museum of Art in Wisconsin. Inspired by the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, it depicts a cherry blossom tree in bloom. On closer inspection the flowers are made up of artificial objects, and amidst the branches objects and landmarks that have been destroyed by disasters appear among the wreckage.

Meltdown (2013), pictured below, was inspired by the glaciers and lakes of the Canadian Rockies, and also references the Japanese nuclear power plant that was damaged in the 2011 earthquake.

The museum also reproduced History of Rise and Fall (2006), seen below, which depicts a tornado sweeping away a whole town and its history- from samurai battles to World War 2 and beyond.