Category Archives: Contemporary Art
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“Ai Wei Wei Fault Line” at the San Juan Islands Museum of Art
San Juan Islands Museum of Art is a wonderful new venue for contemporary art with a dynamic director. Here I write about the Ai Wei Wei and Goya exhibitions along with the installation by Dana Lynn Louis
This entry was posted on April 13, 2016 and is filed under Contemporary Art, Uncategorized. -
Walid Raad Scratching on Things I Could Disavow
Walid Raad Scratching on Things I Disavow at the Museum of Modern Art probes the interconnections of art, money, history, in the Middle East, focusing on Saadiyat (Happiness) Island in Dubai.
This entry was posted on February 23, 2016 and is filed under Art and Activism, Art and Politics Now, art criticism, Art in Beirut, Art in War, Contemporary Art, Uncategorized. -
Art AIDS America at the Tacoma Art Museum on World AIDS Day
On this World AIDS Day, I offer a review of the comprehensive exhibition at the Tacoma Art Museum, Art AIDS America. It includes 127 works, many media, and a thesis that artists who addressed AIDS in the 1980s and 1990s permanently changed the course of American art by demonstrating strategies to address political issues.
This entry was posted on December 1, 2015 and is filed under American Art, Art and Activism, art criticism, Contemporary Art, democracy, First Nations Art, Uncategorized. -
Nato Thompson Seeing Power, Art and Activism in the 21st Century
My Review of Nato Thompson’s Seeing Power, Art and Activism in the 21st Century. Thompson is curator of Creative Time.
This entry was posted on November 5, 2015 and is filed under Art and Activism, Art and Politics Now, art criticism, Contemporary Art, democracy. -
A visit to the home of contemporary Turkish Artist Tomur Atagök
A visit to the home of contemporary Turkish artist Tomur Atagök provided me with new insights into her paintings and collages about politics and nature.
This entry was posted on October 19, 2015 and is filed under Contemporary Art, Feminism, Turkish Women Artists, Uncategorized. -
QUIET INSIGHTS INTO STRUGGLE AND JOY AWAIT YOU AT THE WING
the subtle and beautiful exhibition “Constructs” at the Wing Luke Museum features interactive installations by Asian Pacific Women Artists ranging from a canvas house to calligraphy carried into the landscapes of Seattle. Each installation is both personal and universal in their implications.
This entry was posted on September 24, 2015 and is filed under Art and Activism, Art and Politics Now, art criticism, Contemporary Art, Feminism, Uncategorized. -
After Midnight: Contemporary Art in India At the Queens Museum of Art
After Midnight: Contemporary Art in India 1947/1997 curated by Dr, Arshila Lokhandwala offers a sophisticated dialogue of contemporary India with global modernism, postmodernism and current issues.
This entry was posted on August 28, 2015 and is filed under Art and Activism, art criticism, Contemporary Art, Uncategorized. -
Led by Indigenous voices, all ages protest Arctic Drilling
From Indigenous poets to Raging Grannies, from children and youth to college students, to people of every age, everyone is participating in the protest of Shell’s Polar Pioneer oil drilling platform with creative non violent civil disobedience at its best
This entry was posted on June 11, 2015 and is filed under American Art, Art and Activism, Art and Ecology, Art and Politics Now, art criticism, Contemporary Art, Contemporary Indigenous Art, ecology, First Nations Art, Indigenous Art, Seattle Art, Uncategorized. -
@Large Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz
@Large Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz is a brilliant installation about detention and freedom in the former federal prison. Using kites, lego, porcelain, music, poetry, and postcards, @Large conveys the nightmare of detentio
This entry was posted on May 18, 2015 and is filed under Art and Activism, Contemporary Art, Detained, dragons, global justice, Uncategorized. -
Rameschwar Broota and Nalini Malani at the Kiran Nadar Museum in Delhi
We can see the state of the earth and our spiritual crisis in the work of Rameschwar Broota and Nalini Malani at the Kirin Nadar Museum
This entry was posted on March 25, 2015 and is filed under Art and Activism, Art and Ecology, art criticism, Contemporary Art, Contemporary Art In India, Feminism, Feminism, Uncategorized. -
A valuable conversation of past and present: Three Special Exhibitions of Indigenous Art in Seattle
Three exhibitions offer a conversation about native creativity, its history, its extraordinary media, and the contemporary artists in the Northwest who continue to honor and alter it.
This entry was posted on March 20, 2015 and is filed under Art and Activism, Art and Ecology, Contemporary Art, Contemporary Indigenous Art, Culture and Human rights, indians, Indigenous Art, Lillian Pitt. -
Rodrigo Valenzuela, the 13th man and the end of Utopia
Rodrigo Valenzuela juxtaposes the words and experiences of migrants and other workers in the midst of the collapse of the utopian discourses of modernism and its structures, both philosophical and physical. He jarringly disconnects words and images to reveal the deep fissures in our society.
This entry was posted on February 7, 2015 and is filed under Art and Activism, Art and Ecology, Art and Politics Now, Conceptual Art, Contemporary Art, Culture and Human rights, democracy, economic imperialism vs democracy, Performance Art, Photography, Uncategorized. -
Delhi Feminist Artist Gogi addresses the 2012 Gang Rape of Nirbhaya
Feminist artist Gogi Saroj Pal based in Delhi addresses violence against women in her new work.
This entry was posted on January 27, 2015 and is filed under Contemporary Art, Contemporary Art In India, Feminism, Uncategorized, Women Artists. -
The Common SENSE: Ann Hamilton at the Henry Art Gallery
Ann Hamilton’s “The Common SENSE” at the Henry Art Gallery embraces our relationship to the planet in a surprisingly disturbing sequence of installations.
This entry was posted on November 4, 2014 and is filed under Art and Politics Now, art criticism, Conceptual Art, Contemporary Art, ecology, John Berger, Uncategorized. -
Art in Seattle from my monthly Leschi column: “Modernism in the Pacific Northwest” and ” La Toya Ruby Frazier: Born by a River,”
Modernism in the Pacific Northwest: the Mythic and the Mystical and La Toya Ruby Frazier: Born by a River, two exhibitions at the Seattle Art Museum in the last six months.
This entry was posted on September 23, 2014 and is filed under Art and Activism, Art and Ecology, Art and Politics Now, Contemporary Art, Uncategorized. -
Matika Wilbur’s Project 562 “Changing the Way we See Native America”
Matika Wilbur’s Project 562 reveals a romantic point of view.
This entry was posted on May 22, 2014 and is filed under Art and Activism, Contemporary Art, indians, Uncategorized. -
Carletta Carrington Wilson “Unchain My Heart”
At the outset of her poetic presentation, Carletta Carrington Wilson declared that her exhibition “Unchain My Heart” (listen!) is a testament to mystery. Her exhibition at Art Xchange Gallery included selections from three series of works, “constellation of shadows and leaves” (2006) “Orange You Mingus” (2008-9), and “book of the bound” (2011-12). The artist explained […]
This entry was posted on April 5, 2014 and is filed under African American fiction, Arican American history, Art and Activism, Art and Politics Now, art criticism, Black Art, Carletta Carrington Wilson, Contemporary Art, Uncategorized. -
The Elephant in the Room: “Stereotype” and other exhibitions by African American Artists in Seattle
Exploring C. Davida Ingram’s exhibition “Stereotype” as well as briefer reference to powerhouse artists , La Toya Ruby Frazier and Marita Dingus,
This entry was posted on March 13, 2014 and is filed under Arican American history, Art and Activism, Art and Politics Now, art criticism, Black HIstory Month, Contemporary Art, Uncategorized. -
“Our America” Abstraction and Identity
Is abstraction an elite practice that denies identity? Abstract art is rarely what it seems to be. To stop at a formal analysis of such work misses its context, meaning and significance.
This entry was posted on March 10, 2014 and is filed under Art and Politics Now, art criticism, Contemporary Art, Latino Art, Uncategorized. -
“Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art:” A Radical Proposal`
An analysis of the thesis of the stunning exhibition of “America Now The Latino Presence in American Art” at the Smithsonian American Art Museum: integrating these artists in the mainstream of American art history.
This entry was posted on February 14, 2014 and is filed under Art and Politics Now, art criticism, Chicana Artists, Conceptual Art, Contemporary Art, Uncategorized. -
ANTONI TÀPIES 1923 – 2012
Antoni Tàpies Catalan Master and political activist throughout his life. His grand and beautiful paintings and material objects always have a subtext of the anguish of the Franco years and concern for the injustice of the wars of the 21st century.
This entry was posted on January 3, 2014 and is filed under Art and Activism, Art and Politics Now, art criticism, Art in War, Contemporary Art, Uncategorized. -
East of the Caspian Sea Central Asia in Venice
Central Asia at the Venice Biennale
This entry was posted on December 12, 2013 and is filed under Art and Politics Now, art criticism, Contemporary Art, Uncategorized, Women Artists. -
West of the Caspian Sea “Love Me Love Me Not” Azerbaijan in Venice
Azerbaijan had two pavilions in Venice, “Love Me Love Me Not,” reached out to its neighbors and was steeped in contemporary theory, the other focused on the straightforward theme of “Ornamentation,” but both enhanced our understanding of the contemporary art from this region.
This entry was posted on December 10, 2013 and is filed under Art and Activism, Art and Politics Now, art criticism, Contemporary Art, Venice, Venice Biennale. -
HONORING ANTHONY CARO 1924-2013
Anthony Caro ( 1924 – 2013, an homage to a great twentieth century artist who, in spite of his fame, and well known abstractions has another less explored side.
This entry was posted on December 5, 2013 and is filed under Art and Politics Now, Contemporary Art, Modern Sculpture, Venice Biennale. -
Sarah Sze “Triple Point” The US Pavilion at the Venice Biennale
Sarah Sze’s pavilion in Venice is a perfect metaphor of the disintegration of the US sense of itself.
This entry was posted on November 18, 2013 and is filed under Art and Activism, Art and Politics Now, art criticism, Art of Democracy, Conceptual Art, Contemporary Art, Uncategorized, Venice, Venice Biennale.
