Hollywood has given us its fare share of over-the-top Christmas comedies -- cynical and secular Yuletide pictures in which acts of Christmas-tree terrorism fry felines (National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation) and cat burglars hold dysfunctional families hostage (The Ref). In holiday movies, family is something to be endured and tolerated, not celebrated. There was even a film … [Read more...]
Archives for December 2012
Weekend arts picks: Dec. 14-16
Art: Here’s something unusual and rather precious, which if you think about it is an ideal sort of something for the Christmas season. Britain-based artists Davy and Kristin McGuire spent four months in 2009 creating what can only be described as a multimedia pop-up book. The Icebook tells the story of a princess who lures a boy into the forest so he can warm her heart of ice; … [Read more...]
An artist of the Hudson Valley beautiful
“It’s like you’ve painted cold air, atmosphere — achieving that intangible quality,” said Cheryl Brutvan, director of curatorial affairs and curator of contemporary art at the Norton Museum of Art, to Sylvia Plimack Mangold during a Curator’s Conversation event held Sunday at the museum. Plimack Mangold was there for the opening of Sylvia Plimack Mangold: Landscape and Trees, … [Read more...]
Writer recounts her mission to the homeless
Danielle Steel is one of today’s best-known fiction authors, having written 85 novels that have sold more than 590 million copies. But hardly anyone knew that for more than a decade Steel and a small band of supporters were quietly and anonymously giving sleeping bags and winter jackets to homeless people in San Francisco. The program began after Steel’s 19-year-old son … [Read more...]
Palm Beach Symphony season opens with high spirits, powerful playing
The Palm Beach Symphony opened a new era for itself Sunday afternoon with an effervescent, powerful concert of 20th-century orchestral works, performed by a newly restaffed ensemble that stands fair to carry out the group’s mission of expanded cultural influence. The group of musicians that took the stage of the Gubelmann Auditorium at Palm Beach’s Society of the Four Arts is … [Read more...]
Mosaic Theatre’s Simon announces the company’s closing
South Florida may be experiencing another abrupt theater closing. Still suffering from the sudden shuttering of Florida Stage and the Caldwell Theatre Company in the past two years, here comes another unexpected closing. And for once, it seems to have nothing to do with a shortage or funding or audience. Sunday evening, the executive and artistic director of Plantation’s … [Read more...]
Art Basel’s abundance spills over into Wynwood
Since the advent 11 years ago of Art Basel Miami Beach, the event has grown to the point that there are more art shows and openings in fair week than one has time to see. Outside the Miami Beach Convention Center, the second most extensive area for art fairs, private collections and galleries is the Wynwood Art District, between North 36th Street and North 20th Street and east … [Read more...]
Art Basel brings annual cultural shakeup to Miami Beach
During the first week of December, Miami Beach is the “must-see” premier destination for thousands of art collectors, museum curators, art lovers and artists. On Wednesday, the press and VIPs converged on Art Basel Miami in the Miami Beach Convention Center to see 257 galleries from 31 countries. Art Basel, which runs through Sunday, presents contemporary and historical … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Dec. 7-9
Film: There are so many major award-worthy movies playing now that a better-than-average film with a strong ensemble cast of box office names gets relegated to our digital art houses. I refer to A Late Quartet, a first feature from documentary maker Yaron Zilberman about an internationally known string quartet facing a threat to its survival when one of the group is diagnosed … [Read more...]
Mendelssohn and Piston stand out at Boca Symphonia
If there was a persuasive argument to be made ― and there is – for the excellence of Walter Piston, the Boca Raton Symphonia made it Sunday afternoon. And they did so in a highly enjoyable, expertly played overall concert that featured not only a welcome programming of a fine work by that estimable American composer, but a standout young violinist making his way through one of … [Read more...]