Think of a bento box and you will get the picture of what art in Palm Beach County looks like this season: traditional with a few twists.
Among them is an exhibition of provocative works by a performance artist who is also an activist, and another show dedicated to the little-known works of a reclusive Italian-American artist who died in Rome 11 years ago. Packing tape, golf bags and dirt are just three of many unconventional materials employed by the artists featured this season.
The lineup balances between entertaining and serious while it invites us to explore groundbreaking cartoons, tattooing techniques, origami as well as works by artists who recovered from severe life-altering events. Female power continues to rule, specially at the Norton Museum where the RAW initiative continues and works by Georgia O’Keeffe and her female contemporaries will hang. The heavy wave of photography including Arnold Newman and Bill Cunningham will help us cope with the absence of the Rudin Prize show. This is the off year for the biennial event.
The past is the new black. We can’t go wrong with it, which is why good rations of traditional American painting, Spanish colonial art, nature-inspired works and portraits from the Gilded Age are also being served. As for the man behind famous silk screens and soup cans, not to worry. Andy Warhol makes not one but two appearances at the Boca Raton Museum of Art, where the Holocaust theme is intentionally loud to mark seven decades since the end of World War II. In addition, we get treated to Vincent Van Gogh’s The Poplars at Saint-Rémy and Edgar Degas’ Portrait of Mlle. Hortense Valpinçon. Together, these are the good old sticky rice in that bento box — you notice when it’s missing.
Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach: The new season is here. Just tell that to the few exhibitions still on view and carrying over from the summer. Summer of ’68: Photographing the Black Panthers runs through Nov. 29 and features 22 photographs depicting the violent-perceived organization in a different light. There is also Going Places: Transportation Design from the Jean S. and Frederic A. Sharf Collection, which can be seen until Jan. 3 and focuses on the aesthetics of 20th-century vehicles. Model trains, planes, and automobiles are among the 200 items featured.
Photography sets the tone and carries us into 2016 starting with the works of 12 non-Israeli and non-Arab photographers from countries such as France, Slovakia and South Korea. Their works, created between 2009 and 2012, invite our thoughts on Israel and the West Bank through This Place: Israel Through Photography’s Lens (Oct. 15-Jan. 17). They reflect a wide range of emotions and methods, which is to be expected when the subject is an equally complex region that here asks to be thought of as more than conflictive. A different set of challenges and emotions will be put on display from Dec. 10 through March 20 with Mary Ellen Mark: Tiny: Streetwise Revisited. Drawn from photographer Mark’s five-year documenting of the homeless, prostitutes and struggling youth of Seattle in the 1980s, this show explores not just street life but also the artist-subject bond. Tiny, a prostitute who was first portrayed by the recently deceased photographer at age 13, is now 45 years old and has 10 children. Mark continued to photograph her for many years.
November welcomes two single masterpieces participating on the reciprocal-loan initiative that is keeping things interesting and fresh at the museum. Vincent Van Gogh’s The Poplars at Saint-Rémy is on view Nov. 5 through April 17 while Edgar Degas’ Portrait of Mlle. Hortense Valpinçon runs Nov. 5–May 15.
The annual Recognition of Art by Women (RAW) exhibition arrives later this season (Jan. 28- April 24) but continues to loyally showcase female talent. This fifth installment, titled Njideka Akunyili Crosby: I Refuse to be Invisible, introduces us to the large-scale works of this Nigerian artist whose inspiration feeds from her everyday experiences as an African in America. The 15 paintings on display mark the premiere solo exhibition at the museum for Crosby, who earned her MFA from Yale University in 2011.
Running Feb. 6-May 15, Still/Moving: Photographs and Video Art from the DeWoody Collection sounds like the sequel to last season’s The Triumph of Love, which focused on Beth Rudin DeWoody’s love of collecting. This time, the West Palm Beach collector lends her well-balanced collection of safe and provoking photographs by names such as Irving Penn and Eve Sussman. The selections are intentionally diverse and aim to push — or reinforce — our buttons. Accompanying Still/Moving is a powerful exhibition grouping four key female artists for the first time. O’Keeffe, Stettheimer, Torr, Zorach: Women Modernists in New York starts a conversation these women were trying to avoid. Marguerite Zorach, Florine Stettheimer, Helen Torr, and Georgia O’Keeffe wanted to be thought of as artists; not women artists. Whether they liked to recognize it or not, that female identity bled into their work and adopted a distinctive style, a unique form, which ultimately led to fame. Gender was the least of their concerns, but might have contributed to their success nevertheless. The exhibition runs Feb. 18-May 15.
Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach: As if the South had not been in the news enough, its lavish golden era is the focus of the first exhibition coming to the Esther B. O’Keeffe Gallery this season. An Eye for Opulence: Charleston through the Lens of the Rivers Collection (Nov. 21-Jan. 10) employs more than 100 objects, once used for building status, to tell the story of the fortune and success enjoyed by the white residents of Charleston. While the economic prosperity of the time might make us envious, the exhibition reminds us that it was partly due to slavery.
Most of us first heard of “Bill” through the 2010 documentary Bill Cunningham New York from which he emerged as the king of street-style photography. Starting Jan.23, we get to see the architectural beauty of New York City along with its style through the lens of the 86-year-old photographer. Cunningham: Façades showcases the end result of an eight-year project that began in 1968 when models in period costumes posed against historic backdrops. Architectural drawings from The New York Historical Society will accompany the 80 images in this show running through March 6.
Dress costumes, shoes, and fans shape up a colorful exhibition running Jan. 23-April 17 and exploring the best form of entertainment in the 1920s: costume balls. These sumptuous events were rare opportunities for respectable members of the high society to have fun and be a little silly. Invitation to the Ball: Marjorie Merriweather Post’s Fancy Dress Costumes features elaborate designs specifically made for Post while living in Palm Beach at Mar-a-Lago.
A robust collection of Spanish colonial art makes its much-anticipated debut at the Society on March 19 under the title Power & Piety: Spanish Colonial Art. It comprises more than 50 paintings, furniture pieces and gold and silverwork from the late 17th-19th century. The exhibit promises to educate us more about the creative tendencies in colonial Latin America, the local masters and the high demand for religious art. Power & Piety runs through April 17.
Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton: Oil and watercolor paintings from a mostly self-taught artist went out to inspire a documentary and a musical. They are now being shown through Jan. 10. Memories of the Shtetl presents Walkovisk, a village in Czarist Russia that was captured in more than 500 paintings by 20th-century artist Samuel Rothbort, a native. Started in the late 1930s, his “memory paintings” today constitute a visual essay on prewar life in a typical Jewish village.
Running alongside Memories of the Shtetl is a series of installations commissioned from contemporary artists and presented together to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.
The most dramatic of them invites us to sit at a crucifix-shaped wooden table while hearing the sound of crashing waves. Veil of Memory, Prologue: The Last Supper by Terry Berkowitz depicts the dilemma faced by the Jews of Spain in 1492 when Ferdinand and Isabella gave them three months to decide whether to flee, convert or be executed. Depicted are those who decided to leave as they paused for a final meal before leaving their homeland. Meanwhile, The Neighbor Next Door, by Shimon Attie, is inspired by the experiences of families forced to hide from the Nazis.
One installation with a happy end recalls the historic moment women took on “manly” jobs when men went out to fight World War II. Rosie Won the War, by Renata Stih and Frieder Schnock, portraits powerful women carrying tools and wearing working gear. Complementing the life-size images is a video showing women stepping on Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and destroying it with the spikes on their feet.
Digital photographs of famous women lighten up the mood with Dames: Portraits by Norman Sunshine (Nov. 3-Feb. 14). After snapping his well known muses — Martha Stewart, Nancy Kissinger, etc. — the artist distorts the colors and shapes until achieving a watercolor-like effect.
I have said this before. No art season is complete without at least one Warhol-oriented event. Boca Museum is giving us two massive ones. Warhol on Vinyl: The Record Covers, 1949-1987 (Jan. 25-April 30) reminds us of the pre-fame young graphic designer, whose artistic value keeps being debated to this day. Included in the show are more than 100 album covers, original designs, wallpaper, and video. Running alongside is Warhol Prints from the Collection of Marc Bell. We get to see the complete silkscreen suites. That means the famous Campbell soup cans along with his colorful portraits of Liz Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley and Chairman Mao.
Sculpture fans get to appreciate the preliminary drawings that led to graceful outdoor sculptures such as the one with Drawing to Sculpture: John Raimondi (Feb. 16–April 10). Raimondi, who lives in Palm Beach Gardens, is known for the monumental size and organic look of his pieces, which have been erected all over the world. Unlike other sculptors, his sculptures are not cast in molten bronze but shaped from large bronze sheets.
Aware of its ironic proximity to many golf courses and the historically African-American neighborhood of Pearl City, the museum organized an unusual exhibition centered around the sport of golf and racial differences. Golf bags display black history imagery while zippers and straps recall notions of bondage and servitude in Charles McGill (April 21-July 3).
The forgotten works of a reclusive Italian-American artist who died in 2004 are finally getting the spotlight although the dates are still being finalized. Salvatore Meo: A Studio Life celebrates and revives the life of this little-known artist of assemblage art who used discarded items found on the streets to compose his mixed-media pieces. The Philadelphia native moved to Rome in 1949. His difficult character along with the poverty of his pieces contributed to his later seclusion. The exhibit includes a wallpaper reproduction of his 1950s studio near the Trevi Fountain, in Rome.
Sharing that spotlight is Arnold Newman: Master Class, which marks the first major exhibition of the photographer’s work since his death. It uses 200 of his famous photographs to narrate the evolution of Newman’s career and his changing style. Among his sitters were Pablo Picasso, Truman Capote and Igor Stravinsky.
The summer will shift our attention toward the 65th Annual All Florida Exhibition (July 16-Sept. 11), which this season is more invitational than juried. The museum plans to collaborate with five established Florida-based artists, who will each pick five promising artists with strong ties to Florida. Participating artists will be announced Jan. 15.
Flagler Museum, Palm Beach: Humor is a great way to end and start a year. American humor is said to have been influenced by a funny magazine named Puck whose English editions ran from 1877 through 1918. Yes. Before the New Yorker, there was Puck. About 72 original drawings created for the publication are the focus of the fall exhibition With a Wink and a Nod: Cartoonists of the Gilded Age (Oct. 13-Jan. 3). The cartoonists behind the bold and sarcastic caricatures targeting everything from politics to fashion were more than funny men. Their cartoons were used as protesting tools to expose corruption and greed and demand change. “Can’t you take a joke?” was the usual reply to those who did not laugh. Understanding how Americans viewed politics, religion, and other aspects of daily life during this time is the serious intention here.
Portraits by William-Adolphe Bouguereau, James Montgomery Flagg, John Singer Sargent, and Anders Zorn, among others, helps us celebrate American portrait tradition Jan. 26 through April 17. Beauty’s Legacy: Gilded Age Portraits in America presents more than 60 artworks that resulted from what seems to be an ardent desire to make one’s status known. Luckily for us, buying silverware and hosting balls were no longer enough.
Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens: Living in the streets of New York City and losing relatives and friends to the internment camps and Hiroshima’s atomic bombing is not exactly the path to a life of creativity. But it is the path one resilient Japanese-American artist had to walk before healing. Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani (Oct. 6-Jan. 31) presents a selection of drawings that Mirikitani made before his death at 92. His works, once held by rocks and displayed on the ground for sale, are proof of the unstoppable quality of the human spirit and its ability to turn tragedy into something beautiful or — at the very least — something that can be assimilated.
Running concurrently and examining the same history chapter is Wendy Maruyama: Executive Order 9066, which showcases the work of Maruyama, a third-generation Japanese-American artist and furniture maker based in San Diego. The inclusion of paper identification tags and actual suitcases used by families during their relocation to the internment camps makes this a very personal exhibition. It also features a series of wall-mounted cabinets and sculptures evoking themes common in the camps as well as objects made by the internees.
The evolution of Japanese tattoos and their effect on modern tattooing tendencies are explored in Perseverance: Japanese Tattoo Tradition in a Modern World (Feb. 23-May 8). It features the work of seven acclaimed tattoo artists who considered their practice a serious art form. After seeing the life-sized pictures of full body tattoos, we should be able to walk away with a renewed respect and better understanding of their history.
Shadows of the Floating World: Paper Cuts by Hiromi Moneyhun (June 14-Sept. 18) introduces us to Moneyhun’s three-dimensional paper pieces and the creative multi-step process bringing them to life. The Kyoto-born artist, now based in Jacksonville, is known for marrying traditional Japanese art form to modern energy. Her compositions feature anything from caterpillars and moths to humans and creatures. In this particular occasion, we are treated to the Ukiyo-e (Floating World) series, which celebrates the high-fashion courtesans through hand-cut paper works of astonishing precision and detail.
Running alongside is Transcending Forms: Japanese Bamboo Baskets, which might not be the most exciting in the lineup but is worthy of a visit if only to learn more about its transformation from functional object to sculpture.
Closing the cycle is an art form that is simple yet complex, childish yet serious. Above the Fold: New Expressions in Origami (Oct.11, 2016- Jan. 29. 2017) promises to give us a fresh update on this practice that continues to test what folding paper can do.
Armory Art Center, West Palm Beach: An ongoing juried exhibition titled 2+3 The Artists’ Organization: The Human Image presents works by the organization’s member artists through Oct. 24. Following it is another group show of contemporary works by South Florida-based artists who have been Salon presenters for the past three years. The Artists of Art Salon: A Collective Dialogue runs Oct. 3-Oct. 31.
Women in the Visual Arts–Artistic Visions 111 (Oct. 31-Nov. 24) is an open exhibition for men and women working in all mediums. Cash awards will be given in each category. While visiting the juried show we can check out the contemporary jewelry presented under Faceted: Aspects of Contemporary Jewelry (Nov. 7-Dec.5).
Selfies might be the new self-portraits, but they have yet to be taken seriously enough to be displayed. Instead, the wall space goes to a painter and Carnegie Prize recipient, who has been doing self portraits for more than 30 years. We get to judge how outdated — or not — his works are in Charles Parness, I yi I (Nov 7-28).
Ceramic Mind Field: Contemporary Clay & Ceramics and Palm Beach Collects: Clay & Ceramics both run Dec.12 through Jan. 2 and bring us fresh takes on clay and ceramic works as well as valuable pieces already owned by local collectors.
Jane Ehrlich: Recent Paintings (Dec. 12-Jan.9) presents the latest from the West Palm Beach-based artist whose works are said to revolve around nature. They emerge after long observations and self interrogations about the properties of paint and surfaces. Like many artists, her initial intentions often get replaced by the painting’s own agenda.
Women of Vision, National Association of Women Artists Inc. comes later this season (Jan.16-Feb. 13) but preserves its usual diversity. Represented are sculpture, painting, photography and mixed media.
Rising Waters: an exhibition of recent works by Mags Harries (Jan. 16-Feb.12) adds to the heated dialogue on global warming. The Boston-based artist has moved beyond skepticism and here forces us to deal with what she clearly considers a fact. Rather than encouraging our denial, she asks us to acknowledge it as individuals and collectively, as a society. Stressing her point is River, an accompanying installation by Harries and Lajos Heder that creates the illusion of a river from one bucket of water.
A series of back-to-back group shows highlights local talent starting with 2016 PBCATA Members Exhibition (Feb.18-28), which presents the works of art educators and members of the Palm Beach County Art Teachers Association. The Armory Faculty Show (Feb. 20-March 19) puts the focus on faculty members while the All Student Showcase running March 25-April 15 is the students’ time to shine.
The Artists-in-Residence Exhibition that results from an eight-month residency is a bit shorter this season. It runs March 25-April 15.
In celebration of Earth Day, New Orleans-based artist Shawn Hall is unveiling an installation titled How to Build a Forest. It complements a solo exhibition running April 23-May 14 of her recent two-dimensional works.
The annual Dreyfoos Visual Arts-Digital Media Senior Exhibition (May 21-30) features works produced by the graduating seniors of the Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts.
The Lighthouse ArtCenter, Tequesta: Sea levels and endangered species might sound like boring topics for an artist to explore. The artists currently exhibiting in Environmentally Engaged through Oct. 24 would disagree, of course. The Faculty Exhibition, also running through Oct. 24, offers a good chance to meet the ArtCenter’s faculty and new instructors while a ceramics exhibition explores the styles and techniques being taught.
The annual D’Art for Art Exhibition is back (Nov. 1-7) and, as usual, it calls for the generous artists to donate an original art piece to be judged and displayed before the big event of the night: the fundraiser.
An almost four-month celebration of 19th and 20th-century American masters begins in November with Two Centuries of American Art: Manoogian Collection. Included in the exhibition are works by Frank Benson, Jamie Wyeth and William Merritt Chase. The collection, said to be among the best of its kind compiled in this century, has been exhibited at the White House, the National Gallery of Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It runs Nov. 19-March 5.
Cultural Council of Palm Beach County: Running through Oct. 31 is the semi-annual exhibition Made in Delray Beach, whose sole mission is to share the beauty of this city as captured by its native artists. The council’s main gallery will house the following exhibitions: Nature Preserved (Nov. 13-Jan. 2); Woman: Untitled (Jan. 15-March 12); The Art of the Motorcycle (March 25-May 21). Solo exhibitions return this season starting with Petrina Easton and Bea Doone-Merena (Oct. 10-Nov. 7); Mimie Langlois and Jean Goddeau (Nov. 14- Dec. 12) and Bernice Harwood (Dec. 19-Jan. 16). Other featured artists are: JoAnn Nava and Ellen Liman (Jan.23-Feb. 20); Raheleh Filsoofi and Sibel Kocabasi (Feb. 27-March 26) and Linda Mason and Genie Fritchey (April 2-30).
Cornell Museum, Delray Beach: It sounds like a John Lennon song, but Reimagined is actually the perfect title for a show starring unconventional works. The 16 artists highlighted in the ongoing show running through Oct. 18 come from all parts of the world. Their materials of choice include: brown packing tape, insects, books, roses, X-rays, junk food and over-the-counter pills. Similarly defying are the women behind the works shown in Exxpectations (Oct. 29–Jan.3). The works selected are not concerned with fitting into a box. Wild (Jan. 14-April 17) invites us to enjoy the beauty of the natural world while reminding us not to take it for granted. In fact, some of the artists featured use their art to support conservation efforts.
The Crest Theatre Galleries will house a multimedia exhibit showcasing drawings, paintings, collage, mixed media and photography by adult and youth students enrolled in the School of Creative Arts. School of Creative Arts Showcase runs July 27-Nov. 2.
Palm Beach Photographic Centre: Currently on view through Nov. 7 is the annual Member’s Juried Exhibition, highlighting photographers working in all mediums and styles. The much-anticipated FOTOfusion 2016 is scheduled for Jan. 19-23.
Florida Atlantic University: The University Galleries in FAU’s Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters are already showing fresh interpretations by artists awarded grants from a consortium of Florida’s five county cultural councils. The grants are given every year to visual and media artists residing in the five counties. This year marks the fifth time FAU houses New Art: 2015 South Florida Cultural Consortium Visual and Media Artists Fellowship Exhibition, which runs through Nov. 7 at the Ritter Art Gallery.
The 2015 Biennial Faculty Art Exhibition (Nov. 23-Jan. 23) features producing visual and media artists and designers at the Schmidt Center Gallery, which houses the Masters of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition April 15-May 14.
The Fall Bachelor of Fine Arts Exhibition (Nov. 20-Dec. 12) shows works by students earning this degree. It is housed in the Ritter Art Gallery, which welcomes the Spring Bachelor of Fine Arts Exhibition April 15-May 6.
An unusual group exhibition at the Ritter Art Gallery follows with Dirt: Yuta Suelo Udongo Te (Jan. 22- March 5) where we are treated to various interpretations on this raw, essential material nobody ever talks about or thinks of using. The thought ocurred to Onajide Shabaka, who curates the show and titled it with linguistic references in English, Talaandig, Spanish, Kishwahili and Creole.
Jay Critchley, Incorporated (Feb.5- April 2), at the Schmidt Center Gallery, is a survey exhibition of the Massachusetts-based perfomance artist known for his activism and politically charged artworks. Critchley’s message usually relates to current social issues, some of which he knows well, having lived through rough patches himself. His sense of humor is reflected on the corporate characters he embodies to target corporate dominance. The companies he has founded include: IRS (International Re-Rooters Society) and NRC (Nuclear Recycling Consultants).
Art fairs: Art Palm Beach celebrates its 19th anniversary at the Palm Beach County Convention Center Jan. 20-24. International galleries showcasing contemporary and emerging artists return, but a new series of art programs makes its debut. The fair is dedicating a pavilion to works on paper and erecting outdoor sculptures by the convention center and the new Hilton Hotel scheduled to open in June. This edition also expands on early historical works from American, Latin American, Italian and French masters and has a soft spot for Brazil and its emerging artists. The newly created Edge program recognizes emerging art galleries that deserve credit for identifying and shaping emerging artists.
This season, Boca Raton is home to the American International Fine Art Fair (AIFAF). Running Jan.28-Feb. 7, it is considered the most elegant of the season and continues to successfully draw collectors interested in everything from fine jewelry and contemporary design to sculpture and old masters’ paintings.
If you are into irreplaceable possessions, such as a rug or a first edition, most likely Palm Beach Jewelry, Art & Antique Show is the event for you. Pearls, diamonds, furniture and sculptures from antiques-loving private collectors return to the Convention Center Feb. 11-16. Count 10 days and come back to check out the 13th annual Palm Beach Fine Craft Show (Feb. 26-28), which showcases more than 100 contemporary craft artists and their original creations.
Art Palm Beach presenters David and Lee Ann Lester are adding another fair this year, Art Boca Raton (March 17-21), which debuts in the International Pavilion on the campus of Florida Atlantic University, and promises 60 t0 65 dealers offering contemporary art for everyone from novices to veteran collectors.