You know an exhibit is extraordinary when the woman standing next to you, who happens to be Elizabeth Broun, the Margaret and Terry Stent director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Renwich Gallery, says this: “I’m blown away. We have a wonderful collection, but this puts it to shame.” That was how it was during a recent preview for Recapturing the West: The … [Read more...]
The art of anxiety: Dana Schutz’s disturbing visions
If ever it could be said of a person that she lives in her own imaginary world, American painter Dana Schutz would be that person. A 10-year survey of her work, Dana Schutz: If the Face Had Wheels, is currently on view at the Miami Art Museum until Feb. 26. The exhibit contains 30 paintings and 12 drawings. At first glance, the work seems colorful, cheerful even. However, … [Read more...]
Artist Saville makes beauty out of flesh: the rawer, the better
A survey of British painter Jenny Saville is on view at the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach until March 4. Included in the exhibit are 15 of the artist’s large-scale oil paintings and 15 of her drawings. This is the artist’s first solo in a museum in the United States, though she did have a one-woman gallery exhibit at the Gagosian Gallery in 1999. Other than this, … [Read more...]
Illustration show at Four Arts also chronicles shift in American identity
Two adjacent exhibits, now on view at The Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach until Jan. 15, demonstrate why illustration should be given due consideration within the context of the history of art in America. Yet also, as the complement to the journalism of their day, the works on view provide a visual thumbprint for our nation’s ideology during different times in our … [Read more...]
NADA’s collaborative style proves boon for new art, audiences
On the first day of the New Art Dealers Alliance art fair (NADA), which took place during the recent Miami Art Week, young artists and art professionals gathered alongside established dealers, collectors and curators in the expansive grand lobby of the Deauville Beach Resort. Young men with scruffy beards wearing blue jeans sat on couches and armchairs alongside polished art … [Read more...]
Photo Salon show offers fresh take on Florida views
The Photo Salon is a group of professional, semi-professional and entirely amateur photographers who meet biweekly at the Armory Art Center in West Palm Beach. Together they’ve mounted an exhibit of their work that showcases their different photographic styles, as well as their unique perspectives of Florida. The exhibit, titled Florida In and Out of View can be seen at the … [Read more...]
Norton unveils a congenial set of changes
“Visitor experience” is a phrase one hears a lot these days when museums are the topic of discussion. Now, more than ever before, many, as a direct result of cuts in government funding for the arts, are focusing on how to make changes that keep people coming back to the museum because it is an enjoyable place to be. This can also mean that museums must now find ways to … [Read more...]
Artist Neuenschwander’s work draws power from the viewer
There’s one element to Rivane Neuenschwander’s artwork, now at the Miami Art Museum until Oct. 16, that probably won’t travel back with it to her native Brazil, yet it is an integral part of the exhibit: You. Yes, you bring more to Neuenschwander’s mid-career survey, A Day Like Any Other, than you could possibly imagine. In fact, without you, more than half of this exhibit … [Read more...]
‘Pop-up’ show reveals health of area contemporary art scene
The contemporary art scene in Palm Beach County may not contain as much of the risqué or emergent as can be found in our flashy neighbor to the south, Miami Beach — and we really needn’t be jealous; after all, we have old money — but there is a steady undertow of the new pushing towards the surface, and slowly (and I do mean slowly) beating down the fine art-and-antique … [Read more...]
Vickrey’s world too fragile for the real one
Whimsy and wonder dominate in the world that Robert Vickrey creates in his painting. On first glance, there’s not much that is dark or foreboding. In fact, within moments of entering the exhibit, Robert Vickrey: The Magic of Realism, now on view at the Boca Raton Museum of Art until June 19, one feels, well, comforted. And that’s because the symbolic images are reassuringly … [Read more...]