Jim Carrey’s Riddler getup from Batman Forever (1995),designed by Bob Ringwood.By Gretel SarmientoIn an ideal world, bad guys are easily identifiable and, thus, avoidable. Their crimes are not carried out with a pen but with heavy swords or devastating superpowers. And right before they get their way, a hero sporting flashy colors saves the day.In that ideal … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: June 10-15
Nick Thurston and Geoffrey Wigdor in White Irish Drinkers.Film: Writer-director John Gray (credited with creating TV’s Ghost Whisperer) grew up in Brooklyn and his latest feature film, White Irish Drinkers, feels like it has autobiographical elements in its coming-of-age tale of a young, sensitive artist trying hard not to sucked into the world of crime of his … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: March 18-20
From the Black Lagoon (1954), by George Zimbel.Art: Here’s one way of tying together a lot of disparate work: the alphabet.Tomorrow, the Norton Museum of Art opens From A to Z: 26 Great Photographs from the Norton Collection, which is exactly what it sounds like – a group of photos arranged by photographer’s names from A to Z. The “X” photographer is … [Read more...]
Art review: Less isn’t more as Norton asks, ‘Now WHAT?’
inverted red catenary, by Allyson Strafella.By Gretel SarmientoTwo strangers in a museum find themselves sharing the same opinion about that thing facing them. They call it “thing” because they don't know what it is. And the brave one's loud comment (“What the heck is this?”) is the shy one's relief.Such a flow of communication might be common at the Now … [Read more...]
Art review: Storrs’s work embraces chill of the modern
Modern Madonna (1918), by John Storrs.By Gretel SarmientoTo ask an audience to explore unseen works by a popular or a controversial artist is piece of cake. Asking them to come see rare works by a less shocking artist, unknown by most, takes guts.But that’s precisely what the Norton Museum is doing with John Storrs: Machine-Age Modernist, a show consisting mainly … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Dec. 10-12
Dmitri Belosselskiy as Zaccaria in Palm Beach Opera’s Nabucco.Music: The Palm Beach Opera opens its 49th season tonight with Nabucco, the opera that made Giuseppe Verdi’s career back in 1842. It’s the first mounting of this opera by the company in 25 years, and they’ve secured a host of singers with experience at New York’s Metropolitan Opera. … [Read more...]
ArtsPreview 2010-11: The season in Palm Beach art
A soundsuit by Nick Cave, at the Norton Museum of Art.(Photo by James Prinz)By Gretel SarmientoThis coming art season is to art lovers what the 24-hour gym is to procrastinators: the end of the Excuse. If you typically shy away from museums out of fear of being bored to death, don’t.There’s plenty to choose from, which means something is bound to delight … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Oct. 8-11
John Leonard Thompson and Kim Cozort in Candida.Theater: Palm Beach Dramaworks opens its new season by continuing to take the high road, giving its audience “theater to think about,” the triangular comedy Candida by the all-too-rarely produced in South Florida George Bernard Shaw. Kim Cozort stars in the title role, the wife of a “moralist and windbag” … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Sept. 4-7
Self-Portrait (1889), by Vincent van Gogh.Art: One of the most revelatory, absorbing art shows I’ve ever seen was The Studio of the South, an exhibit exploring the relationship between Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin and the work they created while briefly living together in the French town of Arles in late 1888. I caught it at the Art Institute of Chicago … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Aug. 27-29
Punch bowl showing the trade district in Canton, China, about 1780.Art: Earlier this month, China claimed the title of the world’s second-largest economy, overtaking Japan for the No. 2 spot behind the United States. It seems a local achievement for a nation that has long been a much-desired global trading partner, and a new show at the … [Read more...]