Exhibition Review by Sara Farrell Okamura

Until the Sun Goes Dark: Taylor Davis Decontructs Power

In Until the Sun Goes Dark, Taylor Davis’s second solo show with SEPTEMBER gallery at Kinderhook, NY, the Boston-based artist takes on the question of why we exist in a violent, volatile universe. She offers no answers, but through sculpture, painting, and works on paper, elicits inquiries into the nature of brutality by researching texts ranging from 2000-year-old biblical scriptures (Job 27:13- 23, Ecclesiastics 12: 5-8 and Psalm 57: 4-5) to modern writings by Ethnographer, Edward Linnaeus Keithahn and literature by William Gass, In The Heart of the Heart of the Country. Davis does not merely execute a plan to create work but relies on systems of chance and logic. She does not force her materials to bend to her intent but defers to the inherent nature of the materials she is using. Working in a similar manner to a call-and-response practice, her final pieces sometimes challenge the viewers’ initial comprehension of what they are actually seeing.

Exhibition Highlights by Claire Haik

Art Spiel Picks: Philly Exhibitions in September 2024

HIGHLIGHTS

As the Philadelphia gallery season ramps up, we explore unseen worlds in three very distinct shows. If you are a science or color enthusiast, be sure to see Rebecca Rutstein’s large abstract paintings at Bridgette Mayer Gallery. She uses bold designs and bright colors to tap into the sublime, examining hidden ecosystems fundamental to life on Earth. Delving into the veiled depths of the subconscious, Elena Drozdova’s Riding Fear at PII Galley presents dream-like paintings with powerful symbolic imagery. Across town at InLiquid Gallery, Brotherly Lens: A Portrait of Philadelphia places three exceptional photographers in conversation, inspiring introspection and creating a striking narrative of Philadelphia’s unknown history and communities.

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Exhibitions by Melissa Stern

Martin Wilner -The Case Histories: When We Cease to Understand the World (Extraterrestrials on The Couch)

Martin Wilner’s compelling new show at BravinLee Projects is both conceptually and visually complex, the work of an intellect working on several intersecting planes. Wilner is a practicing Freudian psychoanalyst, a scholar, and mentor to analysts in training. He is a self-taught artist whose work reflects his involvement with the human psyche, popular culture, and comic strip art. His artistic practice is intertwined deeply with his psychoanalytic work and comes with an interesting twist; Wilner the therapist invites the public to engage deeply with the world of Wilner the artist via social media.

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Exhibition Review by Etty Yaniv

Splendor and Misery at Leopold: New Objectivity in Germany

”BRUTALITY!

CLARITY THAT HURTS […]

BRUSH AS FAST AS YOU CAN –

TRY TO CAPTURE RACING TIME“

—–George Grosz

Nearly a century after the Weimar Republic’s brief, chaotic existence, curator Hans-Peter Wipplinger presents Splendor and Misery: New Objectivity in Germany at Vienna’s Leopold Museum. This comprehensive exhibition, the first of its kind in Austria, brings together around 150 works—100 paintings, 40 works on paper, photographs, and archival materials—from international museums and private collections. Born from the ashes of World War I, Neue Sachlichkeit offered a stark, unsentimental portrayal of reality, capturing both the hardships and the hopes of the “Golden Twenties.” The show features a lineup of key figures of modernism, such as Max Beckmann, Otto Dix, George Grosz, and Christian Schad, alongside lesser-known artists such as Heinrich Maria Davringhausen, Karl Hubbuch, Grethe Jürgens, Lotte Laserstein, Felix Nussbaum, Gerta Overbeck, Rudolf Schlichter, and others, who each captured the era’s spirit with an unflinching eye.

Exhibition Highlights by Andrew Fish

Art Spiel Picks: Boston Exhibitions in September 2024

Highlights

September in Boston is all about “back-to-school,” and this year, the art scene offers its own rich set of lessons. Along with some beloved galleries closing, a number of outstanding exhibitions are on view around the city. At the Museum of Fine Arts, a small but captivating Dalí exhibition pairs his works with those of Velázquez, Goya, and El Greco. The Harvard Art Museums are unveiling an exhibition dedicated to German identity, exploring the country’s complex cultural narrative through a variety of artistic expressions. Beyond the museums, Boston’s galleries showcase an exciting range of shows, from many different artists exhibiting a wide range of work. Here’s a look at some of the standout shows happening now.

Exhibitions by Art Spiel

The Elusive Art of Kumi Yamashita at Flinn

Previewing

The Flinn Gallery’s 2024-25 season kicks off on September 19 with the solo exhibition The Elusive Art of Kumi Yamashita, curated by Leslee Asch. Situated on the second floor of the Greenwich Library, the Flinn Gallery is known for its commitment to high-quality contemporary art, offering a space for both emerging and established artists. The Flinn Gallery’s 2024-25 season opens on September 19 with the solo show The Elusive Art of Kumi Yamashita, curated by Leslee Asch.

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Exhibition Highlights by Yasmeen Abdallah

Art Spiel Picks: Governors Island in September 2024

HIGHLIGHTS

Themes of searching and connection to ancestors through practice, ritual, and persistence are intertwined through work that depicts aspects of migration, objecthood, and the complexities of humanity itself. The winds moving across the island dictate the mood as we bow and sway through graceful installations in deeply resonant forms at LMCC Art Center and Artcrawl Harlem.

In Conversation by Janila Castañeda

Reshaping space through photography: Anna Berenice Garner & Janila Castañeda

IN CONVERSATION

For a few months now, Anna and I have been discussing her practice in preparation for her most recent solo show in Mexico City titled Topografías y otras ficciones. As we have been navigating concepts around the notions of landscape and the role of the image in the construction of truth, our exchanges included topics such as the body and its relationship with space, methods of reshaping space through photography, as well as the potential of merging sculpture and photography to rethink the environments that construct the unquestionable truths under which we guide our existence. This interview compiles key points from our face-to-face and written exchanges while capturing insights into the artist’s current approach to her work.

Paddy Johnson’s VVrkshop: Game On for Artists
Featured Project by Etty Yaniv

Paddy Johnson’s VVrkshop: Game On for Artists

Featured Project

Throughout her career in the arts, Paddy Johnson, a writer and now founder of VVrkshop, an organization that offers professional development services for mid-career artists, has observed a consistent, disheartening reality: incredibly talented artists creating work for audiences of virtually no one. As she puts it, “It felt crushing that there wasn’t enough prose in the world to bring these artists more attention.” This frustration reached its peak with Impractical Spaces, a collaborative national project, and anthology designed to document defunct and active artist-run projects across the United States. The ambition was substantial: engage fifty cities in fifty states and compile the results into a book charting the national significance of the artist-run scene.

On paper, the project fulfilled Johnson’s vision. “It brought people together, gave exposure to unsung artist heroes, and historicized events I believed needed historicizing,” she recalls.

The reality was far less fulfilling. Outside of the participants, very few people seemed interested in reading the books, and the project lacked a funding model that would make it sustainable. Yet, recognizing the project’s shortcomings sparked a new idea. Johnson realized that connecting people on a larger scale—across states, across disciplines—was not just necessary but possible. This led to the creation of membership for mid-career artists, Netvvrk.