Until the Sun Goes Dark: Taylor Davis Decontructs Power

Installation view, photo courtesy of SEPTEMBER

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.

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Art Spiel Picks: Boston Exhibitions in September 2024

Highlights
Dali: Disruption and Devotion at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

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.

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The Elusive Art of Kumi Yamashita at Flinn

Previewing
Kumi Yasmashita, “Strings”, 2016. Wood panel, brads, seven colored threads, 16x12x1 in. Photo by Paul Takeuchi

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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Art Spiel Picks: Governors Island in September 2024

HIGHLIGHTS

A room with a large chess board

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Dario Mohr’s Don’t Forget to Check. Image by Yasmeen Abdallah

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.

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Reshaping space through photography: Anna Berenice Garner & Janila Castañeda

IN CONVERSATION
Anna Berenice Garner, installation view of exhibition titled, Topografías y otras ficciones, image courtesy of Lateral gallery

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.

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Kejoo Park: A Reflective Landscape Architect Turned Visual Artist

Kejoo Park. Courtesy of the artist.

Kejoo Park is a Korean-American artist, landscape artist and architect. In her works, Park focuses on the duality of the internal and external worlds and her paintings, objects and installations manifest the alienation between man and nature; they address external nature, which is revealed in what man did not create himself. However, its potential and uniqueness lie in its creative ideas and actions, which develop through the influence of external structures and the engagement with culture and society.

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Art Spiel Picks: Philly Exhibitions in August 2024

HIGHLIGHTS
The Woodmere Annual: 82nd Juried Exhibition, partial installation view at the Woodmere Art Museum, photograph courtesy of the gallery

This August in Philly, there are some unexpected gems in what is a typically quieter art season. If you want to experience artwork that recasts the familiar in fantastical ways, spend time at Paradigm Gallery + Studio in Old City with Megan Rea’s reimaginings of Italian frescos. North of the city, at the Woodmere Art Museum, the 82nd Annual Juried Exhibition showcases exceptional Philadelphia artists meditating on what it means to “belong.” Finally, the Institute of Contemporary Art in University City presents an emotionally intense video and photography installation by Polish artist Joanna Piotrowska.

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Everything Ends Eventually: Precious Objects for Eschatonic Times

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R+R artists’ paths converged during their 2019 residency at Millay Arts. United by their passion for sculpture and approach to life, they became fast friends committed to keeping their long-distance friendship going. E.E.E. is their inaugural project, for which they were awarded an LMCC Creative Engagement Award. Through their curatorial project, they aim to foster community by merging their NY/Miami worlds. As artists, they felt strongly about producing in-person experiences and giving their peers autonomy over their narratives—”Real people, real objects, real connections.” They envision E.E.E. to be more than just a group show.  It is a home base where, for two weeks, they host events and set up communal artwork. “We hope the show will be the first step in an ongoing dialogue that does not end when the exhibition doors close,” said the show curators, Rina AC Dweck and Richard Moreno.

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Spiritual World at RAINRAIN

Photo story
Installation view, photo courtesy of the gallery

Spiritual World, the title of the current group show at RAINRAIN, references Alfred Stieglitz’s Spiritual America, a 1923 photograph of a harnessed, castrated horse. The powerless restrained stallion—a traditional American symbol of unstoppable prowess—symbolized for Stieglitz the loss of spirituality in his contemporary American culture. The organizer of Spiritual World, Theodor Nymark, a Copenhagen-based artist who also shows work in it, brought together seven artists from Denmark, Korea, and the USA to explore how spirituality can exist today outside conservative religious ideals and ultra-liberal new-age paganism. In a text for the show, Nymark specifies further how he sees spirituality—”like a multifaceted metaphor, many-sided, a prism with no central outpost, only imagination. Not just a lake, a mirror. Not just a car, a vehicle.” These notions reflect the overall premise of this show.

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