social commentary – Page 3

April 30, 2020April 29, 2020, by Melissa Stern

Artists on Coping: Tim Tate

During the Coronavirus pandemic, Art Spiel is reaching out to artists to learn how they are coping.

Screen Shot 2020-04-08 at 1.32.14 PM.png — Sacred Heart of Chance, 18 x 10 x 4, Blown Glass, Found Objects

Tim Tate is an HIV+ studio artist co-founder of the Washington Glass School in Washington, DC. Tim’s work is in the permanent collections of a number of museums, including the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum. He was president of the Triangle Artist Group ( TAG -a queer artists coalition ), and chairman of the first Art Against Aids in Washington, DC. He was also the 2010 recipient of the Virginia Groot Foundation award for sculpture, 2^nd place in the 2017 London Contemporary Art Prize, and is a 2018 James Renwick Alliance Distinguished Artist. He participated in the Glasstress show with Ai Wei Wei and Vic Muniz during the 2019 Venice Biennale.

November 7, 2019November 15, 2020, by Heather Topcik

Karen Mainenti: Message in a Bottle at Ground Floor

Message in a Bottle, installation view at Ground Floor Gallery, 2019, photo courtesy of Jordan Rathkopf

In Message in a Bottle, the current solo installation show at Ground Floor Gallery in Park Slope, the Gowanus based artist Karen Mainenti transforms the gallery into what at first glance looks like an upscale beauty boutique. Mainenti uses this platform to explore the mechanisms at work in the packaging and marketing of beauty products over time, drawing on her own complex relationship to the products themselves. Much of Mainenti’s work examines the subtle but powerful societal expectations of women that show up in ordinary objects. The delicately cast porcelain replicas of her own cosmetics highlight the way objects can be gendered, even when reduced to their elemental forms. Often using humor as a sly way to invite the viewer in, her drawings of creams, lotions and serums using marketing language from real products highlight the inherent contradiction in the ways we read these messages as absurd, yet suspend that disbelief at the cash register when we buy them. Having visited the show when it opened, I was delighted to have the opportunity to chat with Karen about how this exhibition came together and how the various series within it have developed over time.

July 29, 2019November 15, 2020, by Etty Yaniv

Julie Peppito: Making Meaning out of Anything

Toxic Frock (This Changes Everything by Naomi Klein), 2016, canvas, trim, oil paint, gouache, thread, acrylic paint, found objects, fabric paint, fabric, grommets, variable dimensions (84″ x 156″ x 10″), photo courtesy Dan Gottesman

Julie Peppito‘s visceral and imaginative installations refer to our ecological, cultural, and political environments through explosive colors, textured surfaces, and interconnected loopy forms. Julie Peppito recalls how growing up in Oklahoma and later moving to NYC impacted her development as an artist. She shares some of her thought process, her work as an activist, and some of her projects.

July 30, 2018November 15, 2020, by Etty Yaniv

Leslie Kerby: At a Moment of Change

Leslie Kerby,Shots and Ills, 2015, mixed media collage, oil, paper, litho transfer ink, 18-x-20 inches. Photo credit Bill Orcutt

Leslie Kerby creates mixed media collages, installations, and diverse collaborative work with nuanced commentary on current social and cultural climate. In her interview with Art Spiel she sheds some light on her diverse professional background, art-making process, ideas, and plans. Continue reading “Leslie Kerby: At a Moment of Change”

April 6, 2018June 4, 2020, by Etty Yaniv

Leveling at Novado Gallery

Diana Schmertz, America’s Social Contract, watercolor on laser cut paper – both sides painted, 7 panels, 28×16 inches each, 2017

“Leveling”, the painting show at Novado Gallery features figurative paintings by Michelle Doll, Charlotta Janssen, Heather Morgan, Stefania Panepinto, Diana Schmertz and Jennifer Watson. Anne Novado, the director, curator, and co-owner of the gallery, describes the premise of the show as an artistic response to issues that permeate the social, economic, educational, and political landscape – such as inequality, social status and women’s rights. Continue reading “Leveling at Novado Gallery”