All Art Friday

All Art Friday

All Art Friday Spotlights

✦ The short film below introduces the work of Brandon Maldonado, self-described "painter of poetry" who recently had a show of new works at Santa Fe's Blue Rain Gallery. Born in 1980, Maldonado, who is color-blind, did not take up oil paints until he was 24. As the film reveals, Maldonado's work is informed by the influence of the fantastical and, as he notes, early exposure to graffiti reflected even now in his art. His themes are universal, their expression in paint what he describes in his Artist's Statement as his effort "to understand them and in return, bring that understanding into my life with the intention of making myself a better individual." See selections of his original paintings here and examples of original works on paper here. Online galleries of his art, both paintings and drawings, can be found at his Website. He exhibits worldwide.

Intersecting Parallels from wes edling on Vimeo.

Brian Maldonado on FaceBook

✦ An extraordinary textile — the only one of its kind in the world — has been loaned to the Art Institute of Chicago, where it in view through October. The textile is made from strands of silk from more than one million Madagascan golden orb spiders. This 10-minute video explains the textile's fascinating background and its creation.

Exhibitions Here and There

✭ At the Cleveland Museum of Art, "CLE OP: Cleveland Op Art Pioneers" is ongoing through February 26, 2012. The show is drawn primarily from the museum's permanent holdings supplemented with loans from private collections. As its title indicates, its focus is on the key artists working in Op in Cleveland during the movement's formative years. According to exhibition notes, Cleveland had the only artist collaborative in the United States devoted to Op. Gallery views of the show, which includes work by Edwin Mieczkowski, Julian Stanczak, and Ernst Benkert (d. 2010), are here (click on exhibition title).

Cleveland Museum of Art on FaceBook and Twitter

CMA's Blogpost  "What the Eyes See: The Magic of Op At"

Slideshow of Mieczkowski's Works on Paper

✭ In Fort Worth, Texas, the Amon Carter Museum of American Art is presenting through October 9 a special exhibition, "The Allure of Paper: Watercolors and Drawings from the Collection". Organized to celebrate the museum's 50th anniversary, the show includes more than 100 drawings and watercolors by such artists as Edward Hopper, Ben Shahn, John Singer Sargent, and Joseph Stella, seen for the first time together. A catalogue accompanies the the one-of-a-kind works. 

John Singer Sargent, The Hon. Clare Stuart-Wortley, 1923

Charcoal on Paper

Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Edward P. Bass in Honor of Rick Stewart and Bob Workman

Selection of Exhibition Images

ACM on FaceBook, Twitter, and Vimeo

✭ Chicago's Art Institute offers through November 13 the contemporary basket artistry of Fujinuma Noboru (b. 1945). In the show, for the first time, are bamboo baskets from the artist's personal collection that were included in a gift to the museum. Noboru began his study of traditional Japanese crafts in 1974, apprenticing to bamboo basket maker Yagisawa Keizo. In 1992, a top prize-winning piece purchased by the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo launched his career. The artist uses such techniques as ara-ami ("rough" plaiting), varies the shapes of his baskets (some are tray-shaped, others cylindrical), and uses both dyed and undyed bamboo.

Fujinuma Noboru, Spring Tide, c. 2000

Gift of the Artist
The Art Institute of Chicago

The Art Institute has the largest collection in the United States of Noboru's work. Other institutions holding his work include the Ruth and Sherman Lee Institute for Japanese Art in Hanford, California.

Videos of Noboru and his work are here and here.

Images of Noboru Basketry at ARTIC

Images of Noboru Basketry at TAI Gallery, Santa Fe

ARTIC on FaceBook, Twitter, YouTube, and ArtBabble

ARTIC Blog, ARTicle

SAVE THE DATES

✭ In Colorado, Denver Art Museum opens "Robert Adams: The Place We Live, A Retrospective Selection of Photographs" on September 25. Organized by Yale University Art Gallery, the exhibition, which will continue through January 1, 2012, will feature more than 200 black-and-white photographs, including contemporary Western landscapes, many shot in the Rocky Mountain region. The show will tour. Among several exhibition-related programs is "Takes on the Changing West: Provocative Talks by Our Regions Poets, Authors and Thinkers", scheduled October 6-20 (speakers to be announced).

Image Highlights (pdf)

Robert Adams "The Place We Live" at Yale University Art Gallery

Robert Adams on Art21 (You'll find a biography, slideshows, interview, and more at this site.)

DAM on FaceBook and Twitter

✭ The second edition of an international contemporary art biennial, Prospect.2 opens in New Orleans October 22 and runs through January 29, 2012. Among the more than two dozen local, national, and international artists whose work will be on view are Sophie Calle, Nick Cave, Jonas Dahlberg, William Eggleston, and Dan Tague. 

Ticket Information

Prospect New Orleans on FaceBook, Twitter, YouTube, and Vimeo

Prospect New Orleans Blog