By Lilia Menconi About a year ago, I saw this: and this: So I totally freaked out and wrote this. Both pieces are by local artist, Denise Yaghmourian. I spied Hook Cube (top) and Label, Jumpsuits (bottom) – or, at least, works very similar to them – at the Tempe…
By Lilia Menconi Scottsdale ARTWALK is getting all up in some international shit this Thursday. I already wrote about Lisa Sette’s Chinese art show. And just across Marshall Way, you can see two amazing Cuban artists at Bentley Gallery. Sombra hacia el sur by Acosta. Gustavo Acosta’s “Temporary Current” is…
By Lilia Menconi Hiding in the City #46: Whole Happy Family 2 by Liu Bolin, color photograph So it’s the beginning of the month and I’m drowning in press releases. But this time is always fun for me. When planning for the upcoming weekend, I feel like I have my…
By Lilia Menconi Awww…this little symbol of death is just too cute. Hey, guess what? You’re going to die. Oh, don’t worry, I’ll die too. And so will everyone else. Sure, this concept is nothing new. But it’s easily forgotten. We buzz around everyday – working, eating, joking around with…
By Lilia Menconi By Goran Konjevod. With marriage, the one year anniversary may mark the time when things have slowed down a bit. Life has hit its routine, you don’t really go out that much anymore and maybe you just don’t crumple the sheets like you used to. It could…
By Lilia Menconi Everyone has felt the pressure to really bring it with personal style. You’ve got a big work event coming up and it’s necessary to make an impression. Easy enough. You hit the gym a little harder a month before and grab up some fashion magazines to help…
By Lilia Menconi Anticipation of the Thesmophoria by Simon Casson. In this postmodern world, we just can’t seem to keep our grubby paws off of other people’s ideas. Having surrendered to the concept that there is no longer a purely original thought, we’ve embraced a creative zone of spring boarding…
By Lilia Menconi You’ll most likely come across a movie buff long before you run into an art freak. In our day and age, museums don’t have the pull that movie theaters (or home theaters and Netflix) do. Many would look at this as horribly tragic. I say it’s just…
By Lilia Menconi I swear my pupils dilate every time I see a Fritz Scholder painting. Scholder, who is one-quarter Luseino, a California Mission tribe, has proven himself an important figure in the development of the Native American Art Movement. And, my God, the man knows how to rock a…
By Lilia Menconi I’m not going to bore you with the ga-jillionth summary of Frida Kahlo’s life. But, just in case you missed the movie with Selma Hayek, the autobiography, the children’s book, the plush toy, the poster and the endless websites made by teenage girls dedicated to this artist,…
“So . . . jumpsuits, eh?” Combined with a look of slight confusion, that’s the reaction I’ve gotten when I’ve told people I’m writing a review about jumpsuits. “All for One and One for All: The Jumpsuit” at the Phoenix Art Museum may sound like a fluff show, but, as…
By Lilia Menconi Eve Plumb as we remember her. Celebrity and art – yum! – one of my very favorite topics. I’m endlessly fascinated with the way celebrities are able to assign instant value to an artist simply by purchasing a piece. Or, better yet, when a celebrity decides to…
By Lilia Menconi If you’re a local artist, I know you have a pile of pieces leaning against one of your apartment walls collecting dust, hairspray spritzes and probably the occasional splash of beer. Well, it’s time to bust those babies out of forced retirement, take some slides and submit…
By Lilia Menconi By Joseph Labate. I absolutely love the West Valley Art Museum. But I didn’t grow up on the Westside, I only have a few acquaintances who live there and I don’t have any ailing grandparents in Sun City. So, other than the museum, there’s not much reason…
By Lilia Menconi If you grew up in the West, you’re probably pretty hungry for space. With our ranch-style homes, big back yards and seemingly endless desert, we’re sensitive to the way our walls block us from that which we crave. Such is the focus of a discussion, curated by…
By Lilia Menconi A sample of recent works by Colin Chillag as seen on the show’s flier. First Fridays can set my brain on fire. I always show up in a rush because my third coat of mascara took too long or I got stuck in game traffic or I…
It’s difficult to enter “Lowriders and Tattoos” at Mesa Contemporary Arts without preconceptions. Let’s be honest: Both cultural phenomena carry a negative stigma, even in a country where Hispanic culture is blossoming and, according to exhibit curator Patty Haberman, nearly half the population is inked. My fondness for body modification…
By Lilia Menconi Some of the goodies for sale by Roy Wasson Valle. If I don’t see something art related at least once a week I just kinda feel yucky all over. First off, it’s my job to check out local museums and galleries on a regular basis and I…
I’m sort of befuddled about the recent requiems for Phoenix arts community members who’ve left town for greener pastures — just as they always have and just as they always will. Okay, so it does seem like there’s an arts diaspora going on here, which some scene watchers view as…
By Lilia Menconi For legal purposes, the longest caption ever: James Turrell”Knight Rise,” 2001Venetian plaster, stainless steel, concrete, neonA “skyspace” commissioned by the Scottsdale Public Art Program for the Nancy and Art Schwalm Sculpture Garden, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary ArtPhoto: Florian Holzherr I have a daily early morning ritual that…
By Lilia Menconi A Katrina pool photo. People person or not, interaction with undesirable personalities is inevitable during the course of a life. Thankfully, we get to pick our friends. And now that I’m pushing 30, I’ve finally perfected my craft of surrounding myself with truly phenomenal folks. I prefer…
Stephen Strange and Mike Red look kinda tired. It’s only natural, given that the two have been working around the clock since May on Television Noir, their beyond-bizarre late-night TV series that’s debuting this weekend on local station KAZT. But despite his fatigued state, Red’s able to summarize the frenetic…
