“Life in a Cold Place: Arctic Art from the Albrecht Collection” at the Heard Museum: The humble aesthetic of Grandma Moses — the self-taught early-20th-century folk artist — is beloved because it serves as a simple reminder of quaint, rural life in America, rich with homely traditions and collective practices…
No matter how hard we attempt to extend life, impermanence just isn’t in the cards. The jury’s out on cryogenics, and all the vitamins in the world won’t stop you from eventually becoming worm food (personally, I’ll skip that and get cremated instead). But most of us will live on…
It’s no secret that photography is the art form most practiced by the masses. And because any Joe Blow with a pulse can push a shutter-release button on a camera, we’ve been subjected, ad nauseam, to the dreaded snapshot. I automatically think “bad amateur” when I see a clumsily composed…
“Rembrandt and the Golden Age of Dutch Art” at the Phoenix Art Museum: Sometimes, its the fame and hype surrounding a piece of art that excites us more than does the piece itself. So even if youve never been nuts about 17th-century dusky interiors or girl doing meaningless task paintings,…
After famous artists die, their work inherits and perpetuates their celebrity status. The Mona Lisa may not be your favorite, but if you happen to be cruising through the Louvre, there’s no way you can’t make a pit stop. She’s just too famous to pass up. Sometimes, it’s the fame…
Whether it’s hiking, camping, or going to the movies, most people remember the activities they shared as a family. I landed a family that played board games and went to Star Trek conventions. I try to block out those memories. If only I could have been a Moquay. Rotraut, the…
“Jelly” at Mesa Contemporary Arts: Tucson-based artist Gwyneth Scally reminisces about beachfront life in this installation of large-scale sculptures and acrylic paintings, all focused on the beauty and danger of jellyfish. Its an intelligent, exotic exhibit that examines the relationship between science and spirituality using imagery that viewers, especially coastal…
After nine years in the desert, the feel of the cool ocean water lapping at my toes is a faded childhood memory. Growing up on Long Island, I spent summers along the sandy shores, picking up purple-streaked shells and poking at the runny carcasses of jellyfish that would slowly dissolve…
Painter Gwyneth Scally, 33, is accustomed to walking in two worlds. She has degrees in English literature and studio art. She’s a self-professed atheist who went to Catholic school. And she lives in the barren desert, despite her love of the sea. Raised by a scientific-minded English father and a…
“Reflections from Within: Charlie Emmert” at West Valley Art Museum: If Emmerts oil portraits of notable historical figures accurately reflect their personalities, then these guys were one miserable lot. In OKeeffe Study, a thin veil of gray watercolor drips like tears over the artists heavily wrinkled and forlorn face. It…
“Don’t Eat Tuna More Than Two Times a Week” was the unforgettable advice you may have received while driving north on Mill Avenue past Gammage Auditorium last spring. The posted chalkboard-style signs bearing wacky wisdom at the side of the road were part of Arizona State University’s first “Shared Terrain”…
“IN-CRIMI-NATION” at The Icehouse: If you think the Iraq War is our countrys low point, wait until you see The Icehouses latest sniper shot at America. Artist Mona Higuchis 12-foot-high woven paper reprint of a vintage photograph depicting Japanese girls stitching camouflage cargo nets at an internment camp is a…
A few years ago, a friend of mine had a great idea for a Halloween costume. His plan was to find a framed painting of a woman’s portrait, cut out the eyes, and peek through the holes. He would be the mysterious shifty-eyed spy seen in horror movies or the…
Any scene worth its salt comes with cliques, and the coolest club in the Phoenix art world is Collective Gesture, a group of artists, curators, and writers who communicate mostly via an invite-only listserv. Sometimes they come out to play, and this month, they’ve launched a show, “Do Me,” in…
In serious art circles, “craft” is a dirty word. It means crocheted doilies and wooden birdhouses, the handmade kitsch you would find at church rummage sales. Form is secondary to function. Installation artist Bruce Nauman, who was featured in PBS’ Art:21 series, said, “It’s the intention that turns a staircase…
Make a Saturday morning stop at the neighborhood garage sale, and you might find a stack of watercolors depicting flowers, butterflies and landscapes, at 25 cents apiece. They look like public-access how-to works, and they really aren’t that great. Mom painted these back in the ’80s when she needed an…
His pseudonym reads like that of a second-rate sci-fi author. The name of his solo exhibition is derived from the language of the apes spoken in Tarzan novels. His work is a gold mine of Freudian obsessions, from big-breasted babes with Barbie waistlines to superhero men with bulging biceps and…
Drawing is often considered a “practice” art. Granted, Michelangelo’s sketch The Risen Christ sold at auction for a record $12.3 million a few years ago. Even Picasso’s rough sketches of his mistress, Genevieve Laporte, fetched a hefty sum. The catch is that only after their deaths and their recognition as…
After Dark: 100 Years of the Evening Dress at Phoenix Art Museum: Your old prom dress probably isn’t a masterpiece, but formal wear by Oscar De La Renta and Gianni Versace can be as desirable as a Rembrandt. Phoenix Art Museum’s exhibit of 30 gowns, selected from their cache of…
Blame it on the History Channel’s Hiroshima documentaries or the section in theology class on the Rapture. Apocalyptic visions are undeniably enthralling. I don’t know about you, but I can’t help but contemplate how mass hysteria would look, feel and smell. So when I come across a show like “Gardening…
Alison Dunn at eye lounge: Viewers, on average, spend less than five seconds looking at any one painting in a museum or gallery. This statistic doesn’t bode well for Alison Dunn, whose murky mixed-media paintings at first appear to be simple abstractions. A closer look reveals an underlying depth and…
During a recent visit to the newly expanded Phoenix Art Museum, I overheard a fellow patron say, “The art at this museum never ceases to disappoint me on a regular basis.” Funny, that’s just how I felt about “Modern by Nature: Ansel Adams in the 1930s,” a retrospective meant to…
