Several years ago, I moved to Chicago. Most of the friends I made had never traveled west of Omaha, so they liked to tease me for being a cowpoke from Arizona. One so-called pal wondered if I missed my pet tumbleweed. Another asked if I grew up next to the…
Give a kid couch cushions and a blanket and you’ll inevitably see some masterful fort-building. What child can resist? Creating new spaces that offer protection, mystery and ample opportunity to flex the imagination is — and always was, for my part — too much fun to pass up. So, the…
Growing up in South Dakota, Brian Boner remembers being surrounded by hummingbirds. “They were everywhere,” he says, “and if you stood very still, they’d come right up to you and buzz around your face like you were a giant sunflower.” It’s a memory that the 32-year-old painter has memorialized in…
Little, pink weasel-cats making sweet love atop bulbous greenery. Such is the kinky world I entered at “Renegade Clay: 5 Views from the West,” at ASU Art Museum’s Ceramics Research Center. The title’s a little overdramatic and silly (Renegade? Can clay really be that badass?), but I was pleased to…
The best part of any art history class is learning whom an artist was sleeping with when she painted her masterpiece. It’s natural — the thirst to hear the dirt behind the work. And the backstory often fuels the interpretation. In the case of the photography show “Lalla Essaydi: Les…
The other day, I found myself swooping a glowing green ball in front of me as I stepped forward, kneeled to the floor, and then scooted to the side. I was in the middle of the Americas Gallery at ASU Art Museum, and I looked like a conceptual interpretive dancer…
Maybe I’m a judgmental jerk, but when I think “car show,” I picture a trashy model in a hot pink thong bikini, draped over a gleaming hood and circled by ogling men who don’t stand a chance in hell of taking either commodity home. That’s what I used to think,…
“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…
