January's best art turned up in several Valley cities — including Phoenix, Scottsdale, and Tempe. Most of our favorites pieces last month were spotted during staples of the metro Phoenix art scene: First or Third Friday art walks in downtown Phoenix, and Scottsdale's weekly Thursday night art walk. It's a pleasant reminder that now is the best time of year to put on your walking shoes and explore the local arts scene.
Thousand Kisses Deep
Carrie Marill
Using soft colors rather than her characteristic bold ones, Carrie Marill infuses her geometric piece with a quiet presence that draws the viewer in and inspires further exploration of the work’s sophisticated and subtle quality. Thousand Kisses Deep is part of the “Luis Gonzalez Palma/Carrie Marill” exhibition that continues through February 25 at Lisa Sette Gallery.
Selections from “SENSES” Series
Denis Gillingwater
Gillingwater’s photographs, which are featured in the “Between” exhibition that continues through February 17 at the Eric Fischl Gallery at Phoenix College, prompt reflection on the surveillance state and the role of technology in modern life. It's particularly relevant to contemporary political discourse in American society.
Blue Ice
Sandra Klein
Klein’s sewn archival inkjet print with crystals conveys the power of photographic media to inspire imagination, giving viewers a compelling visual prompt with which to conjure their own stories. The work was featured in a January exhibition at Tilt Gallery titled “Photography Re-Imagined VI: Visual Storytelling.”
Proof-Reading
Ann Morton
Morton’s dainty white cloth juxtaposed with the intensity of the bold text in colors signifying the American dream was a clear standout among hundreds of works featured in a three-night exhibition titled “Nasty Women: Phoenix Unite,” which was held at Grand ArtHaus and benefited Planned Parenthood of Arizona.
The Apache Declaration of Independence and She Teaches War
Douglas Miles
In a gallery filled with nostalgic takes on the Wild West, including several devoid of the indigenous people who predated the cowboys and their iconography, Douglas Miles made a strong showing with large-scale pieces that bear the names of Apache warriors. These works are part of “Western Pop,” which continues through May 6 at the Gallery at Tempe Center for the Arts.
Read on for more of January's best art from Aileen Frick, Daniel Friedman, and Cyndy Carstens.
Paradise is Just
Aileen Frick
One of several mixed-media collage works featured in her solo exhibition during January at monOrchid’s Shade Gallery, this piece by Aileen Frick was inspired by her experience of seeing Dale Chihuly’s glass works installed at the Desert Botanical Garden.
Mesquite Petals, Circle; Dyssodias, Whole; and Pomegranate, Cracked
Daniel Friedman
Friedman’s trio of photographic works, his first showing as a new member of the Five15 Arts collective, demonstrate his facility for capturing the art inherent in nature and everyday objects. These pieces were part of “Changing Spaces,” the first exhibition presented by Five15 Arts at its temporary exhibition space at Phoenix Center for the Arts.
Euphoria Sonata
Cyndy Carstens
Long before coloring books with flowing black lines on stark white pages became all the rage, Cyndy Carstens was creating black-and-white drawings inspired by music. This piece is one of several such works on view at Carstens Gallery in Old Town Scottsdale.
Ancient Rotation
Jay Hardin
Another work from the “Between” exhibition that continues through February 17 at Eric Fischl Gallery, this charcoal drawing conveys the ways nature is simultaneously structured and fluid.
toys?
Diane Silver
Part of Diane Silver’s solo exhibition that runs through February 4 at Gebert Contemporary, this painting suggests the casual approach to guns taken by both individuals and communities in contemporary American society.