Welcome to the summer issue we didn’t know we’d have. As we began planning this issue in mid-May, most of us expected that it wouldn’t be till August, at the earliest, that the region would be reopened at full capacity. Then, as Memorial Day Weekend neared, states unexpectedly announced a return to “normalcy” and suddenly we found ourselves carefully returning to our favorite galleries, museums and restaurants. With this issue, we hope we’ll give you a number of strong and safe ideas for art wanderlust roadtrips to take in the New England area. As a follow-up to our last issue where I revisited a then-reawakening Newbury Street, I asked Elizabeth Michelman and Suzanne Volmer, who have regularly attended First Fridays and other events in Boston’s SoWa District, to return there the first week of June to prepare a report on how galleries were doing and more importantly, how the … [Read more...] about WELCOME July/August 2021: FROM BRIAN GOSLOW
Current Issue
THE NEW WORLD OF DIGITAL IMAGERY: WILL NFTS MAKE TRADITIONAL GALLERIES OBSOLETE?
Changing each day, and sometimes each hour, the art world has been digitally revolutionized as discoveries are made and challenges met within this new world we are all experiencing. We had been thrust into the virtual world before the pandemic, but it has been gaining ground because of our required online interactions due to pandemic isolation requirements. Over the past year, we’ve all come together virtually, learning new ways to form communities, have our art seen and support ourselves as artists. The newest medium for selling art work is the digitally- centered “non-fungible token,” better known as a NFT, authenticated by a blockchain that keeps track of who bought and owns the file. (To read more, pick up a copy of our latest issue! Find a pick-up location near you or Subscribe Here.) … [Read more...] about THE NEW WORLD OF DIGITAL IMAGERY: WILL NFTS MAKE TRADITIONAL GALLERIES OBSOLETE?
WE THE ARTISTS: AMERICA 2021: HERA EXHIBITION PULLS THE COUNTRY TOGETHER
While many galleries and museums have, and are holding Covid-era art exhibitions, almost historical retrospectives displayed while the period is still in-progress, with its upcoming “Turmoil and Transformation” exhibition, Hera Gallery aimed to present art that suggests a post-pandemic world. The exhibition, open to artists nationwide, was juried by Francine Weiss, senior curator at the Newport Art Museum. Most of the work was made between 2019 and 2021, with a few earlier pieces. The exhibition stands as a strong survey of work being made by artists throughout the United States. “Each work presents new insight after a year of deep inner and outer reflections from religion, to climate change, reproductive rights, racial equality, health care, consumerism, and overall the human experience of creating understanding of trying times through art-making,” said gallery director Sonja … [Read more...] about WE THE ARTISTS: AMERICA 2021: HERA EXHIBITION PULLS THE COUNTRY TOGETHER
DIGITAL BREATH AT NEWPORT: VIDEO ARTISTS SHOCK US BACK TO REALITY
According to Tom Robbins, in a 2014 article in Harpers, “...When Oscar Wilde allegedly gestured at the garish wallpaper in his cheap Parisian hotel room and announced with his dying breath, ‘Either it goes or I go,’ he was exhibiting something beyond an irrepressibly brilliant wit.” Breath. Breathing. It is also defined as a respite or a suggestion. With that in mind, checkout the “Digital Breath: Video and Sound Art in the Age of Global Connectivity” installation that’s on view through June 6 at the Newport Art Museum. Organized by guest curator and multimedia artist Brian C. O’Malley, along with his own work, the show brings together the work of Annu Palakunnathu Matthew, Steven Subotnick, John DeVault, Daniel O’Neill, Lauren Mantecón and Andrea Pérez Bessin. (To read more, pick up a copy of our latest issue! Find a pick-up location near you or Subscribe Here.) … [Read more...] about DIGITAL BREATH AT NEWPORT: VIDEO ARTISTS SHOCK US BACK TO REALITY
BEACHTIME IN SOWA: THE BEACON HOSTS MEHTA’S SUN-DRENCHED PAINTINGS
As a reviewer, it is a pleasure to discover more in an artist’s body of work, the more closely one looks. I often have to own my subconscious prejudices as I respond to the range of creative and critical impulses that shape contemporary art. Skimming Lori Mehta’s modernist realist paintings on her website, I had to confront my initial skepticism. Her color sense was unusual, but was she anything beyond a gifted painter of New England beach scenes? A week later, chatting with the artist in her garage studio, I happily discovered that there was much that I had missed. (To read more, pick up a copy of our latest issue! Find a pick-up location near you or Subscribe Here.) … [Read more...] about BEACHTIME IN SOWA: THE BEACON HOSTS MEHTA’S SUN-DRENCHED PAINTINGS
A PASSIONATE OPENING: KEENE’S NEW LEAF GALLERY FILLS A REGION’S NEED
Nestled between a candy shop and an upscale eatery in downtown Keene, New Hampshire, The New Leaf Gallery inhabits a sun-drenched single room on the second floor of a shared office building, the gallery’s temporary home while a spacious, completely remodeled new location is readied a block away. Epitomizing the resilience and determination required in the post-pandemic economic landscape, The New Leaf Gallery is a rising phoenix, thanks to the vision and dedication of its co-founders, Taryn Fisher and Matt Brown. Taryn Fisher is introspective about the challenges of the past year. Following the closure of the Keene Fine Craft Gallery in May, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Fisher consulted privately with almost all of the artists represented by her established venue. “I recognized this would not only pummel my own income but also the livelihood of the 150 artists whom I had been … [Read more...] about A PASSIONATE OPENING: KEENE’S NEW LEAF GALLERY FILLS A REGION’S NEED