The Spring issue of Artscope has arrived! Pick it up at participating galleries around New England, or subscribe to the print or e-edition here.
See excerpts from my two stories below.
FINDING BEAUTY IN THE BEAST
Taryn Plumb
CHRISTINA ZWART TAKES THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED
BOSTON
SCULPTORS GALLERY
486
HARRISON AVENUE
BOSTON,
MASSACHUSETTS
APRIL
1 THROUGH MAY 3
It’s
a common sight, and one that most of us greet with a flash of
revulsion or a quick aversion of the eyes. But when Christina Zwart
came upon roadkill during a walk on the Cape a few summers ago, she
not only stopped to inspect it — she perceived the beauty in it.
A
jackrabbit lay on its side, unbloodied, possessing a look of vigor
with a “really, really beautiful blue hue in its ear,” the
Wayland, Mass. artist recalled. So she snapped a few photos. And from
then on, it was her habit to pull over whenever a bend in the road
revealed similar casualties.
She’s
since amassed dozens of images — the expected squirrels, chipmunks,
skunks, raccoons and snakes, as well as deer, a fox, a coyote, a cat,
and even a sadly fascinating mother opossum carrying five
underdeveloped babies in her pouch — that are creatively assembled
in her dichotomous photo mosaic, “Rosekill.”
When
viewed from a distance, the unpleasant, sometimes grotesque pictures
of roadside carnage come together to create the pinnacle
representation of love and beauty: a rose. The duplicitous work will
be on display, along with several other of the installation artist’s
unique and thought-provoking pieces, at the Boston Sculptors Gallery
from April 1 through May 3.
Rebellion
and irony thread throughout Zwart’s work; often with a mark of
whimsy, she manipulates expectations and first impressions by
presenting her audience with one thing, then literally reeling them
in, step by step, to reveal another. “It’s the element of
surprise, the shock, the discovery,” she said. “It’s not what
it first appears to be.”
The
serious and sobering study, “No Hives...No Lives,” for example,
appears at paces away as a 10’ x 8’ honeycomb, a certain number
of the hexagons darkened to create a skull-and-cross-bones pattern.
But advance closer, and those dark spots reveal themselves to be
thousands of clusters of dead bees (provided by the Worcester County
Beekeeping Association).
Read
the entire article in our magazine pages...
View Zwart's website.
ORGANIC
TO GEOMETRIC AT ENDICOTT
Taryn
Plumb
DAWNA
BEMIS CELEBRATES HER UPBRINGING
ORGANIC
TO GEOMETRIC: INVESTIGATIONS IN STRUCTURE AND SURFACE - A GROUP
EXHIBITION REPRESENTING THE WORK OF 19 CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS
WALTER
J. MANNINEN CENTER FOR THE ARTS AT ENDICOTT COLLEGE
376
HALE STREET
BEVERLY,
MASSACHUSETTS
THROUGH
MARCH 20
Dawna
Bemis knows she was blessed with a unique childhood.
Four
generations of her family thrived in one teeming house- hold, and at
any given time when she was growing up, she was surrounded by
extended family — cousins, great-uncles, great- grandparents —
who virtually took over an entire neighborhood in the tiny mid-Maine
town of Veazie.
“You
can’t throw a rock without hitting relatives of mine up there,”
quipped the artist, who has since immigrated south to Portland,
calling her upbringing a “privilege.” “I recognize how special
it was.”
And
also how rare. Bemis, in her prolific encaustic geometric works,
explores the loss of such generational bonds and conduits of
knowledge in today’s fractured, solitary, technology-dependent
society.
Read the entire article in our magazine pages...
View Bemis' website.
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