It’s over. You did it.

Dry those gravy tears, wipe Aunt Cathy’s lipstick from your cheek, and let’s wrap things up!

contemplation x expressive voice x emerging from the sea x immortalized

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The Expressive Voice

(Seascape, Hyman Bloom)

When: On view through February 26th, 2012

Where: Danforth Museum, 123 Union Avenue, Framingham, MA

What/Why: “The Danforth Museum of Art has become recognized for its commitment to Boston Expressionism, a school that embraced a distinctive blend of visionary painting, dark humor, religious mysticism, and social commentary. Historical roots of this movement can be traced

to European Symbolism and German Expressionism, but artists living and working in the Boston area from the 1930’s through the 1950’s, were particularly inspired by Chaim Soutine and Max Beckman. Many studied under the direction of Karl Zerbe at the Museum School. Because most painted realistically at a time when abstraction was the trend, these painterly expressionists have long
existed outside the mainstream of contemporary art. Yet these artists explored human emotion and spirituality with color and imagination, pushing paint across the surface of the canvas in a way that influenced Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning and were important to the development of Abstract Expressionism – and significant to the history of twentieth century American art.

Hyman Bloom and Jack Levine were in the first generation of the group that came to be known as Boston Expressionists. Having grown up in the Jewish immigrant communities of Boston, both artists drew on their Eastern European heritage. Levine’s work tended toward the political, Bloom’s towards an exploration of the spiritual. Working from memory rather than directly from nature, both depicted scenes inspired by the Hebrew Talmud, classical music, or the human condition.

A second generation of Boston Expressionist artists included David Aronson, Jason Berger, Francesco Carbone, Esther Geller,
Kahlil Gibran, Arthur Polonsky, Henry Schwartz, Barbara Swan, Lois Tarlow, Stephen Trefonides and numerous others. Most studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts under the direction of Karl Zerbe, and remained committed to representational figuration at a time when the contemporary art world embraced abstraction, pop and minimalism. Photographer Jules Aarons documented the West End neighborhood where Hyman Bloom grew up and, like his contemporary Morton Bartlett, was interested in the emotional narrative of everyday life observed on the streets of Boston during the mid-twentieth century.

A third generation of Boston Expressionists were active in the 1970’s and 80’s, and continue working today. These include such diverse artists as Aaron Fink, Gerry Bergstein, Sidney Hurwitz, Jon Imber, Michael Mazur, Katherine Porter, Jane Smaldone and many others
who have employed expressive, sometimes visionary approaches. Considered together, all allow viewers to trace the presence of an “expressive voice” in contemporary art. While all are unique, their work continues a tradition of painterly expressionism, expanding our
consideration of painting in a digital age.”

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Aphrodite and the Gods of Love

(Statuette of Aphrodite Emerging from the Sea)

When: On view through February 20th, 2012

Where: Museum of Fine Arts, Avenue of the Arts, 465 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115

How: Official Website

What/Why: “Known today as the goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite, or Venus as she was known to the Romans, was one of the most powerful ancient Greek divinities and a favorite subject in ancient art. This is the first exhibition about the powerful goddess that both ancient writers and artists described as complex and even dangerous. Through the presentation of 150 Greek and Roman works of art, “Aphrodite and the Gods of Love,” which includes spectacular loans from Rome and Naples, reveals the most popular ancient goddess in her roles as adulterous seductress, instigator of sexual desire, mother to mischievous Eros and sexual outliers Hermaphrodite and Priapos, patroness of brides, and much more.”

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Reflections and Refractions

(Contemplation, Karin Rosenthal)

When: On view through February 2012

Where: The Center for Theoretical Physics is located in the Third Floor Art Space in MIT’s Building 6, 77 Massachusetts Avenue

How: Official Website

What/Why: ” Karin Rosenthal’s fascinating photographs reveal the pleasures of close observation. Reflections and shadows of barely recognizable human forms mingle with physical objects and watery lenses within the spaces of sea shores. Speaking about her photographs she says: “Where I had photographed the body and its reflection before, I now only photograph its reflection. Increasingly, my images convey the fragility of life. We are permanent only within nature’s elements.”

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Jennifer Moses Roswell : New Work

(Web)

When: On view November 30th through January 1st, 2012

Opening Reception: December 2nd, 5:00-8:00PM

Where: Kingston Gallery, 450 Harrison Ave. #43, Boston, MA 02118

How: Official Website

What/Why: “An artist-run gallery incorporated in 1982, Kingston takes its name from its original location on Kingston Street in Chinatown. In the mid-90s the gallery was one of the very first to relocate to Thayer Street, anchoring what has since developed into the vibrant SoWa arts district of Boston’s historic South End.”

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From the Everyday to the Existential: Edel Bordón & Yamile Pardo

(La Danza, prior work of Edel Bordon)

When: On view through December 4th, 2011

Where: Galeria Cubana, 460 Harrison Avenue, Boston, MA

How: Official Website

What/Why: “Our mission is to introduce artwork rarely seen in the United States, support artists on the island, thereby strengthening cultural ties between the two countries.”

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FreePort[No. 004]: Peter Hutton at PEM

When: On view through December 31st, 2011

Where: Peabody Essex Museum, 161 Essex Street Salem, MA 01970

How: Official Website

Cost: $15

What/Why: “Peter Hutton has spent nearly 40 years voyaging around the world, often by cargo ship, to create meditative, intimate, and luminously photographed film studies of place. At Sea (2007) depicts the life cycle of a container ship – from mechanized construction in Korean shipyards, to a journey across the Atlantic and ending with the manual labor of ship breakers in Bangladesh. The title of the film evokes a loss of perspective, a metaphor born from the experience of a sea journey and its ability to strip us of our sense of scale, time and distance––something that maritime artists have long sought to depict.”

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Life in the Extreme Deep

(Kronosaurus queenslandicus skeleton)

When: On view through June 30th, 2012

Where: Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138

How: Official Website

Cost: $9

What/Why: “Harvard Museum of Natural History announces a new photographic exhibit opening in the museum lobby on October 12, showcasing the research of Harvard’s Loeb Associate Professor of Natural Sciences Peter R. Girguis and stunning deep-sea photographs by scientists who work in the field with Professor Girguis. Life in the Extreme Deep will remain on display through June 2012.

In conjunction with the photographic exhibit, the museum will offer a lecture by Harvard biologist Peter Girguis on Wednesday October 12 at 6:30 pm. Girguis will discuss issues surrounding the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill and what biologists are doing to understand how natural “oil-eating” microbes are able to aid in the cleanup.”

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Waverly Road

When: On view through November 26th, 2011

Where: HallSpace, 950 Dorchester Avenue, Boston, MA 02125

How: Official Website

What/Why: An exhibition featuring the works of Jo Ann Rothschild.

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Global Flora: Botanical Imagery and Exploration

(Trade, Isabella Kirkland)

When: On view through January 15th, 2012

Where: Davis Museum, 106 Central Street, Wellesley, MA 02130

How: Official Website

What/Why: “An exhibition celebrating the aesthetic qualities as well as the scientific importance of botanical imagery, Global Flora features prints and illustrated books that have resulted from exploratory missions around the world. Curated by Elaine Mehalakes, Kemper Curator of Academic Programs.”

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Amy Theiss Giese: Concealed at First at Last I Appear

(detail view of 110311.20032116.02215)

When: On view November 28th through January 6th, 2012

Opening Reception: November 30, 2011 6:30pm-8:30pm

Where: New England School of Photography, 537 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215

How: Official Website

What/Why: “Amy Theiss Giese’s skiagrams (shadow drawings) investigate how the most basic photographic method, light recorded onto paper, can reveal overlooked interior moments. Embedded in each drawing is an abstracted compression of an experience: The weather, the hand of the artist and the interior space of the room itself. Reminencent of Fox Talbot’s initial photographic explorations, these singular images compel vital questions.”

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A Day in Pompeii

When: On view through February 12th, 2012

Where: Museum of Science, 1 Science Park, Boston, MA 02114

How: Official Website

What/Why: “Get a glimpse of daily life in Pompeii, one of Imperial Rome’s most cosmopolitan cities. Hundreds of artifacts — including body casts of the volcano’s victims — bring to light the vibrancy of this bustling resort town, but the darkening skies ahead and violent sounds of Vesuvius spewing ash and debris signal imminent danger.”

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