Berlinde De Bruyckere’s raw, visceral sculptures embody death, life, passion, and vulnerability. Through the 1990s and 2000s, she made life-size, cast wax sculptures of bodies that crouch, huddle, arch, writhe, and merge into one another in ecstatic Baroque agony.
“Alice, Neeme & Jass”
HELSINKI Kunsthalle Helsinki
The unassuming title could not have been any more paradoxical, effectively belying the vitality of the work created by Alice Kask, Neeme Külm, and Jass Kaselaan, three Estonian artists. Their objects not only played off each other, but also responded astutely to the spaces in which they were set.
Radicalized Representation: A Conversation with Renate Bertlmann
Since the 1970s, Renate Bertlmann has been creating striking works that explore sexuality, gender, and eroticism, as well as their social context. Her practice has stretched across two- and three-dimensional media, including performance. In sculpture, her diverse materials include latex, polyurethane foam, silicone rubber, epoxy resins, plaster, acrylic glass, glass, tulle, silk, velvet, organza, linen,
2018 Charlotte Street Foundation Visual Artist Awards
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI H&R Block Artspace at the Kansas City Art Institute
Though not by design, there is often a shared thread among the works in the annual Charlotte Street Visual Artist Awards Exhibition, which accompanies a $10,000 unrestricted grant to each artist.
What Do We Really Want from War Memorials?
As we struggle to determine the future of Confederate monuments, we might do well to step back and ask a broader question: “What do we really want from war memorials?” I decided to explore that question by visiting five well-known war memorials in Washington, DC, to consider their social functions and artistic qualities.
The Webster Court Project
NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS When Christopher and Joelle Zakak purchased a late 19th-century Queen Anne Victorian house in Newton, Massachusetts, they intended to demolish the aged relic and rebuild on the site. Local zoning regulations, however, required that they wait one year. Being artists, as well as enterprising developers, they began using the empty rooms as studios.
Maya Lin
GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN Grand Rapids Art Museum From the meteoric launch of her artistic career in 1981 to the present, Maya Lin has harnessed an elegantly Minimalist vocabulary to convey potent messages, frequently using her work to demonstrate humanity’s impact on the natural environment. “Flow,” Lin’s recent exhibition, was devoted to sculptural works addressing the need to be more mindful of water.
New Orleans and the Art of Labor
Considering the long-held view that, for ordinary people, manufacturing jobs hold the key to the American dream, there is something almost elegiac about the often reported fading fortunes of blue-collar workers. But is material, or physical, labor really a thing of the past to the extent that so many seem to think?
Jessica Straus
BOSTON Boston Sculptors Gallery
“TransAtlantic,” Jessica Straus’s recent exhibition at Boston Sculptors Gallery, consisted of an immersive, room-filling, mixed-media installation that viewers could enter and roam around. Parts of the floor and wall were covered with World War II-era maps mounted on plywood tiles, showing the coastlines of North America and Western Europe, with the Atlantic Ocean stretching in between.
Whitney Biennial 2019
NEW YORK Whitney Museum of American Art
The Kanders protest may have pushed the Whitney to deal with its cultural and ethical responsibility, but that was only one of many issues raised through the work of the 75 artists and collectives on view.
