BOSTON Museum of Fine Arts Boston Unlike most Ellsworth Kelly shows, “Ellsworth Kelly: Wood Sculpture” was all brown. This first exhibition devoted exclusively to the artist’s works in wood bypassed the early painted pieces to focus on sculptures that celebrate the color, texture, and grain of the unadorned material.
September 2012
“E8: Sculpture”
WASHINGTON, DC Transformer In 2004, Transformer launched its “Exercise” program—a peer critique and mentorship program culminating in short exhibitions for participating artists. As last year’s roster attested, the program continues to thrive as a dynamic incubator.
Carsten Höller
NEW YORK New Museum Nauseous and uncomfortable, with pumping adrenalin, racing heartbeat, and itching skin—that describes how I felt leaving “Experience,” Carsten Höller’s first New York survey.
John Ruppert: Staging Energy
Back in 1992, John Ruppert was cleaning out his studio and rolling up some chain-link fencing when it got away from him. When he caught it, the loose end fanned out into space. All of a sudden, he realized that this loosely woven material had a structure, and he became interested in its mobilization of
Constance DeJong: Beauty, Bare
There is no escaping the impact of a fully realized and meticulously executed sculpture by leading New Mexico artist Constance DeJong. Her quintessential black pieces, which she calls her “Four/Three Series,” evoke what might be called a shudder.
Yayoi Kusama: Social Transformation Through Infinite Multiplication
Entering Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrored Room—Filled with the Brilliance of Life (2011), as staged at Tate Modern, you found yourself in a darkened, boxed space filled with colorfully flashing, suspended lights. The walls were lined with mirrors and the floor filled with water.
Etsuko Ichikawa: Fire and Water
Following what may be described as a coming-out event at Miami’s Art Basel in 2005, Seattle artist Etsuko Ichikawa has had a series of impressive solo exhibitions around the United States, capped in 2011 by two extensive shows, one at the University of Wyoming’s Museum of Art and the second at Seattle’s Davidson Gallery.