What Are Your Contradictions?
Brad Kunkle, Where Time Begins, 78 x 50 inches, Oil, gold and silver leaf on linen. 2023.
“There was some open space between what he knew and what he tried to believe, but nothing could be done about it, and if you can’t fix it you’ve got to stand it.” -Annie Proulx, Brokeback Mountain There are the things in life we know and willingly accept to
be true. Conversely, there are those things that perhaps some part of us knows to be true, but another piece of us pushes back against, choosing to live outside, or perhaps alongside, reality. These can range from the profound to the mundane. Annie Proulx explores this theme in her book Brokeback Mountain, which was made into a major motion picture. She looks at contradiction and cognitive dissonance through the lens of rural Wyoming. In her characters, we confront those parts that perhaps all
of us carry, the parts that contradict themselves whether for protective reasons or otherwise. Cynthia Lahti joined us to discuss her show, Little Storms, on view until January 13 at James Fuentes. The ceramic figures in the show represent the primary medium of the last 15 years of Lahti’s career. She has, in the past, worked in mixed media, including plaster, metal and glass. Moving forward, she finds she’s excited to turn back toward working with metals and perhaps found objects. To learn more about the work in this show and Lahti’s
career as a whole, listen to the complete interview. Brad Kunkle chatted with
us about his show, Palisaide, which ran through the end of 2023 at Arcadia Contemporary. For some time, he saw in his head images of landscapes with cliff faces, becoming interested in the mystery of this imagery and whether the cliffs were a psychological protection of some sort. Often, Kunkle primes his
canvas with raw umber, then leaves it aside for a time to observe. Over time, images begin to emerge from the toned surface, guiding him toward what the final work will be. To learn more about his process and the work in this show, listen to the complete interview. Read the summary of this week's interviews and
resources. |
Adrienne L. Childs is an independent scholar, art historian, and curator. She is Senior Consulting Curator at The Phillips Collection. Her current book project is an exploration
of Black figures in European decorative arts entitled Ornamental Blackness: The Black Figure in European Decorative Arts, forthcoming from Yale University Press. She recently co-curated The Colour of Anxiety: Race, Sexuality and Disorder in Victorian Sculpture at The Henry Moore Institute in Leeds, England. She was the guest curator of Riffs and Relations: African American Artists and the European Modernist Tradition at The Phillips Collection in Washington DC, 2020.
In
April 2022 The High Museum of Art awarded Childs the 2022 Driskell Prize in recognition of her contribution to African American art and art history.
Meet her live via Zoom
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New Year, New You? OK, Maybe Not. But What’s Next? A new year brings with it new opportunity. Sometimes, motivation can benefit from a little last-minute flurry, so we have included a flash opportunity in this week’s roundup. For many this is a time of renewed energy, though for others, particularly
because in the northern hemisphere the new year arrives in the dark of winter, it can be a time of decreased energy. Whatever you are feeling, take time to consider what’s next. Be good to yourself and keep your expectations reasonable. Read more |
When the time is right for you to turn your art into your livelihood, where do you turn first? How does one build a successful career in the art world, a place notorious for its
roadblocks and exclusive members-only status? The truth is that you absolutely can forge a life as a working artist, you simply need the right tools, just like with anything else. One of those tools is knowing what sort of opportunities are available – and there are a lot of them – here are a few to get you started. |
These are positive and / or negative reviews of galleries, art fairs, consultants, writers, online pay to play offers, residencies and more – all written by artists so that other artists can beware of situations where institutions treat artists badly, or that end up costing the artist money or
are outright scams.
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