We love lists! The To-Do List is a round-up of weekend activities (art-related or otherwise) that ICA staffers have on their agenda. Here's what's on for this weekend.
The To-Do List
May 11 - May 13, 2012
1. Roy G. Biv at the ICA
Our Series of colorful evenings, Roy G. Biv, finishes on the most intense side of the spectrum. Dedicated to indigo and violet, the night will feature talks from artists Catherine McMahon and Dan Borelli, writer Maggie Graham and a member of the ICA family, Associate Curator Anna Stothart. Help us give Figuring Color an unforgettable send-off! Friday, May 11, 6pm
2. SMFA Spring Sidewalk Sale at SMFA
Held on the sidewalk between the SMFA and its mother institution, this annual sidewalk sale features pieces of all shapes and sizes from over 50 of Boston’s best artists. Browse one-of-a-kind paintings, jewelry, drawings, prints and more while supporting the student-chosen local non-profit organization Mobius. Friday + Saturday, May 11 – 12
3. red, black, GREEN: a blues (rbGb) at the ICA
Don’t miss out on what the SF Chronicle called “a piece as smart and provocative as it is breathtakingly beautiful.” Writer/performer Marc Bamuthi Joseph brings his environmentally/socially conscious multimedia piece to the ICA and will be joined on stage by artist Theaster Gates, who created the set for the performance. Friday + Saturday, May 11 – 12
4. Woody Sez at the A.R.T.
Get to know one of America’s greatest folk heroes a bit better and attend a performance of the musical Woody Sez at the A.R.T. Featuring some of Woody Guthrie’s most well-loved hits, the show is an interesting profile of the man behind the songs. Post-show hootenannies with the cast are also set to take place on specific dates. Through May 26
5. Fort Point Spring Art Walk at Fort Point Arts Community
Right here in our own back yard, the Fort Point Spring Art Walk is one of our favorite events of the year. Over 75 artists plan on participating this time around and open galleries will be accompanied by demonstrations, talks, activities and performances. Plus: FREE PARKING! Friday – Sunday, May 11-13
Marc Bamuthi Joseph is one of America's vital voices in performance, arts education, and artistic curation. His most recent work, red, black & GREEN: a blues (rbGb), will be performed at the ICA next weekend (May 11-12). Bamuthi collaborated with visual artist and activist Theaster Gates to create rbGb, a multimedia performance and visual installation addressing environmental issues from the perspective of communities of color.
We recently sat down with Bamuthi to learn more about rbGb and some of the influences and motivations behind it.
ICA: Your work seems to always focus on social issues: hip hop culture and fatherhood, issues facing Haiti, and now cultural attitudes towards sustainability. What makes art a good vehicle for exploring social issues?
MBJ: I grew up in the same place and at the same time that hip hop culture did, a moment in the eighties and nineties that coincided with the AIDS crisis, Reaganomics, the end of the Cold War, the crack epidemic, the LA Riots, Nelson Mandela's release, and the re-shaping of the communications matrix through the development of cable TV and internet technologies.
Hip hop music was my soundtrack for all of these phenomena, as well as the foil for my emerging literacy. So when I make art, I can't help but be both OF hip hop and OF the artist continuum that I gravitated to in my formative years, from Bill T. Jones to Keith Haring to Nikki Giovanni to Tony Kushner, all of whom were engaged with the social cortex in a soulful and often performative way.
ICA: red, black, GREEN: a blues grew out of Life is Living, a series of eco festivals you did in different cities. Could you talk a bit about these festivals and why you thought it would be a good way to develop this work?
MBJ: The Life is Living festivals grew out of local collaborative efforts to expand the vocabulary and iconography of environmental consciousness beyond what the Sierra Club or Whole Foods has to offer.
The hard science tells us that capital "E" Environmentalism MUST be a culturally diverse and inclusive social movement, or it will fail us all. My organization, Youth Speaks, produced hip hop-centered eco festivals in under-resourced parks across the country, inviting thousands of folks across the country to think about "green" practices through a newer, more approximate urban lens. red, black and GREEN: a blues is a performed documentary about the process of uncovering the stories, music, visions, and sustainable survival practices of Black neighborhoods in four geographically diverse American cities. In ways of varying scale, the festivals and the corresponding theater work humanize the complexity of energy and economy and give voice and under-reported visage [to these neighborhoods] in an era of climate change.
ICA: You are getting some pretty great recognition these days. You were just named in the first class of Doris Duke artists; the week before you perform at the ICA you will be at the Kennedy Center performing with John Legend on the 40th anniversary of Marvin Gaye¹s concert there; and now you have been asked to curate performances at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. To what do you attribute your success?
MBJ: Hustle and flow -- not the Terrence Howard movie, actual hustle, real life flow -- and some right place, right form, right time-style luck.
ICA: Who are some of your idols?
MBJ: Harriet Tubman, Baryshnikov, Chuck D, Alvin Ailey, my son, my mom.
ICA: Your project, Youth Speaks, introduces thousands of youth around the country to poetry/spoken word. Why has this been so important to you?
MBJ: Youth Speaks is the left-leaning antidote to the diminishment of civil American political discourse. The organization is founded on the principle of Freirean pedagogy, a promise of political agency and self-discovery for the disenfranchised through performed personal narrative. My own performance work doesn't mean very much if it only serves a cosmetic purpose, and I find purpose and inspiration in the work that we do with young people. It's the moral backbone behind the aesthetic elegance and accessibility that I strive for. The other thing is, the next generation is always quicker, smarter, and savvier than the previous generation. It's the nature of human evolution. If I want to stay quick, smart, and savvy, it's best to stay around young people.
We love lists! The To-Do List is a round-up of weekend activities (art-related or otherwise) that ICA staffers have on their agenda. Here's what's on for this weekend.
The To-Do List
May 4 - May 6, 2012
1. LGBT Film Fest at the ICA
The ICA kicks off the 10-day Boston LGBT Film Fest tonight with an (optional) exclusive VIP cocktail party and a screening of Ferzan Ozpetek’s Loose Cannons. Throughout the weekend the museum will host a number of films by and about the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. Select titles include Question One, United in Anger: A History of ACT UP, and Funkytown. Thursday – Sunday, May 3 – 6
2. The Shins/Real Estate at the Citi Performing Arts Center Wang Theater
Sure to be a sold-out show, this will be a celebration of the Shins’ reclaiming of the indie rock throne. Riding high on the wave of critical praise for their most recent effort, Port of Morrow, the James Mercer brainchild has enlisted New Jersey outfit Real Estate to open and round out this solid lineup. One of the more melodic, guitar heavy concerts of the season. Friday, May 4, 8 pm
3. Greenway Mobile Food Fest at the Rose Kennedy Greenway
Celebrate Cinco de Mayo outdoors with some of the best street food the city has to offer. In addition to the affordable edibles, the Greenway will be buzzing with performances from local bands, backyard games, kids activities, and much much more. Saturday, May 5, 11:30 am
4. David Sedaris at Symphony Hall
You may have heard him countless times on NPR’s This American Life but it’s finally time to put a face to that voice. No matter what he’s there to promote, Sedaris is sure to have the audience in hysterics with his self-deprecating character and biting anecdotes. Sunday, May 6, 7 pm
5. Somerville Open Studios
The 14th Annual Somerville Open Studios Event will be held over the course of three days this weekend. Discover the work of Somerville-based artists and check out some of the events being held in conjunction with open studios, including a fashion show and spoken word performances. Friday – Sunday, May 4 - 6
We love lists! The To-Do List is a round-up of weekend activities (art-related or otherwise) that ICA staffers have on their agenda. Here's what's on for this weekend.
The To-Do List
April 26 - April 29, 2012
1. Hotel Lux at the ICA
Looking to have a screwball adventure tonight? Then come over to the ICA for Hotel Lux, an award-winning film presented as part of the National Center for Jewish Film's 15th Annual Film Festival. Exciting synopsis as follows:
This black comedy by writer/director Leander Haußmann pays homage to Ernst Lubitsch’s 1940s classic To Be or Not to Be. In 1930s Berlin, Cabaret star Hans Zeisig gets by on charisma and talent until he finally pushes the envelope too far in his popular but provocative Stalin-Hitler comedy act. Having wrangled false papers, he sets out for Hollywood, but ends up in Moscow instead, at the infamous Hotel Lux, home to Communist politicos and European exiles fleeing Hitler. A case of mistaken identity brings Zeisig face to face with Stalin and he must pull off the performance of a lifetime if he is to survive. Thursday, April 26, 7pm
2. Roy G. Biv at the ICA
Feeling blue? Why, yes, you will during this next installment of Roy G. Biv, a series of colorful evenings designed to enhance your perspective of our brightly hued exhibition Figuring Color. Start the evening off with blue margaritas and blue tortilla chips in our café, then mosey on over to the Figuring Color galleries for dessert – in the form of blue candy from Felix Gonzalez-Torres’s installation Untitled (Lover Boys). Said Gonzalez-Torres: “If a beautiful memory could have a color, that color would be light blue.” Come Saturday morning, we bet you’ll agree. Friday, April 27, 6 pm
3. WU LYF and Willis Earl Beal at Brighton Music Hall
A different sort of British invasion hits Brighton Music Hall this weekend. Critically acclaimed four-piece WU LYF headline in support of their 2011 album Go Tell Fire To The Mountain and have brought Willis Earl Beal, a Chicago-native with a debut out on the English XL records (home to Adele, the xx, and more) to open. Saturday, April 28, 9pm
4. Seth Meyers and/or Joel McHale at the Wilbur Theater
Both of these funnymen can be seen weekly on their respective NBC television shows but this weekend they head to the Wilbur for a string of highly anticipated live sets. McHale, also known as the perpetually sardonic host of the Soup, performs Friday while SNL head-writer and Weekend Update host Seth Meyers does double duty on Saturday. Friday + Saturday, April 27 + 28
5. Sailing on the Boston Harbor
Get your sea legs with free sailing classes offered by the Boston Sailing Center this weekend on Boston Harbor! Each boat will be captained by an experienced sailor, so you can sit back and enjoy the ride or take a turn on the helm. Ahoy! Friday + Saturday, April 27 + 28, 1 – 5 pm
“It is about the feeling that a painting, or any work of art, can give––when you can't stop looking because there is something that you want to find out, that you want to understand. . . . Good paintings have this tantalizing quality. And once you turn around, you absolutely cannot recapture them. They leave a hole in the mind, a longing.” -- Charline von Heyl
Born in 1960 in Germany, Charline von Heyl studied painting with two influential artists: Jörg Immendorff in Hamburg and Fritz Schwegler in Düsseldorf. Von Heyl was an integral part of the thriving 1980s Cologne art scene, which witnessed a renaissance of painting by practitioners who ranged in temperament from the ironic to the expressive. Since 1994 she has lived in New York City, where she in turn has had an impact on numerous younger painters, and where her work is at the center of contemporary dialogues about the persistence of painting and abstraction.
Von Heyl’s paintings often materialize through a process of obliteration and destruction—the voiding of what has been laid down. Given the intentional destruction, the potential for breakdown is high, a breakdown that is, in fact, a working principle for the artist: “I am interested in trying out something that might seem paradoxical and impossible, bringing together things that I know to begin with couldn’t work, and on top of that forcing them to work with grace and ease.”
The destruction of the picture plane has been a primary concern of artists since World War II. Lucio Fontana, Robert Rauschenberg, Alberto Burri, and Niki de Saint-Phalle, among others, sought to transform the two-dimensional plane into a three-dimensional object. By breaking open the canvas, they literally and figuratively opened a window. For von Heyl, the canvas is a field on which to paint as much as a space within which to obliterate paint.
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Yellow Rose
2007
acrylic and oil on canvas
Private collection, New York
Yellow Rose centers on a play of graphic shapes and clashing hues: a centered “bloom,” a zigzag line, Day-Glo orange strokes, a yellowy-orange frame, and a large expanse of light gray that tugs into shapes. The title is borrowed from the song “Yellow Rose of Texas,” an American traditional folk song.
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Igitur
2008
acrylic on linen
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Enid A. Haupt Fund, 2010
Igitur takes its title from that of an unfinished poem by the French symbolist poet Stéphane Mallarmé. The painting does not illustrate the poem, but resembles it in embodying the desire to create a new image with new means. Mallarmé’s impulse to create a pure poetry, in which words could be unmoored from meaning, resounds with von Heyl’s effort to dislodge abstraction from its tropes: “I want to get abstraction to a point where it screams that it is something: a representation and a thing.”
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Yellow Guitar
2010
acrylic, oil, and charcoal on linen
Private collection, New York
Yellow Guitar is, in the artist’s words, a “painting filled with platitudes.” It is also a meditation on the still-life genre: the title sounds like it describes a still-life painting (and, in fact, is the title of a work by painter David Hockney). In von Heyl’s rendering, a still life has been imposed on the surface of what appears to be a gestural underpainting in charcoal and smudged spray paint. Colors peek through and are laid over forms in a detached manner, which generates astonishing oppositions: static action, colorful absence of color. The yellow—a color von Heyl often deploys—is cold and electric.
We love lists! The To-Do List is a round-up of weekend activities (art-related or otherwise) that ICA staffers have on their agenda. Here's what's on for this weekend.
The To-Do List
April 20 - April 22, 2012
1. India Jazz Suites at the ICA
India Jazz Suites is an explosive collaboration between Pandit Chitresh Das, one of India’s foremost Kathak masters, and Jason Samuels Smith, the Emmy award–winning tap dancer renowned for his amazing footwork in Bring in ’Da Noise, Bring in ’Da Funk. A live performance by classical Indian musicians and a stellar jazz trio complete this powerful artistic exchange. Friday, April 20 – Sunday, April 23
2. Muppet Madness at the Brattle Theater
The Brattle has been conducting this annual Muppet-centric weekend for the past three years. After this year’s The Muppets brought the gang a major pop culture resurgence, this movie marathon will likely be more popular than ever. Plus – they’re also screening David Bowie’s Labyrinth. What more could we ask for? Friday, April 20 – Sunday, April 23
3. Record Store Day
Have you ever gone through the stacks at Nuggets on Comm Ave? Picked up a 7” from Weirdo in Central Square? This Saturday marks the 5th annual Record Store Day, a celebration of independent music retailers commemorated with special physical releases from some of today’s most popular bands/artists. Saturday, April 21
4. Rethink Music at the Hynes Convention Center
This pioneering music industry conference comes to town this weekend, focusing on the state of industry in contemporary culture and the challenges that it faces. In addition to workshops and panels, Rethink will host live performances and competitions with cash incentives, broadening its appeal and rewarding creativity. Sunday, April 22 – Tuesday, April 24
5. 2012 deCordova Biennial
This is the last weekend to visit the 2012 deCordova Biennial and experience this large and diverse group of work from 23 New England artists. Through Sunday, April 22
We love lists! The To-Do List is a round-up of weekend activities (art-related or otherwise) that ICA staffers have on their agenda. Here's what's on for this weekend.
The To-Do List
April 13 - April 15, 2012
1. Roy G. Biv at the ICA
Join us for the latest installment of Roy G. Biv, a series of colorful evenings that will enhance your perspective of our brighly hued exhibition Figuring Color. Enjoy talks by writer Christopher Muther and artists Jack Schneider, Dirk Adams and Dan Borelli on the color green. Bring your friends to these green pastures, otherwise they will be green with envy! (ugh. We tried! Hard to get all those green idioms into one sentence. It's not easy bein' green.) Friday, April 13, 6pm
2. Futurity: A Musical by the Lisps at the A.R.T.
The A.R.T.’s latest production finishes its run at Oberon this weekend. Brooklyn-based band The Lisps are behind this Civil War-era folk musical and their unique style makes it a must-see. Futurity tells the story of a soldier’s quest—the character is inspired by Lord Byron’s brilliant daughter, Ada Lovelace—to save humans from themselves by inventing an omnipotent, steam-powered “brain." Catch it in its last weekend in the Boston are before the band heads to the Walker. Through Sunday, April 15
3. Jiro Dreams of Sushi
For now you can only catch this 2011 Japanese documentary in select Boston theaters. If you’re willing to seek it out, though, be prepare for a visual feast of sushi that will make you feel downright gluttonous -- but with only none of the calories! Jiro Dreams of Sushi, a Tribeca Film Festival selection, follows 85-year-old sushi master Jiro Ono on “his continuing quest to perfect the art of sushi.” Art tastes good. Opens in select theaters Friday, April 13
4. 2012 John Hancock Sports & Fitness Expo at the Seaport World Trade Center
Head down to the waterfront this weekend (not just to visit the ICA!) and grab some running gear in preparation for Monday’s big race. Plus - everyone running needs to stop by to pick up their numbers, meaning you might get to see the future winner up-close. Friday – Sunday, April 13 - 15
We love lists! The To-Do List is a round-up of weekend activities (art-related or otherwise) that ICA staffers have on their agenda. Here's what's on for this weekend.
The To-Do List
April 6 - April 8, 2012
1. Titanic in 3D
Life was simpler in 1997. As a toast to one of the biggest and most culturally significant films of all time, James Cameron has rebooted his Leonardo DiCaprio/Kate Winslet-helmed romantic epic in 3D. Say what you will about the melodrama, the director, or the technology, there’s nothing wrong with a little nostalgia. Opening Friday, April 6
2. The Magic Fields at Berklee Performance Center
This Boston band may have been around for over twenty years, but their most recent studio album, Love at the Bottom of the Sea, proves that they still have the touch. Performing two shows at the Berklee Performance Center, frontman Stephin Merritt and his band are consummate professionals and guaranteed crowd pleasers. Friday & Saturday, April 6-7
3. Anime Boston at Hynes Convention Center
Head down to the Prudential to see some of the more elaborate costumes around. Complete with artists, music video contests, karaoke, video games, and plenty of – you guessed it – Japanese animation, this tenth annual, three-day experience is at least worth a peek. Friday, April 6 – Sunday, April 7
4. International Pillow Day at TBD
Celebrate a milestone with Boston’s 5th annual International Pillow Fight Day festivities. Part flash-mob, part slumber party, this event has been known to draw enthusiastic participants by the thousands. Remember people: keep those pillows soft! This is a peaceful event! Saturday, April 7, 3pm
5. Charline von Heyl at the ICA
A round-up of opinions about our Charline von Heyl show:
Now come view the show and tell us what you think! On view through July 15.
A couple weeks ago, we invited Boston arts bloggers to attend the media preview of our Charline von Heyl exhibition. The result? Excitement, fun, and some incredibly insightful thoughts and perspectives on von Heyl's work, which we share with you below. See you at the next preview!
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From A Sense of Place
"Charline von Heyl’s exhibition, at the Institute of Contemporary Art here in Boston, shows just how an artist can breathe new life into paintings and works on paper. This exhibition highlights the last five years of von Heyl’s work so it’s more of a “what’s new” than a survey of her work, which I think is a nice take for a contemporary art space. The German-born artist has always been drawn to painting but not to the traditional idea of rendering an object. She says that she pushes paint around to create her works. During her talk, she mentioned three philosophies towards painting: the traditional idea of rendering an object and eliminating any sense of paint to make the object the focus, the idea started by Impressionism where the paint becomes the focus because you highlight the strokes and materiality of the work of art, and the Pop Art and Op Art ideas of making the painting jump out at the viewer and engage the viewer in a way that the painting is almost a three-dimensional work." Read the full post here
From Twill and Dot
"It looks complicated, but it's really easy" insists Charline von Heyl. There is a congenial chuckle that skitters through the group assembled in the gallery - perhaps at her honesty, perhaps because she herself is grinning as she says it, as though she is embarrassed to admit to the simplicity of her process. She is explaining one of the methods she uses to mask areas of a canvas and apply additional layers of paint to achieve the background and foreground effect that is the hallmark of her large abstract paintings. Her manner is at once relaxed, comfortable and enthusiastic. Listening to her feels much like listening to a friend describe their method for approaching an ordinary task, like pruning the hedges, except in this instance von Heyl is describing her process for achieving something extraordinary." Read the full post here
From Flux Boston
"The brain generally likes for things to be neat and orderly. The eyes take in visual stimuli in the form of shapes/colors/light and the brain likes to be able to tell you that you’re looking at a stop sign.
It sorts things into categories, appreciates patterns, and plants the seed that a breakfast beer is an OK idea.
So what happens when the brain is confronted with the work of Charline von Heyl?
It’s like a toaster being dropped in a bathtub."
Read the full post here
Image: Charline von Heyl, It’s Vot’s Behind Me That I Am (Krazy Kat), 2010, acrylic, oil on linen and canvas, 82 x 72 inches, Private collection, New York; courtesy of Friedrich Petzel Gallery, New York
We love lists! The To-Do List is a round-up of weekend activities (art-related or otherwise) that ICA staffers have on their agenda. Here's what's on for this weekend.
The To-Do List
March 30 - April 1, 2012
1. Cuba: Out Side In Side Out at Yes.Oui.Si.
Boston gallery/creative space, Yes.Oui.Si., just unveiled a new exhibition showcasing the paintings and photographs of Enrique Flores-Galbis and Helena de Braganca. The works examine the relationships of the artists to the island of Cuba and provides some perspective on a place that many of us will never have the opportunity to see firsthand. Through April 8, 2012
2. Roy G. Biv at the ICA
Yellow takes center stage in this next installment of Roy G. Biv, a series of colorful evenings held in conjunction with our exhibition Figuring Color. What connotations did yellow have in the Shakespearean era? Scholar Chris Madson weighs in. Want to continue your journey of yellow through the ages? Teaching artist Bridget Matros takes you on a retrospective of yellow. Friday, March 30, 6pm
3. Wild Flag at the Paradise Rock Club
Carrie Brownstein is a woman with many talents. Not only can you can catch the former Sleater Kinney bandleader on IFC’s series Portlandia, but she’ll also be appearing with her new band, Wild Flag, at the Paradise this weekend. Come for the music, stay for the between-song banter. Saturday, March 31, 8:30pm
4. Figuring Color gallery talk at the ICA
Kathy Butterly’s exquisite ceramics on view in Figuring Color: Kathy Butterly, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Roy McMakin, Sue Williams collapse, fold, twist, and drip into playful vessels reminiscent of body parts and domestic objects. Join ceramics specialist Elizabeth Essner in a conversation about Butterly's artistic process and mastery of clay. Sunday, April 1, 2pm
5. The Paris Creperie's Eiffel Tourer Food Truck
Keep an eye out for this brand new food truck scheduled to hit the streets any day now. The Paris Creperie in Coolidge Corner has expanded its business and is bringing the food to you! Make sure to check their Facebook page to see when these delicious treats will be rolling by you.