The 89-year-old Claes Oldenburg has created a series of sculptures that look like maquettes, comprised in part of familiar works from his oeuvre. "Shelf Life" is a clever play on words from an artist looking back on a rich and full career, reviewing his body of work and seeing what sticks.
Art News
"How do remains convey what's no longer present?" Curator Janice Kamrin and Conservator Anna Serotta on the coffin of Nedjemankh
Sculptor Petah Coyne treats her materials as a sort of language with which to share stories, drawing inspiration from literary sources as diverse as Greek mythology and Charles Dickens. (Untitled #1181) Dante’s Daphne (2004–6), which was given to SFMOMA in memory of the poet Leslie Scalapino, is made from an array of unconventional materials including feathers, velvet, wax, silk flowers, black spray paint, and pearl hatpins.
Now at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), In and About LA showcases the late Robert Rauschenberg’s photographic exploration of Los Angeles. A pioneering American artist whose groundbreaking work anticipated the Pop Art movement, Rauschenberg worked in a wide range of subjects, styles, materials, and techniques, utilizing photography, printmaking, papermaking, and performance. In 1950, he began making "Combines," which bridged photography, found objects and painting, blurring the line between painting and sculpture, merging kitsch and fine art.
Now at the MIT List Visual Arts Center, The Last Days of Pompeii, an installation by multidisciplinary artist Delia Gonzalez, creates a multimedia environment, using intricate drawings, neon sculpture, architecture and music. Gonzalez's multi-layered work is informed by many sources, including history, surrealism, mythology, and mystical traditions. The Last Days of Pompeii uses the dramatic destruction of that ancient Roman city to allude to cycles of destruction and renewal, and current issues of ecological, economic, or political disaster.
The tagline is: what if—what if Indians invented photography? Would there be a different set of protocols or ideas or notions of exchange in relation to this kind of image-making process?
– Will Wilson
Mark your calendar for spectacular exhibitions perfect for summer holidays, chosen by Tim Marlow, artistic director the London’s Royal Academy of Arts. This month, discover California’s outsize influence on the pioneering America artist Robert Rauschenberg, see the third edition of New Mexico’s famed SITElines biennial, and behold the glittering works of legendary Iranian artist Monrir Shahroudy.
Beth Harris and Lauren Haynes, Curator, Contemporary Art, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, discuss Titus Kaphar's The Cost of Removal (2017, oil, canvas, and rusted nails on canvas, © Titus Kaphar, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art).
The Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum is celebrating all that glitters in their latest exhibition of works from the permanent collection, Iridescence. A stunning visual effect found in nature, for centuries artists and craftsman have strived to replicate the vibrancy of this elusive quality. Through the exhibition, the Cooper Hewitt traces the history and impact of the optical effect that changes before your eyes.
As part of their ongoing contemporary art series, this month the Denver Art Museum (DAM) debuts Eyes On: Julie Buffalohead, showcasing the work of the Minnesota-based artist and citizen of the Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma. Curator of Native Arts John Lukavic calls Buffalohead’s new body of work “exceptional,” saying the work connects people with “tribally specific narratives that are culture-bound, emotional, and sometimes evocative.”
