Wednesday, April 06, 2011

April 2011 Cleveburgh Regional Art Roundup



Sarah Kabot @Akron Art Museum

A few of the shows that seem interesting in the wider Western PA and Eastern Ohio region, outside of Pittsburgh.

Cleveland

Cleveland Museum Of Art


Contemporary Landscape Photography

March 26–August 14, 2011


"Since the 1960s, contemporary photographers pursuing the landscape as subject matter have predominantly used two conceptual approaches. One is epitomized by the iconic landscapes of Ansel Adams, who sought out pristine views of the natural landscape—rivers, mountains, valleys, orchards, deserts, and the sea in the western United States—all presented with clarity and enriched by his poetic vision and commitment to environmental conservation. The other style sought to balance the depiction of formal beauty with the desire to document humanity’s presence and intervention in the landscape. The pioneering photography of Robert Adams is a leading, articulate expression of that approach. This survey show featuring these two methods of recording the natural landscape is drawn from the Cleveland Museum of Art’s permanent collection, and contains some 40 images—many of them new to the collection."




The Art of Daily Life: Portable Objects from Southeast Africa

April 16, 2011–February 26, 2012


The Art of Daily Life celebrates the stunning formal diversity and deep cultural meanings of Southeast Africa’s artistic heritage. Despite some growing interest and appreciation over the past three decades, the art of traditional southern African societies have long been neglected. Portable in nature and generally small in size, works created by peoples such as the Zulu, Nguni, Tsonga, Ndebele, Sotho, and Swazi in the 19th and 20th centuries were typically related to the privacy of the home or the intimacy of the person. The makers and users of many of these works were cattle-herders with a complex history of migrations. This nomadic existence has contributed to the emergence of fluid regional artistic styles that often defy specific ethnic attributions.


The Lure of Painted Poetry: Japanese and Korean Art

March 27–August 28, 2011


"This presentation highlights Korean and Japanese artistic efforts to fuse the genres of art and poetry in works as diverse as landscape painting, figure painting, and calligraphy. With strokes of genius, artists in the early Joseon period and Muromachi period explored themes such as the Chinese Xiao Xiang River, producing a rich array of artwork—from hanging scrolls and powerful screens that provoke the imagination to intriguing images of the natural world—all without traveling to China.

Figure paintings of the recluse show an inner heart protected from the “dusty world” of politics. Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, Four Elders of Mt. Shang, and The Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup also epitomize the refined way of life idealized by the scholarly class in Korea and Japan."


MOCA Cleveland (same exhibits as last month--through May 8th)



Andrea Joki

William Busta Gallery

Andrea Joki
March 18 -- April 23

Kenneth Paul Lesko Gallery

Adnan Charara

Adaptability

March 18th - May 14th

"Adnan Charara came to the U.S. by way of Lebanon and Sierra Leone--eventually making his home in Detroit, Michigan. In his Return to Sender series, painted figures on envelopes merge with canceled postage in complex narrative compositions. In his found art sculptures, objects take on human characteristics, as a protractor becomes a ballerina's tutu or a hammer bows its head in sadness. Charara's life and his work, even his materials, are about adaptability."


Wow, check out the images!

Canton Museum Of Art

Canton Artists League Spring Show
Through April 24th

Akron Art Museum

M.C. Escher: Impossible Realities

February 12, 2011 - May 29, 2011
Karl and Bertl Arnstein Galleries

A chance to see 130 of Escher's Mezzotints, Lithographs, Woodcuts, sculptures and rare preparatory drawings and truely get inside the head of this important artist.




Sarah Kabot: Unfolding Space

"Cleveland artist Sarah Kabot creates installations that toy with human perception by altering the physical environment, specifically the seemingly mundane structures of the built environment. With her “interventions,” as she calls them, Kabot asks us to question what we think we know about the things we see every day and sharpen our awareness of our surroundings.

To assemble what she refers to as "interventions," Kabot often uses foamcore, a rigid but lightweight material, which allows her to assemble elaborate installations that aren't overly cumbersome. In Unfolding Space, Kabot will replicate the lights, floorboards and wall surfaces of the museum’s Isroff Gallery and then use these objects to both deconstruct and reconfigure the space."

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