What the Butler Saw

A Conversation with Niekolaas Johannes Lekkerkerk, Artistic Director, POPPOSITIONS Art Fair, Brussels, Belgium, by James Scarborough

POPPOSITIONS 2018 focuses on diagnosis, articulation, prescription, and, lest we forget, discovery. It feels more like a World’s Fair than an art fair. Niekolaas Johannes Lekkerkerk provides artistic direction. The show encourages a discussion between people with strongly held convictions about the state of the world and the role of art. It’s idealistic (what should be), pragmatic (what is), cautionary (man has made a mess of things…), and visionary (… but that doesn’t mean there... Read more →

A Conversation with Amanda Fruta, University Art Museum’s Public Affairs and Communications Specialist, on the occasion of the Museum’s Robert Irwin: Site Determined exhibition, by James Scarborough

Amanda Fruta is the Public Affairs and Communications Specialist at Cal State Long Beach's University Art Museum. She has a B.A. in Art History and Visual Arts from Occidental College. She knows a lot about art in general and about this exhibition in particular. She shares this knowledge without recourse to academic artspeak. She wants to create meaningful connections and partnerships, foster new discourse, and support a culture of access, equity, and public service. Her... Read more →

"Graffiti Palace: A Novel," by A.G. Lombardo, by James Scarborough

INTRODUCTION. You can situate the book as a cross between Homer’s Odyssey and Thomas Pynchon. You can also think of it is as Charles Bukowski retelling the story of Theseus' escape from the Labyrinth. (“…her final record spinning closer to the center, like an invisible thread that gently draws him down to her, down to Karmann” (Italics, this writer). An extraordinary backstory, Theseus and the Minotaur. Read it here in Bullfinch’s Mythology. For our purposes,... Read more →

"Baaghi 2," directed by Ahmed Khan, by James Scarborough

INTRODUCTION. Directed by Ahmed Khan, “Baaghi 2” is a hot mess. This cinematic equal of a strobe light is just too much, too often for an otherwise so-so script. When Neha (Disha Patani) meets Ranveer Pratap Singh (Tiger Shroff), she notes his arrogant brashness. He’s loud, energetic, and passionate. This plays well when he’s in love (it makes him adorable). It also works when he helps her with a favor that becomes biblical in scale... Read more →

"Adrian Villar Rojas: The Theater of Disappearance", Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, by James Scarborough

A shipwreck on the ocean’s floor. An octopus’ garden. A surreal grotto. Such are the first impressions of Adrian Villar Rojas: The Theater of Disappearance at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA (October 22, 2017 – May 13, 2018). Careful how you navigate the site-specific installation, a total makeover of the Geffen's exhibition space. A spacious room, unrecognizable from its original white box configuration. Except for a few lit display cases (see below), the lights are... Read more →

A Conversation with Tato Akhalkasishvili, participant in Art Dubai 2018’s Inaugural "Residents" program, by James Scarborough

Tato Akhalkasishvili was born in 1979, Tbilisi, Georgia. He graduated from Tbilisi Academy of Arts in 2003. Afterwards he moved to Germany where he lived and worked in Cologne. In 2008 the artist decided to go back to his country. Nowadays he is based in Tbilisi, Georgia. He works in painting, in addition to making objects, installations and collages. Akhalkasishvili expresses important issues and concepts with the help of different metaphors. Childhood is one of... Read more →

It’s about time: Jack Persekian and Jerusalem’s eternal present, by James Scarborough

(Jerusalem) is an oxymoron, chockfull of contradictions and schizophrenic realities, which we embrace in this seemingly blessed, but so easily deadly, potent formula of persistent animosity and violence. Jack Persekian, After Matson For the Middle East in general and Palestine in particular, 2018 is a landmark year. A hundred years ago, the Balfour Declaration and Jerusalem’s occupation by British forces. Fifty years ago, the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem. Enter Jack Persekian, to remind us,... Read more →

A Conversation with Jose Lerma, participant in Art Dubai 2018’s Inaugural "Residents" program, by James Scarborough

José Lerma was born in 1971 in Seville, Spain and grew up in Puerto Rico. He was recently named Chair of the Painting Department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His solo exhibitions include Kemper Museum of Art, Andrea Rosen Gallery, Galería Roberto Paradise, Galerie Xavier Hufkens, Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, Green Gallery, Gallery Loock, Galería Marta Cervera, Contemporary Art Museum in Raleigh, NC, Arario Gallery in Seoul, Galleria Il... Read more →

A Conversation with Iabadiou Piko, participant in Art Dubai 2018’s Inaugural "Residents" program, by James Scarborough

Iabadiou Piko (Piko Sugianto) was born in 1984 in Prabumulih, South Sumatera, Indonesia. In 2005, he graduated from the Academic Design of Vision Yogyakarta Department (ADV) with a major in Diploma of Art Photography Design. He is a self-taught painter who now lives and works in Yogyakarta. He participated in Art Dubai 2018’s inaugural Residents program. New to Art Dubai programming, Residents 2018 invited 11 international artists to spend 4 to 8 weeks in a... Read more →

Antigone X, directed by Jeff Janisheski for Cal Rep, by James Scarborough

INTRODUCTION. I’ve always wondered why the story’s called Antigone and not Creon. Or at least why Creon’s not given equal billing in the title. Antigone must choose between death and the mourning and burial of a dead brother. She's the visceral one. Creon is the administrative one. He has to rule a kingdom, nepotism be damned. He’s not evil. He’s just put in the position of pushing the boundaries of decency that his law and... Read more →

A Conversation with Pablo del Val, Art Dubai Artistic Director, by James Scarborough

Art Dubai 2018 opens this week. It will showcase the work of 500 artists. It will also offer talks, performances, tours, and workshops. Programming includes: Contemporary and Modern. This will feature work from 105 galleries based in 48 countries. The inaugural Residents program. This will feature 11 global artists whose work reflects their experience in the UAE. The Global Art Forum. Titled “I Am Not A Robot”, it will discuss the impact that automation has... Read more →

Robert Irwin: Site Determined, University Art Museum, Cal State Long Beach, by James Scarborough

INTRODUCTION. When you hear intervention, you think something’s wrong and needs to be fixed. For Robert Irwin, that something was art; it needed to be hacked. Beginning as an abstract artist, Irwin questioned painting and found it wanting. In one of those eureka moments by which something seems to come from nothing, but which makes sense in retrospect, he turned to the environment as both his medium and his Muse. Thus was his site-specific work... Read more →

Relational Undercurrents: Contemporary Art of the Caribbean Archipelago, curated by Tatiana Flores, Museum of Latin American Art, a component of Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, by James Scarborough

INTRODUCTION. There’s a rhythm to the show, a vibe. It stays with you long after you leave the Museum. Makes sense, doesn’t it? The Caribbean – you think of West Side Story and reggae, merengue and bachata, mambo and calypso. Makes you want to dance through the galleries or at least lilt as you read aloud the wall panels and labels. This rhythm carries you through the tropical installation, through the thematic groupings - Conceptual... Read more →

The Florida Project, directed by Sean Baker, by James Scarborough

What’s wrong with a little Disney fantasy if it lets a 6-year-old girl for a moment escape her ironically named slum motel, The Magic Castle? That’s the question answered in the last minute of Sean Baker’s magical The Florida Project, a film included in Art Dubai’s year-round film programming in partnership with Front Row Filmed Entertainment and screened at Roxy Cinemas at Dubai's City Walk. It’s the story of Moonee (Brooklynn Kimberly Prince), 6 years... Read more →

“Black Coffee,” Long Beach Mainstage Theatre, by James Scarborough

It’s a domestic squabble with global implications. Though it deals with international intrigue, the tone is domestic and intimate. 1930, a distinguished physicist’s library, 25 miles outside London. A stolen formula for – gasp! – an atomic bomb. The murder of said physicist. Leads abound. An Italian doctor, a suspect because he’s foreign. The physicist’s son, low in self-esteem and desperate for cash. His wife’s up-to-now unknown connection with international espionage. The physicist’s personal secretary,... Read more →

The Banality of Conversion: "Also Known as Jihadi," directed by Eric Baudelaire, by James Scarborough

Without the context its title provides, Eric Baudelaire’s latest film, Also Known as Jihadi, now showing at Art Basel, would be the cinematic equivalent of a butt-dial; the difference being you accidentally turn on the video camera, not dial the phone. We see passages of what appear to be random, unrehearsed scenes (a nice metaphor for life, by the way). We hear ambient noise - the sound of voices and motor vehicles, but nothing by... Read more →

A Conversation with Djon Mundine and Judith Blackall, Co-Curators, and Nasim Nasr, Participating Artist, in “Sixth Sense,” National Art School Gallery, NSW, Australia, by James Scarborough

In his Dadaist poem Anna Blume, Kurt Schwitters proclaims that the eponymous fraulein is the beloved of his 27 senses. Presumably he experiences her in ways we can only imagine. Sixth Sense, guest-curated by Djon Mundine for the National Art School Gallery, explores how cross-generational Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and non-Aboriginal artists perceive their world in ways that extend beyond the visual component of their otherwise visual art. Artists in the exhibition are Daniel Boyd,... Read more →

Nothing Juvenile Here: “Artists Assemble!: Empowerment and Inspiration In Contemporary Comics,” Museum of Latin American Art, by James Scarborough

Used to be, in pre-Wikipedia days, that comic books were an easy way to avoid having to read The Hunchback of Notre Dame or The Three Musketeers or other too-long novels for high school essay assignments. Plot lines, character development, there they were, in abbreviated, legible, and graphic form. Now comics are a lot more political, social, and cultural. Case in point, Artists Assemble!: Empowerment and Inspiration In Contemporary Comics, curated by Esperanza Sánchez and... Read more →

A Conversation with Vivian Ziherl, Curator of the 8th Jerusalem Show “Before and After Origins,” a part of the Qalandiya International (The Palestinian Biennial), 2016, by James Scarborough

By their very nature, Biennials present a lot of moving pieces. Usually, they’re of the logistical sort. This year’s Qalandiya International (QI), also known as the Palestinian Biennial, doesn’t just have a lot of moving pieces, it’s also fraught by social and political turmoil. Rarely does a biennial’s past literally erupt into the present in such an immediate way. Given the region’s recent politically inclement climate, the QI’s continued existence is no mean feat. Perhaps... Read more →

Uncomfortably Numb: Brittany Waters at the Thomas Ferreira Gallery, by James Scarborough

You might go to someone’s party and check out the host’s book or music collection. If you’re a little more curious, you might see what the hell’s up in their medicine cabinet. I’m talking pills - analgesics, soporifics, psychotropics. Don’t read the labels, examine the capsules’ designs. Little Mondrians and Van Doesburgs, some butterscotch yellow or lime green monochromes. Innocuous, not a little pretty, right, like really minimal, hand painted, Minimalist sculptures? Well, especially if... Read more →

Blood is Thicker Than Water: ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ at the Long Beach Playhouse Mainstage Theatre, by James Scarborough

Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun,” directed by Phyllis B. Gitlin for the Long Beach Playhouse’s Mainstage Theatre, presents a compelling look at the choices an African-American family face at the dawn of the Civil Rights era. Set in Chicago, in a worn down, claustrophobic apartment, the production recounts the story of the Youngers, a poor family that’s about to receive a $10,000 windfall from a life insurance policy held on Walter’s (Derek Shaun’s)... Read more →

None of Your Beeswax? Hardly. “Exegesis Eisegesis Encaustic,” Katie Herzog with Andrew Choate at Klowden Mann Gallery, by James Scarborough

For this exhibition, Katie Herzog, in conjunction with writer Andrew Choate, has created a series of encaustic diptychs that plays tug of war with words that refer to things and words that in themselves are things. They chose generic Angeleno signage, unbranded, without obvious references. For each sign, Choate fashioned a sort of linguistic, Lewis Carrol-like doppelganger, which Herzog then fabricated in encaustic. If these were done with a medium that was fluid and fast... Read more →

Inmates Running the Asylum: “Marat/Sade: The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade,” Long Beach Playhouse Studio Theatre, by James Scarborough

If you can picture inmates not just temporarily running an asylum but enacting a politically inflammatory play within its walls, directed by no less a personage than the Marquis de Sade, then you can picture – and immensely enjoy - “Marat/Sade: The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade,” written by Peter Weiss and directed by Andrew Vonderschmitt for... Read more →

Who’s at the Door? “That’s Opportunity Knocking," by James Scarborough

Clocking in at a tick under 22 minutes, the humorously offbeat That’s Opportunity Knocking, written and directed by Charles Pelletier, asks, What could go wrong in a simple home robbery? The answer is, tons. Acknowledging that everyone, robbers, robbees, an otherwise innocent - and heavily sedated roommate - have various motivations and desires, not to mention personality quirks, the film is more an analysis of the context of a robbery and less of the particulars... Read more →

Making Haste Slowly: Jayme Odgers’ Samurai Self-Portraits at Offramp Gallery, Pasadena By James Scarborough

This essay is published in conjunction with Where Am I Today?, an upcoming exhibition at Offramp Gallery, Pasadena. One might think that a one-man show that brims with in-your-face self-portraits would smack of vanity, if not self-indulgence. Yes, it does. No, it doesn’t. 8.21.2015 Make It Go Away 2 Jayme Odgers’ self-portraits feel like an exercise in self-aggrandizement so, yes, there’s that aspect of vanity. Once their backstory (a staple of theatre; a staple of... Read more →

Victor Hugo Zayas: The River Paintings at The Museum of Latin American Art, by James Scarborough

You think Los Angeles and you think glam if not garish, all surface, no history, no foundation. Not only is there no there, there: folks laud this nothing as a something. It’s not unjustified, of course. It’s just that, in the hands of an artist like Victor Hugo Zayas, the Los Angeles cityscape offers more, much more. Paul Schimmel’s MOCA show Helter Skelter suggested a noir underbelly to the city. This exhibition displays its monumental... Read more →

“Kurios: Cabinet of Curiosities,” Cirque du Soleil, Costa Mesa, by James Scarborough

All photos courtesy of Martin Girard / shootstudio.ca. Costumes by Philippe Guillotel © 2014 Cirque du Soleil See enough Cirque du Soleil productions and you become a connoisseur of spectacle. Large ones, where a Monty Python heaven seems to open up above your head. Smaller ones, cozy, intimate, like a good surreal bedtime story narrated (and embodied) by Rene Magritte and Salvador Dali. Irrespective of scale, these spectacular shows recount the story of a Seeker... Read more →

Hermann Lederle’s “Adaptation,” by James Scarborough

This essay will accompany an exhibition of the artist’s work next month at Arthea Gallery, Mannheim, Germany. Hermann Lederle’s “Adaptation,” 2015, is massive. Measuring five and a half feet by ten feet, this totemic monument doesn’t just envelop you, it anchors you to the ground. Reminiscent of partially open Levelor blinds, a network of dense and narrow vertical bands sweep across the canvas. There’s more weight at the center; this makes the surface quiver and... Read more →

Christine Frerichs: “Serenade” at Klowden Mann, by James Scarborough

Serenade 2014 Christine Frerichs oil, acrylic, wax and Activated Carbon Paint on two canvases 72" x 88" Photo: Lee Thompson, courtesy Klowden Mann With “Serenade,” her second solo show at Klowden Mann, Christine Frerichs offers deeply felt analyses of landscapes. She works in oil, acrylic, and wax. Although their surfaces are gritty, as if they’ve been blasted with stucco, there’s serenity to each piece. This serenity comes from the works’ narrow color range and the... Read more →

John Valadez: “Como Fregas | What Now” at Robert Berman Gallery, by James Scarborough

With photorealist and social acuity as well as a penchant for the melodramatic, John Valadez dissects Los Angeles’s Chicano experience. His work addresses issues of estrangement. He wants his work to go beyond reportage to embed allegories, noting: “These are stories that I don’t know where they are going to go… it’s all very mysterious.” His murals, for which he’s best known, are theatrical: vivid characterizations, large, detailed sets, and conflict born of alienation. This... Read more →

Nasim Nasr’s Zaeefeh (The Wretchedness) and Shadi (Happiness), GAGPROJECTS Adelaide/Berlin at the 2015 Art Dubai, by James Scarborough

Nasim Nasr has two new bodies of work. One is called Zaeefeh (The Wretchedness), 2015. Across her portraits of historical Persian shahs, the artist has inscribed Farsi quotes. These quotes include citations from Iranian poet’s Forough Farrokhzad’s, Another Birth, and from Iranian writer Sadegh Hedayat’s influential story, The Blind Owl (1937). Both writers expressed dissatisfaction with their then-current regimes. Both writers’ work was banned in Iran. The Zaeefeh format is especially effective. The portraits look... Read more →

‘Wet Hot American Summer... the play?’, Garage Theatre, Long Beach, CA, by James Scarborough

Written and directed by Ryan McClary for the Garage Theatre, “Wet Hot American Summer...the play?” at first seems slapdash, listing, and awkward. Then it feels jejune, hormonal, and uberconfessional. All this makes sense, given that it’s a behind scenes look at a play that kids stage in a summer camp. Still, it works at first like weak beer. It’s enough to get you boisterous and loud (“I want you inside me“). But not enough to... Read more →

“The Temptation of Saint Antony,” Four Larks, Los Angeles, by James Scarborough

One of the actors, citing her skills in the production’s playbill, says she’s a “things meshed together” artist. She acts, she sings, and she makes music. Throw in the making of art and that’s what Four Larks’ spectacular production of “The Temptation of Saint Antony” is, a things meshed together multimedia phantasmagoria, aka junkyard opera. Created and directed by Four Larks (Mat Diafos Sweeney and Sebastian Peters-Lazaro), it’s adapted from Gustav Flaubert’s “La Tentation de... Read more →

‘The Real Thing’, Long Beach Playhouse Mainstage Theatre at Long Beach, California, by James Scarborough

Mostly well done, Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing, directed by Sean Gray for the Long Beach Playhouse Mainstage Theatre, recounts the story of Henry (Noah Wagner), a brilliant and celebrated playwright. Successful, highly regarded, he is to the articulation of words and integrity of ideas as another Henry, Henry Higgins, is to proper pronunciation and good grammar. Though he’s high-minded, he’s not high browed. He prefers pop to classical music. He does believe, though, in... Read more →

‘The Marvelous Wonderettes,’ San Pedro Theatre Club, San Pedro, CA, by James Scarborough

In olden times, to commemorate a rite of passage, young people would gather in a public space in the company of chaperones to sing with and dance to music. The music was a confession, it was a catharsis. It told of crushes, first loves, and all manner of attendant, tempest in a teacup sorrows. Compared to now, the lyrics were innocent. Music was life’s soundtrack, its scrapbook. Years later you could hear a song on... Read more →

Danielle Eubank’s Arctic Circle Expedition, Part Two, by James Scarborough

As introduced here, Danielle Eubank recently completed an expedition to the Arctic Circle aboard the Antigua, a three-masted barquentine tall ship. She was one of 27 artists, scientists, and educators that sailed around the international territory of Svalbard, an arctic archipelago. She recorded what she saw, felt and experienced through painted sketches and photographs. This is a sneak peek at what Danielle brought back from the Arctic. Some of these images will be shown here.... Read more →

Bruce Richards: “Future/Past” at Jack Rutberg Fine Arts, by James Scarborough

The Dream of Kings 2007 Bruce Richards Oil on linen 41" x 19 ½" Photo: courtesy Jack Rutberg Fine Arts If “Bruce Richards: Future/Past” is any judge, then this longtime LA artist and UC Irvine grad, who moved to New York in 2002, would have been a great history teacher. He’s knowledgeable and analytical, light-hearted and not a little ironic. He doesn’t rant and rave. He may be sober to the point of understatement but... Read more →

“Transformations” and “Esterio Segura,” Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, CA, by James Scarborough

Two shows at MOLAA. Each a precious gem. Each vivid and compelling. Each worthy of being savored again and again. Photographs courtesy of Mick Victor/COTU MEDIA “Transformations” represents a perfect use of a permanent collection. It also represents a perfect engagement of a museum with its community. Chosen from a pool of 50, five Long Beach residents worked with Carlos Ortega, MOLAA’s Curator of Collections. Each resident had undergone a life-altering crisis. They chose work... Read more →

‘Post Mortem Presents: A Very Victorian Christmas,’ Post Mortem Movement Theatre, Long Beach, CA, by James Scarborough

The party prelude hooks you. There’s a Door Girl (Danielle Kaufman), a vampy pre-Henry Higgins Eliza Doolittle. A long, dark passageway - wait, is this Halloween? Rooms (so many possibilities but, alas, locked) off to the side. You emerge from this dim lit vaguely Christmassy birth canal and - gasp! - light. Crowd noise, music, a bar — red and green potent potables for one, please. A vampire, burlesque girls, a ghost, a clown and... Read more →

Hossein Khosrojerdi at Tara Gallery, by James Scarborough

Admirality Arch 2014 50.75” x 61.75” mixed media on cardboard Photos courtesy of Tara Gallery. In 2009 Hossein Khosrojerdi and his family left Iran to seek political asylum in England. His interest in the country’s popular but politically dangerous green movement as well as shrinking opportunities for post-Revolution Iranian artists provided the impetus. “Redefining Home”, his current exhibition of paintings and digital media at Tara Gallery, is his first U.S. solo show. It maps his... Read more →

‘The Patron Saint of Sideshow,’ The Found Theatre, Long Beach, CA. by James Scarborough

“The Patron Saint of Sideshow,” a documentary filmed and directed by Mike Brown for the Found Theatre, is an enchanting Puff the Magic Dragon tale. It recounts the making of “One Tit Wonder,” Cynthia Galles’ sublimation of her breast cancer diagnosis into a theatre production that recasts cellular mischief into an homage to humor, high spirits, and resilience. Every aspect of the Found Theatre is a labor of love. So too is Mike Brown’s direction.... Read more →

Donna Festa - Capturing Glimpses, by James Scarborough

They are the cutest couple imaginable. Both are elderly. That much you can tell from their white hair and the way the man stands slightly stooped, which makes him a bit shorter than the woman. They’re both dressed in bleh colors – browns, off greens – that go well with the pasty color of their faces. The lines of both bodies curve slightly upward to the left, as if they’re two pieces of an interlocking... Read more →

“Oedipus,” San Pedro Rep, by James Scarborough

Credibility begets anticipation. Having earned an imprimatur with their prior production of “The Lady of Shalott,” the verdict that awaited San Pedro Rep’s production of “Oedipus,” directed by David Mancini, was a foregone conclusion. The eyes have it. It’s not so much an enactment of a Sophocles play as a collaboration with the Greek playwright. The production is set in a contemporary lounge, an actual, drink-serving lounge. We’re citizens as well as audience. The setting,... Read more →

Stephen Eichhorn: “Arrangements” Greg Stimac: “Along for the Ride” at CES Contemporary, by James Scarborough

There are two concurrent one-man shows at CES Contemporary. Stephen Eichhorn has a series of collages, “Arrangements.” Greg Stimac has a set of scanned photographs, “Along for the Ride.” Although their work comprises two separate shows, the two artists share a few interests. Both deal with found objects. Eichhorn harvests botanical images from books. Stimac scans photographs of bugs that smashed up against the Plexiglas panel he mounted on the front of his car during... Read more →

A Conversation With Jack Persekian, Director and Head Curator of the Palestinian Museum/Artistic Director of Qalandiya International, by James Scarborough

The second Qalandiya International (Qi), also known as the Palestine Biennial, will take place from October 22 - November 15. It’s the largest contemporary art event in Palestine. Exhibitions and programs will be staged throughout the country. Sites include Jerusalem, Haifa, Ramallah, Gaza, and Hebron. It will feature the work of over 100 Palestinian and international artists. Each artist’s work will contribute to the theme “Archives, Lived and Shared.” Along with the exhibited art, QI... Read more →

The Qalandiya International, the second edition of the Palestinian Biennial, October 22 - November 15., by James Scarborough

Vita brevis, arts longa. Perhaps no circumstance better reflects this now than the second edition of the Qalandiya International. Otherwise known as the Palestine Biennial, it will run from October 22 - November 15. Weathering the region’s tumultuous climate, this cultural celebration will occur in cities, towns, and villages throughout Palestine. It will feature over 100 artists and include a slate of educational programing. These events will take place at nine partner institutions. Each of... Read more →

Liu Guanguang Makes Daily Life Bizarre in Distorted Paintings, by James Scarborough

Liu Guangguang was born in China’s Gansu province. He attended Lu Xun Academy of Fine Art. He lives and works in Shenyang and Beijing. He’s a member of the Beijing-based EDGE Creative Collective. His recent work is about scale. His figures (and animals) go about their normal activity. They check their phones. They play cards. They get ready for bed. The people smile without a care in the world. Despite the normalcy of each image,... Read more →

Matthew Carter: “hellequinharlequinclown” at Luis De Jesus, by James Scarborough

Someone once wrote that to look at a Renaissance painting was to look through a window. The picture frame did double duty as a window frame. The picture plane, the window’s glass, was assumed to be transparent. The subject of the painting was whatever could be seen through the window—presumably, a coherent point of view. Then along came Cubism, with its fractured space, kaleidoscopic forms, and simultaneous points of view. So that, eventually, art became... Read more →

‘Lisa Adams: The Difference Between Human Nature And The Human Spirit,’ Duke Art Gallery, Azusa Pacific University, by James Scarborough

Photos courtesy of Lisa Adams and CB1 Gallery. Everything’s here. A modern art lexicon. Figuration. Audubon birds, the texture of tree trunks, the cotton candy wispiness of cumulus clouds. Things hover in an atmospheric space. Abstraction. Some rectangles are diaphanous. Some are opaque. They occlude land- and cityscapes like geometric smudges on a window. Irregular negative spaces blaze with blues, reds, and greens. They flatten the space and emphasize the picture plane. Gravity-compelled paint blobs... Read more →

‘NeoMexicanism,’ Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, CA, by James Scarborough

NeoMexicanism, curated by Edward Hayes Jr., Assistant Curator at the Museum of Latin American Art, is a bold show. It’s also a problematic one. While the work is interesting enough, it’s hard to embrace the exhibition as a whole with the same enthusiasm as with other recent MOLAA offerings. The exhibition focuses on work from the 80s to the present day. Artists include Monica Castillo, Julio Galan, and Nahum B. Zenil. For historical context, it... Read more →