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Home - Art
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Border Crossings - |
Bemis exhibit explores
beyond the margins of contemporary abstract art
by Michael J. Krainak
Perhaps abstract art’s greatest asset is that it allows artist and viewer the opportunity for free expression and association. To not only create outside the box, but to appreciate work beyond conventional wisdom and experience. In that light the relevant questions isn’t “What is art?” but “What is abstract art?”
Borderland Abstraction, an impressive survey of 13 artists at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, addresses that question well beyond the obvious: Abstract art is a form of art that is mostly non-representational or figurative. Borderland Abstraction continues that discussion with a contemporary twist, according to show organizer Hesse McGraw, Bemis Center curator. |
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Art Openings - |
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The Bemis Underground returns to the scene this month with three solo shows. Artists Matthew Carlson, Rebecca Herskovitz and Tana Quincy will show in the newly renovated space, now under the guidance of former Pulp Gallery owner Brigitte McQueen. Shapeshifters will be Carlson’s first solo show in the BU, where he continues his investigations into dreamy imagery, metaphor and nostalgia. In The Things I Cannot Say, Herskovitz uses erotic imagery and text to investigate the human experience. Quincy created a series of plaster cadaver casts and human bones for SODZO; she explores the effects of a personal illness and the healing process. The shows open Friday, Feb. 19 from 6-9 p.m. in the BU, located on the lower level of the Bemis Center at 12th and Leavenworth. Herskovitz and Quincy will give a gallery talk Saturday, Feb. 20 at noon. |
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Beauty and the Beholder - |
New CU show represents group of Chinese artists
by Sarah Baker
A new show at the Creighton University Lied Gallery comes to the U.S. from China with the aim of bridging a vast cultural divide.
Asian Beauty Trespassing Borders features the work of four prominent Chinese artists; almost all of the pieces feature elements of traditional Asian art blended with hints of American culture. The styles mingle to create a distinct picture of modern art in the East.
“Art does not see whether you are Asian or American,” said Maorong Jiang, director of Creighton’s Asian World Center. “It sees beauty without boundary.”
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Now, Voyager - |
Echotrope launches 2010 season of new media
exhibits with
Interact at UNO
by Michael J. Krainak
Echotrope, a nomadic arts group devoted to the creation and display of new media contemporary art, opened its 2010 season this month at the UNO Art Gallery with a new focus. No longer satisfied with just time-based, site-specific art, Echotrope has begun to experiment with what its cofounder Jody Boyer calls “the fourth dimension, the intersection of time and space.” |
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Mixed Media - |
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Artists worldwide are uniting to help earthquake victims in Haiti, and locals are participating. Omaha artists are invited to gather Friday night at the Art Mill, 156th and Maple, to build clay houses and vases. The finished products will be donated to Artists for Hope, which will sell the pieces on the craft and art commerce site etsy. The organization collects donated pieces from artists around the world, using proceeds to benefit charity. All profits from the Art Mill project will be donated to a resource center for severely malnourished and injured children in Cazale, Haiti. Jane Buresh, owner of the Art Mill, said though she and many others can’t go to Haiti, donating time and creativity can have an impact. Houses for Haiti is Jan. 29, 6-9 p.m. For more information, visit omahaartmill.com. |
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Oh, The Humanity - |
Touring group exhibit stops at Joslyn
by Sarah Baker Hansen
Sometimes the touch of a human hand is wiped away in contemporary art. That’s not so with the latest show at Omaha’s Joslyn Art Museum. In fact, the impact of people is all over The Human Touch, the aptly named touring exhibit of 48 pieces owned by RBC Wealth Management.
The company has a corporate collection of more than 400 works, each featuring either a human figure or evidence of the human touch. The show features lots of big, recognizable names: Tony Berlant, Chuck Close, Jim Dine, Roy Lichtenstein and Nan Goldin included.
“The work in this show will strike just about anyone,” said John Taft, head of U.S. RBC Wealth management. “It’s a really beautiful selection of work.” |
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Mixed Media - |
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Two new shows open this weekend at the Bemis Center: James Woodfill: Stations and Borderland Abstraction. Woodfill creates sculpture, public art and installation work, integrating light, sound, video and other kinetic elements into his art. He works in galleries, but has installed work in parking lots, garages, on bridges, in courtyards and at self-storage facilities. He aims to create art that interacts with its surroundings and change a room or a space into a “place.” Borderland Abstraction is a group show featuring a variety of media all with one goal: to explore abstraction. Artists Nils Folke Anderson, Tim Bavington, Nate Boyce, Michelle Grabner, Amy Granat, Mary Heilmann, Matthew Kluber, Takeshi Murata, Ara Peterson, Eli Ping, Eric Sall, Colin C. Smith and Wendy White will exhibit. Both shows open Friday, Jan. 22, 6-9 p.m. at the Bemis, 12th and Leavenworth. Artists from both shows will give galley talks Saturday, Jan. 23. The talks begin at noon. |
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Time Warp - |
Artist Helm experiments with past in
From the Queen’s Lab
by Michael J. Krainak
Experiencing From the Queen’s Lab, the current exhibit at the Fred Simon Gallery from artist David Helm, is not unlike being immersed in the cosmos of filmmaker Terry Gilliam. Except of course you are the time traveler instead of Jonathon Pryce or the late Heath Ledger. Think Brazil and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.
Both Helm and Gilliam interweave past and present with an imaginative blend of fantasy and whimsy, but there are key differences aside from the obvious choice of medium. Gilliam creates elaborate narratives for the sake of allegory. Helm’s unique assemblages and installations also comment on contemporary social and political issues within an historical framework, but with a less didactic, more academic point of view. |
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Mixed Media - |
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2010 is kicking off with some big shows, potentially some of the biggest of the year. One opens this weekend at Creighton University’s Lied Gallery. Asian Beauty Trespassing Borders opens Jan. 20, and continues through March 13, featuring the work of four Chinese artists: Zhou Jingxin, vice president of the well-known Nanjing Arts Institute; Zhang Youxian, associate dean at NAI Department of Fine Arts; Yang Zhilin, a professor at NAI and Ning Zhao, a Chinese-born artist who now lives in Canada. The Nanjing Arts Institute is the only comprehensive arts institute in China’s Jiangsu Province. Begun in 1912, it was the earliest art academy established in China, and since then has attached great importance to promoting academic research, improving art teaching methods and advancing art education and talent through research and creativity. The show tackles some serious ground: the idea of how Asian artists deal with the ideals of American beauty. The opening reception for the show will run 5-8 p.m. Jan. 20, and include Asian food, a tea program and traditional Chinese music. |
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The Man Show - |
Indiana artist swaggers into Bancroft space with audio/video exhibit
by Jesse Claeys
Artist Aaron Nemec was a bit disappointed when he learned of the dimensions at the Bancroft Street Market exhibition space.
The flexible art, market and event venue located on historic 10th Street is a bit too small to house a full-sized inflatable monster truck.
“We were planning on having the monster truck crush smaller cars under its front wheels,” Nemec, a new media artist, said. “We have to get away from that, now knowing the space constraints.” |
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Mixed Media: Art News - |
The future of the Omaha art scene in 2010 is the question of the hour. I often have a tough time when it comes to writing my annual predictions column — after all, part of the charm of the art world lies in its unpredictability. In the spirit of things, though, I’ll do my best.
2010 will mark the official return of the Bemis Underground as a viable player in the Omaha art world. In early December, a group of local artist and art lovers gathered to discuss what might lie in the space’s future, which was dormant for most of 2009. |
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State of the Arts - |
A slowed economy doesn’t keep the local art community down
by Sarah Baker Hansen
The year kicked off with an economic slump and it will end in one, but 2009 wasn’t the crippling year for the arts that it could have been. In some cases, it was quite the contrary.
Omaha’s art scene wasn’t hit as hard as some other art communities. The Bemis Center for Contemporary Art saw its annual auction bring in a record $400,000. Galleries kept their doors open and maintained regular schedules of openings; enthusiastic crowds were found at most. |
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Mixed Media - |
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If you haven’t gotten enough of the holiday spirit post-Christmas, you can still find it at Lauritzen Gardens. Through Jan. 10, the annual Poinsettia Show is on display. Model trains are part of this year’s show. The trains whiz around holiday gifts and decorated trees on a scale grander than usual. This year’s show features more trains than the show in 2007, the last time trains were on display during the holidays, and the trains running inside are the same ones from the outside Railroad Garden in summer. The scale buildings from the Railroad Garden also make an appearance in the display, and visitors can check out miniature versions of Old Market buildings, the First National Tower, Woodmen Tower, Union Pacific Headquarters and the Rose Theater |
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Group Shot - |
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Diverse RNG photo show flirts with over-
exposure
by Michael J. Krainak
Calling the latest exhibit at the RNG Gallery a “Group Photography Show” is a bit of a misnomer. The 30-plus artists represented make it more of a cattle call to many of the area’s finest photographers. Except they really aren’t auditioning for anything, since most have a role in that part of Omaha’s art scene which gallery owner Rob Gilmer says gets very little respect.
“I have always felt that photography has always been the bastard child of the art world,” said Gilmer, a fine art photographer himself. “I told artists to bring in work that they felt was strong. The images vary greatly, digital to traditional, black and white to color to hand-painted, and from professional to starving artist, and from college student to those who point and shoot.”
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Mixed Media - |
Earlier this week the Bemis Center announced its docket of artists-in-residence for July-Dec. 2010. New residents include sculptor and installation artist Jill Downen from St Louis; sculptor Mia Feuer from Washington, D.C.; sculptor Wes Heiss from Allentown, Penn.; installation artist Cybele Lyle from New York; painter Song Myung-Jin from Seoul, Korea; sculpture and installation artist Peter Schulte from Iowa City, Iowa; installation artist Nathaniel Sullivan from Syracuse, New York; and installation artist Quynh Vantu from Glen Allen, Virginia.
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MIXED MEDIA - |
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If you’re still looking for an artsy holiday gift, Jackson Street Artworks is the place to be this weekend. The gallery continues its small gifts show, featuring work from Heidi Bartlett, Karen Zuegner, Kristin Pluhacek, Christina Narwicz, Iggy Sumnik, Nicholas Bohac, Susan Knight, Swanee, C. Daniel Newberry, Steven Bauer, Kat Moser, Eddith Buis, Becky Hermann, Jim Butkus, Helen Brough, Caleb Coppock, Kristae, Rob Gilmer, Vanessa Bartlett and Watie White. Friday, Dec. 18 the gallery opens Robot Luv and jewelry from Lincoln artist Sara Bucy for one night only. The special event runs from 4:30-9 p.m. |
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In Print - |
The art of music merch and posters in Omaha
by Jesse Claeys
The three-man team at Ink Tank does judge a band by its cover.
The cover of its T-shirt, that is.
Is the name difficult to read, illegibly printed on black cotton? Probably a metal band, production director Pat Oakes would guess.
“If there is a skull or snake it is metal for sure,” Oakes said. |
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MIXED MEDIA - |
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The fall semester of students in the Kent Bellows Studio and Center for Visual Arts class will present a group show opening this Friday. Reflections [of you, me and everyone we don’t know] features work from Bellows mentors and the 30 students in the program. It opens Dec. 11, from 6-9 p.m. in the Bemis Underground. The show continues through Dec. 19. |
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Take Five - |
Five photographers think outside the lens
by Sally Deskins
Through an exhibit opening this Saturday, five female photographers unite to show their diverse work, suitably at the Pizza Shoppe Collective.
Cami Rawlings, exhibit coordinator and photographer, describes the exhibit as “an amalgamation of women who love photography … The photos range from fantastical to flowers, from whimsical to heartbreaking.”
Likewise, the women represent diverse backgrounds. Rawlings is a radio host; Rene Corcoran, photographer and health insurance claims analyst; Lauren Olson, University of Nebraska-Lincoln art education student; Joy Patton, waitress and culinary student; and Jodi Tolan, a retail manager.
Each artist will show five pieces, all of which will be available for purchase.
“The common thread,” explained Rawlings, “is that we all love to capture what we see, and then share with others.”
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OPENINGS - |
Two holiday-themed events during this month’s Lincoln First Friday openings will do much to get art lovers in the spirit. Winterfest, Dec. 4-5, at the Lux Center for the Arts, will include hands-on holiday card making, cookies and cider and handmade ornaments for sale. Proceeds from the sale of ornaments will go toward the Lux Center’s youth scholarship program. The Sheldon Museum of Art will celebrate the holidays Dec. 4-5, with Winter Escape, which will include performances from the University Chamber Singers Friday night during the openings, and music Saturday from the Suzuki Strings and Mike Mennard and hands-on art-making activities at 1 p.m.
— Sarah Baker Hansen |
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