ANTHONY MEIER - HOSFELT - PAULE ANGLIM

HIGHLIGHT - MERIDIAN - ADOBE BACKROOM

03.20.14



Can art prices be calculated with formulas? Click Here.

***

Anthony Meier Fine Arts: Jim Hodges.

Comment by AB: Prodigiously intricate colored mirror glass mosaics by Jim Hodges manipulate light in so many ways that you're never quite sure which color is which and what's being reflected from where. Definitely recommended.

***

Hosfelt Gallery: Ben McLaughlin - The Night Sky; Reed Danziger - The Edge of Chaos.

Comment by AB: Ben McLaughlin's shadowy late night paintings hint at all manner of mysterious scenarios, though out of the darkness emerges an occasional tidbit of humor (such one of a computer "program loading" icon). Especially exemplary are his miniatures, starting at $750, some not much larger than a domino, the best packing plenty worth contemplating into a really teeny space. In the rear gallery, Reed Danziger's subtle intricate abstractions get better and better the closer in you get. Her detailing is impeccable, the compositions looking almost like molecular reactions or interplays of elements. No dearth of grist for the pinkie cam here. Good art on both counts; stop on by.

***

Gallery Paule Anglim: Carrie Mae Weems - Subject and Witness .

Comment by AB: A satisfying retrospective selection of the photographs of Carrie Mae Weems includes deeply personal portraits, historical scenes, intimate interiors, text/photography combinations, examples of The Museum Series, ghostly self-portraits standing before several of the world's great museums, and more. The Museum Series is currently on view at The Studio Museum in Harlem, and a thirty year retrospective of her work is now showing at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Worth seeing.

***

Highlight Gallery: Ben Barretto - Surround Sound.

Comment by AB: Australian artist Ben Barretto is currently living in Los Angeles. In this odd musical homage, he creates kicky hi-gloss paintings and asymmetrical stretched canvas works (you could almost call them sculptures) accented with pickups, cables, jacks, straps, stands and other accouterments of electric guitars. Check it out.

***

Meridian Gallery: Greenup Time - An Artists' Auction to Help Save Meridian.

Artists: Bryan Keith Thomas, Nancy Calef, William T. Wiley, Matt Gonzalez, Enrique Celaya Martinez, Robert Colescott, Rolando Castellon, Doug Minkler, Joan Moment, Nancy Goldring, Gloria Matuszewski, Sandy Walker, Greg Mettler, Don Anton, Ward Schumaker, Heike Liss, Michal Gavish, Marguerite Fletcher, Nora Raggio, Amy Berk, David Tim, David Avery, Susan Field, Claire Beaulieu, Praj Jayavant, Ilona Sturm, Mary Hull Webster, Frances Jetter, Kathy Aoki, Joyce Hulbert, Duncan Webb, Peter Foley, Julia Nelson-Gal, Michael Pauker, Alice Gibbons, Frederick Hayes, Homero Hidalgo, Hulleah J. Tsinhnahjinnie, Krista Chael, Ken Edwards, Cristina Velazquez, Barbara Gunther, Phil McGaughy, Margot Neuhaus, Dennis Parlante, Joseph Aponte, Inge Infante, Meagan Shapiro, Carolyn Castaño, Dewey Crumpler, Juan Fuentes, Devin Cecil-Wishing.

Comment by AB: Yet another gallery is having a tough time surviving in this era of skyrocketing rents and endangered cultural spaces. In fact, they're in urgent need of $100K (the landlord wants a FULL YEAR'S rent of $72K plus a $28 security deposit up front). If you can help, please do so by April 7 or Meridian will be no longer. Plenty of art by quality artists was available at this fundraiser (and some may still be). The auction's already happened, but if you're inclined to support the cause, I would imagine that the organization will be able to fix you up with a nice piece of artwork in exchange for a donation.

***

Adobe Books Backroom Gallery: Queer Communities in Print.

Artists: Lena Wolff, This Camp, Polymer and Wood Type Letterpress, Felipe Baeza, Anima Metalica D.J., BOKA (April Katz and JoAnn Boehmer), Emmy Bright, Ian Cozzens, Jill Fitterer, Thea Gahr/Collectiva Cordyceps, Jennifer Hughes, Graham Kolbeins, Delia Kovac, Jaime Knight, Chucha Marquez, Dutes Miller & Stan Shellabarger, Heidi Ratanavanich and Eileen Shumate, Patrick Reed, Gavin Rouille, Matt Runkle, Nicholas Shick, Miriam Klein Stahl, Corinne Teed, Mary Tremonte, Meg Turner.

Comment by AB: The selection of prints in this show "pays tribute to the ability of LGBTQ people to dialogue, agitate and build community across identities, experiences and distance." Held in conjunction with the 2014 Southern Graphics Council International Print Conference.

***