An exciting week, mostly because of the eclipse. I was a little skeptical, but the experience did live up to the hype.
If you missed this one, you could always start planning a trip for the one in 2026.
And now, the recap of what went up on the website this week-
Music Monday’s song of the day was Zelma Stone’s Be the One, which is also on my Best Songs of 2023 Playlist.
The Sculpture Center in Cleveland had two shows closing this week.
The sculptures in Nalani Stolz’s Bodies Still Becoming, left a lasting impression.
The gallery’s statement about the artist’s intent makes it clear why-
“The bodies Nalani Stolz crafts bulge, grow, and break down. Materials such as rising dough expand and constrict, cloth sculptures leak and ooze, fermented membranes and porous clay forms seep vinegar, growing warts across their surfaces. These bodily processes draw on the often-gendered experiences of how our physical forms take in and expel matter; the feelings of expansion and fullness and those of emptying out, of breaking down when weeping, menstruating, and experiencing miscarriage, abortion, and pregnancy. These moments shift our seemingly solid edges and reveal our porous boundaries; reminding us that we are dying, changing, decaying vessels, loosely contained by skin, muscle, and bone.”
The other show, Zachary Smoker’s Inured, explored issues related to U.S. currency, power, capitalism, and material culture. All the works, including the shopping cart (seen below) work on multiple levels.
On my way to The Sculpture Center I spotted one of WRDSMTH’s optimistic murals. It reminded me of seeing his work all over Los Angeles.
In Florida, it was the final week of the Museum of Fine Arts St. Petersburg’s The Nature of Art exhibition. Utilizing both the museum’s space and its permanent collection, it was a chance to see new work, as well the more familiar, in new contexts.
The exhibition is divided into several sections. For Artist as Curator, Sarah Mehoyas and Christian Sampson used artwork from the collection to complement their works.
Mehoyas chose the Georgia O’Keeffe painting pictured at the top of this post. Her hologram work looks appears completely black from the side. When you stand in front of it, it comes alive. On even closer inspection, body parts emerge.
Sampson chose works by Claude Monet and Francis Picabia- both works I always make time for if they are on view at the museum. His work is influenced by the California Light and Space movement and these three works complement each other with their use of light and color.
Sampson also has a beautiful installation at the museum, on view until 3/2025.
A few more from the show-
In the Sculpture Garden and Great Hall, Brookhart Jonquil’s sculptures brought new life to the spaces.
And upstairs was the dreamy underwater video installation, Blood, Sea, by Janaina Tschäpe.
I was really pleased to see Duke Riley’s work included. I had seen some of this work in his show last year at Brooklyn Museum.
While reading Jerry Saltz’s book of essays Art is Life, I learned more about Riley’s other projects. One of the works Saltz discusses is his 2009 performance piece, Those About to Die Salute You described as a “Naumachia”. For this work, a massive fake battle with fighters representing four NY boroughs and their museums took place in the pool at the World’s Fair grounds in Flushing Meadow park.
Head over to his website to check out his other projects. There are so many great ones including- a temporary secret bar installation on Plumb Island, a race of the Chinese zodiac animals in Zhujiajiao, and Fly by Night, for which he released a flock of pigeons with LED lights into the night sky.
On the West Coast, this week is the first weekend of Coachella. The Beths, from Auckland, NZ, are one of the bands playing. This song was also on my Best of 2022 playlist.
See you again next week!