Author Archives: jolanta

Gae Savannah: Can you talk about the “Waterways” project that you organized at the Venice Biennial in 2005? Renée Vara: The “Waterways” project was a public collective action—a nostalgic and utopian intervention that literally functioned as a social sculpture, and which cut the physical space of the Venetian landscape by moving through the canals. The […]

Leah Oates: When did you know you where an artist? Michael Schall: Well, the first time I received recognition for my creative abilities was in kindergarten. The project was to draw something on a paper plate, which would eventually be sent somewhere to be made into a real laminated plate. I drew a picture of […]

I’m interested in exploring gay identity in relation to the conservative landscape that exists in the US today. I’ve been inspired by the political activism of the 80s: the art of David Wojnarowicz, “ACT UP” demonstrations and the defiant “fuck you” that angry queers gave mainstream society. So, I make work that hearkens back to […]

Michelle Sakhai was born in l983, the heyday of appropriation, and thus her debut solo show at Broadway Gallery, with her exquisite plein-air canvases, presents a curious conundrum to the ironic eye. How are we to decipher these works in the present artistic climate? Following in the footsteps of the Impressionists and the Fauves, Ms. […]

No, Virginia, Cindy Sherman’s art did not come to us from outer space; it was yet another art practice formed in and by feminist thought and affiliated, both directly and indirectly, with the work of many women artists active in the 70s. If this is a newsworthy observation, it represents one positive consequence of the […]

In my mind, I am in a shopping mall parking lot. I am framing a scene that I will fill with a cast of zombies. People and family vehicles move through the space of my palms. I am psyched. The temperature is ideal. There is no breeze, so it feels like indoors. It will be […]

The way objects and images are perceived upon a first viewing is far different than the way they appear after extended periods of viewing. Eventually, the things we see repeatedly begin to loose their initial meaning, and what we are left with is a kind of raw information. Numbness to the original function sets in […]

The first time I came across the work of artist Qiu Qijing was in the 798 district in March. While on one of my friends’ computers, I discovered a group of images of landscape settings under the exhibition title “Migration,” which gave me the urge to know this artist better. In terms of the size, […]

Fleetingness and fluidity are two aspects of nature that lure me to the subject matter in my landscape installations. A winter flurry can suddenly transport me to the interior of a snow globe, but such a moment can never be captured. It melts and disappears. Although sunsets and windy vistas enchant me, I build landscapes […]

In his new paintings, Beninati employs soft, luminous colors to create dreamlike visions of a world suffused with feelings of fantasy and nostalgia. The artist dissolves the boundaries between magical interiors and natural exteriors by filling the interiors with bouquets of flowers and vegetation. Outdoor spaces fairly reek of the beauty created by natural phenomena […]