Enjoyed last night’s opening at the Davis-Orton Gallery  114 Warren St. in  Hudson, NY  (legit for this blog: Karen Davis and Mark Orton recently moved from Cambridge, MA and Karen is still teaching a photography workshop at Lesley College). The show features the work of John Chervinsky of Somerville, MA and Ernie Button, of Phoenix, AZ.

Chervinsky uses a complex process to come up with photos combining  still life, landscape, abstraction, hyperrealism, outer space and laboratory chalkboard diagrams –showing objects in spatial perspectives  that simultaneously intrigue and perplex  the viewer, as in  “Abstract Implosionism, ” above, left).

 “I see these photographs as posing questions without easy answers. My intent is not to express a single, narrow perspective, but to, among other things, expose the fallacy of doing so,” Chervinsky writes. 

While looking at one photograph, curator Karen Davis remarked, “I really like this pitcher.” It was a picture of a pitcher…somehow suspended in space with string that appeared to come from nowhere.

Ernie Button’s “Cerealism” is a set of landscapes composed of breakfast cereal arrangements (tho there is one of French toast). On first (and second) viewing, they appear to be abstracts of fields, deserts, the pyramids…but on closer look (at the titles, especially) you see that they are bits of Cap’n Crunch, Cheerios, and other breakfast edibles, sometimes color treated to create what the gallery writeup calls ” a magical quality and an odd sense of ‘reality’”. 

Much of Ernie Button’s imagery focus on the individual nature of objects and the unique qualities that each possesses.  “My images often provide a voice to objects that are ignored and are frequently overlooked or taken for granted,” Button writes.

It’s an  unusual and fun show, great in combination, not to be missed if you’re in the area.

Through September 19, 2010,

–Anita M. Harris

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group of Cambridge, MA.

Went to see my cousin (James Franco) in Eat, Pray Love with my 89-year-old mom, last night. It was so boring she wanted to leave BEFORE her second? third? cousin Mitzi’s grandson from Cleveland even came on. And he was only the FIRST boyfriend.

I made her stay to see him, at least, and we agreed, James  is VERY cute. (The server in the restaurant next door told us she wanted to KISS him).  When James got dumped, my mom asked me if I wanted to leave. (I didn’t–I wanted to see how they handled the ashram scenes).

At one point, Mom handed me a kleenex because we were supposed to be feeling sorry for the Julia Roberts character, who was really wallowing. I apologized  for making Mom stay. She told me no problem, she was enjoying the scenery (not sure if she meant James Franco or Rome) but, really, how many spaghetti closeups can one 89-year-old enjoy?

Made it through the ashram (which I thought was the best part of both the book and the movie, tho it’s not clear how Julia managed to have a spiritual conversion, her guru being a rather annoying Texan. ), then on to Bali.  Not clear how, in book or movie, Julia managed to have a spiritual converversion, her guru being a toothless medicine man who didn’t have much interesting advice except to go for the Brazilian.

My mom could not understand why she would go for such an old guy if she wanted to have children.  Especially when I pointed out that Julia Roberts is 42–but Mom said the character was supposedly in her 30s. She was very surprised to learn that it was a true story and that Elizabeth Gilbert, who wrote the book, ended up marrying the Brazilian. So he could stay in the US.

My mom, who is getting a bit forgetful, told me that if she forgot the title and went to see it again I have her permission to put her in a home.

The upshot: James Franco is hot. Eat first, love the person you see it with, and pray you don’t have to sit through  it again.

–Anita M. Harris

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group of Cambridge, MA.

Loved Mao’s Last Dancer, a new film based on the true story of ballet dancer Li Cunxin, who, as a child, was pulled from his poor family in the Chinese countryside to train in Beijing during the Cultural Revolution–and through his own quest for freedom  wound up an international star.  

Directed by Bruce Beresford (Driving Miss Daisy, Tender Mercies)  the movie was filmed in China, Houston and Australia–and stars  Birmingham Royal Ballet Principal Dancer Chi Cao, Australian Ballet dancer Chengwu Guo  and Huang Wen Bin, who play Cunxin at different ages. 

Mao’s Last Dancer showcases many beautiful–even breathtaking–ballet sequences from acclaimed Australian choreographer Graeme Murphy and co stars  co-stars Bruce Greenwood, Kyle MacLachlan and Joan Chen.

The story is so moving that I even teared up at times–despite a bit of clunky acting ( foregivable because the artists are dancers, first, of course).

Mao’s Last Dancer premiered on 13rd September 2009, at the Toronto International Film Festival and will be opening in theaters Oct. 1, 2010.  I’d give it 3 and 3/4 stars–and a great recommendation for anyone who likes dance and US patriotism.

^{–Anita Harris}

^{New Cambridge}

I love the Williams College Museum of Art, in  Williamstown, MA.

Yesterday, Sara and I drove over from Albany–and found one wonderful surprise after another.

First–Tristan Lowe’s Mocha-Dick: a life size white whale made of felt–modelled on a levianthan that once harrassed sailing vessels in the Pacific Ocean and inspired Herman Melville’s 1851 novel Moby Dick. Made out of industrial wool felt, the sculpture  appeared at Philadelphia’s Fabric Workshop and Museum in May 2009.  It’s accompanied by a film composed of film clips, cartoons, and commentary on whaling–but be warned–it has some gory moments.  Both the sculpture and film will be at WCMA through August 8, 2010.
Then: “The Girl Bends,” an exhibit exploring connections between art and feminism through sculpture, video, photography, and prints since the 1960s.

The exhibition features over 20 objects from the museum’s collection, including work by Lynda Benglis, Patty Chang, Ed Kienholz, Glenn Ligon, Ana Mendieta, Niki de Saint-Phalle, Carolee Schneemann, Kiki Smith, and Nancy Spero. This Girl Bends also highlights Kerry Stewart’s sculpture of carved crayons by the same name, just above.  Through Dec. 12, 2010.

Then, onto the fabulous Photography at the Frontier of Physics and Art, featuring the photos of Eadweard Muybridge, Harold Edgerton, Berenice Abbott, and Man Ray. Each of these photographers broke new ground in using photography to better understand physics–and emerged with astonishingly beautiful works of art.

 
Muybridge’s photos, in the 19th century, were forerunners of motion pictures–totally graceful horses; Edgerton used strobe lights to capture instants in motion (the shattering of a light bulb) for example; Abbot captured  light and motion in lab experiments, bubbles, Man Ray experimented with objects on photosensitive paper–all inspirational and a bit daunting to me, as a photographer myself. Through Dec. 12, 2010.

Check the Museum Website at http://www.wcma.org/exhibitions/additional_current_exhibitions.shtml for information about additional exhibits, directions, curators and closing dates–and do get there if you can! Admission is free but I’m sure that donations and gift shop purchases would be appreciated.

—Anita M. Harris

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group of Cambridge, MA. We also publish Harriscom blog and Ithaca Diaries blog.

Chakaia Booker 5-21-10

  Another must see:  Chakaia Booker’s  big black sculptures made from rubber tires, at the DeCordova Museum in Lincoln, MA.

Outdoor sculptures include a  huge “picture frame” made of tire scraps assembled on some sort of armature– through which you can see a corner of the museum . Also,  inverted tee-pee-like structure, composed of V-shaped scraps, on a scaffolding.

"No More Milk and Cookies"

 Indoors: complex forms,  freestanding and on the walls–which embody shapes, textures, and visually complex abstract scenes “referencing African textiles and body decoration to evoke issues of black culture, identity, gender, and environmentalism,” as the DeCordova Web site explains.

The sculptures also bring up important questions about relationships of man-made waste materials, landscape, and culture.

Some  of the sculptures look like whimsical worms or insects; despite the overall “heavy” message of the show, these  are simply fun….and so highly textural that  you want to touch them. (I have to admit…my friend E and I each copped a feel—tho appearing soft, most of the rubber pieces are hard–before discovering a demonstration area near the exhibit where you can actually play with tire materials).

As the Decordova points out on its Web site:

Formally, Booker’s work is engaged in dialogue with the history of Western sculpture, from the ancient and classical tradition of the human figure through the Modernist non-objective sculpture of the twentieth century.

What sets her work apart, and significantly expands upon the history of sculpture, is her ability–with rubber tires–to create surfaces on objects that resemble skins, feathers, scales, spikes, armor, or attire.