Cai Guo-Qiang, “Sustainable Beauty,” and “Independents”

By GREG COOK | October 25, 2011

ETHEREAL Works by Emma Boyd at West Side Arts.

Michael Spillane's stylized deer head rendered with spraypaint and paint markers is fun. And Joseph Skorupa's stencil and spray paint rendering of the show's title on the gallery wall in an ornate Arts and Craft's style is cool. But the standout is Emma Boyd's layered, draped, sheer textiles. One is deep red with a pair of black silhouettes of menacing figures. One has a horned head, like a bull, and an arm raised in an odd wave. Another piece drapes sheer fabric striped yellow, orange, and black over fabric printed with silhouettes of a landscape. The power is in how Boyd marshals ethereal washes of color. They could be flags from the land of Mark Rothko.

This year the theme of the Iron Guild's Halloween iron pour is "Molten Masquerade," which means they'll be making "larger-than-life flaming masquerade masks," accompanied by live music by the Empty House Cooperative at the Steel Yard (27 Sims Avenue, Providence) on Friday, October 28 at 7 pm. But what makes this one of the best art events each year is that they'll be melting down and pouring some 500 pounds of iron, oozing orange and showering sparks. And at the finale, they'll open up the furnaces and set the night sky ablaze. Because that's really what you want for Halloween: pyromania. Admission is just $10.

Read Greg Cook's blog at gregcookland.com/journal.

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Topics: Museum And Gallery , New York, Brown University, Cai Guo-Qiang, More

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