Caruso and MClaurin in Lawrence, “Belief in Paint” at the New Art Center, Benefit Auction Exhibition at the PRC, and Visiting Faculty at Harvard
By RANDI HOPKINS | September 4, 2007
Caruso and McLaurin, Untitled (detail) from “Swaddled Babies and Dead Animals” |
| “Swaddled Babies and Dead Animals” at 250 Canal Street, Lawrence | September 15–October 12 | 978.387.2947 | “Belief in Paint” at New Art Center, 61 Washington Park, Newtonville | September 14–October 28 | 617.964.3424 | “PRC Benefit Auction: Live Auction Preview Exhibition” at Photographic Resource Center, 832 Comm Ave, Boston | September 14–October 21 | 617.975.0600 | “Visiting Faculty Exhibition” at Harvard’s Carpenter Center, 24 Quincy St, Cambridge | September 17–October 28 | 617.495.3251 |
The primal, highly anxious pleasure of poking around in our own vulnerability is stirred up in “SWADDLED BABIES AND DEAD ANIMALS,” an exhibition by the artist collaborative “caruso and mclaurin 2 american artists” (a/k/a Gayle Caruso and Cathy McLaurin) that opens on September 15 at 250 Canal Street, an alternative exhibition space in the Washington Mills building in Lawrence. The show includes Gayle Caruso’s swaddled-doll series of drawings and paintings, which are inspired by terra cotta votive sculptures left at gravesites to invite heavenly protection, and Cathy McLaurin’s drawings and paintings based on images of wide-eyed animals found in hunting magazines.Armed only with their paintbrushes and an abiding faith in the powers unleashed when oil meets canvas, the artists of “BELIEF IN PAINT: THORPE FEIDT, JON GRILLO AND RICHARD B. LETHEM,” which opens at the New Art Center on September 14, have been painting for decades. Feidt makes large-scale abstractions that have a poetic way with color, form, and surface; Grillo, who played a major role in the development of Abstract Expressionism on the West Coast in the 1940s, mines both figurative and abstract modes of expression to great effect; and Lethem creates lively work that reflects his social and political interests, and his humor.
The Photographic Resource Center at Boston University is an independent, non-profit organization that is tireless and top-notch in its efforts to keep us up to date on what’s what in the world of contemporary photography, offering lectures, exhibitions, youth programs, and a big resource library to Boston photo lovers. To support these programs, the PRC hosts an annual benefit auction; that doesn’t take place till October 27, but a “LIVE AUCTION PREVIEW EXHIBITION” opens on September 14, and additional, auction-related exhibitions will follow next month. Whether you’re planning to bid or just wanna take a look, the “Preview Exhibition” boasts fine work by photographers including William Wegman, John O’Reilly, and Joel Meyerowitz.
Visiting artists from around the world arrive at Boston-area schools each fall, bringing all sorts of interesting talents and ideas not just to students but to all of us. Seven such artists are showcased in the “VISITING FACULTY EXHIBITION” that opens at Harvard’s Carpenter Center on September 17, among them choreographer and media artist Dean Moss, animator Andreas Hykade, and photographer Miles Coolidge.
On the Web
250 Canal Street: www.cathymclaurin.com
New Art Center: www.newartcenter.org
Resource Center: www.prcboston.org
Harvard’s Carpenter Center: www.ves.fas.harvard.edu
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