Fifth Annual Juried Summer Show at Tufts, Norman Laliberté at Montserrat, Julie Vinette at Atlantic Works, and Annual Juried Members’ Show at the Danforth
By RANDI HOPKINS | May 28, 2008
Randal Thurston, Wunderkammern |
“5 X 5” at Tufts University Art Gallery, 40R Talbot Ave, Medford | June 5–August 10 | 617.627.3518 “Therefore & Because: Decoding Norman Laliberté” at Montserrat College of Art Gallery, 23 Essex St, Beverly | June 6–July 26 | 978.867.9604 “Influence Of Order, New Work By Julie Vinette” at Atlantic Works Gallery, 80 Border St [third floor], East Boston | June 5-28 | 617.872.2432 “Off The Wall” at Danforth Museum of Art, 123 Union Ave, Framingham | June 1–August 3 | 508.620.0050 |
Summer can get pretty quiet at university art galleries around town, as campuses empty out and a kind of hush descends on the higher-learning scene. For the past five years, however, the Tufts University Art Gallery has taken the off-season opportunity to celebrate its year-round neighbors, presenting juried summer exhibitions of high-caliber artists who live and/or have studios in Somerville and Medford. Opening June 5, “5 X 5” presents site-specific installations by Kyle Larabee, Mindy Nierenberg, Roy Pardi, Randal Thurston, and August Ventimiglia. Their work evinces a diversity of approaches and interests: Larabee explores the experience of new fatherhood, Nierenberg pays homage to the public library, Pardi invites you into an interactive installation of sequenced light, Thurston is inspired by Wunderkammern (cabinets of curiosity) to create a cut-paper installation spanning 40 feet of gallery wall. And Ventimiglia uses his own stride as an expressive gesture in floor drawings he creates by embedding white chalk in the treads of his running shoes and then doing laps on a surface he has painted with chalkboard paint.The colorful paintings, prints, and sculpture of Norman Laliberté are recognized for their rich symbolism and universal themes, aspects of his work that are the jumping-off point for “THEREFORE & BECAUSE: DECODING NORMAN LALIBERTÉ,” which opens in Montserrat College of Art’s Main Gallery on June 6. Montserrat curator Leonie Bradbury has organized 30 of Laliberté’s pieces into six sections, offering you an opportunity to discover connections among the works and also pointing you to related external references. Sections include “Archeology: Ancient Cultures Re-Interpreted,” “Totems: Guardians of Time,” and “One Man’s Diary: The Artist’s Books.”
Abstract landscapes that grow out of the loose drips and streaks of thinned paint and new drawings that incorporate “stickers” to suggest real and imaginary places are both on view in “INFLUENCE OF ORDER, NEW WORK BY JULIE VINETTE,” which opens June 5 at the member-operated Atlantic Works Gallery in East Boston. All these works rely on an underlying grid structure to suggest order in the midst of activity; color is also a unifying force.
And be on the lookout for “OFF THE WALL: ANNUAL JURIED MEMBERS’ SHOW,” which opens at the Danforth Museum of Art June 1. As of this writing, participating artists have not been announced, but ICA curator Carole Anne Meehan acted as juror for this year’s show, and to judge from past efforts, the exhibition will be well worth a visit.
On the Web
Tufts University Art Gallery: www.ase.tufts.edu/gallery
Montserrat College of Art Gallery: www.montserrat.edu
Atlantic Works Gallery: www.atlanticworks.org
Danforth Museum of Art: www.danforthmuseum.org
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