There are forms recording the loan of the dead bird from Harvard and a map of Brazil with a pin marking the spot of something, perhaps where macaws were found. A 2003 photo shows two caged Spix’s macaws. Printouts of Web pages — fact sheets, scientific reports, news accounts — fill four bulletin boards. I skimmed bits; it was too boring for me to read it all. Now and again a reel-to-reel tape deck plays a recording of the macaw’s irritating screech, which Håkansson found on the Web and turned into a bird conversation.
The installation is like a tearjerker TV movie — the subject matter is so important and sad that you can’t help being moved, even though there’s little artistry, even though you end up feeling manipulated. In the ’60s, Jasper Johns wrote a recipe for art: “Take an object. Do something to it. Do something else to it.” Frequently these days, artists like Håkansson execute the first two steps but fail to get to the third, where things are transformed into something new. He’s hoping to create sparks, it seems, by just throwing things together in a room, but it’s not enough.
“Under Cover: Artists’ Sketchbooks” | Fogg Art Museum, 32 Quincy St, Cambridge | through October 22
“Henrik Håkansson: Cyanopsitta spixii Case Study #001” | Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 280 The Fenway, Boston | June 30–September 17
Related:
Sketchy, The hollow man, Birdland, More 
- Sketchy
Art — like music, physics, literature, dance, and other creative pursuits — rarely springs forth from the imagination in its final form.
- The hollow man
The Swiss artist John Armleder fancies himself a slippery shape shifter.
- Birdland
Our fragile and threatened natural environment weighs on the mind of Swedish artist Henrik Håkansson, who takes a biologist’s approach to artmaking .
- Scroll down
It’s always a treat to spend time in the several clustered museums at Harvard, where scholarly mini exhibitions co-exist with larger surveys and familiar favorites from the permanent collection complement surprises in the galleries.
- The late show
Boston lives after 2 am. It’s just a different city, more of a landscape than a community. Audio Slideshow: Allston, 2 to 6 am Audio Slideshow: Cambridge, 2 to 6 am Audio Slideshow: Downtown Boston, 2 to 6 am
- Book mad
He speaks quickly, with a friendly, nervous laugh, in cadences that sound like a cross between Ira Glass and Martin Scorsese.
- The Covenant
I bet you didn’t know this (it’s a well kept secret, hence the title), but at a prestigious prep school on the North Shore (the film was shot in Quebec), scions of Salem warlocks use their sorcery to expose babes’ bottoms, repair cars, get into Harvard, and perpetrate even more devious deeds. Watch the trailer for The Covenant (QuickTime)
- 25 Classes That Will Get You $50K
Unless you dream of becoming, say, a Franciscan monk, a retail clerk, or a freelance writer, vows of poverty probably don’t show up on your career checklist.
- Noise patrol
Wednesday, the mighty Heathen Shame, one of Boston’s most ferocious bands, unleash their high-decibel mayhem at the Piano Factory in the South End.
- A Jersey junket
Joe Harvard, East Boston native, made his bones in these parts, primarily as a producer and founding co-owner of Fort Apache studio.
- Endangered tongues
You may have read: the world is getting smaller.
- Less
Topics:
Museum And Gallery
, Entertainment, Media, Henrik Hakansson, More
, Entertainment, Media, Henrik Hakansson, David Smith, Television, Harvard University, Boston Public Library, Adolf Hitler, Painting, Visual Arts, Less
