Gabriel Kuri and Francis Alÿs look at the ordinary

Museum And Gallery

Utopia station

Contemporary Caribbean Art at the Museum School, “Gods In Color” at Harvard, “Arts Of Japan” at the MFA, and the new Proof Gallery

By RANDI HOPKINS | September 12, 2007

Rafael Trelles, from the portfolio “En concreto-gráfica urbana en Vieques”

“ ‘America’s Paradise’ and ‘Isla Del Encanto’: Contemporary Art from the American Caribbean” at School of the Museum of Fine Arts, 230 the Fenway, Boston | September 18–October 13 | 617.369.3718 | “Gods In Color: Painted Sculpture of Classical Antiquity” at Arthur M. Sackler Museum, 32 Quincy St, Cambridge | September 22–January 20 | 617.495.9400 | “Arts Of Japan: The John C. Weber Collection” at Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave, Boston | September 22–January 13 | 617.267.9300 | “Jeff Degolier: Fringe Benefits” at Proof Gallery, 516 East Second St, Unit 20, South Boston | September 22–November 3

The grimy surfaces of walls, sidewalks, and utility poles in neighborhoods of San Juan have replaced canvas as a medium for Puerto Rican artist Rafael Trelles, who uses a pressurized water hose and plastic stencils to engrave elaborate, often politically pointed designs on dirty city façades and exteriors. Trelles’s acts of cleansing, as documented in a series of photographs, can be seen along with work by 11 other artists from the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico in “ ‘AMERICA’S PARADISE’ AND ‘ISLA DEL ENCANTO’: CONTEMPORARY ART FROM THE AMERICAN CARIBBEAN,” which opens at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts on September 18. The exhibition, whose title incorporates the sunny license-plate mottos of these countries, examines the myth of paradise through work by artists whose ecological concerns and interests in identity, migration, and complex economic, political, and social relationships with the US are expressed in paintings, installation work, video, and sculpture.

Pure white marble is part of our very definition of classical sculpture — but research by international scholars now reveals that many ancient statues and reliefs were brightly painted. Opening at Harvard’s Arthur M. Sackler Museum on September 22, “GODS IN COLOR: PAINTED SCULPTURE OF CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY” presents more 20 full-size color reconstructions of important Greek and Roman works displayed alongside the originals in their current, colorless state. Two short films documenting the coloration process will also be shown in the galleries.

A wealth of historical and contemporary Japanese art finds itself under one roof at the Museum of Fine Arts these days. Joining “Drama and Desire: Japanese Paintings from the Floating World 1690–1850” (on view through December 16) and “Contemporary Outlook: Japan” (up through February 10) is “ARTS OF JAPAN: THE JOHN C. WEBER COLLECTION,” which opens September 22, filling the first- and second-floor Japanese galleries with ceramic and lacquer pieces, screens, scrolls, kimonos, and other textiles created between the 12th and the 20th centuries.

And — fully 21st-century — the all-new Proof Gallery kicks off its exhibition program with “JEFF DEGOLIER: FRINGE BENEFITS” on September 22. Proof is located in the Distillery in South Boston, in the space once occupied by gone-but-not-forgotten Second Gallery; DeGolier will show his eccentric kinetic sculpture, which is composed of objects scavenged from the detritus of post-industrial society.

On the Web
School of the Museum of Fine Arts: www.smfa.edu
Arthur M. Sackler Museum: www.artmuseums.harvard.edu
Proof Gallery: www.proof-gallery.com

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