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KEN GREENLEAF

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Forceful feelings

Rodin's solidity has staying power
Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) was one of the greatest sculptors in history.

By: KEN GREENLEAF | February 04, 2009

Works by Jim Campbell + Megan Greene + Kim Keever + Bennett Morris
In "Twilight," now showing at the Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art, four artists pull some roots from the Gothic Romantic tradition and rearrange them to fit their needs.

By: KEN GREENLEAF | January 28, 2009

Rhythm in light

A Lynne Drexler retrospective at the PMA
Lynne Drexler's artistic path can not have been an easy one.

By: KEN GREENLEAF | January 14, 2009

Groups + solos

Looking forward to 2009
First on the list of this year's points of interest is the anticipated Portland Museum of Art Biennial, which opens in early April.

By: KEN GREENLEAF | December 31, 2008

Poetic sense

Age of art
For the last end-of-the-year review I had to rely on the kindness and opinions of others, having just started reviewing again after a long hiatus.

By: KEN GREENLEAF | December 23, 2008

Seeking Relevance

A MECA faculty show goes didactic
Here in Maine we're used to living in a mediated landscape. Painters have been reframing how we see the shore and woods for generations, defining what's worth looking at for a larger audience.

By: KEN GREENLEAF | December 03, 2008

A print apart

Anna Hepler 'flattens' sculptures into woodcuts
Anna Hepler's major works are sculptural installations made from wires and joints that are held together in tension, creating mighty metallic clouds that fill big spaces and change with the light.

By: KEN GREENLEAF | December 01, 2008

Elements + islands

Dennis Pinette's identity is on display at CMCA
Dennis Pinette, who was born in the Penobscot Bay town of Belfast and lives there still, makes completely contemporary paintings whose roots extend back through those epic early days of American painting.

By: KEN GREENLEAF | November 05, 2008

Day by day

A new film examines Marsden Hartley’s life
Everyone has their own Marsden Hartley. That happens with great painters, and Hartley was one of the greatest of 20th-century American artists.

By: KEN GREENLEAF | October 29, 2008

A shadow world

Lauren Fensterstock’s unsettling installation
The centerpiece of Lauren Fensterstock’s installation at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art is what appears to be a large black pool with giant lily pads.

By: KEN GREENLEAF | October 09, 2008

New discoveries

What the Impressionists can still teach us
The show presents works by artists that influenced the Impressionists and artists who were, in turn, influenced by this most powerful of artistic movements.

By: KEN GREENLEAF | October 02, 2008

Off on a tangent

Jeff Kellar’s latest work is pared to austerity
Over the years Jeff Kellar, whose work is currently on view at Icon Contemporary Art in Brunswick, has been assiduously paring his work down.

By: KEN GREENLEAF | September 17, 2008

Water portraits

What Jessica Gandolf chooses to show
Despite their small size, Jessica Gandolf’s paintings have always had a large-scale operatic background informing their imagery.

By: KEN GREENLEAF | September 10, 2008

Words over pictures

My first thought when I learned about the project to paint 16 of the tanks in the big South Portland tank farm was “Why would anyone think this is a good idea?”

By: KEN GREENLEAF | September 03, 2008

The jury's out

Finding some distinct voices at the CMCA
Juried shows are a terrible idea.

By: KEN GREENLEAF | September 03, 2008

No accidents

Jon Imber knows just what he’s doing
There is nothing inherently emotionally expressive about paint being loosely smooshed around on a canvas.

By: KEN GREENLEAF | August 27, 2008

Whole in two

William Manning’s abstract continuum
It’s as if Bill Manning and his work are a small, coherent universe of its own that exists somewhere, and periodically others get to visit it for a while.

By: KEN GREENLEAF | August 05, 2008

Small but loud

Scale doesn't matter for Nelligan and Bileck
The work of Emily Nelligan and Marvin Bileck in the current show at the June Fitzpatrick Gallery has an impact that is out of proportion with the small scale of the pieces.

By: KEN GREENLEAF | July 16, 2008

Seascapes

Exploring the oceans within + without
Taken separately, the work of each artist is engaging and interesting. Taken together, their differences illuminate two distinct paths toward the goal of a meaningful artistic experience.

By: KEN GREENLEAF | July 09, 2008

Looking directly

Seeing what summer has to offer
OK, summer’s here and it’s time to please the visitors.

By: KEN GREENLEAF | June 18, 2008

Out of the woodwork

Langlais's legacy is more than just animals
Bernard Langlais's work has spawned a cottage industry of imitators who mostly serve just to prove how much better he was at it.

By: KEN GREENLEAF | June 11, 2008

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