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RANDI HOPKINS

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Time after time

The De C ordova Annual, New Orleans after Katrina, ‘Superartificial,’ 19th-Century Leisure Travel, and El Chango Verde
The DeCordova Annual has been going strong since 1989, indefatigably showcasing work by New England artists chosen each year for the quality of their individual work.

By: RANDI HOPKINS | April 30, 2008

Dystopia now!

‘Alexis Rockman,’ ‘The New Authentics,’ and ‘Paper Trail II’ at the Rose, and Chantal Akerman at MIT
Our species seems to have a serious love/hate relationship with nature, as in “can’t live with it, can’t live without it.”

By: RANDI HOPKINS | April 22, 2008

Nice day for a white wedding

‘Wedded Bliss’ at the Peabody Essex, Toys and Games at the Revolving Museum, and Chad Walker at Space 242
In the song, love and marriage go together like a horse and carriage, but who knows what that’s supposed to mean.

By: RANDI HOPKINS | April 15, 2008

Some Spaniards in the works

‘El Greco to Velázquez’ at the MFA, ‘Artadia Boston’ at the Mills Gallery, Harmonious Noise on the Roof at Tufts, and Animal Estates at MIT’s CAVS
With his elongated forms and spiritual intensity, Greek-born Domenikos Theotokopoulos is often seen as expressing the passion of Counter-Reformation Spain.

By: RANDI HOPKINS | April 07, 2008

In our nature

Frank Gohlke at the Addison, ‘Pulp Function’ at the Worcester Center for Crafts, and ‘Expanded Sculpture 2’ at 119 Gallery
Gohlke looks at nature not as something that we gaze on from a distance but as the often defiant or disappointing environment where we live.

By: RANDI HOPKINS | April 02, 2008

Lines of inquiry

‘On Drawing’ at the New Art Center, Gateway Arts at Simmons, Jeff Koons at Harvard, and Jenny Saville at BU
The idea of drawing has taken on great romance and importance since about the 1970s, when this originally humble cousin to Painting and Sculpture started to find its own footing in the world of contemporary art.

By: RANDI HOPKINS | March 25, 2008

Trying to place it

“New England Survey” at the PRC, American Mobility at Gasp, 18th-Century Porcelain at the Busch-Reisinger, and Viktor Schreckengost in Attleboro
The stubbornly beautiful New England landscape has inspired poets as varied as Emily Dickinson and Donald Hall.

By: RANDI HOPKINS | March 18, 2008

Naughty by nature

Spring Arts Preview: Landscape, road trips, weddings, and Spain
Landscape has inspired artists as varied as the romantic 19th-century Hudson River School painters and the macho 20th-century Earth Artists.

By: RANDI HOPKINS | March 10, 2008

Sizing things up

Monumental Prints and Small Ponds at the Davis Museum, ‘Art and Math’ at Axiom, Glass Sea Creatures at Harvard, and New Rationalists at Proof
Back in the day — and by that I mean the 15th century — printing on paper was in its infancy in Europe, since the process of papermaking had just made its way there from China.

By: RANDI HOPKINS | March 10, 2008

Your history

‘Impermanence’ at the Essex Art Center, ‘Two Chinas’ at WAM, Renée Green at the Carpenter Center, and Feminism at the MFA
For a building, inclusion on the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s 11 Most Endangered list is a mixed blessing.

By: RANDI HOPKINS | February 26, 2008

Lighting up

Moyra Davey at the Fogg, ‘Two or Three Things I Know about Her’ at the Carpenter Center, and Arno Rafael Minkkinen at BU
Poor Abraham Lincoln.

By: RANDI HOPKINS | February 19, 2008

Skin deep

‘Maori Tattoo’ at the Peabody Essex, Jim Henderson and Ann Torke at Boston Sculptors, and Student Shows at the MFA and SMFA
The facial and body tattoos of New Zealand’s indigenous Maori people were originally chiseled into the skin by means of an albatross bone and vegetable-based pigments.

By: RANDI HOPKINS | February 12, 2008

Time is on my side

David Claerbout at MIT, Children at the DeCordova, Kabuki Theater at the Peabody Essex, and more
We tend to take the passage of time for granted, reconciling such disparate experiences as 10 minutes spent rushing through lunch and 10 minutes spent waiting for a bus.

By: RANDI HOPKINS | January 29, 2008

The roar of the greasepaint

‘The World as a Stage’ at the ICA, ‘British Prints 1914–1939’ and ‘Traveling Scholars’ at the MFA, and Colombian Artists at GASP
“Theatricality” used to have negative connotations when used to describe fine art: glitzy surface rather than nourishing substance, suspiciously melodramatic gesture, the faked as opposed to the Real.

By: RANDI HOPKINS | January 23, 2008

Re-creational vehicle

‘Broken Home: 1997/2007,’ ‘Empires and Environments,’ and ‘Arp to Reinhardt’ at the Rose, ‘Selections ’08’ at Mass Art, and Liz Linder at Space 242
Gallery exhibitions organized by high-profile outside curators have become an art-season staple.

By: RANDI HOPKINS | January 14, 2008

Acquiring minds

‘Branded and On Display’ and Iván Navarro at Tufts, David Ording and Ledelle Moe at BU
Given that virtually every activity in our lives is experienced through purchases, the exhibition’s focus on branding is sure to resonate with those of us facing post-holiday bills.

By: RANDI HOPKINS | January 08, 2008

We’ll fry anything

Corn Dogs + Blue Ribbons at Montserrat, Boston Does Boston at Proof, and Some Sort of Uncertainty at Axiom
The dead of winter is a great time to conjure the seedy pleasures and heady aromas of a good country fair, steeped in sheep and fried dough.

By: RANDI HOPKINS | January 02, 2008

Tempo tantrum

Artists mess with time, re-enact art history, and hop up on stage in ’08
In 2008, the fourth dimension, time, steps to the fore in the art world.

By: RANDI HOPKINS | December 26, 2007

Kraftwerk

Textiles from the Wiener Werkstätte at the Busch-Reisinger, Solstice Soirée at the Gardner, Faculty Exhibition at BU, and Holiday Sale at Harvard’s Ceramics Studio
The same early-20th-century Vienna that eventually produced Freud, Schoenberg, and Wittgenstein was also the site of a renaissance in arts and crafts.

By: RANDI HOPKINS | December 11, 2007

Jury’s got the verdict

‘Trans’ at Atlantic Works, ‘Red’ at Cambridge Art Association, Caroline Jones and David Joselit at MIT, Ralph Gibson at BU
Two well-judged shows light up the holiday horizon.

By: RANDI HOPKINS | December 09, 2007

Land ho!

Matthew Coolidge at the Carpenter Center, ‘Ana Maria Pacheco’ at the Danforth, and the December Sale at the SMFA
The Los Angeles site of the Center for Land Use Interpretation keeps a low physical profile.

By: RANDI HOPKINS | January 28, 2010

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