Okay, so Boston can’t lay claim to Picasso, Andy Warhol or the Sistine Chapel. And if you want to see the Mona Lisa...well, France is a long swim, so you better get started. But that doesn’t change the fact that today’s Boston is home to a thriving art community—one that reaches from the modern galleries that dot Newbury Street to artists’ enclaves throughout the city such as the SoWa District (South of Washington Street in the South End) and the Fort Point neighborhood down by the harbor in South Boston. From the masterpieces found in places like the Museum of Fine Arts, to the boldest new visionaries in contemporary art found in local galleries and the soon-to-expand Institute of Contemporary Art, great art can be found everywhere in the Hub. Panorama got recommendations on the best places to view art around town from the people who know best—our talented local artists.
Jennifer Amadeo-Holl /
painter
Where can your work be seen? I actually
have an exhibit called Aya Baya Bazaar up
right now at the Judi
Rotenberg Gallery (refer to
listing). “Aya baya”
is a sort of nonsense phrase they say to
children in Sweden when they misbehave. I’m
also exhibited at the
Schoolhouse Galleries (494
Commercial St., 508-487-4800, Provincetown).
Where are your favorite places to see art
in Boston? I love the Agnes Mongan
Center at Fogg Art Museum
(refer to
listing),
which is a study room where you can examine
drawings by some of the masters and sit and
draw your own versions. And it’s not a
typical gallery, but the
Map Room at Harvard University (Pusey
Library, Harvard Yard, Cambridge,
617-495-2417) has more than a half million
maps, some dating back to the 15th century.
What do you remember about your first
piece of artwork? I drew a birdhouse
when I was 5, and looking back at it
since…the way I distributed everything on
the page—the birds, the birdhouse—was really
unusual for a kid’s drawing. It seems like I
was conscious of size relations between the
figures and really attempted to use space
the way I do today.
Jeff Smith / creator of large
“rolling sculptures” and 2-D recycled wood
mosaics
Where can your work be seen? The
DeCordova Sculpture Park
(refer to
listing),
Mary Etherington’s
gallery on Martha’s Vineyard, and right here
[in my Fort Point studio]. Where are your
favorite places to see art in Boston? In
Fort Point, over at someone’s studio. I
enjoy talking to [local] colleagues about
their artwork. Also, the
Massachusetts College of Art (621
Huntington Ave., 617-879-7000)—it’s off the
beaten path, and it gives you a chance to
hang with pierced bunny-eared art students.
What do you think of Boston as a town for
artists? The art scene here is good, but
there’s this schizo bureaucracy that puts
good galleries out of business. Anytime
someone steps up to the plate to move
culture forward, it’s shut down. Thank God
for the galleries that aren’t out to make
money. They’re the ones that will show you
something that’s absurd and has no
commercial potential.
Stacy Quackenbush / metal sculptor
Where can your work be seen? I always
have some pieces on display at
Judi Rotenberg Gallery,
and I also have some public art out there in
the world, including the Firefighters’
Memorial in the city of Corning, N.Y.
Where are your favorite places to see art in
Boston? I’ve always loved the
List Visual Arts Center
and the MIT Museum
(refer to
listing)
which just has really interesting and smart
work from contemporary artists. The
Institute for Contemporary
Art (refer to
listing)
also has such amazing artists coming in to
display work and lecture. And I love the
DeCordova Museum and
Sculpture Park (refer to listing,
page 35)—it’s just a great retreat to go
look at the sculpture when you’re stressed
out. What do you remember about your
first piece of artwork? I remember being
four years old, drawing with crayons and
paper at my grandmother’s kitchen table, and
I remember being bothered by the rough
texture of the table because it affected how
the drawing looked! I guess it was my first
conscious example of knowing how I wanted to
create a piece, and how it was affected by
the materials.
Stephen Sheffield / photographer/photocollagist
Where can your work be seen? I have
some work up at Eastern
Standard (refer to
listing).
It’s five large historical Boston montages.
I also have some up in the halls of the
Charles Hotel and
a historic New York piece up in the Red Hook
Brewery in Brooklyn, N.Y. Where are your
favorite places to see art in Boston? I
teach at New England School of Photography,
and I religiously take students to
Barbara Krakow Gallery
(refer to
listing)—I
think she’s closest in caliber to the New
York galleries. I also love the Howard
Yezerski Gallery (14 Newbury St.,
617-262-0550), because they’re big backers
of photography, and Judi
Rotenberg Gallery, because
they’re very forthright in talking to
students. And in the SoWa District, I’d say
Bernard Toale
(refer to
listing)
has always been a favorite. What do you
think of Boston as a town for artists?
If you’ve got chutzpah, it’s a very good
town…not so much if you’re timid. There’s a
lot of great art going on here, but you have
to look for it, and you need to dig for
opportunities to show your work.
Leslie Hall / gem sweater
artist/Rapper in Leslie & the LYS
How would you describe your art to
somebody? I’m trying to reignite the gem
sweater culture of yesteryear. People are
throwing their gem sweaters away, but if you
look at them, they’re beautiful, historic
and well crafted works of art. Nobody else
is doing this—I feel like the curator of a
museum. I go to school for oil painting, but
while many people paint, not many collect
gem sweaters. You’ve got to go with what’s
different and exciting. In Boston, I think
there’s truly a gem sweater uprising.
Where can your work be seen? Two of my
pieces were just displayed in the School of
the Museum of Fine Arts’ Fifth Year student
exhibit. You can also go to my website,
www.lesliehall.com, for news
about the Mobile Museum of Gem Sweaters.
Where are your favorite places to see art in
Boston? I’m really into the art where
you get really up close and you wonder how
the hell they made it. At the
Museum of Fine Arts
(refer to
listing),
I go straight for the [Koch Gallery], the
big room where the paintings go way up to
the ceiling.
Brian Knep / interactive media artist
Where can your work be seen? I’m
going to be taking part in the
SoWa Art Walk
May 20 & 21 (refer to
listing),
and I’ll be showing one of my digital
pieces, called Flower (Revealed), which is a
digital image of a flower on the floor that
changes every time someone steps on it. I’m
really drawn to “living art” that changes in
response to the viewer. Where are your
favorite places to see art in Boston? I
think that the Isabella
Stewart Gardner Museum (refer to
listing)
is an absolute gem, not just because of the
artwork but the architecture of the building
itself. And I think Art
Interactive in Cambridge (130
Bishop Allen Drive, 617-498-0100) is showing
a lot of really interesting new media work.
What do you remember about your first
piece of artwork? It wasn’t my first
ever, but the first piece I made that had
real resonance for me was in college, I made
this sculpted stick figure with an enormous
cast of my own hand grasping its head. That
was back when I was 17 and everything in the
world felt oppressive to me, I guess.
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MOdern Art 101
For those looking for a little primer on the history of modern art, have we got the show for you. Consisting of more than 280 pieces from its own collection of European art and spilling out from the Torf and Trustman galleries into the Lower Rotunda, the Museum of Fine Art’s Degas to Picasso exhibit presents a vast, impressive overview of art that covers nearly seven decades of the 20th century. Nary a big name is left out, as everyone from the title artists to Matisse, Munch, Giacometti, Dali, Rodin and Miro—as well as many lesser-known artists—are represented. The wide-ranging show— representing mediums from sculpture and painting to printmaking and photography—offers glimpses into many of last century’s seminal movements, including Impressionism, Symbolism, German Expressionism, Surrealism and just about any other -isms that come to mind. Many of the displayed pieces are often in storage, so now’s the time to see them (the show runs through July 23) before they disappear again. Refer to listing. —Scott Roberto |