Every month, galleries at 450 Harrison Ave and the surrounding area stay open late to hold opening receptions. SOWA First Fridays is an excellent time to check out a bunch of gallery shows all at once and the artists are often there to answer any questions about their work.
Joe Zane
My first stop this month was Carroll and Sons. The main gallery is showing “Who Should a Person Be?” by Joe Zane. Their work featured a mixture of painting and sculpture than danced outside of the expected. I especially liked their lenticular painting that read “Joe” from one side and “Zane” from the other. (Featured image also by Joe Zane)
Tim McCool
The back gallery is showing “You Will Love This Someday” by Tim McCool. McCool recently received his MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and this is his second show at Carroll and Sons. McCool’s work is a collection paintings on wooden cutouts that are wry, witty, and downright enjoyable. Both Joe Zane and Tim McCool make excellent use of text in their works, making simple phrases unexpected and worth a second read.
The Miller Yezerski Gallery is currently showing work by Holly Lynton and Yana Payusova.
Holly Lynton
Lynton’s photographs a series of agrarian scenes, focusing on tradition in an ever more globalized world. But more than a statement on globalization, Lynton’s photos lend a sense of drama and majesty to farm life.
Yana Payusova
Yana Payusova’s paintings and sculptures are a delight to explore. Whether large or small, her paintings are extremely detailed and feel like a mash-up of Where’s Waldo, the Garden of Earthly Delights, and something all her own. Her engaging sculptures fill a table with lively and unusual faces that beg the viewer to make faces right back at them.
Kimberly Witham
At Gallery Kayafas, Kimberly Witham is exhibiting”On Ripeness and Rot,” a series of still life photographs. But unlike the Dutch masters that Witham emulates, is the road kill mixed in with flowers and fruit. Despite the somewhat grotesque subject matter, the photos are oddly compelling and pristinely beautiful.
Ovid’s Girls
Kayafas is also exhibiting a group sculpture show by Ovid’s Girls, “Micro: Small – Scaled Works.” Ovid’s Girls is a group of artists from Boston and Berlin and the exhibit is a cross-cultural exploration of mediums and forms. The show is a companion exhibit to Ovid’s Girls – Overlaps and Undercurrents,” which will be showing at the Boston Sculptors Gallery at the end of June.
Alix Pearlstein
Samsøn Projects is currently showing work by video artist, Alix Pearlstein, “Monogram.” Pearlstein’s actors play out a series of stage instructions, which can be read at the the gallery desk.
The Bromfield Gallery is home to the UMASS Dartmouth MFA Thesis Show and it is excellent. The gallery is crowded with stellar art of all kinds. From the most amazing pop-up book I’ve ever seen, to a smart phone app, to anxious crossstitching, here are some MFA grads that are going places!
Evan DeMarzo
Left: Aaron Badham, Right: “Monica Guerra”
Jo Anna Hickman
Kim Bernard
Kim Bernard fills the front gallery at the Boston Scultors Gallery with “Spherical Harmonics.” Bernard’s flat sculptures depicting Hydrogen atom orbitals line the walls, while a large kinetic sculpture stretches across the room. Viewers can don gloves an interact with the sculpture by waving one end of the line of lead balls to set the chain in motion. Bernard’s sculptures are smart and mesmerizing, a joy to observe.
Kim Bernard
Donna Dodson‘s “Silent Scream” is an endearing, yet ferocious sculpture of a hippopotamus.
Donna Dodson
Sophia Sobers
Sophia Sobers exhibits “To What Once Was,” combining installation with sculpture and drawing to explore connections between the natural and the sacred.
Most exhibits will be up for all of June, take some time to head down to SOWA and check them out!
Photos by Suzi Grossman. Suzi also blogs at Suzi Looks at Lots of Art.
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