The current show at Lumiere Photo’s Spectrum Gallery offers Rochester audiences a rare glimpse at a photo movement presently unfolding on the other side of the world. “Arabat Spit/Healing Muds” is a set of deceptively contemporary images by young Ukrainian photographer Sergiy Lebedynskyy, which explores a public spa as a metaphor for his country’s difficult […]
Art Review
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“Latency” by Jihwan Park
People react to adversity in a variety of ways. When a competitor tried to sabotage the work of Rochester-based artist Jihwan Park, he incorporated the experience into a new thesis about the necessity of brokenness. Uncommitted to one medium, Park’s focus is conceptual, about process, and the exploration is executed through a variety of media. […]
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“Rochester’s Refugees”
There’s a lot of talk of “two Rochesters” — cities divided by the different experiences of the haves and have-nots — but we might argue that there are as many Rochesters as there are people who live here. Some of these Rochesters remain obscure to others; while some of them expand as they come into […]
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Projection and perception
Visual Studies Workshop’s current show isn’t really representative of Tara Merenda Nelson’s film work, most of which is in Super 8 format and tends to follow a “film diary” tradition: “intimate portraits of friends and family, travel diaries, confessions, secrets, that type of thing,” she says. Just three strange, cinematic installations comprise the show, each […]
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“The Birmingham Project” by Dawoud Bey
Currently on view at George Eastman House are 13 photographic diptychs that Chicago-based photographer Dawoud Bey created to commemorate 6 children killed in Birmingham, Alabama, on September 15, 1963. Each of Bey’s diptych portraits — of which 16 were created — juxtapose boys and girls the same ages of the victims (11, 13, 14, and […]
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“Infinity Boxes” by Matt Elson
For a limited time, Memorial Art Gallery is hosting several installations starring your face and mine. Peer inside each of nine “Infinity Boxes,” created by L.A.-based artist Matt Elson, and your countenance temporarily becomes part of a kaleidoscopic, optical illusion created by carefully positioned mirrors, lights, flowers, candles, and other bits of pretty interest. Four […]
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Elegy to an era
Two current exhibits at George Eastman House, held in conjunction, explore the history of imaging innovations from Kodak’s early days up through the present, and show an artistic documentation of the end of film manufacturing. Together, these exhibits provide a full picture of the imaging history of Image City, Rochester’s hand in the development of […]
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“Devil’s in the Details”
There are many ways the concept of the devil has been depicted throughout time and within popular culture: the cloven-hoofed, goat-faced Baphomet; the seductive, fallen angel; the serpent; the feminine temptress; or with an indirect presence, through possession. Erich Lehman, who is celebrating the sixth anniversary of his 1975 Gallery with a devil-themed group art […]
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Of earth and time
Genesee Pottery’s annual “History in the Making” exhibit provides a fascinating opportunity to see a range of great work by contemporary ceramicists from around the nation. The educational showcase also provides a specific look at the historic practices and techniques from which these artists draw influence. This year’s show, juried by Fred Herbst, professor of […]
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Ecstatic impressions
One function of art for the artist is fulfilling the urge to interpret and recreate what sings to us. Somewhere within the steady work of this practice, we better understand and feel more fully part of this strange and magnificent place, and share what we see and value with others. Creating is essentially an act […]
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“New Ghosts for a New Age: Yoshitoshi’s ‘New Forms of 36 Ghosts'”
When the long-isolated Japanese society was opened to the West in 1868, fundamental shifts in the social structure, politics, military, and economy transpired. Master woodcut artist Tsukioka Yoshitoshi was an eyewitness to the conflict and change, and while many artists of his day reflected these shifts, Yoshitoshi spent his final years immortalizing Japan’s history and […]
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“Lewis Hine”
Twentieth-century photographer Lewis Hine focused largely on labor, with two equally important aims: envisioning and advocating for social change, and celebrating the progress humankind makes when individuals work well together. Recently returned from a three-year, international tour, and currently on view at George Eastman House, is an exhibit of Hine’s photographic prints and materials drawn […]
