Art In: John Baldessari, Rania Matar, and The BFA Show
Noses & Ears, Etc.: Couple and Man with Gun (2007) © John Baldessari
Blue Sky Gallery is holding a solo exhibition for artist, John Baldessari. The show, Master of Appropriation, highlights Baldessari’s iconic conceptual use of photography from the 1980s into the 2010s. The exhibition consists of collages made from found photographs, vintage film stills, fashion runway photos, and news images, that Baldessari collected and reconfigured into new compositions and narratives.
“The artist's use of photography has taken many different forms, with the constant through-line being his signature wit and critical voice”, says curator, Zemie Barr. “His playful repurposing of these images, often accompanied by text or combined with painting and printmaking techniques, reveals that a photograph’s meaning is never static and instead is tied intrinsically to its context.”
Master of Appropriation will be available online through August 30, 2020.
View Master of Appropriation here.
Alae, Khiyam, Lebanon (2019) © Rania Matar
The Richard Levy Gallery is also presenting a virtual gallery featuring works by photographer, Rania Matar. The show exhibits photographs from her series, SHE, where Matar explores personal and collective identity by photographing women in the Middle East, where she is from, and the United States, where she currently resides. The images focus on humanity and womanhood, which Matar captures by emphasizing power, beauty, and creativity in the women she photographs. In her own words: “I found myself focusing on their strength and their majestic presence instead of their vulnerability. They climbed on rocks and trees, jumped in dirty water, crawled under thorns, trespassed into abandoned buildings. The work became about risk-taking, collaboration, experimentation, performance, empowerment, and about pushing the limits of creativity and self-expression.”
SHE will be available online for virtual visits from May 15 - July 5, 2020.
View SHE here.
(left) Wafaa and Sanaa, Bourj El Barajneh Refugee Camp, Beirut Lebanon (2017)
(right) Rayven, Miami Beach Florida (2019) © Rania Matar
Molly-Kate, Alison, Massachusetts (2018) © Rania Matar
In response to COVID, Serving the People (STP) will be holding a virtual exhibition to celebrate college students and revive the many end-of-year shows that were canceled at universities around the world. The exhibition is student-organized, composed exclusively of artworks by people currently enrolled in BFA programs, and will feature work from over 60 participating art schools around the world.
In efforts to emphasize their mission to “facilitate innovative conversation through the intersection of art and culture,” STP has committed to digitally showcase one piece of art from every BFA student that submits to their show. The exhibition will go live Thursday, March 21.
View the BFA Show here.
