How do good painters toiling away in Wichita or Jamaica Plain make their work known to art enthusiasts in Nome or New York City? Ten years ago, in a small office in Wellesley, Steve Zevitas, then a recent BU graduate with a degree in art history and a business minor, joined fledging publishing company Open Studios Press to develop a series of art books that would bring high-quality pictures of high-quality paintings to artists and art lovers around the country, tracking national trends and regional idiosyncrasies. Armed only with a knowledge of contemporary art that he acknowledges didn’t go much past Jasper Johns and Andy Warhol, plus a desk, a phone, and a fresh copy of The American Art Directory (kind of a phonebook for artists), the can-do Zevitas set to work designing a publication to bring wider attention to the work of emerging and regionally established artists across the US. Voilà! — in February 1993, Open Studios Press published its first edition of New American Paintings, a juried exhibition-in-a-book that now comes out in six annual editions, each one focusing its attention on a different region of the country. The books appear in a handsomely bound 9x9-inch softcover and average 190 pages a volume.
This month marks the 10th anniversary of New American Paintings, and the latest edition, showcasing paintings from the Northeast, is just arriving at newsstands, bookstores, and the homes of its avid subscribers. Zevitas, now the publisher of Open Studios Press, has moved his office to an airy space on the third floor at 450 Harrison Avenue in the South End, and he’s turned the front into OSP Gallery, which presents bi-monthly exhibitions of contemporary art. Swiveling in his Aeron chair in front of a looming Terry Winters work, the lanky publisher clearly enjoys being surrounded by art. "When I moved the office into the city in 2001, I was excited about the prospect of having a gallery space. At first, we put on shows directly related to our most recent publication, but I recently curated our first show that was more my own vision than directly tied to the book." This Friday, OSP Gallery opens "Boston Abstraction Now," an exhibition that features seven Boston-based artists working with abstraction, including Bill Thompson, David Moore, Masako Kamiya, and Brian Zinc. Zevitas, who estimates that he sees more than 1000 museum and gallery exhibitions each year, what with monthly trips to New York and regular trips to wherever else there’s something interesting (recent travel has included San Francisco and Barbados), brings vision and passion to a one-of-a-kind undertaking — and is giving artists a boost in the process.
FOCUSING ON ISSUES that are both halfway round the world and very close to home, a new exhibition of three powerful series of photographs by American artist and activist Fazal Sheikh will be on view at the Davis Museum at Wellesley College in "Fazal Sheikh: ‘A Camel for the Son,’ ‘Ramadan Moon,’ and ‘The Victor Weeps,’ " which opens next Thursday. Sheikh has spent the past decade working among refugees in Somalia and Afghanistan, documenting their communities and their experiences by collaborating with them in the creation of formal portraits and landscapes. These photographs promise to show aspects of their lives that challenge the clichés of mass-media reporting and bring grace and respect to peoples undergoing traumatic displacement.
"Boston Abstraction Now" will be on view at OSP Gallery, 450 Harrison Avenue, #304, from February 7 through March 29. The annual Northeastern edition of New American Painting will arrive at newsstands and bookstores this month. Call (617) 778-5265. "Fazal Sheikh: A Camel for the Son, Ramadan Moon, and the Victor Weeps" will be on view at the Davis Museum and Cultural Center at Wellesley College, 106 Central Street in Wellesley, from February 13 through June 8. The artist will give a presentation at the opening reception, February 13 at 6 p.m. Call (718) 283-2034.
