|
| |
|
|
Tearing me up
Paper sculpture at Art Interactive, Tibetan Buddhist nuns at Wellesley, Caribbean art at the Peabody Essex
BY RANDI HOPKINS
|
|
|
|
|
Art Interactive, an innovative venue for contemporary art that opened in Central Square in 2001, has exceeded all expectations (or at least my expectations) for expansive and imaginative interpretation of the word "interactive" as it relates to art — another sign that the hands-on, DIY impulse is alive and very well in the creative community this century, and that art you are encouraged to touch and affect isn’t necessarily corny. "The Paper Sculpture Show," which opens at Art Interactive February 18, is a traveling exhibition organized by Cabinet magazine, Independent Curators International, and the Sculpture Center that includes work by 29 artists, some well-known, like Janine Antoni, Rachel Harrison, Glenn Ligon, Cildo Meireles, David Shrigley, Sarah Sze, and Fred Tomaselli, some not. The fun here is that on opening night, this work will appear as flat sheets of paper in a big stack, accompanied by glue, scissors, rubber bands, and tape. Nothing will be actualized as "art" until we gallery visitors make it so. Each of the participating artists was asked to design a three-dimensional piece that viewers would encounter in two dimensions — something they could then fold, cut, crumple, or poke holes in according to the artists’ instructions. The resulting works will be collaborative projects between artist and audience — but hey, isn’t that what all art is? A different but related take on the collaborative and performance-oriented aspects of creation — in this case, as they relate to the spiritual — is explored in "Circles of Healing, Circles of Peace: A Tibetan Mandala Project," which begins at the Davis Museum and Cultural Center at Wellesley College on February 16 at 1 p.m. when eight Tibetan Buddhist nuns from the Keydong Thuk-Che-Cho-Ling Nunnery in Kathmandu start work on a sacred, vividly colored sand mandala, employing an ancient art practice that was traditionally reserved for monks only. "Mandala" is a Sanskrit word for circle, or "world in harmony," and these complex circular sand paintings represent not only the perfected environment of an enlightened being but also the challenges and obstacles faced by women for centuries. Visitors will be able to watch the nuns creating the mandala until its completion on March 1, at which point they will dismantle it and sweep its sands into the waters of nearby Lake Waban. The deep blue sea is a powerful recurring element in work by four contemporary artists whose work makes up "Island Thresholds: Contemporary Art from the Caribbean," which opens at the Peabody Essex Museum on February 19 — but these are not traditional seascapes by any stretch of the imagination. Jamaican-born David Boxer addresses slavery through diagrams of slave ships and other symbols of colonial connections. Marc Latamie, who was born in Martinique and now lives in New York, uses the powerful interplay between memory and smell to explore the commodification of tropical regions, creating installations containing coffee, vanilla, and sea water, among other pungent materials. Dominican Republic–based artist Tony Capellán incorporates materials including discarded flip-flops, barbed wire, and palm leaves in his biting installations. And Cuban sculptor Kcho uses mundane found objects to contrast the idyllic aspects of coastal living with the harsh realities of rural poverty. "Island Thresholds" promises to deliver a deeper-than-usual view of this oft-romanticized locale. "The Paper Sculpture Show" is at Art Interactive, 130 Bishop Allen Drive in Central Square, February 18 through March 27; call (617) 498-0100. "Circles of Healing, Circles of Peace" is at the Davis Museum at Wellesley College, 106 Central Street in Wellesley, February 16 through March 1; call (781) 283-2051. "Island Thresholds, Contemporary Art from the Caribbean" is at the Peabody Essex Museum, East India Square in Salem, February 19 through June 5; call (978) 745-9500.
|
