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Can’t buy me love
‘Return on Investment’ at NESAD, ‘Kirsten Malone’ at the Copley Society, ‘Silver and Shawls’ at Harvard
BY RANDI HOPKINS
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"Fungible" was the Word of the Day at Dictionary.com on January 25, 2001 — sure, it’s an ugly-looking and -sounding word, but a useful one, meaning interchangeable, or "replaceable by another of like nature or kind in the satisfaction of an obligation." One obvious fungible is money. "Return on Investment," which opens at the New England School of Art and Design at Suffolk University this Wednesday, features 12 artists who peer deep into their billfolds to ponder the nature of coin. "Return on Investment" includes a set of knitted dollar bills by needlemeister extraordinaire Dave Cole, whose work is also on view at the Judi Rotenberg Gallery on Newbury Street (See Christopher Millis’s review here.) Cole seems to ask, "Why can’t our money be more cuddly?" Obadiah Eelcut’s personal line of currency, called "Noney," portrays not Abe, George, or Andrew but the faces of people he knows. Charles Giuliano reproduces historical and outdated currency whose value lies only in their beauty and in the stories they tell. And with his fake fake Rolex watches, Alfredo Conde injects a whole new level of subtext into the issue of forgery and the craze for knockoffs by making useless copies of items that are themselves copies of highly valued items. Are you following? Steve Aishman, John Bjerklie, Jed Ela, Benno Friedman, Geoff Hargadon, James Hull, Heidi Marston, and Jamie McMurry further investigate this rich topic. Love, not money, informs "Kirsten A. Malone: Retrospective" which is up at the Copley Society for three short days, August 25–27. Malone was a magnetic presence on Boston’s art and music scene before her death last year at age 29 (she was hit by a car while riding her bike), and this retrospective showcases her photography, video, sculpture, and performance projects, including her Love Résumé Project, in which she explored on-line dating and the universal search for love by posting a hysterically business-like history of her own dating. Fine colonial-era silver and Kashmir shawls from 18th- and 19th-century India reveal the effect of contemporary patrons and the international market on stylistic developments in Indian decorative arts in "Silver and Shawls: India, Europe, and the Colonial Art Market," which opens at Harvard’s Sackler Museum on August 27. More than 30 pieces of silver and 11 shawls illustrate the influence of British jewelers and goldsmiths on Indian metalwork, the reciprocal influence of Indian craftsmen on European design, and the evolution of the luxurious Kashmir shawl, which became popular in Europe during the period of colonial expansion in India. "Return on Investment" | New England School of Art and Design at Suffolk University, 75 Arlington Street, Boston | Aug 24–Sept 28 | www.bigredandshiny.com | "Kirsten A. Malone: A Retrospective" | Copley Society, 158 Newbury Street, Boston | Aug 25-Aug 27 | 617.536.5049 or www.copleysociety.org | "Silver and Shawls: India, Europe, and the Colonial Art Market" | Arthur M. Sackler Museum, 32 Quincy Street, Cambridge | Aug 27–Jan 29 | 617.495.9400 or www.artmuseums.harvard.edu
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