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On and off the walls
From graffiti to gondolas in the museums
BY RANDI HOPKINS

Art that is 3-D — or if not popping off the walls, at least running all up and down them — is the name of the game for several of the best shows coming soon to Boston-area museums. Case in point: joining us from the streets of San Francisco, graffiti artist Barry McGee mixes things up in "Barry McGee" at the Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University (415 South Street, Waltham; April 28 through July 2). Known for re-creating urban environments by using found junk, McGee infuses discarded materials like empty bottles and old sheet metal with a personal blend of pathos and charm. Still, at the heart of his work are his dripping, tragi-comic drawings, usually of the kind of men we used to call hobos, dignified but down-and-out, retro yet timeless. This site-specific large-scale installation promises to bring some of that West Coast Beat vibe to Watch City.

Also moved by the American landscape, two British artists come bearing light and (finely displayed) garbage in "Tim Noble & Sue Webster" at the Museum of Fine Arts (465 Huntington Avenue, Boston; April 21 through August 15). Neon sculptures inspired by seedy carnivals and a trip to Las Vegas and "Shadow" sculptures that result from projecting light upon a seemingly disordered pile of milk cartons, cereal boxes, and empty McDonald’s containers both revel in the flash, excess, and beauty to be found in the dross of contemporary culture. For a fine counterpoint, visit the MFA’s annual over-the-top floral extravaganza "Art in Bloom" (April 25 through 27) — sort of a New England version of Las Vegas where, for one wild, long weekend, more than 60 local garden clubs converge to interpret MFA masterpieces in peonies, orchids, and lilies.

Germanic folk traditions, mediæval religious imagery, and much more inform the quirky work of the Köln-based Kai Althoff, who’s the subject of "Kai Kein Respekt" at the Institute of Contemporary Art (955 Boylston Street, Boston; May 26 through September 6). Known for making use of a multitude of styles and unexpected materials, Althoff brings odd worlds to life in a series of involved environments. The ICA also launches a new project series with "Momentum I/Carol Bove" (May 26 through September 6), an installation reflecting Bove’s fascination with American social, political, and artistic movements of the ’60s and ’70s, in three dimensions — plus sound! (Is that a fourth dimension? A fifth?) Likewise presenting work in as many media as possible, "The 2004 DeCordova Annual Exhibition" at the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park (51 Sandy Pond Road, Lincoln; June 12 through September 5) boasts work by 12 artists from four states, working in painting, installation, sculpture, new media, and . . . digital collage!

Need to step back and get some perspective on all this multi-dimensionality? "How Sculptors See" at the Worcester Art Museum (55 Salisbury Street, Worcester; April 8 through October 10) is an opportunity to scrutinize work by two generations of sculptors, from Donald Judd and Richard Serra to Jim Lambie, Charles LeDray, and many others who focus on the existence of their work in space. And don’t miss "Wall at WAM: Jim Hodges ‘Don’t be afraid’ " (April 16 through May 2005). Hodges is a masterful installation artist from way back (okay, early ’90s), and his use of WAM’s towering project space should be spectacular.

Architectural space is the thing in "Marjetica Potrc: Urgent Architecture" at MIT’s List Visual Art Center (32 Ames Street, Cambridge; May 6 through July 11), This Slovenian-born artist, architect, and sculptor won the Guggenheim’s prestigious Hugo Boss Prize in 2000; her installations compare and critique government public housing as opposed to what she sees as the more personal housing solutions the poor have used to build their own spaces. Less political but an architecture nut and installation artist ahead of her time in any case, Isabella Stewart Gardner was part of the fabulous circle of creative Europeans and Americans found at the Palazzo Barbaro in Venice in the late 19th century. "Gondola Days: Isabella Stewart Gardner and the Palazzo Barbaro Circle" at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (280 the Fenway, Boston; April 21 through August 15) presents paintings, watercolors, pastels, drawings, photographs, letters, and scrapbooks by the likes of John Singer Sargent, James McNeill Whistler, Henry James, and Robert Browning. What’s more, it’ll allow visitors up to the museum’s otherwise off-limits fourth floor, where Mrs. Gardner had her private residence. Irresistible!


Issue Date: March 26 - April 1, 2004
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