interjections

I want to speak about art more directly and more often to anyone willing to listen; anyone who loves, is interested in, or skeptical of art; even if they didn't go to art-school or don't know the secret handshakes and lingo of the art world. I want an inversion to take place. Instead of the one writing to the many in a hierarchical critic-on-top structure, I want to be involved with the many speaking to one-another, coherently, with pleasure, provocation, vulnerability, humor, passion. I'm not interested in being the main-speaker. I want to hear, listen, heed. I want writing to form moving communities and temporary bonds, be a vow, create a chorus, be a crucible of doubt and agency, be a living text of different compulsions. I want to enter what Cézanne called "a shimmering chaos." Many have criticized me and this as "dumbing-down" the conversation. They could be right. From my experience these conversations have never been dumbed-down or anti-intellectual.

– Jerry Saltz

art current: Studio Visit with Eric Hopkins

A studio visit with one of mid-coast Maine's most prolific artists.

http://freepressonline.com/main.asp?SectionID=50&SubSectionID=72&ArticleID=16752&TM=55798.77

Portland Phoenix: Drawings at June Fitzpatrick

A review of a group show of some great drawings at the June Fitzpatrick Gallery on Congress Street, Portland.
http://portland.thephoenix.com/arts/131309-year-long-celebration-winds-down/

above: Kimberly Convery

below: Tom Hall

art current: Ashley Seelig at Win Wilder

Rockland's own small hallway gallery is showing the work of one of its founders.http://freepressonline.com/main.asp?SectionID=50&SubSectionID=72&ArticleID=16496&TM=61466

Just Seen and Dashed Off: Matt Hutton at the ICA in Portland

I just saw the current show at MECA’s Institute of Contemporary Art in Portland, Maine, and cannot rave enough about Matt Hutton’s contribution to A Perpetual Present: 2011 MECA Faculty Selects Exhibition. He is Associate Professor and Program Chair of Woodworking & Furniture Design at the Maine College of Art. Most of the works are wall-mounted and their predominant material is wood of course. Hutton manages to combine superb craftsmanship, intellectual edge, and aesthetic refinement to create incredibly sensitive work. For instance, County Line Road (above) evokes utility poles but in such an understated and smart way that any association becomes only added bonus. And the delicacy of Oblique (below), in which the slightly askew band of one compositional element is set off by another, is a tour de force of texture, color, and placement. There are many more pieces to get excited about. Go see for yourself by December 23.

interjections

Art changes the way we perceive and imagine. Art is a doorway to change.
Through artistic vision, cultures and societies realize their dream. Together we share the potential for creative expression. Art equals social change.
-Jamie Ellin Forbes