News

Minimal and Post-Minimal: Sculpture Beyond the White Cube by Annalisa Rimaudo 

What you see is what you see” declared Frank Stella (1936-2024) of his work, neatly summing up one of the central characteristics of Minimal Art, in contrast with the Abstract Expressionism that preceded it. If we are to take this phrase literally, what “we see” is essentially the work of male artists. When F. Stella started work on his radical black striped paintings in 1959, however, the Cuban artist Carmen Herrera (1915-2022) had already been producing striped acrylics since the early 1950s.

Minimal Art has undeniably been historicised as masculine, a bias that is evident when we look at the creators chosen by art history to represent the movement: they are the omnipresent characters of the time, part of an art scene structured by a powerful patriarchy. The movement has been theorized mainly by men and not only by artists, such as Donald Judd (1928-1994) and Robert Morris (1931-2018). The term itself was introduced by Robert Wollheim in his article “Minimal Art”, published in Arts Magazine in 1965, in which he analyses this then-dominant artistic movement as a fundamentally reductionist form, resting on ideas of non-intervention as applied to the found object and the essentialism of monochrome inherited from two great male artists, Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) and Ad Reinhardt (1913-1967).

Yet one cannot deny that women artists and critics are also protagonists here. And, though the qualifier “minimal” has historically been favoured over “ABC Art”, the term put forward by Barbara Rose, several women artists represented the movement, both “in” and “off” the scene, from its very beginnings.

The Kx2 exhibition Ripple Effect is on view at Rosemary Duffy Larson Gallery 10/3-11/9

Deeply concerned with the urgent environmental issues facing our world, artist duo KX2 is excited to present "Ripple Effect" at the Rosemary Duffy Larson Gallery. This exhibition is a culmination of their ongoing exploration into the fragile relationship between urbanization and the environment, focusing on critical themes such as water infrastructure, climate change, flooding and the diminishing access to potable water. Through this body of work, the artists aim to not only reflect upon the impact of climate change on infrastructure but also to provoke a dialogue about the future of our communities and our planet.
 

NEAR THE RIVERS THERE ARE MANY LARGE SPRINGS | MILENA ARANGO, DONNA RUFF, KX2 (RUTH AVRA AND DANA KLEINMAN)

Near the rivers there are many large springs is an exhibition that highlights the Florida landscape from the lenses of four South Florida artists that use historical elements, raw data, repurposed materials, and nature to create awareness of the changing environment in the area. Milena Arango’s leaf imprints on paper and textile using natural pigments extracted from the teak tree serve as a reflection of her personal journey. Her 197-feet long VTG (Vestigium Tectona Grandis) exposes traces of leaves and the effects of land and water from multiple landscapes. Donna Ruff’s interest in history and the tropical landscape led her to discover archival landscape photographs in a 1920’s book by John Kunkel Small.

One view in Terminal 1 through July 2024

HYDRA is a thought-provoking installation shedding light on the vital, but often overlooked, network of utility pipes that silently weave through our modern world. These pipes are the unsung heroes of modern infrastructure ensuring we have access to clean water, efficient storm drainage and proper wastewater disposal. Just like veins in our bodies, they form a complex system essential for the health of our society.

The artist created this piece out of his love for Israel. Proceeds from the gallery and the artist will benefit Magen David Adom and Friends of the IDF. Available in 37 x 75 inches and 48 x 100 inches.

The $200 million renovation of this sprawling 1,000-room, Michael Dell-owned resort is just the beginning. 

What’s the deal? 

It began life, in 1926, as The Ritz-Carlton Cloister Inn: a Spanish colonial-style, 100-room property. Almost a century (plus several owners) later and The Boca Raton is a 337-acre hospitality behemoth with over 1,000 rooms, two 18-hole golf courses, a 50,000-square-foot spa, seven swimming pools, 30 tennis courts, a 32-slip marina, 13 restaurants and bars and 200,000 square feet of meeting space. The property is divided between its original buildings known as the “Cloister,” the “Bungalows,” the “Tower,” the “Beach Club” and the “Yacht Club.” 

Last year, the resort reopened following a $200-million refurb that changed the color of “The Pink Hotel” (as locals have dubbed it for decades) to a “coastal white” (proprietors’ words). The barrel tile roofs, archways, mosaics, and ceilings have been restored, and an injection of modernity given to a grand old dame of US hospitality in the form of modern, locally sourced furniture and rotating artworks, provided by the nearby SPONDER GALLERY.  But this is just the beginning, as even more costly upgrades are coming at a yet-unspecified future date. 

The Weisman Art Museum presents DOUG ARGUE: LETTERS TO THE FUTURE, which will be on view through the summer from June 17 – September 10, 2023. Doug Argue emerged onto the Twin Cities art scene in the early 1980s. At the age of twenty-two, he had Á¬lled a studio with sensational, larger than life paintings made on a scale for museums. Their enormous size aside, these gnarly, expressionist images stood apart from current art fashion. In place of the abstract or conceptual art of so many of his contemporaries, Argue’s early imagery featured intensiÁ¬ed personal memories and the louche inhabitants of his imagination. 

In the ensuing years, Doug’s autobiographical tendencies found a wide range of expression. After becoming a parent he created a series of works that feature fathers and sons. Toned down in size and intensity, these works contain a childlike curiosity about the world that aligns with their subject. Once the artist returned to his studio, however, he again began to make work on a grand scale. In the mid-1990s, word spread about a new painting that was drawing attention in his studio. This canvas, which became known as the “chicken painting,” was a major tour-de-force. It soon went on loan to the Weisman where it became an immediate favorite of visitors to the museum. 

ARTFUL TOUCHES

Opening a location at The Boca Raton in 2009, Sponder Gallery has presented the resort with a wide collection of Post-War and Contemporary art featuring artists who display innovative techniques and a unique approach to materials.  Highlighting the work of Armenian-born and New York based artist, Tigran Tsitoghdzyan, two versions of “DS Mirror for Ukraine” are Sponder Gallery’s latest offerings to adorn The Boca Raton.

One big display, 365 spigots: Art exhibit taps into South Florida’s water woes 

By Jack Lemnus for the Sun Sentinel 

It was early April, and colossal floodwaters were ravaging parts of Broward County, engulfing streets and displacing residents. Just as the floods surged through Fort Lauderdale, sisters Dana Kleinman and Ruth Avra were debuting their art exhibit highlighting a different water crisis. 

“It was sort of art coming to life,” Avra said. They took it as a sign. 

Titled “Boil Notice,” their interactive art installation at the Pompano Beach Cultural Center illuminates chronic water quality issues, specifically the prevalent issuance of boil-water notices. 

The exhibit features 365 unique spigot sculptures, each representing a day in 2022. Some dispense a clear, plant-based resin, meant to represent a day when all of Broward County had clean drinking water. Out of these 365 spigots studding the walls, 270 are clogged with a murky ooze made from recycled concrete and debris, resembling dirty water. 

These symbolize the days when boil-water notices were issued in the county, the precautionary move over concerns of contaminants in the drinking water supply. “Broward County, as much as it’s an affluent, well-to-do area, we still have water access issues, and it’s not something that everybody is aware of,” Kleinman said. 

The Venus of Willendorf, dating to the Upper Paleolithic age around 28,000 BCE, is one of the oldest sculptures known. The small figurine can fit in one’s hand and yet it transports its viewers to a time and place unknown to any modern mind. This is the power of sculpture – it is a creation that allows the challenge of our realities and further proposes an essence of truth that no other human medium has been able to attain. From ancient Egypt to the Renaissance, the physical manifestation of the world has been thoroughly exposed.  

In 1913, however, artist Alexsei Gam and his peers changed the course and use if sculpture as a defiant measure. At once declaring an “uncompromising war on art” - in an effort to curry support for revolution – constructivist sculptors scoffed at the paintbrush and instead created works that defied scale. Industrial and unrelenting, this form of sculpture helped to define an entire art movement.  

Jane Manus is a modern-day abstract sculptor and minimalist carrying the torch of those that came before her. Born in 1951 in New York City, Manus was inspired by the industrial materials and aesthetics of early constructivist revolutionaries. Working with an enticing type of geometry, gravity, and asymmetry, Manus’ sculptures are welded from metal and incorporate jewel tones of deep blues, reds, and yellows. Manus had her first exhibition in the 1970s and continues to be exhibited and showcased all around the world due to the strength of her exhibitions.