Category: Galleries

Turpentine diaries 4/15/18

Last week, I saw one of the better shows that I’ve seen in Cleveland.  Global Matrix IV at the Gallery at Cleveland State U  contains first-rate prints from contemporary European artists.  I plan to review the show later this week after I visit it one more time. Along 4th Street is poking along (ahem), although…

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Tom Hudson

I came across an amusing article in the infrequently read (for me) online mag Vulture called Zombies on the Walls. It decries the flood of copy-cat abstraction drowning the market, calling the the trend M.F.A. Abstraction among other less polite things. Give it a read.

Review: 43rd Student Show The Galleries at CSU

This is my second review of a Cleveland State U. student exhibition. Like last year’s show, the quality is student-grade but compares well with student shows at higher profile schools, like the Cleveland Institute of Art. The biggest difference between the two is that students at the latter produce more formal conceptional pieces. Also like last year’s show there…

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Tom Hudson

Direct flights between Cleveland and Trenton NJ began this month. This means I can fly to Trenton for an over night stay at our property there. Trenton, which is on the Delaware River (think Washington crossing the Delaware and the Battle of Trenton) is ideally located for trips to New York and Philadelphia. Trains frequently run to both cities. I used to commute regularly to New York from there on the trains. I met my wife on one of those trains. Anyway, I plan to visit the galleries and museums there with more frequency.

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Tom Hudson

Frequent readers might have noticed the dwindling number of reviews of Cleveland galleries. I’ve been exploring the Cleveland art scene–such as it is–for two years and my early sense of discovery has long since dissipated. The NE Ohio galleries, like most of those outside the major art markets, are dedicated (speaking broadly) to academic art. By that I mean art produced by university and college professors and administrators–the ‘academy.’ This is not the place to get into a discussion about the quality of art produced in that environment, except to say that the quality is uneven and somewhat predictable. The short version is that I’m starting to see repeat shows of artists I’ve already reviewed or chose not to review. I won’t say there will be no more Cleveland gallery reviews, just that I no longer make regular visits to the galleries (I still visit the museum every week).

Aside

Bonfoey keeps its door locked so visitors have to wait to be buzzed into the gallery. Yesterday, for the third time, I was prevented from entering the gallery because nobody buzzed me in. THIRD TIME. Were they all at lunch? Were they all at a party?

My time is precious, so–needless to say–no more trips to Bonfoey.

Phooey on Bonfoey!

Quick review: Brinsley Tyrrell at Busta Gallery

At first sight, I was underwhelmed by Brinsley Tyrrell’s show, Ohio Lands Forever, at Busta. The large-format pieces with their electric colors and ropey splatters struck me as gimmicky and shrill. Tyrrell’s enamel on steel technique threatened to skid out of control–obsession with process has shipwrecked many artists. But after a couple of processions around…

Review: Truppe Fledermaus and the Carnival at the End of the World

The collaborative team of Nicholas Kahn and Richard Selesnick recently filled the Galleries at  Cleveland State U. with posters, postcards, and photos from their magical world of speculative fiction and false history–Truppe Fledermaus and the Carnival at the End of the World. While Kahn and Selesnick’s magic realism reminds me of artists like Magritte, or…