By Elin Spring and Suzanne Révy
As snowstorms swirl through New England and temperatures plummet, galleries and museums are re-opening their doors. This month, we bring notice of many more options to see photography exhibits in person. While we are not out of pandemic danger yet, this is a welcome respite from our desperately long case of cabin fever. Please be safe and venture out carefully to these inviting offerings, listed by region for your convenience.
SOWA – Boston’s South End Arts District
“Toy Soldier, 2019” from the series Thirteen Ways by Robert Knight, courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas, Boston.
Gallery Kayafas – Robert Knight expresses a self-confessed obsession with his daughter in Thirteen Ways (inspired by the Wallace Stevens poem), a longitudinal study that explores her coming of age with a range of sensitive traditional and “alternative” intaglio and cyanotype prints. Such Sweet Thunder, Herb Snitzer’s images of jazz greats like Miles Davis and Nina Simone, traces his six-decade career celebrating the unique energy of performance and the soulful reflections captured backstage. Continuing in the Alcove, Nicole Buchanan’s Strange Fruit documents Black Lives Matter protests and, much to her credit, focuses on symbolic human signals rather than lettered signs. All exhibits are on view through March 6th, 2021. For more information about these exhibits, including special programming with the artists, go to: https://www.gallerykayafas.com/current
“Miles Davis, Newport Jazz Festival, Newport, RI, 1959″ 11″x 14” Gelatin silver print (1995) by Herb Snitzer, courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas, Boston.
“Ranunculus, Northumberland Strait II” from the series Inside Outside by Vaughn Sills, courtesy of the artist and Kingston Gallery, Boston.
Kingston Gallery – Stirring and surreal, Vaughn Sills’ Inside Outside offers the perfect antidote to winter, as she pairs each sensuous floral still-life against the backdrop of a sweeping, moody landscape from her ancestral home of Prince Edward Island. On view through February 28th, 2021.
To read our review, go to: https://www.whatwillyouremember.com/inside-outside-vaughn-sills-still-life-at-kingston-gallery-boston/
For information about in-person and virtual events, hours and gallery policies, go to: http://www.kingstongallery.com/exhibitions/2021/january-vaughn-sills-inside-outside.php
“BU Terrier Invitational, Day One” from the series Crowded Fields by Pelle Cass, courtesy of the artist and Abigail Ogilvy Gallery, Boston.
Abigail Ogilvy Gallery – In his solo exhibit Crowded Fields, Pelle Cass compresses the spectacular physical feats of athletes taken from a single vantage point over time into a deep dive on our sense of time and chaos, accompanied by a colorful measure of awe and fun. On view from February 11th – March 21st, 2021. For more information, go to: https://www.abigailogilvy.com/crowded-fields-pelle-cass
BOSTON PROPER
Elsa Dorfman, Me and My Camera, 1986. Dye diffusion photograph (Polaroid print). Gift of Elsa Dorfman in Honor of Harvey A. Silverglate. © Elsa Dorfman, 2013, all rights reserved (courtesy of MFA, Boston).
MFA, Boston – Elsa Dorfman: Me and My Camera highlights a selection of 20″x 24″ Polaroid self-portraits by the famed Cambridge portrait photographer, as well as a group of smaller B&W images from her landmark 1974 photobook Elsa’s Housebook: A Woman’s Photojournal. This autobiographical chronicle of Dorfman’s ebullient, fascinating life has been extended through May 23rd, 2021. For more information, go to: https://www.mfa.org/exhibition/elsa-dorfman-me-and-my-camera
“Yurt Woman, Urumqi, Xinjiang Province, China, May 29, 1985” by Cary Wolinsky, courtesy of the artist and Pucker Gallery, Boston.
Pucker Gallery – More Than Portraits is a dual exhibit of photographs from former National Geographic photographer Cary Wolinsky and mixed media assemblages from designer (and wife) Barbara Emmel Wolinsky. Wolinsky’s photographs elevate the art of portraiture, fueled by travels across the globe during decades of his career. The objects assembled by designer Barbara trace the origins of these travels and share a global sense of immediacy and wonder. On view through February 28th, 2021. For more information about the exhibit and associated programming, go to: https://www.puckergallery.com
“The Gift No. 1” 2020 © Han Feng, courtesy of Robert Klein Gallery, Boston and M97 Gallery, Shanghai.
Robert Klein Gallery – In her inaugural photography exhibit, The Gift, New York and Shanghai-based artist and designer Han Feng presents elegant still-life assemblages of stones, rocks, sculptures, vases and antiques from her personal collection with locally-sourced produce near her NY studio. Feng’s international fusion of ingredients in often precarious compositions blend uncertainty with a dash of fun. On view through March 13th, 2021 by appointment only. For information, go to: https://www.robertkleingallery.com/the-gift
“Glassware Still Life #1, 2019” © Abelardo Morrell, courtesy of Krakow Witkin Gallery, Boston.
Krakow Witkin Gallery – In his new body of work, Vessels, Abelardo Morrell explores a new kind of still-life. Utilizing both single frame capture and multiple exposures of various groupings and regroupings of vessels combined into one picture, he creates “little theaters where fabulous things may happen.” And they do, which is why we suggest you visit this online exhibit, for the pure, mind-expanding pleasure of it. On view through March 17th, 2021. Go to: https://www.krakowwitkingallery.com/exhibitions/abelardo-morell-vessels/
Photograph by Lou Jones from Pandemic Boston, courtesy of the artist and Panopticon Gallery, Boston.
Panopticon Gallery – Initially launched as a website, Pandemic Boston: One Moment in Time, Six Photographers, collectively explored the empty streets and social isolation in Boston brought on by pandemic lockdown last spring. The conversation between the six photographers Edward Boches, Lou Jones (above), Margaret Lampert, Jeff Larason, Coco McCabe and Juan Murray moves offline to a physical venue at the Panopticon Gallery in Kenmore Square and has been extended through February 2021. For more information go to: https://www.panopticongallery.com
To read our review: https://www.whatwillyouremember.com/pandemic-boston/
THE BURBS
From the series Average Subject/Medium Distance by Andy Mattern, courtesy of the artist and the Griffin Museum of Photography.
From the series Euclidean Dreams by Patricia A. Bender, courtesy of the artist and the Griffin Museum of Photography.
Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA – Get out your rulers and protractors to take full measure of Andy Mattern’s Average Subject/Medium Distance, his studies of Kodak’s geometric guides to photography (above). Likewise, Patricia A. Bender’s Euclidean Dreams considers the emotional resonance of peering at simple circles and lines she renders in photograms and cliché verre prints (above). Additionally, the Griffin presents the winner of the John Chervinsky Emerging Photographer Award, Tavon Taylor (below and Feature Image) whose project, The Last Rose of Summer explores the dynamics of self and family history. The Mattern and Bender exhibitions are on view from February 20th to March 26th, 2021. Taylor’s exhibition will be on view from February 20th through May 23rd, 2021. For information and to make a reservation go to: https://griffinmuseum.org
Featured Image: from the series The Last Rose of Summer by Tavon Taylor, courtesy of the artist and the Griffin Museum of Photography.
From the series Luxuria by Tara Sellios, courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas, Boston.
Brookline Arts Center, Brookline, MA – Three Strong Visual Voices, curated by gallerist Arlette Kayafas, features photographs by Caleb Cole, Kevin Bennett Moore and Tara Sellios (above). Caleb Cole’s series Traces, “explores what it means to be seen, to be vulnerable, and speaks to access and interest in queer and trans bodies, gendered notions of desire, and the elements of ourselves that we hide from view.” Kevin Bennett Moore’s images are “inspired by films of the 1950s and ‘60s and societal constructs of gender. The work is an exploration on the formation of character, narrative, and identity.” Tara Sellios’ series Luxuria “elegantly articulates the totality of existence, focusing heavily life’s underlying instinctive, carnal nature in the face of fragility and impermanence.” The exhibit will be on view in the Center’s Beacon Street Gallery through April 2nd, 2021. For more information, go to: https://brooklineartscenter.com
Robert Frank: The Americans on view at the Addison Gallery of American Art through April 11, 2021. (Installation photograph by Suzanne Révy)
Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA – The Addison is one of only four museums in the world to own a complete set of the images from Robert Frank’s book, The Americans (published 1958 in Europe, 1959 in the US), on view through April 11th, 2021. An Incomplete History of Photography: 1860’s to 1960’s is on view through February 21st, 2021, as well as photographs in conversation with works from the gallery’s archives in the multi-media exhibit Currents/Crosscurrents: American Art 1850-1950, on view through March 7th, 2021. For information about these exhibits, the Museum’s restricted public hours and their pandemic rules and precautions, go to: https://addison.andover.edu/Pages/default.aspx
From the series and book Women in Pants by Catherine Smith, courtesy of the artist.
Danforth Art, Framingham State University – To honor the one-hundredth anniversary of the passage of the 19th amendment giving (white) women the right to vote, the Danforth presents Catherine Smith: A Cabinet of Curiosities, which includes her collection of nineteenth century photographs that were the basis of her book Women in Pants. The photographs will be presented in conversation with works from the museum’s permanent collection. The exhibition will be on view through February 28th, 2021. For information about the exhibit, go to: https://danforth.framingham.edu
ROAD TRIP!
“Blurry Pure 1” by Ana Leal from the series Psychological Landscapes, courtesy of the artist and Sohn Gallery, Lenox, MA.
Sohn Fine Art, Lenox, Massachusetts – The gallery presents a juried show “Perspective” that wanders between landscape, still life, the figure and abstraction in enticing and lush hues from photographers Richard Alan Cohen, Marcy Juran, Ana Leal, Ralph Mercer, Bruce Panock, Julia Smith and JP Terlizzi. A reception is planned for Saturday April 10th, and the exhibition will be on view through May 3rd, 2021. For more information: https://www.sohnfineart.com
Selections from the series Living with the Enemy by Donna Ferrato, courtesy of the artist and the Newport Art Museum.
Newport Art Museum, Newport, Rhode Island – Selections from Donna Ferrato’s seminal book, Living with the Enemy, which probes the challenges women face under the threat of domestic violence and the repercussions of breaking free. Ferrato’s decades-long advocacy has resulted in funding for shelters and education and this exhibition features selections that have been donated to the museum’s permanent collection. On view from February 6th through June 6th 2021. For more information: https://newportartmuseum.org
From Above and On the Ground by Neal Rantoul, courtesy of the artist and Martha’s Vineyard Museum, Tisbury, MA.
Martha’s Vineyard Museum, Tisbury, MA – In his solo show Above and On the Ground, Neal Rantoul’s large format B&W landscape photographs from the 1980’s and ’90’s trace the island’s rapid development while his recent sweeping and immersive aerial color photographs capture the essence of its natural splendor with graphic beauty. On view through April 25th, 2021. For information, go to: https://mvmuseum.org
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