The October issue of Aeqai has just posted. It’s a very full issue, as the fall art season is now in full swing.
The three major arts institutions in Cincinnati have all begun their seasons with superior shows. Jonathan Kamholtz reviews the recently opened exhibition of Hudson River Valley paintings from the exceptionally fine New York Historical Society at The Taft Museum of Art; this show will be highlight of the art season in Cincinnati. Cynthia Kukla analyzes the “Women Breaking Boundaries” exhibition at Cincinnati Art Museum; 2019-20 is the “year of the woman” in the arts here, as it’s the 100th anniversary of the amendment to the Constitution giving women the right to vote; most performing and visual arts institutions in this region will be featuring women in the arts. The Art Museum’s show was put together by 8 different curators there, and Kukla, herself a woman painter, admires the exhibition enormously. And Chris Carter reviews the work of African-American painter Robert Colescott at The Contemporary Arts Center; Colescott first showed at CAC in the ’80s, as I recall, and his satiric paintings about race still have the bite and wit that they’ve always had.
Other exhibitions, rich with great art, often tackling the issues of today, include “Dress Up, Speak Up” at 21 C Hotel in Cincinnati; Aeqai critic Susan Byrnes reviews this exhibition about how clothes and gender and sexuality intermingle and redefine each other; Joelle Jameson returns to Aeqai this month from Boston with an astonishingly lovely review of photographs by Olivia Parker at Peabody Essex: Parker’s gorgeous photos once again let the viewer understand the power of art to move us emotionally, and how photography itself can open our eyes and minds. Speaking of photography, Aeqai critic Josh Binkelhimer went to a day long symposium about that medium at The Carnegie in Covington, Kentucky, the first offering by FotoFocus (2020’s FotoFocus theme is “Light &”), and he reviews the exhibition at The Carnegie linked to the symposium’s ideas concurrently. Issues about gender and the history of Wilson College in Pennsylvania as interpreted by artist Jim Condron are interpreted by new Aeqai writer Matthew McBride, who’ll be covering parts of Pennsylvania for Aeqai in future. And Aeqai also welcomes critic Steve Kemple, too, this month; Kemple’s been visiting Houston and reviews the stunning work by Margaret Smithers-Crump at Rudolph Blum Fine Arat/Artscan Gallery there; his review of a show at the deMenil Collection will appear in our November issue.
Critic CM Turner returns with a wonderful review/essay about an exhibition at The Lloyd Library in downtown Cincinnati; the Library has its first artists in residence, that wonderful duo of Parker and Davis, two of Cincinnati’s finest ceramicists, who reinterpret the Library’s vast holdings in botany/herbs and the like. Karen Chambers reviews a truly thrilling exhibition at Cincinnati Art Galleries; 66 never before seen paintings by Herman and Bessie Wessel are on display there through November. Kent Krugh’s very exciting FotoFolio artist this month is Evelyn Sosa, whose photographs make a great complement to Susan Byrnes’ review of the 21 C exhibition. Jennifer Perusek’s essay on younger fashion designers’ new interest in sustainability in clothing/fashion shows us the new directions and sensitivities of younger designers.
Will Newman looks at the admirable and superb prints from Lebanon curated by the invincible Dr. Saad Ghosn at Kennedy Heights Arts Center; Ghosn’s show about poetry/art/SOS will open shortly at The Cohen Gallery at Xavier University; we urge our readers to see anything that Ghosn curates, as his passion for Social Justice appears in every exhibition he curates. Megan Bickel drove from Louisville to Lexington for Aeqai to review an exciting show at Institute 193 there.
Jane Durrell gives us a look at Art in Bloom, an annual offering at Cincinnati Art Museum, wherein a variety of volunteers makes floral arrangements that mirror a variety of paintings there; this annual exhibition is immensely popular and always worth a look. Laura Hobson offers a feature on The Decorative Arts Society of Cincinnati, a volunteer group affiliated with The Art Museum, and I offer three book reviews, of new fiction by Susan Choi, Kevin Barry, and Alexi Zentner.
Our October issue is a very full one, and we hope that it stimulates our readers and as, always, we welcome your comments. We hope to see some of you at the benefit part/art auction for Aeqai, our one and only annual fundraiser, to be held November 14, at Pendleton Street Photography in The Pendleton Annex in OTR. We’ll send details about that in a separate posting. Aeqai is a nonprofit, and we depend upon gifts and donations and sponsorships from our friends to help us continue to grow and thrive; we’re now in our thirteenth year of operation. We’ll be back in November with another full issue. To go directly to the new issue/site, click onto www.aeqai.com/main.
Daniel Brown,
Editor, www.aeqai.com/main