We know that it’s been a very long summer for everyone, whatever your circumstances may be, so we’ve decided to go ahead with a relatively short but pithy issue of Aeqai, partly so our readers know there’s some shows out there worth seeing, and partly as our show of support for those courageous enough to mount shows at this difficult time. So our summer issue of Aeqai has just posted.
Steve Kemple, who’s moved to Houston, starts our issue with his brilliant , sensitive review of late work by English master painter Francis Bacon, which has been on display at The Houston Museum of Art. Karen Chambers reviews the winner of Clifton Cultural Arts Center’s “Golden Ticket” award; the winning artist gets an entire show the following year, and, based upon Chambers’ review, the work of Ct King is surely fascinating and haunting and the work of an artist we should all watch. Chris Carter examines one of the shows at Manifest Gallery, Art about Serendipity, wherein those selected for this show have integrated what might be considered mistakes into their final work, a fascinating curatorial concept for an art show. Marlene Steele, one of our region’s premiere figure painters herself, reviews new figurative paintings by Joseph Larusso at Miller Gallery.
Cynthia Kukla’s review of the “Maya” show at Cincinnati Museum Center is splendid, a brilliant overview of a large show about the art and culture of the Maya people, who continue their traditions in Central America/Mexico to this day. Kukla’s own paintings frequently absorb the work of ancient cultures into her own, so she brings an extra expertise to her analysis of this show. Deb Johnson offers a wonderful analysis of the “Masks” show at Pendleton Street Photography, which is curated by area curator Ena M. Nearon; the work mostly comes from the private collection of area collector Sara Vance Waddell. And New York critic Tim Brinkhof reviews two fascinating shows at a small gallery in New York simply called “The Hole”.
Laura Hobson completes her series on the internal workings of area art museums/arts centers with a fascinating look at how the physical plants of these enormous structures are managed, looking particularly at The Cincinnati Art Museum and The Contemporary Arts Center.
I offer a plethora of book reviews, seven in total, as I’ve been reading up a storm all summer, and hope that those of you who are readers will find good and/or excellent novels from those I’ve reviewed. I recommend “Hurricane Season”, “The Night Watchman”, “Love” and “Want” in particular.
We hope you enjoy this issue and its excellent writing and analyses, and we’ll be back in September covering more shows as more museums and galleries open (at least we hope they’re able to). We welcome your comments, as always; to go directly to the site/new issue, click onto www.aeqai.com/main and you’ll go right to the site.
Daniel Brown
Editor, http://www.aeqai.com/main
