ArtBeat: What To See

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The HIGHLOW Project: An Exhibition About Redemption @ The Chapel + Cultural Center, Troy. Photographer Ned Castle partnered with at-risk youth from across Vermont to dramatically recreate the high and low moments that have shaped their lives. The large-scale photographs are accompanied by audio narrations by each story’s subject to provide context and perspective. Opens March 1. Artist’s reception: Thursday, March 14, 6-8pm. (Through April 30)

Size Matters @ The Albany Barn. Painted works by Capital Region artists Andrew McPherson, Blair Lambert and Dorothea Osborn in both large and miniature scale, juxtaposing subjects and their relationship to the surrounding world. Opening reception: Friday, March 1, 5-9pm. (Through March 31)

Andrew Davis: Masters In Cardboard @ MCLA Gallery 51, North Adams. When The Clark undertook the largest renovation project of its history, Andrew Davis reproduced their world-renowned collection in cardboard so the curators could plan new installations. Now these cardboard mock-ups are presented as art objects in their own right. An exhibition within an exhibition, “Masters in Cardboard” takes viewers on an imaginary trip through The Clark’s collection. Opening reception: Thursday, Feb. 28, 5-7pm. (Through March 24)

Juried Show: Small Works @ The Shirt Factory, Glens Falls. Works in a broad range of media chosen by juror Erin Coe, Chief Curator and Interim Co-Director of The Hyde Collection. Selected artists include locals Jon Segan, Russell Serrianne, Ruth Sauer, Zack Zoll, Victoria Palermo, Marika McCoola, Serena Kovalosky, Diane Swanson, Jeffrey Anderson, Gary McCoola, Paul Kant, Corey Pitkin, Mark Schrader, Christopher Phelps, Wayne Smith, Joy McCoola, Louisa Lippard, Jeanne Noordsy, Robin Blakney-Carlson, Laura Neadle and others, as well as entrants from across the Northeast. Opening reception: Friday, March 1, 5-7pm. (Through March 31)

The Machine Starts @ EMPAC Studio 2, Troy. The Machine Starts is based on E.M. Forster’s 1909 sci-fi novella The Machine Stops, an eerily prescient tale that predicts the internet, television, global environmental ruin, social isolation and the impact of technology on the human experience.

Under the Renssealer leadership of artists Shawn Lawson and Michael Oatman, professors in HASS and the SoA respectively, this student run performance features A Capella singing group, The Rusty Pipes, The Parkour Club, and Center Stage, a spoken word group, as well as interactive media, new music and architectures designed to transform EMPAC. There are 6 shows, and only 100 seats available for each show. Tickets are $10 general admission, $6 students, and must be purchased in advance. Performances: 7pm and 9pm on February 28, March 1 and March 2.

Pamela J. Wallace: Industrial Weeds @ John Davis Gallery, Hudson. Sculptures and assemblages that combine organic ephemeral materials such as paper, thread, fabric and wax with hard durable industrial materials such as iron and concrete. Artist’s reception: Saturday, March 2, 6-8pm. (Through March 24)

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Invisible Cities @ MASS MoCA, North Adams. Titled after Italo Calvino’s beloved book – which imagines Marco Polo’s vivid descriptions of numerous cities of a fading empire to Kublai Khan – the exhibition features the work of ten diverse artists who re-imagine urban landscapes both familiar and fantastical, exploring how our perceptions of place are shaped by personal influences as diverse as memory, desire, and loss, as well as by cultural forces such as history and the media. The show includes work by Lee Bul, Carlos Garaicoa, and Sopheap Pich, as well as major new commissions by Diana Al Hadid, Francesco Simeti, Miha Strukelj, and local artists Kim Faler and Mary Lum. (Through March 1)

Adam Cohen and Russell Monk @ Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson. Recent abstract expressionist paintings by Adam Cohen and “Casa Portraits,” a photographic series of silver gelatin prints by Russell Monk. (Through March 1)

BiPOLAR: Journeys to the Ends of the Earth @ The Esther Massry Gallery, Albany. New York artists Janet Biggs, Elise Engler and Itty S. Neuhaus that features art inspired by and made in the Arctic, Antarctica and Newfoundland, including video, paintings, drawings and a suspended sculpture installation in the Vertical Gallery. In addition, a related display in the Massry Center Atrium Gallery will feature Calcutta-born photographer Subhankar Banerjee’s huge aerial photographs of the Arctic wilderness. Gallery reception: Friday, February 1, 5-7pm (Through March 1)

Gallery Artists @ BCB Art, Hudson. A rotating group show by gallery artists Cynthia Coulter, Musho Rodney Alan Greenblat, Lynn Itzkowitz, Karen Moss, Julian Opie, Scott Reynolds, Lorenza Sannai and others. A highlight of the show will be site specific installation drawings by Scott Reynolds and a new series of ‘mini-canvases’ by Musho Rodney Alan Greenblat; a portion of the sale proceeds will be donated to the ongoing Japan Earthquake Relief Fund. (Through March 3)

Art or Evidence: The Power of Photojournalism @ Mandeville Gallery, Schenectady. Works by Jocelyn Bain Hogg, Stefano De Luigi, Jessica Dimmock, Adam Ferguson, Ashley Gilbertson, Ron Haviv, Ed Kashi, Davide Monteleone, Christopher Morris, Seamus Murphy, Franco Pagetti, Gilles Peress, Anastasia Taylor-Lind and Tomas van Houtryve. (Through March 10)

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Furgary: The Hudson Boat Club @ CCCA Gallery, Hudson. This group show examines the “furgary,” a group of hand-built structures on the banks of the Hudson, have been owned and used by Hudson area residents for almost 100 years. Exhibiting artists: Nora Adelman, Steve Benson, Arlene Boehm, Lynne Bolwell, Gerald Cooley, Tess Daley, Chris DeMarco, Joyce Ferris, Jim Flosdorf, Laura Garramone, Karen Hummel, Gretchen Kelly, Maria Kolodziej-Zincio, Bob Laurie, Patricia Morton, Cynthia Mulvaney, Inge Rist Lincoln, Walt Pasko, Herb Rogoff, Bill Sinclair, Cecelia Sinclair, Douglas Stalker, Sarah Sterling, Karl Volk, Valerie White, Audrey Wyma and Kenneth Young and featuring the works of Furgarian artist Tom Ponkos. (Through March 15)

Inspiration from the Past: The Art of James Whitbeck @ Mabee Farm Historic Site, Rotterdam. Works inspired by 16th and 17th century Dutch masters, using historic oil techniques, by self-taught painter James Whitbeck. (Through March 15)

Those Who Toil Here: Timothy Frerichs and Michael Millspaugh @ HVCC Teaching Gallery, Troy. Works by Buffalo artist Timothy Frerichs and HVCC Fine Arts alumnus Michael Millspaugh, including installations, drawings and mixed media, that depict our ties to the land. (Through March 23)

A Timeless Winter @ J Damiani Gallery, Hudson. Photographs of the first snows of 2013 in Historic Hudson. (Through March 23)

The Animals Look Back At Us @ Kleinert/James Center for the Arts, Woodstock. Works by Terri Amig, Catherine Chalmers, Sue Coe, Lee Deigaard, Mary Frank, Jan Harrison, Gillian Jagger, Isabella Kirkland, David Marell, Gwynn Murrill, Christy Rupp, Janice Tieken, Eva van Rijn. (Through March 24)

VAS:Terry James Conrad : Paper, Plastic and Concrete @ The Foundry for Art Design + Culture, Cohoes. Part of the Foundry’s visiting artist series, Terry James Conrad brings a collection of observations and meditations on materials, looking to highlight the process of making through print, sculpture and design. Artist talk: Saturday, March 2, 1pm. (Through March 24)

Colored Dust: The Pastel Paintings of David Francis @ Clement Gallery, Troy. 6-9pm (Through March 26)

Fragment: Jake Winiski, Hyun-Joon Yoon and Diana Schmertz @ Saratoga Arts, Saratoga Springs. This exhibition brings together three artists, working in media ranging from painting and alternative process photography to video installation, to explore various systems and different perspectives within the everyday by breaking away fragments, only to re-assemble them, giving way to new meaning. (Through March 29)

So to Speak @ Arts Center of the Capital Region, Troy. An exhibition that calls into question the pervasiveness of the still and moving photographic image within our culture’s visual regime and the dominance of visual media within today’s cultural production. Artists include Leona Christie, Anthony Discenza, Hollis Frampton, Melinda McDaniel, Fernando Orellana, Paula Gaetano Adi and Klub Zwei. Lecture with Johannes Goebel: Thursday, March 21, 7pm. (Through March 29) Also on view: Hudson Valley Seed Packs: Art of the Heirloom (through February 10) and day2day print exchange (through February 24)

Wink: Pairings From Berkshire Museum’s Collection @ Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield. Guest artist Maggie Mailer has organized an exhibition that features pairs of paintings, photography, and prints from the Berkshire Museum’s permanent collection. (Through March 31)

I Am (Richard Nixon) @ The Center for Photography at Woodstock. In this site specific installation incorporating five videos produced over the past 6 years, Adie Russell inhabits iconic male figures from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s including Richard Alpert, Ingmar Bergman, Jack Kerouac, Richard Nixon and, in her most recent video, Marlon Brando. Lip-synching to recordings that have been extracted from radio and television interviews before ethereal backgrounds, Russell’s uncanny performances cumulatively address the topics of creative process, perception and reality. (Through March 31)

The Web Is A Lonely Place, Come Play @ The Center for Photography at Woodstock. Five artists who produce work within or through the radically democratized “free space” of the web. Through video, performance, photo-based imagery, interactive installation and animations, each artist explores the internet as both seductive virtual playground and subversive artistic studio. Artists: Christopher Baker, Petra Cortright, Jon Rafman, Rafaël Rozendaal, and Kate Steciw.(Through March 31)

Lions and Tigers and Museums, Oh My! @ Kidspace @ The Clark. Inspired by Peter Paul Rubens’s enormous painting Tiger, Lion, and Leopard Hunt, visitors will explore many questions: Who will be victorious? Could this animal hunt really have happened – and did it? What events or personalities caused Rubens to paint this picture? What problems did Rubens encounter when painting such a big picture so very long ago? This exhibition will include a number of hands-on activities. (Through March 31)

Oh, Canada @ MASS MoCA, North Adams. The largest survey of contemporary Canadian art ever produced outside Canada, this show features work by more than 60 artists who hail from every province and nearly every territory in the country, spanning multiple generations and working in all media. (Through April 1)

Day After Day: The Diaristic Impulse @ University Art Museum, UAlbany. The obsessive desire to record day-to-day activities, document private worlds or chart the passage of time is reflected in work that serves as either a staging ground for more ambitious projects or as an end in itself. Artists include Guy Ben-Ner, Simon Evans, Ray Hamilton, Byron Kim, Meridith McNeal, Laurel Nakadate, David Shapiro, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Harvey Tulcensky and Martin Wilner. (Through April 6)

We The People @ The Tang Teaching Gallery, Saratoga Springs. An exhibition and event series that explores constitutions and how they act to create order, configure communities, and form a collective identity featuring Allison Smith, Francis Cape, and Nari Ward. (Through April 7)

Xu Bing: Phoenix @ MASS MoCA, North Adams. Drawing inspiration from the contemporary realities of his fast-changing country, Chinese artist Xu Bing spent two years creating his newest work, featuring two monumental birds fabricated entirely from materials harvested from construction sites in urban China, including demolition debris, steel beams, tools, and remnants of the daily lives of migrant laborers. At once fierce and strangely beautiful, the mythic Phoenixes bear witness to the complex interconnection between labor, history, commercial development, and the rapid accumulation of wealth in today’s China.

50 at 50: Five Decades of Collecting at The Hyde, 1963-2013 @ The Hyde Collection, Glens Falls. In celebration of The Hyde’s fiftieth year as a public museum, this exhibition focuses on 50 works of art from the fastest growing area of the Museum’s collection: modern and contemporary art. Included are paintings, drawings, prints and sculpture by such artists as Joseph Beuys, Robert Cottingham, Sam Gilliam , Adolph Gottlieb, Philip Guston, Keith Haring, Dame Barbara Hepworth, Sol Lewitt, Diego Rivera and David Smith. (Through April 14)

Backstories @ The Clark, Williamstown. Works of art can lead a double life; often, one side is revealed to the public while the other – the back – remains forever hidden from view. In this exhibition, more than thirty masterworks from the Clark’s permanent collection (including two-dimensional works, such as paintings, drawings, prints, and photographs) will be displayed on pedestals so that viewers can walk around them. Seen this way, the works of art tell their little-known “backstories” and reveal the ways they were made, the way they have been cared for by collectors, and the many changes they have survived. Using “the back” as an artistic theme, the exhibition will also present pictures in which artists portray the human back. (Through April 21)

Stories and Journeys: The Art of Faith Ringgold and Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson @ The Opalka Gallery, Albany. Integrating the materials and visual language from their African-American heritage with those from the Western tradition, each of these extraordinary artists tell stories which inspire, educate, commemorate and preserve memories both individual and collective. Opens January 22. Reception: Friday, February 1, 5-9pm with a story tour at 7pm. (Through April 21)

Electric Paris @ The Clark, Williamstown. An exhibition that explores the ways in which artists depicted older oil and gas lamps and the newer electric lighting that emerged around the turn of the twentieth century. Paintings and prints in both high art and popular culture demonstrate that the systems of lighting, rather than the abstract idea of light itself, played a key role in defining Paris as a modern city. (Through April 21)

Skyline Adrift: Cuban Art and Architecture @ Omi International Arts Center, Ghent.
Large-scale architectonic installations by Cuban architects Yilena Lourdes Feitó Echarri and Yoandy Rizo Fiallo and internationally renowned Cuban visual artists Alexandre Arrechea and Armando Mariño Calzado. (Through May)

Bats: Creatures of the Night @ The Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield. A rich array of video, photography, life-like models and interactive stations, all relating the story of the only mammal that flies. (Through May 12)

Eugene Ludins: An American Fantasist @ The New York State Museum, Albany. An exhibition exploring the life and work of the noted Woodstock painter of realist and fantastical landscapes, provocative political allegories and insightful portraits. (Through May 12)

Gordon Parks: 100 Moments @ The New York State Museum, Albany. Photographs documenting African Americans in Harlem and Washington, D.C., during a pivotal time in U.S. history when both cities were going through significant changes arising from post-WW II urban migration, the expansion of the black press, concern for children’s education, and entrenched segregation and economic discrimination. (Through May 19)

Opener 24: Carrie Moyer @ The Tang Teaching Museum and Gallery. Abstract works by Carrie Moyer. (Through May 19)

Ansel Adams: Masterworks @ Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield. This exhibition of 47 photographs by Ansel Adams (1902-1984), selected by Adams himself to represent the best of his life’s work, includes iconic landscapes and architectural studies. (Through June 2)

Nature Magnified: Photographs by Andreas Feininger @ Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield. Photographer Andreas Feininger, most well-known for his depictions of the city of New York, also excelled at capturing the intricate details of nature. A series of shell images are paired with actual shells from the Museum’s expansive natural science collection. (Through June 2)

Painting Between The Lines @ Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown. Fourteen contemporary painters created newly commissioned paintings based on descriptions of paintings in historical and contemporary novels by authors such as Marcel Proust, Samuel Beckett, Sylvia Plath and Milan Kundera. By examining the ways contemporary artists look at storytelling, literature and writing as expressions of individual thought, the show aims to looks at the state of contemporary painting today, presenting some of its most innovative practitioners such as Laylah Ali, Marcel Dzama, and Fred Tomaselli. (Through June 9)

The Legacy of Currier & Ives: Shaping the American Spirit @ Albany Institute of History & Art. An exhibition featuring sixty-four hand-colored lithographs that pays tribute to the popular nineteenth-century printmakers and their role in establishing a form of mass media that was inexpensive and eagerly sought by ordinary people. (Through June 15)

Labeltalk 2013: India @ Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown. The ninth exhibition in the Labeltalk series, exhibitions that aim to explore works of art from a broad range of perspective, this show focuses on Indian art, inviting Williams professors from a broad range of disciplines to write short responses to the works. Also on view: Teaching with Art: The Persian Image, an array of Persian paintings dating from the 15th to the 20th century. (Through June 30)

Someday is Now: The Art of Corita Kent @ The Tang Teaching Museum and Gallery, Saratoga Springs. A major retrospective of graphic artist, activist and educator Corita Kent including iconic images from the turbulent 1960s and 70s. (Through July 28)

Points of Connection: Generations of Mingei @ The Harrison Gallery, Williamstown. In 1918, the British potter Bernard Leach visited Japan where he met a young, then unknown now legendary, potter Shoji Hamada in the small village of Mashiko. This friendship sparked the resurgence of the mingei aesthetic, from which sprung the life force of modern Japanese ceramics. Mingei, the “art of the people,” aspires to celebrate beauty in the functional.

Shoji Hamada, one of Japan’s National Living Treasures, mentored Tatsuzo Shimaoka, also a National Living Treasure, who in turn mentored Ken Matsuzaki. Shinsaku Hamada, son of Shoji, continued the tradition, passing it along to his son, Tomoo Hamada, who, along with Yoshinori Hagiwara, represent the contemporary work in this lineage. Inspired by Bernard Leach, Phil Rogers carries on the legacy in Great Britian. (Through July)

Some Assembly Required @ Albany International Airport Gallery. An exhibition focusing on collage, expressed through traditional cut paper techniques as well as hybrids of photography, film, painting and sculpture. Artists: Todd Bartel, Allen Bryan, Laura Christensen, Susan Spencer Crowe, Paul Forte, Kirsten Hassenfeld, Niki Haynes, Andrea Hersh, Elana Herzog, Thomas Huber, Mary Lum, China Marks, Michael Oatman, Rob O’Neil, Rich Remsberg, Anne Roecklein. (Through September 8)

Clark Remix @ The Clark, Williamstown. A salon-style installation of works from The Clark’s permanent collection, including some 80 paintings, 20 sculptures and 300 examples of decorative arts. Visitors will be able to create their own “curatorial remix” of the collection through an interactive project called uCurate, available in the gallery and on the Clark’s website and can then submit them to a gallery that will be featured at clarkart.edu. The Clark’s curatorial team will regularly review the submissions, and will select the best of these for exhibitions that will be presented at the Clark. (Through Jan. 1, 2014)