randi hopkins

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Can you love Boston art and still love the Foster Prize?

When I roam Boston galleries or stumble upon Brandon Nastanski's "Unofficial Franklin Park Research Outpost," I feel the buzz of potential.
And what happened to the Morgan Prize?
By GREG COOK | October 08, 2010

Modern times

Does Jen Mergel's appointment mean that the MFA is getting serious about contemporary art?
Does Jen Mergel's appointment mean that the MFA is getting serious about contemporary art?
By GREG COOK | January 08, 2010

Narrative truth

For the majority of us Americans, Iraq and Afghanistan are a series of news-data points — number of Americans killed today, number of car bombs, spending tallies, estimates of civilian deaths.
Krzysztof Wodiczko’s war story at the ICA
By GREG COOK | November 13, 2009

Blake babies

Nature is mysterious and mystical in "And the fair Moon rejoices" (at the BCA's Mills Gallery through August 16), as foreign as the wilds of New England probably seemed to its first English settlers. And maybe there are witches about.
New visions at the BCA and the ICA
By GREG COOK | August 07, 2009

Political Andy?

Was Andy Warhol more politically engaged than he's given credit for?
Warhol's court-painter years; plus doodling at the Rose
By GREG COOK | November 04, 2008

Just a little bit

Digital-era experimental filmmakers occupy a rich and interesting place in relation to the new technology available to them.
‘Lossless’ at The Sert Gallery, ‘Overflow’ at Laconia Gallery, Garry Knox Bennett at the Fuller, and String-Theory-inspired art and music at NESAD
By RANDI HOPKINS | September 23, 2008

When the red, red robin . . .

This exhibit explores the basic nature of color and its relationship to survival and pleasure in the world.
‘Language Of Color’ at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, ‘Speaker Project’ at MassArt, Cathy McLaurin at Montserrat
By RANDI HOPKINS | September 17, 2008

The nature of the beast

In the world of graphic novelist Kevin Hooyman, whose show opens at Proof Gallery on September 13, packed line drawings take you deep into strange and fantastical scenes.
Kevin Hooyman’s ‘Dark Walk’ at Proof, ‘The Exquisite Line’ at BU, ‘Material Meditation’ at The New Art Center
By RANDI HOPKINS | September 10, 2008

Dollhouses and dream states

Autumn highlights in the museums and the galleries.
Memory, sound, time, and toothpicks define the season
By RANDI HOPKINS | September 08, 2008

I am I said

Tufts University Art Gallery presents “Empire And Its Discontents,” which opens September 15 with work by 11 artists tied to previously colonized regions in the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia.
‘Empire and Its Discontents’ and more at Tufts; ‘Re-View’ and visiting faculty at Harvard; GASP’s Fourth Anniversary
By RANDI HOPKINS | September 03, 2008

The devil in the details

It’s hard to imagine stopping to look at drawings that don’t coalesce till you let them pull you in and spin you around a bit.
‘Drawn to Detail’ and ‘Laylah Ali’ at the DeCordova, Esteban Pastorino Díaz at the SMFA, and Student Loan Art Program at MIT
By RANDI HOPKINS | August 28, 2008

Time bombs

Timely new exhibitions look at the lust for power and risky business.
‘Atomic Afterimage’ at Bu, Foreclosures and Risk Structures at MIT, and the Cultural DMZ At Simmons
By RANDI HOPKINS | August 27, 2008

One world, several dreams

It’s no secret that recent years have seen a new “cultural revolution” in the visual arts in China.
“Business as Usual: New Video From China” at MassArt, “Text in Video” at Axiom, and “Many Kinds of Nothing” at Montserrat
By RANDI HOPKINS | August 12, 2008

Rubber soul

Pink satin ribbon, rubber inner tubes, and large swaths of flowing organza are some of the materials that Nicholas Hlobo uses in various media to examine gender, ethnicity, and his South African heritage.
‘Momentum 11: Nicholas Hlobo’ at the ICA; ‘12 X 12’ in Provincetown
By RANDI HOPKINS | July 23, 2008

Flora, fauna, and the female figure

The Art Nouveau movement of the late-19th/early-20th century distanced itself from the mass production of the Industrial Revolution with elaborate, one-of-a-kind works made from unusual materials.
Art Nouveau Jewelry at the MFA, ‘Players’ on MIT’s Media Test Wall, and ‘Nascent’ at NESAD
By RANDI HOPKINS | July 15, 2008

Everybody get together

The 808 Gallery is a BIG space to fill.
‘Boston Young Contemporaries’ at 808 Gallery, ‘Big Bugs’ at Garden in the Woods, and the 10th Annual Lantern Festival at Forest Hills Cemetery
By RANDI HOPKINS | July 08, 2008

Cape light

Pinpricks and irregular streaks of light illuminate a circular orb that might be the moon, or a partly peeled orange in each of Judith Larsen’s series of photographic works called “Phasing and Solon."
‘Light And Artifice’ at The Schoolhouse Gallery; ‘What Is Big?’ at Brickbottom; ‘Birds Do It’ at Montserrat
By RANDI HOPKINS | July 02, 2008

Line up

Katy Fischer's art points to the darker forces in nature, where clouds threaten rain and rivers carry people off.
Katy Fischer at Proof, ‘Paper Quilt’ and Rainey at the Essex Art Center, and ‘Ink & Steel’ at Space 242
By RANDI HOPKINS | June 24, 2008

Time out of mind

Luisa Rabbia created a slow-moving video work that offers a kind of travelogue of her own journey through Isabella Stewart Gardner's historic scrapbooks.
Luisa Rabbia at the Gardner, ‘Polar Attractions’ at the Peabody Essex, And ‘Meat After Meat Joy’ at Pierre Menard
By RANDI HOPKINS | June 17, 2008

You wear it well

The relationship between our bodies and our clothing is, of course, intimate.
‘Dress • Redress’ at Brandeis, Fredo Conde at the Artists Foundation, Parade For The Future with Platform2, and June art talks at BU thanks to AIB
By RANDI HOPKINS | June 10, 2008

Waxing poetic

New York–based artist Joanne Mattera wrote the book (literally) on encaustic, an ancient method of painting with pigmented wax.
Joanne Mattera and encaustic painting plus sculpture At Montserrat; Ceci Méndez at the Center For Latino Arts
By RANDI HOPKINS | June 03, 2008

Live at five

The Tufts University Art Gallery has taken the off-season opportunity to celebrate its year-round neighbors.
Fifth Annual Juried Summer Show at Tufts, Norman Laliberté at Montserrat, Julie Vinette at Atlantic Works, and Annual Juried Members’ Show at the Danforth
By RANDI HOPKINS | May 28, 2008

A certain kind of disorientation

Home-grown new sculpture is alive and well right here right now, as Boston Sculptors Gallery regularly reminds us.
Anish Kapoor at the ICA, MCC Award Winners at Boston Sculptors, And ‘8 in ’08’ at Massart
By RANDI HOPKINS | May 20, 2008

Journey to the surface of the Earth

Looking at the landscape brings out the artist in everyone.
Landscape anew at Mass MoCA, ‘Exposure’ at the PRC, Dana Clancy at the Danforth, and grouped figures at GASP
By RANDI HOPKINS | May 13, 2008

Don’t leave me this way

Leaves lead a wild life, and each leaf’s physical structure reflects both its individual biography — revealing the pathways, for example, of insects that have eaten their way across a leaf’s surface.
Botanical Forms at Harvard’s Museum of Natural History, Carroll Dunham and more at the Addison, and Renzo Piano at the Fogg
By RANDI HOPKINS | May 06, 2008

Shuffle mode

The news of the Allston Skirt Gallery closing turned out to be the first sign of a major gallery shake-up involving a number of Boston’s most prestigious venues.
Shake-ups on the gallery scene
By GREG COOK | April 01, 2008

Boston gallery shake-up

Three of Boston's most important galleries are about to make major changes, and rumors exist that several others may soon move or close —signaling a major upheaval in the city's art scene.
Art on the move
By GREG COOK | March 26, 2008

Naughty by nature

Landscape has inspired artists as varied as the romantic 19th-century Hudson River School painters and the macho 20th-century Earth Artists.
Spring Arts Preview: Landscape, road trips, weddings, and Spain
By RANDI HOPKINS | March 10, 2008

Your history

For a building, inclusion on the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s 11 Most Endangered list is a mixed blessing.
‘Impermanence’ at the Essex Art Center, ‘Two Chinas’ at WAM, Renée Green at the Carpenter Center, and Feminism at the MFA
By RANDI HOPKINS | February 26, 2008

Ill wind

In the muddy rusty autumnal scrub, a fox, who could have been imagined by Richard Scarry, sits on a log and a smiling rabbit lies in brambles.
Apocalyptic dread in the galleries
By GREG COOK | January 14, 2008

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