The House that Malcolm Built

This past Friday, I braved the cold and the after Thanksgiving crowd to sneak a peek of the highly anticipated Art of the Americas Wing at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. After walking into the Shapiro Family Courtyard, the massive cube that connects the new wing to the original building, it would be hard for anyone to argue that this extensive and costly project is anything but a success for the MFA and the entire Boston arts community.

Ruth and Carl J. Shapiro Family Courtyard © Chuck Choi. Image courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

About ten years ago, well known (infamous, to some) MFA Director Malcolm Rogers began to build support for the expansion, eventually raising $504 million for the new wing. Criticized in the past for his staff overhauls and controversial exhibits, you can feel Roger’s fingerprint throughout the new wing, which will undoubtedly serve as a lasting reminder of his tenure at the MFA.

Designed by London based architectural firm Foster + Partners, the 133, 491 square foot addition houses more than 5,000 pieces from North, South and Central America in 53 galleries. As you ascend the four floors, you are also moving forward in time. The lower ground level consists of a relatively small collection of Pre-Colombian, Andean and Native North American art along with pieces from 17th century New England. Level one and two takes visitors through American Colonialism, American Impressionism and beyond. These two levels showcase what the MFA is most well known for; it’s expansive collection of 18th and 19th century American art and artifacts. Iconic works by John Singer Sargent, John Singelton Copley, Thomas Sully, Samuel McIntire, Winslow Homer and Louise Comfort Tiffany are all on view, and not to be missed by any visitor to Boston.

The Passage of the Delaware, Thomas Sully. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Gift of the Owners of the old Boston Museum. Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

In sharp contrast to the breadth of work exhibited on floors two and three, the fourth floor consists of a poor collection of modern American art. Although it houses several pieces by Goergia O’Keefe and Arthur Dove, the MFA’s holdings in this category are rather dismal. In a review of the wing, Boston Globe Art Critic Sebastian Smee described the offerings on the fourth floor as “blowsy and third-rate,” a fair assessment in my eyes.

Despite the disappointment the fourth floor provided, the new wing is highly impressive. It transforms the entire visitor experience at the MFA, highlights collection strengthens and embraces where Mr. Rogers and the rest of the MFA staff need to focus acquisition efforts.

For visitor information go here.

Editorial Disclaimer: The author of this post received discounted or complementary admission to the above mentioned exhibition, courtesy of the host institution, organization or gallery.

"The Whitney Announces Curators for 2012 Biennial"

The 2012 Whitney Biennial will be co-curated by the Whitney’s Elisabeth Sussman and independent curator Jay Sanders. This will be the 76th in the Museum’s series of Annual and Biennial exhibitions inaugurated in 1932, which will go on view in March 2010.

Read all about it here.

"Isa Genzken's 28-foot Rose II Arrives on the Bowery"

Read all about it here.

I knew it!

"New Museum to Rotate Façade Sculpture from Ugo Rondinone's Hell, Yes! to Isa Genzken's Rose II"

Read all about it here.

And why I had my suspicions here.

"The Best and the Rest"

A great review by David Littlejohn in today's Wall Street Journal of Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne and Beyond up at the de Young Fine Arts Museum, San Francisco until Jan. 18.

The article also includes a very concise and informative art history lesson right up front.

Read the whole article here.

Check out...

Cig Harvey at Robert Klein Gallery, Boston. Up until Nov. 7

Image courtesy of Robert Klein Gallery

workworkworkworkwork Works For Me

As the world’s most well known designers begin to unveil their latest creations in New York this Fashion Week, Bostonians can see some extraordinary designs on a much smaller scale thanks to an exhibition dedicated to artist Charles LeDray at the Institute of Contemporary Art.

Again, it’s on a much smaller scale.

No…much smaller.

Smaller than that.

Charles LeDray, MENS SUITS. Photo Courtesy of the ICA, Boston

The small scale sculptures included in workworkworkworkwork bucks “the bigger, the better” trend so popular in today’s contemporary art scene and goes far beyond small scale haute couture. Miniature bound books, beautifully glazed thumb-sized urns and small scale replicas of antique furniture carved from human bone are all on view.

LeDray, a native of Seattle, learned to sew from his mother at age four, and could knit and macramé by 10. He received no formal fine arts training and briefly worked as a security guard at the Seattle Art Museum. "Many nights I would leave the museum with a burning desire to make something -- anything -- inspired by spending the day with great works of art," LeDray told the Seattle Post Intelligencer in a 2003 interview.


One of the installations, Throwing Shadows, features more than 3,000 black porcelain pots. Displayed in a row of three jewelry cases, the harsh museum lighting creates thousands of shadows from these tiny ebony figures, doubling the already vast number of handmade creations.

Charles LeDray, Throwing Shadows. Photo Courtesy of the ICA, Boston

In a world of mass market disposable fashion, where knockoffs of $4,000 Hermès Birkin bags can be bought from the trunk of a Chrysler in Long Island City (one in black and one in red, Bitches!), Ledray’s one of a kind handmade pieces are almost too good to be true. In this month’s ARTNews, artist Nari Ward writes “The aspect most relevant for contemporary art is figuring out how to take a formal language and push it as much as possible.” By taking a men’s blazer and recreating it on such a small scale - the almost microscopic buttons, epilates and patches all created from hand - Ledray forces us to reexamine the countless items we surround ourselves with on a daily basis.

workworkworkworkwork is on view at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston until Oct. 17. After its debut at the ICA, the exhibition travels to the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (Nov. 18, 2010—Feb. 13, 2011) and to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (May 8—Sept. 11, 2011).

For more information, visit the ICA’s Web site here.

Editorial Disclaimer: The author of this post received discounted or complementary admission to the above mentioned exhibition, courtesy of the host institution, organization or gallery.