All Photos By Gail
One of the most joyful surprises awaiting visitors to the New York Botanical Garden’s Flower Power exhibition isn’t growing in the gardens — it’s parked right up front. Covered from bumper to bumper in vibrant flowers, psychedelic lettering, and saturated rainbow colors, artist Snoeman’s painted bus immediately transports visitors back to the optimistic spirit of the late 1960s — specifically 1967’s Summer of Love.
Photo By Gail
George Morrison (1919–2000) was one of the most significant yet often underrecognized figures in twentieth-century American art. A member of the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa (Ojibwe), Morrison became known for his richly textured abstract paintings and later for his celebrated wood collages inspired by the rugged shoreline of Lake Superior. After studying at the Art Students League in New York, he became part of the city’s vibrant postwar art scene, exhibiting alongside many of the leading Abstract Expressionists. While his Indigenous heritage informed his deep appreciation for the natural world, Morrison resisted being defined solely as a Native American artist, preferring to be recognized first and foremost for the strength and originality of his modernist vision.
Continue reading Modern Art Monday Presents: George Morrison, The Antagonist
Photo By Gail
Michael Williams‘ Does It Hurt to Be Crazy? (2014) is a wildly inventive painting that invites the viewer to find order in apparent visual chaos. Just want are we looking at here? A cheerful pink ice cream mascot stands before an American flag while a giant yin-yang symbol floats nearby. A cartoonish figure leaps through the scene as fragments of suburban houses, parking lots, and abstract brushstrokes collide in a dizzying visual mash-up.
The longer you look, the more details reveal themselves, making the painting feel less like a single image and more like an ongoing conversation.
Continue reading Modern Art Monday Presents: Michael Williams, Does It Hurt to Be Crazy?
Photo By Gail
When most people think of Andy Warhol, they probably picture Campbell’s Soup cans, Coca-Cola bottles, or his instantly recognizable celebrity portraits. Among those famous faces, none is more iconic than Marilyn Monroe. It actually surprised me to realize that this vibrant pink version of Marilyn, part of the Museum of Modern Art’s collection in NYC, had never made an appearance as a Pink Thing of the Day. That oversight ends now!
Continue reading Pink Thing Of The Day: Pink Marilyn!
Photos By Gail
Leave it to the Haas Brothers to turn a lamp into a conversation piece, which is certainly the case with Small Sloan (2016), a striking work by the duo currently on view in Uncanny Valley at the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD). Crafted from blown glass, aluminum tiles, and electrical lighting components, the piece blurs the line between functional lighting and contemporary sculpture.
At first glance, Small Sloan resembles a strange organism rising from the ocean floor. Its reflective aluminum body branches upward into graceful, elongated stems that support clusters of delicate blown-glass forms. When illuminated, the translucent glass catches and diffuses the light, casting shimmering reflections that ripple across the surrounding walls and giving the sculpture an almost otherworldly glow.
Continue reading Eye On Design: The Haas Brothers’ Small Sloan Sculptural Lamp
