VISUAL ART
by Kelli Kolakowski |
kelli@revuewm.com
Other Art Events | by Josh deLacy
Unity in Diversity: The Heartbeat and Ties of Many Cultures Opening
Reception Art Center of Battle Creek May 6, 2-4 p.m.
FREE!
artcenterofbattlecreek.org, (269) 962-9511
Unity in Diversity pulls the art of nine different cul- tures from Battle Creek’s melting pot and proudly displays them to the public. This celebration of inter- cultural art includes the work of African Americans, European Americans and Native Americans. Burmese, Japanese and Korean art also appears, alongside Hispanic, Jewish and Indian pieces. The opening reception will feature a Japanese women’s chorus, Burmese dancers, and the Malawi dancer and peacebuilder Masankho Bando. The celebra- tion will continue as an exhibit, minus the singers and dancers, throughout the month.
LEE-NAM LEE (Korean, b. 1969), The Conversation between Monet and Sochi, 2009, video art, running time 10 min 30 sec. Collection of the artist.
Art That Talks T
HROUGH AUG. 18, THE KALAMAZOO Institute of Arts hosts A Conversation between Monet and Sochi: Video Art by Lee-nam Lee, featuring the Korean
artist’s imaginative and colorful digital rep- resentations of Eastern and Western classics. The exhibition features eight limited
edition videos made between 2009 and 2011 ranging from several minutes to more than 11 minutes in length. Lee “borrows” iconic masterpieces from Western and Eastern art, sometimes putting them side by side, and gives them new life by cleverly inserting his digital images into them. “He adds the motion that Monet was
painting in with the ripples,” said Karla Niehus, KIA assistant curator of collections & exhibitions. “The island in the Korean piece floats over to the Monet piece … he lets his imagination go and he finds using digital helps him show us what he’s imagining. He tries to bring a new kind of 21st century life into the paintings through digital media.”
Maxine MacLeod and Michael Maitner
Opening Reception Button-Petter Gallery, Douglas May 13, 12-4 p.m.
buttonpettergallery.com
By using media to convey his imagi-
nation, Lee is able to insert humor into paintings or bring them a new sense of po- etry and tranquility. In one video, he offers a view of what Van Gogh might have been thinking about in one of his self-portraits. Some videos feature moving branches, flut- tering butterflies, scurrying ants, a waterfall or snow. Others fade out of sight to reveal something entirely new underneath, leaving viewers wondering what will happen next. “At first they will certainly be intrigued
by the concept in general,” Niehus said. “They’ll wonder, ‘Oh my, what is he go- ing to do to it?’ They begin to merge and you begin to see how the Eastern and the Western works can talk to each other. It’s kind of humorous and intriguing how they begin to blend and probably not what [viewers] had imagined.” Not only can you experience the vid-
eos at the KIA, you can also download an iPhone app that will allow you to view at least one of the videos on your smartphone,
taking Lee’s digital media to a whole new realm. “It’s not just limited to a single, awe-
inspiring piece in a museum or in one place,” Niehus said. “Art can go beyond the museum walls and into the hands of the people and onto the devices they use.” This exhibition is organized by the
Dennos Museum Center, Traverse City, Michigan, in collaboration with the artist and supported with a grant from Kalamazoo Community Foundation/John E. Fetzer Institute Fund. n
A CONVERSATION BETWEEN MONET AND SOCHI Kalamazoo Institute of Arts Through Aug. 18, 2012 Suggested donation $5, KIA members free
kiarts.org, (269) 349-7775
Accomplished Michigan artists Maxine MacLeod and Michael Maitner will share an opening cham- pagne reception this month. MacLeod will provide familiar watercolor images of Midwest landscapes and flowers. Numerous private and corporate collections feature her work, and the University of Michigan and WMU display her pieces in their permanent collections. Maitner also paints local landscapes, but his oils and farmhouses create quite a different feel. He blends architecture and nature in a way that seems almost surreal, with vivid colors and shapes that will catch any viewer’s eye.
Urbanity Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts Through June 13 $5, members and children under 5 free
uica.org, (616) 454-7000
Nearly 80 percent of Americans live in urban areas. This fact inspired the multidisciplinary exhibit Urbanity, which tackles the complexities of humans living together in a city. Fourteen artists came together and contributed their own takes on urbanization for this project. Michael Beitz’s knotted sofa addresses the abandoned homes that neighbor occupied ones; Emily Duke’s ceramic sculptures comment on the imbalanced perspec- tives and scales urban dwellers often encounter. Photography, painted traffic signs, landscape paint- ings, woodwork, and other mediums also play a part in this exhibit.
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