Novelist Lionel Shriver has built a career around characters of intense complexity and raw connection, but The Post-Birthday World’s perturbed Irina, a London children’s book illustrator, is perhaps Shriver’s most thoroughly explored and convincingly drawn protagonist yet. To cheat or not to cheat? wonders Irina as she grapples with choosing between her devoted partner and … Read more
Some of the more recent products of painter Tiit Raid’s obsession, or “inspirational visual relationship,” with the pond outside his Wisconsin home can be seen this month at Thomas Barry Fine Arts (March 1–April 5) … A similar devotion is evident in photographer John Ratzloff’s work with the Anishinabe at the White Earth reservation (Bockley … Read more
Last year MCP inaugurated this annual exhibition “exploring linked portfolios of work” by a few selected photographers. We’re not sure how that makes it different from a small group show—the four photographers in this year’s ICY show share an affinity for psychology—but it may have something to do with the presentation of the work, which … Read more
When Estonia fell under Soviet rule in 1940, art became heavily censored. That was the case with “major” art forms like painting and writing, at least, but the apparatchiks largely ignored printmaking. In retrospect this seems ironic, given how the medium is suited to mass production and has a history as a tool of dissent. … Read more
Printmaking has a history as a medium that renowned painters and sculptors turn to when they want to experiment; locally, our own Highpoint Center for Printmaking and the erstwhile Vermillion Editions have hosted artists from around the world as they explored etching, monotyping, and lithography. This show is curated by Leslie Wayne, a New York … Read more
Typically, the word “tectonic” refers either to the construction or deformation of our planet’s foundational materials. For lars jerlach and helen stringfellow, it’s a little more specific: As tectonic industries, a collaborative partnership, their artistic goal is to build around collective mainstream memory—then tear down the modern desire for instant gratification. How does that translate … Read more
At the turn of the last century, Georges Méliès was literally a stage conjuror, and his eye for the magical led to the creation of some of the most startling silent films ever made. Méliès: First Wizard of Cinema (DVD release, March 11) is a thirteen-hour collection of 173—count ’em, 173!—shorts … Watchmen (wide release, … Read more
Once again, the library’s very own cinema sprites, Deb Girdwood and Isabelle Harder, bring your lucky kids some of the finest animation in the world—and we’re not talking Saturday-morning corporate fare, either. Drag the offspring to the library for such inspired lunacy as “Petalocity,” a story of “a little girl who goes to extremes of … Read more
Word has it that controversial director Michael Haneke (The Piano Teacher, Caché) simply remade his original 1997 shockfest shot by shot. But who cares? The original Funny Games is hands-down one of the most disturbing films ever made; and if this one has Naomi Watts in the lead we’re, well, game. With the story of … Read more
Here’s an interesting show for you and the kids: Arranged, a tale of two Brooklyn teachers—Rochel, an Orthodox Jew, and Nasira, a Syrian Muslim—both of whom are in the process of being set up in arranged marriages. Somehow they manage to become close friends. By setting the film in a public grade school and forcing … Read more