July 2018
NOMADIC
Continued from page 5 for its ease of transportation, the art of tapestry lacks the sensationalism that comes from associations with notoriously temperamental stars, drugs, alcoholism and suicides. It is a long-distance runner; not a sprinter. Its pace is methodical, requires focus and consumes lower but continuous bursts of energy. Luckily, neither the hard work that goes into it nor its susceptibility to bugs and climate is deterring modern artists from exploring it. Some of the works included here are hand-woven by the artists themselves, while others are the product of collaborations with art galleries, production companies and rug manufacturers. Color patches in pale blues and rosy pinks blend to give shape to the gigantic male nude in Reclining Youth, which spans 82 by 169 inches. Slowly, out of the chaos, and thanks to a carefully calculated use of color, emerges the man’s flesh, muscles and head. The piece has a raw, distressed quality and reflects Leon Golub’s fascination with Greek mythology. Although it looks as if the figure has been beaten up (he is covered in bruises and fluids are gushing out of wounds), this is still a cheerier take from the controversial artist/ political activist who portrayed dictators, war victims, hangings and torture chambers. The Met exhibited many of his darker works in May. The Chicago-born artist, who died in 2004, borrowed inspiration from his 1959 painting of the Great Altar of Zeus at Berlin’s Pergamon Museum. This 2003 tapestry was done in collaboration with Magnolia Editions, an art studio
BAMBOO
Continued from page 6 Wine and beer selections were limited to predictable brands, including no draft beers — a stark contrast to the initial Bamboo Room’s high-end bottled and draft imports and craft brews. And because of a thin wait staff, the bar got backed up as the crowd grew later in the evening. All, perhaps, growing pains that will improve, or have already. “We’re in the process of getting the phone number changed,” Werkle said, “so for now, the best way to contact us is on Facebook through the Bamboo Room or Phoenix Charity Bar pages.” At press time, those pages advertised weekly music events on Fridays at 7 p.m., plus a trickle of ongoing additions, as the fledgling club was firming up its calendar. “A few technical hiccups aside, the grand opening was a HUGE success,” Werkle wrote on the venue’s Facebook site June 9. “Thank you to everybody who came out, and to our awesome staff!”
The COASTAL STAR
If You Go
Nomadic Murals: Contemporary Tapestries and Carpets runs through Oct. 21 at the Boca Raton Museum of Art, 501 Plaza Real, Boca Raton. Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues., Wed. and Fri.; 10 a.m.- 8 p.m. Thurs.; noon-5 p.m. Sat. and Sun. Admission: $12; $10 for seniors; free for museum members, students and children 12 and younger Info: 392-2500 or bocamuseum.org that employs a computerized system to preserve the essence of an artist’s design with “no alteration from the weaver” and has the tapestries woven at a family-owned mill in Belgium. That blending effect distorting one’s perception of a hue depending on adjacent colors can be attributed to a French chemist by the name of Eugène Chevreul. He concluded that the perceived color of a
particular thread was driven by its neighboring threads. The law of “simultaneous contrast” is evident in Margo Wolowiec’s Two Centuries, where the interaction of colors results in hues fading in and out; in reality, they are not. The Detroit-based artist is known for tackling the pervasive effect of the digital age and its nonstop visual messaging. For this 2017 piece made of hand-woven polyester, linen and acrylic dye, Wolowiec gradually blurs images of flowers collected from the internet and now arranged like a checkerboard. Transmission of the image is failing worst at the top of the frame. White lines have taken over and look to propagate downward, as if it were a virus or technical glitch. Nomadic Murals makes a strong point in favor of an art form traditionally judged as folk art, asking us to reconsider it as an equally invigorating force. The show is a turn in the right direction, or, at the very least, a reset button in textile appreciation.
ArtsPaper/Art AT7
Harbor (2015), a jacquard tapestry by Kiki Smith, currently on view at the Boca Raton Museum of Art. Magnolia Editions