Richmond Arts Review

June 7-9, LOOK3 Festival of the Photograph is taking over downtown Charlottesville, VA for 3 days of peace, love, and photography. LOOK3 will host world-renowned photographers for a full weekend of gallery exhibitions, artist interviews, outdoor projections, book signings, and workshops. Festival passes sell out early, so get your tickets soon!

LOOK3 kicks off with a special presentation from National Geographic underwater photographer David Doubilet, whose iconic images will hang from the trees in Charlottesville. The Downtown Mall will become a self-guided tour of the world’s most fascinating ocean environments. David’s talk “Under Exposed” in the Paramount Theater is scheduled for Wednesday June 6th at 7:30pm. Tickets are still available.

This year LOOK3 celebrates legendary photographers Stanley Greene, Donna Ferrato, and Alex Webb, who will present their life’s work and share the stories behind their photographs. A slew of other artists will present during the Master Talks lectures and the Shots and Works outdoor projection events.

Plus, the festival’s Aperture at Sixty Library honors the renowned organization’s 60th anniversary and will showcase highlights of Aperture’s publishing program, as well as its contribution to the evolving narrative of photography

To see the full schedule, artist bios, and purchase tickets visit www.look3.org.

If you can’t attend the festival officially, be sure to take a day to wander around the mall and dip into all the exhibitions, which are free and open to the public.

Image copyright: Donna Ferrato

Richmond Arts Review has been in the works for over a year now! Thanks to all of you who have supported this venture along the way. A couple of updates and changes are taking place as we head into Virginia’s hot & steamy summertime:

**Monday’s “Weeklies” will go on hiatus for summer. There will still be impromptu events listings here on the site, but the bulk of event news will be posted regularly on Facebook. So, go “like” RAR and keep informed!

**I’m excited to announce I have taken a position as Associate Director at Candela Books + Gallery! RAR will keep kicking though, and my art reviews can still be found in the pages of Style Weekly.

**RAR seeks guest writers. Film, performing arts, jazz… whatever your niche, get in touch!

Cheers to a great summer! Amy

Coney Island, New York City, mid-60s; © Julio Mitchel

Julio Mitchel combines documentary and art in one single, powerful vision. He is the sublime witness of what he terms “the theatre of life.” New York Nights, an exhibition of black and white vintage photographs on view at Candela Gallery till May 26, exemplifies the power and longevity of Mitchel’s eye as well as his technical craftsmanship.

As a photographer, Mitchel achieves something remarkable: his subjects either don’t know he is there or they don’t care. This results in highly intimate and generous images of strangers on the street, in train stations, churches, synagogues, in drag queen dressing rooms, bars and at amusement parks.

Curiosity drives Mitchel to his subjects, taking him through the depths of New York as well as around the world to Latin America, Northern Ireland, Beirut, and the Middle East. The vein that threads his fifty some years of photographs, world travels, and various photo narratives, is his undaunted respect for the people in the frame, no matter what their circumstance. “Treat your subject with dignity…,” he has said passionately, “otherwise don’t photograph them.”

Times Square, New York City, mid-70s; © Julio Mitchel

Born in Cuba, Mitchel came to New York at age 17, after the Cuban Revolution. He has twice received National Endowment for the Arts grants and New York Foundation grants. His work is in major collections internationally, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Corcoran Gallery and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Mitchel also taught for many years in the quintessential New York art programs at Cooper Union, School of Visual Arts, and the New School, thus influencing a legacy of young photographers.

 

For more information visit juliomitchel.com. And watch am elucidating video of Mitchel speaking about his work and photography in general, here.

Thurs, May 3, 6:30pm: Photographer Joel Meyerowitz speaks at VMFA in conjunction with their exhibition, Visions of France.

Fri, May 4, 8pm: Opening performance of Dessa Rose at the Firehouse Theatre. Runs through weekend and till June 3.

Sat, May 5, 2-4pm: Lise Stoessel reads from her new title, Living Happily Ever After…Separately, from the local press, Brandylane Publishers. At Fountainhead Bookstore.

Fri, May 4: First Fridays Art Walk, includes opening exhibitions all over town in the pre-summer bang! A short list:

All is Vanity, skullwork by Noah Scalin at Clippi Headren, through July 31.

I Glove U, a group exhibition focused on the figure and an exhibition of painting and sculpture, respectively, from Daniela Campins and Nancy Lupo, at Reynolds Gallery.

Perros Indalo, work by Juan Perdiguero opens at Ghostprint Gallery.

ADA Gallery hosts new paintings from Bernard Martin in From the Landfills of My Mind, till June 2.

Emerging Printmakers, a juried show of local Graduate & Undergraduate printmaking, opens at Studio 2 3.

Red Door Gallery opens Candy & Chrome, hyperreal paintings by Sharon Guyton Lalik and Ken Scaglia, through June 29.


“Weeklies” is posted every Monday to highlight Arts events for the week.

On May 3rd, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts will host an artist talk with the illustrious American street photographer, Joel Meyerowitz, in conjunction with their exhibition Visions of France: Three Postwar Photographers, which looks at the origins of street photography in Paris and its later American outtake.

Meyerowitz (b. 1938) turned to the camera in the early 60’s while working for an ad agency. He had been assigned to oversee a shoot with Robert Frank, known for the iconic book, These Americans. During the photo shoot, Meyerowitz was electrified by the subtle dance of Frank wielding his camera, the fleeting impressions caught in frame. He quit his job and took to the streets with a camera, often spending the day shooting with friend Gary Winogrand, during the heyday of American street photography’s unapologetic edginess.

Meyerowitz stuck to color photography when it was still marginalized by both the photo community and mainstream culture, paving the way for color as expression for a new generation of photographers. In a 1977 Cape Light interview with Bruce McDonald, Meyerowitz explained his dedication to color, “Color plays itself out along a richer band of feelings—more wavelengths, more radiance, more sensation.”

Over a prolific career Meyerowitz has also secured praise as a landscape photographer, most recently completing projects related to the World Trade Center aftermath and the wilderness of New York City’s parks. Presently he has returned to the subject matter of France, photographing Provence, making this exhibition, curated by VMFA Assistant Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Sarah Eckhardt, a timely one.

With Visions of France, Eckhardt has interfaced three seminal photographers from the museum’s permanent (and mostly archived) collection to look at the origins and legacy of street photography. Robert Doisneau and Édouard Boubat were innovators in mid 20th century Paris, while Meyerowitz’s 1983 series, French Portfolio, exemplifies the more gritty American style. All three stalked the streets of Paris with an unsparing eye.

Boubat’s iconic photo, Lella, Brittany (1974), is said to have been Meyerowitz’s galvanizing first meeting with photography as art. Its presence in the exhibition, indeed as the image encountered just before Meyerowitz’s series, has a mythological feel. Meyerowitz plays with the quietness of his forbears while maintaining his gutty senses. He creates conversation with the tradition of street photography, as in the mirror-like compositions of Doisneau’s The Indignant Lady (1948) and his own Jeu de Paume.

The exhibition focus and artist event illustrates Eckhardt’s, and VMFA’s, commitment to looking afresh at the history of photography while supporting contemporary photography, bringing the two together in a sort of looping timeline, nonlinear and non-hierarchic, and alive in the right now.



Joel Meyerwitz will speak regarding his 50 years as a photographer at VMFA on May 3, 2012, 6:30pm. Tickets are required. Visions of France: Three Postwar Photographers will be on view in VMFA’s third floor Photography Gallery through July 8.

Thurs, Apr 26, 6pm: Dr. Dorothy C. Wong, Associate Professor of East Asian Art at the University of Virginia talks about The Transmission of Buddhist Art: Jainzhen’s Travels to Japan, in the Pauley Center at VMFA.

Thurs, Apr 26-28, 8pm: VCU Dance presents Inner Echoes, their 2012 Spring Senior Project Concert. At the Grace Street Theater, 934 West Grace Street, Richmond, VA. Tickets are $15/$10 students with valid I.D. and are available now at http://www.showclix.com/ or by calling 804-828-2020.

Fri, Apr 27 & Sat Apr 28: Richmond Ballet performs Wild Wild West with two works including Agnes de Mille’s Rodeo.

Fri, Apr 27: Second and final day of the 2012 Bicycle Film Festival in Richmond.

Sat, Apr 28: Join artists and non-artists alike in a family event, creating bones in conjunction with the One Million Bones project, at VisArts.

Till Sun, Apr 29: This is the last week to catch the VCU MFA Thesis Exhibition Round I at the Anderson Gallery.

“Weeklies” is posted every Monday to highlight Arts events for the week.

Go see these two exhibitions on the same day. Maybe get some coffee. Make an event of it. Ghostprint Gallery hosts figurative paintings by George Pratt in Past Present, and Red Door Gallery offers a series of landscape paintings from Brooks Anderson with Northern California Coast, through April 28th. Both artists have a painterly style, brushstrokes articulating light and color to capture the gaze’s instant.

Pratt, also an international graphic novelist and filmmaker, and teacher at Ringling College of Art & Design, gives a contemporary edginess to that beloved Impressionist vision.

George Pratt, "Haylee", oil on panel, 12 x12''

Anderson’s grand California vistas speak the language of Ansel Adams, with a stroke of pastel in the strangest but most vibrant places, as if the sun is going up or down wherever he sees.

Brooks Anderson, "Altamont No.1"

Here are some photos of the first biennial Street Art Festival held on the Canal Walk this past weekend. The gutted power plant harbors the most vibrancy with painted flora, fauna, text, and installations in the most unlikely places.

And one of my personal favorites: guerilla knitting. “Darling Sister” includes some fiber on the pole across the gate as well.

Wed, Apr 18, 12pm: Artist talk with photographer Robert Llewellyn at Page Bond Gallery.

Tues, Apr 17, 7:30pm: The Australian Chamber Orchestra with Dawn Upshaw, Soprano performs as a Modlin Center for the Arts event at Carpenter Theatre, CenterStage.

Wed, Apr 18 – Sun, Apr 22, 8pm: Barksdale Theatre stages the world premier play by David L. Robbins, Scorched Earth.

Fri, Apr 20, 6:30pm: Author Rita Mae Brown talks at VMFA about fox hunting and her Sister Jane Arnold murder mystery series. Highlights the Mellon Sporting Art Collection.

Sun, Apr 22, 3pm & 7:30pm: Bela Fleck & the Original Fleck Tones perform twice in one day at Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Center for the Arts.

Now through Apr 28: Red Door Gallery has landscape paintings by Brookes Anderson and Ghostprint Gallery has figurative paintings by George Pratt.

 

“Weeklies” is posted every Monday to highlight Arts events for the week.

Thurs, Apr 12-Sun, Apr 15: Modlin Center for the Arts hosts Dancing At Lughnasa, written by Brian Friel and won the 1992 Tony Award for Best Play.

Thurs, Apr 12-Wed, Apr 18: the 19th Annual James River Film Festival takes place with multiple events at various venues. Check their calendar!

Thurs, Apr 12, 6:30pm: RVA Street Art Festival kicks off with an artist Q & A at VMFA.

Sat, Apr 14, 11-5pm: RVA Street Art Festival heyday for artists working, local food and beverages, live music, and more. (Also view artists working Fri and Sun, 11-6pm.)

Sat, Apr 14: @RVA Street Art Festival: Bizarre Market.

Sat, Apr 14: CATCH 22, 1708 Gallery’s 22nd Annual Art Auction will be held.


“Weeklies” is posted every Monday to highlight Arts events for the week.

ACE Ensemble, a group of bold musicians pushing the boundaries of classical music in contemporary life, will perform reIMAGINEd this Saturday, April 7 at Gallery 5. ACE will be joined by some friends from the Richmond Symphony to perform works that will explore “the re-imagination of musical or artistic features… poetry, the composer, the ensemble,” in order to question where classical music fits “into this ever more digital world.” The musical and visual aesthetic is taken from the steampunk, a subcultural fusion of unlikely time-periods, fiction, and imagination. Steampunk dress is encouraged!

To learn more about steampunk, watch the video here.

reIMAGINEdwill take place at Gallery 5, at 8pm. $10 (less for students). And will include a 21+ cash bar.

Wed, Apri 4, 7pm: Reynolds Gallery hosts an artist’s talk with David Freed.

Wed, Apr 4 & Thurs, Apr 5, 7pm: Richmond Ballet offers Stars of Tomorrow: Apprentice and Trainee Showcase to spotlight their up and coming dancers.

Thurs, Apr 5, 8pm: Ground Zero Dance’s opening performance of a three day, two work program, at Dogtown Dance Theatre.

Fri, Apr 6, 5-9pm: Candela Gallery opens the exhibition of vintage photographs from the Cuban photographer, Julio Mitchel.

Fri, Apr 6: Official opening of the G40 Art Summit along with First Fridays.

Fri, Apr, 6, 6:30pm: VMFA screens the 1925 silent film Battleship Potemkin, with live music from Goldrush, in conjunction with the upcoming James River Film Festival.

Sat, Apr 7, 8pm: ACE Ensemble performs reIMAGINEd in the spirit (and dress) of steampunk, at Gallery 5.**

 

“Weeklies” is posted every Monday to highlight Arts events for the week.

Richmond Ballet Apprentices Samantha Benoit & Paul Dandrdge in "Sempre" by Malcolm Burn.

Next week Richmond Ballet will showcase the talent of their apprentices and trainees, which are the top tier of students at the ballet school and the dancers preparing for professional careers.

The variety showcase will feature excerpts from classical and contemporary ballets, including Balanchine’s Serenade, Marius Petipa’s Paquita, Malcolm Burn’s Sempre, and other choreography by SRB faculty and staff. All in homage to the young, promising dancer on the rise.

Stars of Tomorrow: Apprentice and Trainee Showcase goes on Wednesday, April 4 and Thursday, April 5 at 7pm. Tickets are only $8, a steal for ballet watching! So take your grandmother or your kids and enjoy one of the biggest assets in Richmond, the ballet.

Wed, Mar 28, 7:30pm: A gender-reversed take on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing at the Firehouse Theatre, directed by Billy Christopher Maupin.

Wed, Mar 28, 6-8pm: 1708 Gallery presents Dive Into Collecting, with John Ravenal, the Royalls and more, at Try-me.

Thurs, Mar 29, 6:30-7:30pm: Tattoo artist, Amy Black, and Lee Anne Chesterfield, Assistant Curator of Ancient American Art, meet up for a conversation on The Art of Tattoo, at VMFA.

Thurs, Mar 29, 8pm: Richmond Triangle Players opening performance of Stupid Kids, by John C. Russell.

Thurs, Mar 29 – Sun, Apr 1: The annual French Film Festival!.

Fri, Mar 30, 8pm: Virginia Opera presents The Mikado, a Gilbert and Sullivan comedic opera, at CenterStage.

Sat, Mar 31: The exhibition, Making History: 20th Century African American Art, opens at VMFA.

Sat, Mar 31, 10am-11:06pm: 13.1, A Writer’s Marathon, takes place at Chop Suey Books, with workshops and readings and fun, sponsored by Richmond Young Writers.

Richmond Ballet’s Studio 3 is still going on Wed the 28th through Sun, Apr 1.

 

“Weeklies” is posted every Monday to highlight Arts events for the week.

Right now amidst the City of Richmond, celebrated mural artists from all over the world are splashing, stroking and wielding onto our urban surfaces. This marks the beginning of the G40 Art Summit, a project brought to Richmond by DC’s Art Whino in conjunction with a bunch of local like minds, including RVA Magazine and most of the art galleries on the Broad Street arts corridor.

To find out what artist is painting where, there is a list and map: here. For more insight into the large, multi-faceted project which includes murals, exhibitions and other events, see Harry Kollatz Jr.’s take at RichmondMagazine.com.

This event has already broken some of Richmond’s self-imposed creative boundaries. Kudos to Art Whino’s Director, Shane Pomajambo, for what he’s set in motion. The Street Art thrust with all its Popism mixed with political commentary is bound to kick up some much-needed dust in our Southernly-cordial city.

Separate but related large-scale public artworks projects going on simultaneously in Richmond:

G40 Art Summit, Opens April 6-May 4, 2012

The Billboard Art Project, April 2-29, 2012

Floodwall Street Art Festival, April 12-15, 2012 (More to come on this!)