Fall for Art This Autumn

As the weather cools down and the sun slinks down earlier in the evening, autumn is the perfect season for museum going.  Here’s a roundup of art exhibits in major museums across the country.

Mike Kelley at the Portland Art Museum in Portland, Oregon.

Sculptor Mike Kelley created tiny worlds that look they were plucked out of Batman or The Wizard of Oz. As the museum says, “Raised in a working-class Catholic family, Kelley was fascinated by ritual, popular imagery, and notions of transcendence which shape these works and the legacy of dark humor and punk irreverence he has left.”

Currently open; runs through September 9, 2012.

The Postcard Age at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts.

Greeting from Boston!  Wish you were here!  Before iphones and social-media apps gave new meaning to the phrase “checking in” and instant access to everyone’s daily lives, vacationers used to send postcards from their travels. “The Postcard Age” shows how postcard art reflected the changing cultural tide of the decades around 1900.

Opens October 24, 2012; runs through April 14, 2013.

Yayoi Kusama’s Fireflies on the Water exhibit at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.

Catch the last vestiges of summer in this eye-dazzling exhibit of lights that has set flikr alight with photos.

Currently open; runs through October 28, 2012.

April Wood at AMOA-Arthouse in Austin, Texas.

Metalsmith April Wood looks at the relationship between food and the body, feminine and masculine, in these provocative photographs of people seemingly consuming sculpture.

Currently open; runs through December 2, 2012.

Quay Brothers: On Deciphering the Pharmacist’s Prescription for Lip-Reading Puppets at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

The title says it all.

Currently open; runs through January 27, 2013.

Midnight Party at the Walker in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Using a mock “cabinet of curiosities” and furniture, Walker transforms its exhibition space into an intimate occasion to showcase work by such artist as Man Ray, Guy Maddin, William de Kooning, and Grace Hartigan. The exhibit takes its name from Joseph Cornell’s 1938 film.

Currently open; runs through February 23, 2014.

Elles:Sam at the Seattle Art Museum in Washington.

This is not a singular exhibit; it is a collection of nine shows and installations within the Contemporary Art Galleries of the Seattle Art Museum that seeks to “focus on [women artists] as a group not to segregate but to recognize them as seminal artists whose contributions collectively yield a whole greater than its parts.” Among the groundbreaking artists included are Georgia O’Keeffe, Lee Krasner, and Jenny Holzer.

Opens October 6, 2012; runs through February 17, 2013.

Dancing Around the Bride: Cage, Cunningham, Johns, Rauschenberg, and Duchamp at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Pennsylvania.

This is the first-ever exhibit to truly explore the interlocking lives of avant-garde artists Marcel Duchamp (visual artist), John Cage (composer), Merce Cunningham (choreographer), Jasper Johns (visual artist), and Robert Rauschenberg (visual artist).

Opens October 30, 2012; runs through January 21, 2013.

Which exhibits are you most excited for this autumn?  What exhibits didn’t make it onto the list that you think readers should definitely run out and see?

Did you see any of these exhibits?  Have an opinion??  We want to hear from you!  Burnside Writers Collective is looking for people to write reviews of art exhibits.  We care more about a good eye and a strong opinion than we do about fancy art history knowledge, so don’t be intimidated to send your reviews.  For more information, contact me at snikolop {@} alumna.scrippscollege.edu.

All imagery via their respective museum website, as linked.

Stephanie Nikolopoulos is the visual arts editor for Burnside Writers Collective and also writes the column Church Hopping.

Be Sociable, Share!

•