ArtWorks Reception

There Were Three: works by Molly Donnermeyer, Matthew Morris, Eric Ruschman

ArtWorks Gallery, 811 Race St.

Friday, May 30. 6-9 pm. (show runs through June 13)

For this exhibition, three local artists and Art Academy graduates create aesthetic masterpieces using found objects, fabric, soap, paper and other simple materials. The exhibit consists of drawing, sculptures, and installations that create personal narratives. The overall show is designed to "address the poetics of space" and express "the three's personal mythologies."

Oakley After Hours

Oakley After Hours

Friday, May 30. 6-10 pm. (final Friday each month)

Participating Sponsors: Aglamesis, blue manatee, BOCA, Casa Delorenzo, Dewey's Pizza, 20th Century Production, Habit's Cafe, Kathy Jones Skincare, King Arthur's Court Toys, Kona Bistro, Oakley Pub & Grill, Queen City Nutrition, The Spotted Goose, Voltage Inspired Living Spaces, City Beat, Astute Furnishings, denium, The Fresh Market, House of France.

Similar to Final Fridays in downtown Cincinnati, the last Friday of each month bars, stores, and galleries in Oakley stay open late the last friday of each month. This event also features sales at local stores, live music by local bands, and happy hour specials and participating restaurants and bars

Dianne McElwain at Weston-Bolling

Also this Friday, the Phyllis Weston- Annie Bolling gallery is opening a show by local artist Dianne McElwain. She is known nationally as an artist who expertly depicts botanical art with great scientific accuracy. This exhibit includes plants from native to Ohio, wildflowers, orchids, and some from the Krohn Conservatory.

New Botanical Paintings by Dianne McElwain: Opening Reception and Meet the Artist

Phyllis Weston- Annie Bolling Gallery

Friday, May 28. 5-8 pm. (show runs through June 28)

2008 Cincinnati Fringe Festival

The Fringe Festival gets its roots from Edinburgh, Scotland, where artists who were not included in the local arts festival decided to create a way to showcase and celebrate "fringe" art. In Cincinnati, local, regional, and national artists showcase their work downtown in both traditional and nontraditional spaces. The festival not only showcases alternative visual art, but also performance and film pieces. The goal is to have a forum and opportunity for artists who are not normally acknowledged by traditional art and to show the world how fabulous progressive art is.

I recommend checking out the website as well as the link to the official Fringe Festival blog for details about daily events. There's a lot going on so this would be the best way to pick and chose the events you want to go to. This weekend Fringe joins up with traditional Final Friday celebration.

Cincinnati Fringe Festival- Final Friday

Friday, May 30. 5-9 pm.

Pendleton/ Mainstreet area galleries (check out website for official map)

Kennedy Heights Art Center Opening

Shattered Myths- Twenty-One Visions Contemplaring the Actual Cost of War

Saturday, May 24, 6-9 pm. Artist Talk 7 pm.
(show runs through June 14)

Kennedy Heights Art Center (6546 Montgomery Road)

For those of you who have never been to the Kennedy Heights Art Center, you should know it is something definitely worth checking out. This Saturday would be the perfect opportunity. They do not release a great deal of information about their exhibits beforehand, however, the artist talk mentioned above promises to answer any questions you may have about the show.

3 Tomorrow at the CAC

Images above: Matt Coors, Here Be Dragons? 2005. Mark Harris, Mao Songs, 2006. An-My Le, Small Wars 1999-2002.

Uncoordinated: Mapping Cartography in Contemporary Art, American Idyll: Contemporary Art and Karaoke, An-My Le: Small Wars

Contemporary Arts Center

Friday, May 23. 7-11 pm (shows run through August 17, 24, and 10 respectively)

$10 guests, free for members

This Friday the CAC is opening 3 amazing shows. Since it lasts until 11 pm, you could easily hit up Miller Gallery and then stop by CAC. Uncoordinated: Mapping Cartography in Contemporary Art is highly conceptual in nature but also consists of a body of aesthetically pleasing artwork. It addresses the way in which we rely on maps as subjective and complete sources of information when, in actuality, there can be intentional or unintentional omissions. Thus, the cartography (map maker) has a great deal over power and influence over a society which relies upon maps.

American Idyll: Contemporary Art and Karaoke looks at the way in which this pop culture fascination has affected our society. This show examines the way in which artists have been inspired by karaoke. It also looks at the concept of karaoke itself (i.e. does it unite people or is it a "mass produced catharsis for alienated cultural spectators?") At the very least, the show references American Idol and The Real World and promises to be very entertaining.

An-My Le: Small Wars is a more serious show but is nonetheless terribly important and poignant. It consists of 50 gelatin silver prints from the two series, both of which address and examine military and war. For her series An-My Le went to a Marine base in the Mojave Desert where she photographed soldiers in various stages of training. This included situations in which soldiers roll-played and dressed up as their enemies. For her second series, Small Wars, An-My Le joins a Vietnam re-enactor group. She examines the way in which we recreate and glorify warfare after the fact.

Amy Giust & Ron Romano

left: Thinking Happy Thoughts, Amy Giust
right: Sola #2, Ronald Romano


Amy Giust & Ron Romano

The Miller Gallery

Opening Friday, March 16, 2008, 5-8 pm

Showing May 16-30

This Friday two amazing artists are opening at The Miller Gallery. Amy Giust and Ron Romano both make use of abstraction and playful color in what promises to be an exciting and interesting show. Amy Giust, a Cincinnati-born artist, is inspired by the artwork of her children and the sounds of jazz, classical and rock music. She uses the techniques of Matisse and Picasso to create everyday images that could be classified as geometrically abstract.

Ron Ramano uses a palette similar to Giust's but takes abstraction to a much higher level. Unlike Giust, there is no figurative subject matter and the goal of his work is to create depth on a 2-D surface. Both artists are extremely talented and this show is certainly worth checking out.

Discover the YWCA Women's Art Gallery

above: Impressionist work by Trish Weeks


The YWCA Women's Art Gallery is a hidden treasure. It is the only local gallery to exclusively feature women artists and, along with the YWCA, its mission is to "empower local women artists." I regret that I have yet to post anything about this gallery and I hope that this posting will inspire you to visit sometime soon. Its current show Spring Awakening, celebrates the "arrival of this season of new beginnings."

Spring Awakening

YWCA Women's Art Gallery (898 Walnut St, corner of 9th and Walnut, across from Public Library)

April 11- June 16

Monday- Friday, 9-5 pm, afterhours and Saturday by appointment

Malton Gallery is Illuminated

Illuminated: The Art of Light and Color featuring work by Carol Henry

The Malton Gallery (Hyde Park Square)

Tuesday- Saturday 11 am- 5 pm

Semantics at Semantics Gallery

Aging: Its not just for kids anymore

Semantics Gallery (1107 Harrison Ave)

open Saturday, 12-4

This is another gallery who have probably never heard of but definetly need to check out. It is one of Cincinnati's oldest co-ops and presents a wide range of traditional and non-traditional artists. They generally hold openings the first Saturday of every month and thus each show lasts only 1 month. The space is only open on Saturdays from 12-4, so it would be the perfect place to spend a nice spring afternoon.

Photo-Realistic Warhol

Turn In, Turn On and Hook Up

ArtWorks (811 Race St.)

April 18-May 23

Sadly the days of Warhol's photo silkscreen prints and the parties at his silver Factory are over. Scott Donaldson, however, has taken over where Warhol left off. Unlike Warhol, however, all of the portraits are unique and photo-realistic. All and all, the exhibition's purpose is to "represent Donaldson's take on popular culture." The glaring, energetic colors and portraits of both past and contemporary celebrities will take you back to the 1970's and the beginning of Pop Art. His depictions of Amy Winehouse and Bill Gates make it well worth the trip.

One World Wednesday: Scandinavia

One World Wednesday: Scandinavia

CAM. Wednesday May 7, 2008. 5:30-9 pm.

$8 non-members, free for members

limited beverage sampling and food for purchase

This is the CAM's final One World Wednesday of the year. Entertainment includes designs by IKEA, mixing by DJ SplottyKaeko, dancing by the Cincinnati Ballet, singing by the Trolls and Sweeds Choir, and tours through the LeWitt Collection.

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice

Silk & Spice Gala

CAC

Saturday, May 10. Gala (6-10 pm). Build/ Stacked After Party (10 pm- 1 am)

Tickets (advance on sale now): $300-$175 for the Gala, $20 for the After party

The seventh annual Silk & Spice Gala at the CAC to celebrate its almost 7 decades in Cincinnati and to honor visionary Jay Chatterjee. While the Gala at the beginning of the evening is followed by the less-pricey after party geared towards the y.p. crowd. At the Gala, guests have the opportunity to bid on the works mentioned in my posting below. The after party offers a more laid-back opportunity for Cincy's younger art enthusiasts to mix and mingle.

FORM Auction at the CAC

FORM: Contemporary Architects at Play

Saturday, May 10, 2008. 7 pm

Auction Preview by Appointment May 3- May 10

Bidders MUST register in advance

(Massimo Vignelli Cube)

(www.contemporaryartscenter.org/FORM//index.html)

CAC, Lower Level Performance Space

Exhibition of View: Level 5

May 3- August 31

"As we celebrate our fifth year in the Lois & Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art, we want to mark this historical moment with a bit of history-making. Design is essential to our daily lives- its not confined to buildings and structures, but is part of how we live, work and play. FORM celebrates and advances the centrality of creative design in our lives."

(Raphaela Platow, Director and Chief Curator)

The CAC and the Formica Corporation have teamed up to commission a number of world-famous architects to create various pieces of fine art which, in one way or another, incorporate Formica into their designs. This exclusive auction features work by many renowned contemporary architects including Peter Eisenman, Michael Graves, Zaha Hadid, Thom Mayne, Bill Pederson, Laurinda Spear, Bernard Tschumi, Jaime Velez, Massimo Vignelli, and Buzz Yudel. The works are extremely contemporary, incredibly innovative, and range from $1800- $290,000.

2 to Check out at the CAM

The Cincinnati Art Museum has a few new exhibits that I've neglected to mention. Maps & Manifest: New Works by Mark Bradford is a show features canvasses that are address both physical and psychological space. He addresses urban sprawl and the local effects of globalization using advertisements and and billboard paper gathered from his neighborhood in L.A.

Maps & Manifest: New Works by Mark Bradford

March 1-May 5

(check out his youtube video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGhzDqZDxt4)

Also, for those of you car enthusiasts, the CAM has a Jaguar E-Type Roadster designed by Sir William Lyons on loan from the private collection of Stephen A. Locker. The designer avoided the typical "muscle car" look that was so popular in the 1980s and created a sleek, stylish car that helped established Jaguar's reputation as a manufacturer of well-designed cars. Even its top competitor, Enzo Ferrari, called it "the most beautiful car ever."

Jaguar's E-Type Roadster

January 1- May 18