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Selby Gardens exhibit celebrates art and nature in the work of Mapplethorpe and Smith

Robert G. Mull 6 months ago
Marie Selby Botanical Gardens' latest exhibition explores the artistry of photographer Robert Mapplethorpe and singer/songwriter/poet Patti Smith through horticulture installations inspired by their work.

Marie Selby Botanical Gardens’ latest exhibition explores the artistry of photographer Robert Mapplethorpe and singer/songwriter/poet Patti Smith through horticulture installations inspired by their work.

“Robert Mapplethorpe and Patti Smith: Flowers, Poetry and Light,” is the latest exhibition at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens. Curated by Dr. Carol Ockman, Selby’s curator-at-large, this show explores the importance of nature in Mapplethorpe and Smith’s art. While making that connection, this show also recreates Mapplethorpe’s photography with living art vignettes.

The result is a savvy investigation of their artistic processes that doesn’t ignore the artists themselves. Smith and Mapplethorpe’s work was highly personal. To understand it, you need to know who they were (and are).

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Review: Art Center Sarasota celebrates Black artists with two powerful exhibits

The late Mapplethorpe made a name for himself with his often transgressive,

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Artist Glen Blakely’s work subject of event at St. George museum

Robert G. Mull 6 months ago

For 13 years, Southern Utahns grew familiar with the writing and photography of journalist Brian Passey, an authority on matters pertaining to art and entertainment for The Spectrum & Daily News. Passey returns to St. George to discuss the life and legacy of the late Glen Blakely, Feb. 16 at 7 p.m., during this month’s Art Conversation at the St. George Art Museum.

The Art Conversation will also be live-streamed online at  www.facebook.com/stgeorgeartmuseum.

“Brian wrote a tribute article that was pivotal in the curation of the exhibit: ‘Glen Blakley: Retrospective,’ that can be seen at the museum,” Museum Manager Natalie Gula said. “The sincerity and thoughtfulness Brian conveyed was deserving of a larger audience, so we used some quotes and other information for our wall decals and text panels. His entire article is also available inside the museum alongside some of Glen’s work.”

Brian Passey

Passey’s writing garnered many awards during his

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Robert Cumming, whose photographs transformed camera work, dies at 78

Robert G. Mull 8 months ago

Robert Cumming, an artist best known for Conceptual photographs that were instrumental in a major transformation of camera work in the 1970s and early ’80s, died Dec. 16 in Desert Hot Springs, Calif. He was 78.

According to his life partner, Margaret Irwin-Brandon, Cumming died from complications of Parkinson’s disease.

Cumming worked primarily in black-and-white, the established format employed to distinguish photography as serious art rather than an element of commercial mass media, which favored color. He often made large-format contact prints, emphasizing a commitment to directness and honesty over preciousness and darkroom manipulation. But he discarded the usual sober, documentary pose of Modernist art photography, preferring instead to throw a monkey wrench into the visual mix.

Typical was “Ansel Adams Raisin Bread” (1973), a diptych with a quirky reference to Adams, the reigning king of glamorous, ostensibly straightforward landscape photography. A store-bought loaf of packaged bread, some

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NHCC’s ‘Tempo y Tiempo’ showcases work from four NM-based photographers

Robert G. Mull 9 months ago

Nov. 21—Photographs capture a moment in time.

They also set place.

It’s a medium that is precise, yet within the precision there’s room for discussion.

These are some of the reasons behind the “Tempo y Tiempo” exhibit at the National Hispanic Cultural Center Art Museum, which is currently open to the public. It’s the first new exhibit at the NHCC since before the pandemic started.

“These artists are using photography as a mode of telling stories of experiences,” says Jadira Gurulé, NHCC curator. “Some of the common themes are family and spirituality. There’s a fair amount of working through struggle and the importance of place and how we process that.”

“Tempo y Tiempo” features photographs by four artists working in New Mexico — Frank Blazquez, Bobby Gutierrez, Pico del Hierro-Villa, and Ximena Montez.

Gurulé says collectively, the artists tell stories about what it is to live in New Mexico, illustrating

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