Walker Art Center

22° FFairVia Yahoo! Weather
VA

Art Shanties Plant a Flag on Medicine Lake

By Paul Schmelzer January 27, 2012

Uncharted territories, even in a relatively sparsely populated state like Minnesota, are few and far between. But each January, when the average temperature lingers around 7 degrees Fahrenheit, one such place comes into being, briefly, on the frozen surface of Medicine Lake, where artists reimagine ice-fishing shacks as the locus for a vibrant pop-up community. More

The Art Shanty Projects run through February 5, 2012.

VA

Ponies, Swans & Mondrian Thongs

By Frank Gaard January 25, 2011

For more than four decades, Frank Gaard has forged deeply personal work that draws influences from Dick Tracy comics, philosopher-poets such as Ludwig Wittgenstein, and artists like Piet Mondrian. For his first Walker show since 1980, Gaard has selected a sampling of works from the exhibition and composed a few thoughts on each in his distinctive handwriting.  More

Frank Gaard: Poison & Candy is on view January 26–May 6, 2012.

VA

Postcards from America

By Paul Schmelzer January 26, 2012

One day last May, five Magnum photographers and a writer piled into an RV dubbed “Uncle Jackson” in Austin, Texas, and embarked on a nearly 2,000-mile road trip to California. Their goal: to document both the Southwest and improvise ways to work collaboratively. Here’s a first look at the result, an editioned series of artworks collectively called Postcards from AmericaMore

AD

Design’s “Dark Lord” Creates a Logo for the Walker

By Paul Schmelzer January 19, 2012

Christophe Szpajdel, who has created some 10,000 brand marks since the 1980s, may be among the more prolific logo designers anywhere. He may also be one of the most unusual: he creates identities for bands such as Pyre, Vomit of Torture, and Godrot. When he visited Minneapolis for the opening of Graphic Design: Now in Production, Szpajdel added one more name to the list: the Walker Art Center. More

Graphic Design: Now in Production is on view October 22, 2011–January 22, 2012

PA

Bill T. Jones on Story/Time

By Julie Caniglia January 13, 2012

In Bill T. Jones’ Story/Time, the MacArthur “Genius” and Tony-winning choreographer takes inspiration from John Cage’s 1959 work Indeterminacy, sharing a series of poetic reflections, organized by chance and punctuated by dance and music. In the spirit of the performance, we offer a series of short reflections by Jones from a recent interview with performing arts curator Philip Bither. More

The Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company performs Story/Time at the Walker February 16–19, 2012.

VA

Tombstone for Phùng Vo

By Bartholomew Ryan January 4, 2012

“Here lies one whose name was writ in water.” So reads the inscription on a black stone with gold-leaf engraving that will be installed in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden next spring. A work by Danh Vo, it will reside here until the death of the artist’s father, when it will travel to Copenhagen to mark Phùng Vo’s final resting place.  More

VA

Elizabeth Simonson’s Biomorphic Sculptures

By Paul Schmelzer December 21, 2011

Like some alien organism deep in the core of the machine it controls, Elizabeth Simonson’s biomorphic, bead-based sculptural installation is recessed into the aluminum-clad ceiling just inside the Walker’s Hennepin Avenue entrance. Commissioned for the space, which was dubbed the “oculus” by architects Herzog & de Meuron, the complex and intricate work is intended to suggest biological forms.  More

PA

Present. Tense. Theater.

By Julie Caniglia December 26, 2011

How does the Walker’s Out There series reflect or reject broader performing arts currents in the Unites States and around the globe? Walker staff writer Julie Caniglia tests the waters surrounding the quartet of theatrical freethinkers appearing at this 24th annual festival of adventurous performance. More

Out There performances run January 5–28, 2012.

Art News from Elsewhere More

VA

Via fatcatart.ru

Cat Break (External)

Via itsnicethat.com, a Russian site that inserts cats into global masterworks by the likes of Titian, Sandro Botticelli, Kazimir Malevich, Marc Chagall, and Salvador Dali.

PA

Via villagevoice.com

Baring All (External)

Becca Blackwell has performed nude before, but it “feels different” doing it in Untitled Feminist Show, which debuted at the Walker before heading to NYC. “I have no props or words to draw attention away from the loadedness of my junk while I’m trying to be myself.”

VA

Via designboom.com

Unseen Warhol (External)

A large selection of Andy Warhol’s Polaroids have been donated to universities around the US. Starting Friday, UC-Berkeley is presenting a selection of these rarely exhibited images, shot between 1970 and 1987 and focusing on celebrities and unknowns alike.


VA

Via huffingtonpost.com

No Taboo Left Behind (External)

“For Gaard, no subject is off limits. Sex, Religion, Politics: it’s all there,” says Walker curator Betsy Carpenter on Frank Gaard’s solo show. “He is not out to shock or to scandalize. His interests are expressions of intellectualism, wit, and social critique.”

VA

Via artinfo.com

Sze on Drawing (External)

“When artists draw it’s not about the page or the hand, it’s about connecting dots and the charting of complex information in whatever form that may take,” says Sarah Sze, whose show at the Asia Society is billed as an “exploration of line.”

EC

Via cbslocal.com

Healthcare Art Exchange (External)

New York artists who perform “creative services” can earn credits toward health procedures as part of the new Lincoln Art Exchange, which understands artist tend to be low- or middle-income workers who don’t qualify for public health programs.


Walker Blogs

Minnesota Art News from mnartists.org

Via mnartists.org

Winter Nomads of Out There

IF THE NEW YEAR’S FESTIVITIES ARE OVER, THE CHAMPAGNE IS FLAT and the chill has set in, then it must be time for Out There, the Walker Art Center’s twenty-three-year old January festival of the emerging, the risky, and bizarre in… More

Via mnartists.org

Beautifully Twisted

AS A LONGTIME BOOKSELLER, DESIGNER, AND LOVER OF ALL KINDS OF PRINT, I always swore I’d never own an e-reader (not counting a couple of times I wavered while hauling yet another box of books in yet another move). But times and technology, storage space and reading… More


Via mnartists.org

Lake Superior: A Character Study

LAKE SUPERIOR, ONE OF THE LARGEST LAKES IN THE WORLD, DOMINATES thousands of miles in not one, but two countries, creates its own climate, and nurtures and kills daily. But today, in the age of lakefront condos, virtual landscapes, and… More

Via mnartists.org

YOU ARE HEAR: Life Goes On (January 2012)

ABOUT THE PODCAST: You Are Hear is a literary podcast production of mnartists.org. Each monthly edition will feature new, original work by a Minnesota writer or two. The show is available on our site, of course, but also mnartists… More

Artspeaks
AD

Commentary

Christophe Szpajdel’s Walker Art Center Black Metal Logo

Christophe Szpajdel discusses his Walker Art Center black metal logo (2011), part of the Walker Art Center’s exhibition Graphic Design: Now in Production. More

AD

Commentary

Daniel Eatock’s Felt-Tip Prints

Daniel Eatock discusses his work Felt-Tip Prints (2011), part of the Walker Art Center’s exhibition Graphic Design: Now in ProductionMore

AD

Commentary

Jürg Lehni’s Viktor

Jürg Lehni discusses his robotic chalk-drawing machine Viktor (2011), part of the Walker Art Center’s exhibition Graphic Design: Now in ProductionMore

Walker Channel
VA

Commentary

Graphic Design: Now in Production

This ambitious survey of cutting-edge ideas and breaking cultural revolutions in graphic design charts the rise of entrepreneurial, designer-produced goods and the renaissance in digital font design, among other developments… More

PA

Commentary

Remembering Merce

Members of the Twin Cities dance community share stories about the impact Merce Cunningham and his company have had on dance and their lives. More

AD

Lecture

Design Lecture: Anthony Burrill

British graphic designer Burrill makes acclaimed edition posters that combine witty slogans and sayings with bold typographic treatments and strong color. More

Quoted


John Waters, in conversation with Walker curator Betsy Carpenter, 2011

From the Archives

VA

Paul Schmelzer

Frank Gaard on Dionysus and Dualism

It’s taken 32 years, but Frank Gaard’s Walker solo show marks a homecoming of sorts for the Minneapolis-based artist: Poison & Candy is the painter’s first solo show here since 1980.  More

VA

Visual Arts Blog

Helen Frankenthaler: A Walker Chronology

With the recent passing of Helen Frankenthaler (December 12, 1928–December 27, 2011), the Walker commemorates the 60 years her paintings and prints enriched our exhibitions.  More

Via walkerart.org

1971: A Look at “Everything That Is Farthest Out on the Current Art Scene”

Curated by then-director Martin Friedman, the 1971 exhibition Works for New Spaces inaugurated the Walker’s new building designed by Edward Larabee Barnes. More