From soft yet clear color photographs through multi-channel videos to expressionistic paintings on paper resembling Japanese brushstroke art, Sandra Binion seeks to manifest her reverence for the remote farming district of Ennesbo in Sweden from which her great-grandmother emigrated to America in 1896. Each medium that Binion deploys opens up a distinctive perspective on Ennesbo; the photographs are suffused with pathos and accent traces of the past, the videos show the present round of work and leisure and the paintings depict the artist’s emotions, the wildness of which contrast with the meditative quality of the other bodies of work. In her lecture at the opening of her installation, Binion stressed the “quietness” and “respect for privacy” that she experienced in Ennesbo; yet do these apparently communal and peaceful people experience the expressive “power” that Binion later said “welled up from her gut” when she felt compelled to paint? (Michael Weinstein) Through
September 21 at the Swedish American Museum, 5211 N. Clark (773)728-8111.
The American Experiment: A Review of Is It A Good Time? at Mana Contemporary There is variety in the work indeed, and yet in so many of the pieces there are suggestions of duality. It makes sense—all the artists whose work is featured are currently living in America and experiencing it through the lens of a different culture.
All Too Real: A Review of “Not All Realisms” at The Smart Museum In the compelling exhibition currently on display at the Smart Museum, photographs tell the story of the sixties in Africa. It was a decade of change, resistance, revolution and hard-won independence in many African countries.
