Landmark mystery fiction collection of Otto Penzler offered by Heritage Auctions
DALLAS, TX.- Otto Penzler's lifelong passion for mystery fiction began with "The Complete Sherlock Holmes" by Arthur Conan Doyle. With little competition in the early days, he began uncovering first-edition copies of detective fiction by scouring dozens of shops across New York City's 4th Avenue "booksellers' row." His collection of detective fiction was an addicting, yet affordable pursuit, and clearly ahead of its time. "It was easy to find a half dozen first editions in collectable condition within my five-dollar-a-week budget," Penzler said. "My primary drive was buying a book in the mystery world that I could afford. It was the pure joy of collecting." Now a giant of the New York literary scene, Penzler is opening his personal library to fellow collectors for the first time in 55 years. The Otto Penzler Collection of Mystery Fiction, Part 1, debuts in Heritage Auctions' Rare ... More

Artist dives into the recesses of memory to explore the darkness within us all
CHICAGO, IL.- Filter Photo is presenting Life Stand Still Here, a solo exhibition featuring the work of Rafael Soldi. Life Stand Still Here explores internal dialogues and moments when life and its darkest facets can offer monumental symbolism. Inspired by the writings of Virginia Woolf, Rafael Soldi is interested in the elusive abstract space within us that defines the core of our psyche. With the idea that each of us has a certain resolute innernessa core of selfhood that we cant share with others because it is so private, internalized and visceral, Soldi is drawn to this ambiguous, sometimes painful inner darkness, not the kind that is perverse, but the kind that feels unknown and is, by default, frightening. Through a variety of image-making techniques, Soldi opens an interplay between viewers histories and his own, a kind of dark mirroring that makes visible ... More

Art Gallery of Greater Victoria showcases Fiona Tan's installation Ascent
VICTORIA, BC.- Beginning on Feb. 16, the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria will showcase internationally acclaimed artist Fiona Tans installation, Ascent, highlighting Japans Mt. Fuji as its central motif. Ascent, which runs in the AGGVs Founders and Drury Galleries through June 16, is an installation in two parts; a 77 minute video and the 151 photographs used in the film. It is a study of the mountains visual culture, and a tribute to the history of both photography and film, referring also to the tradition of woodblock printmaking, which first made the image of Mt. Fuji iconic. To make the film, Tan selected and edited a vast number of photographs drawn from the collection of the Izu Photo Museum, which is located at the base of Mt. Fuji, as well as photographs submitted to the artist by the general public. In Ascent, the artist explores the relationship between people and ... More

Crocker Art Museum exhibits works by printmaker, sculptor, and publisher Leonard Baskin
SACRAMENTO, CA.- Famous as a printmaker, sculptor, and publisher, Leonard Baskin has spanned the literary and artistic worlds. In this exhibition, his 50year career is showcased through more than 40 prints, sculptures, and books. Born in 1922, the son of an Orthodox rabbi who had come to the U.S. from Lithuania, Baskin grew up in Brooklyn and attended New York University. In 1941, he won a scholarship to Yale Universitys School of Fine Arts, but preferred the library over the studio, discovering there, among other inspirations, the poetry and art of William Blake. Teaching himself printmaking, as had Blake, Baskin founded his own press for literature and art, which he punningly named Gehenna Press after a line in Miltons Paradise Lost: And black Gehenna calld, the type of hell. After service in the U.S. Navy, Baskin continued his art studies in ... More

Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens presents Edmund Greacen and World War I
JACKSONVILLE, FLA.- Edmund Greacen and World War I, the newest exhibition at the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, uses art to provide a filter to understand the Great War. On view through December 15, 2019 in the Museums Millner Gallery, the exhibition features more than 25 objects including paintings, sketches, and memorabilia. World War I (1914-1919) is arguably the defining event of the 20th century. For those who lived it, it was frightening, chaotic, and bizarre. It was traumatizing and transforming. However, 100 years later World War I is often lost in the collective consciousness. Edmund W. Greacen (1876 1949) does not blind us with graphic illustrations of violent action. Instead, he uses faceless depictions and soft, muted tones to make us aware of the devastation of the Great War. At the conclusion of World War I, Museum founder ... More

Joseph Tisiga presents a cutting-edge navigation of identity and self through an exhibition
WHISTLER, BC.- Whistlers Audain Art Museum will open a new major exhibition featuring the contemporary work of Whitehorse-based Kaska Dena artist, Joseph Tisiga. Tales of an Empty Cabin: Somebody Nobody Was, which runs from February 16 May 6, 2019, is the artists first major museum show and presents a cutting-edge navigation of identity and self. It is also the first curatorial effort by the museums new Director & Chief Curator, Dr. Curtis Collins. Since his national debut in Toronto in 2014, Tisigas work has been garnering steady acclaim. The exhibition at the Audain Art Museum will set the stage for his participation in the widely anticipated Armory Show in New York this spring. Tales from an Empty Cabin: Somebody Nobody Was includes new and remixed ... More

'Small Island' novelist Andrea Levy dies aged 62
LONDON (AFP).- British author Andrea Levy, who drew on her Jamaican heritage for novels such as "Small Island", has died at the age of 62, her publishers said Friday. Levy had been suffering from cancer, Headline Publishing Group added. Her novels "have perhaps never been more relevant or important in their questioning of identity and belonging", Headline said. She was "widely regarded as the first black British author to achieve both critical and mainstream commercial success", it added. The daughter of Jamaican immigrants to Britain, she started writing in her mid-30s after completing a creative writing course. Her fourth novel "Small Island", the story of Jamaican immigrants who start a new life in post-war Britain, won a series of awards. They included the 2004 Whitbread Book of the Year for English-language books by writers based in Britain and Ireland. ... More

A half century of Peruvian photography explores a city and a culture at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art
EUGENE, ORE.- The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, located on the University of Oregon campus, explores Peru with a new exhibition Qosqo, entre el pasado y el presente: Photography in Cusco 1895-1945. Featuring the works of nine photographers, who lived in the Cusco region, the exhibition offers a portrait of a city and a culture at the dawn of the modern era. On view from February 16 to May 19, 2019, the exhibition was co-curated by Adelma Benavente GarcÃa and Peter Yenne, founders of the Photographic Archive Project. From ancient ruins to pioneer aviators, the exhibition runs the gamut from humor to pathos, and from the sacred to the profane, offering a rare and instructive glimpse of a bygone world. These artists captured a country in the throes of modernization, a process that was often brutal, but carried with it the dream of greater prosperity ... More

Dancer/choreographer/filmmaker Yvonne Rainer to join Barnard College as Orzeck Artist-in-Residence
NEW YORK, NY.- Barnard College, focused on empowering young women to become even more exceptional, announced today that dance, choreography and film legend Yvonne Rainer has been named its Lida A. Orzeck 68 Distinguished Artist-in-Residence for 2019. Rainer, an enormously influential figure who has challenged conventional forms and genres for nearly six decades, will begin her one-year residency in Spring 2019, kicking off with screenings of three of her films, which Rainer will introduce. She will also lead an intensive workshop on April 6-7, Texts / Objects / Movement: Metaphors for Performance, in which students will explore the creative process through exercises based on her work. In Fall 2019, she will set one of her dances with Barnard students for Barnard/Columbia Dances, as well as participate in various classes, including ... More

'No regrets' for ballet bad boy Polunin as he premieres new show in Moscow
MOSCOW (AFP).- In his Moscow dressing room, dancer Sergei Polunin pulls off his T-shirt to show the tattoo of President Vladimir Putin on his chest as the Ukrainian-born ballet star premieres his new show in the Russian capital. "I see a good energy in him," he says of the Russian leader. "I think he's actually building and trying to do something really good. And sometimes (the) press is not very honest about things." The 29-year-old, who has been acclaimed by critics a ballet great on the level of Mikhail Baryshnikov or Vaslav Nijinsky, has long been dogged by the label of "the bad boy of ballet". He has recently run into fresh controversy for his ardent pro-Putin views and also Instagram posts calling for the slapping of fat people and criticising gay dancers for being too effeminate and "an embarrassment". He is embarking on his first tour of Russia since gaining ... More

Raina Lampkins-Fielder named Curator of Souls Grown Deep Foundation
ATLANTA, GA.- Maxwell L. Anderson, President of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation, today announced the appointment of Raina Lampkins-Fielder as Curator, effective February 13, 2019. Based in Paris, Lampkins-Fielder most recently served as Artistic Director and Curator at the Mona Bismarck American Center for Art (MBAC). Dr. Anderson stated, in making the announcement: The Souls Grown Deep Foundation remains committed to distributing the bulk of its collection to leading art museums over the next several years. With Rainas appointment, we are broadening our mandate to include museums abroad alongside museums across North America, and to expand international awareness of the contributions of artists from the African American South. Based in Paris, Raina will develop ties with museums throughout Europe while maintaining a regular ... More