popcorn youth

Here in Ithaca, summer doesn’t necessarily mean that there’s a lack of interesting events to attend — despite the fact that we are very much a college town. There have been all kinds of neat special events that we’ve featured in the last couple of weeks, both in and outside college campuses. Lately, the Scottish […]

Recently, Ithaca Times art critic Mike Berlin interviewed local artist and art collector Steven Barbash, who curated “The Shared Experience,” now up at the Johnson Museum. Excerpts from the artist that appeared in last week’s Ithaca Times:
“[Barbash] came of age, artistically, at a time when abstract expressionism was the dominant paradigm. And yet, he and […]

Is there an Ithaca Banksy in our midst? Has anyone else seen this around? Discuss.

Last week, our art critic-at-large Wylie Schwartz wrote the cover story for the Ithaca Times about a group of local artists that exist quite separately from the ‘typical’ local art scene in Ithaca. Artist and Sfumato owner (and sometimes Ithaca Times freelancer) John Criscitello is currently hosting a group exhibition at his loft space on […]

[text by Wylie Schwartz] Since moving to the area in 2006, conceptual artist Karen Brummund has been creating large-scale public art installations at various sites around the county. With a video work currently on view in ‘The Object and Beyond,’ the 2008 Everson Biennial in Syracuse, she is also one of a dozen local artists […]

Will finally be checking out this space. Have heard very good things, and if the weather holds up tomorrow, will make a lovely drive to Elmira! Shown above is a detail of ‘Republic’ by Graham MacDougal. Below is complete information for the opening reception tomorrow. Visit the Ithaca Times to read Wylie Schwartz’s complete review […]

[Text by Nick Knouf] The rolling hills and bucolic landscape of upstate New York belie a long history of engagement with contemporary artistic work. The “birth” of video art took place around here in the late 1960s and early 1970s with artists like Bill Viola and Nam June Paik, at institutions like Syracuse University, University […]

Note: You can read the transcript of my conversation with Jane Hammond in our interviews section. The following is the article that appeared in the Ithaca Times.
[From the Ithaca Times, March 12]
Systems. Recurrence. Repetition. On first glance, these words may be the last thing you think of when observing Jane Hammond’s wildly alive and seemingly […]

If you’re feeling a little stressed out or just need some time for peace and reflection, stop by the Handwerker Gallery at Ithaca College to see its collection of Inuit sculptures. The gallery is hosting a show of sculptures collected by May and Fred Widding through April 6. Inuits, which literally means “the people,” live […]

This evening at 5:15pm, Cornell’s Johnson Museum will present a gallery talk with the artist Jane Hammond, held in conjunction with her exhibit, “Jane Hammond: Paper Work.” The talk is free and open to the public. We’re really looking forward to meeting her and hearing her speak. In the past, she’s collaborated with the Surrealist […]

Head over to our interviews section for the complete story on artist Todd McGrain, whose “Lost Birds” sculptures are currently on view at the Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester. We’re also going to load exclusive photo galleries by Rachel Philipson, who got some fantastic shots of McGrain in his home studio. From Wylie’s story:
The smooth, […]

[Image above: Lewis Hine (American, 1874-1940), Sunday Morning, March 7, 1909, Morris Herowitz, ten years old, 1909. Gelatin silver print. Gift of Martin Z. Margulies. Photo credit: Courtesy of the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art] Since we ran in this space Nancy Geyer’s review of the video art exhibit at the Johnson Museum, it […]

[Nancy Geyer; Ithaca Times, Nov. 7, pg. 23]
Over the past five years, Cornell University’s Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, under the direction of curator Andrea Inselmann, has been steadily building a collection of contemporary video art. Additionally, it has exhibited Vito Acconci’s seminal video works from the early 1970s, Dutch artist Aernout Mik’s captivating […]

In this week’s Ithaca Times, our art critic Wylie Schwartz attends local artist Karen Brummund’s latest time-based installation. Formerly based in London, where she attended art school, Brummund looks to be a quite interesting addition to our local art scene, and I hope to see more of her in the coming months. Here is the […]

Finally, the complete transcript of our conversation with the deeply respected artist and Cornell University professor Buzz Spector. It’s completely worth the long read, as Buzz so generously shared his thoughts on a variety of fascinating topics: the situation for critical theory in China, fellow text artists, and the importance of books for children, just […]