The current exhibition Gray Matters at the Wexner Center for the Arts brings together 37 contemporary artists (all women) who across a variety of media and processes have produced vibrant work out of the unassumingly neutral palette of black, white and gray. Curator Michael Goodson, writing in the handsomely produced gallery-guide, designed by Erica Anderson […]
I just brought my class on ancient philosophical ideas of happiness and the good life to see the new film by Brazilian artist Jonathas de Andrade in The Box at the Wexner Center. The short, 7-minute film, O Caseiro (The Caretaker), is a split screen account of two very different lives and daily routines. On […]
Constantine Cavafy’s famous poem Ithaka transforms the singular event of Odysseus’ nostos to his home on the rugged island of Ithaka into a symbolic, repeatable experience epitomized by understanding what ‘Ithakas’ plural mean. Here is the final two stanzas of the poem: Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey. Without her you wouldn’t have set out. […]
Three years ago I taught the first manifestation of a Classical Mythology Honors course here at Ohio State that explored the dynamic between Classical Myth and Contemporary Art. At that time, the students encountered a range of artworks using the (then recent) publication Defining Contemporary Art: 25 Years in 200 Pivotal Art Works (Phaidon 2012). […]
On hearing the sad news of the artist Chris Burden’s death, I wanted to dedicate a post to his work and, for obvious reasons, his monstrous 1990 sculpture Medusa’s Head seems to be the most fitting choice for Minus Plato. Chris Burden, Medusa’s Head, 1990. Plywood, steel, cement, rock, model railroad trains and tracks Margalit […]
Louise Lawler Monogram — Arranged by Mr. and Mrs. Burton Termaine, New York City 1984 ‘the resources of the emperor allowed for the display of enormous public collections. But the emperors themselves were avid private collectors of art works and historical artefacts…Augustus’ private collection was an eclectic array of artistic, historic and natural objects that […]
The new Wexner Center Exhibition Cruzamentos: Contemporary Art in Brazil opens tomorrow (Friday January 31st), which gives me the chance to let you know about an exciting project that I have assigned the 662 (no, that is not a typo!) students in my Classics 2220: Classical Mythology class this semester. In the final section of […]
As I was soaking up the last day of the Wexner Center’s wonderful Blues for Smoke exhibition today, I finally had a moment to pay closer attention to one of the works that had intrigued me in previous, rushed visits: Jimmie Durham’s The Caliban Codex. Jimmie Durham Caliban’s Mask, 1992 In a sequence of diary […]
We are heading into the last weekend of the three current exhibitions on show at the Wexner Center for the Arts here in Columbus, Ohio: Christain Marclay’s The Clock Josiah McElheny Towards a Light Club More American Photographs I want to share with you a project I designed for the students of my Philosophy 3210: […]
Before giving some more details of my latest foray into teaching Classics via Contemporary Art, here is a link to a recently published article in the Ohio State OnCampus newspaper on the so-called ‘Double Take’ phenomena created by Amanda Potter, who runs Educator, Public and University Programs at the Wexner Center for the Arts. http://oncampus.osu.edu/eclectic-pairs/ […]