Magritte’s apples and Cezanne’s oranges
Omaha is Des Moines’ great rival. The two cities have long battled for low fare airlines, parimutuel gamblers and amateur hockey titles. They share much in common. Both towns have [...]
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Posted January 15, 2014in Art News
Posted December 18, 2013in Art News
The year of the really big show
This year has treated Des Moines’ art fans to grand-scale exhibitions. At the Des Moines Art Center, “Transparencies” gathered 10 artists from five countries whose works explored glass as both [...]
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Posted November 20, 2013in Art News
The nomad’s dazzling mysticism
El Anatsui, a Ghanaian born, Ewe-speaking man of the world, showed up for his media interview in Des Moines wearing a black suit, white shirt and athletic shoes as green [...]
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Posted October 16, 2013in Art News
Glories of the prairie and fall
September was packed with the pop art of capitalism, an Anderson Gallery exhibition of vinyl record album covers and a Faulconer show featuring the art of supermarket aisles. October seems [...]
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Posted September 25, 2013in Art News
Judge an album by its cover at Drake
Walking into the Anderson Gallery at Drake University is not like walking into an art gallery at all. It’s more like walking into a record store from 40 years ago. [...]
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Posted September 18, 2013in Art News
Nature good, humanity less so
Picasso remarked that artists are children who never grow up. Perhaps that explains why the art world’s calendars begin in September. For whatever reason, this month brings a bounty of [...]
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Posted August 14, 2013in Art News
Crack houses and a ghost dance
Moberg Gallery’s current group show includes four artists of considerable demographic range, from octogenarian Sandra Perlow to 20-somethings Jordan Weber and Stephanie Brunia, with Lynn Basa in the middle. Perlow, [...]
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Posted July 17, 2013in Art News
Phyllida Barlow’s golden years
Des Moines Art Center’s (DMAC) new exhibition “Phyllida Barlow: Scree” represents one of the happier stories about life after “retirement.” From the late 1960s until 2009, she was a professor [...]
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Posted June 19, 2013in Art News
20 years of fortitude
This year marks Steven Vail’s 20th anniversary in the gallery business. His exhibitions here, of internationally renowned artists, have usually received more media coverage from New York, Germany and even [...]
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Posted May 15, 2013in Art News
Image-making across the metro
Art-driven image makeovers are being created around the metro this merry month of May. Consider Clive, surely the largest city in Iowa without a high school. Most towns identify predominantly [...]
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