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April 2008


April 25, 2008

Best in Shows? An alternative to the critics' picks

"Best of" issues are an exercise in pragmatism as much as hyperbole. If you've named the same place or person the best for three years running, you may be obligated to consider another, just to keep things moving--even if the mainstay still reigns. So with that in mind, here are a few offerings in agreement or contrast to another local publication's picks for the "best" in local arts.

Best Exhibition: They chose "Frida Kahlo" at the Walker. This seems instead like the "smartest" exhibition--the 100th anniversary of her birth, 2007 was Kahlo's year (and still is, it seems) from here to South America. A Walker rep admitted privately that the show was perhaps a better fit artistically for the Minneapolis Institute of Arts--it's hardly... Read more »

Posted on Friday, April 25, 2008 in Front & Center | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 18, 2008

The Guthrie: Midsummer Dream or nightmare?

The Twin Cities will break down this weekend between those watching the Wild and those watching wild things onstage.

The Guthrie is staging its reprisal of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Only, it’s not as much of a reprisal as you’d think. It’d certainly have been smart move, given that every performance sold out during the 1997 run. But artistic director Joe Dowling is going deeper this time; here’s hoping he left a trail of bread crumbs to find his way out of the magical forest.

There’s no end, of course, to the contemporary themes that directors saddle Shakespeare with these days, and many times the work still manages to hold up. But whereas Dowling’s previous, more puckish foray into the forest was playful, romantic, and--dare we say, sexy--this... Read more »

Posted on Friday, April 18, 2008 in Front & Center | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 4, 2008

Richard Prince: The Walker Goes Pulp

The new Richard Prince retrospective, curated by the Guggenheim and opened at the Walker Art Center a couple weeks ago, is subtitled “Spiritual America.” Which, given that we’re dealing with one of the most ironic artists since the Pop Art era, is itself ironic. Or is it?

Like Warhol, Prince often recreates things—comics, photography, advertisements—but with a twist. In the ‘70s, depending on the story you hear, Prince survived as a clipper, clipping articles from magazines for Time-Life writers or clipping ads to send to advertisers to prove they ran as promised; in any case he became obsessed with the advertisements. He’s both fascinated and repulsed by pop culture—which isn’t a terribly original reaction these days (who doesn’t have a long list of... Read more »

Posted on Friday, April 4, 2008 in Front & Center | Permalink | Comments (0)

About Tim

Tim Gihring is Minnesota Monthly’s senior writer and arts editor. He’s seen more plays than some people have seen reality, moonlights as a fine-art photographer, and loves that he made the latest volume of Best Food Writing without knowing a demi-glace from Demi Moore.

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