Peyton Wright Gallery in Santa Fe Opens 21st Annual Art of Devotion Exhibition

ARTDAILY

Ave Maria Gratia, oil on canvas, 14.75” x 12”. Peru, ca. 1775

NEW MEXICO---Peyton Wright Gallery announces the 21st Annual Art of Devotion exhibition of historic art of the Americas. Consisting of ecclesiastical, secular, and decorative art and objects from Europe and the Americas, the exhibition continues through March 9, 2014. This exhibition showcases one of the largest and most significant collections of 17th to 19th century devotional artwork in the country, featuring Spanish Colonial Viceregal paintings, sculpture, furniture, silverwork, and objects from the former Spanish and Portuguese colonies – present-day Bolivia, Peru, Argentina, Mexico, Ecuador, Chile, Venezuela, Guatemala and the Philippines. [link]

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Gallery Owner: Every Piece of Judaica Has a Story

THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE
By Donald Liebenson

Judaica from the Arthur M. Feldman Gallery

ILLINOIS---Part art gallery, part museum and part salon, the Arthur M. Feldman Gallery is back in business in Highland Park. The storefront location at 465 Roger Williams Ave. opened last month after Feldman previously operated a gallery of antiques, fine art and Judaica in downtown, first on St. Johns Avenue and then on Central Avenue. Feldman, a second-generation antiques dealer with degrees in art history and archaeology, served as director of the Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership. To continue educating the public, Feldman will present exhibitions under his banner Jewish Museum of Chicago. The first, a showing of commissioned Purim masks created by professional Chicago artists, is scheduled for March 2014. [link]

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Bindu Accompanied by Hindi Verses Acquires Deeper Meanings of Life in Series ‘Shabd-bindu’

THE HINDU
By Anusha Parthasarathy

INDIA---In a recent interview, S.H. Raza says that he metaphorically never left India. And that his work has always encompassed his roots, delved within it and found meanings and answers. ‘Shabd-bindu’, which exhibits recent works by S.H. Raza and poetry by Ashok Vajpeyi is full of such artistic journeys. S.H. Raza, a legendary artist who has been living and painting in Paris for 60 years returned to Delhi recently. A recipient of the Padma Vibhushan, Fellowship of Lalit Kala Akademi, Kalidas Samman and other awards, he excels in bringing together Hindi verses and his world of colours. [link]

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Art Review: A Tension Between the Sacred and the Profane

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Ken Johnson

"Luba Female Bowl Bearer," left, and a work by Constantin Brancusi, at Paul Kasmin Gallery.

NEW YORK---What is it about African tribal art that so allures us denizens of the modern, industrialized world? I wonder this whenever I encounter tribal artifacts in museums and galleries, and I’m prompted to again by two exhibitions presented by Paul Kasmin Gallery in Chelsea. Then, around the corner, in Kasmin’s West 27th Street gallery, there’s “Brancusi in New York 1913 – 2013,” a glowing display.... A museum setting like this one, however, erases the practical magic of these objects and diminishes their spiritual potency. They have become inert collectibles. The sacred is profaned. [link]

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Behind the Veil: The Religious Connotations and the Mystery

DAWN.COM
By Salwat Ali

"Obscure" in Sillouettes exhibition at the Taseer Art Gallery, Lahore

PAKISTAN---Veil and veiling have been a part of both Western and Eastern visual cultures for millennia. In Western art the veil is associated with exotic notions of the East and is viewed increasingly as a symbol of cultural oppression. When it comes to the East, this veil and veiling has a far wider context. Other than its religious connotations, the veil has a traditional history, is considered a symbol of respect and modesty as well as as mystery, and in current art practice its usage is loaded with socio-political implications. In the recent exhibition of paintings, ‘Sillouettes’ by Sadaf Naeem at Taseer Art Gallery, Lahore, it is the finely meshed lace veil that invites speculation. [link]

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Annapolis Artist, Greg Harlin Has Exhibit of Religious Paintings

CAPITAL GAZETTE
By THERESA WINSLOW

Constantine spots something in the sky. Was it a cross or another symbol? 

MARYLAND---Like all artists, Greg Harlin delves deep into his work. But the paintings in his new exhibit were truly a religious experience. Most of the 22 pieces on display at The Annapolis Collection Gallery depict scenes from Christian and Jewish history. Everything from Constantine’s battle at Milvian Bridge to the Maccabees are depicted in vivid color. One painting is a fanciful depiction of George Washington meeting with a rabbi. The exhibit opened Saturday and runs through Dec. 14. An artist’s reception is scheduled for 1:30 to 4 p.m. Sunday. [link]

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A&O INSPIRE ME! ARTIST, Niccolo Cosme Solo Exhibition in NYC Through January 2014

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS

"San Sebastian" by Niccolo Cosme

NEW YORK---Opening this evening "The Altar Boy: Niccolo Cosme’s Solo Exhibition" Tally Beck Contemporary will present the first solo gallery exhibition in New York for Filipino photographer Niccolo Cosme. The show will feature approximately 13 large-scale personification photographs by this 2012 INSPIRE ME! Artist. For more information on the exhibition, click here. At the opening reception this evening, Wednesday, November 20, we will be auctioning artwork by Filipino artists Niccolo Cosme and Lenore Lim with all proceeds going to the American Red Cross’s Typhoon Appeal. The reception will take place from 6 pm to 9 pm with the auction at 7:30 pm. For more information on the opening reception and charity auction, click here.

Tally Becks Contemporary: "The Altar Boy: Niccolo Cosme’s Solo Exhibition," (Nov. 20-January); 42 Rivington St., NYC, tallybeckcontemporary.com

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Three Different Strokes of Hindu Art at Kasthuri Sreenivasan Art Gallery

THE HINDU
By Parshathy. J. Nath

Myriad hues: Art exhibiton at Kasthuri Sreenivasan Art Gallery Photo: S. Siva Saravanan

INDIA--- The caves of Ajanta and Ellora rush to your mind as you enter Kasthuri Sreenivasan Art Gallery, which showcases the paintings and sculptures of three Chennai-based artists — V. Dhakshinamurthy, S. Arunagiri and M. Raja. The meditative face of Lord Buddha, sitting under the Bodhi tree, surveys you as you walk around the hall. V. Dhakshinamurthy, its creator, says he has been inspired by the primitive cave art and temple architecture of India. “In the olden days, artists used to create colours using earth and leaves. I have tried to use earthy shades such as fiery oranges, and leafy greens and browns to recreate the ancient look. ” His acrylic paintings bring alive royalty. [link]

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Evangelical Pastor With a MFA Looks at Private Faith in the Public Sphere

LAS VEGAS WEEKLY
By Kristen Peterson

Dylan Mortimer’s “Prayer Booth” at Trifecta

NEVADA---The idea of western religious art, particularly Christian works, might conjure thoughts of Byzantine art. But throw in some heavy bling, gold chains and phrases that read “Who created yo ass?”, “Amen Bitch” and “Pray-Ya” and we’re talking about an entirely different time and place. The stylized phrases are featured in Trifecta Gallery’s Attachment Room, where works by artist Dylan Mortimer are part of Private Faith in the Public Sphere, an installation that comes complete with Mortimer’s telephone booth reconfigured to be a “Prayer Booth” with kneeling pad, the word “prayer” rather than “phone” and religious-based text and symbolism. [link]

Private Faith in the Public SphereThrough November 24; Monday-Wednesday and Friday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.; Thursday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Trifecta Gallery, 366-7001

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Sufi Artist, Madan Lal’s Colors Explore the Hollowness of Busyness

THE HINDU
By Kartikeya Ramanathan

Hues and Humanity: Madan Lal’s work on display

INDIA---Chandigarh-based senior artist Madan Lal’s exhibition “Urban Mirage” explores the increasingly busy but ultimately hollow modern urban existence that now plagues humanity. “The problem with us humans is that our yearning for possessions just increases — materialism has never decreased. That is what my paintings explore,” he says. Among themes, the artist explores the reluctance of procreation in the work “Aquarium”, the five phases of life in “Where Seeds To Grow” and true emotion of a person in a crowd of masks in “Faces”. Sufism is well and alive in his works too. “I hail from Punjab, and Sufism is seeped into our literature, our culture,” Lal explains. “Sufism is not limited to any religion; it is a way of life. Right from childhood, it is inculcated into our creative outcomes.” [link]

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Artists' Dream About Contemporary Tibetan Art

CCTV
By Zhang Hao

CHINA---Tibet's first and only contemporary art gallery is located on the Barkhor Street, a well-known street for pilgrimage and businesses in downtown Lhasa, where a few young artists seek their artistic dream. Ten years ago, 12 Tibetan youngsters often got together at a Sichuan restaurant on the Barkhor Street for their common ideal to develop the Tibetan contemporary art. They raised money and bought the restaurant later, turning it into a small and nonprofit art gallery. They named the art gallery after Gedun Chophel, a renowned Tibetan humanism pioneer and academic master, sowing the first seed of the local contemporary art in Tibet. [link]

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Jeffrey Deitch's Next Chapter: Big Art Shows, But Not at Museums

LOS ANGELES TIMES
By Mike Boehm

Jeffrey Deitch at MOCA in 2010. The former museum director says he wants to launch a major exhibitions venue in New York that will reach a large public without the institutional constraints of a nonprofit museum. (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times / October 16, 2013)

CALIFORNIA---Jeffrey Deitch says his next move in the art world following his premature exit as director of Los Angeles' Museum of Contemporary Art will happen in New York City: a bid to create a “hybrid” between a museum mounting exhibitions geared to a broad general audience, and a gallery that doesn’t have to deal with the complex institutional issues that come with running a nonprofit museum. [link]

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Spilled Candy by Felix Gonzalez-Torres, a Memorial to Love

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By TAHLIB

UNITED KINGDOM---Blain|Southern art gallery in London brings legendary Damien Hirst together with icon of "Queer Spirituality," Cuban-born Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1957-1996) in "Candy" (Oct. 16-Nov. 30). While Hirst's monumental works have been previously been featured on A&O, it's Gonzalez-Torrez "Untitled" (1992) that makes this a particularly noteworthy show for A&O readers. It's a unique sculpture made of candies individually wrapped in variously colored cellophan, and copiously piled in corners or spread across the floor. The installation changes, as does life with the space and time. The spilled candy is a metaphor, or religious memorial for the loss of his life-Partner Ross. Like the new film "Gravity" the work is also a message about survival, and learning to "let go."

BLAIN | SOUTHERN: "Candy: Felix Gonzalez-Torres | Damien Hirst," 4 Hanover Square, London, W1S 1BP; +44(0)20-7493-4492; blainsouthern.com.

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Mennonite Couple Refuses to Host Same-Sex Wedding; Files Lawsuit Against Iowa Civil Rights Commission

CHRISTIAN POST
By Michael Gryboski

IOWA---A Mennonite couple that owns an art gallery in Iowa has filed suit against the state's Civil Rights Commission over being threatened with punitive action for refusing to host a same-sex wedding on their property. Görtz Haus Gallery, a former church turned art gallery facility, filed a lawsuit Monday against the commission in Polk County District Court. "The Odgaards welcome all customers into the Gallery, regardless of their race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, religion, or disability," reads the suit in part. [link]

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Artist Reminds Visitors: Demons Were First Angels Before the Fall

Daytona Beach News-Journal
By ELEANORE OSBORNE

"Angel Wing Feathers," acrylic on canvas, 72 inches by 54 inches, by Giuseppe Corazzina. His work is on display at Arts on Douglas in New Smyrna Beach.

FLORIDA---You won’t see Jesus asleep in Mary’s arms. Or readily discern the ubiquitous symbols usually associated with religiously inspired art. But some images are there in the abstract in Giuseppe Corazzina’s solo exhibit, “Angels and Demons,” ...at the Arts on Douglas gallery in New Smyrna Beach. In this latest series of large- and small-scale acrylic paintings, Corazzina explores the duality of angels and demons. “Recall,” he said, “demons were at first angels.” [link]

Arts on Douglas Gallery: “Angels and Demons” (Ends Oct. 26), 123 Douglas St., New Smyrna Beach, FL; 386-428-1133; artsondouglas.net

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Buddhist Monk and Master Artist, Zhang Huan Creates a Hallucinatory Blaze, via Tibetan Ritual

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Barbara Pollack

The Poppy Route: The artist Zhang Huan paints
vibrant skulls in a new solo show at Pace Gallery (Ends Oct. 26)

NEW YORK---Damien Hirst once encrusted a skull with diamonds, and Takashi Murakami has turned out canvases with cartoon versions of skulls. But when the artist Zhang Huan addresses similar iconography, he creates paintings in a style all their own. Sitting in his Shanghai studio one day recently amid dozens of Tibetan death masks, he was busy preparing for the opening on Friday of “Poppy Fields” an exhibition of new works at the Pace Gallery in Chelsea. “The paintings represent the hallucination of happiness and the hallucination of fear and loneliness in this life as well as the hallucination of happiness in the next life,” Mr. Zhang said. Buddhism and death rituals have been abiding subjects for Mr. Zhang, who was ordained as a Buddhist monk eight years ago. [link]

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Siona Benjamin Uses Faces to Weave Together Indian Jewish Narratives

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By TAHLIB

Sophie Judah Benjamin (Kasookar), Siona Benjamin, Rachel Kruge, 2013, Mother, Daughter, Granddaughter Triptych,

NEW YORK--- Siona Benjamin continues her journey using art to trace the history of India's Jewish community in "FACES: Weaving Indian Jewish Narratives Artwork by Siona Benjamin" at Flomenhaft Gallery through Oct. 20. Brought up as a Bene Irsael Jew in Bandra, artist Siona Benjamin is driven to talk about her community. Her curiosity provided the impetus for her Fulbright fellowship proposal in 2010, where Benjamin photographed more than 60 individuals from the Bene Israel community in a bid to explore their reality and celebrate their diverse interior

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100% Jewish Joy From Manhattan's Creative Soul Gallery

CHABAD.ORG
By Karen Schwartz

NEW YORK---Less than a block from where crowds just danced in the streets of Crown Heights, Brooklyn, in celebration of Sukkot, an art exhibition showcasing Jewish artists is now underway. Called “Pure Joy,” the exhibit focuses on Sukkot, a holiday referred to as “the time of our joy.” The show, which opened Sept. 21 and runs through Oct. 13, has welcomed a few thousand visitors so far, according to Rabbi Yitzchok Moully, co-founder of The Creative Soul, the Jewish artists group featured in the pop-up gallery, and editor of the Jewish Art for the Soul blog on Chabad.org. The idea came about a few years ago after an artist in Venice asked Moully to represent him in New York. [link]

Other Creative Soul events remaining are listed below, along with links to Facebook:

• Thursday, October 3rd: The 2nd Annual Crown Heights Open Mic -https://www.facebook.com/events/438144226294691/
• Sunday, October 6th: Bulletproof Stockings + Elke Reva Sudin ::: A Pure Joy Multimedia Experience - https://www.facebook.com/events/217615605068654/
• Monday, October 7th: A Spotlight On Hasidic Writers - https://www.facebook.com/events/385390994923402/
• Tuesday, October 8th: Sukkah City Documentary Screening in Crown Heights! - https://www.facebook.com/events/161916934016128/
• Wednesday, October 9th: The Creative Soul WOMEN’S Open Mic - https://www.facebook.com/events/647439278609030/
• Thursday, October 10th: Moshe Hecht Live @ The Creative Soul - https://www.facebook.com/events/523640554383452/

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Art Collections a Click Away: $250 to $1,000

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By William Grimes

WASHINGTON---The company did not create Amazon Art to sell Impressionist masterpieces. As its representatives were quick to point out, 95 percent of the works offered cost less than $10,000. About a third of them cost between $250 and $1,000. To entice them, it conducted a far-reaching art dragnet, approaching galleries in the United States and a few foreign countries with a simple proposition: put your work on our site and, for a percentage commission on each sale, we will expose you to our 100 million customers in North America and 200 million customers worldwide. To date, the company has signed up more than 180 galleries and offers more than 43,000 two-dimensional works from about 4,500 artists. [link]

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Colours of Emotion: Nine Artists Lend a Contemporary Touch to Navarasas

THE HINDU
By Harshini Vakkalanka

INDIA---One often gets to see the navarasas play out in the realm of the performing arts, but it is not very often that they are so strongly brought out in visual art, through paintings or sculptural pieces. And Lina Vincent Sunish has worked with just this theme in her latest curatorial venture, Rasa on view at the Mahua Art Gallery. The exhibition features nine artists, each exploring and expressing the individual rasas through their works. The idea behind the exhibition, despite the fact the theme has been playing on Lina’s mind for a while to bring out Indian aesthetics and identity but in the contemporary. [link]

• Bangalore-based artists Naveen Kumar explores the Shringar rasa (love) 
• Praveen Goud, in his series of sculptural objects (titled Man With Pipe) combines LED lights and m-seal (with ready-made materials) to create an almost nonsensical personality in his expression of the haasya rasa (laughter).
• The adbhuta rasa (wonder or surprise) are revealed through Bhavani’s panel of 16 paintings depicting the tributaries of the Cauvery in the Kodagu landscape as well as Aishwaryan Kumar’s interpretation of the karunya rasa (compassion).
• Niranjan H.G.’s photographs of rock formations where he takes the colour yellow which corresponds to the deity of Veeryam (courage) to directly symbolise the rasa. 
• The exhibition features two folk artists, contemporary Madhubani artists Naresh Paswan and Amrita Jha.
• The exhibition also features works by Kurma Nadham and Sanjay Manna.

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