February. It’s been a hard time to get out and recharge with a nice museum or gallery show. Snow storms. Variants causing subsequent closings, and just downright winter blues which seem to enforce stay-at-home measures with a heating pad versus getting out and about.

Last Friday though, I made a pit stop at the Lyman Allyn Museum and was cheered on by their current exhibit: Norman Ives: Constructions & Reconstructions. The  grouping consists of Ives graphic and text driven work that I enjoyed immensely. Ives, I have now learned was a student of Joseph Albers and a professor at Yale until the late 70s. For someone who has always enjoyed text driven work, this fit the bill.

Many of the pieces radiates as wallpaper from across the room until you get up closer to see how they are constructed. He was able to plant his feet in many places, traversing fine art, graphic design and typography without having to make declarations of one or another, as the artworld is keen on insisting on, especially the era he was working in of the 1950s-70s.

Constructions & Reconstructions is up through April 24, 2022 and I definitely will be stopping in again for another dose.

The Norman S. Ives Foundation website has more information about his work and writing.

 

Ken Friedman: 92 Events

Through January 16 

The show I enjoyed the most this December is  a roomful of proclaimed activities, framed. 

The Lyman Allyn Museum always dedicates its ground floor room closes to its entrance to a local artist. 

Friedman was born in New London, Connecticut in 1949 thus the show. 

Friedman joined Fluxus in 1966 as the youngest member of the classic Fluxus group. 

Sadly, without a lot of explanation I know this will probably be lost on many museum visitors. I appreciate the prank backbone of their intent, their attempt to change course in the art world, which didn’t hold, of course. 

If helpful, here is the original Fluxus manifesto. 

More Ken Friedman.

**Instructions for making a nuisance of yourself.**

 Fast Food Event

Go into a fast food restaurant.

Order one example

of every item on the menu.

Line everything up

in a row on the table.

Eat the items one at a time,

starting at one end of the row

and moving systematically

from each to the next.

Finish each item before

moving on to the next.

Eat rapidly and methodically

until all the food is finished.

Eat as fast as possible

without eating too fast.

Eat neatly.

Do not make a mess.

1964