92 Events at the Lyman Allyn Museum

Ken Friedman Installation

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. 

Fluxus Manifesto

image courtesy of ‘The Eve of Fluxus’ by Billie Maciunas

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

Ken Friedman Install

Katherine Bradford

I keep unknowingly gravitating to Katherine Bradford’s work. This fall, on a very brief visit to Maine I was at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, viewing a new acquisitions exhibit and came across her painting Fear of Dark which transfixed me. It captured perfectly a single feeling, a snapshot that welled up in me,  that isolation and  endurance we’d all felt during the pandemic.

Fear of Dark, 2020, acrylic on canvas, by Katherine Bradford

I was thinking of this painting again in a moment of connecting the dots when I randomly came across this piece yesterday, written by her son in 2016, titled How About a Little Badass Inspiration.

In it, he explains how his single mother of two went back to school at the age of 40 to get her MFA. Was dedicated for years in Greenpoint to making her work, teaching.

She kept up this routine for years, unwavering. She turned 50, then 60, and while she saw certain successes, we could tell she wasn’t satisfied. She’d speak of the difficulty of getting a gallery owner’s attention in a world populated by young up and comers, the very students she’d spent time teaching were now out there making their own marks, passing her by, even.

About the time she turned 70, my mother eased up on her teaching, but she didn’t ease up on her art. In fact, she painted with more focus and fury. She took on bigger canvases and made bolder statements.

And lo and behold, the art world began to take notice.

This of course fits in nicely with my appreciation of those who finally get the recognition they deserve.

Bradford, with her funny, somewhat awkward figures draw me in with their vulnerability. The obviously well thought out color that vibrates off the canvas. I love that I fell in love with her work before knowing anything about the artist.

Look at this beauty that she recently posted on Instagram:

“Flight, buoyancy and the human desire to soar” is what she wrote.

Buoyancy and endurance.

 

Color Cure at AVS Gallery

Color Cure

It was one of those stormy New England days that knocks you sideways I traveled across The Gold Star bridge to Groton’s von Schlippe Gallery (UConn at Avery Point) gallery to get a much needed pick me up.

Color Cure is indeed that, an exhibit consisting of bold abstract color, a group show consisting of five strong painters that I have now been introduced to including Cat Balco, Olivia Baldwin, Alyse Rosner, Leslie Roberts and Deborah Zlotsky.

Painting show is somewhat a misnomer as there is also a fantastic digital piece that makes my heart swoon as well:

 

The Gallery, located on the 2nd floor of the Branford House overlooking the sound,
is open Thurs-Sun. 12-4pm.
Color Cure dates 11/11-12/12.