Sandra Ramos: “The Mirror Poems”
Transporting Transformation: Cuba In and Out
21C
“In my recent installations and videos I articulate a visual dialogue that expresses the arbitrariness of thoughts, images, perceptions, contrasts and uncertainties that we find in our daily life in the contemporary world,” Ramos said of her newest works.
“The Mirror Poems” is an installation of digital printing and mirrors that is incredibly evocative and interactive—as viewers move themselves around the piece to capture glimpses the full poem.
Various Artists: "Art of the Streets"
The French Poster 1880-1930
The Local Speed
This exhibit features intimate versions of well-known prints by master printmakers such as Jules Chéret, Henrí Toulouse-Lautrec, and others, displaying the dazzling heights of the French poster. Rarely shown, the prints were donated to the Speed in 1949 as a gift from the French Gratitude Train—49 boxcars filled with gifts sent to Americans in appreciation for supplies given to France and Italy following World War II.
Zunar: “even my pen has a stand"
Political Cartoons by Malaysian Cartoonist Zunar
Asia Institute—Crane House
This is an exhibition of cartoons by CRNI Courage in Cartooning Award-winning artist, Zunar.
Following his recent visit as a guest lecturer with the Center for Asian Democracy at the University of Louisville (CAD) in the winter of 2014, Asia Institute - Crane House will exhibit 45 of Zunar’s cartoons that illustrate the themes and methods he uses to communicate his perspective about the ongoing political issues in his native country of Malaysia.
Included in the exhibition are cartoons about recent current events surrounding the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370.
Various Artists: "Second Life"
Curated by Joey Yates
Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft
This KMAC exhibit borrows its name from the online virtual world, Second Life, which launched in 2003. Within the social site, users would create avatars—or creative representations of themselves in which fantasy often overtakes reality. In the same way, the Second Life exhibit focuses on the fantastical elements of the animals; such as folk traditions surrounding their appearances culminating in the creation of masks and costumes as a means by which to harness the power and spirit of the creature.
Combining ceramics, collage, design, installation, painting, photography, sculpture and video with taxidermy and other uses of the vestiges of animate beings, Second Life will present artistic interventions that disrupt our expectations of animal identity and illuminate the current role that animals play in contemporary art and craft practice.
Virgil Marti—Wallpaper commission
Site-specific installation
21C
In this site-specific installation for 21c Museum Hotel, Virgil Marti explores relationships between art and decoration. The combination of psychedelic and natural in this florescent landscape scene, featuring familiar elements like Rocky Mountain waterfalls and palm trees, leaves us to ponder “the elaborate means we take to recreate the natural world in an unnatural environment.” (Note: This isn’t new or specific to July, just a personal favorite.)
Cover photo: "Zuber's Menagerie" from Second Life, courtesy of KMAC
Additional photos courtesy of 21C, Asia Institute Crane House, and The Local Speed
