Toronto-based artist Tavis Lochhead has a knack for the surreal. In his photo collage series Habitat, large sections of industrial sites are digitally manipulated into semi-abstract compositions that disrupt the mundane aesthetics of manufacturing zones. In each work, the central figure—what the artist describes as “a sculptural element floating in space”—is an assemblage produced by an elaborate process of merging, mirroring, and stitching. Initially trained in[…..]

At the entrance to Barbara Kasten: Stages at the Philadelphia Institute of Contemporary Art, there is a corner-placed grouping of five photographs. Four early Polaroids made in 1982 and 1983 are on the right; with their geometric shapes and pastel colors, they would fit easily into the reigning design aesthetic of the 1980s. On the left is the 2007 silver-dye bleach print Studio Construct 17,[…..]

John Tierney’s paintings have a distinct relationship to cinema. Hollywood, California, and the greater Los Angeles area are awash in a rich and intense light that seems to linger over everything with an endless glow, a light as potent as the dreams and realities of fame and stardom promised by the movie companies that populate the city. For a representational painter such as Tierney, the[…..]

Can architecture transform lives? Can it transform us? These questions lay the foundation for Structure and Ornament, a solo exhibition of work by Seattle-based artist Leo Saul Berk, on view at Frye Art Museum. Presented in a meandering array of multimedia sculpture, site-specific installation, and video with sound, Berk’s ongoing series is a reflection on his childhood home in Aurora, Illinois—a site formative to his personal and artistic growth. In the[…..]

Though certainly no stranger to the art world, Beverly Buchanan has followed an unusual trajectory in her career and public profile as an artist. Born in 1940 in North Carolina, and raised in South Carolina, she spent much of her childhood accompanying her father, an agricultural scientist, while he visited sharecroppers in far-flung locations throughout the rural South, observing the lives and structures they made[…..]

With the recent boom in museum building and expansion, there has been a recurring discussion of what makes a good space for art—as though an objective answer could be determined through a calculation of square footage, flexibility of design, and the ratio of natural to electric light. Indeed, the Museum of Modern Art in New York opted to demolish and rebuild its recently acquired neighboring building,[…..]

On Sunday, February 15, the Broad opened its doors on Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles, proving the ease with which hype can be deflated like a big white balloon. The daylong preview offered VIPs—and, in the later afternoon, members of the public—a sneak peek of the still-raw interior of the three-story, 120,000 square-foot, $140 million building. The Broad will house and exhibit its 2,000-work[…..]