Posted inArt

Being Contemporary in Baltimore

Last spring, the Contemporary Museum in Baltimore shut down suddenly, mid-exhibition, without warning to its director, staff, or artists. More than a year later, the Baltimore City Paper reported the Contemporary’s return. And last week, the museum’s new website went live, along with a welcome letter sent out from the institution’s new director, Deana Haggag.

Posted inArt

The Obsessive and Strange Storytelling of the American Visionary Art Museum

All visitors to the American Visionary Art Museum get their hands stamped with a singe gazing blue eye, the logo for the museum that focuses on self-taught artists who use their work as an avenue for their personal vision. But while it’s an institution devoted to the inner voice, the museum is hardly an introverted place. In fact, its exterior is an overwhelming jumble of mosaics, strange sculptures embedded in the garden or riding motorcycles on the roof, and even a gold “hand of god” reaching out from one side. I visited on a recent rainy afternoon and even though the weather was dreary, the art inside and out of the museum was a flurry of whimsy and gleeful, almost manic, creation.