Twin Cities' 10 biggest art events of fall
'Chinese-ness'
The latest project by Minneapolis photographer Wing Young Huie, who just won the 2018 McKnight Distinguished Artist Award, is part memoir and part documentary photography. He investigates his own Chinese-American cultural identity while interviewing other Chinese people he has met in Minnesota and during his travels. He ended up exchanging clothes with a few Chinese men, literally putting himself in their shoes. A companion book is due Nov. 1. (Sept. 11-Nov. 11, Minnesota History Center, St. Paul, mnhs.org)
'Colors From the North'
Duluth-based sisters and collaborators Allison and Kirsten Aune share more than genetics. In their suite of two-dimensional works influenced by folk art and Scandinavian designs, patterns rule, often taking the form of circles or ovals. These colorful pieces are reminiscent of the repetition found in natural forms. (Sept. 22-Oct. 28, American Swedish Institute, Mpls., asimn.org)
'Image Model Muse'
Brooklyn-based artist Sara Cwynar's practice investigates kitsch, color and design, and how the images we consume on a daily basis shape and inform our worldviews. For her first solo U.S. museum exhibition, Cwynar will screen three of her latest films along with photos from her ongoing "Tracy" series. Described as "cerebral" by the New Yorker, Cwynar reveals the complexities of the photographic image, which are never flat like the printed image. (Sept. 14-Jan. 20, Minneapolis Institute of Art. artsmia.org)
Rafael Peréz
Rafael Peréz has a deep relationship with the heat, a key element in activating the clay, porcelain and black earthenware of his ceramics. Born in northern Spain in 1957, Peréz incorporates surprise into his work: He never knows how his largely abstract sculptures will come out. After all, his work is really "an attempt to capture pleasure," as he says, and this desire keeps him going. See for yourself in "Under the Black and Baltic Deep." (Sept. 21-Nov. 4, Northern Clay Center, Mpls., northernclaycenter.org)
'Anthropocene'
We have now entered the Anthropocene epoch, defined as the time when "humans have become the single most defining force on the planet." This is not a cause for celebration. Photographer Edward Burtynsky traveled around the world with filmmakers Nicholas de Pencier and Jennifer Baichwal, capturing humans' impact on the environment in powerful photos that include aerial shots of quarries in Italy, plastics landfills in Kenya and lithium mines in the Chilean desert. (Oct. 11-Dec. 1, Weinstein Hammons Gallery, Mpls., weinsteinhammons.com)
'This Is New York'
New York City is home to many artists, and it is a city artists love to depict. This show focuses on representations of the urban landscape, from Central Park in Manhattan to the Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island. Works include a recent acquisition by the museum, Joseph Stella's watercolor-on-paper "Study of the Brooklyn Bridge" (1922). The structure's thick black metal curves and beams nearly obscure the skies beyond, and are a reminder of the urbanizing, industrial era after World War I. (Oct. 2-March 10, Minnesota Marine Art Museum, Winona, Minn., mmam.org)
Understanding Mitákuye Oyás'iŋ'
How many times have you heard someone say "we are all related" about the human race? The Lakota term "Mitákuye Oyás'iŋ" has been appropriated to suggest that inclusiveness. This exhibition, presented in partnership with Racing Magpie, an American Indian art space in Rapid City, S.D., presents Lakota female perspectives around this phrase, including artwork by Mary V. Bordeaux, Clementine Bordeaux and Layli Long Soldier. (Oct. 5-16, Public Functionary, Mpls., publicfunctionary.org)
Printmaking in the Arctic Circle
It is never too cold to make prints. Since 1959 the Inuit printmaking Kinngait Studios has been heating up its northern Arctic locale in Canada's Nunavut territory. This exhibit features 18 artists from the studio, including Ningeokuluk Teevee, whose series tells the origin story of Nuliajuq, spirit of the sea, and Kananginak Pootoogook, whose drawings of contemporary Inuit life were featured posthumously at the 2017 Venice Biennale. (Oct. 19-Nov. 17, Highpoint Center for Printmaking, Mpls., highpointprintmaking.org)
'Illusion Brought Me Here'
Mexico City-based conceptual artist Mario García Torres operates in the space between reality and fiction. In his first U.S. survey, Walker Art Center presents 35 works from the past two decades and two new site-specific installations. Working across media, from video to photography and sculpture, Torres takes his cue from conceptual art practices of the 1960s and '70s, using them to tell stories of artists, histories and art of the past. (Oct. 25-Feb. 17, walkerart.org)
'The M' reopens
After 13 locations, a ton of fundraising and nearly a year of construction, the Minnesota Museum of American Art, aka "the M," will be back in action just in time for winter. To celebrate, there will be a plethora of new exhibitions, including New York-based artist Sheila Pepe's crocheted shapes and Duluth-based artist David Bowen's real-time wave videos in a new window gallery, while the Sifo Center for Creativity will offer art classes. (Dec. 2 in St. Paul, mmaa.org)
ALICIA ELER