Artists muse on nature, mortality and the spaces inhabited by our conscious and unconscious lives in new shows at three Minneapolis venues. As always, the big concepts appear in elusive, often poetic objects — theatrical Italian cityscapes, animal photos, surrealistic furniture, wall-sized drawings, a "death wish" contract, a hand-drawn film of South Dakota's Badlands. Mysterious stuff.
Weinstein Gallery
At his studio outside Milan, Italy, photographer/painter Paolo Ventura builds dioramas of imaginary cities, photographs them, then paints and collages the photos. Assembled into big puzzle-like vistas, his "La Città Infinita" — the infinite city — is an enigmatic place, a cinematic dreamscape populated by lonely, often sinister characters.
Showcased at the 2012 Venice Biennale, Ventura is widely exhibited in Europe, but this is his first American exhibit outside New York. (Recently, he designed an acclaimed set for the Chicago Lyric Opera's production of the musical "Carousel.")
Painted mostly in taupe and gray, his scenes recall the still lifes of Giorgio Morandi and the surrealistic cityscapes of Giorgio de Chirico with their empty streets, dark arcades and skewed perspectives. In Ventura's cities, boxy Soviet-style towers recede into the distance, their shuttered windows suggesting surveillance but seeing and revealing nothing. Dark-clad men meet furtively in cul-de-sacs, flames leap from a window, an "anarchist" knifes an opponent, a magician pulls a rabbit from a hat, bridges connect to nothing, a maze beckons. Like their theatrical roots, Ventura's scenes are soulfully operatic and a bit over the top.
Noon-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat. Ends Nov. 14; free. 908 W. 46th St., Mpls. 612-822-1722; weinstein-gallery.com.
Minneapolis College of Art and Design
As winners of Jerome Foundation grants, the five "emerging" artists whose work is on view at MCAD each received $12,000 plus professional advice and an exhibition opportunity. Although their work is highly individualistic, they share a seriousness of purpose that is thoughtfully amplified in the show's insightful catalog by Jane Blocker, a University of Minnesota art historian.
Photographer Miranda Brandon, well known locally for her photos of birds that died crashing into windows, attempts to provoke a deeper appreciation of nature by providing information about the habitats, life cycles and population status (stable, endangered) of six animals (prairie dog, Indiana bat, etc.). She even has free "paper dolls" of the critters for people to place in suitable environments for contemplation and study.
As "social practice" art, a hot new thing, Brandon's winsome project is nicely complemented by Regan Golden-McNerney's 30-foot-wide "mural" of cutout photos and drawings of plants common to Midwestern urban environments. Lush colors, crisp details and abrupt scale shifts enhance the mural's impact.
