Twin Cities' 5 must-see art shows this weekend

What's your art for this fall weekend of Oct 14-15?

October 12, 2017 at 10:20PM
(The Minnesota Star Tribune)
(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Russian Sacred Art

Russian Art Museum (5500 Stevens Ave S., Mpls 55419)

Opens Saturday, Oct 14 from 6:30-8:30 p.m.

More than fifty 19th century icons and other religious objects are on loan from a private collection and on view. The exhibition also includes an altar cross on loan from collections at the University of St. Thomas. Exhibition runs through March 3, 2018.

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Laure Prouvost, After After, 2011. Installation view at Biennale de Lyon, 2013. Courtesy the artist, carlier | gebauer, Natalie Obadia and Biennale de Lyon. (Photo: courtesy Blaise Adilon). Image via Walker Art Ctr.

Laurie Provost: They Are Waiting For You

Walker Art Center (725 Vineland, Mpls, in the Medtronic Gallery)

Opens Thursday, October 12

What is art? What is fiction? What is everyday life? In the world of French artist Laurie Provost, certainly no one knows. And that's the best part. In what the Walker refers to as Provost's "abstracted, preverbal state of consciousness from which to rediscover the joy of learning language, words, and meaning," which is definitely something that most visitors to an art museum should be up for. Curated by Victoria Sung and Gwyneth Shanks, the exhibition runs through Feb 11, 2018. More info: https://walkerart.org/calendar/2017/laure-prouvost

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Iyapo Repository

Law Warschaw Gallery at Macalester College, Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center, 130 Macalester Street, St. Paul, MN 55105

On view through Oct 25, 2017

Hours: Monday – Friday: 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Thursdays: 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday: Noon – 4 p.m.

Iyapo Repository is shaping the future. In this exhibition of works by New York artists Salome Asega and Ayodamola Tanimowo Okunseinde, they present a collection of digital and physical artifacts that project the future of people of African descent. The project was founded in response to the lack of representation of people of African descent in projects of the future, which are very apparent in film.

(Timo Ohler/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Installation view: Nairy Baghramian, Déformation Professionelle, S.M.A.K. Ghent, Nov. 26, 2016 - Feb. 19, 2017. Photograph by Timo Ohler. Image via Walker Art Center.

Nairy Baghramian

Déformation Professionelle

Walker Art Center (725 Vineland, Mpls)

Hours: Tues., Wed., Sun. 11 a.m.-5 p.m.; Thurs. 11 a.m.- 9 p.m.; Fri., Sat., 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.; closed Mon. Price: Adults $14, Seniors (62+) $12, Active Military $7, Students $9, Ages 0-18 and members come for free.

On view through Feb 4.

Iranian-born, Berlin-based sculptor Nairy Baghramian has taken over three of the Walker Art Center's pristine upper-level galleries for a retrospective that is a play on the idea of a retrospective. Instead of going the typical straightforward, chronological route, using past work to show the linear progression of her Professional Career as an Artist, Baghramian's solo exhibition "Déformation Professionnelle" offers new sculptures based on original works she's made over the past two decades. First shown two years ago at the SMAK museum in Belgium, the exhibit coincides with the installation of Baghramian's "Privileged Points" (2014) on the hillside outside the Walker. A curved rod of heavy steel that appears to be rubber, variations of this piece have been installed in Germany and Amsterdam. Besides being a subversion of the museum's usual role in presenting a professional artist, the show also creates a twofold experience for Baghramian. By reflecting on past works, she produces more art, which means more work for her (production time, creative energy, configuring artist statements).

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Above: Aliza Nisenbaum teaches a portrait drawing class at Centro Tyrone Guzman. Image courtesy of the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

"A Place We Share"

New work by Aliza Nisenbaum

Minneapolis Institute of Art

On view through Feb 4

New York-based, Mexico City-born painter Aliza Nisenbaum had never been in Minneapolis. But this summer it became her second home. The Minneapolis Institute of Art brought Nisenbaum to town to paint portraits representing the diverse communities around the museum. Three large-scale paintings were the result — a trio of Somali women at the Hope Community Garden, Latino elders taking a drawing class at Centro Tyrone Guzman, and even a group of guards at the institute. Nisenbaum paints in a realism style, carefully rendering each person with the utmost sensitivity. Bright, bold colors end up in the backgrounds of the groups she arranges. But rather than have everyone there at once, she has each person sit for her individually. The process is like putting together a puzzle. "A Place We Share," on display through Feb. 4, is her first solo museum show, but she's worked in this style for several years. The 2017 Whitney Biennial included several of her painted-from-life portraits of undocumented immigrants. Read more about the exhibition here: http://www.startribune.com/what-does-community-look-like-that-challenge-brought-a-n-y-artist-to-minnesota/449608023/

about the writer

Alicia Eler

Critic / Reporter

Alicia Eler is the Star Tribune's visual art reporter and critic, and author of the book “The Selfie Generation. | Pronouns: she/they ”

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