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Twin Cities' 5 must-see art shows this weekend

Your guide to what's going on in the ever-so-artsy Twin Cities!

By Alicia Eler

March 1, 2018 at 11:10PM

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

(Minneapolis Institute of Art/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Aliza Nisenbaum, Morning Security Briefing at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, basement door open onto the Guard Lounge Pet Wall, 2017, Oil on canvas, 95" x 75" (241 x 191 cm)

ONGOING

Aliza Nisenbaum: "A Place We Share"

When: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Wed & Sat.; 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Thu.-Fri.; 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sun. Ends April 15 (show extended)

Where: Minneapolis Institute of Art, 2400 3rd Av. S.

Admission: Free. • Info: new.artsmia.org

The Minneapolis Institute of Art just acquired the three paintings in Nisenbaum's exhibition "A Place We Share," on view through April 15 [http://www.startribune.com/minneapolis-institute-of-art-acquires-three-new-paintings-of-local-communities/475194793/]. 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. More info: http://www.startribune.com/what-does-community-look-like-that-challenge-brought-a-n-y-artist-to-minnesota/449608023/

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

OPENING

Vesna Kittelson: "Altered Language Dictionaries"

Where: Traffic Zone Center for Visual Arts (250 Third Ave. N, Mpls)

Hours: Mon.-Fri. from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Opening reception: Sat., March 3 from 6-8 p.m.

Kittelson's experience as an immigrant from Croatia informs her new body of work, which takes the Tower of Babel as her central concept and inspiration. With highly decorated dictionaries as her main medium, she explores the ways that language, especially in the context of political situations, is used in seemingly "inauthentic" ways. Exhibition closes April 6. More info here.

OPENING

Excavating the Future City: Photographs by Naoya Hatakeyama

Mini-symposium on Sunday, March 3 from 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. The Life Cycle of the City: Photography After Disaster. For full schedule and info on Naoya Hatakeyama keynote speaker, click here.

Where: Minneapolis Institute of Art, 2400 3rd Av. S.

Hours: When: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Wed & Sat.; 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Thu.-Fri.; 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sun.

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

In this new exhibition, Mia's Yasafumi Nakamori curates the first-ever U.S. survey of Japanese photographer Naoyo Hatakeyama's work, which deals with the ways that nature and urban spaces somehow become combine. Featuring 12 of Hatakeyama's series and more than 100 works created over three decades, from deep inside natural spaces to the striking ways that man has made nature into anything but that. From images of blasted quarries to the photographer's tsunami-destructed hometown in northeast Japan, Hatakeyama's photographs offer up images that you won't forget. Closes July 22. Image credit, left: 05/02/2011 - Takatachô-Morinomae,
from Rikuzentakata, 2011. Chromogenic print. 17.48 x 21.65 (inch) (print); 20 x 24 (inch) (paper). Minneapolis Institute of Art. The Ted and Dr. Roberta Mann Foundation Endowment Fund 2017.13.2

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

CLOSING

Mapplethorpe: Minimalism

Where: Weinstein-Hammons Gallery (908 W. 46th St., Mpls.)

Free. 612-822-1722 or weinsteinhammons.com

Hours: Noon-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat.

American photographer Robert Mapplethorpe may be best remembered for his starkly lit and often erotic photographs of men. Lesser known are his early 1970s Polaroids and photos of plants, and interior spaces. These works, hand-selected from the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation in New York by Leslie Hammons, line the walls of the newly renamed Weinstein Hammons Gallery. Look closely at the Polaroids and you'll see that even though the subject matter is different, the angles are similar. A telephone pole (pictured) and a nude male sculpture are both viewed from below, making the subjects appear more important. Exhibition ends March 3.

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

"Rooms & Apts" (1987) by Mike Lynch. CLOSING

Pictures by Mike Lynch: 1955-2017

Reception: 2-5 p.m. Sat. Open through March 3 at noon-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat.

Where: Groveland Gallery, 25 Groveland Terrace, Mpls. 612-377-7800 or grovelandgallery.com.

If you haven't seen the show by Minnesota artist legend Mike Lynch, now's your last chance. In this mini-retrospective of a show, Lynch cleans out his closet and is selling his wares. Best known for his on-site, no-holds-barred, art-making style, Lynch is legendary for going to the same place over and over again at night to paint in a plein-air manner. Lynch had sensitive eyes, and growing up his mother used to get him sunglasses. Painting at night meant less disturbance from people, and a cleaner look at shapes and forms. The night is what he's known for.

He mixes his own paints, often collecting iron ore from mines for pigment. When he's painting outdoors — capturing small towns, building facades, landscapes, train tracks or shipyards in Duluth — he's accustomed to people wondering what the hell he's doing there. Closes March 3. Read more about Lynch here: http://www.startribune.com/minnesota-legend-mike-lynch-a-portrait-of-the-artist-as-blue-collar-hero/469965383/