6 minute read
ART
T’burg’s Wali Cultivates Her Own Aesthetic Garden
By Arthur Whitman
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Intimate, idiosyncratic approaches characterize a great deal of contemporary abstract painting and drawing. Freed from the heroic imperatives of historical abstraction, recent artists have felt free to cultivate aesthetic gardens on their own terms.
Working on modestly scaled sheets of paper in ink, graphite, and other materials, Trumansburg’s transplant Achala Wali is a welcome addition to the region’s art. A small show of her work, “Surface Densities,” is currently in its nal week at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse.
Wali is one of six artists chosen for this year as part of the museum’s new CNY Artist Initiative. Open to submissions from artists residing within a 75-mile radius of Syracuse, the exhibitions program promises to expand the museum’s longstanding commitment to regional art.
Wali’s exhibit samples several series. On the evidence here, the artist is a master of grisaille, deriving palpable weight and nuance from her subtly color-in ected elds of gray.
A key with art of this sort is to embrace all the metaphorical and cultural associations that one comes upon without becoming too hung up on any of them.
Many contemporary abstractionists have cultivated an interest in the natural sciences. Wali’s patient, methodical approach, and abstracted allusions to natural and manmade worlds, however, suggests what one might consider a science ction.
Likewise, although none of Wali’s work makes overt reference to map-making, her densely rendered images have a kinship with a group of cartography-inspired contemporary artists. Her slowly improvised work combines the schematic and the painterly in a way that recalls the topographical emphasis and imaginary worldmaking of these artists.
Wali’s paintings con ate intimate bodily experience with free- oating residues of cultural memory. is is true of all her work here but it is signaled quite literally in pieces from two series.
Adapting a distinctive modeling of human hair found in Archaic Greek statues, “Arachaea,” “Study,” and “Tumble Over” are covered in densely tangled, tendril-like curls. Subtle, atmospheric washes and lls of tone and color enliven the artist’s tight line drawing. A silvery, shivering background su uses the rst, perhaps most striking piece.
Recalling the distinctively elongated ears in traditional depictions of the Buddha, another series turns these paperclip or embryo-like forms into a repetitive motif. In “ e Taj Fate,” one of the few wide format pieces here, they join a gridded arrangement of graphite dots and clouds of pink- and blue-purple ink. Adding to the stylized, palimpsest feel, are scattered strips of collaged text—Marathi, from the library of her late linguist mother Kashi Wali, a noted expert on the South Asian language. ough inevitable, given the size of the allotted gallery, I was le wanting to see more of this complex, intriguing work.
Achala Wali’s “The Taj Fate” (Photo: Courtesy of the Artist)
“Achala Wali: Surface Densities” rough August 7 Everson Museum of Art at 401 Harrison Street, Syracuse, NY Open 11am-5pm Wed., 11am-8pm urs., 11am-5pm Fri., 10am-5pm Sat., 10am5pm Sun. www.everson.org
Walk-ins welcome for glasses or bottles of wine or local beers Reservations recommended for tastings Sunset music series each Thursday resumes May 19 6-8 pm
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said. “It can spread via the respiratory route, but usually closer contact and for longer periods of time than COVID.”
However, case numbers have certainly been rising. In the middle of June, there were 84 reported monkeypox cases in the U.S. and 2,103 laboratory con rmed cases worldwide. As of July 28, there have been 4,907 total con rmed cases in the United States and more than 21,000 cases worldwide, according to statistics published by the CDC.
Most people with monkeypox will develop a rash, and other symptoms include a fever, headache, muscle aches, swollen lymph nodes, and exhaustion.
Monkeypox typically lasts between two and four weeks and is infectious from the start of symptoms until a fresh layer of skin has formed over a healed rash.
Most Monkeypox cases resolve with use of over-the-counter medications for symptomatic care. More severe cases can be treated with an antiviral medication called TPOXX (also known as Tecovirimat) which was approved in 2018 for the treatment of smallpox in adults and children. While it has not been directly studied in Monkeypox, clinical trials have shown that there is some e cacy in treating all diseases caused by orthopoxviruses, which includes Monkeypox.
At the moment, Tompkins County recommends residents “take precautions to prevent infection and contact your health care provider right away if you suspect you may have come in contact with someone who has the disease or if you are experiencing symptoms,” Tompkins County Public Health Director Frank Kruppa stated.
For more resources or information about monkeypox locally and across New York State, Buckwalter recommends people refer to the TCHD website at https:// www.tompkinscountyny.gov/health/monkeypox or the NYS Department of Health website at https://health.ny.gov/diseases/ communicable/zoonoses/monkeypox/.
For text mesage alerts related to monkeypox, NYS residents can text "MONKEYPOX" to 81336 or "MONKEYPOXESP" for texts in Spanish. New Yorkers can also opt-in for location-based messages by providing a zip code.
Julia Nagel is a reporter from e Cornell Daily Sun working on e Sun’s summer fellowship at e Ithaca Times
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All this is being lmed documentary style by Dean Fleischer Camp, the lm’s director and co-creator, and put up on the web to show Marcel o to the rest of the world. I can’t imagine how the lm was made; stop-motion animation is traditionally done with locked o cameras, but Camp’s cameras are able to be funky and hand-held, using extreme focus shi s and zooms and rack focuses. Marcel’s animation was handled by the Chiodo brothers (“Killer Klowns From Outer Space”), who also created the articulated marionettes for Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s “Team America” (2004). ey are clearly mad geniuses.
Two last thoughts. is is the greatest movie ever made that includes a cameo from Lesley Stahl of “60 Minutes”. It would make a great double bill with “Pee Wee’s Big Adventure” (1985).
“I Love My Dad” opens August 5th at Cinemapolis. “Marcel the Shell With Shoes On” is playing at Cinemapolis until August 11.
RIP Bob Rafelson (“Head”, “Five Easy Pieces”, “ e King of Marvin Gardens”, “Mountains of the Moon”, “Man Trouble”, “Blood and Wine”)
RIP David Warner (“ e Omen”, “Time A er Time”, “Time Bandits” “Tron”, “ e Man With Two Brains”, “Star Trek V: e Final Frontier”, “Star Trek VI: e Undiscovered Country”, “Titanic”)
RIP Paul Sorvino (“Where’s Poppa?”, “Oh, God!”, “ e Brink’s Job”, “Reds”, “ e Stu ”, “Dick Tracy”, “Goodfellas”, “ e Rocketeer”, “ e Firm”, “Nixon”)
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mixed together. For example, a Riesling is listed just above a Cabernet Sauvignon which is listed just above a Chardonnay, etc. ere are about a dozen wines by the glass ($6-$8) and bottle ($21-$28) and the selection of grape varieties and locales is adequate. ere are also a dozen cocktails which look like fun.
Luna o ers a large selection of wellcooked comfort food at very reasonable prices and it’s all done in a friendly lighthearted way.
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