Checking in with our area museums and galleries to preview the year ahead
In SIGHT by LARRY WHEELER
L
ooking at art is a way of life for me—and a source of great pleasure and excitement. So when WALTER asked if I would snoop around Raleigh and the Triangle to see what was coming up on the art scene this year, I was delighted to accept the invitation. It turned into a most interesting adventure. I’d just spent some time in the fall in Venice for the Biennale and in Oaxaca, Mexico, for Day of the Dead celebrations, so my art gauge was fully charged (and about to be more so with upcoming visits to New York and Art Basel in Miami). So I had big questions at the forefront of my consciousness: How does the art life of Raleigh and environs stack up against the wider world? How important are the exhibitions being planned? Would they be noticed anywhere else? What are our artists up to? Are they being heralded in the “artosphere”? Does our art scene connect with the universal art zeitgeist? The short answer, I soon found, is that the arts here are as dynamic, diverse in their makers, messages and media, and excellent as what I see in the major art centers of the world. And just as much fun to discover, too. The Triangle has superb art museums which, in addition to their outstanding permanent (and generally free) art collections, present special exhibitions that showcase the best art of our time—and the past. Here’s what I learned. Painting is alive and well Painting is alive and well and, in fact, flourishing in our midst. Inspired by the prominence of painting in recent art fairs, the Whitney Biennial, and New York galleries, local curator and artist Ashlynn Browning has created Front Burner: Highlights in Contemporary NC Painting for NCMA, opening March 7. This major exhibition highlights the work of 25 mid-career and established artists from across the state. For old-timers, it will be refreshing to see art that reminds us of the golden era of Francis Speight, Claude Howell, Maud Gatewood and George Bireline. The new stars may
82 | WALTER
