Visual Arts

Three giant (as in building-sized) murals were installed in the King Historic District yesterday in the latest Living Walls effort to turn structures into canvasses. One such “canvas” is the former Henry’s Grill at 345 Auburn Avenue, where a small crowd turned out to watch an acclaimed muralist at work.

Artist Radcliffe Bailey, forty-two, is as close to a celebrity as the Atlanta art scene gets, with his iconic dandyish fedoras and glamorous it-coupledom with writer and TV soap star wife, Victoria Rowell. Even the High Museum—not known for consistently exhibiting local talent—is acknowledging his achievements, staging a major survey of his work, Memory as Medicine (through September 11).

Alex Brewer, the artist better known by his tag HENSE, had a breakout year. But he’s certainly no breakout artist, having long straddled the worlds of illicit street graffiti and commissioned public art.

Three decades ago at her downtown Atlanta loft, Georgia artist Janet "Gogo" Ferguson first unveiled the nature-inspired pieces for what would become an internationally acclaimed, multi-million dollar jewelry business. As a descendant of Thomas Carnegie who bought Georgia's Cumberland Island in the late 19th century, the granddaughter of Lucy Ferguson spent much of her childhood growing up on coastal Georgia. Today as a year-round resident on Cumberland, Ferguson operates her Gogo Jewelry business and an artist studio there.

When I moved to Cabbagetown a couple of years ago, I quickly learned what it means to be “on the other side of the tracks.” Literally. For those of us who live south of the CSX and MARTA rail lines that slice through the heart of intown Atlanta, getting around can be problematic.

Like a juicy divorce rumor circulating on Tuxedo Road, Southern Season, the exhibition by Atlanta photographer Harriet Leibowitz opening tonight at the Alan Avery Art Company, is certain to generate gossip and a few tantalizing texts. The thought-provoking, sexy, campy, and slightly scandalous show depicts what might be bubbling beneath the shiny surfaces inside the city’s social set. Essentially, it’s Southern Seasons magazine on a hit of acid.

Tucker native Brendan O’Connell has been painting scenes at Walmarts around the country for a decade now, and in the last year they've actually made him pretty good money ($1,500 for small paintings, $40,000 for larger ones). This week, at the company's invitation, he spent a two-day residency at a store just a few miles from his boyhood home.

As any eastside commuter can attest, one rarely drives through the Krog Street tunnel—the graffiti gallery/underpass connecting Cabbagetown and Old Fourth Ward—without spying an aspiring musician or model posing for a photo shoot.

The first time Atlanta writer Dana Hazels Seith attempted to interview Blondie for the new Clermont Lounge coffee table book, No Cameras, the legendary dancer threw her out of her Ponce de Leon Avenue dressing room. For good measure, Blondie also tossed Seith on her second and third attempts to talk to her.

In his native Barcelona, Martin Frias was an integral part of the arts and culture scene from the 1970s through the 1990s, mostly photographing rock musicians but also striking up a friendship with Salvador Dali.