Tag: visual arts

For Illumine, Historic Oakland Cemetery becomes a canvas. Lights illuminate the storied graves, strategically placed lighted sculptures draw the eyes up, and videos project on to mausoleums and the bell tower.

In the fall of 2022, Rachel Parish’s public exhibition Emergence installed temporary monuments at Grady Hospital, the Georgia State Capitol, the Tabernacle, and the Gulch—locations closest to four springheads that mark a system of waterways buried beneath downtown Atlanta. It was the start of a multiyear series of artistic works conceived by Flux Projects, dubbed Flow, to explore Atlanta’s complex relationship with water.

Even with the recent unfortunate closure of a theater mainstay, there is always new life and new energy in Atlanta. I recently spoke to the visionaries behind some of the newest arts spaces, mainly to ask the question, "What on earth would make someone open a new arts venue in the middle of an socioeconomic tilt-a-whirl?"

If you know the painter Joseph Stella, it’s probably from his famous urban landscapes. But Stella was just as captivated by the botanical world as he was by cityscapes, and today, Atlantans can see that side of the artist in vivid color. Joseph Stella: Visionary Nature, an explosive new exhibit at the High Museum of Art, features dozens of his flower and plant-filled paintings and drawings.

On February 11, Art Papers will host its 24th annual art auction, a fundraiser for the magazine where attendees can bid on works by artists from the Southeast and across the world. The event will feature over 200 pieces for auction, priced for a wide range of budgets, as well as an “Emerging Collectors Section” with works under $200 available for outright purchase.

“There’s always been a fight for visibility for the creative community here. A lot of the artists feel like underground legends, even if they are known worldwide.”

Here’s a look at the state of the arts in metro Atlanta and a few events to look forward to this month.

The pandemic was a time of reckoning for Brooklyn-based industrial designer and educator Stephen Burks, as it was for many. “We were forced to reexamine who we were as people, as a family, as a community,” he says. “We were confronting our domestic laws again.”

In psychology, the “shadow self” is the part of ourselves that we struggle with and choose to reject—our dark sides, if you will. Fascinated by the concept, Lynne Tanzer, a creative consultant, curated a show for Echo Contemporary Art, located with Guardian Studios, that explores this theme.

For a graffiti writer, the tunnel—a mishmash of graffiti art, tags, murals, and festival flyers—was the perfect canvas because the bridge provided cover and its concrete pillars framed the artwork. It served as a platform for young artists to prove themselves.