Archives for 2013

Here are some of Squarecylinder’s favorite shows from the past year, ordered without regard to rank or relative value, just overall goodness worth a backward glance.

Perception — and the quest to expand it — are the focus of “A Bigger Exhibition,” the largest show devoted to a single artist in the museum’s history.

Mixing geometric abstraction with the mannerisms of SoCal car culture, Couwenberg pushes a retro look into the digital future.

The artist/activist has always embraced poetic possibilities. With “Water” he’s pushed abstraction further toward the fore.

Few things ignite a firestorm quicker than discussions of race, and in that realm Kara Walker is one of the art world’s most provocative figures.

Working in the void where information becomes matter, Ortbal creates mock-organic, quasi-architectural melanges that reach to express ideas beyond language.

This is exhibition is of three friends who met “at a creative time in art and life” when “everything seemed possible…and was.”

Balancing geometric precision with handmade methods, Farmanfarmaian’s works are both regal and mesmerizing. Sarah Hotchkiss reports.

In her first-ever career retrospective, Carrie Mae Weems demonstrates the multitude of ways cultural stereotypes are collectively generated and perpetuated. Tirza True Latimer reports.

This exhibition of Augmented Reality uses smartphones as a prosthetic eye to display sculptures hidden in virtual space. Mikko Lautamo reports.

Reframing visual language of early Modernism, Tegeder conveys the complexities of an interconnected digital universe.

“Bella,” a 50-year retrospective, is sensual, threatening, engaging and driven by “a love-hate relationship with machines.”

Her neo expressionist-influenced paintings of prostitutes deliver a just-the-facts approach in a realm where facts are scarce.

Rosen and Hollingsworth use the alchemy of glass casting to evoke things beyond what meets the eye.

Seven Bay Area artists examine Asia, with a focus on family, legacy and shared experiences. Sarah Hotchkiss reports.