10 can't miss art exhibitions for the coming year
By Liz Massey
It’s a fact that our brains process images more readily than words — one that would explain appeal for the impressive roster of art venues across the state of Arizona.
Here’s a list of some of the most intriguing shows that are coming to art museums, galleries and centers within and beyond the Valley of the Sun. While these words may never match the glorious works of art that will be displayed, they may inspire you to go and see them for yourself.
1. The Edge of Vision: Abstraction in Contemporary Photography
Center for Creative Photography
University of Arizona, Tucson
Sept. 4-Nov. 28
www.creativephotography.org
This exhibit, guest curated by Lyle Rexer, showcases the work of more than 20 contemporary photographers who base their practice in some form of abstraction. Rexer asserts, “From the beginning, abstraction has been intrinsic to photography, and its persistent popularity reveals much about the medium.”
2. Borderlandia: Glass Installation by Einar and Jamex de la Torre
Tucson of Museum of Art
Feb. 12-June 12
www.tucsonmuseumofart.org
The collaborations of Einar and Jamex de la Torre are humorous cultural satires that are powerful commentaries about stereotypes of Latino culture, religion, commerce and politics.
“The work of Einar and Jamex de la Torre is so relevant in today’s emotionally-charged society in regards to the volatile dialectic about Arizona’s recent immigration bill,” said chief curator Julie Sasse. “These two artists address such issues with humor and satire in a way that is not only thought-provoking, but perhaps diffuses the negativity inherent in the debate with the wit of their message and the beauty of their medium.”
3. Extending the Runway: Tatiana Sorokko Style
Phoenix Art Museum, Ellman Fashion Design Gallery and Lewis Gallery
Sept. 16-Jan. 2
www.phxart.org
Tatiana Sorokko was the first Russian model to achieve international success. Moving from Moscow to Paris in 1990, she walked the runways for major designers such as Yves Saint Laurent, Karl Lagerfeld, Miuccia Prada, Alexander McQueen, Marc Jacobs and Calvin Klein, among others. This show features a collection of more than 60 garments and accessories from Sorokko’s extraordinary and historically important couture wardrobe.
4. Théâtre de la Mode: Fashion Dolls — the survival of haute coture 
Phoenix Art Museum, Ellman Fashion Design Gallery
Jan. 22-May 22
www.phxart.org
After four years of foreign occupation, liberation in the fall of 1944 found Paris surviving on minimal resources. Using the ages-old tradition of traveling miniature mannequins dressed in current couture, the Chamber Syndicale de la Couture used 27-inch tall dolls as ambassadors of fashion. The exhibition, inaugurated in Paris in March 1945, began a long journey, first to other capitals in Europe and Great Britain, then in 1946 to the United States. The exhibition features three of the original scenes from the historic collection on loan from the Maryhill Museum.
“The mannequins and sets of Théâtre de la Mode are evidence of the extraordinary creativity and powerful spirit of French artists and couturiers,” said Dennita Sewell, the museum’s curator of fashion design. “Each garment is a small-scale version executed with true couture workmanship, including their tiny hat and shoes.”
5. Jean Shin and Brian Ripel: Unlocking
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art
Oct. 9-Jan. 2
www.smoca.org
For the upcoming exhibition at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA), Jean Shin and long-time collaborator Brian Ripel have focused on an accessory almost all adults possess — keys — and have discovered an uncanny visual relationship between the horizontal profile of traditional keys and the Arizona landscape.
SMoCA Associate Curator Cassandra Coblentz said, “The artists reached out to community members prior to the opening of the exhibition in the museum. Some audience members participated by donating tens of thousands of old keys that are being used to make a sculpture and others shared the silhouette of the keys on their own keychain to form a large wall drawing that maps social relationships.”
6. Gravity was Everywhere Back Then, A New Installation by Brent Green
ASU Art Museum
Sept. 4 - Dec 31, 2010
www.asuartmuseum.asu.edu
Well-known artist and filmmaker Brent Green’s installation was inspired by the true story of hardware store clerk Leonard Wood of Louisville, Ky. When his wife Mary was diagnosed with cancer, Leonard started building the house room by room, with the tragic hope that his labor would save his wife.
This installation will feature Green’s version of Wood’s house, according to Heather Sealy Lineberry, senior curator and associate director of the museum.
“The installation is inspired by the true story of a man who built an idiosyncratic house for his dying wife, a sort of healing machine and a tangible representation of human emotion and desire,” she said. “Brent is often inspired by true stories of lonely, heroic figures who invent and create things larger than themselves and their daily lives.”
7. Pop! Popular Culture in American Indian Art
Heard Museum
On display through March 2011
www.heard.org
Pop culture and innovation collide with traditional native art forms and cultures in artwork that reflects contemporary issues and imagery in an often comedic, tongue-in-cheek way.
“The POP! exhibit was a really fun opportunity for us to show works by key American Indian artists like Fritz Scholder and young contemporary artists next to works by Pop artists like Andy Warhol,” said Diana Pardue, curator of collections at the Heard Museum. “By exhibiting these works side by side, it is possible to see the connections between American Indian art and Pop Art.”
8. LightHouse
Alwun House
Dec. 4-31
www.alwunhouse.org
During the darkest season of the year, all sorts of art works will shine at Alwun House — light boxes, shrines, sculpture, black light, neon, video, fire, lamps, even furniture.
“We encourage guests to play with lights on their attire at the Dec. 4 opening event,” co-curator Dana Johnson said. “Light can take a time out from its functional life to get playful and party.”
9. Exotic Art Show
Alwun House
Feb. 11- March 11
www.alwunhouse.org
The Exotic Art Exhibit features sensual, provocative and audacious art from more than 60 artists. The show, which includes plenty of mature subject matter, will be kicked off by the Opening Phantasmagorical Cabaret on Feb. 11.
“I find it hard believing after 27 years, our Exotic Art Show still speaks to the young at heart while appealing to adult eccentricities,” Alwun House director Kim Moody said. “It has become the longest continuously running show of its kind in the country, proving that cutting edge art thrives despite (happening in) conservative Phoenix!”
10. NASA | ART: 50 Years of Exploration
Arizona Museum for Youth
Oct. 30-Jan. 23
www.arizonamuseumforyouth.com
In celebration of its 50th anniversary in 2008, NASA is collaborating with the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum on for this exhibition, which is drawn from both institutions’ archives. It features about 60 paintings, drawings, photographs, sculpture and other media by such artists as Annie Leibowitz, Robert Rauschenberg, Norman Rockwell, Andy Warhol, William Wegman, and Jamie Wyeth.
