Tag Archives: Art

Art in the Present Tense at Lynn Museum

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Lynn, Lynn where have you been! exclaimed a friend recently via emphatic Tweet after enjoying a spirited evening in the city north of Boston. It’s a sentiment you can feel in the palpable energy that has taken over the city as it awakens from decades of derision and failed promises. In recent years there have been whispers of great restaurants opening such as the Blue Ox or Rossetti’s, as well as downtown bakeries and cafes. City Hall has a renovated performance venue and the arts community is galvanized around the downtown cultural district.

Tonight at the Lynn Museum a new art exhibit opens that showcases the maturity of the local arts community with a decidedly modern dialogue in the Present Tense. This exhibit has been installed on the second floor of the museum and has been spun out of a merger of what had traditionally been the Lynn Historical Society and LynnArts. These two entities with divergent perspectives are now united by proximity and promise in a joint museum effort to connect us with the past and drive our future.

Below are some highlights form tonight’s exhibit which showcases a variety of mediums and forms from a select group of local artists.

Useful Thing #1
Sitting Pretty-A Prim & Proper Lady
Raincoat
Harris Tibbets Off Egg Rock
Aphrodite
frankie abandoned hope at land’s end

The Sea in Salem MA and J.M.W. Turner

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This weekend brought me back to the Peabody Essex Museum to view the special exhibit, Turner & the Sea, which runs through September 1st. If you find yourself in Salem, MA looking to move beyond the kitschy occult you will want to stop in the P.E.M. for this summer show which perfectly complements this city’s rich maritime history. Turner includes a wide range of paintings depicting landscapes both merchant and military in oil, water color, and sketches and has samplings not only from the eponymous master but several other notable artists as well.

J.M.W. Turner’s The Battle of Trafalgar 21 October 1805 is monumental in scale and boasts a perspective akin to an IMAX virtual reality while one is standing in front of it. For this reason alone this painting must be experienced in person so that one can appreciate the immersive effect that draws you in as if you have just survived the legendary battle and are caught up in a swirl of bloodied humanity and chilling waves. In clear contrast to the Nicholas Pocock paintings nearby that show the beginning and end of the “action” with a distant omniscience, Turner’s rendering in medias res brings the heart of the conflict to life. As England would expect, Turner has done his duty and so has the P.E.M. by bringing this fantastic exhibit to Salem.

For more information on this adventure check out the museum website.

Also: given that almost everyone who visits Salem asks about “witches” I thought it worth noting that the twenty victims of the 1692 trials all perished between June and September, and a memorial courtyard lies just behind the museum. If you do make the trip to see Turner, be sure to stop by this site before getting drawn into the many sideshows that dot the city.