By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma
This summer, the Grand Rapids Art Museum celebrates diversity with three shows featuring artists from Pakistan, Iran, and South America.
“It does turn out to be that way but it wasn’t exactly what we set out to do,” said Grand Rapids Art Museum Chief Curator Ron Platt. “We always strive to represent diversity in our programming, so we are really happy about the convergence of these shows.”
In 2014, Anila Agha took ArtPrize by storm with her installation “Intersections,” featuring a large cube with a light bulb in the center that helped to reflect out the patterns and ornamentation inspired from traditional Islamic architecture and design. The piece, which hung in the GRAM in 2014, won both the ArtPrize Public Vote and Juried Grand Prize.
It returns to the museum with the exhibit “Mirror Viariations: the Art of Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian.” An Iranian artist, Farmanfarmaian is known for creating work which draws inspiration from Islamic tradition and modern abstraction. Now 90, she was the first Iranian artist of her generation to use cut-glass mosaics as a medium, as art without religious function.
“These shows are very engaging for people of all ages and people who are art fans and people who are causal art viewers,” Platt said. “The Farmanfarmaian show includes intricate mirror mosaics crafting that I think is astonishing in how complex and beautiful it is.
“It also has, at its base. geometry which you know is a universal language in itself which is something that kids learn and study about, and everybody knows what squares, triangles, and rectangles are. It’s amazing to see what she is doing with those shapes.”
The “Mirrors Variations” exhibit is centered around large sculptural reliefs with surfaces of cut mirror mosaic and reverse-glass painting. The materials were used extensively in traditional Persian architecture, an inspiration to the artist.
There is a variety of programming planned around the Agha and Farmanfarmaian exhibits including artist talks, a film screening, and drop-in tours. For more visit, www.artmuseumgr.org.
In a separate exhibit, located on the first floor, is “Oswaldo Vigas: Transformations,” which is the first solo exhibit of the Venezuelan artist in the United States.
“The Vigas show is really interesting because it covers a 40-year period of his work,” Platt said. “It is paintings and drawings, and it looks at how his drawing practice forms his paintings but also shows how he moved through different styles but still remained interested in ideas about mythology and Latin American identity in his work.”
“Mirror Variations” and “Intersections” will be up through Aug. 26. “Transformations will be up through Sept. 2. The Grand Rapids Art Museum is located at 101 Monroe Ave. NW.
