And now for something completely different. This week, downtown’s favorite midcentury hotel, The Clarendon, is getting a makeover thanks to hotel art exhibition, Artel Phx. The premier pop-up art event will feature the installments of 20 local artists, hand-selected for their designs to transform the commercial space into something entirely…
You won’t find “Prime Example” at Herberger Theater Center Steele Pavilion Art Gallery Thursday, September 5. Instead, expect angry members of the Phoenix arts community. The gallery abruptly announced to the public via email the show’s cancellation on Friday, August 30. That’s less than a week before the exhibition, curated…
Josh and Sarah Rhodes are a local dream team when it comes to creating; Josh makes art at Subtle Takeover, and Sarah takes pictures at Arrow & Apple. But this artistic power couple won’t be local much longer. Sarah got an offer to work full-time as a photographer for the…
Empty storefronts are about to get a whole lot more exciting again, thanks to local public arts organization IN FLUX. For the the fourth year in a row, IN FLUX is working to bring a series of temporary installations to vacant spaces across the Valley. But the spaces don’t fill…
It could be said that Phoenix creatives had a super-secret meetup in Santa Fe this past weekend. Except, most everything they did was publicized in advance. Were you paying attention? Yep, Phoenix movers and shakers took the Santa Fe Indian Market by storm. Here’s a recap of some of what…
When three ASU art professors get together to put on an exhibition of their own work, you can expect some high quality art. And probably some shenanigans to go with it. This month, Phoenix art veterans Henry Schoebel, Anthony Pessler, and John Obuck are hosting an exhibition of new work…
Holding a bake sale to fund an art gallery is either ridiculous or inspired. The five NAU art students who did it mostly remember it as embarrassing. Oil painters Devin Kelly, Patrick Keig, Sumer Khan, Andrea Newman, and Jeff Urdang had been sharing studio space while working on their undergrad…
“Generations: Inspiration of Bird City” is about influence. The exhibition, on view at Willo North Gallery, presents works from three prominent Phoenix artists (though two reside outside Arizona currently): Martin Moreno, Luis Gutierrez, who now lives in the Bay Area, and Joseph “Sentrock” Perez, who’s currently based in Chicago. Influences…
The task of reading George Orwell’s famous dystopian tome Animal Farm is something practically everyone experienced in high school. We had to do it, and — in all likelihood — so did you. And probably because it’s something that’s typically digested during one’s formative years, the satirical yet frightening sociopolitical…
The Scottsdale Cultural Council announced today the resignation of its president and CEO, William H. Banchs, effective August 31…
Apparently, Phoenicians are all about rising above this month. We couldn’t tell you exactly why the Valley is suddenly flush with aerial photography shows, but the change in perspective is a welcome breath of fresh air all the same. Don’t get overwhelmed. We’re here to help you navigate these exhibitions…
We have a sneaking suspicion local curator Becky Nahom might actually know all of the artists in the greater Phoenix area. Or at least she has a knack for bringing together a wide array of Valley creatives in her exhibitions. In “From the Sidelines,” her latest curatorial endeavor at ASU’s…
Hip-hop culture haven and studio Cyphers: The Center of Urban Arts has always been an old school kind of place, from the vintage decor like boomboxes and classic Chuck Taylors adorning its digs to the throwback b-boy moves getting busted on its dance floor. So it seems only natural that…
The city of Phoenix threw down some serious cash for the PHX Sky Train. But that money wasn’t spent on train tech and architecture alone. You might not know it at first glance, but there was a fat budget for the public art projects scattered across the different stations and…
Talk about an artistic marriage made in psychiatric hell. Running until August 11 at Mesa Arts Center’s Museum, Texas artist Alice Leora Briggs and Tucson artist Albert Kogel have married their diametrically opposed styles and media in an environmental installation called “Bipolar” to create an all-too-convincing taste of what once…
If you really think about it, the fact that so many of us are able to live and thrive in the desert is pretty counter-intuitive — if not completely insane. At some point or another, we’ve all wondered what in the world we are doing here. In a group exhibition…
Remind Pete Petrisko that he’s one of the pioneers of the Phoenix downtown arts scene, and he’ll likely tell you you’re “weird.” Petrisko’s big on insulting people, even when they’re paying him a compliment. And, lately, he’s also big on public art. Petrisko has been posting his new work –…
The biggest pop culture convention in the country will lumber its way into San Diego next weekend. Hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world will pour into Southern California to celebrate their obsessions with their like-minded peers. If you are one of those lucky people who will…
If you’ve ever imagined Phoenix becoming totally submerged in water, then you and Abbey Messmer have something in common. The local artist says living in the desert didn’t prevent her from finding inspiration for her current series of aquatic artwork in “Submerged” currently on view at Eye Lounge. “There is…
In honor of what would have been Frida Kahlo’s 106th birthday, the Phoenix Fridas are preparing a celebration fit for a queen. Starting on July’s First Friday with the exhibition “Celebrating Frida” at Burton Barr Central Library, the local group of artists and artisans will pay homage to the Mexican…
¿Como se dice “hot mess” en español? It’s about the only term I can think of to describe “Turn Off the Sun,” an ongoing exhibition of selections from the mighty Jumex Collection now showing at ASU Art Museum. Initially, I was ecstatic when I heard that work from the Jumex…
Artist Kevin Bates admits he was never much of a skate trickster. He may have ridden a board around during his high school days and hung out with grinders, but didn’t pull off much in the way of epic kickflips or pole jams. Truth be told, he was more into…
