Arts

‘Amplified Moments’ of power and knowledge

Pensive musings
Power and intellect don't need to be opposites but often appear locked in reciprocal suppression and propagation. Bates College Museum of Art shows an excellent selection of works by Chinese artist Xiaoze Xie in which he muses on this complex relationship.

By: BRITTA KONAU | February 15, 2012

Portland Stage goes noir

Adaptive ensemble
Dead guys, mysterious dames, mobsters, dirty cops, and a handsome array of handguns are all in a night's work for Philip Marlowe, novelist Raymond Chandler's quintessential LA private eye.

By: MEGAN GRUMBLING | February 15, 2012

Tanja Hollander takes Facebook to the PMA

Friend quest
If you've been buzzing about "Are You Really My Friend?" the new installation of Facebook-inspired portraits by local photographer and Bakery Photo Collective founder Tanja Alexia Hollander, you're not alone.

By: NICHOLAS SCHROEDER | February 08, 2012

Mad Horse’s Becky Shaw peers behind the love curtain

The one who knew too much
Three months after her father's death, the two people closest to thirty-something Suzanna (Elizabeth Chambers) don't have a lot of patience for her grief, which has her reduced to a weeping mess watching bad TV under a blanket.

By: MEGAN GRUMBLING | February 08, 2012

Good Theater wrestles with love and sin

Heartplay
There's only one major problem in the love between Adam (Rob Cameron), a sarcastic would-be teacher working in retail, and Luke (Joe Bearor), an aspiring young actor.

By: MEGAN GRUMBLING | February 01, 2012

Public Theater tries to save disappearing communication

Watch your tongue
George (James Hoban) has a knack for languages: He's a polyglot, can lovingly conjugate all tenses of even Esperanto, and has dedicated his life to preserving tongues on the brink of extinction.

By: MEGAN GRUMBLING | February 01, 2012

Cultural feedback mixes at the ICA at MECA

‘Played simultaneously’
If you can't find the link between the print archive Whole Earth Catalog exhibit and Michael Bell-Smith's installation of tech art, update your browser (haw!).

By: NICHOLAS SCHROEDER | February 01, 2012

Time travel in miniature

What the future holds — or was it the past?
Although comprised of only six photographs, "Lori Nix: The City" at the University of Maine Museum of Art is a show not to be missed.

By: BRITTA KONAU | January 25, 2012

Thespian games at the Theater Project

Play acting
Five people lie supine on the floor, feet outward, like a star.

By: MEGAN GRUMBLING | January 25, 2012

Aucocisco shows early works from Bernard Langlais and Jean Cohen

Very fine years indeed
A long time ago in a galaxy . . . well, it was just New York and it may seem like ancient history, but it was real life and what happened is part of who we are. We do like our stories about those days, and they quickly accrete the patina, and lack of detail, of legend.

By: KEN GREENLEAF | January 18, 2012

Midsummer gets a twist, in midwinter

Steamy dreaming
When I learned that Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream was to be staged in frigid early winter, I wondered if the production's angle might be unabashed irony.

By: MEGAN GRUMBLING | January 18, 2012

Domestic life viewed by 17 Maine photogs

Still tales
In the theater of Maine photography, the winter exhibit assembled at the Portland Public Library might be thought of as a kitchen drama — a show that tells the rich tales of the many and diverse voices of Maine domestic living — and it deserves to be seen by all who can afford to.

By: NICHOLAS SCHROEDER | January 11, 2012

Carolyn Gage interprets Lizzie Borden's case

Reclaiming history
Lizzie Borden, who allegedly murdered her father and step-mother in 1892, remains an iconic figure in American cultural memory.

By: MEGAN GRUMBLING | January 11, 2012

Short films take over SPACE

On gallery walls
Having screened the first of this series back in June, it's good to see evidence that SPACE Gallery plans to show the whole "Project 35" collection.

By: NICHOLAS SCHROEDER | January 04, 2012

The second half of the season brings surprises

Comedy and danger
Those who missed out on LOREM IPSUM's Threepenny Opera this fall should get in line early for its spring production of Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts, at SPACE Gallery (March 22-April 1).

By: MEGAN GRUMBLING | December 28, 2011

A peek at Portland art shows in 2012

Radicals and friends
Degas and the PORTLAND MUSEUM OF ART headline the news for early next year. We're so used to Degas and his point of view it's easy to overlook what a difficult and radical artist he really was.

By: KEN GREENLEAF | December 28, 2011

Playwright Gage explains Lizzie Borden, on stage

Sharpened perceptions
Alleged ax-murderer Lizzie Borden is among the most notorious women in New England history.

By: MEGAN GRUMBLING | December 28, 2011

Memories from a year in art shows

Fine lines
It was a year when the best shows weren't often the most memorable, and the most memorable weren't often the best.

By: NICHOLAS SCHROEDER | December 21, 2011

The highlights of 2011’s theatrics

From madness to mealtime
Some of the most exhilarating moments in theater this year happened in the Apohadion, as a pale and schizoid Michael Dix Thomas shrieked the opening strains of "The Ballad of Mack the Knife," summoning to stage the lurid, ghoulish menagerie of Bertolt Brecht's The Threepenny Opera .

By: MEGAN GRUMBLING | December 21, 2011

A year-long celebration winds down

Drawing to an end
Throughout 2011, June Fitzpatrick has done more than her share in highlighting the medium of drawing in the context of the state-wide project "Where to Draw the Line."

By: BRITTA KONAU | December 14, 2011