The Lens

It's Final Friday—on steroids! Chances are you've been to the Over-the-Rhine art walk by now, held the last Friday of each month...hence the name. (And if not, keep reading, this is a great opportunity to start.)  Galleries and shops along and adjacent to Main Street throw open their doors to neighbors, newbies, and visitors who nosh, drink, conversate, and, of course, admire art. It’s a genuinely good time. But get ready, because Final Friday is super charged in September and October—boosted by the energy and presence of FotoFocus. And, really, the FotoFocus cup runneth over in Over-the-Rhine, providing opportunities well beyond Final Friday. For instance: all... Continue reading FotoFocus Super-Charges Final Friday

The Carnegie’s Exhibition Director Matt Distel sums up FotoFocus this year in Northern Kentucky like this: “Get over here for the weird stuff.” Not just weird—in some cases, downright out of this world. Where else could you meet two artists from another dimension and then turn around and see photographs taken by astronauts in space? FotoFocus’s Biennial theme Open Archive and the venues in the Commonwealth don’t disappoint with their varied and sometimes out there approaches to the subject. In this installment of The Lens, we explore what NKY will offer on October 20, a FotoFocus Neighborhood Spotlight Day, when you can see a lot of great... Continue reading Far Out: The Unexpected Awaits at FotoFocus Northern Kentucky Venues

Nathaniel Stein has admired contemporary conceptual artist Gillian Wearing’s work since he first saw her poignant, genre-bending photographs in an Introduction to Art History class in the mid-1990s. He’s dreamed of working with her for as long as he’s been a museum curator. Now, after a year as Associate Curator of Photography for the Cincinnati Art Museum, he has his chance.

And we, those of us who’ll experience the 2018 FotoFocus Biennial, will have our chance to encounter the British artist’s internationally recognized and often jarring self-portraits and video installations in the first major exhibition of her work to be shown in the... Continue reading Gillian Wearing World Premieres Four Works at Cincinnati Art Musuem for FotoFocus 2018

Staying in step with the FotoFocus Biennial theme of Open Archive, Brazee Street Gallery and a group of high school art students at Cincinnati Country Day School teamed up to develop a photography/glass gallery exhibition. Led by CCD art teacher Carole Lichty-Smith, students used their own original photography to create the glass pieces on display at Brazee’s Gallery, as part of their 2018 FotoFocus exhibition. Working with budding student artists is nothing new for Brazee Street. And bringing glass into that work with students of all ages is an important part of their mission. Studio Director Leah Busch Rockel says, “Brazee strives to create the... Continue reading At Brazee Street Gallery, High Schoolers Fuse Photography and Glass

Sometimes you need to get out of town, see something fresh, and stretch your brain muscles. And sometimes, that can mean just a short jaunt up I-75. If you’ve got the itch, you’re in luck—FotoFocus has a road trip mapped out for you. This fall, spend a day in Dayton and delve into a fascinating array of photography and lens-based Biennial exhibitions at a host of art havens around the Gem City. There’s the iconic and architecturally beautiful Dayton Art institute showing Muse: Mickalene Thomas Photographs. You may recognize Thomas, who shows internationally, as the photographer of the first individual Continue reading FotoFocus in Dayton: Nine Shows You Don’t Want to Miss