Upsodown at the New Art Center

Date: January 2013
Skills: Writing
Client: Artscope Magazine

Newton, MA – It’s like walking into the mind of an eccentric New Orleans witchdoctor. Thick paint is coarsely hurled onto canvases in rough outlines of people, and cow skull and plaster form ritualistic-looking tikis that resemble overdone voodoo dolls. The New Art Center in Newton’s new exhibition, “Upsodown,” features work by 10 different artists, all created with a kind of raw, free expression — a boldness that reflects a reinvention, the kind of freeing liberty that accompanies the spirit of Carnival.

The gallery is intended as a reflection of all the different forms this holiday takes in each culture, and the carnality that comes with absolute freedom manifests as a powerful barbarism in these artworks. Tara Sellios’ dual photographs “Lessons of Impermanence” feature the arranged remains of a seafood meal — an image of orange lobster shells strewn beside empty wine glasses hangs to the left of a scene of empty oysters, seen from an aerial view atop a blue tablecloth.

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