Category: Art & Theater

The Art Roundup 24/04/25

The latest from NH’s theater, arts and literary communities

• “Neon Bathroom!”: Karen Jerzyk presents “Neon Bathroom!” at 400 Bedford Street (400 Bedford St., Suite 329, Manchester; 400bedfordstreet.com), a multi-purpose art space, on Tuesday, April 30, from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Participants can step into a surreal neon bathroom and have their portrait taken, in 30-minute increments, according to the event website. Karen Jerzyk is a surrealistic photographer who combines elements of sci-fi and fantasy with elaborate environments to create visual narratives by either building a set from scratch in her studio or finding an existing location, according to the same website. Striving for an element of what some people have said reminds them of an era of “future-past”, her photos tend to appear timeless, with colorful montages laden with underlying themes, according to the same website. Each portrait is $40. Visit karenjerzykphoto.zenfolio.com. Tickets are available at Eventbrite, eventbrite.com/e/karen-jerzyk-presents-tickets-870680748557.

• On the Trail: The final weekend of The Trail to Oregon, a musical comedy presented by Actors Cooperative Theatre, runs Friday, April 26, and Saturday, April 27, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, April 28, at 2 p.m. at the Derry Opera House, 29 W Broadway in Derry. Go to kidscooptheatre.ludus.com for tickets and find the Actors Cooperative Theatre on Facebook for videos about the show.

• Earth Day art: The Massabesic Center (26 Audubon Way, Auburn) is partnering with the League of NH Craftsmen to feature original work in its “Earth Day Exhibition 2024 — A Nature Inspired Show,” featuring work from including photography, prints, and fiber art, which will run until Friday, May 31, according to their website. The exhibition will be open during regular Center hours, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and is free for all ages. Visit nhaudubon.org.

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Portsmouth Mini-Con 40 is on Saturday, April 27, and Sunday, April 28, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. both days, at Cisco Brewers (35 Corporate Drive, Portsmouth), an event celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Dover-born Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and featuring Turtles creator Kevin Eastman as well as other creators and artists from Mirage Studios, according to the event’s website. This extremely limited attendance event celebrates the 40th anniversary of the original Portsmouth Mini-Con in 1984, which featured the premiere of Eastman and Laird’s beloved characters, and is a fan tribute honoring those who helped propel the TMNT to their current popularity, according to the website. This exclusive event is not a “comic-con” but a reunion of celebrities and a Turtle celebration for the hardest of hardcore fans, according to the website. See portsmouthminicon.com for ticket options.

• Work with metal: Manchester Makerspace (36 Old Granite St., Manchester) is hosting an Intro to Blacksmithing course on Wednesday, May 1, from 6 to 9 p.m. Attendees will learn basic skills that translate to every facet of the craft, from forging Knightly Broadswords to stunning wrought iron gates, and will start by making coat hooks, according to the website. The non-member price of $200 includes one month of membership at Manchester Makerspace that can be activated on the day of the class, according to the same website. See manchestermakerspace.org.

• Haiku workshop: A poetry reading and open mic at the Griffin Free Public Library (22 Hooksett Road in Auburn) will be held on Saturday, April 27, at noon with a haiku workshop from local poet Michael Czarnecki where patrons are encouraged to share stories, songs, poems and any original works, according to the website. No registration is required and all ages are welcome. Visit griffinfree.org. — Zachary Lewis

The Art Roundup 24/04/18

The latest from NH’s theater, arts and literary communities

• Sweet seasons: Experience Beautiful: The Carole King Musical at the Palace Theatre (80 Hanover St. in Manchester; palacetheatre.org) which opens Friday, April 19, and runs through Sunday, May 12, with shows on Fridays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 2 and 7:30 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m. and Thursday, May 9, at 7:30 p.m. According to the event site, before she was hitmaker Carole King she was Carole Klein, a spunky young songwriter from Brooklyn with a unique voice who wrote chart-topping hits for the biggest acts in music. The book is by Douglas McGrath with words and music by Gerry Goffin & Carole King as well as Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil. Tickets cost $28 to $49.

• Symphony: Listen to Symphony NH’s presentation “New World: Dvorak and Sparr” featuring Antonin Dvorak’s “Symphony No. 9 in E Minor ‘New World’” and the world premiere of composer D.J. Sparr’s “Extraordinary Motion: Concert for Electric Harp” with poet/co-creator Janine Joseph and harpist Rosanna Moore, on Saturday, April 20, at 7:30 p.m. at the Keefe Center for the Arts (117 Elm St., Nashua). Tickets cost $10 to $63. Directly preceding the show, hosts Deanna Hoying and Roger Kalia will present a pre-concert talk looking into the music with illuminating stories, histories and insights into the repertoire and composers, according to the website. See symphonynh.org.

THEATRE PROJECT DRAMA
The New Hampshire Theatre Project (959 Islington St., Portsmouth) presents Collected Stories, a Pulitzer Prize-nominated play by Donald Margulies, directed by Monique Foote and Starring Genevieve Aichele and Amy Desrosiers through April 28 with Friday showtimes at 7:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 2:30 and 4 p.m as well as a performance on Thursday, April 25, at 7:30 p.m., according to a press release. The play explores who owns the rights to a story as a teacher and respected author mentors a young writer who decides to base her novel on her mentor’s secret affair with a famed poet, according to a press release. Tickets range from $28 to $32. Visit nhtheatreproject.org.

• From history: Get a view of history when Howard Mansfield discusses his bookI Will Tell No War Stories: What Our Fathers Left Unsaid About World War II on Saturday, April 20, at 2 p.m. at Balin Books (375 Amherst St., Somerset Plaza, Nashua, balinbooks.com). Discover a very personal story about Mansfield’s father, who was a gunner, and fellow crew members in the Eighth Air Force and the bombing missions over Germany from their base in England, according to the bookstore’s website.

• Audition: Raymond Arts is holding auditions for Mustering Courage, a new play by Don LaDuke based on the book Letters from a Sharpshooter: The Civil War Letters of Private William B. Greene, transcribed and published by William H. Hastings. Auditions are being held Wednesday, April 17, and Thursday, April 18, at 6 p.m. at Raymond High School Cafeteria (45 Harriman Hill Road, Raymond) for all roles. The call is for men and women between the ages of 16 and 60 who should be prepared for a sight reading and to discuss any potential schedule conflicts, according to a press release. Performance dates are from Friday, Aug. 2, to Sunday, Aug. 11, and rehearsals begin Sunday, April 28, according to the release. Visit facebook.com/RaymondArts.

BROADWAY SATIRE
Forbidden Broadway, a musical spoof of Broadway shows and stars, will come to Stockbridge Theatre (5 Pinkerton St., Derry; stockbridgetheatre.showare.com) on Thursday, May 2, at 7 p.m. A theatrical institution since 1982 when Gerard Alessandrini created the first edition, lampooning the Broadway shows and stars of the day, Forbidden Broadway in its newest edition includes good-natured shots at Moulin Rouge, the all-Yiddish Fiddler on the Roof, Hadestown, and this season’s dark Oklahoma! revival, along with Dear Evan Hansen, Tootsie, Beetlejuice, Frozen and a whole new generation of Broadway stars, plus some classic laughs from The Lion King, Phantom of the Opera, Les Miz and others, according to a press release. Tickets cost between $35 and $45. Call 437-5210 for tickets.

• Play: RGC (Ro Gavin Collaborative) Theatre and 3S Artspace (319 Vaughan St., Portsmouth) present Ordinary Daysby Adam Gwon on Saturday, April 20, at 7:30 p.m for all ages. Set in New York City, the play singles out four average New Yorkers whose lives end up tangled as they flounder through everyday obstacles and edge closer to connecting with each other, according to the event site. Tickets range from $25 to $50 and prices are based on a “pay-what-you-choose” model. Visit 3sart.org.

• Card game tournament: Join Double Midnight Comics in Concord (341 Loudon Road) for Flesh and Blood Pro Quest Season 5, a fantasy and action/adventure card game tournament from 1 to 5 p.m. on Saturday, April 20. Entry is $35, format is classic constructed and prizing will be in store credit, according to the event site. Flesh and Blood fans can also stop by on Wednesdays from 6:30 to 10 p.m. when DMC hosts “Wednesday Blitz,” which is one of the most popular ways to play the game and where they make sure everyone gets a chance to play, according to their website. Tickets are $5 and participants have a chance to win card packs as a prize. Visit dmcomics.com.

• D&D league: Fans of Dungeon & Dragons, a role-playing game, can stop by Double Midnight Comics in Manchester (252 Willow St.) for their Tuesday Adventurers League from 6 to 9 p.m. Adventurer’s League is a pop-in, pop-out style of game, so it’s fine to miss a couple of weeks; to see how Adventurer’s League works, check out the official DnD site, and check out the Facebook group D&D@Dmcomics to find information on tables, starting levels, and which DM’s are available, according to the same website. Visit dmcomics.com and dnd.wizards.com/adventurers-league.

ART AUCTION GALA
The Jaffrey Civic Center will be hosting its third annual Heart of the Arts Gala Art Auction on Saturday, April 27, at 6:30 p.m. This semiformal ticketed event is an opportunity for people to get dressed up and enjoy a night out while supporting local arts and culture with an artist preview reception that is free to the public on Saturday, April 20, from 5:30 to 7 p.m, according to a press release. Artists from the region contributed 76 pieces to the auction, they will receive a portion of the proceeds from the sale of their art, with the rest going to support the Civic Center, according to the same release. A select portion of the works of art will be auctioned off by artist and auctioneer Harold French, and there will also be a virtual silent auction, which will open at least a week prior to the big event. Tickets are $40 for one, $60 for two. To find the silent auction slideshow, or for tickets, visit jaffreyciviccenter.com/live-auction-items

— Zachary Lewis

Holy hits

Gregorian puts new spin on medieval music

Few experiences are more soothing than listening to Gregorian chant, a form of liturgical plainchant dating back to the ninth century. It originated in European churches and is most often performed a capella, though sometimes there’s spare instrumental accompaniment. It’s spiritual music, with songs like “Jesus, Joy of Man’s Desire” in most programs.

Taking this idiom into the modern world is Gregorian: Pure Chants in Concert, which stops in Concord on April 20, part of the German company’s first American tour. First of all, there are way more lasers and dry ice smoke than any medieval monk dreamed up, and though sacred songs dominate the show’s first half, the second is filled with today’s hits.

Songs like Seal’s “Kiss from a Rose” and Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence” are perfectly suited for the ethereal chorale. Gregorian, founded by Frank Peterson 25 years ago, has adapted hundreds of contemporary songs, even covering R.E.M.’s “Losing My Religion.” The first was Eric Clapton’s “Tears In Heaven.”

In a recent phone interview, Peterson was asked to name his favorite.

“That’s a hard question,” he said. “One is ‘Chasing Cars’ and another is ‘Bravado’ by Rush, I think that came out great … but it’s hard to say. There are a couple of Pink Floyd tracks we covered that were perfect; it’s almost like they were written for Gregorian chants.”

An easier question is whether there are any that couldn’t be transformed.

“One of the first songs that we tried was ‘Human Behavior’ by Bjork and that’s just undoable,” he said, “Until this day, we haven’t managed to get our heads around it…. To give it a twist is not always that easy.”

The idea of updating Gregorian chants for modern audiences came to Peterson in the late 1980s, when he visited a famous monastery outside Madrid. At the same time the monastery’s monks were singing Gregorian chants, he heard a drumbeat in the distance. The synchronicity gave him pause.

“I thought, ‘This is an amazing combination,’” he said. In a nearby record shop, he found a few albums. “They were dusty because nobody buys Gregorian chant records, really. I took them home, sampled them, and put them together with loops. That resulted in this project called Enigma.”

Amazingly, the world was waiting for souped-up ancient music, and Enigma ended up spending six years on the Billboard charts.

“That was the first time that we combined drum loops, modern music with a chant, and we did original songs,” he said. “Ten years later I started Gregorian, which was the other way around.”

Along the way, they’ve made an album a year; the latest is Pure Chants II.

“It’s a classical crossover record,” Peterson said of the new disc. “We do a very stripped-down version of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah,’ for example, and a really thrilling version of ‘O Fortuna,’ which is obviously classical, but … it’s quite massive and sinister as well.”

Gregorian plays arenas in Europe, but growth was gradual. First, they performed in churches, later moving to theaters. Peterson was ambitious from the outset.

“I wanted to do a show that I would like to see,” he said, “I don’t want to see eight guys standing there singing songs, [so] we did special effects, great lighting and so on. Obviously, people liked it.”

The current tour kicked off to a full house in South Carolina. Accompanying the eight-voice choir is Anita Brightman, sister of famous singer Sarah Brightman, and two supporting musicians. Peterson is happy to finally play America.

“Some of the singers have never been to the States at all, not even as tourists,” he said. “So they’re really excited about exploring your country on the tour bus and doing concerts every night. It’s wonderful for us.”

Peterson thinks Gregorian’s success reflects the times. “It has a very calming effect, and people use it for meditation,” he said, “I just like to take this vibe of the calmness and the soothing aspect of this choir sound and turn it into something that’s familiar. I think that really is ringing a nerve with a lot of people.”

Gregorian: Pure Chants in Concert
When: Saturday, April 20, 7 p.m.
Location: Capitol Center for the Arts, 44 S. Main St., Concord
Tickets: $46.75 and up at ccanh.com

Featured Photo: Gregorian. Courtesy photo.

The Art Roundup 24/04/11

The latest from NH’s theater, arts and literary communities

• Frost show rescheduled: Due to the inclement weather on Thursday, April 4, the production of Robert Frost: This Verse Business has been postponed to Sunday, May 12, at 2 p.m. at the Stockbridge Theatre (5 Pinkerton St., Derry; pinkertonacademy.org/stockbridge-theatre). Read an interview with star Gordon Clapp on page 16 of the April 4 issue of the Hippo; find the e-edition at hippopress.com.

• Four birthdays and a funeral: See the Majestic Theatre’s production of the comedy Birthday Club, in which “five women get together for their birthdays, each with her own story, to drink, celebrate, commiserate and support each other,” on Friday, April 12, at 7 p.m.; Saturday, April 13, at 2 and 7 p.m. and Sunday, April 14, at 2 p.m. at the Majestic Theatre (880 Page St. in Manchester; majestictheatre.net). Tickets cost $15 to $20.

SONGS AND STORIES
Singer-songwriter William Florian presents an evening of music and stories that is the final concert of the Concord Community Concert 2023-24 season on Saturday, April 13, at 7:30 p.m. at the the City Auditorium, according to a press release. The show will include the music of The New Christy Minstrels, Peter, Paul & Mary, John Denver, Neil Diamond, The Beatles, Pete Seeger, The Mamas & The Papas, and uplifting originals presented with amusing stories in an intimate performance, according to the press release. In a statement, Florian said “there is a lot of power behind the meanings of these songs. They continue to be relevant today, but they also bring you back to a specific time in your life. They bring up feelings and memories that make you smile.” Tickets are $20 at the door, $23 online, free for those under 18, with tickets at the door available up to 90 minutes before showtime. Visit ccca-audi.org or theaudi.org/events or call 344-4747 for more information.

• Cue the “Water Works” The upcoming exhibition at Two Villages Art Society, “Water Works,” showcases work from three artists who explore the subject of water in all its guises, from tides to tears, and opens with a free reception on Saturday, April 13, from noon to 2 p.m. at the gallery at 846 Main St. in the village of Contoocook. It will run until Saturday, May 11, according to a press release. Painter Ann Saunderson and photographers Sher Kamman and John Hoglund worked with curator Rick Lugg to create the show that will include abstract and realistic paintings and artistic photographic compositions, in vibrant colors and subtle tones, according to the same release. Refreshments will be available and music will be provided by Brad Myrick for the opening reception. Two Villages Art Society’s gallery is open, free of charge, Thursday through Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. Visit twovillagesart.org.

• Arts cafe: The Londonderry Arts Council announced in a press release the 2024 Arts Café will take place on Saturday, April 13, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Londonderry Senior Center (535 Mammoth Road, Londonderry). The Arts Café is an annual free family event with local art, music and community spirit where attendees can enjoy complimentary coffee provided by Coffeeberries of Londonderry, hot chocolate and delicious breakfast pastries while they browse the artwork and can engage with the artists, according to the press release. The event will feature live acoustic music performances as well as a 50/50 raffle to be drawn at 3 p.m. with proceeds going to supporting local art events; participants do not need to be present to win, according to the release. Visit londonderryartscouncil.org.

• Free family concert: The Nashua Public Library (2 Court St., Nashua) hosts the Nashua Chamber Orchestra on Saturday, April 13, at 2 p.m. with top student soloists in a family-friendly program with pieces from Mendelssohn, Mozart, Tschaikovsky and more. Kids will also be introduced to the instruments of the orchestra, according to their website. Listeners of all ages are invited. Visit nco-music.org.

FOUR ARTISTS
Twiggs Gallery’s (254 King St., Boscawen) first exhibit for the 2024 season, “Pushing Our Boundaries,” showcases the talent of four League of NH Craftsmen artists: woodworker Steven Hayden, textile artist Cheryl Miller, ceramist Lori Rollason, and mixed media artist and calligrapher Adele Sanborn, who collaborate as the 9th State Artisans, according to a press release. This exhibit will run until Sunday, May 19, according to the release. Hours are Thursday and Friday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. Visit twiggsgallery.org or call 975-0015.

• Four Seasons in April: Catch one or both of the candlelight concerts at the Rex Theatre (23 Amherst St., Manchester, palacetheatre.org) on Wednesday, April 17. At 6 p.m. it’s “Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and More” and at 8:30 p.m. the show is “A Tribute to Adele.” Tickets to either show cost $43 to $60. — Zachary Lewis

Body rolls & compass turns

NSquared is home for modern dance

By Zachary Lewis
[email protected]

Dance, artistic movement of the human body, is one of humankind’s oldest forms of expression throughout all cultures. NSquared Dance, a contemporary dance company based in Manchester, believes in the power of dance and advocates for this ancient art form in the Granite State.

Zackery Betty, Artistic Director of NSquared Dance, spoke about how it’s “a company that’s really driven to bring awareness [of] the joy of dance but also the art of dance and be able to share it through empowerment, encouragement for community members, for other dancers and also for audience-goers.”

NSquared Dance is a nonprofit that Zackery Betty and his husband, Nick Neagle, who is the founder and creative director, brought up from New York City. Neagle is a New Hampshire native and both Betty and Neagle are “excited to make [New Hampshire] our home,” Betty said. “You don’t need to go to this giant metropolis in order to fulfill a life for dance. It is viable within the smaller communities and the cities [in New Hampshire] that still have a lot to give.”

Betty and Neagle both graduated from Marymount Manhattan College in New York City, he said, and “[NSquared Dance] was [Neagle’s] senior thesis … to create a company, and he did the business plan … based out of Boston but then he just really transposed it to fit more in the New Hampshire area…. Through trials and tribulations we’ve now come to have a brand new outlook.”

That outlook involves a myriad of dance styles.

“We actually are pretty happy to capitalize on our different types of genres,” Betty said. “We specialize in contemporary dance and modern but we do have a very strong tap background. We also can do jazz, ballet … checkmark [all] the dance genres except for no folk or ballroom dance, that’s not our specialty.”

They do have a specialty in their choreography, which springs from unique starting points.

“Sometimes it starts with a costume. Sometimes it starts with a music inspiration and other times it will start with either a story or an idea,” Betty said.

NSquared’s next performance will be on Saturday, April 13, at the Amato Center for the Performing Arts in Milford for the New England Inspirational Dance Festival run by Saving Grace Dance Ensemble.

“The New England Inspirational Dance Festival is a celebration of dance through inspiration,” Betty said. “Saving Grace Dance has presented several different platforms for dance companies and dance crews to come perform. We’re bringing one of our works that we did in February … it’s just a duet, but it’s a duet that brings light to what possibly could bedance in another realm … a higher realm.”

Betty and Neagle are selective yet open-minded about who becomes an NSquared Dancer.

“We are a very open and encompassing group…,” Betty said. “We look through a lens of joy mixed with technique. We have a very strong technical background underneath for all of the dancers. That doesn’t necessarily mean that all of our dancers have gone to college for dance, but we do have a large group of them that have…. We look for storytelling in relation to being able to use your voice within a room as a creative and as an advocate for the art of dance. We look for someone who can bring both of those aspects into the studio and the stage.”

After the Festival, NSquared will premiere The Lavender Scare in collaboration with dancers through New Hampshire Dance Collaborative at the Rex Theatre in Manchester in June.

As it happens, at NSquared “all of our dancers were born and raised here in New Hampshire except for myself and our rehearsal director,” Betty said. “It’s really nice to have that local group of people…. It’s nice to pride ourselves that we are locally born and raised for dancers.”

NSquared Dance also holds drop-in classes for professionals and college students on Sundays at the New England School of Dance (679 Mast Road in Manchester) for $15.

“We’re excited to invest,” Betty said, “in the best stories that have helped create us and helped create our community … to put that on the stage and not have to use words for it.”

Dance Dance
New England Inspirational Dance Festival
Where: Amato Center for the Performing Arts, 56 Mount Vernon St., Milford
When: Saturday, April 13, 6 p.m.

The Lavender Scare
Where: The Rex Theatre, 23 Amherst St., Manchester
When: Thursday, June 27, 7 p.m.

More: nsquareddance.org

Featured Photo: Courtesy photo.

Art connections

Currier curates a conversation

photograph of tulips in dark vase sitting on table in corner, black and white
Robert Mapplethorpe, Tulips. Courtesy photo.

When Lorenzo Fusi joined the Currier Museum of Art in February 2023 as Chief Curator, one of his first exhibitions was “Distant Conversations.” It looked at the elective affinities between painter Ella Walker and ceramicist Betty Woodman, by displaying their works side by side.

Its success led to this year’s exhibition, which pairs painter Filippo de Pisis with photographer Robert Mappelthorpe. The latter is better known, mainly due to his often controversial photos. In a phone interview with the Hippo, Italy-born Fusi said he included de Pisis “to present and premiere the work of an Italian artist who I think is very influential and important beyond the borders of Italy.” Here’s an edited version of the interview.

Separated by years, Mappelthorpe and de Pisis never met. What do you think connects them artistically?

Mapplethorpe traveled multiple times to Italy, and I think most of these affinities originated by looking at the same work and the same monuments, the same kind of archaeological references which are basically sitting deep in Western art history. I think that most likely is the reason why there are so many uncanny similarities between the two of them.

What are some of the other elements linking them?

Each of them came from some form of prejudice. I would say de Pisis at one moment in time has been considered a bit too delicate … maybe too soft in his representation. By imposition, I think Mapplethorpe was considered too hard, too in your face, too confrontational. I think both of them have been stigmatized for this almost opposite way in which they come into art. And ironically, [via this] completely opposite or antagonist approach, they do produce work which is actually very … similar aesthetically. So I think this is not only an opportunity to discover de Pisis as an artist who has not been shown extensively in the United States, but also an opportunity to revisit Mapplethorpe’s work from a different … perspective.

They were both very purposeful in their approach.

Yes, intentional, and very deliberate in the way they wanted to represent something. If you start entering into that mindset, even the more graphic images of Mapplethorpe, and we have only one image from the more controversial portfolios … Joe Rubberman, the very famous picture of a man wearing a vinyl outfit laying down flat on a bench. It’s a very classical pose [and] although it looks very morbid and very sexual, as a matter of fact, this pose can be seen in hundreds of examples of art historical references, even though it might be very much in your face when you start looking at it…. The idea [is] to create an image that is transtemporal and it stays as an almost art historical testament. You don’t see the sexuality of it anymore. You don’t see the reference to this very murky underworld of gay life in New York in the ’70s and ’80s, you see a very iconic image of a body that could be Etruscan, could be ancient Roman or Greek. That’s where I think he stops being controversial and starts being an artist in a sense.

When did you know you were on the right track and this would be an impactful exhibition?

The Currier Museum of Art has a quite substantial collection of photography, going back to Lotte Jacobi, the first photography curator… I was surprised when I first moved to the Currier that we didn’t have any Mapplethorpe in our collection because undeniably he’s an American master of photography. I was looking at [how] we could incorporate some work by Mapplethorpe into the collection, but also … overcoming the prejudice associated with the more controversial reception of his photography. At the same time … I wanted to do something with de Pisis in the United States because he was an overlooked artist who I think should be represented. The moment of realization [came while] separately looking at the work. In my mind I had this crystallization that some of the images were very, very similar, and the more I delved into that, the more similarities I found. I think the moment for me when I became absolutely sure that it was a good exhibition or a good approach was when I showed it to a colleague of mine in Italy who immediately saw the poetry and the lyricism in this association, and he asked me to continue to do that research. Then I shared it with my team. They all saw how close the elective affinity is between these two artists, which is most surprising considering the time gap and geographical gap between the two of them. So it has not been a single moment of revelation, but multiple moments of affirmation that have happened from people who were not as yet in the project but could see immediately how powerful the association was.

Filippo de Pisis and Robert Mapplethorpe: A Distant Conversation
When: Saturday, April 13, through Sept. 2
Where: Currier Museum of Art, 150 Ash St., Manchester
More: currier.org

Featured Photo: Filippo de Pisis, Fiori di Villa di Maggio. Courtesy photo.

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