Set to make lasting mark on Cleveland is the Canvas City program, which reinvigorates a 1973 civic art project called City Canvases. To honor this historical connection, an abstract mural by local artist Julian Stanczak will be recreated. The 2018 version of this initiative will bring nine more new murals to downtown Cleveland from artists Ray Domingo, Mort Epstein, Joe Hruby, Edwin Mieczkowski, John Morrell, Elijah Shaw, Phyllis Sloane, Susan Todys, and Jody Trivison.
© Kay Rosen DIVISIBILITY 2018. Photography by Field Studio.
Kay Rosen, DIVISIBILITY, 2018. Installation view at 750 Prospect Avenue. Commissioned by FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art.
This weekend marks the inaugural opening of FRONT International, Cleveland’s new Triennial for Contemporary Art. Centered around the theme “An American City,” FRONT seeks to push the boundaries of the traditional art fair by emphasizing “process, research, collaboration and long-term engagement with Cleveland and Northeast Ohio." While the theme gives the triennial a local focus, it all aims to engage larger social, political, cultural, ecological and economic issues, using Cleveland to serve as an example of how these issues function on a larger scale. With venues in Akron and Oberlin in addition to those across Cleveland and a catalog written with the Art History Department of Ohio State University, FRONT has worked to connect a large and diverse regional community. Consisting of 11 “cultural exercises,” FRONT includes exhibitions at numerous museums and galleries, large installations, public programs, artist residencies, a film program, publications and research projects.
Courtesy of Barbara Stanczak
Julian Stanczak, Marquette of Mural for Carter Manor, 1973. Commissioned by FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art.
Courtesy FRONT
Odili Donald Odita, Constellation, 2018. Sketch for mural. Commissioned by FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art.
Courtesy FRONT
Sarah Morris, One Can’t Be Aggressive and Think, 2018. Sketch for mural at 668 Euclid Avenue. Commissioned by FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art.
Indoors, the Cleveland Musem of Art presents a new installation combining commissions by Marlon de Azambuja and Luisa Lambri, as well as works on paper by Kerry James Marshall, and new works from Cleveland native Allen Ruppersberg.
FRONT International runs through September 30 in Northeast Ohio.
