Fri 5/21 @ 5-8PM
The term “magic realism” is best known as a literary style. But it’s been applied to visual art as well, probably best described as an offshoot of surrealism.
Strange and Lonely Spaces: Magic Realism in Cleveland 1930-1960, which opens this week at ARTneo at 78th Street Studios, looks at Cleveland painters who were embracing a dream-like style in the wake of surrealism’s 20s-30s rise in Europe.
Lawrence Waldman has curated a show featuring artists who embraced this loosely defined “style,” which dealt with internal, psychological responses to the increasingly dangerous state of the world, while their actual artistic techniques varied widely. Some of these artists, such as Clarence Carter, Raphael Gleitsmann, Carl Gaertner and Shirley Aley Campbell (who just died in 2018), will be familiar to those who follow the history of the northeast Ohio art scene. Many of the others will be discoveries, such as Paul Riba, whose work is pictured above. Some will be surprised to discover another facet of Richard Anuszkiewicz, best know for his op art.
The show opens during Third Friday and will be on view through Friday August 20. In addition to Third Fridays the gallery is open Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays @ 1:30-5pm