Fiona Breslin reports from North Adams.The opening of the group show Invisible Cities at MASS MoCA on Saturday, April 14 felt a bit like Epcot in the Northeast. Named for Italo Calvino’s novel of the same title, Invisible Cities features two- and three-dimensional art and architecture by ten international artists whose work was inspired by urban life from Washington, DC to Phnom Penh. Throughout the evening, gallery goers and artists moved from room to room, oohing and ahhing as they poked their heads in and around fantastical structures of various shapes and sizes in an astounding range of media and materials. The exhibition includes Kim Faler's scented stud wall structure made from bars of soap; Carlos Garaicoa's illuminated rice-paper metropolis, which had gallery goers (such as architecture professor Donald Sherefkin, and Mary Coogan, above) leaning in to get a closer look; and Lee Bul's floating metal and wood sculptures that suggest a somewhat-sinister Jetsons-style airborne city. Invisible Cities remans on view at MASS MoCA through March 1, 2013.
Berkshire cultural troika Cathy Deely, board chair of Berkshire Creative, with 1Berkshire CEO Stuart Chase and gallery owner Leslie Ferrin; party people Lloyd Stanley, North Adams native Spencer Hopton, and Jamie Mohr.
Artists Mary Lum and Sandra Butler in front of Lum's paintings; artist Francesco Simeti with his sons (from left) Matteo and Sebastian, in front of his work, La citta d'oro.
MASS MoCA's Elisabeth Berg, Emily Evans, and Cora Sugarman; Artists Sopheap Pich and William Graef in front of Pich's sculpture, Compound.
Artists Amy Podmore and Frank Jackson; Wendy McWeeny tours the exhibit with her children (from left) Lucy, Charlie, Clara, and Nico.
Spencer Hopton and Buxton School teaching artist Ben Ripley; gallery goer Fred Schaffer gets down with designer Alyssa Dee Krauss.
Leslie Ferrin with artist Michael Oatman; MASS MoCA graphic designer Liz Plahn and education coordinator Rachel Heisler, with Danielle Ralys.
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Matteline deVries-Dilling, founder of Lite Brite Neon, one of the evening's honoree of this year's Upstate Benefit adresses the gala from the Caboose's caboose.
- Karen Pearson. Courtesy Art Omi.
Olana senior vice president and landscape curatorMark Prezorski, president Sean Sawyer, The evenings honoree Kristin Gamble and New York State Assemblymember Didi Barrett.
- Oxygen House Photo
