Daniel Kany
Boston, Saudi Arabia
Daniel Kany is an art historian, critic and writer who works at Ithra in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Daniel Kany
Lang Lang Celebrates Beloved Disney Songs With Musical and Visual Experience at Ithra
Born in China, Lang Lang began playing music and learning the piano at age 3 after he was inspired by Liszt’s “Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2,” which he first heard in an animation. “As a young child, animation sparked my imagination and transported me to other worlds,” he said. “The music was a big part of this experience and led to my lifelong love of classical music.” The classical piano virtuoso has been traveling to 10 cities around the world with a program of songs from Disney animated films.
Tanween talent: Nada Debs at Ithra
Skip to content Resources > Tanween talent: Nada Debs at Ithra This month saw the sixth edition of Tanween – the annual creativity conference held by the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture, better known as Ithra, in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Tanween has transformed over the years from a public event with a full slate of cultural entertainment into a gathering for dedicated professionals, serious students and subject matter experts from around the world.
Daniel Kany: Brunswick’s ‘Many Stitches’ mural is more harm than charm
I was alarmed and extraordinarily disappointed to have learned about the large-scale mural that is slated to go up on Fort Andross in Brunswick. I certainly have nothing against murals. We have great ones in Maine. The South Solon Meeting House is a high point of American fresco. The Portland Museum of Art and the Colby College Museum of Art feature internationally renowned large-scale murals.
Art review: Controversies, cultural shifts shaped Maine art over the past decade
Ken Jones of Farmingdale examines the labor murals hanging on the wall of the Cultural Building atrium that serves as the entryway to the Maine State Museum in Augusta in 2013. In a controversial move, the murals were removed from the Department of Labor by Gov. Paul LePage in 2011.
Art review: Wabanaki art is on its own terms at Colby
A canoe that was created as part of an intertribe cultural effort on display at Colby College.
Art review: Mapping data makes for informative art at CMCA
Dan Mills’ “Current Wars & Conflicts… (with, by continent, Belligerent and Supporter groups marked with letters, and Asylum Seekers, Internally Displaced, Refugees, Stateless, and Killed marked with a letter for every million),” 2019 acrylic on paper laid down on board, 92 x 144 inches. Photos by Luc Demers How many countries have a claim on some aspect of Antarctica? Or, better maybe, how many don’t? How many American states have towns and features with Native American names?
Art review: Fort Gorges from all angles at Arta
Andy Curran, “Fleet at Fort Gorges” Photos courtesy of the artists Abby Johnston’s untitled photo printed on linen shows Fort Gorges from a distance, largely silhouetted despite the daytime summer-scalloped sky off Portland Harbor. The fort is seen from a distance, and the image has the feel of a daguerrotype – silvery gray, flat and tiny. The darkening maybe isn’t the coming of the night, but the fading of memory. It’s a lyrical image, more dreamy than nostalgic. But it is dark by design.
Art review: Couple’s pairing creates dialogue at Icon
Ellen Golden and Duane Paluska are married. Paluska owns and operates Icon Contemporary in Brunswick, a gallery that somehow manages to be both deeply established and quirkily unique with a Maine flavor all its own.
Art review: Corey Daniels’ design-driven installation lets each work speak for itself
If you want to see art in a well-installed and well-designed setting, the best place in Maine is Corey Daniels Gallery on Route 1 in Wells, near the Ogunquit line. Daniels has a great eye, not only for art but for design objects and installation. And it is with design in mind that Daniels creates his exhibitions. Installation is an art, and no one does it better in Maine than Daniels and his director, Sarah Bouchard.
Art review: Edwige Charlot uses metaphors for hopeful message
“Letter to Sun: Land of Water” is up at the Maine Jewish Museum through July 5. Photo by J. Levesque “Of Water Where Land Grew” is a 2019 silkscreen monotype with hand-cut Chine collé on paper by printmaker artist Edwige Charlot. The imagery connects directly to the name: The center of the piece features simplified blue plant forms with a green sprig of similar leafy shapes sprouting up near its top.
Art review: Get to know the Slab City crew at Rockland ‘Rendezvous’
Red Grooms, “Slab City Rendezvous,” 1964, oil on canvas with wood and cardboard, 56 1/2 x 60 inches, Collection of the Farnsworth Art Museum, Gift of the Drs. Robert N. Mayer and Debra E. Weese-Mayer Family Collection, 2019.1 © 1964 Red Grooms/Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York. Maine has long been a place where artists – particularly New York City-based artists – would come to work during the summer.
Art review: Jenny Brillhart’s paintings deserve a closer look, literally
“Easel Holding the Materials; Noonday (Overcast),” by Jenny Brillhart Photos by Mary Dowling We are looking at a ceiling fan. It’s silently still. Light seems to be ebbing in softly from an open window to the right. The wispy shadows on the white ceiling set the space. Two of the fan’s blades are cropped by part of a hanging fluorescent fixture, a blocky and industrial touch that gives the bottom of the canvas a crisp insistence, stealing any homey edge from the curves of the white fan’s blades.
Art review: Culture and the environment intersect in ‘Material Resources’
A view of the installation, including “Basket,” 2015, etched birchbark by Barry Dana, American, born ca. 1958 and “Rondo,” 1981, barbed wire, metal rods, and wire by Deborah Butterfield, American, born 1949. Photo by Dennis Griggs/Courtesy of Bowdoin College Museum of Art A dried ear of corn hangs inside a wire-mesh cylinder mounted on the wall over a wide metal square. Visually, it’s quirky enough to draw you in.
Art review: Henry Wolyniec makes abstract art that’s relatable
An assortment of Henry Wolyniec’s abstract works in “Relief” at Speedwell Projects. Photos by Kyle Dubay/Courtesy of Speedwell Projects We tend to think of music as an art of harmonies. But, really, it’s about managing dissonance. Without dissonance, there is no motion or development.
Art review: Nathaniel Meyer’s vivid twist on the Maine landscape
“Taraxacum,” Nathaniel Meyer, 24” x 36”, oil on canvas Photos courtesy of Elizabeth Moss Galleries I like paintings that pop. Actually, I like all sorts of paintings, including quietly meditative works. But paintings that pop – the ones that sort of leap out at you visually – are at the top of my list. Nathaniel Meyer’s paintings now on view in “Arcadian Shores: Restoration of the Golden Age” at Elizabeth Moss Galleries are this kind of vivid.
Art review: Show of self-portraits takes on the subject of identity
The downstairs gallery at the Colby Museum of Art is a soaring study in black and white. “Study” is one of those words that can shoot off in all directions, and in this case, it’s supposed to. The gallery is painted black and white. It features black-and-white photography, mostly mounted in black frames with white borders. And the artist works determinedly in a palette of black with a bit of white and gray.
Art review: ‘Sense of Sight’ shows why photographers are going retro
Founded by longtime Maine photographer and educator Joe Della Valle, Safelight is a darkroom studio dedicated to analog film where anyone – from pros to amateurs – can process film and make silver gelatin prints from negatives as large as 8-by-10 inches. The work of those who use the studio is on display in an exhibit at the Portland Chamber of Commerce called “Sense of Sight.” To be clear: I consider silver gelatin printing an art in itself.
Art review: Water churns and melts in CMCA’s 2 major exhibits
Installation by Ellis-Beauregard fellows Wade Kavanaugh and Stephen Nguyen. Photo by Daniel Kany The entire main gallery of the Center for Maine Contemporary Art has been transformed into a churning sea of wood. We enter on a boardwalk, either of two paths that intersect at the center of the room. But the boardwalk is not to be trusted.
Art review: Water churns and melts in CMCA’s two major exhibits
Installation by Ellis-Beauregard fellows Wade Kavanaugh and Stephen Nguyen. Photo by Daniel Kany The entire main gallery of the Center for Maine Contemporary Art has been transformed into a churning sea of wood. We enter on a boardwalk, either of two paths that intersect at the center of the room. But the boardwalk is not to be trusted.
Art review: Bowdoin museum is right place for Bauhaus tribute
It makes sense that Harvard is mounting a major centennial celebration of the Bauhaus. The founder of the German art school, architect Walter Gropius (1883-1969), took over the architecture program at Harvard in the late 1930s after the Nazis’ pressure to shut the Bauhaus down. But it also makes sense that Bowdoin College would mount a show. James Bowdoin founded the first college art collection in America intended for teaching.
Art review: Bowdoin museum is right place for Bauhaus tribute
It makes sense that Harvard is mounting a major centennial celebration of the Bauhaus. The founder of the German art school, architect Walter Gropius (1883-1969), took over the architecture program at Harvard in the late 1930s after the Nazis’ pressure to shut the Bauhaus down. But it also makes sense that Bowdoin College would mount a show. James Bowdoin founded the first college art collection in America intended for teaching.
Art review: Contemporary art of Caribbean highlights fraught history
Now on view at the Portland Museum of Art, “Relational Undercurrents: Contemporary Art of the Caribbean Archipelago” is an unlikely lead show for a major Maine museum. Just considering the questions of audience, venue and fit, however, begins to unpack the myriad worthy conversations inspired by the exhibition. Organized by the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, California, “Relational Undercurrents” is supported by the PMA’s “Art for All” initiative.
Art review: 'On Books!' is a smart, subtle take on the art of literature
The book arts program of the University of Southern Maine is the center of a lively regional sub-community of the arts that has a way of pulling together strong and engaging shows. “On Books!” is another poignant chapter in this ongoing conversation.
Art review: Engine's 'Rumpus' is inclusive fun
The open art show in downtown Biddeford ranges in quality but includes some gems. Engine’s annual “Rumpus” is an open art show. That means whatever shows up is in. I love this kind of thing in places with a real art heartbeat. Engine, located in downtown Biddeford, is the center of a significant art community. So, once again, “Rumpus” is fun. Yes, it’s mixed (to say the least), but plenty of gems sparkle through, and seeing kids’ art next to professionals’ can be interesting and entertaining.
Art review: Tonee Harbert creates memories with his grainy photographs
Tonee Harbert’s “Ground Signals,” at Speedwell Projects in Portland, is another masterful exhibition featuring 20 black-and-white prints by the Portland-based photographer. Harbert’s works are mostly empty and lonely landscapes, driven by their graininess toward the soft aesthetic of pictorialist photography. But there are unusual twists and depth to Harbert’s handling of his scenes. They reach out to the viewer with an unexpected sense of the subjective.
Art review: Greenhut exhibit shows bleak future for planet, but bright one for gallery
Portland has seen a recent blossoming of art venues, but the gallery scene has shifted to Rockland, which has more than 20 commercial galleries. Portland’s growing strength includes multiple museums, academic galleries, nonprofit kunsthalles and a few venues such as Speedwell Projects and Able Baker Contemporary that, from the front, look like galleries but act behind the scenes more like nonprofits.
Art review: Skillfully curated, Able Baker exhibition explores 'Perfection'
“Perfection” is a heady topic for an art exhibition. But Able Baker Contemporary in Portland has made an excellent show by presenting works that orbit the subject visually and conversationally, rather than trying to own it theoretically. Particularly impressive is the what curator Hilary Irons has left out. The potentially vast list of exclusions begins with traditional high-focus realism and hard-edged geometrical abstraction, but it also includes photography and fine craft.
Art review: Katy Helman navigates the aftermath of loss in 'Sink of Swim'
Katy Helman’s “Sink or Swim” at Frank Brockman Gallery is a show of about 50 insistently lively paintings – thick, direct and poignantly present. About 15 of the works are painted on paper with boldly loud colors. These have a graphic, almost graffiti-like feel, with strong cartoon-style forms (cartoons combine style and legibility) along with words and phrases. The other works are all heavily painted, often with multiple canvases attached to the front of a larger support.
Art review: By including work of mentors and mentees, MFA shows Ansel Adams' influence
There are more venues and worthy shows in Maine then we could possibly cover, so this column rarely has reason to venture out of the state. But a blockbuster Ansel Adams exhibit as close to Portland as Bangor – though in the opposite direction – seems worthy of making an exception to visit Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. Adams (Feb. 20, 1902-April 22, 1984) was arguably America’s most important photographer with an oversize influence on how we now see the contemporary landscape art.
Art review: Drawings from around the world come together, mostly, at MECA
“Drawing Now” at the Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art in Portland features the work of the Drawing Collective, a group of artists from 11 countries founded by Portland artist Munira Naqui, along with a few local guests. This is the Drawing Collective’s first exhibition in the United States following shows in Paris and Sydney. “Drawing Now” was co-curated by Naqui and Bruce Brown. Josefina Auslender, graphite and colored pencil on Aches paper.
Art review: Bates exhibit an exquisite look at the geological age of humanity
“Anthropocenic: Art about the Natural World in the Human Era,” now on view at the Bates Museum of Art in Lewiston, is a visually exciting and conceptually brilliant exhibition. The show is fittingly diverse in terms of installation, and that matches the aesthetic and energy of work. Based on the geological term for the current epoch that is largely defined by the presence of humanity, “Anthropocenic” was organized by museum director Dan Mills. It is a model of curatorial excellence.
Art review: Three solid solo shows at the Maine Jewish Museum
The Maine Jewish Museum in Portland has settled into a rather busy routine of mounting three concurrent shows. The current trio is rich and varied. And, as with most of Maine art doyenne and museum curator Nancy Davidson’s shows, they are handsome and broadly accessible. The main gallery – the entry hall of the Portland temple – is loaded with Berri Kramer’s collages and encaustics. The other first floor gallery features masterful color prints by Jane Banquer.
Art review: Regrets, he has a few, but it was a very good year for Maine art
Looking back, 2018 was a robust year for art in Maine. It’s not surprising that artists are energized during a time of caustic political division. But the shape of the public view of political art in a place like Maine is not obvious, particularly since venues can’t respond in real time. There were far too many excellent shows I didn’t review. Considering the size of the state and the growing number of quality venues, this is a vast list.
Art review: In every medium, Isamu Noguchi exudes greatness
Sculpture is tough. It’s hard to design. It’s hard to make. And it’s become harder and harder to see. At least, it has become much more difficult to see on the terms sculptors have long made their work. While I am a huge fan of modernism and the possibilities it unleashed, one of its echoes was a shift away from the figure. That alone might not sound like much, but the human figure is a unique standard.
Art review: In every medium, Isamu Noguchi exudes greatness
Sculpture is tough. It’s hard to design. It’s hard to make. And it’s become harder and harder to see. At least, it has become much more difficult to see on the terms sculptors have long made their work. While I am a huge fan of modernism and the possibilities it unleashed, one of its echoes was a shift away from the figure. That alone might not sound like much, but the human figure is a unique standard.
Art review: Tessa O'Brien takes a leap forward at Elizabeth Moss
Tessa Greene O’Brien has been showing her art in Maine for more than the past dozen years. She’s a good curator (I’ve written about her shows) and a strong painter. She’s given me reason to keep her on my watch list. But O’Brien’s current show at Elizabeth Moss Galleries – “Clear Blue Morning” – is well above her expected trajectory. We assume excellence by artists who have long occupied the top tier, but it’s particularly exciting when emerging artists make a step forward beyond expectations.
Art review: The 2018 CMCA Biennial is good and messy
Established in 1978, the Center for Maine Contemporary Art’s biennial is the oldest and most prestigious juried show in Maine. Its 2018 iteration is another compelling action pushing north the compass of contemporary regional art. This year’s jurors were Kate Green, the guest director of Marfa Contemporary, and Robin K. Williams, a curatorial fellow of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Detroit.
See migration, its ‘traces, tracks and pathways,’ at MECA
The stench of death is the blossom twig of empathy for “Making Migration Visible / Traces, Tracks & Pathways” now on view at the Maine College of Art’s Institute of Contemporary Art in Portland. That’s always been the obvious avenue of Western Art since the Catholic Church felt the need, almost two millennia ago, to save all of our souls by setting us on the only proper path in its eyes. Tombs, memorials and beacons of warning were always the norm.
See migration, its 'traces, tracks and pathways,' at MECA
The stench of death is the blossom twig of empathy for “Making Migration Visible / Traces, Tracks & Pathways” now on view at the Maine College of Art’s Institute of Contemporary Art in Portland. That’s always been the obvious avenue of Western Art since the Catholic Church felt the need, almost two millennia ago, to save all of our souls by setting us on the only proper path in its eyes. Tombs, memorials and beacons of warning were always the norm.
Art review: Margo Halverson's everyday life
In her exhibition “If I had Known” on view through Jan. 27 at the Maine Museum of Photographic Arts at the Glickman Family Library at the University of Southern Maine in Portland, Margo Halverson presents views of her daily home life – kids, dog, house, etc. – shot with the iPhone that she, like so many of us, always carries.
Art review: Daniel Minter's 'Malaga Island': Atrocity and empathy
Atrocity is others. But not always. Sometimes art takes on subjects that are bigger than the scope of an individual artist. We see this, for example, in art about the Holocaust. But we know the tragic history, so any given work has a broad enough context for us to balance the individual subjectivity of the artist with the societal and cultural monstrosity they seek to represent.
Art review: Alison Hildreth's darkness: Beauty in the descent
Featuring maplike works and a hanging glass installation, Alison Hildreth’s exhibition “Flight” at Speedwell Projects is a meditation on depth and descent. In the past, Hildreth’s paintings and drawings have projected an archeological depth. Her works on paper have tended to show topological scenes, such as a peninsula or river valley, with shifting and fading markers like fortresses, roads or railroads.
Art review: Felt, even in fashion, makes for fine art
Visual intelligence is the key to visual art: optical interest, design excellence, unexpected textures, compelling color, the creative use of materials, witty images, entertaining theatricality, persuasive messaging, impressive illusion and so on.
Art review: Bowdoin art/sound installation a neat idea, but ‘wanding’ found wanting
Now on view at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art is a drawing installation – “Let’s Get Lost” by Linn Meyers – in conjunction with an interactive sonic installation titled “Listening Glass” by the team of Rebecca Bray, James Bigbee Garver, Josh Knowles and Meyers.
Art review: Bowdoin art/sound installation a neat idea, but 'wanding' found wanting
Now on view at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art is a drawing installation – “Let’s Get Lost” by Linn Meyers – in conjunction with an interactive sonic installation titled “Listening Glass” by the team of Rebecca Bray, James Bigbee Garver, Josh Knowles and Meyers.
Art review: 'Indigestion' depicts the world through smartphone screens
“Indigestion” is Monroe artist Kenny Cole’s playful starting steps into an artistic exploration using accidental images made by blindly cutting glossy magazines into 3.5-by-2-inch rectangles – roughly the size of an iPhone screen. The show at Buoy in Kittery is anchored by a large, two-sided shaped canvas – “The World on Steroids” – that hangs on hinges on a center wall cut so that it can be viewed from either side.
Art review: Maine Jewish Museum goes full circle with 2 solo shows
The two solo exhibitions now on view (but soon ending) at the Maine Jewish Museum are connected with astonishing directness: Virtually all of the works by both artists feature a single circle. Joan Busing’s works are monoprints of full moons. Sara Crisp’s works are encaustic paintings based on Eastern sacred geometry, and many feature inclusions from the natural world, such as bird bones, leaves or insect wings. Based on a circular form on a square panel, they are mandalas.
ART REVIEW: 'Mill-ennial' a terrific work of art
Featuring about 50 works by 20 artists connected to Saco, Biddeford and Old Orchard Beach, the 2012 “Mill-ennial” is the Saco Museum’s second biennial of local contemporary art. Works by six of the artists are displayed across the river in Engine’s space on Main Street in Biddeford.
Art Review: Good neighbors - Quotes and photos at UNE
“A Gateless Garden: Quotes by Maine Women Writers,” now on view at the University of New England’s Portland Art Gallery, is a strong and thoughtful exhibition. The show features 53 or 106 works – depending on how you choose to divide up the bifurcated objects. Floating in each frame is a photograph by Kerry Michaels and then a quotation by a Maine woman writer printed by letterpress on German etching paper. I had my doubts when I heard about the show in advance.
Art Review: With photos, Johanna Moore documents a river revived
Photography is generally seen as cross-sectional. Most photos are discreet moments in time, snapshots. Art photos are pictorial, and they aspire to be instant painting, or so say our assumptions. Photos also are sources of data that show us what’s beyond the lens. They can reveal things we can’t see with the naked eye. But photography isn’t limited to being a slice of this or that. It can be a feast of time.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Daniel
Contact Daniel, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack