Poets, Artists & Madmen
Atlanta’s cultural scene is a mirror image of the city itself: bustling with talent, flush with options, more than a little bit transient, certainly far-flung, but always full of surprises. There is a little bit of this over here, a little bit of that over there. There are all these seemingly disparate pieces, but without much of a unifying element.
So it goes in the cultural life of a still-growing New South city, where there will often be something old (the Fox Theatre), something new (BEEP BEEP Gallery), something borrowed (the High’s Louvre exhibit) and something that might just blow you away (take your pick). This year’s winners show that we are, indeed, a city that is alternately changing and staying the same. Sometimes it’s both; what could be hipper than hanging out at that old battle axe of a drive-in, the Starlight? How cool is it to see an artist as red-hot as a Radcliffe Bailey or a Fahamu Pecou at the traditional High Museum?
We have a population just large enough to support the gonzo stylings of spoken-word guru the Subliminator one night and a theatrical tribute to the late newspaper columnist Celestine Sibley the next. With one foot in the past and another in the future, Atlanta’s cultural scene may be a bit of a balancing act, but it’s fun to watch straddle.
— David Lee Simmons
Best Art Event BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2007 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Critics Pick
Under executive director Anne Dennington’s tutelage (which will sadly end this year when she relocates with her husband) ATLANTA CELEBRATES PHOTOGRAPHY has grown into one of the city’s most anticipated events. Founded in 1999 by a group of photo historians and artists, the annual October series of exhibitions and lectures and an increasingly interesting public art component have made a case for photography’s centrality on the Atlanta art scene. Each year the crowds grow, and the lecturers get better. This fall look for talks by 2004 Whitney Biennial vet Alec Soth, London-based Turner Prize nominee Sam Taylor-Wood and New York Times magazine deputy photo editor Kira Pollack.
less...Best Art Exhibit in a Gallery BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2007 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Critics Pick
Best Art Exhibit in a Museum BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2007 » Poets, Artists, & Madmen » Critics Pick