Letter from the Editor
As 2022 drew to a close and 2023 begins Buffalo was reeling from a hurricane blizzard, an event we’ll be feeling the aftershocks of for weeks, if not months, to come. Our hearts go out to the families and friends of victims of this storm, and to our community, which has witnessed a trauma unlike any in our lifetimes.
A pre-blizzard draft of this letter enumerated this year’s increasingly long list of dystopian conditions facing us at home, abroad, and in the art world, but when confronted by the feckless narcissism of our local leaders, the effects of municipal austerity and poor community provisioning, a housing market whose tenants have been abandoned by an increasing number of absentee landlords, and the hysterical need of bosses to have their employees risk their lives to get back to work, I’m starting to feel pretty sick of thinking about all the bad.
So what do we have to be optimistic about? Well, crisis always creates the ground for the new, and for the retooling of the old. Buffalo’s network of mutual aid and solidarity with each other is stronger than ever. Strike action is up around the nation. The failures of pernicious crypto “currencies” might finally lead to a reimagining of the social applications of their underlying blockchain technology. In Buffalo, at least, we have a number of exciting exhibitions to look forward to, and we have the reopening of the Buffalo AKG Art Museum this spring, along with its Cornelia Café, a name we’re so glad to see continue to be honored. The art community in Buffalo is just as cozy as can be, and the Bills have a sure spot in the playoffs, and summer will come again soon.
This eleventh issue of Cornelia looks at some of the things to hold dear in times of trouble. Florist D. Sloan rediscovers a lost artistic treasure of Buffalo in the work of Larry Bell. Dana Tyrrell addresses the conjunctions of space, light, and materials in Sarah Braman’s installation at Graycliff. Liam Mullen resonates with avant-garde organists in Toronto. Cliff Parks looks at the intersections of radical aesthetics and politics in Charlie Clough’s exhibition at Fitz Books and Waffles. And Stephanie Rohlfs digs deep into Susan Metrican’s recent show at Rivalry Projects.
Let’s take care of each other this year,
Nando Alvarez-Perez
Editor-in-Chief
Published by
The Buffalo Institute for Contemporary Art
Editor-in-Chief
Nando Alvarez-Perez
Producer
Emily Ebba Reynolds
Copy Editor
Emily E. Mangione
Design
Mark Yappueying
Interns
Way2WavyBaby
Contributing Writers
D. Sloan, Dana Tyrrell, Liam Mullen, Cliff Parks Jr., Stephanie Rohlfs
