Twin Cities' 5 must-see art shows this weekend

Siah Armajani, Seven Rooms of Hospitality: Room for Deportees, 2017 (Courtesy the artist and Rossi & Rossi)

Siah Armajani: Follow this Line

Opening Sunday, Sept. 9

Walker Art Center (725 Vineland Pl, Mpls.)

Hours: 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Tues., Wed., Sun.; 11 a.m. - 9 p.m. Thurs.; 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. Fri., Sat.; closed Mondays

Cost: $15 adults; $13 seniors (62+); $7.50 active military; $10

The iconic Minneapolis bridge was touched up recently in preparation for the Walker Art Center's gigantic "Siah Armajani: Follow this Line" retrospective, opening Sunday. With 35 works spanning six decades, the Walker has the world's largest institutional collection of Armajani's work. The loosely arranged exhibition features more than 100 works including some of the artist's earliest pieces, created when he was a young dissident living in Tehran. It surveys the architectural focus of Armajani's work in the 1970s, '80s and '90s to his overtly political sculptures of the 2000s onward. The show will travel to New York's Met Breuer museum in February. Exhibition ends Dec 30.

PERFORMANCE & CLOSING

"A Monster Anthology" performance by Christopher E. Harrison and Laurie Van Wieren

Performance on Sat., Sept 8th, 8 p.m.

Soo Visual Arts Center (2909 Bryant Ave S #101, Mpls.)

Gallery hours: Wed. 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.; Thurs.-Fri. 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.; Sat.-Sun. 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Harrison and collaborator Laurie Van Wieren kick-off SooVac's first-ever "Collab at SooVAC" with this closing night performance. Harrison's glittery, furry, sandy and plaster acrylic paintings and sculptures of a new world mythology create the backdrop for their collaboration.. A Monster Anthology: New work by Christopher E. Harrison ends Sept. 8. More info: https://www.soovac.org/collabpartone

OPENING

"Facing America: An Exhibition of Immigrant Portraits"

Opening reception: Thurs., Sept 6^th, 6:30-9 p.m.

Capella Tower (225 S 6^th St., Mpls), East Lobby on the 2^nd floor

Hours: Weekdays only from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Artist Joe Burns painted realistic portraits of 23 immigrants who reside in the Twin Cities. His subjects include a wide range of faces, from Ilhan Omar, the first Somali-American woman to be elected state legislator to a political refugee from Zimbabwe and a kid orphaned at 5 from Ethiopia who wants to become a soccer star. The artwork in this show attempts to look at the wide range of people who make up America, and also nods to the current struggle of immigrants during the current political situation. "These portraits Joe has painted with different people from different countries and cultures show many of them in their work settings and home environments and how they are contributing to American life," said Omar. "It's a wonderful idea for these times." Exhibition ends Oct. 31.

Above: Caroline Kent, "Indiscernible Objects Pt. 1," acrylic on paper

OPENING

Caroline Kent: 'Beyond the Kármán Line'

Opening reception: Sat., Sept 8^th, 4-6 p.m.

St. Catherine G. Murphy Gallery (2004 Randolph Ave., St. Paul)

Gallery hours: Noon-6 p.m. Sat. & Sun., 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Mon.-Fri

Chicago-based artist Kent continues her space travels with this new far-out abstract painting show exploring the "Kármán Line," which designates the boundary between the Earth's atmosphere and outer space. Her wall-sized paintings engage the space itself, employing black backgrounds and various symbols that reveal an intuitive, site-specific process. Thematically, her artwork often explores the limits of language, the experience of translation and the dark, uncertain, cosmic landscapes of the beyond. Kent, who holds an MFA from the University of Minnesota, is also St. Catherine University's 2018 Amy Marie Sears Visiting Artist. Exhibition ends Oct. 20.

Above: Melissa Borman, "A Piece of Dust in the Great Sea of Matter"

OPENING

A Piece of Dust in the Great Sea of Matter and Night Vision, new work by Melissa Borman and Shannon Estlund

Opening reception: Fri., Sept 7^th, 7-10 p.m.

Rosalux Gallery (1400 Van Buren St. NE #195, Minneapolis)

Gallery hours: Sat.& Sun, 12-4 p.m.

Two artists are better than one. In this these concurrent solo exhibitions, both artists explore the physical relationship to the natural world. Borman experienced an injury six years ago that reinvigorated her exploration of the body in landscape, critically engaging artworks that presented conventional takes on women and nature. Estlund begins her exploration with the forest at night, looking at the phases of the moon over time. Exhibitions end Sept. 30.