Brian Joiner, a locally established artist with a national reputation, is this year’s Duncanson Artist-in-Residence at the Taft Museum of Art. His exhibition of works that accompany the residency is newly opened, featuring a range of solutions for integrating landscape paintings and other aspects of the Taft’s permanent collection into multi-media painting constructions. The residency continues this week with an artist talk 7-9 p.m. Thursday and a youth studio workshop 1-4 p.m. Saturday.  

Matthew Shelton and Victor Strunk are sharing the exhibition space at Aisle. This Friday the exhibition closes (reception 7-10 p.m.) with a performance by Me Or The Moon, a band in which both artists belong. In his art, Shelton practices many mediums, but for this exhibition he has focused on new explorations in the lightbox format. trunk’s darkly narrative paintings and figure sculptures might tell the nightmarish visions of Ezekiel.  

The ubiquity of Installation Art in museums and galleries for decades now suggests, perhaps incorrectly, that it's a widely understood concept. But Carl Solway Gallery's latest exhibition seems to act as an introduction to Installation Art practices, with 15 artists creating piles, puddles and wall treatments that in many cases boast attractive color schemes and intricate handwork.  

The ubiquity of Installation Art in museums and galleries for decades now suggests, perhaps incorrectly, that it's a widely understood concept. But Carl Solway Gallery’s latest exhibition, Walls, Floors, & Ceilings, seems to act as an introduction to Installation Art practices. The 15 artists that comprise the exhibition have created piles, puddles and wall treatments that in many cases boast attractive color schemes and intricate handwork. Through Dec. 23.  

Art Off Pike, a Covington street festival now in its fifth year, always features a loveable array of artists, craftspeople, student artists and local characters offering food and entertainment to match the exhibitions both inside and outdoors. More than eighty creatives will peddle their wares, and I have found those at this scene to be ready and able conversationalists, with back-stories to support the art on display. This year’s festival is part of Covington’s Full Spectrum, a month-long celebration of the arts that offers eight different events throughout the month of October. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday.  

Fashion It Forward, a runway project event to benefit NKY Pride, starts at 7 p.m. At 9 p.m., fashion designer Nathan Hurst and emcee Mirage Love start off the second floor’s show. The show is filled out with designs from Toby Tyler, Lindsey Whittle, Madison Avenue Bridal, with a “his and his” wedding collection from Skeffington's Formal Wear as a bright finish. And still more: drag queens, silent auctions on jewelry and fashion items, Essencha Tea and a dance party until 1 a.m.  

In the Weston's first exhibitions of the season, Ryan Mulligan, Casey Riordan Millard and Michael Sharber reinforce the overt qualities of fantasy and illustration in one another's work while also calling attention to more understated emo-aesthetics and pseudo-spirituality. Their strength is allowing and controlling the bleed of their personal lives into their richly ambiguous terrains.  

In the Weston’s first exhibitions of its season, Ryan Mulligan, Casey Riordan Millard and Michael Sharber reinforce the overt qualities of fantasy and illustration in one another’s work, while also calling attention to more understated emo-aesthetics and pseudo-spirituality. Through Dec. 6.  

In Three Days is in its final week. The draw here is that many of the featured artists are entering their final year and the kind of work they are making now will no doubt be going through major transformation during the next eight months. Highlights include Steve Adkins’ elegant, eroded monument in plaster and glass and Patricia Murphy’s two eloquently erroneous collages of catchall compositions of cut paper, glitter, pompoms and painting. Through Sept. 18 at the Childlaw Gallery at the Art Academy.  

When I visited Evan Commander’s exhibition Future No Future at Aisle Gallery, one of its directors, Bill Renschler, commented that it might be one of their most conceptual shows yet. That may easily be true. With clear invocations of artists Chris Burden and John Baldessari, the West Coast style of Conceptual Art that continues to the present seems an appropriate topic of conversation standing before Commander’s sculptures, video, sound pieces and series of two-dimensional works. These framed works are complexities, with text and imagery etched into the glass of the frames and paintings and silver gelatin prints behind them. Closing reception: 6-9 p.m. Saturday.