Required Reading
‣ Calling all haters! This critical, refreshing review of a dance piece in London by Louise Levene in the Financial Times may renew your faith in performance criticism: The weakest of the four finalists was Larsen C, by Athens-based Christos Papadopoulos, which…
Alexis Rockman Paints Humanity’s Final Season
There’s something about the tiny image of death as a sickle-wielding skeleton astride a Norwegian rat shitting out a yellow plume over the city of Naples that comically, movingly, and perfectly captures the way a pandemic can lay waste to…
Master Printmaker Krishna Reddy Never Stopped Learning
This article is part of a series focusing on underrepresented craft histories, researched and written by the 2024 Craft Archive Fellows, and organized in collaboration with the Center for Craft. The late Indian-American printmaker Krishna Reddy was a daring artist and lifelong educator who…
Jeffrey Gibson’s Venice Biennale Show Is Heading to LA
About a year after becoming the first Native artist to ever singularly represent the United States at the Venice Biennale, Jeffrey Gibson will make his solo museum debut in Southern California this spring at the Broad Museum in Downtown Los…
Brent Sikkema’s Husband Charged With Hiring His Killer
Federal investigators have filed charges against the husband of New York gallerist Brent Sikkema for allegedly hiring his killer, the United States attorney’s office in Manhattan announced today, February 11. The news comes just over a year after the prominent…
Is Female Anatomy Too “Controversial” for the American Quilter’s Society?
The American Quilter’s Society refused to show two artworks in an exhibition centered around the color red after claiming they could be controversial, according to the artists and the Studio Art Quilt Association (SAQA), the nonprofit that organized the show….
Five NYC Art Shows to See This Week
Complex, compelling, and fantastical are just some of the words that could describe the shows below. Plan on making time to thoroughly take in these thought provoking and visually engaging shows, ranging from previously unseen and eminently human works by…
How Craft Helps Chamorros Reconnect to the Ocean
This article is part of a series focusing on underrepresented craft histories, researched and written by the 2024 Craft Archive Fellows, and organized in collaboration with the Center for Craft. From seashell and tortoiseshell body adornments to carving, seafaring, and tool-making, the unique beauty…
$6M Banana Buyer Justin Sun Sues David Geffen Over $78M Sculpture
Crypto magnate Justin Sun, who purchased Maurizio Cattelan’s duct-taped banana “Comedian” (2019) in November for $6.2 million, is now suing billionaire DreamWorks co-founder and art collector David Geffen for the return of a $78.4 million sculpture that Sun says was…
Before Black, There Was Blue
Human beings have a tendency toward collection. I have a theory that this desire to hang onto things is more true in times of crisis, but lately, I’ve begun to believe that we also have a tendency toward crisis itself….
The Wobbly Humanity of Cy Twombly
Upon encountering Cy Twombly’s monumental nine-part polyptych “Untitled” (1971), I thought about the dark, domineering monolith that appears early on in Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey. The object is of such unprecedented sublimity that it jump-starts the…
Prettiness Is Political for Marie Laurencin
“Why should I paint dead fish, onions and beer glasses? … Girls are so much prettier,” Marie Laurencin once told a Time magazine reporter. This often-repeated quote suggests that the late artist made pretty pictures — and the pastel-hued images…
We Are Also the Darkness After the Big Explosion
What does a “black consciousness of space” look like? Does it form a positive or a negative, or elide the two? And how about the tension or contrast between a “racialized, propertied world and heterogenous Black and Indigenous imaginaries”? These…
Fareed Armaly Rejects German Prize, Citing “Disturbing Trend of Censorship”
American artist, curator, and author Fareed Armaly has declined the 2025 Käthe Kollwitz Prize from the Academy of the Arts (ADK) in Berlin, citing the “reactionary shift in official cultural policies” targeting advocates for Palestinian rights in Germany over the…
Covering Up the Present in a Ghost Forest
At the core of identity in the United States is forgetting. The process of assimilation tells immigrants that the path of least resistance is to smooth their differences into imperial classifications. “Like an invisible disease, assimilation is at its best…
Union Decries Expected Layoffs at Brooklyn Museum
The Brooklyn Museum is planning to implement layoffs in light of a growing budget deficit, according to Local 1502, a branch of the District Council 37 union, which represents workers at the institution including art handlers, maintainers, and curatorial assistants….
Tracing the Peacock Chair’s History From Manila to Nashville
Blair Stapp, “Huey Newton, Black Panther Minister of Defense” (1968), lithographic ink on paper with linen backing (image public domain via the Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture) This article is part of a…
Carmen Herrera Becomes First Latine Artist to Enter White House Collection
A painting by Cuban-born artist Carmen Herrera acquired under Former First Lady Jill Biden has become the first work by a Hispanic or Latine artist represented in the White House’s permanent art collection. “Dia Feriado (Holiday)” (2011), a green and…
The Biting Satire of Eleanor Antin’s Photography
LOS ANGELES — A king, a nurse, and two ballerinas walk into a bar. Or, more accurately, they walk into Eleanor Antin’s 1970s Persona series of photographs and drawings, currently on view at Diane Rosenstein Gallery, along with a few…
Garage Sale Portrait Is Not a Van Gogh Original, Museum Says
The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam says a portrait found in a Minnesota garage sale is not an original by the Dutch master. After an antique collector discovered the painting in 2016, the work was purchased in 2019 by LMI…
11 Shows to See in Los Angeles, February 2025
Last month, the Los Angeles art world was deeply affected by the wildfires that destroyed homes and businesses in the Pacific Palisades and Altadena. The art community pulled together and acted fast, establishing support networks and fundraisers to help those…
Chief Curator of the Anchorage Museum Awarded Marica Vilcek Prize in Art History
Francesca Du Brock, chief curator of the Anchorage Museum, has been named the winner of the 2025 Marica Vilcek Prize in Art History for her holistic and comprehensive approach to exhibition curation. An educator and artist, Du Brock’s work embodies…
Reviving Tsimshian Weaving With Threads of Community
This article is part of a series focusing on underrepresented craft histories, researched and written by the 2024 Craft Archive Fellows, and organized in collaboration with the Center for Craft. It’s a warm day in October 2023 in Shelton, Washington. The sky is blue…
Walker Youngbird Foundation’s $15,000 Grant Elevates Emerging Native Artists
The Walker Youngbird Foundation announces its second grant for early and emerging Native artists, offering opportunities for growth, visibility, and recognition to creators blending tradition and innovation. Applications close February 19. The selected artist will receive a $15,000 grant over…
Museums Scramble to Grasp Impact of Trump’s DEI Mandate
President Donald Trump’s executive order (EO) mandating all federal agencies to end Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs is rippling throughout the arts and cultural sector as institutions either roll back initiatives or scramble to determine whether their programs are…
Montgomery Mayor Calls for Removal of “Politicized” Billboard Artwork
Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed has requested the removal of a billboard artwork featuring a historic photograph from Selma’s infamous “Bloody Sunday” overlaid with the Trump campaign slogan “Make America Great Again.” The image had captured the attention of the conservative…
Artists and Galleries Decry Sale of Iconic Chelsea Building
Contemporary art gallery owner and philanthropist Gloria Naftali spent much of her life turning a Chelsea warehouse at 508-534 West 26th Street into an affordable home for artists, photographers, and galleries and assured its tenants it would remain that way…
Excavating Craft Histories Through Archives
Craft Archive Fellowship Virtual Program: Archives in ActionThursday, February 27, from 5 to 6:30pm (EST) Join the Center for Craft and Hyperallergic for a free online presentation and roundtable discussion with this year’s Craft Archive Fellowship cohort. Moderated by Lakshmi…
10 Shows to See in Upstate New York This February
Valentine’s Day is an annual reminder that affection for others and personal passion are vital aspects of living creatively amid challenging times. The vamp of art leads the way into February’s crop of exhibitions in Upstate New York. Kick off…
Pratt Manhattan Gallery Celebrates 10 Years of the Black Dress Project
Coco Mitchell / Photographer: Anthony Artis / Make-up: Imani Rose / Fashion: Adrian Alicea On Friday, January 31, Pratt Manhattan Gallery will open Black Dress II: Homage, an expansive group exhibition celebrating 10 years of the Black Dress Project. Curated…
Artist Graham Nickson, Who Led New York Studio School, Dies at 79
Artist Graham Nickson, who led the New York Studio School (NYSS) in Manhattan for more than half of its history as a passionate advocate for drawing and multi-faceted arts education, died on January 28 in his home in New York…
Spring Break Art Show Cancels Upcoming LA Edition
LOS ANGELES — The Spring Break Art Show has cancelled its upcoming LA fair, which was scheduled to take place from February 18 through 23, concurrently with Frieze LA, Felix, The Other Art Fair, and the newcomer Santa Monica Post…
Smithsonian Institution to Shutter Diversity Offices
The Smithsonian Institution reportedly told staff members today, January 28, that it is closing its office for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) to comply with an executive order (EO) issued by President Donald Trump last week. The controversial order requires…
Society of the Spectacle” at the International Center of Photography
The career of photographer Weegee (born Arthur Fellig, 1899–1968) is often divided into two distinct phases, one gritty, the other glamorous. Celebrated for his sensationalist images of crime scenes, fires, car crashes, and the onlookers who witnessed these harrowing events…
15 Months of Protest Art for Gaza
Over the last 15 months, artists have mobilized against Israel’s attacks on civilians in Gaza, which organizations including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have determined to be consistent with genocide. After multiple failed attempts, Israel and Hamas agreed to…
Julia Warhola Was an Artist in Her Own Right
Duane Michals, “Untitled (Andy Warhol and Mother)” (1958), gelatin silver print, 8 x 10 inches (20.3 x 25.4 cm) (photo by Duane Michals, courtesy DC Moore Gallery, New York) A little more than a mile south of Northside Scrap Metals,…
Crafting Resistance Through Masquerade
Egúngún Àgbà (elder) masquerade performer from West Africa with horns that hint at a familial lineage of hunters or warriors. (photo by and courtesy Margaret Drewal) This article is part of a series focusing on underrepresented craft histories, researched and…
Nude Drawings of Hindu Gods Seized From Indian Gallery
Two drawings by the renowned late Indian artist Maqbool Fida (M.F.) Husain at the Delhi Art Gallery (DAG) in New Delhi’s Connaught Place were seized on court orders on January 22, after a visitor affiliated with the city’s court system…
A New Movement to Free Social Media From Oligarchs
Between Mark Zuckerberg’s dissolution of Meta’s fact-checking program and Elon Musk loosening hate speech and disinformation moderation on X — and making an apparent Nazi salute after President Trump’s inauguration earlier this week — the dystopian state of much of…
Required Reading
Do you ever feel like a plastic trash bag in the shape of Elon Musk? No? Good. This fitting effigy by yet-unknown makers appeared in Milan’s Piazzale Loreto on Tuesday, the day after the tech menace’s Nazi salute onstage at…
National Gallery of Art Ends Diversity Programs
The National Gallery of Art (NGA) in Washington, DC, is ending its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs as a result of an executive order (EO) issued by President Donald Trump on Monday, January 20. The executive order terminates such…
Tamara Lanier’s Fight With Harvard to #FreeRenty
Book Talk: Tamara Lanier’s Fight With Harvard to #FreeRentyWednesday, February 12, at 8pm (EST) / 5pm (PST) At this online event co-presented by Hyperallergic and ICA LA, activist Tamara Lanier and Hyperallergic’s Editor-in-Chief Hrag Vartanian will discuss From These Roots…
Fire Breaks Out in Tribeca Building Housing Two Art Galleries
Two art galleries in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood were affected when a fire broke out in a building on Wednesday night, January 22. Just before midnight, the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) responded to a fire originating from the cellar…
13 Artists Perform Selfhood in the Age of Alienation
The opening salvo of Sin Fatigue, Nadine Sarriedine gallery’s inaugural show, is a fortune cookie message rendered in textile by Erin M. Riley: “You never hesitate to tackle the most difficult problems,” along with a selection of lucky numbers. The…
Jo Baer, Painter of “Radical Figuration,” Dies at 95
Jo Baer in 2020 (© Yaël Temminck) The painter Jo Baer, whose artistic path journeyed from hard-edged minimalism to self-described “radical figuration,” died yesterday, January 21, in Amsterdam at the age of 95. The news of her death was announced…
Comment on How Will Meta’s New Content Policy Affect Artists? by Christopher Pelham
Thanks! FB has repeatedly flagged attempts to share this article, lol.
Artists Wanted to Make a Pro-Palestine Statement. The Brooklyn Museum Said No.
Visitors to the Brooklyn Museum this Saturday, January 18, may have met some of the artists included in one of the institution’s current exhibitions, but not under normal circumstances. At the entrance, several of them were handing out flyers with…
The Haunted Women of Else Hagen
OSLO — Look closely at the paintings of Else Hagen and beneath the rainbow of festive color lurk clouds of feminist angst. A mother ignores her playing children as warplanes hover outside. A woman in garter belts glares in the…
Linda Mussmann’s Art Is a Labor of Love
HUDSON, New York — To talk about New Work By Linda Mussmann and Spaces in Places at Time & Space Limited (TSL) is to tell the story of TSL, and to do that, we must start with the heart of…
The Sanest Response to Insane Times
Subscribe to our newsletter Success! Your account was created and you’re signed in.Please visit My Account to verify and manage your account. An account was already registered with this email. Please check your inbox for an authentication link. We rely…
When Elizabeth Catlett Sculpted Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a federal holiday commemorating the Civil Rights leader and peace activist, has taken place on the third Monday of January since 1983. This year, it falls on the same day as the inauguration of president-elect…
Why Is the National Gallery of Art Hosting a Trump-Vance Fundraiser?
The National Gallery of Art (NGA) in Washington, DC, is slated to host a fundraising dinner organized by the Trump Vance Inauguration Committee ahead of the president-elect’s official swearing-in on Monday, January 20, according to fundraising documents obtained by the…
LA Fairs Move Forward, Calling on Art World’s Support
LOS ANGELES — As the wildfires that devastated large swaths of Los Angeles last week are gradually being contained, thousands of Angelenos are beginning to survey the damage and looking ahead at the long road to recovery. For both LA’s…
NYC Art Events to Support LA Fire Survivors
Fundraising efforts have sprouted across the United States to support Angelenos displaced amid the unprecedented destruction from the devastating fires over the last 10 days. This weekend, two art-oriented events right here in New York City have emerged to raise…
7 NYC Shows and a Trove of Online Art to See Right Now
Whether you’re trying to beat the winter blahs or enjoy the rare moments of midwinter sunshine, there’s plenty of compelling art to see in New York City’s museums and galleries. Prepare for the overlap of Inauguration and MLK Day with…
David Lynch, Conjurer of the Uncanny, Dies at 78
David Lynch, the multi-hyphenate film director and artist known for classics both cult and traditional, from Blue Velvet (1986) to Mulholland Drive (2001), has died at the age of 78. His death was confirmed by his family on Facebook today,…
Required Reading
Editor’s Note: The following post contains mentions of sexual assault. To reach the National Sexual Assault Hotline, call 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or visit online.rainn.org. ‣ Netflix recently adapted a beloved novel by the late Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez — “Gabo” to his devotees…
The Crossword Grid’s Geometry of Memory
Cameron Granger, “1st Movement— Cartography Catastrophe” (2022), silkscreen on paper with pen, 22 x 30 inches (~55.9 x 76.2 cm) (photo by Jake Heller; all photos courtesy the artist) It’s fitting that Cameron Granger was born and raised in Euclid,…
The Unfathomable Loss of Artistic Heritage in Altadena
LOS ANGELES — Among all the destruction brought on by the unprecedented wildfires still burning across parts of LA County, the overwhelming devastation in Altadena is almost unfathomable. Located 14 miles northwest of downtown, Altadena is a remarkably diverse, solidly…
Pepe Imagines a Hippo’s Perspective on Life
Pepe is hard to put into words. The enigmatic film exemplifies brilliant filmmaking yet fumbles in its esotericism. In the broadest terms, Pepe is a film about a real-life Colombian hippopotamus’s final thoughts as he gains the ability to recount…
NEA Awards $36.8M in Grants to 1,400+ Artists and Orgs
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced $36.8 million in grants to 1,474 individual artists, organizations, and museums across the United States today, January 14, in the first round of its Fiscal Year 2025 awards. Last year, the NEA…
How Los Angeles Created the Vocabulary of Its Destruction
When the Hollywood sign was first unveiled in 1923, it read “Hollywoodland.” Surrounded by coastal sage scrub, chaparral, and invasive and highly flammable eucalyptus trees, that kitschy, iconic, and slightly absurd marker consisting of 50-foot-tall letters spread across nearly 500 feet atop…
Uncovered Medieval Tattoos Flesh Out a Misunderstood Practice
Unrecorded artist’s female figurine with hair in the “Hathor Style” and markings that appear to be tattoos from Egypt’s Middle Kingdom (c. 1850–1750 BCE), faience and paint, 5 inches (12.7 cm) (image public domain via the Metropolitan Museum of Art)…
How Friars Changed the Art of the Renaissance
Simone Martini, “Christ on the Cross,” detail (1340); Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University (photo Daniel Larkin/Hyperallergic) Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300–1350, an examination of Siena’s breathtaking mix of blood and gold at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is long…
10 Old Art Books to Read in 2025
Even though my poor shelf is sagging under the weight of overdue library books and unread novels, I cannot resist a “most-anticipated” list when I see one. But this month, our editors decided to rifle through copies of old art…
University of Notre Dame Offers Fully-Funded MFA With Generous Stipend
Deepen your practice as an artist within a diverse and nurturing community of outstanding faculty and fellow graduate students. Throughout the MFA program you’ll explore new techniques, refine your artistic philosophy, and gain teaching experience at one of the top…
Find Awe and Inspiration in Thousands of Public Domain Artworks
Determining what materials are considered public domain can be a tricky process. From commonly held misconceptions and complicated copyright laws (such as those held in the United States) to restrictive digital licenses created by institutions and corporate lobbying efforts to…
A Running List of Resources to Help Artists Impacted by LA Fires
As multiple fires continue to ravage parts of Los Angeles County, cultural organizations and individual artists have kickstarted initiatives to offer support and resources for those in Altadena, Pasadena, Malibu, and other areas hit by the concurrent blazes. A working…
Sally Mann Photos Reportedly Seized From Texas Art Museum
Several works by photographer Sally Mann displayed at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth were reportedly removed following Texas Republican officials’ calls for an investigation into her artworks. In the days prior, the right-wing outlet Dallas Express had published…
Hawaiʻi Museum Lays Off Its Entire Staff
After laying off its 10-person team and cutting its hours ahead of the new year, the Pacific Tsunami Museum (PTM) in Hilo, Hawaiʻi, is doing everything it can to stay open in light of mounting financial troubles that threaten to…
Raquel Rabinovich, Artist of Submerged Worlds, Dies at 95
Raquel Rabinovich in her studio in Rheinbeck, New York in 2024 (all images courtesy the Raquel Rabinovich Art Trust) Raquel Rabinovich, who created subtle monochromatic paintings, works on paper, and sculptures, died of cancer on January 5 at the age…
The Eternal Dance of Poetry, Calligraphy, and Painting
In line for tickets at The Met’s Great Hall, I spotted the massive calligraphy of Taiwanese artist Tong Yang-Tze, a 2024 museum commission whose broad brush strokes leap across the canvas. In “Go where it is right, stop when one…
Historic Buildings Destroyed as Palisades Blaze Rages
The historic Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center, the Theatre Palisades, Pierson Playhouse, and the Palisades Branch Library reported that their buildings have been entirely destroyed by the ongoing fires ravaging the coastal Pacific Palisades neighborhood in Southern California. While the…
Canadian Pop Artist and AIDS Activist Joe Average Dies at 67
Self-taught Canadian Pop artist and activist Joe Average, who dedicated his life to uplifting those living with HIV/AIDS and advocating for the LGTBQ+ community through inspiring kaleidoscopic artwork, died in his sleep in his Vancouver home on December 24, according…
Pacific Palisades Fire Spreads to Getty Villa Grounds
The rapidly spreading Pacific Palisades fire in Southern California reached the Getty Villa grounds in the afternoon of Tuesday, January 7, according to initial reports from the museum and the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD). Alexandria Sivak, assistant director of News…
Martha Diamond Found Joy in Paint
RIDGEFIELD, Conn. — Martha Diamond: Deep Time at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, the first posthumous exhibition of work by the artist, who passed away in 2023, is a small survey chronicling 27 years of extraordinary art. Born and raised…
The Visions of Parmigianino
Parmigianino, “The Madonna and Child with Saints John the Baptist and Jerome” (1526–27), oil on poplar, 135 x ∼58 1/2 inches (342.9 x 148.6 cm) (© The National Gallery, London. Presented by the Directors of the British Institution, 1826) LONDON…
A Prospect Heights Ghost Story
Color by Katherine Domínguez. View previous installments of the NYC Housing Stories series here.
The Cosmic Energy of Peter Young’s Paintings
Around 1963, Peter Young began to think of himself as a painter. A Los Angeles native who spent two years at Pomona College, in Claremont, California, he moved to New York in 1960 and studied briefly with Theodoros Stamos and…
Apply for SVA’s Low-Residency, Interdisciplinary MFA Art Practice in NYC
The MFA Art Practice (AP) program at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) approaches artmaking holistically: artists in the program are not defined or separated by medium or discipline. We view process as a kind of critical thinking. MFA AP artists…
8 New York City Art Shows to Kick Off 2025
It’s 2025 and time to start a new year of exploring art — and there’s already plenty to see. While shimmering gold and sequins from artists like Machine Dazzle and Myrlande Constant are ideal to cut through the winter gray,…
A View From the Easel
Welcome to the 266th installment of A View From the Easel, a series in which artists reflect on their workspace. This week, artists crave community and consider the nomadic nature of textiles. Want to take part? Check out our submission guidelines and…
Why Isn’t Slavery Depicted in Dutch Painting?
The Dutch East India Company, or the Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC), was founded in 1602. As one of the first joint-stock corporations in the world, the VOC enabled Dutch citizens to invest in trade with Asia, causing a surge of…
Four Artists Dismantle the Boundaries of “Immigrant”
A group show of Raul de Lara, Shanique Emelife, Sihan Guo, and Tahnee Lonsdale premises art as a counterweight to ideological constraint. These four artists, whose works draw on their globalized experiences and transcendent aesthetics, challenge cultural and political conservatism…
Frida Kahlo and Henri Matisse Enter the Public Domain
Happy Public Domain Day! Starting today, January 1, you can legally access, adapt, remix, and republish (depending on your jurisdiction) the work of Henri Matisse, Frida Kahlo, and Robert Capa, as well as certain texts by William Faulkner, Virginia Woolf,…
Remembering the Artists We Lost in 2024
Faith Ringgold, Frank Stella, Richard Serra, Audrey Flack, Yong Soon Min, and Lorraine O’Grady were some of the artists we lost in 2024. Among them were also Palestinian artists who were killed by Israeli airstrikes on Gaza. Below is the…
10 Notable US Museum Acquisitions in 2024
Tucked in jargony press releases thanking private donors, the substance of major museum acquisition announcements can be difficult to grasp. Larger museums acquired hundreds of works in 2024, including the Brooklyn Museum, which added 330 new pieces to its collection,…
Art World Dos and Don’ts for 2025
As committed chroniclers of the proverbial “art world” — an imperfect term denoting the ecosystem of artists, institutions, and other entities that make the visual art planet go ’round — we at Hyperallergic have noticed a few patterns emerge over…
Mary Ann Peters’s Obscured Memorials to Buried Histories
SEATTLE — In the edge becomes the center at the Frye Art Museum, Mary Ann Peters invokes the suppressed histories of mass killings and forgotten diasporas. The first solo museum show for the second-generation Lebanese-American artist, it presents her drawing…
Making Food Into an Art in Muslim-Majority Cultures
DETROIT — Food has always played a vital role in fostering and maintaining community. It’s a key component of cultural heritage: How food is prepared, served, and shared is oftentimes communal and ritualistic. Food tells us stories — be they…
Holly Wright Challenges Our Sense of Vanity
Holly Wright, “Final Portrait: Vivian and Bob Folkenflik” (1983) (all images courtesy the Fralin Museum of Art unless otherwise noted) CHARLOTTESVILLE, Virginia — “Vanity” is one of those words freighted with cultural baggage, from the Bible (“all is vanity”) to…
Ai Weiwei Knocks Down the Building Blocks of Empire
All great empires rise gradually: brick by brick, wall by wall, fort by fort, war by war, plunder by plunder. And when they fall, they don’t just disappear in a puff of smoke. They dissolve slowly and painfully: year by…
Hyperallergic’s 10 Hottest Social Media Videos of 2024
Since our founding in 2009, Hyperallergic has always been at the forefront of social media, from finding our first home on Tumblr to becoming one of the first 10,000 adopters of Bluesky. As Hyperallergic’s Media Producer, it’s my distinct pleasure…
The 20 Most Powerless People in the Art World: 2024 Edition
Some of the year’s Most Powerless, including climate activist Jackson “Kroegeor” Green, Jonathan Yeo’s King Charles portrait, a recent art history graduate, Camille Claudel, William the Hippo, and more (edit Valentina Di Liscia/Hyperallergic) Here at Hyperallergic, our focus on those…
A View From the Easel
Welcome to the 265th installment of A View From the Easel, a series in which artists reflect on their workspace. This week, artists paint a mural in their tattoo studio and pledge loyalty to oil paint. Want to take part?…
Required Reading
This week, I’m taking back the reins of Required Reading as Lakshmi is currently on vacation. This edition is video-rich as we shuffle from one holiday to the next, with New Year’s just around the corner. Happy New Year! —Hrag…
Palestinian Film Centering Stories From Gaza Shortlisted for Oscars
A Palestinian film centering stories from Gaza has been shortlisted in the International Feature Film category for the 97th Academy Awards. From Ground Zero (2024), an anthological documentary comprising 22 short films curated by Ramallah-based director Rashid Masharawi, is among…
Rita Blitt on the Lifelong Art of Creating
“Creating is a process; it should be done for joy,” artist Rita Blitt told Hyperallergic in a recent video interview from her part-time studio space in Berkeley, California. With a dynamic practice spanning nine full decades and mediums including painting,…
Revisiting Botticelli’s Evocative “Mystic Nativity”
When you hear the name Sandro Botticelli, you might be more likely to think of the Birth of Venus than the Birth of Jesus. But since it’s Christmas, now is a better time than ever to call attention to a…
Hyperallergic’s Art Tarotscope for the Winter Equinox
Hyperallergic’s tarotscope series is a combination of tarot with astrology, a reading for the collective readership combined with cards for the major astrological signs, grouped by their elemental associations, developed by AX Mina, producer for Five and Nine, a podcast…
Hyperallergic’s 20 Most Read Stories of 2024
As this year comes to a close and we gear up for the next, let’s take a moment to look back at Hyperallergic’s greatest hits from 2024. From our coverage of the Olympic games in Paris to the US presidential…
Six New York City Shows to See Over the Holidays
The holidays are busy, but everyone needs a break, and what better way to replenish your mind and soul than to see some art? Below are a few shows to catch when you can slip away from all the chaos…
Robert Smithson’s “Spiral Jetty” Added to National Register of Historic Places
Late American sculptor Robert Smithson’s best known creation, “Spiral Jetty” (1970), has been added to the United States National Register of Historic Places. Situated at Rozel Point along the northeast shore of Utah’s Great Salt Lake, the enormous Land Art…
The Return Is a Shabby CliffsNotes Version of the Odyssey
Modern audiences might have hazy notions of that tricky Ancient Greek hero of homecoming, Odysseus. They may know about his return to Penelope, his patiently loyal wife, or his somewhat annoying son Telemachus. More literary-minded readers might even think of…
University at Albany, SUNY Offers Tuition Waivers and Funding for MFA Students
The Department of Art and Art History at the University at Albany, SUNY is accepting applications for MFA and MA programs in Studio Art. All students in the highly competitive two-year MFA program are offered Teaching or Graduate Assistantship funding and a 50% tuition waiver….
Sketching the Ubiquitous Face of Luigi Mangione
Photographs of Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, have been percolating in cyberspace for weeks, the subject of newsroom ethics debates and exponentially deranged memes. But prominent sketch artist Jane Rosenberg had approximately 15…
The Canonization of St. Luigi
Yesterday, the New York Police Department released photos of Luigi Mangione’s extradition to New York City. The accused murderer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson appears in prison-jumpsuit orange, a speck of color surrounded by a phalanx of gray-garbed and grim-visaged…
Top 50 Exhibitions Around the World in 2024
Art can thrive in the most unfathomable times; 2024 was a year filled with global conflict but it was also a year of exceptional exhibitions. From Botticelli’s rarely seen drawings to sculptural revivals of archaic myths, contemporary takes on traditional…
Artists Find Energy Justice in Grassroots Acts
In the 1970s, the humanist geographer Yi Fu Tuan speculated that “in some ideal future, our loyalty will be given only to the home region of intimate memories and, at the other end of the scale, to the whole earth.”…
Zilia Sánchez, Artist of Sensual Abstractions, Dies at 98
Cuban artist Zilia Sánchez, whose dimensional paintings bridge geometric abstraction and eroticism, died at 98 on Wednesday, December 18. The news of her death was confirmed by Galerie Lelong in New York, her representing gallery since 2013. Born in Havana,…
Researchers Identify Psychedelic Cocktail in Ancient Egyptian Mug
A group of researchers from Florida and Italy recently discovered trace amounts of a hallucinogenic concoction in an Ancient Egyptian drinking mug in the Tampa Museum of Art’s permanent collection. The mug in question depicts the deity Bes, worshipped as…
Joyce Kozloff’s Patterns of Resistance
In 1973, gallerist Tibor de Nagy gave Joyce Kozloff a call. His voice quivered as he told her that Clement Greenberg had just left the back room after giving a searing review of her latest work. Greenberg had scoffed at…
Louise Bourgeois’s Iconic Spider Returning to Tate Modern
When London’s Tate Modern opened its doors in 2000, the museum greeted the public with Louise Bourgeois’s colossal arachnid steel and marble sculpture “Maman” (1999), which dominated its Turbine Hall entrance before leaving a trail of spindly bronze replicas in…
The Sinister Subtext of Farshid Bazmandegan’s Paintings
LOS ANGELES — During the Cold War, the CIA secretly bankrolled cultural initiatives promoting Abstract Expressionism as a shining example of American freedom and democracy. Meanwhile, it backed a coup that toppled the democratic government of Iran, artist Farshid Bazmandegan’s…
Cecilia Vicuña’s Poetry in Space
Cecilia Vicuña’s practice of recollecting — in both senses of gathering and remembering — doubles as an act of care for that which time, loss, and neglect have obscured, though not entirely erased. At Lehmann Maupin, this process turns inward,…
Leonardo da Vinci’s Surreptitious Scents
Leonardo da Vinci, “Lady with an Ermine” (1489–91), oil on wood panel, 21 x 15 inches (54 x 39 cm) (image courtesy National Museum of Krakow) If William Shakespeare believed that eyes are the windows to the soul, then how…
A View From the Easel
How long have you been working in this space? Three months. Describe an average day in your studio. I arrive at the gallery space where I rent my studio and just get to work right away, but I take breaks….
Purchase College Was Founded to Make Quality Arts Education Affordable
The MFA in Visual Arts at Purchase College, State of New York (SUNY), is a small, selective interdisciplinary program that fosters the artistic, intellectual, and professional growth of students through independent studio work and rigorous academic studies. State-of-the-art facilities include…
Samia Halaby’s Abstractions Map Displacement and Home
EAST LANSING, Michigan — The road from Detroit to Michigan State University’s Broad Art Museum is bleak in winter. Gray permeates everything — the sky, the barren trees, the sidewalks. It was almost a sensory shock to enter Samia Halaby:…
Lorraine O’Grady, Who Dismantled Art World Binaries, Dies at 90
Conceptual artist and critic Lorraine O’Grady, known for pivotal works that subverted the binaries of Western thought, died at the age of 90 in New York City on Friday, December 13. O’Grady has left an indelible impact across nearly five decades…
Seattle Art Museum Security Guards End 12-Day Strike
Seattle Art Museum (SAM) security guards reached a tentative agreement with the institution yesterday, December 11, ending a 12-day strike that began on November 29. The SAM Visitor Service Officer (VSO) Union’s 59 security guards voted overwhelmingly to ratify their…
Required Reading
‣ Hyperallergic Senior Editor Hakim Bishara appeared on the BBC Sounds podcast to discuss the infamous banana auction heard ’round the world. Listen to his take around the ~10:10 mark, and read his Opinion piece from last month while you’re at…
Nan Goldin Speaks Out on Censorship of Berlin Show
BERLIN — At the opening reception of her career retrospective This Will Not End Well at Berlin’s Neue Nationalgalerie on November 22, Nan Goldin delivered a speech that reverberated across the world. “Why can’t I speak, Germany?” she asked, denouncing the…
Vatican Removes Baby Jesus With Keffiyeh From Nativity
Pope Francis and the Holy See drew polarized reactions across the globe after unveiling a Nativity scene featuring a wood-carved infant Jesus laying on a keffiyeh in his manger last Saturday, December 7. The symbol of solidarity with Palestine, which…
Museum Showing Pussy Riot Artwork Targeted in Apparent Vandalism
An exhibition space at an Austrian contemporary art museum was damaged on Saturday, December 7, in an apparent act of vandalism targeting a feminist art installation by Nadya Tolokonnikova, the founder of the Russian activist and performance art group Pussy…
A Show on Orphism Can’t Seem to Figure Out What That Is
The Guggenheim attempts to recenter and redeem a largely neglected artistic moment in a new exhibition, Harmony and Dissonance: Orphism in Paris, 1910 to 1930. Given that “Orphist” was not a name these artists gave themselves, or even necessarily identified…
The Beautiful Infinity of Tetris
Tetris is perfection. It is not merely one of the most important video games of all time, but, I would argue, one of the greatest works of anything of the past half-century. Considering the international scope of its influence, one…
Ramona Ferreyra, Monxo López, Samuel Stein
This is the sixth of a series of comics depicting transformative moments in the lives of artists, activists, and organizers on the front lines of the housing affordability crisis in New York City Monxo López Organizer and curator at the…
Kelli Connell’s Queer Americana
ATLANTA — The tale of two intrepid people setting off on a journey to explore the vast expanse of the United States is well-worn by now. Inspired by the colonialist principle of Manifest Destiny, the belief that American settlers were…
Sophie Calle Is Both Exhibitionist and Voyeur
MINNEAPOLIS — For five decades now, Sophie Calle has been probing human connection, emotional impulses, and vulnerability via fictional devices, dry humor, and an unapologetic impropriety. In Sophie Calle: Overshare at the Walker Art Center, the artist scrutinizes strangers, family…
Activists Hold “No to Genocide” Protest Outside Art Basel Miami Beach
MIAMI BEACH — Dozens of activists gathered outside of the Convention Center on the second public day of Art Basel Miami Beach, December 7, to call on the city to divest from Israel. On the sidewalk near the venue where…
Protesters Stage Guerilla Action on Subway In Honor of Jordan Neely
Early yesterday morning, December 5, an autonomous group of activists boarded the F train at the Broadway-Lafayette Street/Bleeker Street subway station in Manhattan to replace the adverts displayed throughout the car with one message: “A man was lynched here.” The…
Unmissable Gems at Miami’s Art Fairs
MIAMI — I have made it to Friday without forgetting my press pass in an Uber or developing cafecito-related heart palpitations, and by Miami Art Week standards I’d call that a win. Yesterday we discussed serious matters, like the financial…
CalArts Staff and Faculty Move to Unionize
Several California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) faculty and staff members hand-delivered a letter signed by 64 employees to the office of President Ravi Rajan on Tuesday, December 3, stating their intent to unionize with the backing of 75% of…
Required Reading
‣ Historians have long debated the intention behind an 18th-century portrait of Afro-Jamaican scholar Francis Williams, and Fara Dabhoiwala writes about his theory for the London Review of Books: What difference does it make to know that this picture dates…
Hyperallergic Editor-in-Chief Hrag Vartanian Wins Rabkin Lifetime Achievement Award
Hrag Vartanian, editor-in-chief and co-founder of Hyperallergic, is one of two recipients of this year’s Susan C. Larsen Lifetime Achievement Award from the Rabkin Foundation. Recognized as an arts writer who has “had a generational impact on the field,” Vartanian…
Carrying On the Legacy of Trailblazing Curator Maurice Berger
“How do you teach the reader racial literacy through visual literacy?” asked the late cultural historian, writer, and curator Maurice Berger in a 2018 interview. A research professor and chief curator at the Center for Art, Design, and Visual Culture…
Guantánamo Bay and the Art of Resistance
This August, journalist Moustafa Bayoumi broke the story that the first photo of a detainee in a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) black site had been declassified. It shows an emaciated Ammar al-Baluchi, standing shackled and naked in a starkly white…
Stamps Gallery Exhibition Centers Black Ash Basket Weavers Kelly Church and Cherish Parrish
Kelly Church & Cherish Parrish: In Our Words, An Intergenerational Dialogue at the University of Michigan’s Stamps Gallery centers the subjectivities of two contemporary Indigenous artists, whose practices have sustained and bolstered the relevance of the age-old Anishinaabe practice of…
The Hyperallergic Art Crossword: December 2024
The art world grows curiouser and curiouser each year, and 2024 was certainly no exception. Take a stab at our December puzzle with clues culled from the past 12 months of solo shows, unforgettable artworks, protests, and other artsy developments…
10 New Art Spaces to Visit in New York City
When one door closes, another door opens — an art gallery door, that is. Yes, there’s a not insignificant number of New York spaces calling it quits, but there’s also a blossoming of artistic endeavors throughout the city that deserve…
Affordable Los Angeles Art to Shop This Holiday Season
LOS ANGELES — Holiday shopping can be a challenge when you’re trying to find thoughtful gifts for friends and family without feeding into commercial excess. To aid your search, we’ve compiled a list of 11 LA-area (and online!) artist-run sales,…
How Affordable Are New York City Museum Cafes?
Have you ever heard your own stomach grumble so loudly in a quiet exhibition gallery that visitors turned to stare? … Me neither. When hunger pangs strike during a moment of artful contemplation, many of us turn to the closest…
A View From the Easel
Welcome to the 261st installment of A View From the Easel, a series in which artists reflect on their workspace. This week, artists toggle between graphic design, painting, and tattooing, and savor the power of sunlight filtered through a studio…
Required Reading
‣ You’ve seen Florence Owens Thompson before, though you may not realize it. For Places, Myriam Gurba writes about the woman pictured in Dorothea Lange’s “Migrant Mother,” a symbol of Great Depression-era poverty that erases its subject’s Cherokee heritage: Mr. and…
The Embodied Eroticism of Louis Fratino’s Art
PRATO, Italy — Earlier this year, something drew me back to the diaries of Anaïs Nin. I’d read several volumes decades ago. Tracing the French-American author’s libertine, literary life in Paris and New York starting in the early 1930s, these…
NYC Housing Stories: Miguel Robles-Durán and “Jerzy”
This is the fifth of a series of comics depicting transformative moments in the lives of artists, activists, and organizers on the front lines of the housing affordability crisis in New York City Miguel Robles-Durán Urbanist and professor at the…
An Unintellectual Theory of Tastiness in Art History
I’m of the belief that a well-rounded life demands a bender here and there. I’m not suggesting a dip into hallucinogens, per se — rather, a little break from the superego, a little indulgence in the id. Turn off that…
Long-Lost Thanksgiving Recipes of American Artists Discovered
Just in time for Thanksgiving, an archivist at the Smithsonian Institution has stumbled upon a treasure of culinary and visual art history. In a dusty storage room, a box mistakenly labeled “the nicer china for trustee dinners” held a trove…
MFA, MA, and PhD Programs to Apply for by Early 2025
Northeastern United States Bard Graduate CenterEmerging curators, researchers, educators, and museum professionals learn to ask new questions about the cultural history of the material world through the NYC institution’s MA and PhD programs. Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College (CCS…
Dreams of a Gaza Biennale Amid Loss and Ruin
Days before the Venice Biennale closed this year with the second-highest visitor turnout in its history, over 50 artists from Gaza announced their decision to form their own version of the contemporary art festival: the Gaza Biennale. “The biennale will…
ArtYard Exhibition Reimagines Barriers as Porous Portals
Gates, fences, windows, and walls are mundane and monumental barrier architectures designed to separate, enclose, protect, or distance. The 12 artists whose work is on view in ArtYard’s exhibition Barrier engage with these architectures — and more — with the…
The 30 Best Art Books of 2024
We’re proud to present our list of the best art books of 2024 for your holiday reading, and perhaps to inspire your gifting this winter. Our editors and critics read across genre, subject, and pace this year, from memoirs and…
Art from the Martin Wong Graffiti Collection
New York’s modern age of graffiti — both notorious and celebrated — began in the early 1970s. The subculture created by the city’s youth came of age over the next 20 years, transforming into a new, consciously artistic movement. By…
Danny Moynihan’s Landscapes Look Back at Us
I first met the multitalented Danny Moynihan in the early 1980s, but I did not see him again until recently. During that time, he’s worked as a gallerist and an independent curator, published a satirical novel about the art world…
Art That Rides the Radio Waves to Resistance
ALBUQUERQUE — Where is the artist’s voice in the museum? This question, posed during an artist roundtable on opening weekend of the exhibition Broken Boxes: A Decade of Art, Action, and Dialogue, is answered in part by the exhibition itself. …
Chicano Art Patron Cheech Marin Gets Life-Sized Bronze Statue
A new life-sized statue celebrating actor and Chicano art collector Cheech Marin was unveiled on Tuesday, November 19, outside his namesake arts and culture center in Riverside, California. Entitled “Meet Me at The Cheech” in honor of the nickname for…
The Banana That Made Me Sick to My Stomach
Last night, November 20, Maurizio Cattelan’s “Comedian” (2019), a work that consists of a banana duct-taped to a wall, sold for $6.2 million at a Sotheby’s auction. This is wrong. It’s beyond wrong. It’s obscene and immoral. It’s the ugliest…
Member Tour of the Gochman Family Collection
’Tis the season! At Hyperallergic, we are especially grateful to the members who make our work possible. To celebrate, we are hosting a holiday member event at the Gochman Family Collection in New York, where guests will enjoy an intimate…
Required Reading
‣ Almost a century ago, the K’ëgit totem was bought and carried off by a Swiss artist. This week, a delegation from the Wet’suwet’en Nation was finally reunited with the cultural gem in Paris, CBC News reports: Connauton, who was also part…
A View From the Easel
How long have you been working in this space? Six months. Describe an average day in your studio. An average day in my studio typically begins early, around 8:30am or 9am. I like to ease into my practice with some…
Italian Authorities Seize Etruscan Antiquities Looted by “Clumsy” Tomb Raiders
Italian authorities have seized numerous well-preserved artifacts dating back to the third century BCE that were initially plundered from an Etruscan necropolis in the central region of Umbria, according to an announcement from the country’s Ministry of Culture yesterday, November…
Banana Artwork Sells for $6.2 Million
Maurizio Cattelan, “Comedian” (2019) was offered at Sotheby’s with an estimate of $1–1.5 million. (image courtesy Sotheby’s) Back-to-back typhoons are ripping through villages, humanitarian crises are raging, and New York City is so dry it’s burning — but tonight, November…
Brooklyn Navy Yard Seeks Public Art Proposals
The Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation (BNYDC) seeks to tap the well of local talent for a large-scale public art installation along Flushing Avenue in mid-2025. Applications are now open through December 15 for artists residing and working in Kings…
Republican-led Bill Would Give Trump the Power to Squash Arts Nonprofits
Elections have consequences. The House, which will continue to be under the control of Republicans along with the Senate and the White House next year, is already considering a new bill, the so-called Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American…
Smithsonian American Art Museum Director Reportedly Removed Over Staff Complaints
The Smithsonian Institution removed the director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) in Washington, DC, following years of staff complaints of tumultuous leadership, according to a Washington Post report published today, November 18. Stephanie Stebich vacated her role as…
UK Judge Sides With Fish Giant in Lawsuit Against Satirical Artist
A London judge sided with Icelandic fishing giant Samherji in an intellectual property lawsuit against conceptual artist Odee Friðriksson (ODEE), whose work “We’re Sorry” (2023) called attention to the company’s alleged involvement in the transnational “Fishrot” scandal. In a summary judgment…
Turkey’s Queer Art Community Walks a Thin Line
ISTANBUL — When curator Alper Turan and his collaborators from queer and feminist groups around Turkey discuss plans for their upcoming Istanbul exhibition, they have more to consider than which artists to include and how to hang the works. “To…
A Photographer’s Unflinching Hymn to Her Aging Body
Photographer Rosalind Fox Solomon was not afforded the opportunity to come into her own as an artist until her early 50s. For this reason, the visual component of A Woman I Once Knew — a decades-long archive of unflinching self-portraits…
Required Reading
‣ An independent, Michigan-based magazine by and for lesbians marks its 50th anniversary this year, and reporter Sydney Boles tells the story of its inception and evolution for Autostraddle: To call the early years of Lesbian Connection a shoestring operation is an…
Dartmouth’s New MFA in Sonic Practice Invites Fall 2025 Applications
Dartmouth’s MFA in Sonic Practice is a three-year, fully-funded graduate program for composers, artists, and scholars working expansively with sound. The program draws together a close-knit community of makers and thinkers concerned with the visceral and social force of sound:…
Chicana Artist’s Once-Censored Mural Finds a New Home in LA
Barbara Carrasco’s L.A. History: A Mexican Perspective” (1981) at the NHM Commons (all photos Matt Stromberg/Hyperallergic unless otherwise noted) LOS ANGELES — After more than four decades, Barbara Carrasco’s 80-foot-long mural “L.A. History: A Mexican Perspective” is finally getting a permanent…
Six New York City Shows to See November 2024
Before holiday fever kicks in, take advantage of all that the city’s museums and galleries have to offer. The Met’s Flight into Egypt: Black Artists and Ancient Egypt, 1876–Now and El Museo’s triennial Flow States are rife with provocative ideas…
“Subway Therapy” Displays New Yorkers’ Post-Election Thoughts
In 2015, artist Matthew Chavez was recovering from a motorbike accident that left him in the hospital for three weeks and unable to walk for months when he planted the seeds for Subway Therapy, a public participatory art project that…
How the Women’s Studio Workshop Shakes Up the Art of Bookmaking
ROSENDALE, New York — It was the summer of 1974 when college friends Ann Kalmbach, Tatana “Tana” Kellner, Anita Wetzel, and Barbara “Babs” Leoff Burge rented out a two-story single-family house in the working-class town of Rosendale, about two hours…
Oldest Known Inscription of Ten Commandments Heads to Auction
A marble tablet inscribed with nine of the Ten Commandments, said to be the oldest intact version of its kind in stone, is set to go under the hammer next month in a single-lot sale at Sotheby’s in New York….
Jordan Withdraws Artsakh Film From Oscars, Citing “Diplomatic Pressures”
The Royal Film Commission (RFC) of Jordan withdrew its submission of an Armenian-Jordanian filmmaker’s documentary about Artsakh for the 97th Academy Awards’s Best International Film category last week, citing “diplomatic pressures.” Director Sareen Hairabedian’s My Sweet Land (2024), a grim…
5 Art Books to Light Your Path Through November
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: November is the Sunday of the year. And given the particularly intense Sunday scaries that have befallen us, we’re keeping our art-reading list short and sweet this time around, with what…
Australian Public School Wins “World Building of the Year” Award
How can architecture change the world? This year’s World Architecture Festival (WAF), held in Singapore’s Marina Bay, provides a glimpse into how design meets visions for the future. In last week’s iteration of the annual festival, launched in 2008, judges recognized…
The Intimate Vignettes of the New Jersey Arts Annual
MONTCLAIR, New Jersey — Diversity, equity, and inclusion: The refrain has climbed its way into common parlance in the last few years, after a nationwide racial reckoning in the summer of 2020. According to Indeed, corporate hiring for roles in that…
Albuquerque Artist-Run Space to Rebuild After Fire
An art complex in Albuquerque’s Barelas neighborhood suffered damages and is temporarily shuttered after a fire broke out earlier this month. Sections of the nonprofit Fourteenfifteen Gallery, its Alpaca event space, and the adjoining Minnow music venue caught fire in…
US’s Biggest Documentary Festival Comes to NYC This Month
In 1967, while living in exile in New York City, South African freelance photojournalist Ernest Cole published his seminal and only book House of Bondage, exposing the violent atrocities of Black life under apartheid to the rest of the world…
Memes Take a Dark Turn Post-Trump Election
Les-be honest, lady liberty. (screenshot via @CISFAKER on X, all screenshots Hyperallergic) I hate to say it, but when I saw that lubricated hippo go for the Trump cake, I knew it was over. Months ago, I predicted the downfall…
Could One of These Images Be the Next Iconic Windows Wallpaper?
When Microsoft debuted its landmark operating system Windows XP in the fall of 2001, the default desktop wallpaper “Bliss” ended up becoming the most viewed photograph in the world. You might not recognize it by name, but thinking of the…
When Copyright Transforms the Right to Remember
A few weeks ago, dozens of photographs of the “We Are Our Mountains” (“Tatik-Papik”) monument in occupied Artsakh disappeared from Wikimedia Commons. A red text box emerged, warning against uploading new images in which the monument features prominently, as it…
UN Removes Pro-Palestine Art From Public Quilt Exhibition
United Nations (UN) exhibition staff removed part of a public art exhibition in its General Assembly Lobby in New York City after Israel’s Permanent Representative to the UN Danny Danon condemned references to Palestine contained in some of the works….
“Chinatown is Not a Museum,” Protesters Chant at MOCA Gala
As many as 45 members and allies of the Coalition to Protect Chinatown and the Lower East Side gathered outside of a Tribeca event venue yesterday evening, November 7, to protest the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) during its…
Required Reading
Small experimental press Spiral Editions has published a new print, timed with an election that fried all of our nerves. Queer Commune, an artist studio in Minneapolis, designed a visual reminder of the movements for justice that continue full-steam ahead,…
A View From the Easel
Welcome to the 258th installment of A View From the Easel, a series in which artists reflect on their workspace. This week, artists commune with a creek, regard their workspace as a sandbox, and build community in their red town….
An Anti-Monument to Match Our Moment
WASHINGTON, DC — I knew I didn’t want to see the wannabe-Beaux Arts buildings of Capitol Hill, the erect dick of the Washington Monument, the cliché of looking out glumly at the reflecting pool. I didn’t even want to hide from…
A Different Kind of Joy
Kamala Harris sold us “joy.” Instead, we got a crushing defeat and a return to the miserable days of Donald Trump’s presidency. I’m looking at a photograph taken by Stephanie Keith at an October 5 rally for Gaza and Lebanon…
Babe, Wake Up, New Chopin Waltz Just Dropped
Talk about a crafty release strategy — a waltz by the Romantic Polish composer Frédéric Chopin just dropped, about 200 years after his death. Measuring four by five inches (~10.2 x 13 cm), the manuscript was first discovered in 2019…
Maura Brewer Pulls Back the Curtain on Art Investors
Installation view of Maura Brewer: Leverage at Timeshare, Los Angeles (all images courtesy Timeshare gallery, photos Brandon Bandy unless otherwise noted) LOS ANGELES — Maura Brewer’s video essay “Leverage” (2024) unpacks the contemporary phenomenon of art as asset class by…
Three Charged With Hate Crimes for Vandalizing Homes of Brooklyn Museum Leaders
Three individuals have been charged with “making a terroristic threat as a hate crime” in connection with the vandalism of four Brooklyn Museum leaders’ homes this summer, according to a statement from Brooklyn District Attorney (DA) Eric Gonzalez today, November…
Artworks Encourage Voter Turnout Ahead of US Election
Beverly McIver’s “VOTE Black Beauty” (2024) references reproductive rights policies. (image courtesy Artists for Democracy) On November 5, millions of voters across the United States will head to the polls to cast ballots for the country’s next president. The election…
Reclaiming Palestinian Beauty, One Wall Label at a Time
On October 7, 2023, I had plans to meet at the Brooklyn Museum with my close friend, Palestinian fashion designer Suzy Tamimi, and to view the groundbreaking exhibition Africa Fashion. Despite the immense emotions that overcame us with the news…
Candice Breitz Launches Clothing Fundraiser for Gazan Journalists
Berlin-based artist Candice Breitz launched a line of clothing items to generate funds for the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate. (all images by and courtesy Studio Breitz) Berlin-based South African artist Candice Breitz has created a clothing campaign to raise funds for…
Carrie Mae Weems Kitchen Table Photos Star in Kamala Harris Ad
Four photos from Carrie Mae Weems’s seminal Kitchen Table Series (1990) made a cameo appearance in a Kamala Harris campaign advertisement less than a week before election day turns the corner. Produced and directed by filmmakers Tanya Selvaratnam and Hannah…
Crudely Gesturing Trump Effigy Appears in Philadelphia
The anonymous artist behind two DC sculptures commemorating insurrectionist fecal matter on Nancy Pelosi’s desk and Charlottesville white supremacists’ tiki torches may have struck again — or inspired someone else, this time in Philadelphia. Charlotte Cohen, executive director of the…
10 New York City Shows to See in November
We’re deep into the fall art season and there’s much to see — and plenty of variety for everyone. Our current favorites traverse a multitude of styles, genres, and media. Make your way this month around an artistic labyrinth that…