Brooklyn Rail

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Required Reading

by Kyle Chayka on January 30, 2011

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This weekend’s Required Reading brings us up to speed on the situation of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, plus catches up on some of the things we missed while breaking the news, from movies demystifying the myth of the artist to video games histories and questions of morality and happiness.

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Books

Reading Brooklyn Rail's November Issue

by Kyle Chayka on November 24, 2010

Post image for Reading Brooklyn Rail's November Issue

This month’s Brooklyn Rail didn’t just update me on the critical reception of the past months’ art exhibitions, it also kept me well-informed about the state of vegetarian burritos, Indian call centers and the misunderstood G train! The November issue (my copy is elegantly covered in a Jonas Mekas lithograph of a hand cradling a flower bud) is a primer for anyone who hasn’t necessarily seen all of the right shows and read all of the right books for the recent spat of cultural production. Taken as a whole, though, the weighty newsprint publication’s most interesting articles lay in unexpected places and concern unexpected topics.

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Post image for Get Your William Powhida-Designed Howdy Koonsy T-Shirt Today!

Trickster and art star William Powhida is at it again and he has partnered with the Brooklyn Rail to produce a limited edition t-shirt, titled “Howdy Koonsy.” The t-shirt is available in an edition of 666 and you can be sure they will go fast!

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Post image for Jerry Saltz Fires Back at Yau, “How Very Dickish

The war of words between two major New York art critics escalated yesterday when Saltz used his very public Facebook wall to shoot back at Yau for the Brooklyn Rail art editor’s accusation of Saltz being a Koons apologist.

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Post image for Battle for the Nation: John Yau Questions Jerry Saltz's America

In the newly released edition of the Brooklyn Rail, editor John Yau takes on New York Magazine’s art critic Jerry Saltz and his characterization of America as “big, bright, shiny, colorful, crowd-pleasing, heat-seeking, impeccably produced, polished, popular, expensive, and extroverted—while also being abrasive, creepily sexualized, fussy, twisted, and, let’s face it, ditzy.” Yau asks, “Is this ‘our America?’ Or is this Jerry Saltz shilling for Jeff Koons?”

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