While the pandemic dominated their final year, these artists nonetheless explore broader issues. Here are some highlights.
Author Archives: Billy Anania
Billy Anania is an art critic, editor, and journalist in Brooklyn whose work has appeared in Gothamist, The Art Newspaper, Observer, Pinko Magazine, and elsewhere.
Posted inHistory
The Iconography of the Paris Commune, 150 Years Later
On the sesquicentennial of the fall of the Commune, a look back at how artists captured those few revolutionary months.
Posted inArt
Revealing the Prickly Side of Imperial “Soft Power”
A collaboration between Carriage Trade and Rectangle, Hearts and Minds analyzes the deceptive repackaging of Western imperialism.
Posted inArt
Melissa Joseph’s Felted Tributes to Family Archives
Joseph’s work exudes both playfulness and gravity, evoking fond memories while channeling the sorrow of the last year.
Posted inArt
Laying Down Roots: Adjua Gargi Nzinga Greaves’s Radical, Botanical Future
Greaves emphasizes the possibilities of planting seeds in the ruins of violent structures.
Posted inArt
Bulls, Bears, and Others Symbols of Wall Street Protest Art
When traders on r/wallstreetbets started bankrupting short sellers of GameStop and AMC stock, social media rejuvenated imagery stretching back to the 19th century.
Posted inArt
Ragna Bley’s Cerebral, Swirling Abstractions
Equally intuitive and intellectual, Bley’s paintings redirect a time-honored form of abstraction into a more communal, cosmic unknowing.
Posted inArt
The Penetrating Heat of De Por Vida
At Company Gallery, a meditative exhibition dedicated to queer desire invites viewers to sit with tension.
Posted inArt
How to Recognize Right-wing Dog Whistles and Symbols, From Viking Hats to Flags
The public is finally realizing what antifascists have warned for years: these symbols are rooted in American culture. Amid increased threats of violence, we need to get better at detecting them.
Posted inArt
The Swirling, Sensual Dystopias of TARWUK
At Martos Gallery, the collaborative duo imparts the solace of companionship among the cracks and crags of their mythical wasteland.
Posted inArt
In Large-Scale Quilts, Jesse Krimes Memorializes Those Subsumed by Incarceration
American Rendition interweaves materials cherished by current and formerly incarcerated people into contemplative scenes.
Posted inArt
Clyfford Still’s Questionable Attempts at “Preserving” Indigenous Culture
In the 1930s, Still co-founded the Nespelem Art Colony, through which he and other faculty and students observed a precarious Indigenous community in Washington.