When traders on r/wallstreetbets started bankrupting short sellers of GameStop and AMC stock, social media rejuvenated imagery stretching back to the 19th century.
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 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.
Posted inArt
Etel Adnan Reflects on Aging With Gentle Hues
A sense of longing pervades Seasons, which opened at Galerie Lelong just as New York City reached peak autumn foliage.
Posted inArt
Where Does Protest Art Fit in the “Canon” of Contemporary Art?
We Fight to Build a Free World prompts the question of whether political artworks can truly convey their own radicalism within the halls of an Upper East Side museum.
Posted inArt
Frank Gehry’s Grand Monolith for a Bleak Future
The Grand — a complex including a luxury residential tower, movie theater, and upscale retailers — is a billion-dollar gamble at a time when in-person business is in steep decline.
Posted inArt
The Story Behind a Misunderstood Satanic Monument
When Confederate memorials began to be toppled in June, far-right organizations called for the destruction of the Satanic Temple’s bronze statue of Baphomet. Here’s why that doesn’t make sense.
Posted inArt
What Would It Look Like to Decolonize Cartography? A Volunteer Group Has Ideas
Founded by Jordan Engel in 2014, Decolonial Atlas is working to undo settler colonialism, one map at a time.