Hrag Vartanian - Hyperallergic (Page 190)

Art

Should We Kill the Traditional Art Review? [UPDATED w tweets]

A few weeks ago, I ran into artist William Powhida who started to tease me that I don't really write many art reviews anymore. I got a little defensive but after thinking about it, I realized he was right. The reason? I have lost faith in the art review as the best way to communicate ideas in and ab

Interview

Sculpture Today: A Discussion with Joy Curtis & Rachel Beach

On Wednesday, I wrote about two painting shows (Kristine Moran & Gianna Commito) that I felt shared an aesthetic connection. Today, I wanted to draw your attention to two sculpture shows on Ludlow Street by two artists who I've been following for years, Joy Curtis and Rachel Beach. Both artists make

News

Walker Art Center Snags Merce Cunningham's Art Collection

The Star-Tribune has the story of how Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota purchased a treasure trove of American art accumulated by dance legend Merce Cunningham. The stash "includes at least 150 major objects and perhaps thousands of smaller items," according to the newspaper.

News

Final Report Says 54 Objects Missing from Egyptian Museum

Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities has released the final list of the historic objects that have gone missing from the Egyptian Museum since the January 25th revolution began … while in Spain, a museum finds a van Dyck in its basement.

Art

Jagged Strips of Paint, Two LES Shows

Serendipity often plays a role in gallery going. Occasionally you come across two shows at unrelated galleries that suggest a connection that couldn't possibly have been planned. You could argue such occurences have the makings of a zeitgeist, but sometimes they are simply coincidences that reveal c

Opinion

Everything Is an Art Fair … Redux

First, it was blogs [http://hyperallergic.com/17238/everything-is-an-art-fair/], now our bathrooms. I'm guessing Helguera was thinking about The Dependent art fair when he sketched this one. 16 Miles of String has a few good shots of the bathroom installations [http://www.16miles.com/2011/03/depende

Opinion

Hitting Graffiti & Street Artists Where it Hurt$ [UPDATE: Smear Arrested]

In what may be the most original tactic by a city to deter street artists and graffiti writers from using public space as free advertising, Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich is seeking a court injunction to bar street artist Cristian Gheorghiu from profiting from art bearing his telltale "t

News

The Ides of March Auctions

The New York Observer has a report about the recent New York art auctions and it lists who the author thinks are some of the winners and losers … In other news, BBC announced that China just became the second biggest auction market in the world.

News

Murakami Asks People to Tweet Art in Support of Japan

On Sunday, Murakami issued a statement [http://ameblo.jp/geisai-net/entry-10830268183.html] in the wake of the devastating Sendai earthquake in Japan asking people to show their support of Japan by tweeting original art with the hashtag, #newday_GEISAI.

Opinion

Required Reading [UPDATED]

This week on Required Reading … responses by William Powhida and Tom Moody to two Hyperallergic posts, poet Elizabeth Bishop's other art, John Ashbery on R. B. Kitaj, a conservative's opinion on street art, contemporary art as Mannerism and megalomaniac Zahi Hawass interviews himself …

Art

Kinetic Street Art Poetry by NohJColey

I encountered a street work by artist NohJColey in Williamsburg last week. Like all strong street art pieces, it forced me to stop and look closely. The attention to detail, its use of diverse textures and materials and its complex method of storytelling, which is more impressionistic than narrative

Interview

Paris Gets the General Idea

On February 11, the first major retrospective of the work of the world-renowned Canadian art collective General Idea opened at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris with 300 objects, and I took the opportunity to interview AA Bronson about General Idea and his thoughts on the group.