Hrag Vartanian is editor-at-large, founding editor, and co-founder of Hyperallergic.
![More Answers in MOCA Mural Censorship [UPDATE 4]](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/size/w600/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2010/12/deitchstreetart-home.jpg)
News
Some answers are finally surfacing after a week of the LA MOCA controversy. Recently an email between the censored street artist Blu and renowned graffiti photographer Henry Chalfant has been posted online. Blu has confirmed to me via email that the text is real, and Chalfant has said he will provid
News
Al-Jazeera reports [http://english.aljazeera.net/photo_galleries/middleeast/2010113011444886787.html] that the once vibrant center of Jewish life in Beirut, Lebanon, and the city's largest and oldest surving synagogue, Magen Abraham is being restored by private donations, including from local Muslim
News
Artist Blu has just blogged about his surprise that the word "censorship" is disappearing from the discussion of his whitewashed mural and being replaced by the word "curatorial choice." He also reveals why the mural isn't as finished as some of his other work …
![Artist Requests to Be Removed from Smithsonian's Hide/Seek [UPDATE 3]](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/size/w600/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2010/12/felix-home1.jpg)
News
New York-based artist and artistic director of the Institute of Art, Religion and Social Justice AA Bronson has sent an email to the National Portrait Gallery requesting that his work "Felix, June 5, 1994" (1994/99) [pictured above] be removed from their Hide/Seek exhibition in light of the recent c
Art
There has been so much talk about Blu's commissioned mural but few people are talking about the work itself and what it could mean. As a critic who has been looking at a great deal of street art for years, I want to weigh in on the topic. Some art critics have been dismissive of the work and thought
Opinion
The Bygone Bureau's Jimmy Chen imagines what it would be like if Picasso had used eBay [http://bygonebureau.com/2010/12/15/picassos-ebay-period/]. Hilarity ensues. Great line, "bitch i’m trying to make a living. check out my new painting."
Opinion
Now the man who gave us Hope and then made us Hope-less is weighing in on the Blu mural controversy [http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2010/12/shepard-fairey-weighs-in-on-mocas-mural-controversy.html] and it's rather embarrassing. The good part …
News
Just when you thought this story may be dead, Italian street artist Blu, whose mural was whitewashed by MOCA [http://hyperallergic.com/14367/mural-whitewashed-la-moca/] last week, has shot back at Jeffrey Deitch's brush-this-all-under-the-rug mentality [http://hyperallergic.com/14672/deitch-explain-
News
You know we work hard at Hyperallergic to bring you the most interesting news, reviews, and opinions about art but we also need some support once in a while, and today is one of those days. Contrary to popular belief, ads and sponsorships do not pay for everything here at Hyperallergic, and most of
Opinion
MOCA Director Jeffrey Deitch has finally broken his silence and spoken to the Los Angeles Times over the recent whitewashing of the Blu wall commissioned for the upcoming Art in the Streets exhibition, which will be the first major US museum show featuring street art.
Opinion
Some of us have been thinking the [http://twitter.com/hragv/status/13681350116638721] same thing [http://community.nytimes.com/comments/artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/13/los-angeles-museum-of-contemporary-art-deems-mural-inappropriate/?permid=3#comment3]. Since the art world depends on tight-lip
Art
On Friday, Art in General opened two newly commissioned works by Ohan Meromi and Brendan Fernandes. The former is an evolving "rehearsal"/performance, while the other delves into the origins of African sculpture using some effective audio and fantastic neon signs.