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?”
Hrag Vartanian
Hrag Vartanian is editor-in-chief and co-founder of Hyperallergic. You can follow him at @hragv.
Posted inArt
China Bulldozes Studios, Flash Mobs Follow, Avatar Invoked
While we live our artistic lives in the West in relative calm, if sometimes obscurity and poverty, artists in China face some very serious dangers from an autocratic government that only allows art to flower when it fits its political agenda. So when artists in China create a flash mob to protest the systematic destruction of artist studios, it is shocking that no one notices. Thankfully, Austrian blogger Karel has written something for mazine.ws about this vast injustice …
Posted inNews
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An Extensive Roundup of Haitian Art in Jeopardy, London ICA’s Budget Crisis
… Florida’s Dail Museum needs money to complete its new building … a woman fell into a Rose Period Picasso last Friday at the Met and ignited some of the funniest blog comments I’ve ever read on a New York Times blog (don’t worry, both the woman & the Picasso will be fine) … Toronto’s Art Gallery of Ontario receives its biggest contemporary art donation ever … and a list of all the biennials you can look forward to in 2010.
Posted inArt
A Gallery Grows in Bushwick, Storefront Appears on the Scene
It’s obvious that Jason Andrew and Deborah Brown don’t like to sit around waiting for things to happen, which may explain why they have become cornerstones in Bushwick, Brooklyn’s art scene. Andrew is the driving force behind Norte Maar, an apartment cultural space on Wyckoff Avenue that has played host to some impressive visual arts, musical and performance shows over the past five years, while Brown helped organize the first Bushwick Open Studios and sits on local Community Board #4 as a constant cheerleader for all things culture and Bushwick. The two have joined forces to create Storefront gallery with the mission to promote emerging Bushwick artists and to revisit the work of established talents.
Posted inArt
One Year of #ArtsTech, An Interview with @juliaxgulia
A year ago, Julia Kaganskiy (aka @juliaxgulia) quietly began the Arts, Culture and Technology group in New York on Meetup.com. It was a simple idea: link up geeks with a love of culture. It may sound obvious in the art capital of the world but Julia was the first person to think it up and follow through.
Posted inArt
Joy Garnett’s Gesture for Haiti
Today, I was browsing Facebook and I discovered a post by Joy Garnett, who was offering one of her paintings to the first collector to pledge $10,000 to a fund for Haiti. She’s an artist known for painting images of disasters and I wanted to talk to her about her latest bout of altruism.
Posted inArt
#BestNonBuy: When Shopping, Not Buying, Becomes Art
Performance artist Man Bartlett is tired, has blood shot eyes and he’s doing something very American, shopping. His mission is to spend 24 hours in Union Square’s Best Buy megastore without buying anything. His biggest obstacles are sleep, security and the urge to buy shit. Will he make it?
Posted inArt
The Center of Art: A Conversation with Critic & Curator Karen Wilkin
She’s one of New York’s old skool art critics and has penned books on everyone from David Smith to Edward Gorey. An authority on 20th C. modernism, Karen Wilkin agreed to talk to Hyperallergic about her experience as a longtime observer of the art world and in the process she spoke about an art world “afraid of missing out on something,” and she offers some advice to aspiring critics.
Posted inNews
Assassination of Danish ‘Muhammad’ Cartoonist Foiled, Burj Khalifa Opens, Arts Audience in US Shrinks
… a new modern art museum in Charlotte, North Carolina, opens … Arizona’s defunct West Valley Art Museum needs a place to store its art … British arts institutions are getting short changed by the 2012 Olympics … Bank of America gives its customers free admission to LA museums … Michael Jackson’s art continues to raise eyebrows.
Posted inNews
2010 Here We Come!
Just in case you hadn’t noticed, we’re on vacation until Monday, January 4, 2010. While we’re away we’re making plans, dealing with programmers, and doing other things to make you all feel warm and fuzzy.
In the meantime, we wish you all an amazing New Year’s Eve and look forward to you joining us for a great 2010!
Posted inNews
Poster Boy Sentenced, Art Fund Goes Bust, Reaganomics Lives (in the Art World)
… a profile of “power” curator Hans Ulrich Obrist … the Art Gallery of Alberta signs a deal with the National Gallery of Canada … the Clyfford Still Museum is being built … Fresno, California, loses a museum … a Victorian novelist’s fancy toothpick fetches big bucks … some notable picks for the best of the in 2009.