Opinion
Street Art or Garbage?
Thanks to artist Mark Jenkins, life just got a little more complicated than it used to be. In addition to the age-old dilemma of “Is it art?” we are now forced to confront the question “Is it street art?”
Hrag Vartanian
Hrag Vartanian is editor-at-large, founding editor, and co-founder of Hyperallergic.
Art
MoMA’s Abramović Ends With a Bang
The last day of the Marina Abramović’s “The Artist Is Present” at MoMA was marked by a frenzy of activity both IRL and online. The veteran performance artist has proven that her art form has come of age and it can hypnotize a whole city — and art world — into believing or “unbelieving” that she’s th
News
AP Spreads Own Story, Urging Shepard Fairey to Settle Copyright Case
The Associated Press has disseminated a story that props up its own interests in the Shepard Fairey Obama “Hope” copyright case. Some people are wondering if the news service should’ve filed a story with no real updates except that things are still going well for the AP.
News
Allen Ginsberg’s Beat Photographs on Display
I had no idea renowned beat poet Allen Ginsberg (1926–1997) was an avid amateur photographer. A current exhibition [http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2010/ginsberg/index.shtm#] of his black and white snapshots are on display at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, and they are annotated by Gi
News
Planted Stories: Jef Geys Touches Down in Detroit
Belgian conceptual artist Jef Geys has been commissioned by the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit to create his latest project titled “Woodward Avenue” on the Detroit street of the same name. It will span almost 30 miles and incorporate local vegetation.
News
Marina Abramović’s Chair Now Tweets
This is a great day for the Internet: twitter.com/marinaschair The feed is obviously a joke but the chair’s bio is great: Just me and Marina until the end of it all. NOTE: That picture features our table. The table has since left.
Art
Is Street Art Over?
Writing for Slate, critic Ben David investigates the possibility that Banksy’s Exit Through the Gift Shop may have been a “poisoned valentine” to the global movement known as Street Art.
Opinion
An Uplifting Holocaust Memorial?
Milwaukee has a Holocaust memorial but now some members of the city’s Jewish community want another one … one that is uplifting. Critic Robin Cembalest discusses [http://www.tabletmag.com/arts-and-culture/34365/monumental-dilemma/] this and other trends in the world of memorials.
News
New York’s Latest Public Art Idea: Street Pianos
The Village Voice reports [http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2010/05/the_street_pian.php] that New York’s latest public art idea is street pianos. Yes, this summer, America’s Next Top Pianist will be performed in the streets of all five boroughs (map [http://www.streetpianos.com/ny
Opinion
Is Marina Abramović An Undemocratic Insidery Artist?
New York Magazine explains how people get to sit with artist Marina Abramović in her MoMA atrium work titled, “The Artist Is Present” (2010), and it makes me rather mad. I will admit that I personally have Abramović fatigue but the fact that she’s far from accessible makes me dislike a work by her t
Opinion
Who Is the Favorite Artist of the Corporate Overlords?
We all know that money doesn’t mean taste, and taste doesn't earn you any money, but according to two three major corporate overlords (Goldman Sachs and IBM and Deutsche Bank) the artist of choice for capitalists is abstract artist Julie Mehretu.
Art
Barbara Kruger Tells You to Love, Shove, Blame … the Art Gallery of Ontario
The Dundas Street façade of Toronto’s Art Gallery of Ontario has been overtaken by a massive block-long banner created by propaganda-inspired artist Barbara Kruger. Titled “Untitled (It)” (2010), the block-long Kruger feels polite and subdued — two words, strangely, often used to describe the city o