Hrag Vartanian is editor-at-large, founding editor, and co-founder of Hyperallergic.
News
First spotted by the Animal New York [http://animalnewyork.com/2010/05/is-shepard-faireys-legal-mural-illegal] blog, the New York Times [http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/04/fairey-mural-gets-thumbs-down-from-buildings-department/] reported that Shepard Fairey’s May Day illegal mural on Hous
Opinion
Remember that insane story about the Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli handing out new lapel pins to staff with the state seal covered up with an armored breastplate? Arts writer Tyler Green dreams up a snarky scenario where the Virginia attorney general's disdain for female nudity reaches th
Opinion
Online we encounter more information than ever, but we also lose a hell of a lot. On May 3, the blog WeLoveViral posted a photos and a video titled “Swimming Pool Illusion [http://weloveviral.blogspot.com/2010/05/swimming-pool-illusion-fake-swimming.html].” The YouTube video embedded in the post is
News
If you’ve been looking at the spectacular photos coming out of Expo 2010, which opened in Shanghai last weekend, then you’re probably wondering the same thing everyone else is, “Wow, what a spectacular display of modern architecture and design, but … wait a minute, why does the United States pavilio
Opinion
Star Wars Modern has posted an extensive essay on the evolution of American superheroes, particularly Batman and Superman, and their relationship to modernity and urbanism. His post incorporates many figures that loom large in the 20th C. American urban imagination and he focuses mainly on pop cultu
Opinion
Who knew the Australian landscape painting world could be a hot bed of scandal. Earlier this month, the Wynne Prize [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wynne_Prize] was awarded to Australian painter Sam Leach. Normally bestowed on “the best landscape painting of Australian scenery in oils or watercolours
News
Art Fag City has published an extensive report on the financial crisis facing the Jersey City Museum. She paints a grim picture of an institution that is vital to the area’s visual arts community.
News
The New York Times reports on a serious scandal that’s rocking the Hôtel Drouot, which is “France’s oldest, largest, most storied and most profitable auction site, a frenetic three-story bazaar of marvels and junk: Picassos and Basquiats, stamps and used handbags, dusty carpets, couches, clattering glassware.” Insiders don’
Opinion
It is a sad day for pole dancers, and those who appreciate them, in New York state. This from the New York Law Journal: “We question how much planning goes into attempting a dance seen on YouTube,” the tax appeals panel concluded …
Opinion
Curator, critic, and blogger Nicole J. Caruth didn’t attend last week’s food event at the Brooklyn Museum but she did get in for the after party. During her post-bacchanalia visit she was able to shoot the remains of the food orgy.
News
Animal New York has been documenting the steady stream of defacement that artist Shepard Fairey’s May Day exhibition mural on Houston Avenue has been subject to. First it was targeted by a graffiti writer [http://animalnewyork.com/2010/04/naw-on-shepard-faireys-mural/], then holes [http://animalnewy
Opinion
New York Magazine's senior art critic has started filing video reports from art events. And on Friday he posted a report from Brooklyn Museum's “food art” gala created by “food artist” Jennifer Rubell. Her description of the event is priceless … and absurd …