Podcast
The History, Context, and Legacy of an Ancient Maya Plate
Four experts peel back the layers of history hidden in an object that people believe was once used to serve white venison tamales centuries ago.
Hrag Vartanian
Hrag Vartanian is editor-at-large, founding editor, and co-founder of Hyperallergic.
Art
Required Reading
This week, Parul Sehgal's review of Salman Rushdie, Nell Painter on Romare Bearden, the Bret Stephens/David Karpf "bedbug" beef, Jenna Wortham on whiteness in current cinema, the infiltration of conservative media by white nationalists, and more.
Art
Required Reading
This week, the 1619 project, personal book curators, corporate America’s ‘Elite Charade,' Epstein's intellectual enabler, hand embroidered animation, and more.
In Brief
A Famous Optical Illusion Comes to Life
Sometimes you just can't trust your eyes.
Art
Required Reading
This week, artist Arthur Jafa, the history of the Stradivarius violin, the politics of criticism, Latinx underrepresentation in the US media, an inflatable garden, and more.
Art
Required Reading
This week, Lewis Hine's child labor images, assessing Artforum's #MeToo fallout, New York's most "toxic" museum boards, the rise of the right on YouTube, dissecting an Instragram influencer, and more.
Podcast
The Largely Unknown History of Blackface in Canada
Here's how Toronto's Gardiner Museum is using a figurine in its collection to peel back the layers of violently racialized imagery in Canada.
Art
Required Reading
This week, Sam Gilliam, art as an asset class, John Waters at Mary Oliver's bookshop, Ai Weiwei on Hong Kong protest, the radical black history of techno music.
Art
Required Reading
This week, Mapplethorpe's not-so-original images, indigo in ancient Peru, White Girl Art bingo, Western Civilization and white nationalism, a real life Snow White, and more.
Podcast
Shary Boyle's Exploration of the Fantastic and Political Lives of Clay
As ceramic becomes a more common material in contemporary art, artists like Shary Boyle are challenging the history of a medium that has too often been associated with class and prestige.
Art
Required Reading
This week, world's largest intact Ancient mosaic, Gordon Parks's 1961 images of a favela dweller, critic Inga Saffron roasts Stu Bykofsky, huge cache of 1980s noise and post-punk cassettes go online, spaceflight as colonialism, and more.
Art
Required Reading
This week, the white gaze and photos from the US/Mexico border, the market for a branded artist, a weird micro-trend, Jonas Wood's straight white dude problem, Washington state's prison abolitionist movement, and more.