In a world delighted and entertained by displays of material excess, Diane Simpson shows that there is another possibility.
John Yau
John Yau has published books of poetry, fiction, and criticism.
His latest poetry publications include a book of poems, Further Adventures in Monochrome (Copper Canyon Press, 2012), and the chapbook, Egyptian Sonnets (Rain Taxi, 2012). His most recent monographs are Catherine Murphy (Rizzoli, 2016), the first book on the artist, and Richard Artschwager: Into the Desert (Black Dog Publishing, 2015). He has also written monographs on A. R. Penck, Jasper Johns, and Andy Warhol. In 1999, he started Black Square Editions, a small press devoted to poetry, fiction, translation, and criticism. He was the Arts Editor for the Brooklyn Rail (2007–2011) before he began writing regularly for Hyperallergic Weekend. He is a Professor of Critical Studies at Mason Gross School of the Arts (Rutgers University).
Posted inArt
The Ever-Changing Dialogue Between Paint and Body
Through the medium of paint, Nowinski seeks to connect the inner and outer states of her subjects.
Posted inArt
The Democracy of Abstraction
Thomas Nozkowski believed that each person’s experience of the everyday was fundamentally unique and set out to honor that in his work.
Posted inArt
An Unsentimental Sculptor Confronts Mortality
Daisy Youngblood is a portrait sculptor whose themes include the embracing of one’s mortality.
Posted inArt
Philip Guston’s Unblinking Eye
I cannot think of another American artist who went as far as Guston did without a safety net.
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Takuji Hamanaka’s Spellbinding Prints
By reinventing the traditional bokashi technique, Hamanaka reminds us that nothing is dead, even when many proclaim otherwise.
Posted inFilm
Watching TV During the Pandemic
From European detective dramas to art documentaries, Yau reflects on some highlights from a year inside.
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An Icon of Unconventional Abstraction
Serge Poliakoff: Gouaches 1938-1969 furthers the case for Poliakoff’s importance and continuing relevance to abstract painting.
Posted inArt
Two West Coast Art Communities Outside the Mainstream
One thing seems pretty clear about both groups: they separated themselves from mainstream culture, including the art world. This is practically unheard of today.
Posted inArt
Brenda Goodman’s Abstraction and Pain
In her art, Goodman seems to both revisit trauma and heal it. The results are moving and painful.
Posted inBooks
Invisible Racism in the Old West
In his debut novel, Tom Lin underscores the invisibility of the Chinese to white Americans in late 19th-century United States.
Posted inArt
A Poet-Artist Looks to the Stars
Monica Ong is a 21st-century visual poet who extends the reader’s sense of what is possible.