Art
The Power of Protest Art, from Goya to Polke
In Soulèvements, an ahistorical exhibition of art made for and about acts of protest, works either make their political agendas self-evident or embed them in their formal properties.
Joseph Nechvatal
Books
An Artist Who Survived the Paris Terrorist Attacks Draws His Experience
Artist Fred Dewilde was in the audience at the Bataclan the night of November 13, 2015, and he's turned his ordeal and its aftermath into a comic book.
Art
A Radical Artist’s Journey from Fluxus to Full-On Commercialism
A retrospective devoted to pioneering Fluxus artist Ben Vautier tracks his evolution from a radical thinker and early conceptual artist to salable brand name.
Film
Dancing Rodin’s Sensual Poses
PARIS — Dance that pushes sensual and temporal boundaries and sculpture that pushes formal boundaries share a solid connection while simultaneously remaining, in many respects, in distinct opposition.
Art
Jean Tinguely's Clanging, Banging Machine Sculptures
PARIS — The crepuscular imbroglio at work in Jean Tinguely’s historic machine sculptures, currently on view at Galerie Georges-Philippe et Nathalie Vallois, is very much of the present moment.
Art
Tracking the Beat Generation Across Three Continents
PARIS — Though almost entirely lacking a female presence — artist Jay DeFeo and poet Diane Di Prima being the exceptions that prove the rule — the Centre Pompidou’s airily laid out retrospective of the Beat Generation is otherwise flawless.
Art
How Daniel Buren's Institutional Critique Became Institutional Chic
PARIS — Lacking any discernible content outside of context, the translucent, cheery façade of Daniel Buren’s "Observatory of Light” (2016) at the Foundation Louis Vuitton is another example of how once-radical conceptual artists have become co-opted and turned into spiffy designer-decorators.
Art
Ugo Rondinone's Fragments of Nature Mourn the Environment
NÎMES, France — Ugo Rondinone’s zombie nature show Becoming Soil is an unintentional reminder that the terrifying Anthropocene age — when the human influence on Earth’s soil has been so profound it will leave its destructive legacy for millennia — is upon us.
Art
An Exhibition Recaps 50 Years of James Bond, the Spy Who Loved Himself
PARIS — James Bond, 007 the Exhibition provides just enough ludicrous, louche swagger to fill hard-living, hard-killing art stars with envy.
Art
The Pulsing Patterns of Traditional North African Jewelry
PARIS — Wearable Treasures: Maghreb Jewelry and Ornaments is a pointed consideration of the psychic powers interlaced throughout North African women’s jewelry.
Art
A Velvet Underground Extravaganza Where Images Drown Out the Music
PARIS — Arty, esoteric, noise music may not be for everyone, but the Velvet Underground arose from just such obscure subgenre territory.
Interview
A Chronicler of Experimental Music Releases His Own
PARIS — While in New York some years ago, I virtually met Laurent Fairon, a French blogger and record collector based in Paris, when he was documenting and archiving for the web the Tellus Audio Cassette Magazine in partnership with UbuWeb.