For the Allure of Matter exhibition the curators propose “Material Art” as a useful, retroactive designation of art that has existed in China since the 1980s and continues today.

Kealey Boyd
Kealey Boyd is a writer and art critic. Her writing appears in the LATimes, Art Papers, College Art Association, The Belladonna Comedy, Artillery Magazine and elsewhere. She teaches journalism at University of Colorado-Boulder and serves as art consultant to the national literary journal Copper Nickel.
Where Artists and Amazon Workers Align
I saw The Fulfillment Center months ago, but as time passed it wore on me and I became increasingly concerned about the workers — I mean artists — and more ambivalent about the commodities — I mean art.
An Art Fair Where You Can Buy a Steer and a Painting in the Same Venue
“It’s not cowboy art, it’s not parlor art, it is a nuanced view of the American landscape,” said one artist at the Coors Western Art Exhibit and Sale, where collectors gather see art that connects them to a person, a memory, or a community they value.
The Radical Side of Suburbia
In Radical Suburbs, author Amanda Kolson Hurley argues that the failures and achievements of suburban life offer a roadmap to future sustainable and equitable housing.
Tracing the Rise of Houston’s Art Community
Pete Gershon’s book about the Houston art community offers some simple advice: live around artists you respect and in a place you can afford to make work, even if no one buys it.
The Material Legacy of Matrilineal Power in China’s Qing Dynasty
Many of the objects in Empresses of China’s Forbidden City, 1644-1912 at Freer | Sackler have not previously been available for research, have never traveled outside of China, and might not be likely to reemerge again.
Margaret Kilgallen’s Unique Mix of Folk, Feminism, and Street Art
Kilgallen presses us to acknowledge our superficial judgements, specifically of women, and compels us all to see more deeply.
An Artist Uses Buddhist Iconography to Engage in a Political Debate Around Tibet
Tenzing Rigdol enters a political debate that is disruptive, slippery, and without comparison in Tibetan contemporary art.
How Museums Are Combatting a Shortage of East Asian Art Conservators
While American collections of East Asian art have grown tremendously, the specialized conservation laboratories that maintain these collections have not.
Paintings that Capture Our Ever-Changing Perceptions of Boyhood
Enrique Martínez Celaya distills how the concept of “the boy” changes with judgement and time, just as painting itself is linked to materials and history.
World’s Largest Native American Art Forgery Ring Distributed $12M of Fakes
The US government attorney supports 18-month sentences and fines for the accused, but in many ways the damage is done, casting both real and fake Native American artworks into doubt.
In 1972, Snow Monkeys Were Sent to a Texas Desert. Do They Still Remember Snow?
Curious if the monkeys’ memory of snow remained decades later, artist Shimabuku brought a pile of it to the desert.