Participants of Sunset Park’s open studios this weekend told Hyperallergic why they’ve shifted gears and joined the up-and-coming community.

Rhea Nayyar
Rhea Nayyar (she/her) is a New York-based teaching artist who is passionate about elevating minority perspectives within the academic and editorial spheres of the art world. Rhea received her BFA in Visual Arts from Carnegie Mellon University. Find her art updates at @rheanayyar.art on Instagram!
The Metaverse Is Empty, and Legs Won’t Save It
Decentraland and others are getting mocked for their low visitor numbers while people are roasting Meta Horizons for its awkward head-and-torso figures.
Processing the Trauma of Wildfires Through Art
Fire Transforms at the Palo Alto Art Center convenes artists to commemorate loss, survival, and growth in light of climate change’s exponential severity.
Paul Chan and Sky Hopinka Among Four Artists Named MacArthur “Genius” Fellows
Tavares Strachan and Amanda Williams have also received the award, which increased from $625k to $800k, no strings attached.
Artist Silke Otto-Knapp, Who Made Watercolor “Dance,” Dies at Age 52
The artist and beloved professor of painting and drawing at UCLA’s School of the Arts and Architecture had battled ovarian cancer for two years.
Activists Crash British Museum Opening to Protest Egypt’s Political Prisoners
The anti-fuel group Culture Unstained criticized the museum’s connections to British Petroleum and its silence on the imprisonment of Egyptian political critic Alaa Abd El-Fattah.
Philadelphia Gives Boarded-Up Columbus Statue Italian Flag Paint Job
Councilman Mark Squilla spearheaded the initiative in support of the Italian-American community, a move some find offensive on Indigenous Peoples’ Day.
Artists Raise $85K for Relief in Flood-Stricken Pakistan
Works by over 70 artists of the pan-South Asian diaspora were up for auction to help Pakistan’s most vulnerable communities in a women- and queer-led initiative.
Artist Slammed for Matching Instagram Photos to Open-Camera Footage
Critics of the project say artist Dries Depoorter is engaging dangerously with surveillance culture.
NFTs Tank on OpenSea as Crypto Winter Continues
It’s the latest in a rocky year of scams, plagiarism, and poor customer service on the platform, but NFT enthusiasts say they can survive the bear market.