Art
Roxanne Jackson’s Fantasia Under the Sea
Maybe Jackson's ceramic "monsters" are just creatures who look like they shouldn’t belong — and in her world-building Jackson has made a place where they do.
Seph Rodney
Art
Lubaina Himid Asks Who Gets a Seat at the Table
Those empowered to supervise large swaths of humanity too often dehumanize us, whether through the levers of state, financial, or political power.
Opinion
Hoping Is Not Enough
The idea of public criticism as “talking shit” rather than a collaborative venture permeates the arts, and it’s ultimately counterproductive.
Art
8 New York City Art Shows to Kick Off the New Year
From the visual pleasures of Mary Sully to the cultural critique of Gary Simmons, to a lesson in Haitian art history, there’s plenty of great art to see right now.
Art
The Never-Ending Cycle of Fear and Desire
Gary Simmons’s art suggests that rather than make progress our culture more often makes elaborate circles over and over again on the ice until the music stops.
Art
Words That Leave a Ragged Edge
While Scrawlspace is a deeply inquisitive and well-researched exhibition, the premises are in some instances cliché and a bit contradictory.
Art
With Less Glitter, Arcmanoro Niles’s Illusory Spaces Gleam
While his paintings follow the rules of linear perspectives, Niles uses the materiality of the paint itself to pull viewers into the compositions.
Art
At the Root of Justice Are Different Kinds of Love
The exhibition No Justice Without Love poses questions about the roots and limitations of our civic imagination.
Opinion
Are We Asking Too Much of Public Art?
We want public art to interrogate social injustices, fill us with love and joy, and brush aside human flaws, but it rarely ever lives up to these expectations.
Art
Discovering How Black Women Might Forge a Path to Freedom
The "Loophole of Retreat" symposium at the Venice Biennale demonstrated that the personal is not only political; it’s also where most of humanity lives.
Art
A Show About the Great Migration Strikes a Timely Chord
At a moment when the future of this country seems precarious and uncertain, A Movement in Every Direction demonstrates that Black Americans have been among this nation’s most stalwart heroes.
Art
Art Criticism as a Way to Live
These are what have been for me the most troubling and beautiful aspects of being a full-time critic and writer.