Things are changing fast in New York — granted, when haven’t they? — but the next few years in particular seem filled with promise to bring fresh architectural and design ideas and monuments that will transform this place into something new. Here are a few thing we’re looking forward to in the coming years.
Art
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Artist Angered by Starbucks Swiping Her Style Is Letting Go
Last month, we reported on artist Ophelia Chong, who discovered that Starbucks’ recent branding was strangely close to her own art work. The artist has since decided to drop the case and I asked her why.
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Assessing a Small Show of a Feminist Icon
CHICAGO — In a darkened gallery in the Art Institute of Chicago, a grainy video from decades ago begins. Standing with her face pressed up against a white wall, a woman reaches down and scoops up a handful of red, viscous liquid — presumably blood — from an enamel tray, and in a series of arcing gestures she traces a crude outline of a doorway, or a cave entrance, or maybe just the close demarcation of her own small body, around herself onto the wall.
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Bringing African Art History to the Rest of the World
CAPE TOWN — Summertime in South Africa is not only a time for beach, sun and granadilla lollies (a locally-made fruit popsicle), with the influx of tourists it is also a time for survey exhibitions by galleries who want to showcase their stable of artists and give an overview of their wares.
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A Year-Long Obsession With Jars
We’ve all seen them at some point on the social media app of our choice: the “painting-a-day” people, usually talentless self-promoters who are trying to convince themselves they’re doing something conceptual. Not all of them are bad, however. It’s like GIFs: most of them are trivial and silly, pure internet-clutter, but in theory there’s always the possibility that someone can make something good with them. And with UK artist Kirsty Hall’s “365 Jars” project, which I’ve been following throughout 2011, the “one piece a day” idea reaches a whole new level.
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The Artist Behind the Light Installation at Tribeca Issey Miyake
Grimanesa Amorós’s work has always been a little too big — literally and conceptually speaking — to be confined within the barriers of a gallery. Her light sculptures have encroached upon the streets of New York City, encountering passersby, mesmerizing them with paper sculptures and the translucent spheres for which she has become known. Though Tribeca Issey Miyake is hardly a vast, open space typical of interventionist art, in her new installation at the Japanese designer’s boutique the sculptures certainly confront new viewers and easily mixes fashion and fine art.
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Q&A with the Palestinian Artist Lacoste Wanted to Exclude
We caught up with the Palestinian artist Larissa Sansour, who as we reported on Wednesday is the artist that the French luxury apparel label Lacoste wanted to exclude from the 2011 Lacoste Elysée Prize for being “too pro-Palestinian.”
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Work of Art Recap: Finalmente!
The time has come. Last night was the last episode of Work of Art this season. One of our artistes dreams was made, and two others were crushed, much like bones after a terrible murder. I often follow up my Work of Art viewings with SVU. It puts the devastating losses in perspective.
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Colorful Street Art Gives Rio de Janeiro a Fresh Look
Graffiti in Rio de Janerio is some of the most festive, whimsical and lighthearted graffiti I’ve seen anywhere. Though the street art feels like it’s being taken seriously, the pervasive style is bold, playful, colorful, and full of bizarre scenes, stylized characters and undecipherable situations.
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Monastic, Psychedelic and Party Time
Mark Warren Jacques’s paintings are equal parts pop and mysticism; they linger between the monastic the psychedelic and party time. A Portland-based artist, his works assert themselves with a clearly defined West Coast swagger. They beam light straight into your head, they knock you down with colorful brilliance only to offer you a leg up and a wholehearted wink.
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Weekly Art Rx: Holiday Overdose
Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Festivus (Cristivuskwanzakkah?) is upon us, but that’s no excuse to miss your weekly dose of Art Rx. In fact, we’re forcing a spoonful of holiday spirit down your throat with a selection of events for everyone, no matter what holiday you celebrate …
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The Faraway Kingdom of North Korea
The death of Kim Jong Il has reinforced the feeling that North Korea may just be one of the most remote places on earth, yet it is a distance not based on geography but psychology. Looking at the retro-seeming images from this faraway land makes me think its population of 24 million has been trapped in amber for decades.
