The connection between contemporary quantum physics and China’s ancient Terracotta Warriors is a lost pigment called Han purple. The vibrant hue appeared in the Zhou dynasty and faded out sometime near 220 AD; art didn’t see a purple as vivid until 19th-century manufacturing.
Daily Archives: December 17, 2014
The Accessories of Death
While death and dying may not be popular topics of conversation today, mourning was a familiar act that developed into a social ritual in the 18th through early 20th century — particularly in the Western world — with high mortality rates and low life expectancies.
At New York’s LGBT Center, a Renovation Pushes Art to the Fore
On Tuesday the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center (LGBT Center) in New York’s Greenwich Village offered a sneak peek at its nearly complete $9.2 million renovation, which, among other things, aims to showcase the exceptional art sprinkled throughout the building.
“I Like Art by Men Better”: Gender by the Numbers at Art Basel Miami Beach
The last time I spoke with Micol Hebron, earlier this year, she was spearheading Gallery Tally, a project for which she and a small army of volunteers count the numbers of men and women artists on the rosters of art galleries. A week and a half ago, Hebron was in Miami for the art fairs, so she took the opportunity to do some more counting.
When Painting Was an Unreasonable Vocation
In our times, the sincerity and passion of Ab-Ex look pretty good again, especially when the formal strengths of the work add up to more than just stylistic adventuring. Elizabeth Harris Gallery’s current show is a case in point.
Introducing the Digital and Interdisciplinary Art Practice MFA Program at the City College of New York
Uptown is the new Downtown. Tourists flock to City College of New York’s (CCNY) Neo-Gothic campus to snap photographs of its exterior, unaware of the contemporary art practices within.
The Lost Histories of Women at War
Photos of men in war are ubiquitous — as historical records, photojournalism, and complex artistic representations. Images of women in battle are less common, mirroring the stereotype that men are overwhelmingly the warring sex.
Making It, and Not, in Montreal’s Street Art Scene
Few North American cities wear their street art so prominently on their sleeve as Montreal. This exceptionally vibrant community is the focus of the documentary Bienvenue / Welcome, for which director Maxime Charron is in the midst of a Kickstarter campaign.
Four Poems by Chanho Song Translated by Won-Chung Kim and Christopher Merrill
Our poetry editor, Joe Pan, has selected four poems by Chanho Song translated from the Korean by Won-Chung Kim and Christopher Merrill for his series that brings original poetry to the screens of Hyperallergic readers.
A Traditional Native Practice, Given Modern Form
SANTA FE — There are many facets to our identities and how we construct and define ourselves; one of the most integral is language.
For the Harvard Art Museums, a Top-to-Bottom Renovation and Rethinking
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — On a warm day in June six years ago, the front doors of the Fogg Museum closed quietly. There was no banner reading “Closing Day” on Quincy Street at the edge of Harvard Yard, no ceremony, no press, no speech. At five o’clock, museum visitors shuffled out the exit in droves, toting travel books and the last discounted souvenirs.
Who Has the Cure for “Zombie Formalism”?
Since the artist and critic Walter Robinson wrote his now-(in)famous post “Flipping and the Rise of Zombie Formalism” in Artspace this past April, there has been an outpouring of writers, bloggers, and Facebook comment jockeys who have opined on the subject.