Opinion
Weekend Words: Second Acts
With tomorrow ushering in Barack Obama’s second term as President, Weekend Words has the audacity to hope that F. Scott Fitzgerald was wrong, and that there are indeed second acts in American lives.
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Art
Artist Unknown: Reflections on Works by Eddie Johnson
Poring through a cache of my late uncle's works on paper, I come across an arresting print purporting to be a self-portrait. It is on delicate and weathered paper. The notes at the bottom state simply: "10/10 Self-Portrait Serigraph, 7 Color" followed by an undecipherable signature that ends with th
Art
Hiroshi Sugimoto’s “Revolution”
Eternal time posits the existence of paradise, while infinite time does not. Henri Cartier-Bresson found human warmth in his photographs, which he thought as a “decisive moment” that entered into the eternal, whereas Hiroshi Sugimoto sees beauty and inspiration in the coldness of the universe. He re
Music
Fagen's Critical Catalogue (January 2013, Part 1)
This month, reviews of Pink, Macklemore, Bruce Springsteen, The Coup and Grimes.
Art
Skirting the Nether Regions: Black Cake at Team Gallery
Currently at Team Gallery’s two venues, on Grand Street and Wooster Street in Soho, there is an exhibition simply titled Black Cake. Curated by Alex Gartenfeld, it includes only two artists from Team’s roster (Massimo Grimaldi and Ryan McGinley) out of sixteen participants, which puts it outside the
Art
Scraps and Squares: Cordy Ryman's Subversive Formalism
What’s the difference between the lackadaisical and the slapdash? Apparently, a great deal. Although he is employing the same strategies and materials that he used in his 2010 solo exhibition at DCKT Contemporary on the Lower East Side, I found the just-opened Cordy Ryman: Shuffle / Scrap / Echo at
Performance
Enduring Meaning in an Old Medium
Despite cold, rainy weather, a large audience turned out for “… towards meaning in a plural painting world,” a panel discussion moderated by Katy Siegel at Hunter College’s MFA building. The room was filled with young artists and MFA candidates eager to participate, and the place swelled to standing
Opinion
Another Royal Portrait That Was the Subject of Controversy Sees the Light of Day
Less than a week after the art world went into practical meltdown mode over Paul Emsley's portrait of Kate Middleton, the British Duchess of Cambridge, a controversial 1953 portrait of Queen Elizabeth II by artist John Napper was carted out after decades in storage. Why now?
Opinion
Online Archive Brings '90s Williamsburg Warehouse Culture to Life
Grungy Williamsburg is a thing of the past. Warehouses can still be found around the neighborhood, but for the most part, they've slowly turning into more than just artist lofts, and the penniless bohemia of yesteryears has largely ceded their territory to bars, music venues, clubs, restaurants, cof
News
Brooklyn Museum Acquires Important Black Arts Movement Collection
In an effort to solidify gaps in its African American, American, and contemporary art holdings, the Brooklyn Museum has acquired 44 works by 26 artists that are part of what they are describing as an important collection of works created in conjunction with the Black Arts Movement of the mid-1960s t
News
US Judge Puts Russia in Contempt Over Refusal to Return Historic Collection
It's been more than two years since Russia issued a ban on lending art to the United States, and the latest news in the ongoing saga is that a federal judge has now declared the Russian government in contempt of court, imposing fines on it of $50,000 a day, the LA Times reports.
Art
Failure, Success, and Community in Contemporary Performance
Instead of writing a review or a recap of the shows I’ve seen or a critical essay about the tone of the APAP festivals in New York this year, I’m going to describe my night on Tuesday evening and some of what was going through my head during those hours. Because somehow, I think it might do a better