Art
Setting a time and a place for the birth of street or urban art is always a tricky question, as one could argue that its history is as old as humanity. Besides, it’s not that easy to find documentation about the development of street art and graffiti before the 1980s because of the way technology ha
Opinion
If it looks like lighting, smells like lighting and lights things up, it's probably lighting! At least so says the European Commission in an argument over whether or not the work of Dan Flavin and Bill Viola qualify as art. They don't think so, and express their criticisms in a series of hilarious q
Opinion
The scandal that erupted when the Smithsonian's secretary G. Wayne Clough decided to remove David Wojnarowicz's “A Fire in My Belly” from the National Portrait Gallery's Hide/Seek exhibition under Republican political pressure shows no sign of calming down. Only in the past week, the Warhol Foundati
News
At a conversation held with Hide/Seek curators Jonathan Katz and David C. Ward at the New York Public Library December 15th, a few things became clear about the censorship scandal: Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery director Martin Sullivan is far from repentant over the decision, and the Catholi
Art
Regional Painting (2010), at Winkleman Gallery, is not a remarkable presentation; the casual viewer could be excused for thinking it is just another painting show. Twelve paintings on linen, each twelve by sixteen inches, beautifully framed in walnut, greatly varied in technique and style, are hung
News
Artist Blu has just blogged about his surprise that the word "censorship" is disappearing from the discussion of his whitewashed mural and being replaced by the word "curatorial choice." He also reveals why the mural isn't as finished as some of his other work …
![Artist Requests to Be Removed from Smithsonian's Hide/Seek [UPDATE 3]](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/size/w600/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2010/12/felix-home1.jpg)
News
New York-based artist and artistic director of the Institute of Art, Religion and Social Justice AA Bronson has sent an email to the National Portrait Gallery requesting that his work "Felix, June 5, 1994" (1994/99) [pictured above] be removed from their Hide/Seek exhibition in light of the recent c
News
In a protest that has become practice in China, Karen Patterson is starting a movement to flood imprisoned Chinese artist Wu Yuren (AKA “Little Ai”) with Christmas cards as a gesture of support. The artist has been imprisoned for his participation in a protest against studio demolitions since May 31
Art
There has been so much talk about Blu's commissioned mural but few people are talking about the work itself and what it could mean. As a critic who has been looking at a great deal of street art for years, I want to weigh in on the topic. Some art critics have been dismissive of the work and thought
Books
In Chris O. Cook's first book, called To Lose & To Pretend [http://www.brooklynartspress.com/Chris-Cook.html], published by Williamsburg's own Brooklyn Arts Press, the poet creates a collection of poems that are perfectly suited for subway rides. The brief passages are at times funny, at times ambiv
Opinion
The Bygone Bureau's Jimmy Chen imagines what it would be like if Picasso had used eBay [http://bygonebureau.com/2010/12/15/picassos-ebay-period/]. Hilarity ensues. Great line, "bitch i’m trying to make a living. check out my new painting."
Opinion
Now the man who gave us Hope and then made us Hope-less is weighing in on the Blu mural controversy [http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2010/12/shepard-fairey-weighs-in-on-mocas-mural-controversy.html] and it's rather embarrassing. The good part …