# Hyperallergic > Sensitive to art and its discontents Public Ghost content for AI and LLM tooling. This file includes a bounded export of public pages first, then recent public posts. Append `.md` to any post or page URL to get the content in Markdown (for example, `/example-post.md`). ## Pages ### About URL: https://hyperallergic.com/about/ Last updated: 2026-08-11T16:58:06.000Z *Sensitive to Art and Its Discontents* **Hyperallergic** is a leading voice in contemporary perspectives on art, culture, and more. The online publication was founded by the husband-and-husband team, Veken Gueyikian and Hrag Vartanian, in 2009 as a forum for playful, serious, and radical perspectives on art in society. With over one million visitors monthly, Hyperallergic combines round-the-clock art world news coverage with insightful commentary. Challenging the art world status quo, Hyperallergic goes beyond the surface to investigate the inner workings of art institutions and markets, shedding light on the movements and individuals fighting for greater inclusion and representation. With hundreds of global contributors, Hyperallergic is a constant source for the latest in film, visual art, books, and performances around the world. **How we are funded** As a proudly independent publication, we always prioritize editorial independence over profit. Hyperallergic is funded by [membership contributions](https://hyperallergic.com/membership/) and art-focused [advertising](https://hyperallergic.com/advertise/). [**Learn more about how you can support us.**](https://hyperallergic.com/membership/) Subscribe to our [email newsletters](https://hyperallergic.com/#/portal/account/newsletters). Listen and subscribe to the [*Hyperallergic Podcast*](https://podcast.hyperallergic.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) on [Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hyperallergic/id1112233641?i=1000529623047&ref=hyperallergic.com) or [wherever you listen](https://podcast.hyperallergic.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) to podcasts. ![Screen Shot 2013-05-13 at 7.35.42 PM](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/uploads/2013/05/screen-shot-2013-05-13-at-7-35-42-pm.png) ### Hyperallergic Staff [Hakim Bishara](https://hyperallergic.com/author/hakim-bishara/), *Editor-in-Chief* [Valentina Di Liscia](https://hyperallergic.com/author/valentina-di-liscia/), *Senior Editor* [Lakshmi Rivera Amin](https://hyperallergic.com/author/lakshmi-rivera-amin/), *Associate Editor* [Lisa Yin Zhang](https://hyperallergic.com/author/lisa-zhang/), *Associate Editor* [Phillip Pyle](https://hyperallergic.com/author/phillip-pyle/), *Associate Editor* [Rhea Nayyar](https://hyperallergic.com/author/rhea-nayyar/), *Staff Writer* [Isa Farfan](https://hyperallergic.com/author/isa-farfan/), *Staff Writer* [Anna Lee](https://hyperallergic.com/author/anna-lee/)*, Staff Writer* [Hrag Vartanian](https://hyperallergic.com/author/hrag/), *Editor-at-Large, Co-founder* Veken Gueyikian, *Publisher, Co-founder* Shelby Roller, *Marketing Manager* Cosette Patterson, *Marketing Manager* ### **Regular Contributors** [John Yau](https://hyperallergic.com/author/john-yau/) [Lori Waxman](https://hyperallergic.com/author/lori-waxman/) [Michael Glover](https://hyperallergic.com/author/michael-glover/) [Seph Rodney](https://hyperallergic.com/author/seph-rodney/) [](https://hyperallergic.com/author/alexis-clements/)[Aruna D'Souza](https://hyperallergic.com/author/aruna-d-souza/) [Eileen G’Sell](https://hyperallergic.com/author/eileen-gsell/) [Jasmine Weber](https://hyperallergic.com/author/jasmine-weber/) [](https://hyperallergic.com/author/matt-stromberg/)[Paddy Johnson](https://hyperallergic.com/author/paddy-johnson/) [Damien Davis](https://hyperallergic.com/author/damien-davis/) [Emma Cieslik](https://hyperallergic.com/author/emma-cieslik/) [Jennifer Samet](https://hyperallergic.com/author/jennifer-samet/) [Renée Reizman](https://hyperallergic.com/author/renee-reizman/) [AX Mina](https://hyperallergic.com/author/an/) [Julia Curl](https://hyperallergic.com/author/julia-curl/) [](https://hyperallergic.com/author/ela-bittencourt/)[Alexandra M. Thomas](https://hyperallergic.com/author/alexandra-m-thomas/) [](https://hyperallergic.com/author/paddy-johnson/)[Sarah E. Bond](https://hyperallergic.com/author/sarah-e-bond/) [](https://hyperallergic.com/author/daniel/)[Olivia McEwan](https://hyperallergic.com/author/olivia-mcewan/) [Lauren Moya Ford](https://hyperallergic.com/author/lauren-moya-ford/) [](https://hyperallergic.com/author/erin-l-thompson/)[Debra Brehmer](https://hyperallergic.com/author/debra-brehmer/) [Cat Dawson](https://hyperallergic.com/author/cat-dawson/) [Great Rainbow](https://hyperallergic.com/author/greta-rainbow/) [Aaron Short](https://hyperallergic.com/author/aaron-short/) [Matt Stromberg](https://hyperallergic.com/author/matt-stromberg/) [](https://hyperallergic.com/author/ela-bittencourt/)[Taliesin Thomas](https://hyperallergic.com/author/taliesin-thomas/) [Dan Schindel](https://hyperallergic.com/author/dan-schindel/) [Julie Schneider](https://hyperallergic.com/author/julie-smith-schneider/) [Alexis Clements](https://hyperallergic.com/author/alexis-clements/) [Ela Bittencourt](https://hyperallergic.com/author/ela-bittencourt/) [Daniel Larkin](https://hyperallergic.com/author/daniel/) ### Newsletters URL: https://hyperallergic.com/newsletters/ Last updated: 2025-08-30T17:45:25.000Z _No content available._ ### Become a Member URL: https://hyperallergic.com/membership/ Last updated: 2025-12-23T22:32:36.000Z As an independent publication, *Hyperallergic* relies on member support to fund our arts journalism. [Become a Member](#/portal/account/plans) If you have any other questions, please read our [Member FAQ](https://hyperallergic.com/member-faq/) or email us at [support@hyperallergic.com](mailto:support@hyperallergic.com). --- ### Thanks! We’ll keep you on our list. URL: https://hyperallergic.com/newsletter-confirmation/ Last updated: 2025-03-20T18:49:22.000Z Thanks for clicking to let us know you’re still reading our newsletters! We’ll be sure to keep you on our list to keep receiving our newsletters. Thanks for reading! If you’d like to update your newsletter preferences [you can do that here](https://hyperallergic.com/my-account/newsletters/). ### Fellowships URL: https://hyperallergic.com/fellowships/ Last updated: 2022-09-23T15:05:56.000Z --- ### Emily H. Tremaine Journalism Fellowship for Curators With the support of the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, Hyperallergic is offering five monthlong journalism fellowships for curators that each include a grant of $5,000\. [Learn more](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/emily-hall-tremaine-journalism-fellowship-for-curators/). --- ### **The Center for Craft – Craft Archive Fellowships** The Center for Craft will award six $5,000 Craft Archive Fellowships to support new research on underrepresented craft histories, culminating in a Special Issue on Hyperallergic. [Learn more](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/craft-archive-fellowship/). ### Donate URL: https://hyperallergic.com/donate/ Last updated: 2026-08-25T15:50:15.000Z ### Support independent arts journalism Hyperallergic is a leading voice on contemporary art and a forum for conversations on issues of social and economic justice in the art community. Every contribution, big or small, helps us continue reporting and emboldens us to challenge the status quo while shining a light on the movements and individuals fighting for greater inclusion and representation in the arts. [ Donate ](https://hyperallergic.com/#/portal/support) Or send a check to: **Hyperallergic** 181 N 11th St. Ste #302 Brooklyn, NY 11211-1175 If you donate $80 or more, please contact us to add a complimentary year of membership to your account. Or make your contribution go further as a paid member – [****Become a member**](#/portal/account/plans). Note that Hyperallergic is not a non-profit so small donations are not tax-deductible. **If you are interested in making a larger tax-deductible gift,** or donating through a donor-advised fund (DAF), a foundation, or a retirement account, please consider donating to Hyperallergic through our fiscal sponsor [Investigative Reporters and Editors](https://www.ire.org/about-ire/?ref=hyperallergic.com), a 501(c)(3) organization. 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If you do not agree, please discontinue use of the Site. ### What We Collect **Information you provide directly:** - Your name and email address when you sign up for our newsletter or create a member account - Your billing information if you subscribe to a paid membership - Any information you include when you contact us ⠀**Information collected automatically:** - Your IP address and approximate geolocation (city and country) - Browser type, device type, operating system, and language - Pages visited, referring URLs, and timestamps - Login and session activity for registered members ### How We Use Your Information **We use the information we collect to:** - Deliver our publication and newsletter to you - Process and manage paid memberships and subscriptions - Respond to your inquiries and provide support - Analyze how the Site is used so we can improve it - Comply with legal obligations We do not sell your personal information. ### Cookies The Site uses only essential cookies required for member login sessions. 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We encourage you to review this policy periodically. ### Contact Us If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or wish to exercise your data rights, contact us at: hello \[at\] hyperallergic.com Hyperallergic Media, Inc 181 N 11th St, Ste 302 Brooklyn, NY 11211 ### The World’s First Tumblr Art Symposium URL: https://hyperallergic.com/tumblrart/ Last updated: 2013-02-15T19:45:51.000Z [![netart_purple(2)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/uploads/2013/02/netart_purple2.gif)](https://hyperallergic.com/tumblrart/) **The event livestream has been archived at [new.livestream.com/tumblr/tumblrarthyperallergic](https://new.livestream.com/tumblr/tumblrarthyperallergic?ref=hyperallergic.com)** ## Complete Schedule 6:00–7:00 — *Walking Into the Dashboard* exhibition opens, featuring work by Cloaque, Hyper Geography, Friendster Friday, Thirozumi, and many others. 7:00–7:40 — Panel: **Past, Present, Future: Why Should I Reblog This?** Featuring artist GH Hovagimyan, curator Christiane Paul, artists Cary Peppermint and Leila Nadir (Eco Art Tech), and curator Lindsay Howard 7:40–7:55 — Presentation: sociologist Tricia Wang, “Tumblring Our Elastic Selves” 7:55–8:25 — Q&A: Featuring artists Jennifer Chan and Brad Troemel, both of whom have numerous Tumblr-related art projects 8:25–8:40 — Presentation: architect Christoph a. Kumpusch, “You Own Nothing Here: The Removal of Power through Ubiquity” 8:40–9:15 — Panel: **Open Session: Audience Questions and Presenter Commentary** Featuring Christoph a. Kumpusch, Tricia Wang, curator/artist Ben Valentine, information architect Ian Aleksander Adams 9:15–1am — Exhibition viewing and reception with DJ Mursi Layne \* \* \* Hyperallergic and Tumblr have joined forces to present “**The World’s First Tumblr Art Symposium**.” This project, which is part discussion and part exhibition, explores the fast evolving artistic landscape of Tumblr, one of the world’s leading social media and blogging platforms. “Over the last few years, artists have been gravitating to Tumblr as an open and welcoming platform for artists and the art community,” says Hrag Vartanian, editor-in-chief of the Brooklyn-based Hyperallergic art blogazine. “The types of art projects being created on Tumblr are diverse and growing by the day, so we felt it was time to have a discussion about the art community on Tumblr and how they are impacting art making today.” “This is an exciting context for art on Tumblr,” says Tumblr Arts Evangelist Annie Werner, “what was once floating out into the ether is now constructed in an official, curatorial format. It’s an amazing experience for artists using the platform as a medium — we hope to see only more of it.” The one-day event on Saturday, March 9, which coincides with Armory Art Week in New York, will feature an exhibition and function as a forum for work to be discussed, shared, liked, uploaded, and critiqued. The World’s First Art Symposium builds on Hyperallergic’s active public discussion about the relationship of social media and art that began with its landmark 2010 exhibition #TheSocialGraph ([hyperallergic.com/thesocialgraph](https://hyperallergic.com/thesocialgraph/)), which broke new ground in its exploration of art on social media. \[[More Details](http://hyperallergic.com/65452/announcing-the-worlds-first-tumblr-art-symposium/)\] Follow along at [hyperallergic.tumblr.com/tagged/tumblrart](http://hyperallergic.tumblr.com/tagged/tumblrart?ref=hyperallergic.com) The hashtag for the event will be #TumblrArt. ([twitter](https://twitter.com/search?q=%23tumblrart&ref=hyperallergic.com) / [tumblr](http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/tumblrart?ref=hyperallergic.com)) ![reblog-this-catalogue-640-FINAL](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/uploads/2013/02/reblog-this-catalogue-640-final.jpg) (*essays will be added as they are published*) 1. “[Revisiting Tumblr as Art](http://hyperallergic.com/65674/revisiting-tumblr-as-art/)” by Ben Valentine 2. “[The Social Ties that Unbind](http://hyperallergic.com/65770/the-social-ties-that-unbind/)” by An Xiao 3. “[Tell Me About Your Mother’s Tumblr](http://hyperallergic.com/65968/tell-me-about-your-mothers-tumblr/)” by G.H. Hovagimyan 4. “[Selling Out: The Impact of Corporate Social Media Space on Art](http://hyperallergic.com/66039/selling-out-the-impact-of-corporate-social-media-space-on-art/)” by Kyle Chayka 5. “[The Teen-Girl Tumblr Aesthetic](http://hyperallergic.com/66038/the-teen-girl-tumblr-aesthetic/)” by Alicia Eler and Kate Durbin 6. “[On Coffee Houses, Salons, and the Post Arts](http://hyperallergic.com/66382/on-coffee-houses-salons-and-the-post-arts/)” by Man Bartlett 7. “[The Problem with Tumblr and Photography](http://hyperallergic.com/66358/the-problem-with-tumblr-and-photography/)” by Jörg Colberg 8. “[The Measure Of Success: Making Art in the ‘Like’ Economy](http://hyperallergic.com/66463/the-measure-of-success-making-art-in-the-like-economy/)” by Julia Kaganskiy 9. “[Our Reblogs, Ourselves](http://hyperallergic.com/66425/our-reblogs-ourselves/)” by Jillian Steinhauer 10. “[Organizing the World](http://hyperallergic.com/66513/organizing-the-world/)” by Giampaolo Bianconi 11. “[Tumblr, Art, and Web 2.0 Ecologies: The Medium Is Still the Message](http://hyperallergic.com/66580/tumblr-art-and-web-2-0-ecologies-the-medium-is-still-the-message-2/)” by Leila Nadir and Cary Peppermint 12. “[The Way We Share: Transparency in Curatorial Practice](http://hyperallergic.com/66581/the-way-we-share-transparency-in-curatorial-practice/)” by Lindsay Howard *Hyperallergic would like to thank [Pernod Absinthe](https://www.facebook.com/pernodabsinthe) for their support of the World’s First Tumblr Art Symposium essay series.* ![press-tumblrart-640](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/uploads/2013/02/press-tumblrart-640.jpg) ## Press - “[Tumblr Art Symposium](http://www.wired.com/beyond%5Fthe%5Fbeyond/2013/02/tumblr-art-symposium/?ref=hyperallergic.com)” by Bruce Sterling (*Wired*, February 20, 2013) - “[The World’s First Tumblr Art Symposium](http://laughingsquid.com/the-worlds-first-tumblr-art-symposium/?ref=hyperallergic.com)” by Rusty Blazenhoff (Laughing Squid, February 20, 2013) - “[DIIV, Tumblr Art Symposium, Sky Ferreira Naked Women Remember the 90s? Hashtag](http://bullettmedia.com/article/diiv-tumblr-art-symposium-sky-ferreria-naked-women-remember-the-90s-hashtag/?ref=hyperallergic.com)” by Luke O’Neil (Bullett Media, February 20, 2013) - “[Massive Links: Business, Business, More Business](http://www.artfagcity.com/2013/02/21/massive-links-business-business-and-more-business/?ref=hyperallergic.com)” by Paddy Johnson (Art F City, February 21, 2013) - “[Simpósio do Tumblr vai discutir o uso da plataforma pela comunidade artística](http://www.bluebus.com.br/simposio-do-tumblr-vai-discutir-o-uso-da-plataforma-pela-comunidade-artistica/?ref=hyperallergic.com)” by Débora Schach (Blue Bus, February 22, 2013) (in Brazilian) - “[Looking at Cats Online: The World’s First Tumblr Art Symposium](http://www.sfaqonline.com/2013/02/looking-at-cats-online-the-world%E2%80%99s-first-tumblr-art-symposium/?ref=hyperallergic.com)” by Kendall George (SFAQ, February 26, 2013) - “[What is Tumblr Art, Exactly?](http://www.artlog.com/2013/810-see-what-is-tumblr-art-exactly?ref=hyperallergic.com)” by Molly O’Brien (Artlog, February 27, 2013) - “[The World of Tumblr Art Moves Offline](http://www.weheart.co.uk/2013/03/01/the-world-of-tumblr-art-moves-offline/?ref=hyperallergic.com)” by James Davidson (We Heart Art, March 1, 2013) - “[The Armory Week Guide](http://www.artlog.com/2013/819-see-the-armory-week-guide?ref=hyperallergic.com#.UTkKZXx34qs)” by Lindsey Grothkopp (Artlog, March 1, 2013) - “[The World’s First Tumblr Art Symposium](http://kreepnyc.com/2013/03/03/the-worlds-first-tumblr-art-symposium/?ref=hyperallergic.com)” by (Kreep NYC, March 3, 2013) - “[Armory Week 2013: Can’t Miss Events To Put On Your Calendar (PHOTOS)](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/05/armory-arts-week-2013-events-preview-calendar%5Fn%5F2807668.html?ref=hyperallergic.com#slide=2179297)” by Priscilla Frank (Huffington Post, March 5, 2013) - “[Armory Arts Week](http://twi-ny.com/blog/2013/03/05/armory-arts-week-2013/?ref=hyperallergic.com)” (This Week in New York, March 5, 2013) - “[Art-o-rama: Your Guide to Armory Arts Week 2013](http://www.papermag.com/2013/03/papers%5Fguide%5Fto%5Fthe%5Farmory%5Fsho.php?ref=hyperallergic.com)” by Hazel Cills (*Paper Mag*, March 6, 2013) - “[Is Tumblr art? Find out on Saturday](http://brokelyn.com/is-tumblr-art-find-out-on-saturday/?ref=hyperallergic.com)” by David Colon (Brokelyn, March 6, 2013) - “[After the Museum: The Tumblr](http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/after-the-museum-the-tumblr/37728/?ref=hyperallergic.com)” by Alexandra Lange (Design Observer, March 7, 2013) - “[Art in the Age of Tumblr](http://www.metafilter.com/125803/Art-in-the-Tumblr-age?ref=hyperallergic.com)” by Martin Wisse (Metafilter, March 9, 2013) - “[\_\_Art RE: #SVAES and #TumblrArt](http://carlagannis.tumblr.com/post/45224031508/art-re-svaes-and-tumblrart?ref=hyperallergic.com)” by Carla Gannis (carlagannis.tumblr.com, March 13, 2013) - “[Tumblr: A Hotbed for Art and Criticism](http://welovebold.com/stories/entry/the-physical-possibility-of-gifs-in-the-mind-of-the-tumblr?ref=hyperallergic.com)” by Johannah King-Slutzky (Bold., March 13, 2013) - “[Tumblr-konsten växer snabbt](http://www.sydsvenskan.se/kultur--nojen/tumblr-konsten-vaxer-snabbt/?ref=hyperallergic.com)” (Tumblr-art Growing Rapidly) by Kajsa Haidl (Sydsvenskan, March 15, 2013) (in Swedish) - “[The World’s First Tumblr Art Symposium](http://rhymeetreason.com/the-worlds-first-tumblr-art-symposium/?ref=hyperallergic.com)” by Adi Price (Rhyme et Reason, March 16, 2013) - “[When you’re online, you’re out there in the streets](http://thecops.wordpress.com/2013/03/17/when-youre-online-youre-out-there-in-the-streets/?ref=hyperallergic.com)” by Katharina Galla (Cybernetics of Public Space, March 17, 2013) - “[Tumblr Art and the New Audience — Your Guide to Why You Need to Take Note](http://art.blurgroup.com/blog/tumblr-art-and-the-new-audience-your-guide-to-why-you-need-to-take-note/?ref=hyperallergic.com)” by Holly Knowlman (B-uncut, March 20, 2013) - “[Creative Disruption: Deconstructing Tumblr as Art](http://contently.com/blog/2013/03/22/creative-disruption-deconstructing-tumblr-as-art/?ref=hyperallergic.com)” by Reb Carlson (The Content Strategist/Content.ly, March 22, 2013) - “[What is tumblr art?](http://www.artslant.com/sf/articles/show/35018?ref=hyperallergic.com)” by Joel Kuennen (Art Slant, May 15, 2013) \* \* \* Hyperallergic & Tumblr Present “The World’s First Art Symposium” March 9, 2013, 6PM 319 Scholes Street, Brooklyn, NY 11216 [View Larger Map](https://maps.google.com/maps?q=319+Scholes+Street+map&ie=UTF8&hl=en&hq=&hnear=319+Scholes+St,+Brooklyn,+Kings,+New+York+11206&t=m&ll=40.709532,-73.935499&spn=0.026025,0.054846&z=14&iwloc=A&source=embed) Additional support from: [![Tekserve](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/uploads/2013/02/tekservelogohblack-36.jpg "Tekserve")](http://www.tekserve.com/rentals/?ref=hyperallergic.com) ### Comment Policy URL: https://hyperallergic.com/comment-policy/ Last updated: 2023-10-11T15:47:25.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/uploads/2012/07/160-comments-vsmall.jpg "160-comments-vsmall") Hyperallergic welcomes our [members](https://hyperallergic.com/membership/) to comment on posts. Our goal with comments on Hyperallergic is to build a smart, entertaining and engaged community. We don’t want our commenting culture to suck, so all comments will be moderated after they are posted and may be removed if you: - abuse other commenters or authors - excessively swear - mount ad hominem attacks - contribute to an atmosphere that is rude, hateful or reckless - add comments that don’t contribute to the conversation - leave a link to another site without an explanation or context for it If you have doubts whether your comment is appropriate, ask yourself if you would you say it aloud to someone’s face at a dinner party or gathering. We’ll take every comment seriously — or with humor, when required — but we also take attacks and abuse of others seriously as well, so we have no problem banning people from commenting on Hyperallergic if they’ve proven themselves irresponsible. Please don’t comment to promote something you’re working on. Use your real name and take pride in your comments. Thank you! [Go back to our homepage!](https://hyperallergic.com/homepage/) ### Presents: Three Months of Mail Art for Hyperallergic HQ URL: https://hyperallergic.com/presents/ Last updated: 2011-06-17T18:54:59.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/uploads/2011/06/presents-600-covers.jpg "presents-600-covers") The mail art exhibition, *Presents: Three Months of Mail Art for Hyperallergic HQ*, includes art in the form of sculpture, installation, video and works on paper. The show’s catalogue is in the form of a ‘zine and can be purchased [here](http://hyperallergic.storenvy.com/products/110335-zine-catalogue-of-presents-mail-art-show?ref=hyperallergic.com). Co-curated by Kate Wadkins and Hrag Vartanian, *Presents* will take place at Hyperallergic HQ and includes a range of materials and subject matter all emphasizing the tangible communication from one individual to another. The exhibition is open for two weeks (noon to 6pm) on the following days: - Friday, June 17 - Saturday, June 18 - Sunday, June 19 - Wednesday, June 22 - Friday, June 24 - Saturday, June 25 - Wednesday, Jun 29 [View Larger Map](http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=hyperallergic&ie=UTF8&cid=5306390784136391831&source=embed&ll=40.723714,-73.952923&spn=0.022767,0.051498&z=14&iwloc=A) \* \* \* Mail Art Bulletin posts: - [Send Us Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Hungry Your Mail Art](http://hyperallergic.com/21353/send-us-mail-art/) (March 23) - [Wreck & Salvage from Vermont](http://hyperallergic.com/21835/mail-art-wreck-salvage/) (March 30) - [Sex & Skulls from Iowa](http://hyperallergic.com/22010/mail-art-bulletin-sex-skulls-from-iowa/) (April 1) - [An Envelope-sized Pittsburgh House](http://hyperallergic.com/22220/mail-art-tim-mccool/) (April 6) - [Message in a Plastic Bottle](http://hyperallergic.com/22369/mail-art-bulletin-deidra-krieger/) (April 8) - [Layers of Discovery](http://hyperallergic.com/22649/mail-art-bulletin-layers-of-discovery/) (April 13) - [Fear of Flying](http://hyperallergic.com/22813/mail-art-bulletin-fear-of-flying/) (April 15) - [Dropping In](http://hyperallergic.com/23101/mail-art-bulletin-dropping-in/) (April 20) - [An Offer You Can’t Refuse](http://hyperallergic.com/23241/mail-art-bulletin-an-offer-you-cant-refuse/) (April 22) - [Tic Tac Toe Sculpture](http://hyperallergic.com/23431/tic-tac-toe-sculpture/) (April 27) - [Box Full of Surprises](http://hyperallergic.com/23599/box-full-of-surprises/) (April 29) - [Following the Bread Crumbs](http://hyperallergic.com/23859/a-trail-of-bread-crumbs/) (May 4) - [Postcards](http://hyperallergic.com/24026/postcards/) (May 7) - [It’s All About the Envelope](http://hyperallergic.com/24533/mail-art-bulletin-envelopes/) (May 13) - [Four Originals](http://hyperallergic.com/24968/mail-art-bulletin-four-originals/) (May 20) - [Information Distortion Field](http://hyperallergic.com/25349/brian-dupont-mail/) (May 27) - [No History, No Present](http://hyperallergic.com/25499/history-through-correspondence/) (May 31) - [Some Staff Picks](http://hyperallergic.com/25973/mail-art-bulletin-some-staff-picks/) (June 6) - [Outside the Envelope](http://hyperallergic.com/26800/outside-the-envelope/) (June 10) - [The Unlikely Mail Artist](http://hyperallergic.com/27140/don-voisine-mail-art/) (June 16) Complete artist list: Abe’s Penny, Gail Anderson, Patrick Anderson-McQuoid, Larry Angelo, Lynn Aquaheart, Bo Bartlett, Amy Bassin, Samantha Beverly, Kyle Blauw, Jonathan Bohm, bread crumb, Peter Brock, Jamie Burmeister, Dave Byrd, Nick Canterucci, Celso, Tiberiu Chelcea, Nathalie Chikhi, Laura Cohen, Vincent Como, Fred Cray, Carla Cryptic, Curly, Daniel DeCulla, Dewi, Han Dogan, Brian DuPont, Jeff Evans, William Evertson, Luc Fierens, Tiffany Ford, Valerie Fuchs, V.L. Fuller, Mira Gerard, Shana Goetsch, Jessica Gowling, Jonny Gray, Jeff Haas, J.D. Hastings, Jennifer Pei Huang, Laura Isaac, JRD, Adamandia Kapsalis, Dimitri Karakostas, Bernard Klevickas, Diedra Krieger, KURV, Dave LaMorte, Luis Vasquez LaRoche, Liz Layton, Rejin Leys, liketelevisionsnow, Cristina Maldonado, Russell Manning, Steve Martinez, Gregory Maxim, T. Mayo, Tim McCool, Timm Mettler, Marina Miletic, Alicia Milne, R.E. Mingst, Leah Needham, Theo Nelson, New Mediator, Michael Orr, Clemente Padin, Stephen Perkins, Brenda Petays, Brian Piana, Cole Pierce, Peri Lee Pipkin, James Prez, Allison Putnam, Sheree Rensel, Allan Revich, Kate Rhoades, Mary Rork-Watson, Maritza Ruiz-Kim, Frocc. Santiago, James Schickler, Julia Schwartz, Andrew Scott, LaVona Sherarts, Joe Singleton, Louise Sloane, sneezestar, M. Stolte, Harry Swartz-Turfle, Austin Thomas, Seon Thompson, Lynda Jo Thornbrugh, Ann Tracy, Amy-EllenTrefsger, Ben Valentine, Guido Vermeulen, Don Voisine, Joshua Weibley, William Wilson, Michele Witchipoo, Brian Wolf, Audra Wolowiec, Wreck & Salvage, Tamara Wyndham, Joseph Young, Rainer Zamojre and some anonymous artists. \* \* \* When Hrag asked me to co-curate a mail art show at Hyperallergic, I enthusiastically accepted. I knew mail art had proliferated over the past number of years through art and correspondence groups, I knew that Ray Johnson had something to do with it, and I knew that I owed some of my own practices to it. But that was about all I knew. By the time I entered the equation, Hyperallergic had already collected a fairly large amount of work. Hrag described the joy that this project, which he began documenting in Hyperallergic’s “Mail Art Bulletin,” had brought to him. In our first conversation, he argued that although it seems to be the general consensus that analog communication is almost null, these objects brought something to his life that other types of communication, and artwork, couldn’t. Walter Benjamin coined the term “aura” to describe the presence of an authentic piece of art, as opposed to a reproduction. While Benjamin’s aura concept brings up issues of elitism for me, I also appreciate this idea of presence. Mail art has a presence that extends beyond the typical distant observation that we experience in museums or galleries. While the work retains the quality of an art object, it is immediately personal. Video artist Cristina Maldonado made visible the process of creating and packaging a piece of mail art through her video “Content” (2011), while other artists like Brian Dupont and Maria Ruiz-Kim sent multiple pieces over a few days, highlighting the element of time characteristic in mail art. Still, many of these artworks retained a cut-and-paste aesthetic dating back to Dadaism, Fluxus, and even punk rock flyers of the 1970s. The clear relationship between zines and this kind of work was further solidified when some of the contributors included zines in their packages. Naturally, Hrag and I decided we’d like to do a zine for the exhibition catalogue. The most rewarding part of Presents has been the overwhelming creativity exhibited by our contributors. While it was clear that we had some veterans of mail art, including Don Voisine, who incorporates the markings of the travel process into his own painted postcard works, we found many artists who have never considered mail art to push any preconceived notions of the medium. Who knew we would be exhibiting an embroidered outfit, a quilted book, an entire classroom worth of young artists, a tic-tac-toe rubber stamp set, and clay sculptures? Through Hyperallergic’s relationship to social media, many of our artists bridged the disconnect between analog and digital communication, for instance, we received more than one piece incorporating the use of Google maps. Mail artists included their physical addresses as well as their links to their online selves. The entire project has raised questions about performance, connection, time, and communication. All of the work we’ve received has truly created a dialogue about the future of communication and art-making. I am honored to have been part of the process. — Kate Wadkins \* \* \* Earlier this year, I realized how frustrating it was to check my mailbox when all I could expect were bills and junk mail. There was never anything interesting. I remember expressing my feelings on Twitter and a friend challenged me via tweet that perhaps I wasn’t engaging the medium enough, in other words, you get what you give. Then, an artist I didn’t know offered to send me something by snail mail and I was elated by the gesture. What developed was Hyperallergic’s **[Mail Art Bulletin](http://hyperallergic.com/tag/mail-art-bulletin/)**. Since we sent out our first call for mail art on March 23, 2011, we’ve received over 120 works from about 119 artists around the world. Their offerings have been generous, and they have transformed our office with their playful, thoughtful and wondrous creations. The works have also changed my perception of mail art forever. What I saw as a quirky art form dominated by postcards has become a complex and nuanced medium that is as diverse as any other. Our call for submissions attracted a number of artists who consciously worked to push the form’s limits. The works in *Presents* are as much about the community that has formed around Hyperallergic as it is about the medium. Before the modern era, there was an axiom, “to post is to publish,” you assumed anything you mailed could be read by someone along the way. But by the 1840s, with the creation of the first sealable paper envelopes, people were given the gift of private communication, and a revolution was born. It is still debated who created the first intentional mail art work, but there’s general consensus that the early 20th C. was when it happened. Regardless if it was the Futurists, Dadaists or Surrealists, all of whom were testing the limits of art and communication systems, by mid-century the medium was closely associated with the [Fluxus movement](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluxus?ref=hyperallergic.com) and Americans like [Ray Johnson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray%5FJohnson?ref=hyperallergic.com) (and his New York Correspondence School) — both transformed mail art into a full-blown art medium. What you’ll find here is a global selection (almost exclusively in English) of artists who work today. Their work arrived via one of the only truly public services in the world, the postal service. Even though mail is controlled by national governments, we often forget that fact, since it can feel transnational. Mail is an experience that unites us all. I want to thank everyone who contributed to *Presents*, particularly Kyle Chayka, Veken Gueyikian, Katherine Lorimer and Kate Wadkins, but most of all the artists. — Hrag Vartanian, Editor of Hyperallergic & co-curator of Presents ### #TheSocialGraph URL: https://hyperallergic.com/thesocialgraph/ Last updated: 2010-10-30T15:50:10.000Z ## November 12 – 27, 2010 at Outpost (1665 Norman Street in Ridgewood/Bushwick — [Foursquare](http://foursquare.com/venue/11459305?ref=hyperallergic.com) — [Google map](http://maps.google.com/maps?q=1665+norman+st.,+ridgewood,+ny&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=1665+Norman+St,+Queens,+New+York+11385&gl=us&ei=I0bMTODPCIH58Abb9si%5FAQ&ved=0CBcQ8gEwAA&ll=40.695981,-73.906199&spn=0.006597,0.014763&z=17&ref=hyperallergic.com)) [RSVP](http://www.facebook.com/hyperallergic#!/event.php?eid=114109991985061) on Facebook *#TheSocialGraph* is an evolving exploration of the burgeoning field of social media art and the relation of contemporary art with this populist tool as a medium, facilitator, and subject for art. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/uploads/2010/10/thesocialgraph_poster2-lg.jpg) \+ click to enlarge Starting Wednesday, November 10 and continuing until the end of *#TheSocialGraph*, Hyperallergic moved from its [Williamsburg office](http://foursquare.com/venue/135446?ref=hyperallergic.com) to [Outpost in Bushwick](http://foursquare.com/venue/11459305?ref=hyperallergic.com), where we published and joined discussions that took place in the space. Hyperallergic has played an active role in the evolving discussion online about social media and art through the commissioning of work, its role as a community hub, and as a publication that was created with social media as an integral part of its identity. While Hyperallergic camped out in Bushwick, artist Man Bartlett had a residency at Hyperallergic HQ in Williamsburg. During this period, Bartlett produced his site-specific work, “[#24hKith](http://hyperallergic.com/13285/watch-man-bartletts-24hkith-live-now/)” (2010), for *#TheSocialGraph*. *#TheSocialGraph* catalogue will be published in early 2011 and will include information about many of the projects. During the course of #TheSocialGraph, we will be publishing podcasts of interviews, discussions with each of the participants. The following podcasts have already been published: - \[REDACTED\] - [Jennifer Dalton Talks Social Media Consumption](http://hyperallergic.com/12362/jen-dalton-thesocialgraph/) - [Loren Munk Talks Social Network Paintings & James Kalm Report](http://hyperallergic.blip.tv/file/4382334/?ref=hyperallergic.com) - [Seychelle OD Allah Talks Space Slave Trade](http://hyperallergic.blip.tv/file/4411378/?ref=hyperallergic.com) - [James Gilbert Talks “Tweeted, Googled & Inappropriately Touched”](http://hyperallergic.blip.tv/file/4412589/?ref=hyperallergic.com) - [Nate Hill Talks #TheSocialGraph & the Role of Social Media in his Performance Art](http://hyperallergic.blip.tv/file/4546436/?ref=hyperallergic.com) You can also subscribe to all Hyperallergic TV podcasts [on iTunes](http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/hyperallergic-tv/id332312907?ref=hyperallergic.com). The following is the list of participants: [Blanco](http://blanco518.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) — [Man Bartlett](http://www.manbartlett.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) — [Brent Burket](http://heartasarena.blogspot.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) — [Kyle Chayka](http://twitter.com/chaykak?ref=hyperallergic.com) — [Jennifer Dalton](http://www.jenniferdalton.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) — [Ben Davis](http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/authors/davis.asp?ref=hyperallergic.com) — [Jake Dobkin](http://www.bluejake.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com)— [Elbowtoe](http://www.elbow-toe.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) — [Becki Fuller](http://www.flickr.com/photos/rfullerrd/?ref=hyperallergic.com) — [Veken Gueyikian](http://veken.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com) — [James Gilbert](http://www.jamesgilbertstudio.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) — [Nate Hill](http://natehillisnuts.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) — [Sam Horine](http://www.samhorine.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) — [Alexis Hyde](http://hydeordie.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) — [Paddy Johnson](http://www.artfagcity.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) — [Benjamin Lotan](http://benjaminlotan.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) — [Loren Munk](http://www.lorenmunk.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) — [Luna Park](http://www.flickr.com/photos/lunapark/?ref=hyperallergic.com) — [Space Slave Trade](http://www.spaceslavetrade.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) — [Lawrence Swan](http://newcleanblog.blogspot.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) — [Austin Thomas](http://www.austinthomas.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com) — [William Powhida](http://www.williampowhida.com/wordpress/?ref=hyperallergic.com) — [Hrag Vartanian](http://hragvartanian.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) — [An Xiao](http://anxiaostudio.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) ## Press for #TheSocialGraph ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/uploads/2010/10/press-thesocialgraph4.jpg "press-thesocialgraph4") \[ARTCAT\] [Exhibition Pick](http://www.artcat.com/exhibits/12468?ref=hyperallergic.com) (Nov 8) \[Brooklyn Based\] [The Social Network](http://brooklynbased.net/tip-sheet/the-social-network/?ref=hyperallergic.com#more-1) (Nov 9) \[BushwickBk\] [Bushwick Culture Weekly Picks 11/11/10](http://bushwickbk.com/2010/11/11/bushwick-culture-weekly-picks-111110/?ref=hyperallergic.com) (Nov 11) \[New York Shitty\] [LAST GASP: #TheSocialGraph](http://www.newyorkshitty.com/bushwick/?p=48984&ref=hyperallergic.com) (Nov 11) \[Animal New York\] [Wear Plastic Underwear at #TheSocialGraph](http://animalnewyork.com/2010/11/wear-plastic-underwear-at-thesocialgraph/?ref=hyperallergic.com) (Nov12) \[Art Fag City\] [BYOB (Bring Your Own Beamer) and The Social Graph Opens Tonight](http://www.artfagcity.com/2010/11/12/byob-bring-your-own-beamer-and-the-social-graph-open-tonight/?ref=hyperallergic.com) (Nov 12) \[PSFK\] [#TheSocialGraph Explores Social Media Art](http://www.psfk.com/2010/11/thesocialgraph-explores-social-media-art.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) (Nov 12) \[updownacross\] [Interview with Hrag and #TheSocialGraph](http://updownacross.wordpress.com/2010/11/12/interview-with-hrag-and-thesocialgraph/?ref=hyperallergic.com) (Nov 12) \[WNYC\] [Social Media Inspires Social Media Art](http://culture.wnyc.org/articles/features/2010/nov/12/thesocialgraph-exhibit/?ref=hyperallergic.com) (Nov 12) \[BushwickBk\] [Youngest Art Spaces Make a Splash](http://bushwickbk.com/2010/11/13/youngest-art-spaces-make-a-splash/?ref=hyperallergic.com) (Nov 13) \[ArtSucks\] [Loren J. Munk James Kalm Retrospective](http://www.artsucks.com/blog/2010/nov10/james-kalm-11-13-10.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) (Nov 13) \[WSJ, Metropolis blog\] [A Brooklyn Panda Made For Punching](http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2010/11/19/a-brooklyn-panda-made-for-punching/?ref=hyperallergic.com) (Nov 19) \[WSJ, Metropolis blog\] [Punch Me Panda](http://blogs.wsj.com/photojournal/2010/11/19/punch-me-panda/?ref=hyperallergic.com), photo essay (Nov 19) \[WNYC\] [A Panda Bear Punching Bag Comes to Brooklyn](http://culture.wnyc.org/articles/features/2010/nov/19/panda-bear-punching-bag-comes-brooklyn/?ref=hyperallergic.com) (Nov 19) \[PSFK\] [Nate Hill’s “Punch Me Panda”](http://www.psfk.com/2010/11/nate-hills-punch-me-panda.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) (Nov 19) \[Dwyer & Michaels morning show in Davenport, Iowa on WXLP\] [Punch Me Panda](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/uploads/2010/10/screen-shot-2010-11-24-at-11-21-29-am.png?ref=hyperallergic.com) (Nov 24) \[Guardian\] [Punch a Panda — And Feel Better](http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/nov/24/punch-panda-new-york-artist?CMP=twt%5Fgu&ref=hyperallergic.com) (Nov 24) \[artblogNY”C”\] [Man Bartlett’s #24hKith — “I am” feathers, mannequin, egg and cheese sandwiches](http://artblognyc.blogspot.com/2010/11/man-bartletts-24hkith-feathers.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) (Nov 27) \[Artnews\] [The Social Revolution](http://hyperallergic.com/26520/social-media-art-artnews/) (Jun issue) *The event is sponsored by Social Printshop (formerly Printing Facebook) and it is made possible through support of Outpost Artists Resources and NY Culture.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/uploads/2010/10/thesocialgraph-sponsors.jpg "thesocialgraph-sponsors") ### How to Pitch Hyperallergic URL: https://hyperallergic.com/how-to-pitch/ Last updated: 2026-08-11T17:31:58.000Z *Hyperallergic* leads the conversation on the political and social forces that shape the contemporary art world. We welcome sharp, inventive, and sincere art writing that is unafraid to challenge power. If you have a story that you think needs to be told, we'd love to hear from you. --- ### **What We Are Looking For** We publish a wide range of content across several categories. Before pitching, please identify where your story fits: - **News:** Reported stories on art world controversies, museum ethics, restitution, labor issues, and censorship. - **Reviews:** Critical evaluations of exhibitions, books, or films. We are looking for voice, criticality, and above all, a unique perspective. The best reviews focus on **your individual experience and analysis of an exhibition.** We prioritize shows that are under-recognized or offer a fresh perspective on established figures. - **Opinion:** Narrative-driven essays or polemics that connect art to broader social, political, or personal contexts. - **Remembrances & Obituaries:** We’re committed to honoring our community and sharing news and stories about those who are no longer with us. --- ### **How to Craft Your Pitch** Be concise and demonstrate that you understand the story. Please include the following: 1. **A Compelling Working Title:** Give us a sense of the "hook." 2. **The Core Argument:** In 2–3 sentences, tell us exactly what you are trying to say and how you might support it. We look for a clear point of view. 3. **The "Why Now?":** Why is this story urgent or relevant today? 4. **Formatting & Logistics:** Mention your estimated word count and any high-quality images you have access to. 5. **Your Bio:** A brief sentence on who you are and links to 2–3 relevant writing samples. Tell us why you are the right person to write this story. ### **Tips** - **Keep it short.** Get to the main idea quickly and succinctly and help us understand why we should care. Use this opportunity to give us a sense of your voice and writing style. - **Include relevant details:** If it’s an exhibition or film screening, be sure to include the relevant dates, venues, and a link to a page with more info. - **Understand our audience**: The best pitches should be hard to imagine being published by anyone else. - **Be sure it hasn’t already been done**: Read our recent coverage to be sure we haven’t already published a similar article, or that other outlets haven’t covered it the way you are proposing either. ### **What to Avoid** - **Jargon:** We value intellectual depth, but we loathe artspeak. Write for a curious, global audience, not just a room of PhDs. - **Conflict of Interest:** We do not accept pitches from individuals writing about their own work, their friends' work, or any artists with whom they have a personal or professional relationship. Tell us if you’re working with a PR agency, a tourism board, private gallery, or any other organization. Tell us if anyone is flying you somewhere or paying for your expenses. If you don’t tell us, we’ll find out anyway, and then we’ll be annoyed and kill your piece. - **Simultaneous Submissions:** Please give us at least one week to respond before pitching your idea elsewhere. - **Pre-written articles:** Except in rare cases, if it wasn’t written with us in mind, it’s probably not going to work. ### **Ready to Send?** Please email your pitch to [pitch@hyperallergic.com](mailto:pitch@hyperallergic.com) Use the subject line: **PITCH: \[Category\] - \[Subject Matter\]** Due to the high volume of pitches we receive, we are unable to respond to every inquiry. If you don’t hear from us within 10 business days, feel free to move forward with other outlets. ### Advertise URL: https://hyperallergic.com/advertise/ Last updated: 2026-01-20T19:20:01.000Z Hyperallergic is a forum for playful, serious, and radical perspectives on art and culture in the world today. A leading voice in contemporary perspectives on visual art and culture, Hyperallergic goes beyond the surface to investigate the inner workings of art institutions and markets, shedding light on the movements and individuals fighting for greater inclusion and representation. Hyperallergic is a daily source for the latest in visual art and culture around the world. With an editorial mission committed to publishing quality writing and images from informed and provocative perspectives, Hyperallergic attracts an intelligent, engaged, and global audience. Reaching over 1 million unique visitors per month on hyperallergic.com, and millions more on social media. For details and rates for advertising with Hyperallergic, please submit the form below. ### Contact Us URL: https://hyperallergic.com/contact/ Last updated: 2025-12-23T03:26:28.000Z Send tips or announcements to our editorial team at **tips@hyperallergic.com**. 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Email us at [support@hyperallergic.com](mailto:support@hyperallergic.com) for more information. ### Tip Jar URL: https://hyperallergic.com/tip-jar/ Last updated: 2025-12-29T23:32:07.000Z _No content available._ ### Advanced User Settings URL: https://hyperallergic.com/advanced-settings/ Last updated: 2025-11-27T08:51:49.000Z _No content available._ ### Group Subscriptions URL: https://hyperallergic.com/group-subscriptions/ Last updated: 2025-11-27T08:51:49.000Z _No content available._ ## Posts ### What Counterpublic Triennial Brings to St. Louis URL: https://hyperallergic.com/what-counterpublic-triennial-brings-to-st-louis/ Last updated: 2026-09-17T10:00:23.000Z Wondering what art shows to see in the Windy City this fall? Local writer Natalie Jenkins has some recommendations, along with existential observations such as this: "Chicago’s residents are in a perpetual state of fall, bracing themselves for what’s to come." Here in NYC, we're bracing for the art fairs and shows of the upcoming Armory Week. Read our handy guide, plus a quick roundup of shows to see in Tribeca, Manhattan's new-ish art mecca. This is a good opportunity to remind you of our other fall guides to exhibitions in [New York](https://hyperallergic.com/hyperallergic-fall-2026-new-york-art-guide/), [Los Angeles](https://hyperallergic.com/15-art-shows-to-see-in-los-angeles-this-fall/), [DC](https://hyperallergic.com/10-art-shows-to-see-in-dc-this-fall/), and [elsewhere in the country](https://hyperallergic.com/15-museum-exhibitions-to-see-across-the-us-this-fall/) as well as [the rest of the world](https://hyperallergic.com/15-fall-art-ennials-from-st-louis-to-dakar/). Also today: A Florida family says it was cheated out of $6.7 million for what turned out to be forged Warhols, and Eileen G’Sell reviews the sprawling Counterpublic Triennial in her home city of St. Louis. Hyperallergic members, if you’re in New York City this month, please join our [evening of studio visits and conversations](https://hyperallergic.com/member-event-iscp-ground-floor-studio-visits/) with artists on September 30 at the International Studio & Curatorial Program, featuring Alicia Grullón, Zoë Pulley, Erick Hernandez, Kara Springer, and others. Not a member yet? Join [here](https://hyperallergic.com/r/17579a9a?m=e772a1d2-0b66-435a-a236-0e7dd6e3101f). *—Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/budding-st-louis.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-counterpublic-triennial-pollinates-a-budding-st-louis/) [ The Counterpublic Triennial Pollinates a Budding St. Louis ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-counterpublic-triennial-pollinates-a-budding-st-louis/) Suspended mid-leap with nothing below, the future lies outside of the frame. What’s certain is the split-second decision: to soar forward or look back over one’s shoulder; to plunge into the unknown or pause — perhaps, to plummet. Inspired by the moment in a video game when a character jumps off a cliff and is launched midair — taken from artist Alice Bucknell’s commissioned work of the same name — *Coyote Time* marks the third edition of the Counterpublic Triennial, a sweeping exhibition of public art well suited for a city that can feel both frozen in time and ripe for a wildly revitalized future. | Eileen G’Sell [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-counterpublic-triennial-pollinates-a-budding-st-louis/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/fit-dolls.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/fit-exhibition-explores-the-cultural-dialogue-between-dolls-and-fashion/) ****FIT Exhibition Explores the Cultural Dialogue Between Dolls and Fashion** Featuring more than 170 objects, “Doll Dressing” examines the influence of dolls on fashion from the 18th century to today. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/fit-exhibition-explores-the-cultural-dialogue-between-dolls-and-fashion/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/warhol-scheme.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/lawsuit-alleges-multimillion-dollar-andy-warhol-fraud-scheme/) - A Florida family [was sold over 200 forged Andy Warhol artworks](https://hyperallergic.com/lawsuit-alleges-multimillion-dollar-andy-warhol-fraud-scheme/) by an international network of suppliers, authenticators, dealers, and distributors, a lawsuit alleges. - Trump [reportedly](https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026/09/trump-signs-smithsonian-history/688636/?ref=hyperallergic.com) plans to install $84K worth of signs outside the Smithsonian National Museum of American History warning visitors of ideological bias. \[*Atlantic*\] - Recent California and federal laws regarding the return of Nazi-looted artworks have [prompted two new lawsuits](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-09-16/prompted-by-new-california-u-s-laws-two-new-lawsuits-demand-return-of-nazi-looted-art?ref=hyperallergic.com) against museums from Jewish heirs or their representatives. \[*Los Angeles Times*\] ## Guides [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/nyc-fall-art-fairs.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/your-cheat-sheet-to-nycs-fall-art-fairs/) [ Your Cheat Sheet to NYC’s Fall Art Fairs ](https://hyperallergic.com/your-cheat-sheet-to-nycs-fall-art-fairs/) From the classic Armory Show to Spring Break to an emerging art fair held in an Italian design showroom. | Anna Lee and Rhea Nayyar [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/your-cheat-sheet-to-nycs-fall-art-fairs/) [ 10 Art Shows to See in Chicago This Fall ](https://hyperallergic.com/10-art-shows-to-see-in-chicago-this-fall/) Jill Mulleady’s uncannily familiar scenes, Kate Hefferan’s secret magic, the critical role of printed matter in prisons, a moving photographic tribute to Emmett Till, and more. | Natalie Jenkins [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/10-art-shows-to-see-in-chicago-this-fall/) [ Five Shows to See in Tribeca Right Now ](https://hyperallergic.com/five-shows-to-see-in-tribeca-right-now/) Caroll Dunham’s purple people, Mia Goldstein’s packaged art, and ethereal paintings by Giuseppe Francalanza and Christine Safa. | Rebecca Schiffman [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/five-shows-to-see-in-tribeca-right-now/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Hyperallergic_Lead-Image-1.png)](https://hyperallergic.com/art-books-and-scholarship-from-the-national-gallery-of-art/) ****Art Books and Scholarship from the National Gallery of Art** Discover thoughtfully designed exhibition catalogs, insights from leading art historians and conservators, collection highlights, and more. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/art-books-and-scholarship-from-the-national-gallery-of-art/) --- ## Book Excerpt [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/primary.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/alma-thomas-opens-up-our-crowns/) [ Alma Thomas Opens Up Our Crowns ](https://hyperallergic.com/alma-thomas-opens-up-our-crowns/) The cornrows of Thomas’s paintings, often inspired by her own garden, evoke the infinitely diverse ears of native corn and the sisterhood of braiders across the diaspora. | Alexis Pauline Gumbs [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/alma-thomas-opens-up-our-crowns/) --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/sandra-george.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/sandra-georges-portraits-of-working-class-dignity/) [ Sandra George’s Portraits of Working-Class Dignity ](https://hyperallergic.com/sandra-georges-portraits-of-working-class-dignity/) The unsung Black British photographer’s work is the complete opposite of so-called poverty porn. | Eileen G’Sell [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/sandra-georges-portraits-of-working-class-dignity/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/saic-ad-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/meet-with-the-school-of-the-art-institute-of-chicago-at-admissions-events-across-the-us-and-online/) ****Meet with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago at Admissions Events Across the US and Online** Learn more about the graduate degrees offered at SAIC and get all of your questions answered. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/meet-with-the-school-of-the-art-institute-of-chicago-at-admissions-events-across-the-us-and-online/) --- ## Community [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/in-memoriam-9.16.26.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-cat-frazier-susan-michod-and-joel-snyder/) [ Remembering Cat Frazier, Susan Michod, and Joel Snyder ](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-cat-frazier-susan-michod-and-joel-snyder/) This week, we honor a designer who changed the internet, a Pattern and Decoration painter, and one of the first photography professors in the US. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-cat-frazier-susan-michod-and-joel-snyder/) --- ## Hyper Links - Syria celebrates its [first Art Week in Damascus](https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/art-design/2026/09/16/syrias-first-art-week-seeks-to-revive-cultural-scene-after-years-of-war/?ref=hyperallergic.com) with a series of exhibitions, film screenings, musical performances, and art talks. Organizers hope to revive the country's art scene after long years of war and turmoil. - Why does every gadget need to have a camera these days? An artist [receives mixed reactions](https://petapixel.com/2026/09/14/street-photographer-shoots-weird-photos-on-dysons-new-camerajet-toothbrush/?ref=hyperallergic.com) to her unsettling street photography shot with Dyson’s new $500 CameraJet Toothbrush. - The *New Yorker* [profiles Susan Te Kahurangi King](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/09/07/susan-te-kahurangi-kings-way-of-seeing?ref=hyperallergic.com), calling her “New Zealand’s greatest living artist.” --- ## Member Comment This is terrible, and it's frustrating as it is to survive, and sustain oneself as an artist, but then to have to deal with scammers makes everything so more daunting. I've received emails from "curators" and "residencies" claiming to like my work, and inviting me to residencies. Having been in the art world since the 80's and scammed back then by my art agent, I've learned hard lessons to not trust anyone or anything unless I ask around, research, and even then I approach every opportunity with caution. Be careful out there. —Nancy Rodrigo on "[The Artist Residency That Never Was](https://hyperallergic.com/the-artist-residency-that-never-was/)" --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/rembrandt-thief.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-rembrandt-thief-who-came-out-on-top/) [ The Rembrandt Thief Who Came Out On Top ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-rembrandt-thief-who-came-out-on-top/) Myles Connor is one of the very few people alive to have come out ahead after lifting an artwork from the wall of a museum, as Anthony M. Amore explores in his new book. | Erin L. Thompson [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-rembrandt-thief-who-came-out-on-top/) ### Five Shows to See in Tribeca Right Now URL: https://hyperallergic.com/five-shows-to-see-in-tribeca-right-now/ Last updated: 2026-09-16T19:50:33.000Z The art world is back up and running this September, and Tribeca is the place to be for big art in small places. Walking down Broadway and across Walker and White Streets, I am struck by how many new galleries are popping up, and even more so by how impactful and story-driven most of the exhibitions are. Many of these shows spotlight young artists, like Giuseppe Francalanza at Chapter NY, whose dreamy, ethereal paintings remind me of High Renaissance Italian masterpieces; he's only 26, and this is his first solo exhibition in the United States. Or there's Mia Goldstein, who's even younger (born in 2001!), at Journal Gallery. Her work follows the ethos of "paint what you know," and for her, that means shipping and handling. While most of these realistic paintings depict artwork wrapped, crated, or set on a dolly, in one (based on a true story), a [Magritte](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/rene-magritte/) lays bare in the back of an SUV; apparently a collector wanted to see the work as-is, so the gallery sent it over in a car trunk. I can't imagine the insurance headache if they were rear-ended! There's also a major new show of works by Carroll Dunham at Matthew Brown Gallery — his first since joining in 2025, after leaving Gladstone Gallery, which represented him for 20 years. In these paintings, a White male artist is surrounded by purple people, crows, and cute brown dogs. Maybe these works area reflection of the artist's own life, but whatever the reason, I'm glad to be rid of his wrestlers. And down the block is Christine Safa's tranquil show of paintings at Bortolami, with a focused palette and an emphasis on the passing of time. Finally, a show at apexart focuses on funerary weaving practices in a small village in Vietnam. Given the breadth of shows on view now and more on the way later this month, Tribeca is a great place to see art this fall ... if you're willing to pay $10 for a latte at Rigor Hill. --- ### **Carroll Dunham: Paintings** [**Matthew Brown Gallery**](https://www.matthewbrowngallery.com/exhibitions/carroll-dunham-paintings?ref=hyperallergic.com), 390 Broadway, Tribeca, Manhattan Through October 24 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/IMG_0004-1.jpg) Carroll Dunham, "Finished" (2019–25), acrylic and pencil on linen Throughout his practice, [Carroll Dunham](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/carroll-dunham/) uses archetypes to explore what it means to be human. His wrestler period — filled with homoerotic pink men and questionable gymnastics — was not for the faint of heart. In his latest body of work, pink is swapped for purple in a story that imagines a White male sculptor set on a planet filled with purple people. They dance, sing, and tug at the sculptor in all different directions — *literally*. In the 12-foot (\~3.7m) canvas “Finished” (2019–25), figures pull at each limb of the painter like a vision of the artist's anxiety come to life. --- ### **Christine Safa: Noces** [**Bortolami Gallery**](https://www.bortolamigallery.com/exhibitions/noces?ref=hyperallergic.com), 39 Walker Street, Tribeca, Manhattan Through October 24 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/IMG_9977-2.jpg) Christine Safa, "L'offrande" (2026) Through a constrained palette of blues, oranges, and greens, Christina Safa creates sweet meditations on peace. Tiny paintings of rainbows, oceans, and sunflowers might seem trivial, but set against larger, more figurative works, it's clear that these are monumental explorations of motion, emotion, and open-ended narrative. In one of the many easy and relatable moments of tranquility in this show, a lone female figure embraces her loyal brown dog. --- ### **Mia Goldstein: Handle With Care** [**Journal Gallery**](https://www.thejournalgallery.com/exhibitions/245-mia-goldstein-handle-with-care/?ref=hyperallergic.com), 45 White Street, Tribeca, Manhattan Through October 3 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/IMG_9988-1-1-1-1.jpg) Mia Goldstein, "Coming Through" (2026), oil on linen Mia Goldstein’s *Handle With Care* shows, perhaps, the most unglamorous side of art: its packaging and handling. A number of art meme accounts such as [@arthandlermag](https://www.instagram.com/arthandlermag/?hl=en&ref=hyperallergic.com) poke fun at this side of the art world, and Goldstein seems to be part playing into the joke, part serious about the fantastical care that goes into moving art and where it goes (namely, into collectors’ homes, never to be seen again). Art sleuths can point out works they know in more precarious positions: a [Claes Oldenburg](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/claes-oldenburg/) hamburger vacuum-sealed and shoved into an elevator, two men holding a wrapped [Francis Bacon](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/francis-bacon/) on a dolly, or even the back of a [Piet Mondrian](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/piet-mondrian/) painting, balanced on a dirty sneaker. --- ### **Weaving a Day, Mourning A Life: The Mother and Daughter-in-Law of Phúc Sen** [**apexart**](https://apexart.org/nguyen.php?ref=hyperallergic.com), 291 Church Street, Tribeca, Manhattan Through October 24 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/IMG_9985.jpg) Installation view of **Weaving a Day, Mourning a Life: The Mother and Daughter in-Law of Phúc Sen* In northern Vietnam, the N’ng An people weave different patterns each day, creating scraps of fabric that become funerary garments after an elder’s death. Following the mourning period, a daughter of the deceased repurposes the garment and wears it to honor and represent the cycle of life. Through three bodies of work that coexist wonderfully, this exhibition explores the ritual through moving photographs of one family, a video installation depicting the village's loom, and a re-creation of the textile itself. --- ### **Giuseppe Francalanza: All of My Angels Wear a Rag: I The Tuner** [**Chapter NY**](https://chapter-ny.com/exhibitions/giuseppe-francalanza/?ref=hyperallergic.com), 60 Walker Street, Tribeca, Manhattan Through October 17 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/IMG_9969-1.jpg) Giuseppe Francalanza, "Fidi ri Sangu" (2026), oil, graphite, and fusain charcoal on canvas If you can get past the cringe air conditioner sculptures graffitied with phrases like “k.” and “baby” in the front gallery at Chapter, you will find five ethereal paintings that are worth your time. Though the press release claims a musical tuner inspired these works, I can see [Da Vinci](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/leonardo-da-vinci/), [Botticelli](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/sandro-botticelli/), and [Raphael](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/raphael/) in them: Francalanza builds up pigment only to wipe it away, revealing figures that are physically present, though their minds seem to drift far away. ### Lawsuit Alleges Multimillion-Dollar Andy Warhol Fraud Scheme URL: https://hyperallergic.com/lawsuit-alleges-multimillion-dollar-andy-warhol-fraud-scheme/ Last updated: 2026-09-16T19:37:49.000Z A Florida family was sold over 200 forged Andy Warhol artworks by an international network of suppliers, authenticators, dealers, and distributors, as alleged in a [civil racketeering lawsuit](https://www2.miamidadeclerk.gov/ocs/pdfHandler?qs=NrWzUg89adJmWEjBqtsHPWHcPMr7jgKP21XgK46hZSg%3D&ref=hyperallergic.com) filed on September 9. Real-estate investor Richard Perlman filed the suit in a Miami-Dade county court, stating that he, along with his wife and son, spent over $6.7 million between 2023 and 2024 on fraudulent Warhol prints of Superman, Queen Elizabeth, and other famous figures. First reported by the [*Wall Street Journal*](https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/fine-art/lawsuit-andy-warhol-scheme-3c259951?mod=Searchresults&pos=1&page=1&ref=hyperallergic.com), the complaint alleges that the works were painted in Peru, smuggled into the United States, and falsely authenticated as genuine pieces by a network of art dealers. "This case involves a multi-million-dollar art fraud built on a repeated lie: that the artworks Defendants supplied to the Plaintiffs originated from or were authenticated by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts," the suit reads. (The Foundation's authentication board faced accusations of price inflation in a [2007 antitrust suit](https://hyperallergic.com/barbara-hammer-gets-her-due/) and [shuttered four years later](https://hyperallergic.com/warhol-authentication-board-gone/), citing financial strain.) The Perlmans' ordeal began in 2023, when the family bought purported Warhol artworks from Leslie Roberts, the owner of Miami Fine Art Gallery (MFAG). After Christie's “expressed concerns about the authenticity of the works,” according to the lawsuit, the Perlmans sued Roberts in 2024 and [settled out of court](https://www2.miamidadeclerk.gov/ocs/pdfHandler?qs=K18bfDK361v5t8CsDWFeMuq1xOM%2F62EcuG0C%2FInU2q8%3D&ref=hyperallergic.com) for an undisclosed amount. While he maintains the sale was an honest mistake, Roberts will be sentenced on related wire fraud charges later this month, according to the *Journal*. Another art dealer accused in the suit is Nathan Isen, who was convicted in 2015 for [money laundering](https://www.justice.gov/usao-edpa/pr/villanova-man-charged-money-laundering?ref=hyperallergic.com) and whose Philadelphia gallery, [Dane Fine Art](https://www.phillymag.com/news/2026/07/29/dane-fine-art-gallery-fbi/?ref=hyperallergic.com), was raided by FBI agents in July. The suit states that Isen abetted Robert in his sale of the sham works, along with two other Florida-based art dealers: Oscar Cordova, who allegedly sold Roberts fake Andy Warhol canvases, and Edward Kurstak, who supposedly affixed phony authentication stamps to the artworks. Besides the art dealers, retired Florida dentist Allan Dampf is accused of pushing false provenance for the artworks in Roberts's inventory. Dampf was the defendant in a [private civil lawsuit in 2012](https://law.justia.com/cases/new-york/other-courts/2012/2012-ny-slip-op-30666-u.html?ref=hyperallergic.com), having acquired limited-edition Warhol prints in exchange for two of his Marc Chagall watercolor paintings. (In the suit, Sotheby's described the works as "flat-out fakes.") The last supply channel in the proclaimed "pipeline of fraudulent works flowing across state and international lines" is fake artworks that were supposedly painted in Peru and shipped directly to MFAG for as little as $30. The Perlmans' complaint is the latest in a spate of similar lawsuits involving the late Pop art pioneer of the 1960s. In 2024, Italian police [seized over 2,100 fakes](https://hyperallergic.com/italy-seizes-over-2000-artworks-linked-to-art-forgery-scheme/), including Warhol pieces, after uncovering a 38-person international forgery operation. That same year, Massachusetts conman [Brian Walshe](https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/brian-walshe-sentenced-scheme-sell-counterfeit-warhol-paintings?ref=hyperallergic.com) was sentenced to over three years in prison for selling two counterfeit paintings marketed as Warhol’s original work. And in April, a father and daughter [pleaded guilty in a Brooklyn court](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/28/nyregion/banksy-fakes.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) for selling artworks that included fraudulent paintings deliberately misattributed to the late artist. "The enterprise was distinct from each Defendant and had an ascertainable structure. Each participant performed a defined and necessary role," the suit continues. "The scheme depended on the coordinated performance of these roles." ### 10 Art Shows to See in Chicago This Fall URL: https://hyperallergic.com/10-art-shows-to-see-in-chicago-this-fall/ Last updated: 2026-09-16T19:15:01.000Z It’s been said that Chicago is an October kind of city. The sentiment feels just as true now as it did when Nelson Algren wrote it 75 years ago; Chicago’s residents are in a perpetual state of fall, bracing themselves for what’s to come. Shifts in longstanding labor arrangements, like the Art Institute’s recent [outsourcing of its entire custodial staff](https://hyperallergic.com/the-art-institute-of-chicago-to-cut-its-entire-custodial-staff/), and ominous meteorological changes (summer rainfall levels [28% higher than usual](https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/chicago-records-wettest-summer-in-8-years/?ref=hyperallergic.com)) point to trouble brewing. But art in the city is well-equipped to respond, making space for moments of solidarity, reflection, and imagination. Whether it’s building communities with incarcerated people at Walls Turned Sideways, reckoning with the post-natural world at Flatline Gallery, or sitting with painful histories at the Museum of Contemporary Photography and Anthony Gallery, there’s plenty of proof Chicagoans are steeling themselves. --- ### Prison Papers: Organizing Inside/Outside Solidarity [**Walls Turned Sideways**](https://wallsturnedsideways.org/prison-papers-organizing-inside-outside-solidarity/?ref=hyperallergic.com), 2717 W Madison Street, Chicago Through October 15 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/WallsTurnedSideways3.jpg) Installation view of **Prison Papers: Organizing Inside/Outside Solidarity* at Walls Turned Sideways (photo Natalie Jenkins/**Hyperallergic*) As the Illinois Department of Corrections’ 2025 mail-scanning policy [increasingly limits](https://chicagoreader.com/city-life/inside-voices/illinois-prisons-book-mailing-policy/?ref=hyperallergic.com) incarcerated people’s access to physical media, *Prison Papers: Organizing Inside/Outside Solidarity* emphasizes the critical role of printed matter in penal systems. Through case studies, interviews, and archival material, the exhibition demonstrates how prison papers — papers produced by or in solidarity with incarcerated people — can build community and spread ideas in the face of extreme isolation, poor material conditions, and systemic injustice. --- ### Rashid Johnson: A Poem for Deep Thinkers [**Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago**](https://mcachicago.org/whats-on/exhibitions/rashid-johnson-a-poem-for-deep-thinkers/?ref=hyperallergic.com), 220 E Chicago Ave, Chicago November 7–April 25 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/RJ_009.jpg) Rashid Johnson, "The Reader" (2008) (© Rashid Johnson; courtesy Dr. Kenneth Montague | The Wedge Collection, Toronto, and Monique Meloche Gallery) Equal parts survey and homecoming, *Rashid Johnson: A Poem for Deep Thinkers* proves the Chicago-raised artist’s clairvoyance in navigating intersecting societal vectors. Informed by art history, radical political movements, and contemporary culture, Johnson’s multidisciplinary practice is an incisive gesture that pierces through layers of complex and often painful histories while offering new ways to imagine freedom. Perhaps [a line from the eponymous 1977 Amiri Baraka poem](https://youtu.be/k6KE7v4oWys?si=8WR8omOzETR83BBM&t=75&ref=hyperallergic.com) captures Johnson’s work best: “What’s happening is life itself ‘onward & upward.’” --- ### Karla Wong: Journeys of Being [**Intuit Art Museum**](https://art.org/exhibitions/karla-wong?ref=hyperallergic.com), 756 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago Through January 10 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Karla-Wong-2.jpg) Installation view of **Karla Wong: Journeys of Being* at Intuit Art Museum (photo Natalie Jenkins/**Hyperallergic*) Surreal, vibrant, and complex, Karla Wong’s paintings reveal something new in every second spent in their company. Wong uses her practice to explore the many facets of her lived experience, from her Mexican and Chinese heritage to her gender expression, yielding work that is rich in symbolism. In “Arriving to the Land of the Mezcal” (2026), the pink and blue stripes wrapping a six-legged zebra-human represent the trans flag, while the creature’s place in a landscape of agave plants gestures towards the Oaxacan origins of mezcal. --- ### If Emmett Till Lived: Freedom on American Ground [**Museum of Contemporary Photography**](https://www.mocp.org/exhibition/if-emmett-till-lived-freedom-on-american-ground-2/?ref=hyperallergic.com), 600 S Michigan Ave, Chicago Through December 19 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/12_Rosenblum_Hopscotch.jpeg) Walter Rosenblum, "Hopscotch" (1952) (© Nina and Lisa Rosenblum, courtesy Baum Family Collection) *If Emmett Till Lived: Freedom on American Ground* proves that hope and imagination are crucial tools in reckoning with systemic injustice. The works in this exhibition are visions of what the 70-plus years Till was robbed of might have contained, ranging from the mundane — simple moments of childhood play seen in domestic and street scenes captured by Meg Gerken and Marc PoKempner — to the stratospheric, including major career achievements represented through portraits of prominent politicians by Dawoud Bey and Victor Skrebneski. The facts of history are presented undeniably, capturing the magnitude of the losses caused by racial violence and the rippling impact those losses have far beyond the immediate moment of trauma. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Remembering Cat Frazier, Susan Michod, and Joel Snyder URL: https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-cat-frazier-susan-michod-and-joel-snyder/ Last updated: 2026-09-16T19:02:36.000Z [*In Memoriam*](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/in-memoriam/) *is published every Wednesday afternoon and honors those we recently lost in the art world.* --- **Cat Frazier** (1991–2026) *Champion of a retro-maximalist internet aesthetic* The graphic designer revolted against minimalistic trends in contemporary design and visual culture, revamping the aesthetics of the wilder, rawer early internet through AnimatedText, a 2010s Tumblr page that showcased text-based GIFs and eventually garnered half a million followers. Her work kickstarted an era of web aesthetics we are arguably still in, defined by pop graphics, intentionally "bad" design, and a nihilistic irony. “I think she was one of the great pop artists of the 21st-century internet culture,” writer and critic Adrian Chen said in an [interview](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/16/arts/catherine-frazier-dead.html?ref=hyperallergic.com). "By reappropriating all of this tossed off or forgotten pop culture of an earlier age, \[she\] showed how you can really make these things your own.” --- **Khaled Al Awar** (1948–2026) *Gallerist and arts champion* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Untitled-4.jpg) Khaled Al Awar (photo @ojaiplayhouse via [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/Dc2PkChRwPT/?ref=hyperallergic.com), screenshot Lisa Yin Zhang/**Hyperallergic*) After moving to the United States from Lebanon in 1970, he [established](https://focusonthemasters.com/khaled-al-awar/?ref=hyperallergic.com) Primavera Gallery in Ojai, California, which exhibited emerging artists working in a variety of media. He was also the owner of the Ojai Playhouse Theater, a local arts landmark, and received the Lifetime Achievement Award in the Arts from the city in 2017\. --- **Walter Kershaw** (1940–2026) *British muralist and street artist* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Untitled-1.jpeg) A mural by Walter Kershaw (photo Kayla Chadwick via [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=122178715958464042&set=pcb.1445349620647240), screenshot Lisa Yin Zhang/**Hyperallergic*) He started [painting unsanctioned large-scale murals](https://artuk.org/discover/artists/kershaw-walter-b-1940-32931?ref=hyperallergic.com) and planting public sculptures on underutilized urban properties in England in the 1970s and '80s, attracting wide attention. Sometimes known as "Britain's first street artist," his works are held at the Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Collection of Brazilian Art in São Paulo, and more. --- **Susan Michod** (1945–2026) *Pattern and Decoration painter* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Untitled-2-1.jpg) Susan Michod (photo Woman Made Gallery via [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=2487212557991911&set=pcb.2487214907991676), screenshot Lisa Yin Zhang/**Hyperallergic*) The [feminist painter](https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/09/10/painter-susan-michod-artemisia/?ref=hyperallergic.com), who made her works through acts of tearing, collaging, sponging, spattering, and adding splashes of glitter, was at the vanguard of the Pattern and Decoration movement. In 1973, she founded the Chicago women artists' collaborative Artemisia Gallery. --- **Joel Snyder** (1940–2026) *Photographer and scholar* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Untitled-3.jpg) Joel Snyder (photo Critical Inquiry via [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/critinq/photos/rip-joel-snyder-coeditor-contributor-and-consulting-editor/1611550534311346/), screenshot Lisa Yin Zhang/**Hyperallergic*) Among the [first scholars](https://news.uchicago.edu/story/joel-snyder-pioneer-study-and-practice-photography-1940-2026?ref=hyperallergic.com) in the US to teach the history of photography, he was instrumental in bringing the medium from the margins to the center of art history. He studied the rise of commercial photography in the 1800s, and urged all scholars of a medium to understand how works are made; his own photographs are in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. --- **Timothy White Eagle** (1966–2026) *Multidisciplinary and performance artist* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Untitled-5.jpg) Timothy White Eagle (photo @timothy.whiteeagle via [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/DdCFibNGs5w/?ref=hyperallergic.com), screenshot Lisa Yin Zhang/**Hyperallergic*) Their [performance work](https://www.whiteeagle.me/about?ref=hyperallergic.com), such as the large-scale immersive work *The Indigo Room* (2023), is rooted in theater, ritual, and storytelling. They founded the performance art and coffeehouse venue the Coffee Messiah in Seattle in the 1990s, and they collaborated with artists like photographer Adrian Chesser and actor and playwright Taylor Mac. ### Sandra George’s Portraits of Working-Class Dignity URL: https://hyperallergic.com/sandra-georges-portraits-of-working-class-dignity/ Last updated: 2026-09-16T17:55:37.000Z EDINBURGH, Scotland — A White boy lifts a match to a cigarette. A Black girl floats on a scratched seesaw. A rock band strums from a pickup truck parked between towering housing projects, posters pasted to the door reading, “End Unemployment. GET THEM OUT!” Sandra George’s intimate portraits of urban Scottish life during the 1980s and ’90s reveal a world of both resilience and enduring solidarity. In one photograph, a student is arrested at an anti-nationalist protest; in another, a bouquet is thrust into the air at a rally upon Nelson Mandela’s release from prison. Brown, Black, and White women gather at a community center to discuss their shared grievances; “Every Mother is a Working Mother,” a placard declares in cursive calligraphy. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Heathfield-Nursery--1981.jpg) Sandra George, "Heathfield Nursery" (1981) (© Sandra George Estate; photo courtesy Craigmillar Now) A Black Britishphotographer whose own minoritization abetted her empathy for outsiders, George never received mainstream acclaim for her prolific body of work. [*Sandra George: Start from the Level*,](https://edinburghartfestival.com/event/sandra-george-start-from-the-level/?ref=hyperallergic.com) a new show at the City Art Centre of Edinburgh, makes a convincing, if overdue, case to change that. The largest exhibition of George’s work to date, *Start from the Level* reveals the activist-artist as a sensitive witness to private and public life in the throes and aftermath of Thatcher-era privatization in the United Kingdom. Though the subjects of George’s social documentary photography come from a range of racial backgrounds, many dwell or work in neglected housing projects. “Rich Scum fuck off” is graffitied on the door of a unit in Edinburgh’s Craigmillar public housing complex from 1994\. In Leith, across town, a pile of timber and abandoned mattresses becomes a makeshift playground, from which four boys beam down as though they’ve scaled a mountain. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/IMG_3415-1.jpeg) Installation view of works in **Sandra George: Start from the Level* (photo Eileen G'Sell/**Hyperallergic*) While never polemical, George’s work is inherently political in how it frames its subjects, suggesting shared interests rooted in common humanity amid rising economic inequality. Whether depicting children drawing in the sand at Portobello Beach or the elderly receptionist at BlindCraft bed factory (staffed by the visually impaired), George’s images balance a rawness and dignity rare in photography of working-class individuals. As a freelance photojournalist and community worker, George spent most of her time *within* the spaces of the urban poor, and approached those behind her lens as equals. Her images serve as the defiant flipside to so-called poverty porn — a moving reminder of the agency and depth inherent to all people pushed to the margins. In her extensive documentation of her own life, George’s tender portraits of her son Tyler — from a premature baby in an incubator to a boisterous toddler, child, and adolescent — suggest a humble, art-filled home where creative play flourishes. By contrast, George’s cogent self-portraits present a pensive single mother — one with serious swagger and a steady, unflinching mien. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Shakti---International-Women---s-Day--1989.jpg) Sandra George, "Shakti – International Women's Day" (1989) (© Sandra George Estate; photo courtesy Craigmillar Now) As I navigated the galleries on a drizzly summer afternoon, the eclectic and expressive faces on display seemed to illuminate the walls, united in a common struggle. “Stop making assumptions about people,” George scribbled in an exhibited notebook, which serves as a kind of artist manifesto. “Start from the level that people are based.” Given that economic injustice — in Britain, but especially the[ United States](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-wealth-gap-widest-in-three-decades-federal-reserve/?ref=hyperallergic.com) — has only intensified since George’s untimely death in 2013, may her legacy lead us to do just that. [Sandra George: Start from the Level](https://edinburghartfestival.com/event/sandra-george-start-from-the-level/?ref=hyperallergic.com) *continues at the City Art Centre* *(2 Market Street, Edinburgh, Scotland) through September 27\. The exhibition was produced in partnership with* [*Craigmillar Now*](https://www.craigmillarnow.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com)*.* ### Alma Thomas Opens Up Our Crowns URL: https://hyperallergic.com/alma-thomas-opens-up-our-crowns/ Last updated: 2026-09-16T16:58:14.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/primary-cover.jpg) Cover of **Primary: After and With Alma Thomas* by Alexis Pauline Gumbs (Yale University Press, 2026) **Editor’s Note:* The following article is a chapter titled "Field" that has been excerpted from* [Primary: After and With Alma Thomas](http://bookshop.org/a/539/9780300279306?ref=hyperallergic.com) *by Alexis Pauline Gumbs, published by Yale University Press on September 29 and available online and through independent booksellers. (Copyright © 2026 by Alexis Pauline Gumbs. Published by permission. All rights reserved.)* --- When Richard Powell, one of the most influential theorists of visual art in the Black diaspora, was a wide-eyed MFA student, or in his sardonic self-description decades later “a young clear-eyed critic striving for objectivity,” he wrote a review of Alma Thomas’s 1975 exhibition at Howard University. His celebration of Alma Thomas’s color paintings may also have been an early critique of other approaches to visual art. Powell the student, knowingly reviewing the work of the first graduate of the very department where he studied, knows that objectivity is impossible for himself or for any of us. He praises Thomas for her choice to “forgo the unreal objectiveness of details and detached photographic realism and dive into what we see and feel.” But he also notes that she moves away from what he calls the “mundanity” of impressionism. Instead she “cornrows and parboils it,” she “aerates the ground as only a native Georgian can and places growing colors in it the way one plants vegetables and fruit in a backyard.” The young Powell prefigures the way that Kellie Jones contextualizes Alma Thomas’s experimentalism years later: “Alma Thomas saw herself surrounded by creativity from an early age, from her mother’s use of color as an expert seamstress to her extended family’s planting and working of southern soil.” For both critics, Thomas’s roots in and continued connection to the very tangible arts of clothing and feeding people do not contradict but enable the experimental approach that Jones will call “Afro-Futuristic.” When Powell describes Alma Thomas’s color fields as “cornrows” he brings to mind two linked references at once: fields of one of the North American continent’s most abundant plants, and a beloved and infamous African diasporic hairstyle. Never merely descriptive, Powell’s choice of words is also referential. In the first sense, cornrows, like other agricultural fields in the United States, share a colonized kinship with the African laborers forced to toil under captivity to generate the vast fields of monocultural crops that continue to define US food systems. In the second sense, cornrows, a time-intensive hairstyle of close braids and patterned open scalp, have been criminalized and forbidden under racist labor codes post-emancipation. But in his positive review, which asserts that there is liberation available to a viewer who chooses to engage Thomas’s paintings, he uplifts the brightness and nourishment in her “parboiled” but never overcooked images. Powell does not mean for the reference to cornrows to offer a mere lament for labor. We sense a reclamation in Thomas’s paintings and Powell’s love for them. Or let me forgo the pretense of objectivity. *I* feel a claim. *I* feel loved. Do you? Cornrows constitute living archives of sisters and sisterliness. That archive includes my hands in my sister’s hair unbraiding it at the end of the summer, my own patience sitting between the legs of my sisterfriend Kara as she parts and flat-twists my hair before our college graduation. The cornrows gracing the heads of people around the world at this moment are mostly the artwork of a diasporic cohort of feminine workers who either offer their craft to people with whom they are in intimate sisterly proximity or with clients to whom they offer their services. Sometimes the line between sister/friend/stylist blurs. Sometimes in the shops staffed by African women and patronized by African-American and Afro-Caribbean people in cities in the United States, a strained and severed sisterhood across diasporic difference reveals or rejects a longing for tenderness among the tender-headed, tenderhearted, and tense. I would suggest that all of these braiders are modeling the work of sistering, the generative challenge of the closest simultaneous interfaces of similarity and difference. John Maurice Thomas, Alma’s younger sister, who usually went by “Maurice” and lived in the same Washington, DC, house with Alma their whole adult lives, practiced parting, styling, threading work as an archivist and curator of her older sister’s work and legacy. Her institutional choices of where to place certain artifacts, and especially her penciled notes on the backs of pictures and event programs clarifying Alma’s presence and achievements, have the tight, gentle touch of a person accountable for preserving an intimate witness, a close deviation from her own life. Alma Thomas, who lived inside the practice of sistering and lives today as a result of the archival and curatorial care of her younger sister, becomes related to and different from generations of braiders. Her bright brushstrokes and the spaces between them, Powell suggests with his cornrow reference, do not only beckon our minds, they open up our crowns. When I first heard Malcolm Peacock’s voice, he was running. His words punctuated by the need for breath, ragged and reaching like the closest view of the spaces between Alma Thomas’s applications of color. In his recorded reflections while running, the reach for breath shapes the insights Peacock shares about life, love, racism, intimacy, and Hortense Spillers, among other topics. We feel the breath that disrupted and enabled each articulation at the same moment. When I actually talked to Malcolm on the phone, their voice was steadier. They were sitting still and explaining how these days they were walking from Brooklyn to Harlem every day, past Teachers College, where Alma Thomas studied puppetry, up to the Studio Museum’s transitional studio space, where they were applying their mother’s living room cornrow technique to the task of braiding together a [redwood tree](https://whitney.org/exhibitions/2026-biennial/art?section=48&ref=hyperallergic.com). Malcolm texted me a photograph of their studio floor covered with packets of hair extensions and noted that their marathon braiding sessions kept them up in Harlem in vigil with countless African hair-braiding establishments finishing one or two last clients late into the night. As far as I know, Alma Thomas doesn’t have a painting of corn in particular or of the redwoods where Malcolm Peacock once ran a last-minute marathon while fearing for his Black life. But her paintings do evoke corn in their patterned multiplicity. We could think of her color paintings both as fields of corn in rows, and as each ear of corn, kernel after indented kernel, holding close and sweet. The heirloom Cherokee corn I help grow and harvest at Tierra Negra Farm near my home in Durham, North Carolina, does what Alma does. It places different colors in tight kerneled relationship to each other across a field of possibility. When we shuck the corn we are surprised by each ear because no pattern is the same. This one has purple, blue, magenta, maroon kernels alternating. This one has all purple and one white. Most of them look like an autumn rainbow, but never the same rainbow twice. The cornrows of an Alma Thomas painting both look like the infinitely diverse ears of native corn and hold the ethic of the Indigenous context of corn that is, again, sisterhood. Just as Alma Thomas’s paintings exceed the monotony of agribusiness conformity in their movement and flow, corn on this continent is meant to exist in mounds as part of the three sisters Indigenous planting system. As Potawatomi scientist and poet Robin Wall Kimmerer describes it, corn is the oldest sister sprouting up first out of the ground, followed by the second sister, the beans that climb the cornstalks encircling her. Then the sprawl of squash leaves and flowers sitting on the ground at their feet skirts them both, filling in almost all of the available space between mound after mound of earth, each about a square foot wide. Alma Thomas reveals herself as kin again not only through her grandmother Fannie Simmons, a South Carolinian woman of African, Indigenous, and European heritage, but also in practice, offering mark after mark in the tradition of the Indigenous farmers who create not merely furrowed linear rows of earth but constellations of mounds so the three dimensions of the intertwined plants can fill the space, feed the people, nourish the land, open the earth to the lessons of rain. During a conversation I did not directly witness, my old friend Ashon Crawley, who makes paintings that are the remnants of his embodied sound work in the tradition of Black Pentecostal breathing, told my new friend, the world-building critical writer Sofia Samatar, that his paintings, records of what happens on the floor while he moves in the sound and spirit of transforming a homophobic tradition into a vessel of queer possibility, were not landscape paintings. And in the sense of the colonial optic of landscape painting as a form of domination and ownership over living space, of course they are not. But Sofia offered a corrective that Ashon included in one of the letters in his book [*The Lonely Letters*](http://bookshop.org/a/539/9781478008248?ref=hyperallergic.com) about what landscape might be. And I think Sofia might know, since she writes books with maps in the beginning so we can find ourselves inside the worlds she has created and populated with her own reflective imagination. Sofia said Ashon’s paintings are landscapes in the sense that they invite the maroon questions, *Can I shelter there? Can I get in there? Can I stay there for a while?* Sofia calls this “landscape from the inside” because it is about inhabiting a space. I would add that it is a vulnerable form of inhabitation; there is need and precarity there. Ashon explains that in his painting practice he is trying to get back into, to shelter within, the sound of the Black church, his community of aesthetic origin, a homophobic community that excluded him even while he, as a prolific church organist, was providing the context, the sound of that community’s being. *Can I shelter there? Can I stay?* Was Alma Thomas a maroon? She was not housing insecure. She lived her adult life in a house her parents purchased that she and her sister inherited together. She was gainfully employed, an active and respected member of her church and community. If we think of Alma Thomas as a maroon, we have to imagine her marooned in time. What if the “achievement” of being first is simply the consistent pattern of arriving where no one expects you? Of enacting things no one has found a use or a name for until you insist? What if Alma Thomas, marveled at in the *New York Times*, the *New Yorker*, and the *Washington Evening Star* as an old new young artist after retiring from teaching, was marooned in age? Alma’s painting teacher says that in her arthritic last days she would cry out, “Oh if I only had a body!” When she went to the hospital to what would be her deathbed, she brought her paints with her. What if Alma Thomas was marooned in space too? Committed to uplifting her Washington, DC, community while longing for a Georgia she returned to most frequently in paintings? Marooned in the early dream of a world where her students could live with dignity? A world safe enough for her sister Fannie to have had the equal medical access that would have allowed her to live through childhood into adulthood? What if Alma Thomas’s paintings are imagined landscapes where the movement of the air and the movement of time creates a maroonage, a free place, where linear time loops back? Where a girl from the horse and buggy age can travel to the moon and Mars without leaving what and whom she loves behind? What if the vulnerable question of shelter is a question about whether she can access her dead baby sister’s heaven? Can that space hold her? Does it still hold their relationship? Can I get in there? It could be a question about seeking to reach a sound, a feeling, a possible world beyond our undoing. Can I shelter there? It could be a question about what will hold, what will hold me? Can I stay? At least for a while? It could be a longing across impermanence. It could be my question each time I am faced with the full and open world of Thomas’s paintings. Can I get to the world that her work implies? Can it hold me? And what does that work have to say about the world I see when I reach, when I’m vulnerable, when I close my eyes and remember there is a landscape inside? Thomas’s works, often inspired by her own garden and the gardens of others, or fields and seasons and the emergence of flowers and the changing of leaves and images of outer space, are all spatial and temporal. They are about time and space, but they do not fix a given space in time. They offer repetition and difference. They offer proximity and contrast. They offer the phenomena she witnesses, the freedom of presence. They cultivate possibility. They create a possible encounter between Alma Thomas and a viewer, this viewer, any viewer, between an image Alma Thomas blinked inside and a future in which dead Alma Thomas is a presence. They create a possible encounter between a living Alma Thomas and her sister Fannie who was already pure spirit and also therefore between modes of encounter. What is at stake in my encounter with this work? Consider Rick Powell’s description of Alma Thomas’s “[Orange Glow](https://howard.emuseum.com/objects/167/orange-glow?ref=hyperallergic.com)” during his [series](https://www.nga.gov/stories/videos/colorstruck-painting-pigment-affect?ref=hyperallergic.com) of Mellon Lectures at the National Gallery in Thomas’s hometown of Washington, DC. It’s so beautiful, it’s like a spell. He names the “harmonious optics” of the primary, secondary, and tertiary color choices and then remarks on points where they “bust loose.” He riffs on the “radiant and vibrant connotations” of the title “Orange Glow” and how orange, a minority color in the painting, modifies the prioritized glow of Thomas’s intuitively placed colors, suggesting that the orange colors in the painting also “transform everything in their orbit.” He keeps going to the cosmic, understanding that the glow referenced in the title and enacted in the painting “not unlike sunlight, envelops nature and civilization and covered Thomas’s gritty inner-city neighborhood with brilliance and optimism.” He branches out to her other paintings of flowers and nurseries, her documentation of “planet earth’s chromatic responses to seasonal and atmospheric cycles.” He quotes the Black British Guyanese artist Frank Bowling on color as line and applies Bowling’s observation that incorporating line between the colors introduces clashes “wherever the colors meet in a confused passion.” As a Caribbean immigrant to the United Kingdom, Bowling knows of what he speaks. Powell continues emphasizing again the “abstract cornrows and plait-like gestures,” the “light and energy generating ideal,” the passion, the confusion that happens when I see you in a different light. I don’t think that I will ever describe Alma Thomas’s paintings better than Rick Powell already has. Not even a 1975 student Rick Powell. Certainly not a Mellon Distinguished Lecturer Rick Powell. Thankfully, I’m not trying to. Alma Thomas and the artists I have named here (Powell included!) are all in the midst of transforming a deadly encounter, the genocidal colonial encounter, the earth-killing monocultural agricultural domination, the reproduction of property through landscape painting, the reification of art as property through art criticism. I think Powell’s approach here and elsewhere points us in this liberatory direction. My encounter with Alma Thomas’s work wants to do this too. But my mode is different. Instead of describing the work and then describing it better, or more pointedly, instead of demonstrating mastery or conferring mastery upon the artist, I have to risk freedom. I have to confront sameness and difference. I have to confront what I mean when what I want to be the same is different and what I wish were different reproduces itself and stays the same. I have to be transformed by how I see myself and lose myself in you. I have to risk another form of knowing. I have to refuse to master. Goldenrod. Aster. I have to refuse to daughter. Dirt. Water. Rain barrel cistern. I have to become related alongside you. Woven with you. Unraveling too. I have to sister. If I were to attempt to describe Alma Thomas’s 1973 painting “[Jonquils](https://doyle.com/auction/lot/lot-135---alma-thomas/?lot=1116526&sd=1&ref=hyperallergic.com)” in the mode of art critical inquiry, I would try to find words for that exact yellow, is it goldenrod or should I not use another flower to describe a flower? Is it a gold yellow, a light yellow, a light-infused yellow? And then I would seek to tell you how the strokes of yellow meet, crash into each other, crowd each other, embrace each other in some places, overlap and darken each other in other places. And they could look like scattered grains of corn from some angles. But to me these brushstrokes mostly look like living beings moved by wind. And in the end, I am too awestruck by how she has infused the inert with movement again to say anything else, except maybe death, where is thy victory? Segregation, proffer your concession call? And so in the end, I am not at the end. I am moved, beyond my lifetime. I am opened into the sistering relation of crowding or embracing. I should know what you are thinking and I will never understand you. The decoloniality is: that this relation remains a question, not a relation of domination or reproduction but of accompaniment, or betrayal, solidarity, or judgment across something and something else. I wonder about you. I lean back and look again. What does a sistering relation or the loss of it make possible? I continue in wonder and build a room to ponder the motivation of a genius who has created not only a work of art, but a transformation of what work even is or could be or could become in the face of death. And for whom? The question is *can we stay here?* And the answer is no. And the answer is yes. And this is the poem: SISTER TECH i am pounding out a field of gold with a horsehair hammer the interface i use to build this, our cosmic computer with a horsehair hammer and the light of memory our cosmic computer creates a circuit between worlds and the light of memory and your unforgettable face and a circuit between worlds your hand to my hand and your face behind my eyelids and all the flowers are your hands too soon they freeze and die and oh the flowers become my faith too soon we pound the earth break into gold ### FIT Exhibition Explores the Cultural Dialogue Between Dolls and Fashion URL: https://hyperallergic.com/fit-exhibition-explores-the-cultural-dialogue-between-dolls-and-fashion/ Last updated: 2026-09-16T15:42:50.000Z A groundbreaking exhibition examining the enduring and often unexpected relationship between dolls and fashion opens this fall at The Museum at FIT (MFIT). On view from September 16, 2026, to January 3, 2027, [*Doll Dressing*](https://bit.ly/3UIVZFm?ref=hyperallergic.com)centers the cultural interplay between dolls and dressed appearance in the 20th and 21st centuries. Featuring more than 170 objects — including fashion dolls displayed alongside full-size garments, accessories, videos, and artworks — the exhibition highlights how the influence of dolls extends far beyond childhood play. Curated by Dr. Colleen Hill, senior curator of costume at MFIT, *Doll Dressing* features designers and labels including Balenciaga, Comme des Garçons, Maison Martin Margiela, Marc Jacobs, Patrick Kelly, Loewe, Louis Vuitton, Moschino, Anna Sui, and Undercover, demonstrating that dolls aren’t just toys — they’re muses, canvases, and even prototypes for designers. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/2024.4.11_2025.19.1_20250806_01_flat.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/2025.9.1_2025.9.2_20250723_01--2-.jpeg) *Doll Dressing* poses a compelling and previously overlooked question: How have dolls influenced fashion? As early as the 14th century, dolls circulated throughout Europe as miniature fashion models, communicating the latest trends in three-dimensional detail. By the early 20th century, dolls were not only reflecting fashion but actively shaping it. The exhibition investigates “doll dressing,” a concept encompassing clothing, accessories, hair, makeup, and even gestures that draw inspiration from dolls. It ultimately reveals that doll dressing can be both expressive and subversive, offering a means of exploring identity, fantasy, and personal style. The exhibition addresses six major themes: “Fashion Doll Foundations,” “Modes in Miniature,” “Playing with Dolls,” “The Dollhouse,” “All Dolled Up,” and “Broken Dolls.” Together, these sections explore dolls as conveyors of style, designers’ fascination with small-scale creation, childhood and nostalgia, the relationship between fashion and interior spaces, the concept of the “living doll,” and the subversive potential of unsettling or unconventional doll imagery. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/2025.13.1_20250723_03.jpg) The museum will also host a [*Doll Dressing* symposium](https://bit.ly/4xKFaIA?ref=hyperallergic.com) on November 13, 2026\. The daylong program is free and open to the public and will feature leading scholars and designers in conversation with Dr. Colleen Hill and others. Reservations are strongly encouraged, as space is limited. Doll Dressing has been made possible thanks to the generosity of the Couture Council of The Museum at FIT. Learn more at [fitnyc.edu/museum](https://bit.ly/3UIVZFm?ref=hyperallergic.com). ### Your Cheat Sheet to NYC’s Fall Art Fairs URL: https://hyperallergic.com/your-cheat-sheet-to-nycs-fall-art-fairs/ Last updated: 2026-09-16T19:20:28.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/4.-Lily-Hong-Lei_-7-Train-_2026_curated-by-A---A-2.jpg) Lily Hong Lei's "7 Train" (2026) (image courtesy Spring Break Art Show) After an exceptionally moody and muggy New York City summer, the first whispers of fall spell a welcome reprieve to some, a dreaded reality check to others, and at long last, the bustling and beloved return of fall art fair season. While corn mazes might be a rare site amid the skyscrapers, there will be plenty of labyrinthine booths to wind your way through, both at the good ol' classics like the tremendous Armory Show, and newer affairs such as the second edition of SPLIT LEVEL. To help you navigate, we've compiled 10 art fairs that cater to an array of interests, including affordable zines, Surrealist women artists of past and present, and Latinx arts publications. Grab your totes, layer up, and prepare to embrace the annual pageantry. --- ### The Armory Show September 24–27 | [thearmoryshow.com](https://www.thearmoryshow.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) Javits Center, 429 11th Avenue, Hudson Yards, Manhattan ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Rajiv_Menon_Contemporary_Raghav_Babbar_Shudh_Maha_kumbh_2026.jpeg) Raghav Babbar Shudh's "(Maha Kumbh)" (2026) (image courtesy the artist and Rajiv Menon Contemporary) Over 230 galleries, 30 countries represented, six curated sections, and some really, REALLY big sculptures. If these numbers are already making your head spin, you’ll probably need a compass to venture through endless booths across the Javits Center for Armory Week’s namesake anchor event. This year’s Armory Show will channel some much-loved equatorial climate through a shared focus on Caribbean and diasporic art in the Platform and Focus sections. Between Lisu Vega’s 40-foot textile installation and Sandra Brewster’s enormous photo panels, keep an eye out for solo presentations of Betsabeé Romero, José Bechara, and Katarina Riesing. The Bronx Museum and the Pérez Art Museum Miami are also benefiting from the Armory Show's inaugural acquisition prizes, each allotting five-figure funds for the purchase of new work. --- ### Independent 20th Century September 24–27 | [independenthq.com](https://www.independenthq.com/fair2?ref=hyperallergic.com) The Breuer, 945 Madison Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Weinstein-Gallery_Penrod-Centurion_Circulam-Vita--Variant-2-_1942_120C_2026.jpeg) Penrod Centurion's "Circulam Vita" (1942) (courtesy Weinstein Gallery and Independent) Turning five this year, Independent 20th Century transforms the Breuer into a fitting headquarters for offbeat, undersung, and groundbreaking avant-garde art of the 20th century. With 57 invited participants, the fair will showcase work by over 130 artists and collectives, from Wassily Kandinsky, Gerhard Richter, and Elaine de Kooning to late Brazilian geometric abstractionist Ubi Bava, avant-garde feminist artist and illustrator Esphyr Slobodkina, and the pivotal Canadian artists' collective General Idea. Most galleries will have solo or duo presentations, creating an opportunity for a much closer look at multiple facets of unprecedented artistic innovation that defined the century. --- ### Affordable Art Fair September 16–20 | [affordableartfair.com](https://affordableartfair.com/fairs/new-york-fall/?ref=hyperallergic.com) Starrett-Lehigh Building, 601 West 26th St, Chelsea, Manhattan ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Sol-Gallery--Nilraya--Sunset-Through-the-Forest--2026-Embroidery-on-canvas-60-x-60-cm--framed---3-800.JPG) Nilraya's "The Sunset Through the Forest" (2026) (courtesy Affordable Art Fair) With artworks at Art Basel and Frieze regularly fetching prices only one or two digits shy of a Social Security number, “affordable” may be the last adjective one associates with art fairs. An international array of artists from countries including Australia, Japan, and Nigeria aims to bridge that gap at the Affordable Art Fair, where price tags on original works range from $100 to $12,000\. From Nilraya's embroidered meadows bathed in oranges to Clark Derbes's sculpture that feels akin to a Rubik's cube on LSD, there will be plenty to peruse and purchase. --- ### Spring Break Art Show September 23–28 | [springbreakartshow.com](https://www.springbreakartshow.com/about/?ref=hyperallergic.com) 555 West 57th Street, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/15.-Kirsten-Valentine-_-Smoker-_curated-by-Melissa-Middleberg.jpeg) Kirsten Valentine's "Smoker" (courtesy SPRING/BREAK) The Spring Break Art Show's fall 2026 edition seeks all that is encoded, shrouded in mystery, and cloaked in symbolism across over 120 projects. With previous iterations held at old schools, post offices, and former workplaces for cosmetics powerhouses, the forthcoming edition will take place at the former *CBS* *News* office in Hell’s Kitchen, where the justice-oriented media platform The Slow Factory will transform former recording studios into a live news installation. --- ### La Feria: Print Media Fair October 3 | [latinxproject.nyu.edu](https://www.latinxproject.nyu.edu/calendar/la-feria-2026?ref=hyperallergic.com) New York University, 20 Cooper Square, NoHo, Manhattan ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Brooklyn-Hi-Art-Machine.jpg) Brooklyn Hi-Art! Machine's (Oasa DuVerney and Mildred Beltre), “Before it’s Gone: Archive to Survive” (2026). (image courtesy the artist) Artists Gabriel García Román, Tatiana Arocha, and Nguyen E. Smith will be among over 40 exhibitors at the third edition of the NYU Latinx Project’s La Feria Print Media Fair. True to its collegiate setting, the fair champions affordability in a community-oriented model, where students and visitors alike can take home a piece of culture. Booths at the [music-pumping gathering](https://hyperallergic.com/a-rare-home-for-latinx-art-books-and-prints-in-new-york-city/) for Latine artists and small presses have previously displayed ceramic tiles, cyanotypes, prints of queer icons, and a range of zines, works on paper, and books. --- ### Split Level Fair October 1–3 | [splitlevelfair.com](https://www.splitlevelfair.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) 102 Madison Ave, NoMad, Manhattan ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Blah-Blah-Gallery_Ariel-Posh__Asleep-in-the-Uber__Courtesy-of-Blah-Blah-Gallery-and-the-artist.WEBP) Ariel Posh's "Asleep in the Uber" (courtesy the artist and Blah Blah Gallery) Hunger-inducing tapestries, otherworldly chandeliers, hand-crocheted cushions, and dozens of other artworks by emerging artists and galleries will be on view for the second edition of Split Level. Departing from the white-cube model of the traditional art show, the fair encourages artists to arrange their pieces as they see fit in the showroom of Italian design company Rimadesio. Exhibitors include Ariel Posh, whose prints spell out the contemporary dating scene, and Andrius Alvarez, whose bronzed Wonder Horse sculpture hangs from a manila rope like an antique piñata. --- ### New York Art Book Fair September 24–27 | [printedmatterartbookfairs.org](https://nyabf2026.printedmatterartbookfairs.org/about?ref=hyperallergic.com) MoMA PS1, 22-25 Jackson Ave, Long Island City, Queens ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/NYABF-2025_BFA_1.jpg) A visitor holds a pile of books at the 2025 New York Art Book Fair. (courtesy NYABF) Over 300 exhibitors will share their wares in the 20th anniversary edition of Printed Matter’s New York Art Book Fair, filling MoMA PS1’s rafters with a classroom-like clamor. The term “art book” applies loosely among the selections from independent presses, institutions, self-publishing artists, and antique book dealers, capturing everything from compendiums of rigorous art historical analysis to handcrafted letters and artist postcards. --- ### Salon Zürcher September 21–27 | [galeriezurcher.com](https://www.galeriezurcher.com/salon-zurcher-35th-edition-100-women-of-spirit-part-5?ref=hyperallergic.com) Zürcher Gallery, 33 Bleecker Street, NoHo, Manhattan ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/SUZANNE-BENTON.jpg) Suzanne Benton's "First Day" (2022)(courtesy Salon Zürcher) At Part 5, we’ve reached the halfway point in the second run of Salon Zürcher’s *100 Women of Spirit +* mini-fair, which has highlighted the work of 11 women artists biannually since 2020\. This intimate affair offers a much-needed sensory reprieve from the pizzazz-a-palooza of Armory Week through a thoughtful curation that includes Susana Wald’s and Laura Corsiglia’s surrealist sensibilities, Elizabeth Riley’s phygital “mixed realities,” and a posthumous spotlight on late avant-garde poet and artist Nadia Gould. --- ### Clio Art Fair September 17–20 and 24–27 | [clioartfair.com](https://www.clioartfair.com/visitor-info-sept-2026?ref=hyperallergic.com) 511 West 25th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Mickalene-Thomas--.png) Mickalene Thomas's "A Moment's Pleasure 2" (2026) (image courtesy the artist and Clio Art Fair) Keeping its recently adopted split-weekend model, Clio upholds its reputation as a beacon for self-representing artists who would rather make and sell art without regard to market trends. Assembled with the ultra-relevant theme of “I Don’t Want to Be Useful” in mind, over 250 artworks by more than 50 independent artists are included in this self-proclaimed “anti-fair.” In addition to the usual perk of direct communication with selling artists, Clio has also organized a performance art program that takes this year’s liberating tone of optimistic nihilism to the next level. --- ### U-Haul Art Fair September 25–27 | [uhaulgallery.com](https://uhaulgallery.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) 22nd Street between 10th and 11th Avenues, Chelsea, Manhattan ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Sandy-William-IV.png) Artist Sandy Williams IV (photo courtesy the artist) The unconventional, nomadic fair where galleries and artists show work in the back of U-Haul moving trucks is back for another Manhattan edition. As part of the line-up, artist Sandy Williams IV will debut their [performance](https://www.palogallery.com/art-fairs/13-u-haul-art-fair-sandy-williams-iv/?ref=hyperallergic.com) "Exhaustion IX” with Palo Gallery. The Black Southern artist will stand on West 22nd Street with a guitar and repeat the line “No, I don’t have a gun one” from Nirvana’s “Come As You Are,” a tireless, lifelong declaration that Black Americans must reiterate in defense of their mere existence. ### The Counterpublic Triennial Pollinates a Budding St. Louis URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-counterpublic-triennial-pollinates-a-budding-st-louis/ Last updated: 2026-09-16T15:29:42.000Z ST. LOUIS — Suspended mid-leap with nothing below, the future lies outside of the frame. What’s certain is the split-second decision: to soar forward or look back over one’s shoulder; to plunge into the unknown or pause — perhaps, to plummet. Inspired by the moment in a video game when a character jumps off a cliff and is launched midair — taken from artist Alice Bucknell’s commissioned work of the same name — *Coyote Time* marks the third edition of the [Counterpublic Triennial](https://hyperallergic.com/the-counterpublic-triennials-new-kind-of-public-space/), a sweeping exhibition of public art well suited for a city that can feel both frozen in time and ripe for a wildly revitalized future. Counterpublic’s roots go back to 2015, when original co-founders James McAnally and Brea Youngblood sought to integrate the project of their gallery, The Luminary, into the urban fabric of the surrounding neighborhood. Incorporated in 2021 as its own non-profit organization, the three-month exhibition has since exploded in both renown and ambition — nearly doubling the number of artists from 2023 to cascade across St. Louis City and into the Metro East region beyond the Mississippi River. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/IMG_4548.jpg) Curator Wanda Nanibush with artists Glenn Ligon and Stephen Andrews at Laclede’s Landing Creatively pollinating parks, community gardens, vacant lots, and even an abandoned vending machine factory, this year’s Counterpublicis organized into five major hubs and boasts an international guest curatorial team, including Stefanie Hessler, Raphael Fonseca, and Wanda Nanibush. The exhibition features major artists like Glenn Ligon, Rirkrit Tiravanija, and Nick Cave, alongside regionally notable artists such as Rachel Youn, Anika Todd, and Jamie Lee Harris. On its opening weekend, visitors flocked from near and far despite the stifling heat, a current running through the city rivaling that of its mighty river. At its best, Counterpublic artworks invigorate, channeling the energy of St. Louis’s established arts districts to empty, under-utilized, or under-recognized urban spaces — capillaries warming appendages gone numb from decades of neglect. Hipsters rub shoulders with retirees; elites share tables with the hoi polloi; outsiders are forced to reassess, if not jettison, the harmful preconceptions wrought by a “flyover” mindset toward the region. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Elizabeth Holmes, But Make It Art URL: https://hyperallergic.com/elizabeth-holmes-but-make-it-art/ Last updated: 2026-09-16T13:57:37.000Z Say what you want about the Gen-Z stare, but nothing tops the Silicon Valley villain stare — as evidenced by Elizabeth Holmes’s unblinking, dead-eyed interview with Nathan Fielder and the question that launched a thousand memes: “Why would I deceive you?” If you’ve spent any time in art museums and galleries, you’ve heard that one before. Our brilliant team gave the format an art-world twist below. Also in this edition, workers at three major New York museums prepare to strike, The Met breaks ground on its forthcoming wing, and critic Aruna D’Souza considers the art of archipelagic thinking at a show in Maine. And if you’re in New York City this month, don’t miss our evening of studio visits and conversations with artists on September 30 at the beloved International Studio & Curatorial Program. Join us as a Hyperallergic Member to [reserve your spot](https://hyperallergic.com/member-event-iscp-ground-floor-studio-visits)! *—Lakshmi Rivera Amin, associate editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/meme.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/why-would-the-art-world-deceive-you/) [ Why Would the Art World Deceive You? ](https://hyperallergic.com/why-would-the-art-world-deceive-you/) *“Why would I deceive you?”* The words uttered by disgraced Theranos founder and convicted fraudster Elizabeth Holmes have been ringing in our heads since Nathan Fielder teased his unsettling new documentary. But why is Holmes’s dopey-eyed face of duplicity so eerily familiar? Could it be because it resembles the expressions of two-timing art dealers and suspicious museum board members who use their power and wealth to steamroll over artists and art workers? ... Hm, it must be a coincidence. Either way, we took the viral meme and gave it the ol’ *Hyperallergic* spin. Just for funsies. | Valentina Di Liscia [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/why-would-the-art-world-deceive-you/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/NC19891-image-2-2copy.jpg)](https://www.norrcohan.com/exhibitions/vicky-colombet?ref=hyperallergic.com) ****Rhythmic Abstractions Made of Pure Pigment** Opening September 17, NORR COHAN is pleased to present **Memory of the Surface*, an exhibition of new paintings by Vicky Colombet (b. 1953). Working between New York, the Hudson Valley, and Paris, Colombet has spent decades making paintings that do not depict landscape so much as behave like one. [Learn more ](https://www.norrcohan.com/exhibitions/vicky-colombet?ref=hyperallergic.com) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/union-rallies.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/staff-at-whitney-museum-brooklyn-museum-and-american-folk-art-museum-authorize-strike/) - Unionized workers at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Brooklyn Museum, and the American Folk Art Museum [vote to authorize a strike action](https://hyperallergic.com/staff-at-whitney-museum-brooklyn-museum-and-american-folk-art-museum-authorize-strike/) if they don’t receive fair offers for union contracts with their respective institutions. - The Metropolitan Museum of Art [officially breaks ground](https://hyperallergic.com/met-museum-breaks-ground-on-new-modern-and-contemporary-wing/) on its forthcoming Tang Wing for modern and contemporary art, designed by Frida Escobedo. --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/islands-of-america.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-many-islands-of-america/) [ The Many Islands of “America” ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-many-islands-of-america/) A show on art from Cuba, Guam, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and their diasporas touches on themes of colonization, enslavement, migration, and more. | Aruna D’Souza [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-many-islands-of-america/) [ Mildred Howard Enters History Through the Everyday ](https://hyperallergic.com/mildred-howard-enters-history-through-the-everyday/) In her first museum survey, the Bay Area artist’s vibrant, musical, and poetic world is on display, reflecting her own memory with collective histories in America. | Max Blue [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/mildred-howard-enters-history-through-the-everyday/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/5-1.png)](https://hyperallergic.com/this-october-experience-refract-the-seattle-glass-experience/) ****This October, Experience Refract: The Seattle Glass Experience** Seattle’s glass festival returns with milestone anniversaries, fresh art, parties, demos, exhibits, and open studios with the vibrant theme Year of Celebration. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/this-october-experience-refract-the-seattle-glass-experience/) --- ## Guides [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/DC-shows.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/10-art-shows-to-see-in-dc-this-fall/) [ 10 Art Shows to See in DC This Fall ](https://hyperallergic.com/10-art-shows-to-see-in-dc-this-fall/) Carlotta Corpron photographs light, Ahn Chang-Hong unmasks Korean history, Black women reimagine Shakespeare, three mid-century New York artists paint by the sea, and more. | Emma Cieslik [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/10-art-shows-to-see-in-dc-this-fall/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/4-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/applications-open-idsva-low-residency-phd-program-for-artists-and-creative-thinkers/) ****Applications Open: IDSVA Low-Residency PhD Program for Artists and Creative Thinkers** Begin your PhD journey in summer 2027 with residencies in Rome, Spannocchia Castle, Arezzo, and Siena. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/applications-open-idsva-low-residency-phd-program-for-artists-and-creative-thinkers/) --- ## Member Comment Huh. After reading Stromberg's review here, I am struck by the irony of using HIS filter of defining what narrative art is or should be, to suggest Lucas' filter (who has spent a lifetime CREATING narrative that the world has gobbled up and revered) is incomplete, or lacking. No museum will ever be complete to fulfill all viewers preconceived notions of what "art" or "narrative" is or should be. Lucas appears to have chosen a less combative pathway to define narrative which frankly, in today's world, I appreciate. Perhaps retelling the narrative of destruction, dystopia, violence and all the hatred that goes with those ever re-told themes has created the narrative that faces us each and every morning when we read the news. —Susan Simon on "[LA’s Lucas Museum Displays “Narrative Art” for the Few, Not the People](https://hyperallergic.com/las-lucas-museum-displays-narrative-art-for-the-few-not-the-people/)" --- ## ICYMI [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/art-ennials-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/15-fall-art-ennials-from-st-louis-to-dakar/) [ 15 Fall Art -Ennials, From St. Louis to Dakar ](https://hyperallergic.com/15-fall-art-ennials-from-st-louis-to-dakar/) A photography show dedicated to NYC in the nighttime, an Indigenous-led arts festival honoring the Mississippi River, the first-ever Bienal de Yucatán, and more biennials and triennials to visit across the world. | Phillip Pyle, Anna Lee, and Rhea Nayyar [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/15-fall-art-ennials-from-st-louis-to-dakar/) ### Staff at Three Major Museums Vote to Strike URL: https://hyperallergic.com/staff-at-three-major-museums-vote-to-strike/ Last updated: 2026-09-15T22:07:40.000Z I was heading down to Sunset Park on Sunday afternoon to visit a close friend when, as an absentminded creature of routine, I accidentally embarked on my usual journey to Atlantic Terminal. I’ve made this ultimately harmless mistake multiple times now, but I still get frustrated with myself for arriving somewhere later than I intended because of something so easily preventable. In this instance, however, I was in the wrong place at the right time for once. Because if I hadn’t accidentally sent myself uptown, I wouldn’t have gotten to see this: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/benji.jpg) As one can imagine, my whole day was made because of this serendipitous little treasure named Benji. I’d hazard a guess that many others felt similarly when encountering the gilded cavatappi inflatable on the High Line. Staff writer Anna Lee reported that the shimmering serpentine installation was backed by the luxury jewelry company Bulgari for New York Fashion Week. Evidently, my little friend Benji got the memo about Fashion Week before any of us did. I’ve been making a lot of collages to ease myself back into art-making without an agenda after sheepishly neglecting my studio for a summer spent outdoors. I was delighted to see that the Brooklyn Public Library began offering a craft supply lending program last week! Between the Library’s rentable woodworking kits and Cricut machine and the recent inauguration of [Brooklyn Creative Reuse’s brick-and-mortar shop](https://hyperallergic.com/at-brooklyn-creative-reuse-art-supplies-get-a-second-life/) in Industry City, it’s heartening to see these community-driven efforts to mitigate the costly barriers to entry for craft and artmaking. Resources like these are a salve for the sore soul amid the embattled landscape of higher arts education — the School of Visual Arts is shutting down its graduate photography and video practice program because of the school’s financial struggles and the general decline in enrollment. It’s been a big day for museums today. Senior Editor Valentina Di Liscia brings us to The Met’s groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of its forthcoming Tang Wing for Contemporary Art, while unionized staff at the Whitney Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, and the American Folk Art Museum hit the ground running with a vote to authorize strike action if fair contracts aren’t reached. Don’t miss *Hyperallergic* Editor-in-Chief Hakim Bishara’s interview with Alfredo Jaar on the occasion of the Chilean artist’s solo exhibition at Galerie Lelong, contributing critic Channelle Chevelle Russell’s experience at the Drawing Center’s show for the late artist Pope.L, and reflections by artists and art workers on the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attack and its reverberating cultural impact around the globe. --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/alfredo-jaar.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/alfredo-jaar-is-still-trying-to-change-the-world/) [ Alfredo Jaar Is Still Trying to Change the World ](https://hyperallergic.com/alfredo-jaar-is-still-trying-to-change-the-world/) In April of 1987, when Reaganism was running amok and Henry Kissinger was fiddling with world affairs like a puppet master from hell, a relatively unknown 31-year-old Chilean artist named Alfredo Jaar staged his billboard installation A Logo for America smack dab in the heart of Times Square. It instantly became one of the most discussed works of political art in the contemporary canon. Appearing between ads for tomato sauce and a Mexican restaurant, the 42-second LED animation bewildered New Yorkers with the message “This Is Not America” superimposed on a map of the United States, followed by an image of the US flag with the text, “This Is Not America’s Flag.” Next, the “R” in America shifted into a dancing map of South, Central, and North America. | Hakim Bishara [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/alfredo-jaar-is-still-trying-to-change-the-world/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/AAF_2026_NYF_02_04_Hyperallergic-email_w1200xh628_v13.jpg)](https://affordableartfair.com/fairs/new-york-fall/?utm%5Fsource=banner&utm%5Fmedium=display&utm%5Fcampaign=NYF26-hyperallergic-email&utm%5Fcontent=learn-more) ****Affordable Art Fair New York Fall 2026 is back!** Affordable Art Fair New York returns for its Fall edition from September 16-20 at the Starrett-Lehigh building in Chelsea. You’ll find over 90 galleries showcasing thousands of artworks all priced from $100-$1200\. Find your next favorite artwork! [Learn more ](https://affordableartfair.com/fairs/new-york-fall/?utm%5Fsource=banner&utm%5Fmedium=display&utm%5Fcampaign=NYF26-hyperallergic-email&utm%5Fcontent=learn-more) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/high-line-pasta.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/a-twisted-sculpture-lands-on-manhattans-high-line/) - An inflatable cavatappi-shaped artwork, inspired by fashion house Bulgari’s serpent motif, [lands on Manhattan's High Line](https://hyperallergic.com/a-twisted-sculpture-lands-on-manhattans-high-line/), and will remain on view through New York Fashion Week. - Unionized workers at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Brooklyn Museum, and the American Folk Art Museum [vote to authorize a strike action](https://hyperallergic.com/staff-at-whitney-museum-brooklyn-museum-and-american-folk-art-museum-authorize-strike/) if they don’t receive fair offers for union contracts with their respective institutions. - The Metropolitan Museum of Art officially [breaks ground on its forthcoming Tang Wing](https://hyperallergic.com/met-museum-breaks-ground-on-new-modern-and-contemporary-wing/) for modern and contemporary art, designed by Frida Escobedo. - The Brooklyn Public Library officially [launches its first-ever lending program](https://hyperallergic.com/brooklyn-say-hello-to-your-first-craft-supply-library/) for craft supplies. - Artist Lucien Smith, an abstract painter whose work as a nonprofit founder and restaurateur channeled the community ethos of 1970s New York, [dies at the age of 37](https://hyperallergic.com/artist-lucien-smith-fixture-of-nycs-downtown-scene-dies-at-37/). - The School of Visual Arts [will be ending its graduate Photography, Video, and Related Media program](https://hyperallergic.com/school-of-visual-arts-ends-photography-mfa-program/) in light of the institution’s mounting deficit --- member event 🎟️ [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Kara-Springer_305_3-2.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/member-event-iscp-ground-floor-studio-visits/) ****Member Event: ISCP Ground Floor Studio Visits** ​Join **Hyperallergic* on September 30 for an evening of studio visits and conversations with the NYC-based artists selected for the International Studio & Curatorial Program’s Ground Floor Residency. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/member-event-iscp-ground-floor-studio-visits/) --- ## Feature [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/map.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/in-queens-immigrant-women-sew-a-truer-atlas/) [ In Queens, Immigrant Women Sew a Truer Atlas ](https://hyperallergic.com/in-queens-immigrant-women-sew-a-truer-atlas/) The largely undocumented Latin American women of New York’s “costureros,” or needlework circles, are creating a countermap to archive the stories of their lives. | Amalia Uribe Guardiola [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/in-queens-immigrant-women-sew-a-truer-atlas/) --- ## ICYMI [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/wafaa-2.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/artists-reflect-on-9-11-and-the-wounds-of-the-war-on-terror/) [ Artists Reflect on 9/11 and the Wounds of the “War on Terror” ](https://hyperallergic.com/artists-reflect-on-9-11-and-the-wounds-of-the-war-on-terror/) Shahzia Sikander, Wafaa Bilal, Rina Banerjee, and others share stories from the day of the attack and the vicious campaign of Islamophobia, racism, and surveillance in its wake. | Lakshmi Rivera Amin [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/artists-reflect-on-9-11-and-the-wounds-of-the-war-on-terror/) [ Brooklyn Museum Displays Work of Artist Killed in 9/11 on 25th Anniversary ](https://hyperallergic.com/brooklyn-museum-displays-work-of-artist-killed-in-9-11-on-25th-anniversary/) Michael Richards’s 1997 sculpture “Free F’All” commemorates the historic African American military pilots, the Tuskegee Airmen, and the discrimination they experienced during service. | Rhea Nayyar [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/brooklyn-museum-displays-work-of-artist-killed-in-9-11-on-25th-anniversary/) [ Standing in the Shadow of No Towers ](https://hyperallergic.com/standing-in-the-shadow-of-no-towers/) The struggle for immigrant rights and lives after 9/11 defined a generation of South Asian art and activism, even if it felt at times like we were trying to empty the ocean with a teaspoon. | Naeem Mohaiemen [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/standing-in-the-shadow-of-no-towers/) --- ## What's Happening - Join the Museum of the City of New York for an advance preview of two new chapters of *NEW YORK: A Documentary Film*, along with a panel discussion with the series' creators. (Tues Sept 15) \[[mcny.org](https://www.mcny.org/event/new-york-documentary-film?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Attend the opening reception for Hank Willis Thomas's exhibition at the Ford Foundation Live Gallery. (Wed Sept 16) \[[newyorklivearts.org](https://newyorklivearts.org/event/hank-willis-thomas-at-ford-foundation-live-gallery/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Celebrate the publication of OCTOBER Files: *Glenn Ligon* with a reception, book signing, and conversation. (Wed Sept 16) \[[artistsspace.org](https://artistsspace.org/programs/october-files-glenn-ligon?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Catch a screening of *Traces of Home*, followed by a Q&A with director Colette Ghunim. (Wed Sept 16) \[[angelikafilmcenter.com](https://angelikafilmcenter.com/nyc/movies/details/traces-of-home-early-access-qa?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - The 12th edition of Pictoplasma NYC presents 10+ lectures by influential artists and upcoming talents, graphic, toy and game designers, and leading animation filmmakers. (Thurs Sept 17) \[[svatheatre.com](https://svatheatre.com/events/12th-pictoplasma-nyc/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Join artist and educator Lindaluz Carrillo for an open bar and hands-on workshop exploring banana leaf weaving. (Thurs Sept 17) \[[madmuseum.org](https://madmuseum.org/events/design-happy-hour-banana-leaf-weaving-lindaluz-carrillo?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Art critic Jed Perl will speak at the Art Students League in celebration of his debut novel *We Never Called It Frisco* (Coffee House Press, 2026). (Thurs Sept 17) \[[artstudentsleague.org](https://www.artstudentsleague.org/events/a-conversation-with-jed-perl?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Attend the South Asian Womxn's Creative Collective (SAWCC) Short Film Night, which includes a Q&A with the directors. (Fri Sept 18) \[[SAWCC](https://luma.com/3oqw0yq7?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - The Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning (JCAL) is hosting the opening reception of its group show, *You Can Have That Chair, This One Is Taken*. (Fri Sept 18) \[[JCAL](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/you-can-have-that-chair-this-one-is-taken-opening-reception-tickets-1994239976453?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Enjoy a free screening of *Mārama*,as part of the National Museum of the American Indian's Pacific Island Film Festival. (Fri Sept 18) \[[americanindian.si.edu](https://americanindian.si.edu/events/?trumbaEmbed=eventid%3D206563045%26seotitle%3DNY-Pacific-Island-Film-Festival-Mrama%26view%3Devent%26-childview%3D%26returnUrl%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Famericanindian.si.edu%252Fcalendar&ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Watch the 15th annual Morningside Lights, a procession of handmade lanterns floating through Morningside Park to Columbia's campus. (Sat Sept 19) \[[millertheatre.com](https://www.millertheatre.com/events/15th-annual-morningside-lights?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - The Fallow Frames Biennial takes place this weekend, allowing visitors to enjoy site-specific artworks by 24 participating artists. (Sat Sept 19 – Sun Sept 20) \[[fallowframes.org](https://www.fallowframes.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Attend a special encore screening of Steal This Story, Please! along with a Q&A with journalist Amy Goodman and the film's directors. (Tues Sept 22) \[[ifccenter.com](https://www.ifccenter.com/films/steal-this-story-please/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Join Materials for the Arts for an opening reception of The Accidental Archive by their artist-in-residence, sTo Len. (Thurs Sept 24) \[[materialsforthearts.org](https://www.materialsforthearts.org/event/opening-reception-gallery-exhibition-by-sto-len/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] ### Met Museum Breaks Ground on New Modern and Contemporary Wing URL: https://hyperallergic.com/met-museum-breaks-ground-on-new-modern-and-contemporary-wing/ Last updated: 2026-09-15T21:51:07.000Z The Metropolitan Museum of Art officially broke ground today, September 15, on its forthcoming Tang Wing for modern and contemporary art, designed by Frida Escobedo. The Mexican architect joined Met Director Max Hollein and elected officials in a morning ceremony at the museum's European Sculpture Court. Escobedo, the first woman to design a wing at The Met, also clinched another “first” earlier this year, when she participated in the museum's inaugural public event held entirely in Spanish. At today's ceremony, she began her remarks with a nod to a Spanish expression for groundbreaking —*la primera piedra*, or “the first stone” — a phrase that made her think of the four piles of uncarved stone blocks atop the columns on The Met's Fifth Avenue facade. The curious pyramidal slabs are a [vestige](https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/the-metropolitan-museum-of-arts-facade-has-never-been-completed?ref=hyperallergic.com) of architect Richard Morris Hunt's 1894 expansion plan, which called for sculpted statues that never materialized. “It suggested the idea of becoming — that architecture, and perhaps institutions too, are never entirely finished,” Escobedo said in her address. “They continue changing, accumulating, and adding meaning.” Replacing the Lila Acheson Wallace Wing at the southwest corner of The Met's building complex, the 126,000-square-foot Tang Wing will expand the museum's 20th- and 21st-century art galleries by nearly 50%, adding 69,500 square feet of exhibition space while improving accessibility and reducing energy consumption. The new wing is slated to open in 2030\. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### 10 Art Shows to See in DC This Fall URL: https://hyperallergic.com/10-art-shows-to-see-in-dc-this-fall/ Last updated: 2026-09-15T20:58:49.000Z As we enter the season when many communities remember and honor their ancestors, DC’s art scene centers its own — both those long celebrated and those overlooked or excluded from the mainstream. The National Museum of Women in the Arts highlights Black women quilters creating across time and space, while the National Gallery of Art explores the history of Black American portrait photographers revolutionizing the field. Roberto Benavidez reimagines the art of *piñata*\-making at the Renwick Gallery, while Ahn Chang-Hong channels Korean historical memory into masks, paintings, and sculptures. The Phillips Collection investigates the friendship between three artists — Milton Avery, Adolph Gottlieb, and Mark Rothko — and the National Museum of Asian Art displays the handiwork of unknown artists whose objects crossed oceans and centuries to appear before us. As Trump disassembles Washington’s cultural landscape and reshapes it in his own image, artists in DC continue to resist. --- ### Ahn Chang-Hong: noon-mool [**American University Museum**](https://www.american.edu/cas/museum/upcoming.cfm?ref=hyperallergic.com), 4400 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC Through December 6 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Mask-Chang-Hong.jpg) Ahn Chang-Hong, "Mask" (2018) (photo courtesy the artist) Titled *noo-mool* (눈물), “tears” in Korean, Ahn Chang-Hong’s solo exhibition muses on memory and mortality through paintings, sculpture, and multimedia works that both disturb and comfort viewers. At its core is Ahn’s *Taxidermy* series, in which he buries photographs of taxidermied animals under layers of paint. Charting the artist’s five-decade career, *noon-mool* explores the fragility of human lives, bodies, and minds with a special focus on marginalized, exploited, and erased communities in Korean history. --- ### Routed West: Twentieth-Century African American Quilts in California [**National Museum of Women in the Arts**](https://nmwa.org/whats-on/exhibitions/upcoming/?ref=hyperallergic.com), 1250 New York Avenue NW, Washington, DC September 18–January 17, 2027 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/RWQ_Promo06_Neal_Promo.jpg) Alice Neal (Oakland), "Mary Bright Commemorative Quilt (with Dresden Plate, Monkey Wrench, Wild Goose Chase, Fan, Basket of Flowers, Start of Lemoyne, Nine Patch Blocks)" (1955–56) (photo Kevin Candland, courtesy Bequest of the Eli Leon Living Trust, BAMPFA) *Routed West* charts quiltmaking as a transgenerational, transregional project through nearly 80 quilted objects, examining how the artistic wisdom and skill of formerly enslaved Black women were carried north and west as part of the Second Great Migration. Throughout their journey, these women carried the quilts of their mothers, grandmothers, and aunties as forms of protection and remembrance while also creating new works rooted in their own experiences. *Routed West* blurs the line between craft and fine art — arguing against that distinction throughout — and centers fiber arts as not just a fringe American tradition but as an influential form for contemporary Black artists. --- ### Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: Look Alive [**Georgetown de la Cruz Gallery**](https://guartgalleries.org/exhibitions/46-rafael-lozano-hemmer-look-alive/?ref=hyperallergic.com), 3535 Prospect Street NW, Washington, DC September 18–April 11, 2027 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/_Pulse-Topology_--2021.--Shown-here_-San-Francisco--California--United-States--2023.-Photo-by_-Barak-Shrama.jpg) Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, "Pulse Topology" (2021) on view in San Francisco in 2023 (photo Barak Shrama, courtesy the artist) In Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s site-specific installation “Pulse Map,”the latest in his *Pulse* series, a maze of polycarbonate lightbulbs flicker in rhythm with the heartbeat of previous visitors. In the age of biometric tracking, Lozano-Hemmer invites attendees to anonymously record their heartbeat with suspended camera sensors. Their real biorhythms will then create the new soundtrack for future visitors, in essence using their own bodies to create the work with Lozano-Hemmer. *Look Alive* situates the piecein a series of Lozano-Hemmer’s other installations that adapt alongside visitors’ bodily and sensory experiences. --- ### From the Louvre: Masterpieces of Islamic Art [**National Museum of Asian Art**](https://www.si.edu/exhibitions/louvre-masterpieces-islamic-art:event-exhib-6892?ref=hyperallergic.com), 1050 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC September 26–January 18, 2027 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Portrait-of-Fath-Ali-Shah-Qajar.JPG) Attributed to Mihr Ali, "Portrait of Fath Ali Shah Qajar" (1800–1806), oil on canvas, Iran, probably Tehran, Qajar dynasty (© Musée du Louvre, Dist. GrandPalaisRmn / Hervé Lewandowski) A large brass basin with precious metal inlays made in 14th-century Syria or Egypt was originally meant for ritual hand washing — but in the court of France, it became a religious relic where King Louis XIII was baptized. It’s one of 26 works of art in this exhibition, co-organized by the Musée du Louvre and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art. Following works of art from predominantly Muslim regions from the 7th to 19th centuries, the show takes us on a journey from each object’s creation to trade, veneration, possession, and eventual display in museums around the world. *From the Louvre* is also an opportunity for visitors to consider the routes of what we now recognize as “masterpieces” that have traveled across the globe, often under unethical conditions of colonialism or extraction. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Staff at Whitney Museum, Brooklyn Museum, and American Folk Art Museum Authorize Strike URL: https://hyperallergic.com/staff-at-whitney-museum-brooklyn-museum-and-american-folk-art-museum-authorize-strike/ Last updated: 2026-09-15T20:38:44.000Z Unionized workers at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Brooklyn Museum, and the American Folk Art Museum (AFAM) have voted to authorize a strike action if they don't receive fair offers for union contracts with their respective institutions. “Staff should be able to afford to live in the city they work in,” said AFAM's Director of Information Technology, Richard Ho, who has worked at the museum for 25 years. “AFAM staff voted unanimously to unionize to address pressing concerns about workplace rights and wages that lag below inflation.” Strike dates have not been set, but the three union groups organized with United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 2110 also voted to set a strike deadline if necessary, making note that each museum has a major exhibition opening in early October. The strike vote follows that of the [Guggenheim Museum union](https://hyperallergic.com/guggenheim-museum-union-votes-to-authorize-strike/), which voted to authorize strike action this June after six months of stalled contract negotiations. Ratified in 2023, inaugural three-year union contracts at the Whitney and the Brooklyn Museum expired this summer. The Brooklyn Museum contract was ratified [the day before its union planned to strike](https://hyperallergic.com/averting-strike-brooklyn-museum-union-ratifies-first-contract/), averting the action entirely after stalled negotiations since 2021\. The AFAM union, which [officially banded in 2024](https://hyperallergic.com/american-folk-art-museum-workers-move-to-unionize/), has been in negotiation with the museum for an inaugural contract for the [last two years](https://hyperallergic.com/american-folk-art-museum-workers-picket-gala-calling-for-higher-wages/). _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Mildred Howard Enters History Through the Everyday URL: https://hyperallergic.com/mildred-howard-enters-history-through-the-everyday/ Last updated: 2026-09-15T20:24:38.000Z OAKLAND, Calif. — Mildred Howard works in a magical time signature. [*Poetics of Memory*](https://museumca.org/on-view/mildred-howard-poetics-of-memory/?ref=hyperallergic.com), the legendary Bay Area artist’s first museum survey, open through October 18 at the Oakland Museum of California, traces a path through more than 50 years of her career, from early copy-machine collages to multimedia assemblages and large-scale gallery installations. Howard has long punctuated the Bay Area landscape through public art commissions, including a giant golden frame installed in San Francisco’s shipyard and blue glass etched with poetry on the city’s Fillmore Street Bridge. Her work plays out in the major key of American history, while sounding the blue notes of everyday experience that make up a human life, creating space to engage the dissonance and harmonies between past and present. Entering the exhibition, visitors are greeted by large-scale bronze keys and a padlock, commemorating the Longshoremen's union leader [Harry Bridges](https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/articles/who-was-harry-bridges/?ref=hyperallergic.com), who Howard has said opened doors to workers’ rights previously closed. A version of the sculpture was publicly installed in San Francisco in 2001\. The understated piece sets the stage for the rest of the show, exemplifying Howard’s engagement with history through everyday objects, shifting scale, and lyrical interpretation. Howard achieves a dreamy quality in her work, creating a niche outside of time where viewers can look at the world from outside its usual cacophony, a gap in the noise, an eye in the storm. “Magnolia Blossoms for John” (1979), one of the earliest works in the show, is a photocopy collage that combines flowers and hands, reminiscent of a still from Maya Deren’s dreamy 1943[ short film](https://www.moma.org/collection/works/299942?ref=hyperallergic.com) “Meshes of the Afternoon.” In another, an untitled Xerox collage from 1979, a person’s face is shrouded by lace in surreal fashion, again prefiguring one of Howard’s career-long interests. Often, shrouds and veils appear in her work to communicate the layering of historical narratives by creating multiple temporal surfaces that coexist within a single frame. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/3-1.jpg) Mildred Howard, "Moving Stills" (2026) (photo Max Blue/**Hyperallergic*) The latest work in the show, “Moving Stills” (2026), is a large-scale installation featuring a triptych of film stills projected for 31 minutes, shot by Howard at 14, documenting her first trip to the South to meet her extended family. The film, [recently rediscovered](https://www.kqed.org/arts/13965899/mildred-howard-collaborating-with-the-muses-part-one?ref=hyperallergic.com) in one of her late mother’s handbags, is projected through layers of lace fabric, diffusing the already grainy and fragmented images into a dreamlike softness that evokes the feeling of a distant memory. The piece acts as a throughline in Howard's practice, linking an early film experiment to her recent exploration of personal narrative. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Why Would the Art World Deceive You? URL: https://hyperallergic.com/why-would-the-art-world-deceive-you/ Last updated: 2026-09-15T21:56:42.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/image-26.png) *“Why would I deceive you?”* The words uttered by disgraced Theranos founder and convicted fraudster Elizabeth Holmes have been ringing in our heads since Nathan Fielder teased his unsettling new [documentary](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGJSRFWALTI&ref=hyperallergic.com). But why is Holmes's dopey-eyed face of duplicity so eerily familiar? Could it be because it resembles the expressions of two-timing art dealers and suspicious museum board members who use their power and wealth to steamroll over artists and art workers? ... Hm, it must be a coincidence. Either way, we took the viral meme and gave it the ol' *Hyperallergic* spin. Just for funsies. --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/image-29.png) *We are absolutely heartbroken to announce that we are laying off everyone earning less than $200k a year.* --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/image-20.png) ... *But he may or may not be responsible for the world's glaciers melting.* --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/image-25.png) *We value our artistic and curatorial independence.* --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/image-27.png) *And that is why we will not be voluntarily recognizing the union.* --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/image-28.png) *Also, we need his art collection.* --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/image-30.png) *You have a freight elevator though, right?* --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/image-31.png) *You'll do great :)* --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/image-34.png) *And we are definitely its rightful owners.* --- *Thanks to Lakshmi Rivera Amin and Rebecca Schiffman for helping with this story.* ### Barbara Hammer Gets Her Due URL: https://hyperallergic.com/barbara-hammer-gets-her-due/ Last updated: 2026-09-15T16:00:01.000Z A Barbara Hammer biopic, the heart-wrenching journey of two American doctors in Gaza, and the unflinching activism of photographer Misan Harriman are some of this newsletter's highlights. Make sure you also check out our special coverage of the 15th edition of the BlackStar Film Festival in Philadelphia. And in a new movie, Olivia Wilde is a power-hungry artist with an unhealthy relationship to sex. The film is fiction, but could very well be a documentary. --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/AmericanDoctor_Still8_CourtesyOfWatermelonPictures..jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/american-doctor-is-an-indictment-of-us-leadership-and-media/) [ “American Doctor” Is an Indictment of US Leadership and Media ](https://hyperallergic.com/american-doctor-is-an-indictment-of-us-leadership-and-media/) The new documentary follows three humanitarian physicians as they grapple with the horrors of the US-funded genocide in Gaza. | Rhea Nayyar [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/american-doctor-is-an-indictment-of-us-leadership-and-media/) --- ## BlackStar Film Festival [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/black-star-.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/maori-karmael-holmes-looks-back-on-15-years-of-blackstar/) [ Maori Karmael Holmes Looks Back on 15 Years of BlackStar ](https://hyperallergic.com/maori-karmael-holmes-looks-back-on-15-years-of-blackstar/) The Philadelphia film festival’s founder reflects on its evolution into a hub for experimental, polyphonic storytelling amid a rapidly changing country and world. | Chenoa Baker [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/maori-karmael-holmes-looks-back-on-15-years-of-blackstar/) [ Six Films on Art and Resistance at BlackStar Film Festival ](https://hyperallergic.com/six-films-on-art-and-resistance-at-blackstar-film-festival/) The Philadelphia festival platformed films on Anishinaabe repatriation, the spirited life of art historian Dr. Leslie King Hammond, the Puerto Rican history of the Upper West Side, and more. | Lakshmi Rivera Amin and Elodie Saint-Louis [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/six-films-on-art-and-resistance-at-blackstar-film-festival/) --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/protest-photography.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-thorny-politics-of-protest-photography/) [ The Thorny Politics of Protest Photography ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-thorny-politics-of-protest-photography/) A new documentary follows the work of activist and photographer Misan Harriman, but risks overly aestheticizing the movements he captures. | Eileen G’Sell [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-thorny-politics-of-protest-photography/) [ A Portrait of an Artist as a Dominatrix ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-portrait-of-an-artist-as-a-dominatrix/) “I Want Your Sex” is a caricature of the art world more than an actually incisive critique, but it’s funner that way. | Lisa Yin Zhang [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-portrait-of-an-artist-as-a-dominatrix/) [ Barbara Hammer Through Her Own Lens ](https://hyperallergic.com/barbara-hammer-through-her-own-lens/) “Barbara Forever” is both a biography and a conversation the late filmmaker has with herself. | Dan Schindel [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/barbara-hammer-through-her-own-lens/) --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/remaining-native.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/running-is-resistance-in-remaining-native/) [ Running Is Resistance in “Remaining Native” ](https://hyperallergic.com/running-is-resistance-in-remaining-native/) The documentary follows a Paiute teenager as he navigates his passion for running and the story of his great-grandfather, who escaped from an Indigenous residential school. | Rhea Nayyar [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/running-is-resistance-in-remaining-native/) ### The Many Islands of “America” URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-many-islands-of-america/ Last updated: 2026-09-15T15:30:50.000Z WATERVILLE, Maine — At the entrance of the conceptually ambitious exhibition [*Imagining an Archipelago: Art from Cuba, Guam, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Their Diasporas*](https://museum.colby.edu/exhibitions/imagining-an-archipelago?ref=hyperallergic.com) at the Colby College Museum of Art are four works that embody many of its themes. A painting by Cuban-born Zilia Sánchez is composed of white marks that hover between fully abstract, figurative, and cosmological, traced on a gray-black ground, as if we are looking down at a body or up from a boat to the sky — either way, trying to find our bearings. Félix González-Torres’s “Untitled (USA Today)” (1990) lays out candies in wrappers of red, white, and blue for viewers to consume over time, incorporating the colors of the American flag (along with the patriotism it implies) into our very bodies. The letters of a 2023 concrete poem by the CHamoru scholar and poet Craig Santos Perez spell out “Archipelagoes resemble constellations,” spaced out like an archipelago or constellation — or both — on the wall. A series of photographs by Juana Valdés, “On the Malecón” (2000), documents a performance in Havana, done in the wake of a mass migration of Cubans to the United States to escape economic privation, in which she set afloat paper boats fashioned from the torn-out pages of a 19th-century novel exploring the country’s racial and social hierarchies. The sea, the stars, “America” as a thing to be consumed, the archipelago, waves of colonization, enslavement, migration, and diaspora that complicate any sense of identity: All of these ideas run through artworks by more than 40 contemporary artists and collectives. Though geographically disconnected, their islands of origin share a common history, playing key, if hardly willing, roles in the US’s transformation into a colonial power: All were brought under US control at the end of the War of 1898 (also known as the Spanish-American War), handed over by Spain as part of the Treaty of Paris. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/IMG_2442.jpg) Installation view of Félix González-Torres, “Untitled (USA Today)" (1990) and Craig Santos Perez, "ginen sounding lines" (2023) Despite the historical conceit at the heart of the show, its curator, Jessamine Batario, takes pains to ensure that these places, and the art that emerges from them, are not reduced to an unnuanced sameness. The exhibition, on the contrary, is an attempt at archipelagic thinking. Introduced by [Édouard Glissant](https://hyperallergic.com/edouard-glissants-museum-as-archipelago/) and expanded upon by many others since, archipelagic thinking asks us to consider the specific forms of relation and solidarity made possible by seeing the world from the perspective of archipelagoes, islands that retain their distinctiveness even while existing as a collective. The exhibition is divided into two floors, one organized by region, the other by theme. Among the artists in the section on the Philippines, migrant labor plays a major role — not surprising, as wealth sent back to the country by Overseas Filipino Workers (an official designation) accounts for nearly 9% of the country’s GDP. In “Export Quality (Value Studies: Uniforms)” (2023), Thea Canlas fashions work uniforms for a factory laborer and a maid out of delicate piña cloth, a material usually reserved for finery worn on special occasions. Jerome Reyes’s newly commissioned projection of text fragments — “Those who care for everyone/ The Anointed salvaged/ That save all except themselves/ Who tends to you” — coalesces into a poem that speaks to the role Filipino health care workers played, and the price they paid, during the COVID-19 crisis. “Where My Uncles Went,” a 1996 sculpture by Carlos Villa, draws upon the history of an earlier wave of migrant workers to the US in the 1920s and 30s. These so-called *manongs* (uncles) are represented here by a floating fedora mounted onto a wooden shadow box frame, surrounded by a spare geometric arrangement of lines suggesting a revolving door. This uncle is the Invisible Man, a subtle indictment of how those who benefit from labor fail to perceive it. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/IMG_2501.jpg) Maia Cruz Palileo, "The Old Table" (2014), and "Still Life with Banana Catsup" (2014) Two works that are themselves archipelagos — Teresita Fernández’s “Archipelago (Garland)”(2020), fashioned out of fragments of charcoal, and Sara Jimenez’s “the seas breathing us in and out” (2026),a ceramic and textile installation newly commissioned for the show — imagine the ocean as a means of connection. Fernández’s is an alternative geography, a “map” composed from the fused coastal contours of the islands of the Caribbean, while Jimenez’s, in its configuration of fragmented body parts, faces, flora, and fauna, alludes to the maritime route that connected the Philippines and Mexico. A video work by Beatriz Santiago Muñoz (“Ojos para mis enemigos,” 2014) follows a man who walks through a decommissioned, crumbling US Navy base in Puerto Rico; two panels of found photographs by Sherwin Rivera Tibayan offer a view into the world of Filipinos serving in the US Navy (“Untitled Collage Frame #1 and #2,” 2025); and a photo of a doctored Cracker Jack box by Miguel Luciano (“Cracker Juan,” 1998) turns an acerbic eye on the way the US military exploits Puerto Ricans: “Highest Combat Fatalities in US!” “Citizenship Prize Inside.” Together, these and other works offer up a complicated view of these islands and their people’s relation to US militarism. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/IMG_2506.jpg) Installation view of Edra Soto, "Happy Hour, La Hora Feliz" (2020) In a section on food, Maia Cruz Palileo’s gorgeous little paintings of domestic scenes (“Still Life with Banana Catsup” and “The Old Table,”both 2014) hang alongside Edra Soto’s deadpan video “Happy Hour, La Hora Feliz” (2020), a close-up view of the artist preparing party snacks from an array of American processed food — food that came to replace Puerto Rico’s island-grown crops, as the soundtrack explains. Elsewhere, Daniel Lind-Ramos’s “Vencedor: 1797” (2018–19), an assemblage of found objects that commemorates the Black Puerto Ricans who sided with Spain to fend off a British invasion, and Reynier Leyva Novo’s exacting resin casts of the guns, machetes, and a bullet used by the leaders of Cuba’s 19th-century wars of independence (“The Desire to Die for Others,” 2012), speak to fraught notions of sovereignty. Batario, during a walkthrough, said that she had intended for the show to be fully thematic, but a number of the artists demurred, pointing out that viewers probably couldn’t identify the places in question on a map, let alone have an idea of their cultures and histories. The comment has stuck with me, not least because I had to consult an atlas to confirm where every place stood in relation to the others, but also because it underlines just how necessary this show is now, as we contend with a new phase of American expansionist ambitions. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/IMG_2467.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/IMG_2468.jpg) Installation view and detail of Thea Canlas, "Export Quality (Value Studies: Uniforms)" (2023) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/IMG_2484.jpg) Installation view of **Imagining an Archipelago: Art from Cuba, Guam, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Their Diasporas* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/IMG_2465.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/IMG_2490.jpg) Left: Installation view of **Imagining an Archipelago: Art from Cuba, Guam, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Their Diasporas* with Jerome Reyes, "Pharos (Covenants)" (2026) projected; right: Daniel Lind-Ramos, "Vencedor: 1797" (2018–19) [Imagining an Archipelago: Art from Cuba, Guam, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Their Diasporas](https://museum.colby.edu/exhibitions/imagining-an-archipelago?ref=hyperallergic.com) *continues at the Colby College Museum of Art (5600 Mayflower Hill Drive, Waterville) through June 6, 2027\. The exhibition was curated by Jessamine Batario.* ### This October, Experience Refract: The Seattle Glass Experience URL: https://hyperallergic.com/this-october-experience-refract-the-seattle-glass-experience/ Last updated: 2026-09-15T15:18:04.000Z [Seattle’s glass art festival](https://bit.ly/4wF6Azf?ref=hyperallergic.com) is back in 2026, and this year is all about celebrating the people, places, and creative milestones that make our glass community shine. Now in its eighth year, the festival arrives during huge milestones for the region: Seattle Glassblowing Studio turns 35, Pratt Fine Arts Center celebrates 50 years of shaping artists, and Chihuly Studio marks a meaningful return to Venice after three decades. These anniversaries aren’t just numbers; they’re a reminder of how deeply glass is woven into Seattle’s identity. To honor these major moments, the 2026 festival is themed **“**A Year of Celebration,” with programming to match. Expect art parties, live demos that bring visitors right into the heat of the furnace, special exhibits that spotlight both legacy and innovation, and open studios to explore the spaces where creativity starts. It’s hands-on, immersive, and designed to evoke connection to the artists behind the work. The 2026 festival is shaping up to be one of the most vibrant yet. This is the year to show up, share the moment, and be part of Seattle’s glass story. Learn more at [RefractSeattle.org](https://bit.ly/4wF6Azf?ref=hyperallergic.com). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/2-2.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/4-1.png) ### Applications Open: IDSVA Low-Residency PhD Program for Artists and Creative Thinkers URL: https://hyperallergic.com/applications-open-idsva-low-residency-phd-program-for-artists-and-creative-thinkers/ Last updated: 2026-09-15T20:37:36.000Z The Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts (IDSVA) offers a research-based, low-residency [PhD in Visual Arts: Philosophy, Aesthetics, and Art Theory](https://bit.ly/4j6fmCc?ref=hyperallergic.com) designed for artists, curators, writers, and creative thinkers. Through close mentorship with distinguished faculty and a globally engaged curriculum, students explore, question, and challenge how we understand art, culture, and human experience. Earn your PhD with three years of coursework (60 credits) followed by a dissertation. As a nomadic institution without a traditional campus, IDSVA brings together a global community of artists, scholars, and creative practitioners through a pioneering educational model that combines interactive online seminars withimmersive residencies in locations around the world, such as Rome, Spannocchia Castle in Tuscany, Siena, Venice, Berlin, Marrakech, Mexico City, and New York City.This innovative approach enables you to pursue rigorous doctoral study while continuing your career, creative practice, and personal commitments. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/2.jpg) IDSVA students at Spannocchia Castle. (Photo by Christopher Andrew) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/1.jpg) IDSVA students at the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin in front of Yoko Ono’s **Wish Tree For Berlin*. (Photo by Jessie Keating) > “What drew me to this program was the fact that it felt really nimble and I would not have to disrupt my career path. I could do it simultaneously while studying.” —*Terrence Phearse, Driskell Fellow, Cohort ’21* > “It has truly felt so natural coming in; the staff, the assistants, and the administration have been so welcoming. It really made me feel like I belong here. I am really glad that I was given this opportunity.” *—Natania Lyson, BA enrollee, Cohort ’26* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/3-2.png) IDSVA students in Rome with visiting faculty, Shara Wasserman (center, front). (Photo by Stephanie Inabinett) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/5-2.png) IDSVA students at Spannocchia with visiting faculty, Jordana Moore Saggese, Director of the David C. Driskell Center. (Photo by Molly Davis) Qualified holders of a BA or BFA are invited to apply. Students entering the program with an MA in art, philosophy, or related disciplines or an MFA may be eligible to transfer up to 5 credits toward the PhD, determined on a case-by-case basis. International Applicants: IDSVA is based in the United States. Students outside of the US are encouraged to apply and complete their doctoral studies from their home country. IDSVA can issue F-1 visas to international students for a one-week residency in the US, but these visas do not grant full-time residence in the US. [**Applications for Summer and Fall 2027 are now open**](https://bit.ly/4hdYN4Z?ref=hyperallergic.com)**.** Interested applicants can [schedule a conversation with the Director of Admissions, Dr. Amy Schuessler](https://bit.ly/4yC6A3g?ref=hyperallergic.com). To learn more visit [IDSVA.edu](https://bit.ly/4j6fmCc?ref=hyperallergic.com) or contact [info@idsva.edu](mailto:info@idsva.edu). ### Alfredo Jaar’s America URL: https://hyperallergic.com/alfredo-jaars-america/ Last updated: 2026-09-15T10:00:35.000Z In April 1987, a message flashed across the screens of Times Square: “This Is Not America.” Chilean artist Alfredo Jaar’s *A Logo for America* has one very clear message at its center: “America” consists of many countries, not just the United States. Almost 40 years later, on the occasion of the work’s return to New York, Editor-in-Chief Hakim Bishara sits down with the artist to talk about “America” and a US that is radically transformed and yet, Jaar says, essentially the same. He’s a pessimist of the intellect — hard not to be, right? — but certainly a warrior at heart. To Jaar’s point, it’s not 1987 anymore, but we’ve got yet another strongman leader waging yet another culture war here in the US. Trump’s latest target: abstract sculpture? He wants to erect a 30-foot-tall statue of George Washington in place of José de Rivera’s rotating stainless steel Möbius strip outside the National Museum of American History in Washington, which, in his words, “tells visitors nothing about America, inspires no one, and honors none of our Great American Heroes.” Tell me you don’t understand art without telling me you don’t understand art, Mr. President. Much more in today’s issue, including James McNeill Whistler’s mellifluous paintings at Tate Britain, a Keith Haring mural that might make Philadelphia’s Register of Historic Places, and protests over a sponsor of the Bayeux Tapestry’s financing of a community center in an illegal Israeli settlement in the Occupied West Bank. — *Lisa Yin Zhang, associate editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Ajaar1-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/alfredo-jaar-is-still-trying-to-change-the-world/) [ Alfredo Jaar Is Still Trying to Change the World ](https://hyperallergic.com/alfredo-jaar-is-still-trying-to-change-the-world/) In April of 1987, when Reaganism was running amok and Henry Kissinger was fiddling with world affairs like a puppet master from hell, a relatively unknown 31-year-old Chilean artist named Alfredo Jaar staged his billboard installation *A Logo for America* smack dab in the heart of Times Square. It instantly became one of the most discussed works of political art in the contemporary canon. Appearing between ads for tomato sauce and a Mexican restaurant, the 42-second LED animation bewildered New Yorkers with the message “This Is Not America” superimposed on a map of the United States, followed by an image of the US flag with the text, “This Is Not America’s Flag.” Next, the “R” in America shifted into a dancing map of South, Central, and North America. The message to US citizens and their leaders was simple but provocative: Stop hijacking the name “America” while you’re just one of many countries in it. Almost 40 years later, the basic fact that America is a continent, not a country, still has to be explained to US citizens who see themselves as the only Americans out there. | Hakim Bishara [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/alfredo-jaar-is-still-trying-to-change-the-world/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/David-Hockney-Resized-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/six-decades-of-david-hockney-on-view-in-gloucester-ma/) ****Six Decades of David Hockney on View in Gloucester, MA** “Hockney Reproduction(s)” explores the artist’s innovation through reproductive media at the Manship Artists Residency. Opens September 11, 2026 [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/six-decades-of-david-hockney-on-view-in-gloucester-ma/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/GettyImages-2294528533-1-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/activists-protest-bayeux-tapestry-sponsors-ties-to-israeli-settlements/) - Pro-Palestine activists [protest Igor Tulchinsky’s financial backing of the new Bayeux Tapestry](https://hyperallergic.com/activists-protest-bayeux-tapestry-sponsors-ties-to-israeli-settlements/) exhibit at the British Museum, following reports that Tulchinsky financed a community center in an illegal Israeli settlement in the Occupied West Bank. - An [inflatable cavatappi-shaped artwork](https://hyperallergic.com/a-twisted-sculpture-lands-on-manhattans-high-line/) inspired by fashion house Bulgari’s serpent motif appears on the High Line and will remain on view through New York Fashion Week. - Donald Trump wants to [replace José de Rivera’s “Infinity” (1967)](https://hyperallergic.com/another-abstract-public-artwork-faces-trumps-senseless-ire/) outside the National Museum of American History with a statue of George Washington. - Trump-appointed leaders of the Kennedy Center say [the institution is on the brink of bankruptcy](https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/2026/09/13/kennedy-center-could-close-early-tuesday-warns-bankruptcy-documents-show/?ref=hyperallergic.com) and could close imminently if the president’s name is not added to its facade. \[*Washington Post*\] - Israel's culture minister has [asked to revoke the citizenship of filmmakers](https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/israel-security/2026-09-14/ty-article/.premium/treason-israeli-minister-formally-asks-to-revoke-naza-directors-citizenship/000001a0-9f10-d1cd-a1b2-dff2b4530000?ref=hyperallergic.com) Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, directors of *NAZA*, an award-winning documentary about Israel's genocide in Gaza. \[*Haaretz*\] --- Member Event 🎟️ [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Kara-Springer.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/member-event-iscp-ground-floor-studio-visits/) ****Member Event: ISCP Ground Floor Studio Visits** ​Join **Hyperallergic* on September 30 for an evening of studio visits and conversations with the NYC-based artists selected for the International Studio & Curatorial Program’s Ground Floor Residency. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/member-event-iscp-ground-floor-studio-visits/) --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/5.-James-McNeill-Whistler-Arrangement-in-Grey-and-Black-No.1-1871-Muse--e-d---Orsay--Paris--France-1-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/james-mcneill-whistlers-music-for-the-eyes/) [ James McNeill Whistler’s Music for the Eyes ](https://hyperallergic.com/james-mcneill-whistlers-music-for-the-eyes/) A long-awaited Whistler retrospective at Tate Britain makes the case that every brushstroke, color, and omission serves the pursuit of harmony. | Olivia McEwan [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/james-mcneill-whistlers-music-for-the-eyes/) [ Madelon Vriesendorp’s Subconscious Cities ](https://hyperallergic.com/madelon-vriesendorps-subconscious-cities/) An exhibition explores the creativity and imagination of an artist whose way of seeing influences architects and artists. | Natalie Weis [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/madelon-vriesendorps-subconscious-cities/) SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Renwick-Gallery-Talk-058-2.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/apply-for-a-2027-2028-fellowship-at-the-smithsonian-american-art-museum/) ****Apply for a 2027–2028 Fellowship at the Smithsonian American Art Museum** Fellowships at SAAM and its Renwick Gallery provide scholars with access to collections, community, and professional advancement. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/apply-for-a-2027-2028-fellowship-at-the-smithsonian-american-art-museum/) --- ## Features [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/IMG_4893-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/keith-haring-mural-may-decide-the-fate-of-public-art-in-philly/) [ Keith Haring Mural May Decide the Fate of Public Art in Philly ](https://hyperallergic.com/keith-haring-mural-may-decide-the-fate-of-public-art-in-philly/) “We The Youth” (1987), painted on a wall co-owned by a real-estate developer in Point Breeze, could become the city’s first outdoor mural on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places. | Isabella Segalovich [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/keith-haring-mural-may-decide-the-fate-of-public-art-in-philly/) [ Europe’s Art Theft Problem Is Much Bigger Than the Louvre ](https://hyperallergic.com/europes-art-theft-problem-is-much-bigger-than-the-louvre/) A wave of museum thefts is exposing the vulnerabilities of institutions struggling to protect irreplaceable collections after years of underfunding. | Emiline Smith [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/europes-art-theft-problem-is-much-bigger-than-the-louvre/) SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/ThreeChairs-RacePOint-18x33-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/mitchell-johnson-twenty-one-years-in-truro-selected-paintings-1988-2026/) ****Mitchell Johnson: “Twenty-One Years in Truro (Selected Paintings 1988–2026)”** The artist’s sixth solo exhibition at Castle Hill will open to the public on September 8, 2026. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/mitchell-johnson-twenty-one-years-in-truro-selected-paintings-1988-2026/) --- ## ICYMI [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/opening-image-compelation--1--1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/what-i-got-wrong-about-krasner-and-pollock/) [ What I Got Wrong About Krasner and Pollock ](https://hyperallergic.com/what-i-got-wrong-about-krasner-and-pollock/) I had assumed that loving an artist meant disappearing a little, and I had assumed that Lee Krasner had been forced to shrink, too. | Lia Strasser [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/what-i-got-wrong-about-krasner-and-pollock/) ### Alfredo Jaar Is Still Trying to Change the World URL: https://hyperallergic.com/alfredo-jaar-is-still-trying-to-change-the-world/ Last updated: 2026-09-16T17:07:02.000Z In April of 1987, when Reaganism was running amok and Henry Kissinger was fiddling with world affairs like a puppet master from hell, a relatively unknown 31-year-old Chilean artist named Alfredo Jaar staged his billboard installation *A Logo for America* smack dab in the heart of Times Square. It instantly becameone of the most discussed works of political art in the contemporary canon. Appearing between ads for tomato sauce and a Mexican restaurant, the 42-second LED animation bewildered New Yorkers with the message “This Is Not America” superimposed on a map of the United States, followed by an image of the US flag with the text, “This Is Not America’s Flag.” Next, the “R” in America shifted into a dancing map of South, Central, and North America. The message to US citizens and their leaders was simple but provocative: Stop hijacking the name “America” while you’re just one of many countries in it. Almost 40 years later, the basic fact that America is a continent, not a country, still has to be explained to US citizens who see themselves as the only Americans out there. And yet, Jaar’s installation became a success, traveling around the world and making a brief reappearance in Times Square for a single minute at midnight in 2014\. During Donald Trump’s first presidential termin 2018, the artwork was played on large video screens installed on a barge off Miami Beach as a response to the president's racist statements about immigrants. Now, as the United States marks its 250th anniversary and Trump weaponizes the name "America" in his feuds with various countries — the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Ontario have been renamed Gulf of America and Lake America, and more might be coming — Jaar’s installation takes on yet another meaning as it returns for a thirdrun in New York. [*A Logo for America, 1987*](https://galerielelong.com/exhibitions/277-alfredo-jaar-a-logo-for-america/?ref=hyperallergic.com)at Galerie Lelong in Manhattan is a tribute to Jaar's historical installation and its enduring relevance. It features related work by other artists, including Joaquín Torres-García's "[Inverted America](https://hyperallergic.com/the-artwork-that-inverted-my-mental-map-america-invertida/)" (1943), which Jaar cites as a major inspiration for his own piece. At the center of the gallery space is a large video screen that transports visitors back to theTimes Square of 40 years ago, providing New Yorkers a shot of nostalgia. I met Jaar amid the installation of the new show last week for a conversation about America, the US, and his multi-decade art career. I encountered an artist who still cares, still loses sleep over injustice and abuse of power. And though he doesn’t think that artists can change the world, he strongly believes that “we can show it can be different.” --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/IMG_4807.JPG) A video of the original **A Logo for America* (1987) at Galerie Lelong in Manhattan (photo Hakim Bishara/**Hyperallergic*) **Hyperallergic:** *It was actually Chilean friends who educated me years ago about paying more attention to the distinction between America and the United States, maybe thanks to your work. Did that discourse exist back in 1987?* **Alfredo Jaar:** I moved here in ’82, exiling myself from Pinochet's Chile. It caught my attention that people here were saying, "God bless America” and “Welcome to America." It was part of the daily language, but they were always referring to the United States, not to America, the continent. I was shocked about that, so I started telling people, "You mean the United States?" "No," they would say, "America, America." So I discovered an incredible ignorance, a brutal ignorance about language and geography. **H:** *How did the Times Square piece come to be?* **AJ:** By a miracle. I was a completely unknown artist back then. In ’86, they invited me to do a piece in Times Square, and I thought, "This is my chance to do a public project about this." I did it purely on semiotic terms. I was not thinking about the larger political issues; I was just trying to change the language: This is not America. America is a continent. But then, the work picked up and had a life of its own and I completely lost control over it. For example, when the work was shown again in Times Square in 2014, the *Guardian* did a two-page piece about it, calling it an “anti-Trump sign,” completely missing the original intention behind the work. **H:** *The simplicity of the work allows it to take on different meanings, making it so enduring. And then there’s the use of the language of advertising, whose whole point is brainwashing the masses.* **AJ:** Absolutely. I'm an architect who makes art. I never studied art. So for me, it was very natural to start making work in the street. I started doing public projects in Chile during the dictatorship where I asked people on the street, "[¿Es usted feliz? (Are you happy?)](https://www.museoreinasofia.es/en/collections/artwork/es-usted-feliz-are-you-happy?ref=hyperallergic.com)” I wanted to create a model of democracy within a moment where there was censorship, where people could not give their opinion. And I did other public projects of that kind. So for me it was very natural to intervene in a public space. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/AJ-GLNY2026-5-SMALL.jpg) The new show includes Jaar's original sketches for the 1987 billboard installation. (photo Jon Cancro, courtesy Galerie Lelong) **H:** *How did New Yorkers react to the work in 1987?* **AJ:** *National Public Radio* (*NPR*) asked passersby in Times Square how they felt about the work. The most spectacular reaction was someone telling the reporter, "This is illegal." **H:** *You might get the same response today.* **AJ:** True. **H:** *Well, some 40 years later, do you feel a change in the discourse around the subject of America versus the US?* _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Another Abstract Public Artwork Faces Trump’s Senseless Ire URL: https://hyperallergic.com/another-abstract-public-artwork-faces-trumps-senseless-ire/ Last updated: 2026-09-14T20:53:57.000Z In a [Truth Social post](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/117255720319253709?ref=hyperallergic.com) criticizing the Smithsonian Institution's “ideological activism” on Friday, September 11, President Donald Trump called on the National Museum of American History (NMAH) to erect a 30-foot-tall statue of George Washington and develop a five-year exhibition on “America’s Greatest Hero.” In Trump's eyes, the colossal statue would ideally replace José de Rivera's kinetic sculpture “[Infinity](https://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?&profile=all&source=~!siartinventories&uri=full=3100001~!377926~!0)” (1967), the United States government's first abstract art commission, which has stood outside the NMAH entrance facing the National Mall for almost 60 years. Deriding the late American abstractionist's stainless steel Möbius strip, which rotates on its axis every eight minutes, Trump called it a “strange modernist sculpture” that “tells visitors nothing about America, inspires no one, and honors none of our Great American Heroes.” The president led with a call for the Smithsonian to display an [existing 11-foot-tall statue of Washington](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/117255718355537976?ref=hyperallergic.com) outside the NMAH's Flag Hall for a dedicated Constitution Day celebration this Thursday, September 17\. The gesture of replacing the work with an enormous statue, he said, would be underpinned by an urgently produced exhibition about Washington's life and work in anticipation of his 300th birthday, which is coming up ... in 2032\. Trump claimed that the NMAH had “failed to give George Washington and our other Founding Fathers the celebration they deserve” in its America 250 programming under the Smithsonian's “recently ended” leadership, referencing Secretary [Lonnie Bunch III's retirement announcement](https://hyperallergic.com/smithsonian-secretary-lonnie-bunch-steps-down-amid-trumps-attacks/). He also needled NMAH's now-defunct [Center for Restorative History](https://americanhistory.si.edu/about/centers/restorative-history?ref=hyperallergic.com) and its [Decolonization Working Group](https://americanhistory.si.edu/about/centers/restorative-history/projects?ref=hyperallergic.com) for “focus\[ing\] attention overwhelmingly on those who have been oppressed.” _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Member Event: ISCP Ground Floor Studio Visits URL: https://hyperallergic.com/member-event-iscp-ground-floor-studio-visits/ Last updated: 2026-09-16T21:16:41.000Z For over three decades, the [International Studio & Curatorial Program](https://iscp-nyc.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com) (ISCP) has been a New York City hub for creativity and support for artists and curators from around the world. Over 2,000 artists and curators from more than 105 countries, including the United States, have undertaken residencies at ISCP. On September 30, join Hyperallergic members, contributors, and staff for this exclusive studio event with ISCP's NYC-based Ground Floor residents. Meet with the seven participating artists in their studios as they discuss their practice and work. ISCP Ground Floor residents include [Frank WANG Yefeng](https://iscp-nyc.org/resident/frank-wang-yefang?ref=hyperallergic.com), [Zoë Pulley](https://iscp-nyc.org/resident/zoe-pulley?ref=hyperallergic.com), [Keli Safia Maksud](https://iscp-nyc.org/resident/keli-safia-maksud?ref=hyperallergic.com), [Maya Jeffereis](https://iscp-nyc.org/resident/maya-jeffereis?ref=hyperallergic.com), [Alicia Grullón](https://iscp-nyc.org/resident/alicia-grullon?ref=hyperallergic.com), [Erick Hernandez](https://iscp-nyc.org/resident/erick-hernandez?ref=hyperallergic.com), ​and [Kara Springer](https://iscp-nyc.org/resident/kara-springer?ref=hyperallergic.com). This event is for Hyperallergic paid members. Refreshments will be served. ****Already a member?** [Sign in](#/portal/signin) and revisit this page to access the registration link. ****Not a member yet?** [Join now to attend](#/portal/plans). ****An exclusive look inside the ISCP Ground Floor Studios** 1040 Metropolitan Avenue, Brooklyn, New York, 11211 Wednesday, September 30, 6 - 8pm (ET) [Become a Member to Attend ](#/portal/signup) --- ### 2026-27 ISCP Ground Floor Residency Artists [Frank WANG Yefeng](https://iscp-nyc.org/resident/frank-wang-yefang?ref=hyperallergic.com) is a transdisciplinary artist who lives and works in New York City and Shanghai. WANG’s practice spans a wide range of media and explores the experience of "in-betweenness" that arises from a nomadic, transnational existence. ​[Zoë Pulley](https://iscp-nyc.org/resident/zoe-pulley?ref=hyperallergic.com) is a Brooklyn-based artist, educator, and designer working across textiles, writing, and digital media to examine American heritage and the everyday stories of Black folks. ​[Keli Safia Maksud](https://iscp-nyc.org/resident/keli-safia-maksud?ref=hyperallergic.com) is an interdisciplinary artist and writer based in New York. Maksud’s practice traces the intersections of space, power, and memory, through installation, sound, and sculpture. ​[Maya Jeffereis](https://iscp-nyc.org/resident/maya-jeffereis?ref=hyperallergic.com) is an artist and filmmaker whose work in video, performance, and installation seeks to expand upon overlooked histories and fill archival gaps with counter narratives, personal histories, and speculative fictions. ​[Alicia Grullón](https://iscp-nyc.org/resident/alicia-grullon?ref=hyperallergic.com) is a US-born Dominican conceptual artist, whose work critiques the politics of presence in political, environmental, and social spheres through image-making, performance, and social practice. ​[Erick Hernandez’s](https://iscp-nyc.org/resident/erick-hernandez?ref=hyperallergic.com) work is rooted in highly temporal settings like the death of a loved one, the length of a subway commute, or the confines of a waiting room. His mural-sized figurative paintings explore individual and collective histories, arriving at meaning through association. ​[Kara Springer](https://iscp-nyc.org/resident/kara-springer?ref=hyperallergic.com) is particularly concerned with armature—the underlying structure that holds the flesh of a body in place. She works with photography, sculpture, and site-specific interventions to explore systems of infrastructure and structural support. ### James McNeill Whistler’s Music for the Eyes URL: https://hyperallergic.com/james-mcneill-whistlers-music-for-the-eyes/ Last updated: 2026-09-14T19:53:48.000Z LONDON **—** James McNeill Whistler is at once ubiquitous and obscure. Born in 1834 in Massachusetts, he spent some of his childhood in St. Petersburg, Russia before moving to Paris and then London to study art. While he recalls the motifs and methods of European heavyweights such as [Courbet](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/gustave-courbet/), [Renoir](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/pierre-auguste-renoir/), [Singer-Sargent](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/john-singer-sargent/), and [Constable](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/john-constable/),Whistler’s work diverges in its technical progression. Whistler prioritized aesthetic effect over iconographic content, confining each piece to a limited chromatic palette in search of the sublime and forgoing faithful representational accuracy. Like music composed primarily for aural pleasure, his work avoids sharp or jarring notes in color, tone, or composition for aesthetic pleasure. In fact, Whistler often used musical titles like harmonies, symphonies, or arrangements to emphasize this; his most famous work, the 1871 portrait of his mother, is called “Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1." [*James McNeill Whistler*](https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/whistler?ref=hyperallergic.com) at the Tate Britain is the first major solo exhibition of his work in the last 30 years, and this exhibition has been five years in the making. Part of Whistler’s relativeobscurity in the United Kingdom stems from stipulations in major bequests that prevent loaning his work, most significantly from the collections at the Smithsonian Institution and the Hunterian at the University of Glasgow. Many may be familiar with Whistler’s work through reproductions, but this exhibition matters precisely because the ‘harmonious’ limited palette and subtle paint application are lost in photographic reproduction. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/The-Thames-at-Battersea--ca1876-8-1.jpg) James McNeill Whistler, "The Thames at Battersea" (c. 1876–78) (photo Olivia McEwan/**Hyperallergic*) A fantastically singular technique distinguishes Whistler from contemporaries and other stylistic schools. Curators Carol Jacobi, Isobel Muir, and James Finch emphasize Whistler’s individuality through a laser-focused visual analysis of his paintstrokes, and by opening the show with a pseudo-reproduction of his studio, complete with theaterwindows. The curators take it a step further by presenting his brushes and palette to describe the physical process of making the strokes. A caption, for example, explains how in a nearby portrait of Effie Deans (or“Arrangement in Yellow and Gray,” 1876–68) he “created the folds of her skirt with a stiff, flat-ended brush … \[pressing\] harder against the canvas to deepen the shadow at the hem.” There is plenty more of this glorious catnip for anyone remotely interested in painterly technique. Interestingly, a technique peculiar to Whistler is using a loaded brush with excess paint spilling at its edges to create a thicker framing ridge on either side of the stroke. It is an ingeniously economical application simultaneously of both outline and fill, and once you spot it, it’s everywhere. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/13.-James-McNeill-Whistler--Nocturne.-c.1870-7.-The-White-House----2026-White-House-Historical-Association.jpg) James McNeill Whistler, "Nocturne" (c. 1870–77) (image courtesy The White House © 2026 White House Historical Association) There is a sense of immense discipline in Whistler’s arc from traditional models to aesthetic tonality, such that he himself eventually disappears. A strict economy characterizes his efforts, from an early watercolor of “The Thames at Battersea” (c.1876–68) delineated fantastically by only about five light blobs, through to a distinct precision and restriction in what he actually applies and even takes away. Comparing this to the show-boating of Singer-Sargent’s loose, cutting-corners virtuosic brushwork, or the trowel-applied thickness of Manet hacking away in his painterly constructions, not a single brushstroke is in excess, with Whistler even wiping away to leave a mere trace of pigment. A quote pasted on the wall captures his idea exactly: “Paint should not be applied thick. It should be like breath on the surface of a plane of glass.” It fittingly appears in the section on his 1870s series, *Nocturnes*, which is perhaps the pinnacle of atmospheric mood: Only the odd tiny red or white catchlight punctuates these saturated, minimalistic nighttime river scenes. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Keith Haring Mural May Decide the Fate of Public Art in Philly URL: https://hyperallergic.com/keith-haring-mural-may-decide-the-fate-of-public-art-in-philly/ Last updated: 2026-09-14T23:34:28.000Z PHILADELPHIA — The fate of a Keith Haring mural in Philadelphia may be sealed this week in a decision that could also set a precedent for how to protect public art in the City of Brotherly Love. At the height of his career in the 1980s, Keith Haring [joined up](https://whyy.org/articles/philadelphia-keith-haring-mural-historic-register/?ref=hyperallergic.com) with 14 high school students to paint a mural in a quiet pocket of South Philadelphia. The artist intentionally passed over better-trafficked areas of the city, instead [selecting](https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-30-year-old-keith-haring-mural-meant?ref=hyperallergic.com) a wall on a residential building in the historically Black neighborhood of Point Breeze. A year after painting his legendary “[Crack is Wack](https://hyperallergic.com/keith-harings-iconic-east-harlem-mural-crack-is-wack-is-back/)” mural in New York City, and three years before he died from AIDS-related complications, Haring drew bold, black outlines of his signature dancing figures that students filled in with bright colors and patterns. Today, after being restored [twice](https://whyy.org/articles/30pcharing/?ref=hyperallergic.com) over its 39-year lifespan, “We The Youth” (1987) is the only one of his collaborative murals that remains in its original location. At a [public meeting](https://www.phila.gov/the-latest/all-events/?category=Philadelphia%20Historical%20Commission&ref=hyperallergic.com) scheduled for this Wednesday, September 16, the Philadelphia Historical Commission will entertain public comments as they [discuss](https://www.phila.gov/media/20260909094321/CHD-Sept-2026-FAQ.pdf?ref=hyperallergic.com) whether to recommend that “We The Youth” be added to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places. The decision will be voted on by the entire commission on October 9\. If approved, it would be the first time an outdoor mural in the “[Mural Capital of the World](https://billypenn.com/2024/11/24/jane-golden-mural-arts-40th-anniversary/?ref=hyperallergic.com)” would receive the commission's protection. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/data-src-image-71d5357a-7a54-4e4c-a26c-ea314c2284b4.jpeg) Polaroid photo of “We The Youth” being painted in 1987 (image courtesy the Keith Haring Foundation Archives) The wall the mural is painted on is co-owned by the [Neighborhood Gardens Trust](https://www.ngtrust.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com) (NGT), an organization that preserves Philadelphia community gardens, and OCF Realty, a [controversial](https://www.phillymag.com/news/2013/05/23/philadelphia-ori-feibushs-world-live/?all=1&ref=hyperallergic.com) real estate company often [held](https://whyy.org/articles/point-breeze-residents-plan-march-against-gentrification-of-their-neighborhood/?ref=hyperallergic.com) [responsible](https://whyy.org/articles/surprising-truth-behind-racial-dynamics-gentrification-philly/?ref=hyperallergic.com) for the rapid [gentrification](https://www.phillymag.com/property/2018/02/27/two-philly-zip-codes-in-top-10-most-gentrified/?ref=hyperallergic.com) of the Point Breeze neighborhood. Almost every key stakeholder has publicly supported the mural’s designation, including the Keith Haring Foundation, which told *Hyperallergic* in a statement that the move would be “preserving it as a unique cultural icon and providing the necessary legal protections against its loss.” _This post is for subscribers only._ ### A Twisted Sculpture Lands on Manhattan's High Line URL: https://hyperallergic.com/a-twisted-sculpture-lands-on-manhattans-high-line/ Last updated: 2026-09-14T21:07:31.000Z A pre-*pasta*\-rous sculpture has wormed its way to Manhattan’s High Line, wedged between the park’s flora like one of Carrie Bradshaw’s ringlets from *Sex and the City*. Created by Berlin-based duo Plastique Fantastique (Marco Canevacci and Yena Young), "auroBOROS—Urban Memory and Collective Dream" will remain above Little West 12th Street in the Meatpacking District through September 20, running concurrently with New York Fashion Week. The robust noodle is an abstract take on fashion house Bulgari’s enduring serpent motif, which has inspired [decades](https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/the-history-of-bulgari-serpenti-collection?ref=hyperallergic.com)’ worth of jewelry that would set the average New Yorker back a decade’s rent. Although the installation appears to be cast in gold at first glance, a hissing sound grows louder upon closer inspection. “AuroBOROS” is a synthetic inflatable, reminiscent of a foil birthday balloon, and the noise comes from two jumbo air pumps that keep the sculpture in the taut likeness of King Midas’s large intestine. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Madelon Vriesendorp’s Subconscious Cities URL: https://hyperallergic.com/madelon-vriesendorps-subconscious-cities/ Last updated: 2026-09-14T18:34:39.000Z LONDON — The British architect Sir John Soane and the Dutch artist Madelon Vriesendorp were born nearly two centuries apart, but despite differences in history, culture, technology, nationality, and gender, they share an undeniable kinship — a deep engagement with architecture, an affinity for collecting, and a penchant for mischief. The current exhibition at Sir John Soane’s Museum, [*Madelon Vriesendorp: Mind Games*](https://www.soane.org/exhibitions/madelon-vriesendorp-mind-games?ref=hyperallergic.com), brings together more than 50 works from across the artist’s career, celebrating shared connections while offering a quietly playful rebuke to its host’s neoclassical sensibility. A significant portion of the exhibition centers around Vriesendorp’s best-known work, “Flagrant Délit” (1975), a delightfully surreal anthropomorphism of two iconic Manhattan skyscrapers caught in a post-coital moment by a spotlight atop the [RCA Building](https://www.rockefellercenter.com/history/?ref=hyperallergic.com). A few years later, Vriesendorp’s then-husband**,** architect Rem Koolhaas, chose the painting as the cover image for his [*Delirious New York*](http://bookshop.org/a/539/9781885254009?ref=hyperallergic.com) (1978) — which he called, in the subtitle, a “retroactive manifesto” — helping secure its place in the iconography of the contemporary urban imagination. In fact, “Flagrant Délit” belongs to a larger series of paintings exploring the psychological and sexual aspects of contemporary architecture, several of which are on view, along with a 2026 cover commissioned by the *New York Review of Architecture*, testifying to the work’s ongoing influence. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/IMG_2-1-1.jpeg) Madelon Vriesendorp, “Flagrant Délit” (1975) Drawings of Soane’s own projects, along with architectural drawings by his teacher George Dance, are on display in adjacent rooms. When Soane was awarded a travel stipend as an architectural student at the Royal Academy in 1778, it was still custom for upper-class British men to embark on a Grand Tour of Europe. Soane was no exception, and the many drawings, paintings, sculptures, and antiquities he brought back from two years of travel through Italy formed the beginnings of his house-and-office-turned-museum. Vriesendorp and Koolhaas moved to New York in 1972, first to Ithaca and then to New York City, where the artist “[discovered bad taste in a big way](https://www.madelonvriesendorp.com/%5Ffiles/ugd/6971ea%5Fe1ecc7d8ee61406a9affebc01a87eb0d.pdf?ref=hyperallergic.com)” and began to collect objects seriously. Compared with Soane’s collection, Vriesendorp's is decidedly more diverse and proletarian, shaped by the dizzying compilation of styles she encountered in the United States, encompassing small toys, figurines, models, postcards, and sundry quotidian objects. *Mind Games* includes a handful of postcards with an architectural focus; however, her full collection, which numbers in the thousands, includes such unexpected categories as [Luna Parks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna%5FPark?ref=hyperallergic.com), lighthouses, bus terminals, penitentiaries, airplanes, disasters, and babies — or, as she saw it, simply “Americana.” Soane’s neoclassical reverence is replaced with a postmodern embrace of the banal, the camp, and the kitsch; the Enlightenment regard for knowledge is traded for a critical examination of the dominant culture. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Activists Protest Bayeux Tapestry Sponsor’s Ties to Israeli Settlements URL: https://hyperallergic.com/activists-protest-bayeux-tapestry-sponsors-ties-to-israeli-settlements/ Last updated: 2026-09-14T17:39:28.000Z Following reports that hedge-fund billionaire Igor Tulchinsky financed a community center in an illegal Israeli settlement in the Occupied West Bank, pro-Palestine activists took to the British Museum this Saturday, September 12, to protest Tulchinsky's financial backing of the new [Bayeux Tapestry exhibit](https://hyperallergic.com/bayeux-tapestry-to-return-to-uk-after-nearly-1000-years/). Activists from [Energy Embargo for Palestine](https://www.energyembargoforpalestine.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com), who also denounced the British Museum's [ongoing partnership](https://hyperallergic.com/british-museum-announces-63m-partnership-with-oil-giant-bp/) with the oil giant BP, unfurled their own “People's Tapestry” in the museum's Great Court. “We will continue to push for a Museum that is led by the interests of its workers and the general public,” the climate emergency group wrote in an [Instagram post](https://www.instagram.com/p/DdO7PCPiG6K/?img%5Findex=1&ref=hyperallergic.com) about the weekend action, specifying its call for an “end to collaboration and sponsorships by billionaires fueling climate breakdown and invested in 'Israel’s' settler-colonial occupation.” The demonstration comes in light of last week's[*Middle East Eye*](https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/igor-tulchinsky-sponsor-british-museum-bayeux-tapestry-exhibition-funded-community-centre-west-bank-settlement?ref=hyperallergic.com) report on Tulchinsky's “therapy yurt” for Israeli residents of Efrat — the de facto capital of a settlement bloc just south of Jerusalem within the Occupied West Bank called Gush Etzion. Tulchinsky's ties to the settlement may violate the [United Kingdom's recently adopted sanctions](https://apnews.com/article/uk-west-bank-israel-settlement-sanctions-b4d7354221bfe0c48e4bfce7a3b7624b?ref=hyperallergic.com) and import ban on illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/GettyImages-2294528682.jpg) Protesters hold their "People's Tapestry" during a protest denouncing Igor Tulchinsky's support of the Bayeux Tapestry display and calling on the British Museum to end its partnership with BP. (photo Andrea Domeniconi/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) The yurt, which hosts group therapy and movement programs for Israeli militants and civilians experiencing PTSD from “October 7, the ongoing war, and repeated reservist call-ups,” is part of a larger community center in Efrat that provides individual and family therapy for residents across Gush Etzion. As reported by the [*Jerusalem News Syndicate*](https://www.jns.org/feature/gush-etzion-yurt-helps-to-heal-residents-coping-with-trauma?ref=hyperallergic.com)*,* Tulchinsky was present for the yurt's unveilinglast November and dedicated it to “Israel's heroes,” referring to the new tent as “Israel's inner Iron Dome.” Following the *Middle East Eye*'s report, British politician and [Green Party leader Zack Polanski](https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/zack-polanski-urges-investigation-israeli-settlement-linked-sponsor-bayeux-tapestry-exhibition?ref=hyperallergic.com) has called on the UK government to investigate whether Tulchinsky's sponsorship with the British Museum violates the new sanctions. Earlier this month,British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband [outlined](https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/foreign-secretary-oral-statement-on-israel-palestine?ref=hyperallergic.com) that the government will take action against “specific companies and individuals who provide services such as construction, infrastructure, financing, or real estate for settlement expansion.” _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Europe’s Art Theft Problem Is Much Bigger Than the Louvre URL: https://hyperallergic.com/europes-art-theft-problem-is-much-bigger-than-the-louvre/ Last updated: 2026-09-14T16:26:39.000Z This week, two thieves broke into the Renoir Museum in southern France and seized two paintings in [under five minutes](https://hyperallergic.com/renoir-artworks-worth-millions-stolen-in-five-minute-heist-in-france/). Earlier this year, three [paintings](https://hyperallergic.com/thieves-steal-paintings-worth-10m-by-cezanne-matisse-and-renoir/) by Renoir, Cézanne, and Matisse and four [priceless Renaissance works](https://hyperallergic.com/priceless-renaissance-paintings-stolen-from-italian-museum/) were stolen from two museums in Italy. The thefts are only the most recent in a series of museum robberies across Europe over the past year, following the [brazen daytime jewelry heist](https://hyperallergic.com/louvre-museum-closed-after-dramatic-daylight-heist/) at the Louvre in Paris. In a new report last month, Europol [warned](https://www.europol.europa.eu/cms/sites/default/files/documents/Changing-targets-changing-tactics-museum-heists-report.pdf?ref=hyperallergic.com) that museum robberies were becoming “almost a weekly occurrence,” with offenders increasingly employing violent and [forceful](https://hyperallergic.com/thieves-blast-open-dutch-museum-entrance-and-steal-gold-pieces/) methods. But a succession of spectacular thefts can create the impression of an escalating trend without necessarily proving one, and Europol’s report does not provide the data needed to establish a long-term increase. According to Donna Yates, UNESCO Chair in Cultural Heritage and Emerging Crime at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, there has been little systematic research comparing the frequency, targets, methods, and perpetrators of these crimes. There has also been [speculation](https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/renoir-theft-louvre-copycats-9.7336447?ref=hyperallergic.com) that the Louvre heist inspired a chain of [copycat](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cmdx0grlp92gt?post=asset%3A6561fa40-0a32-4f90-8ea8-029c79098f57&ref=hyperallergic.com#post) robberies, or that some of the thefts were commissioned or motivated by insurance payouts. There is little evidence yet to establish either explanation. But what the most recent thefts highlight is that extraordinary collections of cultural (and financial) value are not confined to Europe's largest institutions. Municipal and regional museums, like many of those targeted in the last year, hold objects of immense cultural and scientific significance while operating with far fewer resources than national institutions like the Louvre. “Most museums are increasingly underfunded and the fantasy security measures people propose to protect these objects in museums are laughable to anyone who knows museum budgets,” Yates told *Hyperallergic*. These institutions could remove their most desirable objects from public display and [lock them away](https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/louvres-apollo-gallery-reopens-with-no-jewelry-display-after-heist-2026-07-22/?ref=hyperallergic.com) permanently. But that would mean sacrificing the public purpose of museums to protect the collections entrusted to them. The recent thefts demonstrate the limits of security measures when confronted with fast, targeted, and sometimes violent attacks. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/GettyImages-2293645159-1.jpg) The entrance to the Renoir Museum in France after an early-morning break-in that saw the theft of two paintings on September 8, 2026 (photo Valery Hache/AFP via Getty Images) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Six Decades of David Hockney on View in Gloucester, MA URL: https://hyperallergic.com/six-decades-of-david-hockney-on-view-in-gloucester-ma/ Last updated: 2026-09-14T14:45:51.000Z The Manship Artists Residency is proud to present [*Hockney Reproduction(s)*](https://bit.ly/4cxsEDV?ref=hyperallergic.com), an exhibition examining one of the most influential artists of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, David Hockney (1937-2026). The exhibition explores Hockney’s six-decade fascination with reproducing, reimagining, transmitting, and sharing his work through emerging technologies. With prints, books, multi-page faxes, photographs, and over 90 posters, the show reveals how reproduction served as a central force that shaped the artist’s practice. “I’ve always been interested in printing as a medium and also as a medium through which my work can be known — can reach a public. So, I’ve taken an interest in any technology to do with image-making: printing, cameras, reproduction itself. Lots of artists aren’t interested…but I am interested.”—David Hockney *Hockney Reproduction(s)* brings together works from the collection of Bing McGilvray, other private collectors, and generous contributions from the David Hockney Foundation (UK), Salts Mill, Yorkshire, UK; and other friends. The exhibition reveals Hockney’s playful and persistent engagement with technologies ranging from photocopiers and fax machines to computers, iPhones, iPads, and multi-screen videos. While Hockney is celebrated internationally for his paintings and drawings, this exhibition argues that reproduction was a through-line in his artistic life. He embraced new technologies not as replacements for traditional media but as opportunities to see differently, communicate in new ways, and reach a growing audience. The exhibition was conceived and implemented by 2025 Manship Resident Artist Bing McGilvray, an artist, curator, writer, and Hockney’s friend of more than forty-five years. “David was endlessly curious,” says McGilvray. “Whenever a new technology appeared, he wasn’t interested in whether it was fashionable, he wanted to know what it could do visually. He saw uses for new technology that the inventors could not have imagined.” *Hockney Reproduction(s)* will be open to the public on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays (1PM – 5PM), from September 11 to October 18\. Tickets for timed entry to the exhibition are available on the [Manship Artists Residency website](https://bit.ly/4cxsEDV?ref=hyperallergic.com). *This exhibition has been generously supported by The David Hockney Foundation (UK). The Foundation is proud to have assisted the Manship Artists Residency in presenting this exhibition to the public free of charge.* ### Good Muslim Artist, Bad Muslim Artist URL: https://hyperallergic.com/good-muslim-artist-bad-muslim-artist/ Last updated: 2026-09-14T14:04:49.000Z After Mahmood Mamdani published *Good Muslim, Bad Muslim* in 2004, artist Naeem Mohaiemen immediately recognized himself after 9/11 in its pages. “We naively thought if we were polite in the face of Islamophobia, it would wilt,” he recalls. Both a vital record and a call to action, his opinion today reflects on the haunting time period after the attacks, the South Asian community activism that rose up in response, and the 25 years since. Now a professor at Columbia University, Mohaiemen writes, “Thankfully, Mamdani’s son, Zohran, had other ideas.” More to kick off your week in art below, from the end of the School of Visual Arts’s beloved Photography MFA program and our review of a Pope.L exhibition in Manhattan to our news team’s guides to the upcoming season of -ennials (tri- and bi- alike) and Brooklyn’s first craft supply library — as ever, librarians are holding it down. *—Lakshmi Rivera Amin, associate editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/shadow.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/standing-in-the-shadow-of-no-towers/) [ Standing in the Shadow of No Towers ](https://hyperallergic.com/standing-in-the-shadow-of-no-towers/) By August, the Tribeca nightclub Vinyl had gone into a Peter Gatien-era meltdown. Time magazine ran a dramatic cover story the year prior (“What Ecstasy Does to Your Brain”) and the dancefloor had posters warning about plainclothes sting ops. There was still talcum powder on the floor for dancing, but euphoric substances had vanished. In all my Sundays of dancing at Vinyl, I had never thought of how close it was to the Twin Towers — until that Tuesday in September when, by nightfall, the pavement outside was stacked with plastic bags of socks, t-shirts, and sweatpants we had collected for tower survivors who were expected to be pulled out “any moment now.” We waited until midnight, and by then it was clear — no one got out alive. | Naeem Mohaiemen [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/standing-in-the-shadow-of-no-towers/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Alexandre-Hyperallergic-Sept-2026-Email-2.jpg)](https://www.alexandregallery.com/exhibitions/lisa-sanditz?ref=hyperallergic.com#tab:thumbnails) ****Lisa Sanditz: Missing Mountain on view September 18 – November 7** An exhibition of new paintings and works on paper. Opening reception September 18th from 5:30 to 7:30pm. Conversation with the artist September 24th from 4:00 to 5:00pm. Catalogue with essay by Barry Schwabsky. [Learn more ](https://www.alexandregallery.com/exhibitions/lisa-sanditz?ref=hyperallergic.com#tab:thumbnails) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/sva.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/school-of-visual-arts-ends-photography-mfa-program/) - The School of Visual Arts [will be ending its graduate Photography, Video, and Related Media program](https://hyperallergic.com/school-of-visual-arts-ends-photography-mfa-program/) in light of the institution’s mounting deficit. - The UK AIDS Memorial Quilt [comes home to Scotland](https://hyperallergic.com/uk-aids-memorial-quilt-to-come-home-to-scotland/) just two weeks after the quilt’s founder, Ally Van Tillo, died on August 30. - The Brooklyn Public Library [officially launches its first-ever lending program](https://hyperallergic.com/brooklyn-say-hello-to-your-first-craft-supply-library/) for craft supplies. - The French culture minister said two small tears were found on the Bayeux Tapestry after its recent transfer to the British Museum in London. \[[*Le Monde*](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2026/09/04/french-minister-reports-two-broken-threads-no-major-damage-on-bayeux-tapestry%5F6757173%5F4.html?srsltid=AfmBOopUOOFsT1PDqjvxVJDO-5bHQEyjIOsbMFWLRA2jJ4fyYGTL84sq&ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Crowds gathered at the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson, Wyoming, for the unveiling of a statue honoring Grizzly 399 the bear and her four cubs. \[[*Buckrail*](https://buckrail.com/snapped-grizzly-399-monument-unveiled-to-hundreds-at-nmwa/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/pope-l.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/pope-l-invites-us-to-think-through-the-american-dream/) [ Pope.L Invites Us to Think Through the American Dream ](https://hyperallergic.com/pope-l-invites-us-to-think-through-the-american-dream/) A collection of his works on paper at the Drawing Center typifies his frantic and sometimes opaque renderings of thought. | Channelle Chevelle Russell [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/pope-l-invites-us-to-think-through-the-american-dream/) [ Joel-Peter Witkin’s God-Loving, Gender-Bending Art ](https://hyperallergic.com/joel-peter-witkins-god-loving-gender-bending-art/) His elaborate tableaux vivants blend elements of mythology, the Bible, and art history to express compassion for the marginalized. | David S. Rubin [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/joel-peter-witkins-god-loving-gender-bending-art/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Crossways-akajie-96-SIZED.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/university-of-michigans-fully-funded-mfa-program-combines-studio-art-and-research/) ****University of Michigan’s Fully Funded MFA Program Combines Studio Art and Research** Top-ranked, tuition-free MFA program at University of Michigan’s Stamps School of Art & Design supports interdisciplinary, research-based practices. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/university-of-michigans-fully-funded-mfa-program-combines-studio-art-and-research/) --- ## Community [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/oswaldo.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-354/) [ A View From the Easel: Oswaldo García ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-354/) “Sometimes it’s infinite folding and binding, and I just spend the day or weekend doing that.” [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-354/) --- ## Guide [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/art-ennials.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/15-fall-art-ennials-from-st-louis-to-dakar/) [ 15 Fall Art -Ennials, From St. Louis to Dakar ](https://hyperallergic.com/15-fall-art-ennials-from-st-louis-to-dakar/) A photography show dedicated to NYC in the nighttime, an Indigenous-led arts festival honoring the Mississippi River, the first-ever Bienal de Yucatán, and more biennials and triennials to visit across the world. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/15-fall-art-ennials-from-st-louis-to-dakar/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/ucr.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/ucr-arts-presents-dispatches-the-photography-of-douglas-mcculloh-1990-2025/) ****UCR ARTS Presents Dispatches: The Photography of Douglas McCulloh, 1990–2025** The first full survey of the Southern California photographer’s four-decade career is opening this fall at UCR ARTS in downtown Riverside. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/ucr-arts-presents-dispatches-the-photography-of-douglas-mcculloh-1990-2025/) --- ## Hyper Links - In the wake of Lonnie Bunch's resignation from the Smithsonian and amid Trump's attacks on the institution, culinary historian Michael W. Twitty [reflects on being "a Smithsonian kid"](https://www.instagram.com/p/DdCyojLGs6d/?img%5Findex=2&stkn=MXRscnI3OWpsajhkeg%3D%3D&ref=hyperallergic.com) and how the museums on the Mall shaped his life and career. - Some readers are [responding](https://www.instagram.com/p/DdFQvRumtiN/?stkn=MXJmMTRpdTk0OWp1aQ%3D%3D&img%5Findex=6&ref=hyperallergic.com) [critically](https://www.instagram.com/p/DdEqeLIESGo/?ref=hyperallergic.com) to a *NYMag* article titled "The Wasian Generation" and calling for greater representation of South Asian and Blasian people. - So [that's who Elizabeth Holmes reminds us of](https://www.instagram.com/p/DdDfkc9hPzh/?stkn=MXR1MjQ4amZvZGY2bw%3D%3D&ref=hyperallergic.com) in that unhinged clip from Nathan Fielder's new documentary ... --- ## Member Comment It is good to see painting that is new. The second two paintings are especially wonderful. Great meditative all over painting at its best. Thanks for this David. I feel it important to mention, since there are many much needed spiritual awakenings happening on this planet now, that there are as many ways of spiritual awaking as there are people or ways of doing art. To put limitations on this process now is not a good idea. This is one of the things I find off putting about ET. Awakenings are infinite in variety because they are connected to the infinite. I also like the openness and humility of the last two paragraphs. —Virginia Bryant on "[What a Painter Taught Me](https://hyperallergic.com/francesco-polenghi-death-in-milan/)" --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/galician-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/a-mother-daughter-inheritance-illustrated-in-thread-and-ink-bea-lema/) [ A Mother-Daughter Inheritance Illustrated in Thread and Ink ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-mother-daughter-inheritance-illustrated-in-thread-and-ink-bea-lema/) Galician artist Bea Lema navigates themes of generational trauma and healing, tenderly illustrating the story of a daughter who desperately wants to protect her mother. | Lauren Moya Ford [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-mother-daughter-inheritance-illustrated-in-thread-and-ink-bea-lema/) featured opportunity ****Foundwork – 2026 Foundwork Artist Prize** The honoree will receive a $10,000 grant and studio visits with jurors Stefan Benchoam, François Ghebaly, Manuela Moscoso, Gabi Ngcobo, Esther Schipper. Three shortlisted artists will receive $1,000 grants. Deadline: September 25, 2026 | [foundwork.art](https://bit.ly/4wlSna9?ref=hyperallergic.com) ### The Battle of New York URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-battle-of-new-york/ Last updated: 2026-09-12T10:00:24.000Z **September 7, noon**: It’s Labor Day but some labor has to be done. I see a young man at a cafe wearing a hat embroidered with the words “Contemporary Art Market.” If only he knew, I mutter, and bury my head back into my laptop. **September 8, morning**: I meet Chilean artist Alfredo Jaar in Chelsea. We talk about the rise of authoritarianism, the decline of democracy, and other depressing things. In the evening, this gloominess turns cathartic as he delivers a moving lecture at the CUNY Graduate Center in Manhattan. They serve a buffet but I don’t touch any of it. On my way out, I stop in front of an exhibit in the hallway to educate myself about the Battle of New York in 1776\. Outside, the Empire State Building is lit in red, blue, and gold. Turns out it’s to mark the 60th anniversary of *Star Trek*. Zohran T-shirts are still going strong in tourist souvenir shops. On Park Avenue, I pass by the ugliest public art I’ve ever seen. But I’ve never loved a city as much as I love New York. **September 9, evening:** We throw a pizza-and-wine party for *Hyperallergic* contributors at our Brooklyn office. I meet the loveliest people. Some days, everyone just seems beautiful to me. **September 10, afternoon**: We publish our first Pocket Review. These are fast, opinionated reviews of up to 300 words to read on the go. In the evening, I hop between several openings in Chelsea, including Johanna Unzueta’s sublime drawings at Casey Kaplan and a posthumous show of Yvonne Jacquette’s stunning aerial paintings at Karma. At the latter, I meet painter Katherine Bradford, who is looking for her lost purse. **September 11, morning**: A single-shot espresso at 7am. A double at 8:30am, and a large drip to sip on for the rest of the day. Kaveh Akbar’s *Martyr* plays in my headphones.Between two trees, One World Trade Center appears on the horizon. *—Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/wafaa-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/artists-reflect-on-9-11-and-the-wounds-of-the-war-on-terror/) [ Artists Reflect on 9/11 and the Wounds of the “War on Terror” ](https://hyperallergic.com/artists-reflect-on-9-11-and-the-wounds-of-the-war-on-terror/) Every year on September 11, New Yorkers pay tribute to the victims of the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center — and to the wounds of the weeks and years after. That period was defined by grief, rebuilding efforts, and, almost immediately, a vicious campaign of Islamophobia and surveillance whose effects reshaped the world as they knew it. Iraqi-born artist Wafaa Bilal recalls, “I sensed at once that the comfort and security Americans had long taken for granted were gone.” Bilal is one of several artists from Muslim, South Asian, and Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) communities whose lives were indelibly altered by the United States’s weaponization of the 9/11 attacks to pass the PATRIOT Act and justify the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. Twenty-five years into “never forget,” Hyperallergic asked artists, curators, and culture workers to share personal and artistic reflections on how that day shaped their lives. These are their stories. | Lakshmi Rivera Amin [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/artists-reflect-on-9-11-and-the-wounds-of-the-war-on-terror/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/ADS_26_FY27_Hyperallegic_SOA_Apps_-Open_02-2.jpg)](https://arts.columbia.edu/?utm%5Fsource=Hyperallergic&utm%5Fmedium=Email&utm%5Fcampaign=FY27&utm%5Fcontent=Apps+Open+SOA-all) ****Columbia University School of the Arts MFA + MA** Applications open October 1 for MFA programs in Visual Arts + Sound Art, Film, Theatre, and Writing and for the MA in Film and Media Studies. Start your application today and join us for an info session on November 15. Create what comes next with Columbia’s world-renowned faculty in NYC. [Learn more ](https://arts.columbia.edu/?utm%5Fsource=Hyperallergic&utm%5Fmedium=Email&utm%5Fcampaign=FY27&utm%5Fcontent=Apps+Open+SOA-all) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/blue.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-ousted-kennedy-center-chairman-buys-removed-shapiro-sculpture/) - David Rubenstein, the former board chairman of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, [purchases Joel Shapiro’s “Blue”](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-ousted-kennedy-center-chairman-buys-removed-shapiro-sculpture/) (2019) just days after the National Park Service deinstalled the iconic sculpture from the center’s grounds. - Excavation efforts are set to begin within the next two weeks for [President Donald Trump’s controversial “Great Triumphal Arch.](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-to-break-ground-on-triumphal-arch-before-federal-approval/)” - [Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch will step down from his post](https://hyperallergic.com/smithsonian-secretary-lonnie-bunch-steps-down-amid-trumps-attacks/) by the end of the year, amid ongoing attacks on the institution by President Donald Trump and his administration. - A pair of thieves [steal two paintings](https://hyperallergic.com/renoir-artworks-worth-millions-stolen-in-five-minute-heist-in-france/)[ worth millions](https://hyperallergic.com/renoir-artworks-worth-millions-stolen-in-five-minute-heist-in-france/) from the Renoir Museum in southern France during an early-morning break-in on September 8\. - Workers [carry out a massive strike](https://hyperallergic.com/striking-workers-shutter-three-v-a-london-locations/) at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, citing “Amazon-style” labor conditions at its V&A East Storehouse. - A new study finds that [trust in museums is rising across partisan lines](https://hyperallergic.com/trust-in-us-museums-grows-across-party-lines-survey-finds/). - In acknowledgment of the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, the Brooklyn Museum [installs “Free F’All” (1997)](https://hyperallergic.com/brooklyn-museum-displays-work-of-artist-killed-in-9-11-on-25th-anniversary/) by Caribbean-American artist Michael Richard in the lobby for public display. - *Hyperallergic* contributor [Damien Davis receives the 2026 Rabkin Prize](https://hyperallergic.com/hyperallergic-writers-among-2026-rabkin-prize-recipients/), alongside seven other arts writers. - [Tschabalala Self’s “Lady in Blue”](https://hyperallergic.com/tschabalala-selfs-splendid-lady-in-blue-graces-londons-fourth-plinth/) is unveiled as the latest sculpture for the Fourth Plinth on Trafalgar Square in London. - [Art Movements](https://hyperallergic.com/kathleen-v-jameson-named-speed-museum-director/): Kathleen V. Jameson is the Speed Museum’s new director, the New Museum gets new board members, The Met acquires Alison Rossiter works, a David Hockney show breaks records, and more. --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/sophie-lewis.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/for-sophie-lewis-femininity-is-not-the-enemy-of-feminism/) [ For Sophie Lewis, Femininity Is Not the Enemy of Feminism ](https://hyperallergic.com/for-sophie-lewis-femininity-is-not-the-enemy-of-feminism/) In *Femmephilia*, the author reclaims femininity, sexual pleasure, and adornment from patriarchal narratives in art and theorizes their liberatory powers. | Eileen G’Sell [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/for-sophie-lewis-femininity-is-not-the-enemy-of-feminism/) [ A Portrait of an Artist as a Dominatrix ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-portrait-of-an-artist-as-a-dominatrix/) “I Want Your Sex” is a caricature of the art world more than an actually incisive critique, but it’s funner that way. | Lisa Yin Zhang [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-portrait-of-an-artist-as-a-dominatrix/) --- ## Opinion [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/bunch-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/lonnie-bunchs-resignation-is-a-wake-up-call/) [ Lonnie Bunch’s Resignation Is a Wake-Up Call ](https://hyperallergic.com/lonnie-bunchs-resignation-is-a-wake-up-call/) Trump was a necessary blunt instrument for the coordinated fascist assault on the United States, but a hammer no longer matters once a picture has been hung on the wall. | Ed Simon [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/lonnie-bunchs-resignation-is-a-wake-up-call/) [ The Pine Trees That Would Not Leave Me ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-pine-trees-that-would-not-leave-me/) While visiting the Lebanese mountain town Dhour El Choueir, I couldn’t shake off a painting and a poem I had translated two decades earlier. | Khatchig Mouradian [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-pine-trees-that-would-not-leave-me/) --- ## Features [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/testicle-art.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/a-brief-history-of-testicle-art/) [ A Brief History of Testicle Art ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-brief-history-of-testicle-art/) Kacey Musgraves’s viral disco balls moment points to a lineage of artists whose use of the genital form is camp-as-critique. | Phillip Pyle [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-brief-history-of-testicle-art/) [ LA’s Lucas Museum Displays “Narrative Art” for the Few, Not the People ](https://hyperallergic.com/las-lucas-museum-displays-narrative-art-for-the-few-not-the-people/) Friction, dissonance, and multiplicity are overall avoided in favor of superficial unity and a flattening of difference at George Lucas and Mellody Hobson’s new institution. | Matt Stromberg [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/las-lucas-museum-displays-narrative-art-for-the-few-not-the-people/) [ In Queens, Immigrant Women Sew a Truer Atlas ](https://hyperallergic.com/in-queens-immigrant-women-sew-a-truer-atlas/) The largely undocumented Latin American women of New York’s *costureros*, or needlework circles, are creating a countermap to archive the stories of their lives. | Amalia Uribe Guardiola [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/in-queens-immigrant-women-sew-a-truer-atlas/) [ The Artist Residency That Never Was ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-artist-residency-that-never-was/) Abstract Mag invited dozens of artists to participate in a summer residency in Georgia. Then its social media pages went dark. | Rana Alsoufi [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-artist-residency-that-never-was/) [ Preserving Ernie Barnes’s Legacy in Paint Tubes ](https://hyperallergic.com/preserving-ernie-barness-legacy-in-paint-tubes/) The late artist and athlete who rendered joyous scenes of Black life, dance, and motion is the subject of renewed institutional attention as his daughter, Erin Barnes, works to conserve his studio practice. | Aaron Short [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/preserving-ernie-barness-legacy-in-paint-tubes/) --- ## Guides [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/fall-exhibitions-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/15-museum-exhibitions-to-see-across-the-us-this-fall/) [ 15 Museum Exhibitions to See Across the US This Fall ](https://hyperallergic.com/15-museum-exhibitions-to-see-across-the-us-this-fall/) Tony Cokes’s riffs on the video essay, a Grandma Moses retrospective, and Abbas Akhavan’s US museum debut are among the shows to look forward to this season. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/15-museum-exhibitions-to-see-across-the-us-this-fall/) [ 15 Art Books for Your Fall Reading List ](https://hyperallergic.com/15-art-books-for-your-fall-reading-list/) Guadalupe Rosales’s memoir, Christine Sun Kim’s artist book, Fady Joudah’s ode to the people of Gaza, and Elizabeth Alexander’s essay collection are among our most anticipated titles. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/15-art-books-for-your-fall-reading-list/) --- ## Community [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/lucien.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/artist-lucien-smith-fixture-of-nycs-downtown-scene-dies-at-37/) [ Artist Lucien Smith, Fixture of NYC’s Downtown Scene, Dies at 37 ](https://hyperallergic.com/artist-lucien-smith-fixture-of-nycs-downtown-scene-dies-at-37/) Following early market success and what he called “the pitfalls of gaining notoriety so early,” Smith shifted his focus to community-centered projects. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/artist-lucien-smith-fixture-of-nycs-downtown-scene-dies-at-37/) [ A View From the Easel: Rujuta Rao ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-146/) “My studio is presently portable, modular, and itinerant.” [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-146/) [ Remembering Jean-François Leroy, Lucien Smith, and Jibby Beane ](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-jean-francois-leroy-lucien-smith-and-jibby-beane/) This week, we honor the founder of an influential photojournalism festival, a fixture of NYC’s downtown art scene, and a fashionista and gallerist. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-jean-francois-leroy-lucien-smith-and-jibby-beane/) --- ## Upcoming Events - **Virtual Panel —** [***Craft Archive Fellowship Program: Archives in Action***](https://hyperallergic.com/excavating-craft-histories-through-archives/) Online | Wednesday, September 23; 5 to 6:30 p.m. The 2025 Craft Archive Fellows will present their research on underrepresented craft histories in an online event hosted by the Center for Craft and moderated by Hyperallergic associate editor Lakshmi Rivera Amin. ### Standing in the Shadow of No Towers URL: https://hyperallergic.com/standing-in-the-shadow-of-no-towers/ Last updated: 2026-09-11T21:52:49.000Z By August, the Tribeca nightclub Vinyl had gone into a Peter Gatien-era meltdown. *Time* magazine ran a dramatic [cover story](https://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,20000605,00.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) the year prior (“What Ecstasy Does to Your Brain”) and the dancefloor had posters warning about plainclothes sting ops. There was still talcum powder on the floor for dancing, but euphoric substances had vanished. In all my Sundays of dancing at Vinyl, I had never thought of how close it was to the Twin Towers — until that Tuesday in September when, by nightfall, the pavement outside was stacked with plastic bags of socks, t-shirts, and sweatpants we had collected for tower survivors who were expected to be pulled out “any moment now.” We waited until midnight, and by then it was clear — no one got out alive. HBO Television, where I worked at the time, had a satellite office downtown. When I came out of the subway at Broadway-Lafayette, Amin Miah, the corner fruitseller who usually gave me the “best” banana, started saying in a frenzy, “Duita biman marse, ami dekhsi” (“two planes hit, I saw it” in Bangla). I spoke to him for a moment, looked down Broadway at the smoke plumes, and started walking to the office. It was 9:15am, I knew I was late for the staff meeting preparation, and most people on the street were also trying to get to work. I called Zahed Amanullah, co-editor of *Altmuslim*, because I figured that as a Berkeley resident, he may not know the news yet. His cellphone went to voicemail; later I learned he was in Cuba visiting José Marti’s grave when the tour guide said, “Something terrible — *el cataclismo* — has happened, we have to get back to the hotel.” HBO’s Interactive Ventures head, Kevin Dowdell, did his best to pass on a semblance of “normal.” He insisted the staff meeting would start on time, at 10am. Then the South Tower collapsed. We watched it through the window, and then everything started happening in slow motion. Everyone was trying to call family, school, and of course all the phone lines were jammed shut (later we learned the shutdown was actually protocol to keep lines free for emergency communication). My girlfriend at the time, artist [Reiko Yamamoto](https://www.reikoyamamoto.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com), had no cell phone — most people didn’t, it was still 2001 — and I had no way to reach her, so I biked down to Tribeca to find her. As crowds of businesspeople ran up the street, covered in a white powder, I wondered why nobody was stopping me. *Nobody knows what to do anymore*, I thought.I arrived at Chambers Street and of course the office had been evacuated already — Tribeca was in the blast radius of the towers, so residents had the sense to shut offices and leave. It was another four hours before Reiko made it home. The first thing I said to her was, “Please, you have to get a cell phone.” It’s likely a lot of people got over their aversion to the still-novel device that day. The next week, I met comrades from South Asian activist organizations Youth Solidarity Summer (YSS) and Taxi Workers Alliance (TWA) outside a vigil. This was organized by Sreenath Sreenivasan of South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA) for a Sikh man who had been a victim of a hate-crime attack in the hours after 9/11\. I had a tiny American flag attached to my bike handlebars. Filmmaker Dina Hossain had just finished work on a documentary about Leonard Bernstein for *PBS* and had started work on a new project on Islam in the world. The timing was absolutely eerie and she was hyper-aware of the loop of history. “Where did you get that flag?” she asked. “Somebody gave it to me, we are all mourning together,” I replied. Dina paused, looked at me, and said, “You will understand that you and I are not going to be allowed to be part of that ‘we,’ not anymore.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/FearFlying1_72.jpg) Visible Collective, "Disappeared in America: Fear of Flying" (2005), video Some had longer memories. My cousin Hassan remembered being attacked in 1979 in California as an “Eye-ranian” as the hostage crisis dragged out. Poet Saba Waheed, who had met us at the Vinyl club 9/11 relief point, went home and wrote “when they started bombing…” — memories of the first Gulf War. She ended with “oh no, not again.” I thought she was being extreme. People were in shock, but why would they “nuke Eye-raq”? It took a few days for us to learn that there had been several Bangladeshi waiters working at the Windows on the World restaurant in the first tower. In the citadel of capital, theirs were among the many working-class deaths. The media asked for names, biographies, photos. I understood, at that moment, that “Bangladeshi” had been interpellated as “Muslim.” Those stories of Muslim victims of 9/11 became suddenly essential as the beatings of taxi drivers and shop owners continued. In response, we built up the all-American narrative of model minorities. When scholar Mahmood Mamdani published [*Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War, and the Roots of Terror*](http://bookshop.org/a/539/9780385515375?ref=hyperallergic.com) three years later, I had the shock of recognition; I too had been one of those apologetic, get-along-go-along Muslims. We naively thought if we were polite in the face of Islamophobia, it would wilt. Our generation’s approach was to appeal to those in power — to ask, “allow us to go about life in peace.”Thankfully, Mamdani’s son, Zohran, had other ideas. Instead of appealing to the power structure, he worked his way up to being in a position to [change the system itself](https://hyperallergic.com/the-creative-essence-of-zohran-mamdanis-ascent/). I lived in Hell’s Kitchen and was sufficiently freaked out by the idea of “another attack” to want to move out of Manhattan. The landlord was thrilled at the chance to raise the rent. He returned my deposit with alacrity. The Russian bouncer at the strip club next door looked at my moving truck and waved at me. He had a scar down his right eye and had “seen it all.” I wondered if he was a veteran of the Chechen wars. On the drive to the Brooklyn storage space, I thought of the magazine profiles that talked about presidents finding God. Surely God was merciful; all the Abrahamic faiths made the same claim. HBO had sponsored my green card application, and the card arrived in the mail in April 2001\. It was an innocuous white envelope, and at first I thought it was a credit card offer from Burlington, Vermont. When I realized what it was, I called my immigration lawyer and asked if I could freely go to protests now (the [Abner Louima](https://wnyc.org/story/twenty-years-later-look-back-nypd-assault-abner-louima-and-what-it-means-today/?ref=hyperallergic.com) and [Amadou Diallo](https://abc7ny.com/post/amadou-diallo-death-police-shot-by/14384145/?ref=hyperallergic.com) cases had thrown New York into a turmoil of protests against the police). My Oberlin College roommate, Saif, was not so lucky. His green card due date was the end of the year. After September 2001, all such applications were ensnared in the dreaded loop of the security check. Saif had the bad luck of having an extremely common Muslim-Bangladeshi surname. You can imagine how that security check went. His H-1B visa timing ran out, and he returned to Bangladesh to work in the business sector. In a way, many countries benefited from this “reverse brain drain” as many immigrants got fed up with these visa mazes and returned home. Working-class migrants did not have those options, and large extended networks back home often depended on the money they sent back. So by and large they stayed, despite the mass arrests on Coney Island Avenue, or crossed into Canada. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Brooklyn, Say Hello to Your First Craft Supply Library URL: https://hyperallergic.com/brooklyn-say-hello-to-your-first-craft-supply-library/ Last updated: 2026-09-11T20:24:04.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/IMG_3174-Linocut-Kit-1.jpg) Materials for the linocut kit in the Brooklyn Public Library's new craft supply catalog (photo courtesy Brooklyn Public Library) The Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) officially launched its first-ever lending program for craft supplies on Wednesday, September 9\. Crochet hooks, thermal laminators, and button makers are among the [31 items](https://discover.bklynlibrary.org/?catalog=true&search=craft+supplies&materialtype=Craft+Supplies&ref=hyperallergic.com) now available to rent from the BPL Craft Supply Library. The library consists of craft kits, such as linecut sets and woodworking apparatuses, which can be borrowed for three weeks, and craft tools, which can be borrowed for one week. Patrons with an adult library card can take up to three craft kits and two craft tools home at a time, at no charge, proving a welcome alternative for hobbyists who want to avoid hefty price tags. "All of us in New York are watching our budgets, and we have very limited storage," Fritzi Bodenheimer, a spokesperson for BPL, told *Hyperallergic*. "You can take something out from the library without that financial investment." The library’s holdings include a fourth-edition[ Cricut Maker](https://cricut.com/en-us/cutting-machines/cricut-maker/cricut-maker-4/cricut-maker-4/2011084.html?utm%5Fcampaign=brand&utm%5Fmedium=paid%5Fsearch&utm%5Fsource=google&utm%5Fcontent=pmax&utm%5Fterm=level1&gad%5Fsource=1&gad%5Fcampaignid=19014224522&gbraid=0AAAAADw%5FI7eJ%5Fe00L1wlVEo4HEp9hbU-c&gclid=CjwKCAjwqonVBhA4EiwA9wYJ3ZVMA72TqYkYq06ov7wuEUHO-udQ9J9pVAa1oWQQbwvhcBzFoKWk7RoCjH8QAvD%5FBwE), a nearly $400 machine that can cut, etch, and engrave into hundreds of materials. “Starting a new hobby or learning a new skill can mean a big investment in start-up tools or supplies, and often people don’t know if they’ll like the hobby,” Jessica Harwick, the BPL librarian behind the project, told *Hyperallergic*. “This collection will help remove that barrier so that more people can explore their creativity and try new things.” Wanting to merge her creative hobbies with her workplace, Harwick drew upon the pre-existing model for the BPL’s "[Library of Things](https://www.bklynlibrary.org/library-of-things?ref=hyperallergic.com)," which refers to all the library’s rentable materials that aren't books. David Bowie [vinyls](https://hyperallergic.com/brooklyn-public-library-vinyl-collection/), culture passes to the [Brooklyn Botanic Garden](https://www.culturepass.nyc/organizations?orgid=3&ref=hyperallergic.com), and a [Les Paul electric guitar](https://discover.bklynlibrary.org/item?b=12191765&ref=hyperallergic.com) are among the other items that can be rented for free with a public library card. As the craft library seeks to expand its collection, members of the public are encouraged to contribute gently used tools or supplies to the new project. While staff does not accept any "consumable" materials, such as yarn, paint, or glue, they review possible donations submitted to their dedicated email (craftsupplylibrary@bklynlibrary.org) on a case-by-case basis. The BPL launched the craft library to coincide with the ribbon cutting of the newly renovated Arts & Music space on the second floor of the Central Library on Grand Army Plaza. On top of functioning as the craft library's new home, the redesign by Toshiko Mori Architects houses a teen center and the new Eastern Parkway Collection Wing, which is stocked with art and music books. "It's really a part of a trend," Bodenheimer concluded. "A lot of people think a library is just books, but it's a lot more. The craft library is another part of that series." ### 15 Fall Art -Ennials, From St. Louis to Dakar URL: https://hyperallergic.com/15-fall-art-ennials-from-st-louis-to-dakar/ Last updated: 2026-09-15T21:11:57.000Z The 61st [Venice Biennale](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/venice-biennale/) is on view through late November, but fall is a time of beginnings,so it is only fitting that many other biennials and triennials opening across the world this season offer their own fresh starts. In a new triennial at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, design is wrested from its typical associations with materialism. A new biennial in Mérida in Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula features 75 artists who work with the word and idiom in pursuit of new fabulations. The days may get shorter in autumn, but as evidenced at this year's photography edition of the Museum of the City of New York Triennial, the night shift proffers its own forms of vitality. Inspired by sci-fi author Ursula K. Le Guin's writings, the Converge 45 Triennial in Portland considers the new communities and discourses that form in the presence of art. Artists at the Toronto and Lyon Biennales work with migration, rupture, and extraction to not only transcribe tragic histories, but to chart speculative futures. And at this year's Alexandria Biennale, which returns to Egypt after a 12-year hiatus, we're reminded of the importance of resilience and protest amid today's global turmoil and permacrises, because *This Too Shall Pass*. — *Phillip Pyle, associate editor* --- ### Walker Design Triennial: *Beyond Materialism* [**Walker Art Center**](https://www.walkerart.org/whats-on/walker-design-triennial-beyond-materialism/?ref=hyperallergic.com), Minneapolis, Minnesota Oct. 17–Feb. 14, 2027 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Jensen_01.jpg) Anna Aagaard Jensen, "Lady Chairs" (2018) (photo Iris Rijskamp, courtesy the artist and Walker Art Center) In the age of polyester, fast fashion, and TikTok Shop dupes, it’s difficult to remember that design exists for anything besides consumption. The inaugural Walker Design Triennial moves away from materialism and a post-industrial model of profit optimization, examining a recent shift towards spiritual cultivation in design. Across 95 works from an international array of artists and collectives, the exhibition examines how design can engage social issues, instead of exacerbating them. --- ### Bienal de Yucatán: *Vocal* [**Across various locations**](https://bienaldeyucatan.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) in Mérida, Mexico Nov. 26–Feb. 28, 2027 Yoko Ono, Teresa Margolles, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Oscar Murillo, and Jean-Luc Moulène are among the 75 artists participating in the inaugural Yucatán Biennial. Held in multiple venues across Mérida, a city known for its enduring Mayan heritage, the first edition of the exhibition is themed around language and idiom. International artists will work alongside local creators to explore how language traverses different territories, artistic processes, and disciplines. --- ### Museum of the City of New York Triennial: *The Photography Triennial: After Dark* [**Museum of the City of New York**](https://www.mcny.org/exhibition/photography-triennial-after-dark?ref=hyperallergic.com), East Harlem, Manhattan Nov. 20–April 25, 2027 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Triennial-0149-Williams.jpg) D'Angelo Lovell Williams, "Too Hot to Sleep (After Sylvester)" (2025) (courtesy the Museum of the City of New York) The second installment of MCNY's photography-centered triennial, which kicked off in 2023, this show will explore how New York City’s culture reaches new heights as the sky dims. Nightlife, the night shift, and the midnight munchies unfold in unison as the sun sets above the five boroughs, as documented by photographers including Elle Pérez, Tommy Kha, Saint Piñero, Dina Litovsky, Mahka Eslami, Liz Deschenes, D’Angelo Lovell Williams, and Kia LaBeija. --- ### Gwangju Biennale: *You Must Change Your Life* [**Gwangju Biennale Exhibition Hall**](https://gwangjubiennale.org/gb/index.do?ref=hyperallergic.com), Gwangju, South Korea Through November 15 “You must change your life” — the final line of Rainer Maria Rilke’s 1908 poem “Archaic Torso of Apollo” — is at once an open-ended declaration and a blunt call for transformation. Channeling that existential command through its title, the 16th Gwangju Biennale situates contemporary works, including deconstructed club rooms and webpage collages, in relation to art’s capacity to reflect change. 43 artists and groups explore change as an aesthetic phenomenon, a scalar metric, and a channel for transcending the self. --- ### Toronto Biennial of Art: *Things Fall Apart* [**Across various locations**](https://torontobiennial.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com)in Toronto, Canada Sept. 26–Dec. 20 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Flood--2025-_-Photograph_-1.4----3.86-m.jpg) Rebecca Belmore, "Flood" (2025) (courtesy Toronto Biennial of Art) Central to the Toronto Biennial’s fourth edition is the notion of rupture, namely through the avenues of migration and diaspora, waterways and borders, genocide and ecological justice, and speculative science fiction. Coco Fusco, Dawoud Bey, Kent Monkman, Skawennati, Dala Nasser, Wen Liu, and Simranpreet Anand are among the artists who look at disruption and its consequences as tools for transcribing history and unpacking the future. --- _This post is for subscribers only._ ### School of Visual Arts Ends Photography MFA Program URL: https://hyperallergic.com/school-of-visual-arts-ends-photography-mfa-program/ Last updated: 2026-09-11T19:23:25.000Z The School of Visual Arts (SVA) will be ending its graduate Photography, Video, and Related Media program in light of the institution's mounting deficit. SVA Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Jason Koth disclosed the program's termination in an email announcement shared with *Hyperallergic.* In the announcement, Koth said the MFA Photo candidates will be able to complete their degree without interruption, and that the program would close out in its 40th year with the Class of 2028's graduation. The provost wrote that the “painful decision” to shutter the program was a direct result of “SVA's ongoing economic challenges, the nationwide decline in enrollment in graduate-level photography programs, and broader federal policy and financial headwinds that have made it untenable to sustain the program's current model.” The termination of the MFA Photo program comes only months after SVA announced that it was [ending its graduate degree track in curatorial practice](https://hyperallergic.com/school-of-visual-arts-shutters-its-curatorial-practice-ma-program/) next spring with the retirement of the founder and chair Steven Henry Madoff. Founding Chair Charles Traub, who launched the Photography, Video, and Related Media program in 1988, lamented the MFA Photo program's closure during a call with *Hyperallergic*. “I believe that the closure could have been avoided through better coordination and by rethinking how we were going to deal with the future of AI in a more aggressive way,” Traub said. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Joel-Peter Witkin’s God-Loving, Gender-Bending Art URL: https://hyperallergic.com/joel-peter-witkins-god-loving-gender-bending-art/ Last updated: 2026-09-11T18:22:25.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/2006_The-Raft-of-George-W.-Bush--NM-2.jpg) Joel-Peter Witkin, "The Raft of George W. Bush" (2006) (photo David S. Rubin/**Hyperallergic*) LOS ANGELES — Although octogenarian Joel-Peter Witkin’s photography has sparked controversy for its sometimes macabre subject matter, his five-decade retrospective at Fahey/Klein Gallery reveals the practicing Catholic’s ongoing dedication to the principle that “we are all God’s children.” From the 1970s through 2018, when Witkin was diagnosed with dementia, he created tableau vivant photographs, using live models, props, and elaborate sets to create morality tales that blend elements of mythology, the Bible, and art history to express compassion for the marginalized, including people with dwarfism, amputees, and members of the LGBTQ+ community, especially those who are intersex. Working exclusively with traditional cameras and black-and-white film, Witkin approaches each photo shoot like a director making a movie, building a set and developing his own prints. For expressive content, he often scratches a negative and treats an emerging print with bleach or encaustic, which can produce textural effects or color highlights. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Ecco-Homo--NYC--1975__---Joel-Peter-Witkin--courtesy-of-FaheyKlein-Gallery--Los-Angeles.jpg) Joel-Peter Witkin, "Ecco Homo, NYC" (1975) (© Joel-Peter Witkin, image courtesy Fahey/Klein Gallery, Los Angeles) Witkin first explored gender bending in works such as “Ecce Homo, NYC” (1975), where a male hippie with sunglasses poses nude wearing high heels, his penis barely visible in dark shadows. The title equates him with art historical representations of Christ, while spotlighting his left foot on a draped table focuses on the female shoe and suggests that wearing it is a subversive act. A similar blend of dignity and edginess can be observed in multiple representations of intersex models, such as “The Three Graces, New Mexico” (1988), “Gods of Earth and Heaven, LA” (1988), which mimics Botticelli's [“The Birth of Venus”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The%5FBirth%5Fof%5FVenus?ref=hyperallergic.com) (c. 1484–86), and “The Soul Has No Gender, Mexico” (2016), where a nude intersex person with long flowing hair is portrayed in radiant light holding a skull, in the tradition of memento mori portraiture. Three nails propped against the wall to the figure’s right suggest parallels between the persecution of Christ and the prejudicial abuses that people born with both male and female anatomy face today. The controversial “The Kiss (Le Braiser)” (1982) is among Witkin’s most metaphorically potent works. The subject appears to be two men smooching, yet it was actually constructed from a corpse’s head split in half, with one side turned around and pressed against the other. While symbolically affirming the legitimacy of same sex lovemaking, the imagery also conjures associations with narcissism and Witkin’s status as an identical twin (to another artist, the painter [Jerome Witkin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerome%5FWitkin?ref=hyperallergic.com)). _This post is for subscribers only._ ### A View From the Easel URL: https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-354/ Last updated: 2026-09-11T17:11:54.000Z Welcome to the 354thinstallment of A View From the Easel, a series in which artists reflect on their workspace. This week, printmaker and photographer Oswaldo García — whom I had the privilege of meeting at [Pioneer Works's Press Play fair](https://hyperallergic.com/indie-books-and-holiday-miracles-at-brooklyns-press-play-fair-2024/) in 2024 — dances to cumbias while accordion-folding, book-binding, and watching the magical process of a printer churning out risographs. Want to take part? Check out our [submission guidelines](https://hyperallergic.com/submit-your-workspace-to-a-view-from-the-easel/) and share a bit about your studio with us through [this form](https://forms.gle/Erq7cyGEmMUxKrLe9?ref=hyperallergic.com)! All mediums and workspaces are welcome, including your home studio. --- ## [Oswaldo García](https://oswaldogarcia.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com), Columbia, Missouri ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Studio-Oswaldo-3---Oswaldo-Garci--a.jpg) ***How long have you been working in this space?*** I moved from México and started an MFA two years ago at the University of Missouri-Columbia. I have been working in the Grad Studios building since then. I also work in the photolab studio and The Riso Room or Public House, depending if developing or printing. ***Describe an average day in your studio.*** I usually start working in the evening or at night sometimes (if going to book fairs). I'm teaching in the morning and taking classes. I work on everything at the same time — I collect, draft, research, make proofs, start thinking about new projects, print, fold, bind, and when I get tired of a project it helps me to move for some time to another. Then I go back and finish, but also sometimes it's infinite folding and binding, and I just spend the day or weekend doing that while listening to music. I dance and sing a lot while printing, especially cumbias, reggaetón, Mexican regional music, but a lot of pop, dance, everything. But if I'm drafting or thinking about a new project, I like the silence of my headphones. ***How does the space affect your work?*** I like the natural light, but I recently moved from my first studio to another one in the same building that has less of it, but I also like that for scanning and editing. This new studio has more space and that is helping me to expand the projects and let them breathe, to look at them differently and try arrangements and new compositions while working on many projects at the same time. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Studio-Oswaldo-5---Oswaldo-Garci--a.jpg) ***How do you interact with the environment outside your studio?*** The building is all art studios and that motivates me to work. It's also nice to look at the process of others. I'm very inspired by people working in ceramics and fibers right now, and that has gotten me into trying those practices recently. ***What do you love about your studio?*** I love that it's like a blank canvas or paper that I can use to play and try assembling books, prints, projections, installations. And it is my safe space too, where I can always go and just be there with the work, materials, archive, books. ***What do you wish were different?*** I would love to have taller walls. I think I would go crazy doing bigger things! But I like how it is. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### University of Michigan’s Fully Funded MFA Program Combines Studio Art and Research URL: https://hyperallergic.com/university-of-michigans-fully-funded-mfa-program-combines-studio-art-and-research/ Last updated: 2026-09-11T15:50:16.000Z The University of Michigan’s Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design, ranked #11 nationally among graduate art and design schools by *U.S. News and World Report*, is now accepting [MFA in Art applications](https://bit.ly/4ylQ73l?ref=hyperallergic.com) for Fall 2027\. The Stamps MFA brings students a uniquely supportive, critically engaged environment for interdisciplinary and research-based creative practice. Led by MFA Program Director [Angela Washko](https://bit.ly/4xAnQWJ?ref=hyperallergic.com), students develop materially sophisticated, conceptually rigorous work informed by funded travel and engagement with diverse communities, institutions, and creative contexts. Graduates emerge prepared to exhibit internationally, secure tenure-track positions at leading institutions, create public art, and shape cultural organizations worldwide. Throughout the two-year program, students engage with faculty from Stamps and tap into the boundless resources and collaborative opportunities that can only be found at the University of Michigan, *TIME’s* top public research university. Students also connect with nationally and internationally recognized visiting artists and critics through studio visits, critiques, and other events, gaining personalized feedback, fresh perspectives, and valuable professional connections. > “I’ve been to a lot of MFA thesis shows around the country and I can say with confidence this is one of the best I’ve encountered — not only because of the strength and complexity and pleasures offered by the individual projects, but also because of the sense that the artists were talking and thinking together, learning and being inspired by each other. That such a strong sense of conversation could result in really unique and individual artistic voices is truly remarkable.” > — *Aruna D'Souza, Writer and Art Critic* Visit the Stamps website to [explore the Stamps MFA program](https://bit.ly/4gVkSFd?ref=hyperallergic.com) through work from our most recent thesis exhibition, and to learn more about our graduate program in our [upcoming events](https://bit.ly/467370E?ref=hyperallergic.com), including our Virtual Open House on Thursday, November 12, 2026. For more information, visit [stamps.umich.edu/mfa](https://bit.ly/4gWMA4v?ref=hyperallergic.com). [**Apply by January 3, 2027**](https://bit.ly/4ylQ73l?ref=hyperallergic.com) ### Pope.L Invites Us to Think Through the American Dream URL: https://hyperallergic.com/pope-l-invites-us-to-think-through-the-american-dream/ Last updated: 2026-09-11T15:21:28.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/IMG_6299-1.jpeg) Pope.L, "Portrait a.k.a. The American Dream Is to Be Able to Think" (1989–90) (all photos Chanelle Chevelle Russell/**Hyperallergic*) A headless man stares out with no eyes. An absurd study in portraiture both aesthetically and thematically coincident with Ralph Ellison’s 1952 novel *Invisible Man* and rendered here in acrylic, oil pastel, marker, pencil, and tape, interdisciplinary artist Pope.L’s painting, “Portrait a.k.a The American Dream Is to Be Able to Think,” (1989–90) beckons closer attention to the fraught materiality of race which inaugurated and continues to usher this nation along. Unadorned, bereft of a neck for fortitude, or a face one might identify, or eyes through which to see, existing as just one artwork in the Drawing Center’s sprawling posthumous Pope.L exhibition *Certainly an Act: Works on Paper by Pope.L*, the headless, and one might assume, brainless man appears to us here already excluded from the Dream. Through varying assemblages of black and white — white dress shirt, skinny black tie; white words set against a grainy black background, an undifferentiated Blackness set against and within an undifferentiated America — Pope.L’s probing of the founding racial contradictions which birthed the American Dream unspools here on this 250th year with even finer provocations: If the American Dream is the ability to think, then perhaps newer approaches to thought are needed. Upon entering the space, thought in all forms abounds as one immediately encounters two walls organized with books. On one side is an archive of 161 previous exhibition catalogues from the Drawing Center; on the other is a celebration of the Center’s 162nd exhibition “Certainly an Act,” in partnership with the Detroit-based[ Black Art Library](https://artlibrary.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com). If somehow, like me, you were unfamiliar with [Pope.L](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/pope-l/) before the show, which brought me to Soho on a breezy August afternoon, the selected texts which populate the Black Art Library might help to shape your expectations. Boasting names such as Zora Neale Hurston and Faith Ringgold alongside titles referencing Black art, African American mythology, and so on, the Black Art Library alerted me early on that, in this show, Blackness would sit at the very center of aesthetic consideration. Inching towards the glass doors which would deliver me into the exhibition, the exhibition wall text stated that for Pope.L, “drawing was never merely a medium but a mode of thinking about the world.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/IMG_6126-1-1.jpeg) Black Art Library installation at the Drawing Center _This post is for subscribers only._ ### UCR ARTS Presents Dispatches: The Photography of Douglas McCulloh, 1990–2025 URL: https://hyperallergic.com/ucr-arts-presents-dispatches-the-photography-of-douglas-mcculloh-1990-2025/ Last updated: 2026-09-11T14:30:55.000Z Southern California photographer Douglas McCulloh spent nearly four decades developing conceptual photographic projects based on building systems to choose where he would point his camera. On view September 12 through December 20, 2026 in downtown Riverside, [UCR ARTS: California Museum of Photography](https://bit.ly/3Sub1xX?ref=hyperallergic.com) presents [*Dispatches: The Photography of Douglas McCulloh, 1990–2025*](https://bit.ly/4gVK6V0?ref=hyperallergic.com), the first exhibition to survey the full breadth of his work. Two important tools — maps and chance operations — were central to his practice. He aimed to encounter the visual world as it actually exists, removing intention rather than following the edicts of conventional photography. The exhibition brings together McCulloh’s major series in extensive form, including *Chance Encounters* (1992–1999), in which McCulloh spoke with nearly everyone he met across 22,000 miles of chance-selected terrain; *Lost Among the Stars* (2003–2006), built around 90 fixed points in Hollywood history; *Dream Street* (1999–2009), a decade spent chronicling a Southern California subdivision from construction to the collapse of the housing bubble; and his final, most ambitious undertaking, *American Cross* (2013–2025) — a journey along locations defined by a giant X drawn across the country. He began the project in January 2013 and covered more than 5,352 miles of the route before passing away on January 5, 2025, following a short illness, just over 400 miles short of its completion. The exhibition also includes [*The Great Picture: Revisiting The Legacy Project*](https://bit.ly/4xm7elj?ref=hyperallergic.com)(2006), the Guinness World Record holder for the largest print photograph, which McCulloh made with five other artists inside a decommissioned Marine Corps hangar turned into a functioning pinhole camera. The final single gelatin silver print, which measures over 31 feet high and 111 feet wide, is not on display but this exhibition features behind-the-scenes documentation of the project and a new virtual re-staging developed using game engine technology, viewable in virtual reality or in a screen-based first-person mode. For more information on the exhibition visit [ucrarts.ucr.edu](https://bit.ly/4gVK6V0?ref=hyperallergic.com). ### Excavating Craft Histories Through Archives URL: https://hyperallergic.com/excavating-craft-histories-through-archives/ Last updated: 2026-09-11T14:29:59.000Z **Craft Archive Fellowship Virtual Program: Archives in Action** Wednesday, September 23 from 5 to 6:30pm (EST) Please join us for Archives in Action, a virtual panel discussion celebrating the recently published research of our 2025 Craft Archive Fellows on *Hyperallergic*. Research projects explore Hanji, the tradition of Korean papermaking; the contributions of George Washington Carver and other formerly enslaved individuals to natural dyeing and pigment making; “fannuh” basketry, one of the oldest Gullah Geechee agricultural tools; Black blacksmiths and the Sankofa ironwork tradition; Mexican migrant traditions of altar-making in South Chicago; and *costureros*, (im)migrant-led embroidery and knitting circles in Queens, New York. Through these projects, craft is positioned as a means of cultural continuity and a way to preserve culture and identity. The documentation of these craft histories sheds light on how traditions are maintained and kept alive, focusing on the people and communities within these making practices. As Fellow Robert Choe-Henderson emphasizes, archival research can ensure “that communities most affected by that history don’t become invisible while the material knowledge survives.” Join Fellows Teju Adisa-Farrar, Robert Choe-Henderson, Amalia Uribe Guardiola, Crystal Vance Guerra, Trelani Michelle, and Bilphena Decontee Yahwon in conversation with Mellanee Goodman, the Center for Craft’s program director, curator, and material specialist, and *Hyperallergic* associate editor Lakshmi Rivera Amin to learn about their personal connections and work in recovering and documenting craft histories, as well as the people and places they collaborated with during their research. Archives in Action is free and open to the public. Be sure to read the articles on *Hyperallergic* before attending the program. The Craft Archive Fellowship is supported, in part, by the Ayumi Horie Award, the Sara Clugage Award, and the Gallaher Family Award. [Register](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/archives-in-action-2025-craft-archive-fellows-tickets-1998970565773?aff=oddtdtcreator&ref=hyperallergic.com) --- ### **Featured Craft Archive Fellows:** [**Teju Adisa-Farrar**](https://www.centerforcraft.org/recipient/teju-adisa-farrar?ref=hyperallergic.com), Atlanta*The Colors All Around Us: George Washington Carver and the Missing Archive of Natural Dyes* [**Robert Choe-Henderson**](https://www.centerforcraft.org/recipient/robert-choe-henderson?ref=hyperallergic.com), Warne, North Carolina*Decolonizing the Tongue: Hanji in Kozo Patches* [**Amalia Uribe Guardiola**](https://www.centerforcraft.org/recipient/amalia-uribe-guardiola?ref=hyperallergic.com), New York*Costureros as Living Archives: Craft and Care in Latina Immigrant Communities* [**Crystal Vance Guerra**](https://www.centerforcraft.org/recipient/crystal-vance-guerra?ref=hyperallergic.com), Chicago*Deliberately Habitual: Altar-making within American Craft* [**Trelani Michelle**,](https://www.centerforcraft.org/recipient/trelani-michelle?ref=hyperallergic.com) Savannah*Forged in Memory: Tracing Black Ironwork Lineage* [**Bilphena Decontee Yahwon**](https://www.centerforcraft.org/recipient/bilphena-decontee-yahwon?ref=hyperallergic.com), Baltimore *Fanning Rice: Tracing Windward Coast Basketry in the Lowcountry* ### **About the Partnership** Through a partnership with *Hyperallergic* — a leading voice in contemporary perspectives on art, culture, and more — research by the Center for Craft’s Craft Archive Fellows is available for free online. The collaboration reduces physical and economic barriers to archival research, increasing the visibility and appreciation of craft scholarship in the United States. Learn more at [centerforcraft.org](http://centerforcraft.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com). ### UK AIDS Memorial Quilt to Come Home to Scotland URL: https://hyperallergic.com/uk-aids-memorial-quilt-to-come-home-to-scotland/ Last updated: 2026-09-11T14:24:16.000Z The UK AIDS Memorial Quilt is coming home to Scotland on Saturday, September 12, just two weeks after the quilt’s founder, Ally Van Tillo, died on August 30\. Marking the first time that it will be exhibited in its entirety in its home country, the quilt will be on view at the Glasgow contemporary art venue Tramway through October 4. Four years after American activist Cleve Jones began the [US AIDS Quilt](https://hyperallergic.com/names-project-aids-memorial-quilt-now-online/) in San Francisco in 1985, the late Scottish activist Van Tillo started a separate edition to memorialize those who died from HIV and AIDS in the UK. After nearly [two decades in storage](https://www.vice.com/en/article/uk-aids-memorial-quilt-preservation/?ref=hyperallergic.com) and its exhibition at [Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall last year](https://www.tate.org.uk/press/press-releases/uk-aids-memorial-quilt-to-be-shown-in-tate-moderns-turbine-hall?ref=hyperallergic.com), the quilt will be displayed alongside archival material detailing its Scottish origins. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/amq-Quilt_002_cropped.jpg) Seven independent panels comprise Quilt 2 (photo courtesy the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt Partnership) First displayed at London's [Hyde Park](https://www.bbc.com/articles/cpgge207de0o?ref=hyperallergic.com) in 1994, the quilt has grown to 335 panels and now represents over 600 people lost to the deadly virus. The quilt is made primarily of three-by-six-foot panels, which correspond to the dimensions of a typical grave plot. Fashioned by loved ones, the panels depict hopeful messages, intimate embroideries, and patchwork mementos dedicated to the deceased. In one, [rainbows spurt from a lighthouse](https://www.aidsquiltuk.org/quilt/a-quilt-for-the-london-lighthouse/?ref=hyperallergic.com) toward intimate domestic vignettes on the perimeter. [Freddie Mercury](https://www.aidsquiltuk.org/quilt/aids-quilt-11/?ref=hyperallergic.com) gestures out to the crowd mid-song in another panel, which is stitched into a patchwork tapestry populated with individual dedications. "At the time, it was a resource for loss, bereavement and education,” Van Tillo shared in a statement just before his death. “It helped people make sense of their loss, humanizing the death of individuals that our government and media were painting as perverts and social pariahs.” _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Artists Reflect on 25 Years Since 9/11 URL: https://hyperallergic.com/artists-reflect-on-25-years-since-9-11/ Last updated: 2026-09-11T10:00:57.000Z I was four years old when the Twin Towers fell, and my memory is a mishmash of confusion: my grandmother picking me up early from Pre-K, a pillar of smoke out the rearview window, asking my father why we suddenly had a sticker of the American flag on our car. I was too young to understand then, but 25 years later, I’ve got a better view. In today’s featured piece, art world figures including artists Shahzia Sikander, Wafaa Bilal, Rina Banerjee, Michael Rakowitz, and our very own Editor-at-Large Hrag Vartanian recount their heartwrenching experiences of 9/11 and its fallout, from being surveilled by the NSEERS program to losing a family member to a forever war. But the future need not be as dark as our past — multiple contributors also mentioned the election of Zohran Mamdani, New York’s first Muslim mayor, as a milestone event that hopefully marks a better path. Also today, the Rabkin Foundation named the winners of its 2026 prize, including our regular contributor Damien Davis, who has meditated on losing an archive, crushing debt traps, and more in our pages. Congratulations! Plus, I’d also like to introduce you all to a new format we’re debuting: pocket reviews! At 250 words, they’re playful, pithy, and portable. Read yours truly on *I Want Your Sex*, in which Olivia Wilde plays a contemporary artist/ scammer/ dominatrix. Yes, it’s every bit as engrossing (and ridiculous) as it sounds. *—Lisa Yin Zhang, associate editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/9-11-article.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/artists-reflect-on-9-11-and-the-wounds-of-the-war-on-terror/) [ Artists Reflect on 9/11 and the Wounds of the “War on Terror” ](https://hyperallergic.com/artists-reflect-on-9-11-and-the-wounds-of-the-war-on-terror/) Every year on September 11, New Yorkers pay tribute to the victims of the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center — and to the wounds of the weeks and years after. That period was defined by grief, rebuilding efforts, and, almost immediately, a vicious campaign of Islamophobia and surveillance whose effects reshaped the world as they knew it. Iraqi-born artist Wafaa Bilal recalls, “I sensed at once that the comfort and security Americans had long taken for granted were gone.” Bilal is one of several artists from Muslim, South Asian, and Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) communities whose lives were indelibly altered by the United States’s weaponization of the 9/11 attacks to pass the PATRIOT Act and justify the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. Twenty-five years into “never forget,” *Hyperallergic* asked artists, curators, and culture workers to share personal and artistic reflections on how that day shaped their lives. These are their stories. | Lakshmi Rivera Amin [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/artists-reflect-on-9-11-and-the-wounds-of-the-war-on-terror/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/OCADU-Gwangju_AdImage_2400x1350px_2026Hyperallergic.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/ocad-university-presents-exhibition-at-2026-gwangju-biennale/) ****OCAD University Presents Canada’s Pavilion at the 2026 Gwangju Biennale** “Skennen’kó:wa ken? (Do You Carry Great Peace?)” is on until November 15, 2026. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/ocad-university-presents-exhibition-at-2026-gwangju-biennale/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/f-all.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/brooklyn-museum-displays-work-of-artist-killed-in-9-11-on-25th-anniversary) - In acknowledgment of the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, the Brooklyn Museum [installs “Free F’All” (1997)](https://hyperallergic.com/brooklyn-museum-displays-work-of-artist-killed-in-9-11-on-25th-anniversary/) by Caribbean-American artist Michael Richard in the lobby for public display. - *Hyperallergic* contributor [Damien Davis receives the 2026 Rabkin Prize](https://hyperallergic.com/hyperallergic-writers-among-2026-rabkin-prize-recipients/), alongside seven other arts writers. - [Tschabalala Self’s “Lady in Blue”](https://hyperallergic.com/tschabalala-selfs-splendid-lady-in-blue-graces-londons-fourth-plinth/) is unveiled as the latest sculpture for the Fourth Plinth on Trafalgar Square in London. - [Art Movements](https://hyperallergic.com/kathleen-v-jameson-named-speed-museum-director/): Kathleen V. Jameson is the Speed Museum’s new director, the New Museum gets new board members, The Met acquires Alison Rossiter works, a David Hockney show breaks records, and more. --- ## Pocket Review [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/olivia-wilde.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/a-portrait-of-an-artist-as-a-dominatrix/) [ A Portrait of an Artist as a Dominatrix ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-portrait-of-an-artist-as-a-dominatrix/) “I Want Your Sex” is a caricature of the art world more than an actually incisive critique, but it’s funner that way. | Lisa Yin Zhang [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-portrait-of-an-artist-as-a-dominatrix/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Hyperallergic_Lead-Image.png)](https://hyperallergic.com/art-books-and-scholarship-from-the-national-gallery-of-art/) ****Art Books and Scholarship from the National Gallery of Art** Discover thoughtfully designed exhibition catalogs, insights from leading art historians and conservators, collection highlights, and more. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/art-books-and-scholarship-from-the-national-gallery-of-art/) --- ## ICYMI [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/fall-exhibitions.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/15-museum-exhibitions-to-see-across-the-us-this-fall/) [ 15 Museum Exhibitions to See Across the US This Fall ](https://hyperallergic.com/15-museum-exhibitions-to-see-across-the-us-this-fall/) Tony Cokes’s riffs on the video essay, a Grandma Moses retrospective, and Abbas Akhavan’s US museum debut are among the shows to look forward to this season. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/15-museum-exhibitions-to-see-across-the-us-this-fall/) ### Artists Reflect on 9/11 and the Wounds of the “War on Terror” URL: https://hyperallergic.com/artists-reflect-on-9-11-and-the-wounds-of-the-war-on-terror/ Last updated: 2026-09-11T23:55:56.000Z Every year on September 11, New Yorkers pay tribute to the victims of the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center — and to the wounds of the weeks and years after. That period was defined by grief, rebuilding efforts, and, almost immediately, a vicious campaign of Islamophobia and surveillance whose effects reshaped the world as they knew it. Iraqi-born artist Wafaa Bilal recalls, “I sensed at once that the comfort and security Americans had long taken for granted were gone.” Bilal is one of several artists from Muslim, South Asian, and Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) communities whose lives were indelibly altered by the United States’s weaponization of the 9/11 attacks to pass the PATRIOT Act and justify the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. Twenty-five years into “never forget,” *Hyperallergic* asked artists, curators, and culture workers to share personal and artistic reflections on how that day shaped their lives. These are their stories. A note: Some contain references to violence and trauma, so please read with care. **—** *Lakshmi Rivera Amin, associate editor* --- ### Wafaa Bilal, artist ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/DT-10.jpg) Documentation of Wafaa Bilal, [**Domestic Tension*](https://wafaabilal.com/domestic-tension/?ref=hyperallergic.com) (2007), multi-day performance in which the artist live-streamed footage of himself and invited users to "shoot" him with a paintball gun (image courtesy the artist) "When the second plane hit, I knew this was no accident, and I sensed at once that the comfort and security Americans had long taken for granted were gone. The images were not new to me. I had lived through the Iran–Iraq War, Desert Storm, and years in a conflict zone, and what I saw on the screen brought back memories I knew too well. My first instinct was to call hospitals and ask where I could donate blood. My deepest empathy was with the victims and their families, but as soon as it became clear who was behind the attacks, I knew a backlash against Muslim and Arab communities would follow. And it did. Walking through downtown Chicago, I was called 'Bin Laden.' Middle Easterners were afraid, and Muslim women feared going out with hijab. I hoped the United States would respond by taking the moral high ground rather than letting fear determine its course. That did not happen. Our political leaders used 9/11 to justify multiple wars, including the invasion of Iraq, a country that had nothing to do with the attacks. In 2004, during the Iraq War, I lost my brother Haji. The architects of those wars fell into the very trap the attackers had set: allowing violence to breed more violence, fear to breed more fear, and division to deepen at precisely the moment another path might have been possible." --- ### Shahzia Sikander, artist ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/ShS-2001_Pleasure-Pillars.jpg) Shahzia Sikander, "Pleasure Pillars" (2001), vegetable color, dry pigment, watercolor, and tea on wasli paper (image courtesy the artist) "In the aftermath of 9/11, Muslim and South Asian bodies were made newly legible through surveillance, suspicion, and fantasies of rescue. The figure of the 'Muslim woman' became, with devastating efficiency, an alibi for war. I answered with 'Pleasure Pillars.' Its central head, an amalgamation of feminist thinkers and poets, crowned with ram's horns, is built out of pleasure, sensuality, and confidence: against the paternalistic construction of Muslim women as anything fragile, anything waiting to be rescued. That head floats above torsos of Venus and Devata, and dancers drawn from Mughal and Rajput miniatures. I insist on not just the longevity of these visual traditions but of the women who carry them. I later added a fighter jet, not simply an image of war, but the collision of temporalities it produces: South Asian and Persianate visual culture, diasporic movement, gendered mythologies, and the inescapable present of imperial violence. As Gayatri Gopinath has written, 'Its bodies stay fractured, composite, illegible, its histories spiraling and overlapping rather than moving in a straight line.' What endures, 25 years on, is what she calls "the promiscuous intimacies of our shared pasts and presents.'" _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Kathleen V. Jameson Named Speed Museum Director URL: https://hyperallergic.com/kathleen-v-jameson-named-speed-museum-director/ Last updated: 2026-09-10T21:44:08.000Z [*Art Movements,*](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/art-movements/) *published every Thursday afternoon, is a roundup of must-know news, appointments, awards, and other art-world happenings.* --- ### Speed Museum Names New Director **Kathleen V. Jameson** is returning to the Speed Museum, where she spent a formative period of her career, as its new director. A scholar of American art and photography, Jameson comes to the Kentucky institution from the Mint Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she established the first digital media program. Her three-decade trajectory is stacked with roles at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the James A. Michener Art Museum in Pennsylvania; and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, among others. “Returning to Louisville and to the Speed is deeply meaningful to me,” Jameson said in a statement. “My time here as a graduate student helped shape both my scholarship and my career in museums, and I have always valued the Speed’s commitment to artistic excellence and connection.” --- ### Acquisitions ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Screenshot-2026-09-10-at-4.20.39---PM.jpg) Alison Rossiter, "Semblance, Man Ray Tapestry (4)" (2026) and "Expired 1919" (2023) (images courtesy Yossi Milo Gallery) - The Metropolitan Museum of Art has acquired two works by **Alison** **Rossiter** from her series of assemblages of expired photographic papers. According to Yossi Milo Gallery, one of the works, "Semblance, Man Ray Tapestry (4)" (2026), was inspired by Rossiter's experience of seeing **Man Ray**'s original work at the Jewish Museum in 2009. - The Nationalmuseum in Stockholm has acquired “[The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine of Alexandria](https://www.nationalmuseum.se/en/about-nationalmuseum/news/nationalmuseum-in-stockholm-acquires-unknown-painting-by-lavinia-fontana?ref=hyperallergic.com)” (1607), a previously unidentified altarpiece by Italian Mannerist painter **Lavinia** **Fontana**. - The Art Gallery of Ontario has acquired six works by Toronto artist **Brian** **Groombridge**, to be featured in a [solo exhibition](https://ago.ca/exhibitions/brian-groombridge-new-models-measurement?ref=hyperallergic.com) of Groombridge's prints and sculptures from 1989–2021 opening at the museum September 12. --- ### What Else Happened? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Caitlin_Henningsen_web.jpg-copy.jpg) Caitlin Henningsen (photo courtesy the Frick Collection) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Brooklyn Museum Displays Work of Artist Killed in 9/11 on 25th Anniversary URL: https://hyperallergic.com/brooklyn-museum-displays-work-of-artist-killed-in-9-11-on-25th-anniversary/ Last updated: 2026-09-11T20:59:03.000Z Emerging Caribbean-American artist Michael Richards was in his studio on the 92nd floor of the World Trade Center's North Tower when the first plane crashed into the building 25 years ago, leaving no survivors above the 91st floor. The 38-year-old artist’s voice reverberates through time with the survival of his prescient, incisive sculptures that link aviation to Black freedom. In acknowledgment of the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, the Brooklyn Museum has installed “[Free F'All](https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/en-GB/exhibitions/michael-richards?ref=hyperallergic.com)” (1997), the only work by Richards in its collection, in the lobby for public display. “Richards's career was cut so short, so it's wonderful that the museum has this sculpture and that his legacy is really living on through his work,” Kimberli Gant, the museum's curator of modern and contemporary art, who organized the sculpture's reemergence, said in a phone call with *Hyperallergic*. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/michaelandhimself.jpg) Michael Richards in his studio, standing beside a mold he created of himself for a sculpture (photo by and courtesy Carolyn Swiszcz) Made of fiberglass and resin and coated in rust oxide, “Free F'All” depicts a Black military pilot with closed eyes, arms pinned to his sides, and a slight bend in his right knee as he dons a parachute pack and an aviator's cap. Dozens of nails pierce his body from the collarbone to the mid-thigh, down the length of his arms, and through his hands and feet like that of acrucifixion. Like much of [Richards's practice](https://hyperallergic.com/michael-richards-are-you-down-review-moca/), the sculpture directly references the [Tuskegee Airmen](https://airandspace.si.edu/explore/stories/tuskegee-airmen?ref=hyperallergic.com) — the first African American aviators to serve in the United States armed forces. The nails embody the racial discrimination and violence that these Black pilots endured while putting their lives on the line as segregation was still enforced in the US military during World War II. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### A Portrait of an Artist as a Dominatrix URL: https://hyperallergic.com/a-portrait-of-an-artist-as-a-dominatrix/ Last updated: 2026-09-10T19:49:38.000Z Olivia Wilde plays Erika Tracy, a contemporary art superstar-slash-sociopath (is there a difference?) in the super-fucked-up love story that is [*I Want Your Sex*](https://www.magpictures.com/iwantyoursex/?ref=hyperallergic.com) (2026) — and “fuck” is an operative word in this movie, because she’s also a dominatrix. Cooper Hoffman, playing Elliott, her schlubby and somehow-already-balding 23-year-old gallery assistant, becomes her plaything; “consent” here is both sexual and artistic (and both, I ought to warn you, are violated). It’s a caricature of the art world more than an actually incisive critique — "You know I hate criticism, especially when it’s accurate,” Erika breezes at one point. But it’s definitely funner that way, with hilarious but low-hanging one-liners (“You don’t have a trust fund? What are you, an orphan?”); the obligatory gorgeous gallery girl who looks at you like she loathes you more than anything in the history of the world; and Julio Torres-esque Surrealist elements (that can be pretty convenient cover for occasionally suspect acting). Did I even mention that Charli xcx graces the screen as Elliot's utterly unimpressed girlfriend? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/6.jpg) Olivia Wilde in **I Want Your Sex* (2026) There’s also what seems to mea surprisingly searing take on David Hockney’s “[Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-digital-decline-of-david-hockney/)” (1972): without spoiling too much, a scene where a figure looks blankly down at a version of themself floating face-down in a pool. Portrait of an artist, indeed — for it’s at this moment that the film cleverly reveals another side of itself as a Künstlerroman. “Contemporary art is a scam, you know that, right?” Erika asks Elliott in one of their very first scenes. In *I Want Your Sex*, we witness the rebirth of Elliott as not just a victim but a scam artist in his own right (okay, a podcaster cashing in on the drama, but again, is there a difference?) — made in the image of his aggressor. This isn't exactly the kind of movie you'll remember for the rest of your life, but it's worth its hour-and-a-half runtime in rollicking ridiculousness alone. [I Want Your Sex](https://www.magpictures.com/iwantyoursex/?ref=hyperallergic.com) *(2026), directed by Gregg Araki, is screening in select theaters and widely available on streaming services.* ### Tschabalala Self’s Splendid “Lady in Blue” Graces London’s Fourth Plinth URL: https://hyperallergic.com/tschabalala-selfs-splendid-lady-in-blue-graces-londons-fourth-plinth/ Last updated: 2026-09-10T20:53:54.000Z LONDON — Tschabalala Self’s “Lady in Blue” was unveiled today as the latest sculpture for the Fourth Plinth on Trafalgar Square in London, perhaps the most famous public art commission in the United Kingdom. At nearly 17 feet tall, donning a glamorous turquoise dress and statement jewelry as she takes a purposeful step forward, the towering figureis Self’s largest sculpture to date. Born and based in New York, Self is best known for her joyful depictions of Black women rendered in paint, fabric, and collage elements. Fabricated from bronze, her Fourth Plinth sculpture is patinated with Lapis Lazuli, a vibrant blue pigment made by grinding the semi-precious stone. Prized since antiquity, the color also appears in many historical paintings, including some at the nearby National Gallery. Despite this reference to art history, Self’s sculpture is resolutely a woman of today. In a speech at the unveiling Thursday, September 10, the artist emphasized that “Lady in Blue” is “not an idol to venerate or a historical figure to commemorate.” “She’s an everyday woman like the many who occupy the square daily,” Self said. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/image-13.png) The towering figure is Self’s largest sculpture to date. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### OCAD University Presents Canada's Pavilion at the 2026 Gwangju Biennale URL: https://hyperallergic.com/ocad-university-presents-exhibition-at-2026-gwangju-biennale/ Last updated: 2026-09-10T15:15:42.000Z [OCAD University](https://bit.ly/4xaMCwu?ref=hyperallergic.com) presents Canada's Pavilion at the 2026 [Gwangju Biennale](https://bit.ly/3UEWVu8?ref=hyperallergic.com) with the exhibition, [*Skennen'kó:wa ken? (Do You Carry Great Peace?)*](https://bit.ly/4hZG9Qn?ref=hyperallergic.com). The exhibition, which opened September 5, is curated by Ryan Rice, executive director and curator, Indigenous Art, at Onsite Gallery, with Lee Sun, chief curator of the Lee KangHa Art Museum, as the Korean partner curator. *Skennen'kó:wa ken? (Do You Carry Great Peace?)* is presented in collaboration with the Lee KangHa Art Museum with support from Onsite Gallery and the Embassy of Canada to the Republic of Korea, and is generously sponsored by David Binet. The exhibition centers the work of three Kanien'kehá:ka contemporary artists, Hannah Claus, Melissa General, and Shelley Niro, whose creative practices are grounded in the philosophy of peace embedded in the Kanien’kehá:ka daily greeting from which the exhibition takes its name. This greeting, an affirmation of mutual recognition and respect, reflects a foundational value of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy (People of the Longhouse), recognized as the oldest continuous democracy in the Americas, predating Western colonization. All three artists are graduates of OCAD University. Centering the political, cultural, and spiritual roles of Haudenosaunee women, the pavilion emphasizes rematriation — Indigenous women-led efforts to restore sacred intergenerational relationships to ancestral lands, waters, and cultural knowledge — while exploring continuity and self-governance through contemporary artistic practice. Positioned within Gwangju’s history of democratic resistance and collective action, the exhibition fosters dialogue between Indigenous governance philosophies, the Haudenosaunee worldview, and global movements for justice and renewal. Learn more at [ocadu.ca](https://bit.ly/4cSSmTB?ref=hyperallergic.com). ### Hyperallergic Writers Among 2026 Rabkin Prize Recipients URL: https://hyperallergic.com/hyperallergic-writers-among-2026-rabkin-prize-recipients/ Last updated: 2026-09-10T15:40:12.000Z *Hyperallergic* contributor [Damien Davis](https://hyperallergic.com/author/damien-davis/) is among the eight arts writers who received the 2026 Rabkin Prize, an annual, nomination-based award granted by the Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation. The recipients, announced today, September 10, hail from diverse sectors of arts writing, from investigative arts journalism to cultural research around race, power, and democracy. In addition to Davis, who works as a Newark-based artist and educator, the 2026 Rabkin winners are [Alicia Inez Guzmán](https://hyperallergic.com/author/alicia-inez-guzman/), an investigative writer whose work has appeared in *Hyperallergic*; Melaine Ferdinand-King, a Rhode Island-based poet and cultural strategist; [Tyler Green](https://hyperallergic.com/tyler-green-modern-art-notes/), host of the [*Modern Art Notes*](https://manpodcast.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) podcast; Julia Halperin, editor-at-large of *Cultured* magazine; [Sarah Lewis](https://hyperallergic.com/sarah-lewis-on-ways-of-seeing-race-in-america/), art critic and an African and African American Studies professor at Harvard University; Jan Tumlir, a founding editor of the Los Angeles-based art journal [*X-TRA*](https://www.e-flux.com/directory/165989/x-tra?ref=hyperallergic.com); and Kaelen Wilson-Goldie, an international arts and culture critic. Grantees will be awarded an unrestricted sum of $50,000 each. "At a moment when so much of our culture encourages speed, certainty and simplification, these are writers who insist on close attention, deep research, complexity, independent thought and a long view," Mary Louise Schumacher, the executive director of the Rabkin Foundation, told *Hyperallergic* over email. "Spending time with their work — and with them — has reminded me what a gift that is,” Schumacher added. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/2026-winner-grid-COLOR-WEB-1.jpg) Left to right: Alicia Inez Guzmán, Damien Davis, Tyler Green, Sarah Lewis, Kaelen Wilson-Goldie, Melaine Ferdinand-King, Jan Tumlir An independent jury of arts professionals selects the awardees, all of whom offer unique insight into the complex dynamics undergirding the art world. Davis, whose opinion pieces traverse his own experience [losing an archive of artworks](https://hyperallergic.com/when-artists-lose-their-archives/) to a hasty auction, the issues with the standard [50/50 monetary split](https://hyperallergic.com/its-time-rethink-the-50-50-split-with-art-galleries/) between artists and galleries, and the [crushing debt traps](https://hyperallergic.com/the-art-school-debt-trap/) obscured by art schools, refuses to subscribe to the romantic mythos around his career path. Guzmán uses investigative rigor to illustrate how museums can literally [flatten](https://hyperallergic.com/multi-cultural-mural-santa-fe-vladem-contemporary/) pre-existing community artworks, destroying beacons of history while trying to find a home for others. “It’s exciting and affirming to know that, as a visual artist, I can also carve out space for myself as a writer, champion other artists, and make the parts of the art world that can feel nebulous or intimidating a little more legible, so that we can all move through it in a more informed way,” Davis told *Hyperallergic*. “Receiving this recognition allows me to keep moving forward as an artist who doesn’t see boundaries between writing, visual art, and advocacy.” Each recipient will delve deeper into their work on the [*Rabkin Interviews*](https://rabkinfoundation.substack.com/s/the-rabkin-interviews) podcast, set to publish each Wednesday on various platforms, starting on September 16. Founded in 1999 by New York City-based couple Leo and Dorothea Rabkin, the foundation advances visual arts careers with support from the Rabkin estate. Since the prizes were established in 2017, the foundation has disbursed over $4 million in award money, with previous recipients including author Paul Chaat Smith (Comanche Nation) and cultural historian TK Smith. In 2024, *Hyperallergic* co-founder and Editor-at-Large [Hrag Vartanian](https://hyperallergic.com/hyperallergic-editor-in-chief-hrag-vartanian-wins-rabkin-lifetime-achievement-award/) won the Rabkin Lifetime Achievement Award for his "generational impact on the field." "They don’t treat art as something sealed off from life; they understand it as a way into history, land, race, politics, war, memory, institutions and public life," Schumacher said about this year's recipients. "They are wonderfully different as writers — in their voices and in their ideas about what arts writing can be — but they are rare, world-building minds, thinking alongside others in public about matters of real consequence." ### Art Books and Scholarship from the National Gallery of Art URL: https://hyperallergic.com/art-books-and-scholarship-from-the-national-gallery-of-art/ Last updated: 2026-09-10T14:45:11.000Z From the printed page to digital storytelling, the [National Gallery’s publications](https://bit.ly/4gyLjAo?ref=hyperallergic.com) bring art to everyone. To take the museum home in print, our exhibition catalogs, scholarly volumes, and collection highlights make beautiful additions to any bookshelf. --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/photography-black-arts-movement-1.png)](https://bit.ly/4wQwu26?ref=hyperallergic.com) ### [Photography and the Black Arts Movement, 1955–1985](https://bit.ly/4wQwu26?ref=hyperallergic.com) Edited by Philip Brookman and Deborah Willis Catalogs like *Photography and the Black Arts Movement, 1955—1985* are foundational to our publishing program. A companion to our groundbreaking 2025–2026 exhibition, this authoritative book examines photography’s impact on a cultural and aesthetic movement that celebrated Black history, identity, and beauty. Works by Romare Bearden, Gordon Parks, Lorna Simpson, Carrie Mae Weems, and more span the disciplines of documentary and fashion photography, portraiture, collage, installation, performance, and video. --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/woven-histories-1.png)](https://bit.ly/4gi2eIC?ref=hyperallergic.com) ### [Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction](https://bit.ly/4gi2eIC?ref=hyperallergic.com) Edited by Lynne Cooke An ambitious, comprehensive look at textiles as a major force in modern abstraction, *Woven Histories* covers more than 50 artists whose work breaks down hierarchies that once separated the fine arts from craft. Beginning in the early 20th century with revolutionary women artists such as Anni Albers, Sonia Delaunay, and Sophie Taeuber-Arp, the book surveys the last 100 years of discourse and practice. As it extends into the present day, *Woven Histories* features art and writing by figures like Jeffrey Gibson, Sheila Hicks, Ellen Lesperance, and others who continue to shape the field. --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/rothko-paintings-paper-1.png)](https://bit.ly/4xlwng8?ref=hyperallergic.com) ### [Mark Rothko: Paintings on Paper](https://bit.ly/4xlwng8?ref=hyperallergic.com) By Adam Greenhalgh One of the most famous artists of the 20th century, Mark Rothko is best known for his towering abstract canvases. *Mark Rothko: Paintings on Paper* offers a new appreciation for an underrecognized element of his practice. Throughout his career, he created over 1,000 paintings on paper, from early figurative subjects to his iconic soft-edged rectangular fields. This volume brings together nearly 100 of these rarely displayed works, transforming our understanding of a celebrated artist. --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Hyperallergic_Art.png)](https://bit.ly/3UdtbVb?ref=hyperallergic.com) ### [Art &](https://bit.ly/3UdtbVb?ref=hyperallergic.com) Edited by Kaira M. Cabañas Publications from our research institute, the [Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts](https://bit.ly/4gVs7wL?ref=hyperallergic.com), seek to deepen knowledge of the artistic past, present, and future. Our innovative new series, *Art &*, invites readers to dive into a more dynamic study ofart. Centered around a theme, like histories, water, abilities, and dreaming, each book explores its subject through the role of art and artists. Grounded in first-person narratives, essays by emerging and established scholars are accompanied by an original contemporary artwork commissioned in response to the volume’s topic. The first two installments, [*Art & Histories*](https://bit.ly/3S9rIyF?ref=hyperallergic.com) and [*Art & Water*](https://bit.ly/4ib6sDh?ref=hyperallergic.com), are out now, with the next two publishing in 2027 and 2028\. --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/collections.png)](https://bit.ly/4wFrpcN?ref=hyperallergic.com) ### [National Gallery of Art Collections](https://bit.ly/4wFrpcN?ref=hyperallergic.com) Our renowned collection includes over 160,000 works of art, from the ancient world to today. Celebrate 400 of the most beloved in *National Gallery of Art Collections*, our first large survey book published in more than 20 years. Explore works by Leonardo da Vinci, Dorothea Lange, Simone Leigh, Claude Monet, Faith Ringgold, Johannes Vermeer, and more visionaries across the ages as you get to know the National Gallery of Art. To learn more about the National Gallery of Art's publications, visit [nga.gov](https://bit.ly/4gyLjAo?ref=hyperallergic.com). ### Testicle Art Is So Back URL: https://hyperallergic.com/testicle-art-is-so-back/ Last updated: 2026-09-10T10:00:44.000Z When country singer Kacey Musgraves appeared onstage atop a pair of sparkly testicles during her *Middle of Nowhere Tour*, we immediately conjured Alexandra Rubinstein’s gonad-shaped “disco balls,” which our own co-founder Hrag Vartanian admired at the 2024 Spring Break Art Show. It turns out that many artists walked so that Musgraves could, you know, sing on top of deez nuts. Today, Associate Editor Phillip Pyle traces the exquisitely subversive, irreverent history of testicle art, from Phillip Guston to Pippa Garner. Also today, Ed Simon sounds the alarm about Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch's resignation. The museum leader dedicated his career to education and public engagement with Black history, Simon writes, while conservative “scholars” like the Heritage Foundation president studied it only to ensure its erasure. *—Valentina Di Liscia, senior editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/bunch.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/lonnie-bunchs-resignation-is-a-wake-up-call/) [ Lonnie Bunch’s Resignation Is a Wake-Up Call ](https://hyperallergic.com/lonnie-bunchs-resignation-is-a-wake-up-call/) In 2003, a PhD candidate at the University of Texas at Austin successfully defended a dissertation based on meticulous research across French, Spanish, and English. Kevin D. Roberts’s *Slaves and slavery in Louisiana: the evolution of Atlantic world identities, 1791-1831* articulated an argument about how enslaved people resisted bondage by forming alternative social and cultural structures, contending that Black Americans “employed a variety of tools — cultural traditions, secret and overt resistance, and a distinctive ideology of politics ‘from the ground up’ — to tweak, alter, and challenge” white supremacy. | Ed Simon [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/lonnie-bunchs-resignation-is-a-wake-up-call/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/rabkin.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/p/8d649c90-2888-4d55-8178-19496fa63fa2/) ****Announcing the 2026 Rabkin Prize Winners** The Rabkin Foundation celebrates the creative and intellectual contributions of today’s art writers, with eight unrestricted awards of $50,000 each. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/p/8d649c90-2888-4d55-8178-19496fa63fa2/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/V-A-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/striking-workers-shutter-three-v-a-london-locations/) - Workers [carry out a massive strike](https://hyperallergic.com/striking-workers-shutter-three-v-a-london-locations/) at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, citing “Amazon-style” labor conditions at its V&A East Storehouse. - A new study finds that [trust in museums is rising across partisan lines](https://hyperallergic.com/trust-in-us-museums-grows-across-party-lines-survey-finds/). --- ## Features [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/disco-balls.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/a-brief-history-of-testicle-art/) [ A Brief History of Testicle Art ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-brief-history-of-testicle-art/) Kacey Musgraves’s viral disco balls moment points to a lineage of artists whose use of the genital form is camp-as-critique. | Phillip Pyle [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-brief-history-of-testicle-art/) [ Women Painters Lead Brazil’s New Wave of Figuration ](https://hyperallergic.com/women-painters-lead-brazils-new-wave-of-figuration/) Panmela Castro, Agrade Camíz, Márcia Falcão, Maya Weishof, and Gokula Stoffel are five artists at the helm of the revival. | Ela Bittencourt [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/women-painters-lead-brazils-new-wave-of-figuration/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/morven-ad.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/voices-in-print-new-jersey-black-women-printmakers-shaping-the-american-narrative/) ****Voices in Print: New Jersey Black Women Printmakers Shaping the American Narrative** The exhibition at Morven Museum & Garden in Princeton focuses on the contributions of Black women artists across generations. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/voices-in-print-new-jersey-black-women-printmakers-shaping-the-american-narrative/) --- ## Interview [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/counterpublic-triennial.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-counterpublic-triennials-new-kind-of-public-space/) [ The Counterpublic Triennial’s New Kind of Public Space ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-counterpublic-triennials-new-kind-of-public-space/) “We think of our work as an invitation to do more, to take action, and to operate differently,” co-founder James McAnally told *Hyperallergic*. | Sara Reisman [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-counterpublic-triennials-new-kind-of-public-space/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/halsey-ad.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/grounded-in-grain-washed-in-the-water/) ****Grounded in Grain, Washed in the Water** Black Southern traditions are not relics to be preserved behind glass, but dynamic systems of knowledge that continue to evolve. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/grounded-in-grain-washed-in-the-water/) --- ## In Memoriam [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/in-memoriam-9.9.26.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-jean-francois-leroy-lucien-smith-and-jibby-beane/) [ Remembering Jean-François Leroy, Lucien Smith, and Jibby Beane ](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-jean-francois-leroy-lucien-smith-and-jibby-beane/) This week, we honor the founder of an influential photojournalism festival, a fixture of NYC’s downtown art scene, and a fashionista and gallerist. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-jean-francois-leroy-lucien-smith-and-jibby-beane/) --- ## Member Comment I was a young Painter IN 1974 when Lee Krasner agreed to come to Philadelphia for my FOCUS:Philadelphia Focus on Women in the Visual Arts. I picked her up at the train station and took her directly to the Marian Locks Gallery to see one of the participating exhibitions. As we walked up the stairs, she ordered me to make this very brief and said something like:..." I have no time for these things, I'm here to see Evan Turner at the museum and you better get me there as soon as possible." I saw her as a driven ambitious woman who was trying to assert her place now that Pollock had been dead for almost 20 years. —Diane Burko on "[What I Got Wrong About Krasner and Pollock](https://hyperallergic.com/what-i-got-wrong-about-krasner-and-pollock/#ghost-comments-6a9c24b9c23d560001c378bd)" --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/sally-mann.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/sally-mann-polarizing-life-in-art/) [ Sally Mann’s Polarizing Life in Art ](https://hyperallergic.com/sally-mann-polarizing-life-in-art/) The photographer, who has been the subject of controversy at times in her career, discusses her approach to life in her book, *Art Work*. | Natalie Weis [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/sally-mann-polarizing-life-in-art/) ### Announcing the 2026 Rabkin Prize Winners URL: https://hyperallergic.com/announcing-the-2026-rabkin-prize-winners/ Last updated: 2026-09-10T09:59:16.000Z Marking a decade of support for arts writers, the [Rabkin Foundation](https://bit.ly/4xpeop9?ref=hyperallergic.com) has named its 2026 recipients of the Rabkin Prize, awarding eight visual arts journalists $50,000 each in recognition of their creative and intellectual contributions to the field. ### The 2026 Rabkin Prize winners are: - **Damien Davis –** an artist, educator, and writer whose work explores how power, race, and cultural narratives are constructed and circulated. - **Melaine Ferdinand-King –** a cultural strategist, poet, and writer focused on historical and community narratives, and the inaugural curator of the African American Museum of Rhode Island. - **Tyler Green –** a critic, author, and longtime host of The Modern Art Notes Podcast. - **Alicia Inez Guzmán –** a critic and award-winning investigative journalist focused on culture and land use. - **Julia Halperin –** a critic, editor, investigative data journalist, and co-founder of the Burns Halperin Report, which tracks equity and representation in the art world. - **Sarah Lewis** **–** an award-winning author, associate professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University, and founder of Vision & Justice, an initiative that reveals the role of culture in representational democracy. - **Jan Tumlir** **–** an author, editor, educator, and founding editor of the Los Angeles-based contemporary art journal X-TRA. - **Kaelen Wilson-Goldie –** a journalist and critic with decades of international reporting experience who writes often about the relationship between art and politics. The Rabkin Foundation has distributed $4.1 million in Rabkin Prizes since 2017\. An independent jury — comprised of Irene Borger, a writer, teacher, and founding director of the Herb Alpert Award in the Arts; Jaime DeSimone, chief curator at the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, Maine; and Legacy Russell, a curator, writer, and executive director and chief curator of The Kitchen, an artist-driven collective in New York City — selected the winners from a pool of nominees. The Rabkin Prize is the central initiative of the Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation, an artist-endowed foundation based in Portland, Maine. Leo Rabkin was an artist who worked and exhibited in New York. He and his wife, Dorothea, valued art discussion and created a landmark collection of what historically has been termed folk and outsider art. The foundation’s headquarters is home to a destination gallery, where all are welcome to explore Leo Rabkin’s work. Writers are eligible until they win a Rabkin Prize. Learn more about the foundation and prize at [rabkinfoundation.org](https://bit.ly/4xpeop9?ref=hyperallergic.com). ### Lonnie Bunch’s Resignation Is a Wake-Up Call URL: https://hyperallergic.com/lonnie-bunchs-resignation-is-a-wake-up-call/ Last updated: 2026-09-09T20:30:18.000Z In 2003, a PhD candidate at the University of Texas at Austin successfully defended a dissertation based on meticulous research across French, Spanish, and English. Kevin D. Roberts’s *Slaves and slavery in Louisiana: the evolution of Atlantic world identities, 1791-1831* articulated an argument about how enslaved people resisted bondage by forming alternative social and cultural structures, contending that Black Americans “employed a variety of tools — cultural traditions, secret and overt resistance, and a distinctive ideology of politics ‘from the ground up’ — to tweak, alter, and challenge” white supremacy. Like most dissertations, it wasn’t necessarily groundbreaking but rather an example of the methodical expansion of knowledge that is the purpose of academic research. Ultimately, Roberts landed a tenure-track job at New Mexico State University, where he taught for two years and was remembered fondly after he left. That was precisely what surprised the faculty in 2021, when Roberts was named the director of the Heritage Foundation, the ultra-conservative think tank responsible for the bulk of the dystopian [Project 2025](https://hyperallergic.com/donald-trump-cultural-revolution/) that is currently enacting a veritable *Kulturkampf* across American society. Perhaps the most cynical conclusion is that Roberts, a White researcher, studied Black history as a means to better understand and continue the oppression of Black Americans and others deemed unworthy in the eyes of the regime. I thought about Roberts when reading the disturbing news that Dr. Lonnie G. Bunch III is [planning to retire as secretary of the Smithsonian Institution](https://hyperallergic.com/smithsonian-secretary-lonnie-bunch-steps-down-amid-trumps-attacks/) by end of the year, following relentless harassment from the Trump administration. Prior to his appointment to the position in 2019, Bunch had served in several different roles throughout the Smithsonian museums, including as founding director of the acclaimed National Museum of African American History and Culture. As *Hyperallergic* Senior Editor Valentina Di Liscia and Staff Writer Anna Lee reported yesterday,“Bunch has repeatedly clashed with and stood up against the Trump administration” in its dogged pursuit of historical revisionism as a means of not just White-washing American history, but indeed in facilitating a radical cultural takeover. (They also reported that, “in an interview with the [*Washington Post*](https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/art/2026/09/08/smithsonian-chief-bunch-retiring-trump-fights-reshape-institution/?ref=hyperallergic.com), Bunch said Trump’s pressure did not play a role in his decision to step down.”) Like Roberts, Bunch is a specialist in African-American history. Unlike Roberts, Bunch has used his expertise as a means of presenting to the public the most up-to-date, critically informed, and scholarly rigorous information. That Bunch resigned does nothing to diminish his admirable — even heroic — work but underscores the tremendous pressures that might have led him to this decision. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### The Counterpublic Triennial’s New Kind of Public Space URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-counterpublic-triennials-new-kind-of-public-space/ Last updated: 2026-09-09T21:50:22.000Z The third edition of the CounterpublicTriennial, [*Coyote Time*](https://counterpublic.org/edition/2026/?ref=hyperallergic.com), has expanded significantly across five main sites and opens tomorrow, Thursday, September 10, in St. Louis. But as artistic director and co-founder James McAnally explains, this expansion moves beyond mere scale, aiming to support artistic practices rooted in real change. The triennial frames itself as an invitation to experience public space differently, guided by core concepts such as accountability, access, climate, infrastructure, agency, and Native sovereignty. Unlike traditional biennials, Counterpublic relies on a curatorial "ensemble" rather than a team, balancing individual authorship with a collective voice to present multiple perspectives. Selected from 80 peer-recommended candidates, the ensemble members curated sections organized around specific themes across St. Louis. Stefanie HesslerandWanda Nanibush focus on the ecology of the Mississippi River and the city's disconnect from its three major North American watersheds. Jordan Carter examines scores, staging, and rehearsals of the future in The Ville, a neighborhood in St. Louis, including an operational high school, and other institutional spaces; Raphael Fonseca leverages his teaching background to design collaborative projects with students and work at a refugee resettlement center; and Nora N. Khan explores speculative infrastructures and technology at Sauget, the former Monsanto town, and elsewhere throughout the city. Presented on a three-year cycle and on view for three months, Counterpublic echoes the late artist Vito Acconci’s idea that in order for something to be "public," it must connect at least three people. When I asked artistic director James McAnally which artists’ practices have influenced his approach, he cited Richard Serra, whose first permanent public work, “Twain,” (1982), is installed in downtown St. Louis, adding that he also takes inspiration from the intimacy engendered by artists like Chloe Bass, whom he is married to, and Felix Gonzalez-Torres. --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/highway-1.jpg) Still of Alice Bucknell, **Coyote Time* (2026) **Sara Reisman:** *I’d like to start with The Luminary, which you founded in 2007, and how Counterpublic grew out of it, first as an exhibition in 2015 and later as a triennial launched in 2019\. Both platforms connect art, thought, and action to drive social change. What was your motivation for founding The Luminary, and how did you approach establishing it as a space for these ideas?* **James McAnally:** Both The Luminary and Counterpublic are rooted in linking art with social change. Inspired by the alternative space movement, The Luminary created a context for artists beyond mainstream institutional viewpoints. When we founded the organization, I was a musician, and co-founder Brea Youngblood was an artist and photographer, and others brought varied perspectives. The common thread was the understanding that there was a lack of space for artists to gather, think, and build together. Over time, that commitment sparked projects like *Contemporary Art Review* and *March*. Our core ambition was to move beyond institutional critique. Critique alone isn't enough; if we can’t imagine and build the institutions we want, critique becomes another instance of speaking to power without changing it. Writing as a critic for outlets like *Hyperallergic*, I reflected on how biennials and triennials repeatedly draw the same criticisms regarding their processes, audience, and resource distribution. Counterpublic grew out of asking whether we could build the alternatives we imagined. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Remembering Jean-François Leroy, Lucien Smith, and Jibby Beane URL: https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-jean-francois-leroy-lucien-smith-and-jibby-beane/ Last updated: 2026-09-09T20:37:03.000Z [*In Memoriam*](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/in-memoriam/) *is published every Wednesday afternoon and honors those we recently lost in the art world.* --- **Jean-François Leroy** (1956–2026) *French photographer who founded an influential photojournalism festival* He [co-founded and directed](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/07/arts/design/jean-francois-leroy-dead.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) the leading photojournalism festival *Visa Pour l’Image*, bringing attention to world conflicts and environmental disasters and bolstering the careers of photographers. He was also a photographer in his own right, and edited *Photo Magazine* during the late 1980s. --- **Lucien Smith** (1989–2026) *Fixture of NYC's downtown art scene* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/image-10.png) Artist Lucien Smith (1989–2026) (photo Sean Zanni/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images) The abstract painter and nonprofit founder channeled the community ethos of New York in the 1970s. Best known as an artist for his *Rain Paintings* series (2011–12), he also founded the organization Serving the People in 2017, which hosted weekly discussions and meetings around artists’ ideas, processes, and work in major cities across the world. [*Read the obituary*](https://hyperallergic.com/artist-lucien-smith-fixture-of-nycs-downtown-scene-dies-at-37/) --- **Jibby Beane** (d. 2026) *British gallerist and fashion icon* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Untitled.jpg) Jibby Beane (photo @jeffreylouisreed via [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/DasKtsYojQ2/?hl=en&ref=hyperallergic.com), screenshot Lisa Yin Zhang/**Hyperallergic*) She [bridged](https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2026/sep/08/jibby-beane-obituary?ref=hyperallergic.com) the fashion and art worlds, modeling for designers like Vivienne Westwood and opening a home gallery in 1994 that supported emerging talent, including British artist and composer Martin Creed. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### A Brief History of Testicle Art URL: https://hyperallergic.com/a-brief-history-of-testicle-art/ Last updated: 2026-09-09T20:33:57.000Z How does one write an art history of testicle-shaped disco balls? Does one begin with the most recent iteration of *disco balls* and trace their way back, through the raucous hollers and blacklit rooms of a [Southern Californian gay bar](https://local.yahoo.com/info-238892633-men-s-room-bar-long-beach/?guccounter=1&guce%5Freferrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce%5Freferrer%5Fsig=AQAAANsSH1bRIpSqBovakuNqlcac-rq%5FRFhnbch4cPzW7bAEvscDxlJIDD5uS6AKjoOS7B6rk0saMw4MZqiJJlKiqIWgPTMTKNZg8FhGI1snqGwG6WNA252ve%5FiEuRkUyt5IO6eat6%5FCAQE-fpEWZwqhL8lFo3wMdTbsV%5FEDaLAjvU2L&ref=hyperallergic.com), and a [fine-dining restaurant in Norway](https://gubalari.no/en/about-us/?ref=hyperallergic.com)? Or does one draw a line from the first depictions of testicles in Paleolithic cave art to “the day disco died” in 1979 and the unrelated spate of humorous genital-themed art born in the decades since? They say no time is like the present, especially in this case — because, presently, the Grammy-winning country music star Kacey Musgraves is perching herself on a giant suspended testicle-shaped disco ball night after night in front of tens of thousands of fans as part of her 36-date Middle of Nowhere Tour. Nearly two weeks after the tour kicked off in Chicago on August 20, Musgraves sat on the slowly spinning sculpture for two nights at Madison Square Garden, singing the starry-eyed, romantic “Rhinestoned” off her sixth studio album to a sold-out crowd of 20,000\. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Kacey-Musgraves-1.jpeg) Kacey Musgraves performing “Rhinestoned” next to a **disco balls* sculpture at Madison Square Garden (photo Lakshmi Rivera Amin/**Hyperallergic*) For Brooklyn artist Alexandra Rubinstein, the country artist’s take on the mobile, which quickly went viral via videos shared across social media platforms, uncannily resembled a sculpture that she made in 2020 and exhibited at the [Spring Break Art Show in 2024](https://hyperallergic.com/in-a-new-home-the-spring-break-art-show-2024-sticks-to-its-roots/). On August 22, the artist [posted](https://www.instagram.com/p/DcWW%5F0ZnBDB/?hl=en&img%5Findex=1&ref=hyperallergic.com) photos of her work, titled “Disco Balls,” on Instagram with the caption, “It’s true I made them first (maybe, who knows it’s all been done).” Users made quippy replies in the comments, writing “Who said disco was dead?” and “Testicle spectacle.” Artist Mike Glier commented that Rubinstein’s work resonated with Louise Bourgeois's testicular sculpture series [*Janus*](https://www.moma.org/collection/works/110573?ref=hyperallergic.com)(minus the disco mirrors, of course). Rubinstein told *Hyperallergic* that she quickly learned of Musgraves’s use of remarkably similar, albeit much larger disco balls in her tour, “as people often send \[her\] all these balls.” The artist made “Disco Balls” in 2020 from a mold that she had previously used to make a testicle-shaped piñata filled with “plastic babies, blue and pink candles, and condoms” for her 2020 solo show *Dick Diaries* at Established Gallery. “The piñata was about bringing attention to the cis male role in pregnancy and reproduction at a time when Trump had filled the Supreme Court with conservative judges, while also playing on the trope of a ball-busting feminist,” Rubinstein said. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/dick-diaries-opening-6.jpg) Alexandra Rubinstein at the opening of **Dick Diaries* at Established Gallery in 2020 (photo courtesy the artist) Much like *Dick Diaries*, and the artist’s signature paintings of [oversized phalluses](https://alexandrarubinstein.com/dickdiaries.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) which she views “as stand-in symbols for traditional masculinity,” Rubinstein’s “Disco Balls” are a tongue-in-cheek response to the patriarchal establishment. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Striking Workers Shutter Three V&A London Locations URL: https://hyperallergic.com/striking-workers-shutter-three-v-a-london-locations/ Last updated: 2026-09-09T19:28:32.000Z The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) [preemptively closed](https://vanda-production-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/2026/09/06/11/56/44/171dde7a-57b7-4c00-a278-9c8fa38c0587/Media%20Statement%20%E2%80%93%20Industrial%20Action%204%20and%205%20September%202026%20-%2006092026.pdf?ref=hyperallergic.com) three of its London locations last Friday, September 4, as its unionized staff went on a planned, two-day strike that weekend. Making up over half of the organization's workforce, some 700 workers organized under the Prospect Union's heritage division and the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) took part in the strike. The strike led the V&A to close the East Museum, the East Storehouse, and the Young V&A (its children's museum in Bethnal Green) through Saturday, September 5\. Many staff members rallied outside the three locations throughout the action, equipped with punny and confrontational signs calling for fair pay and access to water. “The decision to close three V&A sites underlines the point we have been making; our members are critical to the operation of the museum,” said Prospect's National Secretary for heritage, Paula Lamont, in a statement shared with *Hyperallergic.* She also said that Prospect won't hesitate to execute further strikes, including one at the V&A flagship in South Kensington, if necessary. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/55507769266_f52ea2d9fa_k.jpg) Staff members organized outside of the V&A East Museum, as well as the Storehouse and the Young V&A children's museum. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Trust in US Museums Grows Across Party Lines, Survey Finds URL: https://hyperallergic.com/trust-in-us-museums-grows-across-party-lines-survey-finds/ Last updated: 2026-09-09T19:21:57.000Z Trust in museums is rising across partisan lines, according to [newly published data](https://www.aam-us.org/2026/08/17/tracking-trust-in-museums-a-2025-annual-survey-of-museum-goers-data-story/?ref=hyperallergic.com) from a survey conducted by the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) and Wilkening Consulting, an audience research firm specializing in the culture sector. In an August 17 visual infographic story, AAM compiled new polling data from January with past annual surveys of American museum-goers conducted from 2021 to 2025\. Each year, researchers partner with museums to determine the public's most trusted sources of information across 10 categories. With friends and public libraries tying for first, museums trailed just behind, surpassing the public’s level of trust in researchers and scientists, local and national news agencies, and the United States government. On a scale of 1 (least trustworthy) to 10 (most trustworthy), conservative respondents gave museums an average score of 7.3, exceeding their 2021 and 2025 ratings. Moderates followed a similar upward trend with an assigned score of 7.2, a 0.6 jump from the 2021 number. Liberal participants scored museums at 7.8, matching last year's average and moving slightly above their 2021 rating. "People generally do not want political interference in museum content," Susie Wilkening, principal of Wilkening Consulting and the survey’s lead author, told *Hyperallergic*. "It can be perceived from all parts of the political spectrum, particularly with what's happening with the Smithsonian." President Donald Trump's escalating attacks on the Smithsonian have included attempts to [whitewash its presentations of US history](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-whitewashes-history-in-new-smithsonian-executive-order/) and accusations that its museums promote "[extreme political activism](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-accuses-smithsonian-of-anti-white-activism-in-draconian-new-report/)." After threatening to strip federal funding from the Smithsonian network, Trump [proposed](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-proposes-lowest-smithsonian-budget-in-years/) one of the lowest budgets for the institution in a decade. Amid the chaos, Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch [announced his year-end resignation](https://hyperallergic.com/smithsonian-secretary-lonnie-bunch-steps-down-amid-trumps-attacks/) this week. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Women Painters Lead Brazil’s New Wave of Figuration URL: https://hyperallergic.com/women-painters-lead-brazils-new-wave-of-figuration/ Last updated: 2026-09-09T17:58:29.000Z After years of institutional exhibitions of [Brazilian painting](https://hyperallergic.com/the-riotous-variety-of-brazilian-modernism-royal-academy-arts/) often limited to early-modernist figuration and mid-century abstraction — and the work of Tarsila do Amaral, Anita Malfatti, Lygia Clark, Lygia Pape, and Mira Schendel being feted internationally — a new wave of Brazilian artists is injecting the medium with a sense of urgency and vigor. Brazil previously saw a “return to painting” with the Geração 80 (‘80s Generation) and abandonment of strict geometric abstraction; though, as evidenced by some of that era’s artists, including Luiz Zerbini, Beatriz Milhazes, Leda Catunda, and José Leonilson, abstraction never fully went away. Instead, it fused with the materiality of the medium, resulting in a hybrid approach still present in contemporary painting. While [Brazilian women artists](https://hyperallergic.com/in-sao-paulo-overlooked-women-artists-get-the-spotlight/) have certainly challenged stereotypes of beauty and womanhood before — Anna Bella Geiger and Lenora de Barros immediately come to mind — the frankness with which Brazilian women painters depict eroticism today, be it through their dogged, unvarnished portrayals of the female body and desire, or their bracing examinations of violence against women, seems uniquely of the moment. Here are five artists to know. --- ### Panmela Castro ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Panmela-Castro_18896_ph-Edouard-Fraipont.jpeg) Panmela Castro, "Vulcanica Pokaropa," from the **Vigil* series (2021) (photo Edouard Fraipont, courtesy Luisa Strina, São Paulo) Upon seeing Castro’s somber yet invigorating 2021–22 solo show at Galeria Luisa Strina in São Paulo, curated by Daniela Labra, I was immediately struck by its title: [*To Flaunt is to be alive*](https://www.luisastrina.com.br/en/exhibitions/93-to-flaunt-is-to-be-alive-ostentar-e-estar-viva/?ref=hyperallergic.com). Here, flaunting didn’t mean flagging one’s status or possessions, but rather presenting one’s body candidly and intimately to affirm its resilience. In a series of nudes, Castro sometimes depicts a sitter twice, as if imagining her own painting already hanging on the sitter’s wall. Such doubling brought to mind the paucity of institutional archive imagery that preserves the memories of Black-Brazilian communities — the fact that representation, or lack of it, is always a political act. Castro conveys grit in works including a neon sign that reads “Cada Día Peor” (Worse Every Day) (“Vulcanica Pokaropa,” from the *Vigil* series, 2021) and a three-dimensional text-based sculpture that reads “Eu Sobrevivi” (I survived), from the *Residency* series (2021). Psychological and physical pain recur in Castro’s works, where the act of commemoration through portraiture or a self-reflexive testimonial gesture toward symbolic recovery. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Voices in Print: New Jersey Black Women Printmakers Shaping the American Narrative URL: https://hyperallergic.com/voices-in-print-new-jersey-black-women-printmakers-shaping-the-american-narrative/ Last updated: 2026-09-10T20:58:44.000Z Curated by Judith K. Brodsky and Rhinold L. Ponder, [*Voices in Print*](https://bit.ly/4xzDscX?ref=hyperallergic.com)is the inaugural exhibition to open in Morven’s Stockton Education Center. It’s part of *Re-Visioning America: 1776–2026*, commemorating the United States’s 250th with exhibitions highlighting the nation’s diversity and showcasing the work of female artists of color. *Re-Visioning America* was inspired by Princeton University Art Museum’s first exhibition of work by Black artists, *Fragments of American Life*, mounted during the bicentennial in 1976 that included just one Black woman artist. *Re-Visioning America* showcases and celebrates female artists of color who were excluded from the art world, and acknowledges their advocacy to create space for themselves and others. *Voices in Print* showcases generations of Black women artist activists whose art is transgressive in advocating for visibility and social change. Many worked collaboratively to pioneer new printmaking techniques and create opportunities for themselves in the art world; they serve as mentors and influences. As Black women, they have placed authentic representations of the Black female body at the center of their work — representations that reflect their experiences, identities, confidence, strength, beauty, and ideas — creating powerful works that others can find themselves mirrored in. The museum is dedicated to celebrating New Jersey’s cultural heritage, and all 14 artists have a connection to the state: Emma Amos, Camille Billops, Vivian E. Browne, Nanette Carter, Nefertiti Goodman, Gladys Barker Grauer, Diane Victoria Horn, Carmen Cartiness Johnson, Nell Painter, Sondra Perry, Janet Taylor Pickett, Mickalene Thomas, Nette Forné Thomas, and Bisa Washington. The project is a collaboration with Art Against Racism, Arts Council of Princeton, Garden Theatre, Historical Society of Princeton, Princeton Public Library, Princeton University Art Museum, the Princeton University Humanities Initiative, and William Trent House Museum. Funding provided by the New Jersey Historic Trust and the Mercer County Cultural & Heritage Commission, a partner of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. *Voices in Print* is on view now through February 28, 2027 at Morven: 55 Stockton Street, Princeton, NJ. Plan your visit at [morven.org](https://bit.ly/4xzDscX?ref=hyperallergic.com). ### Lonnie G. Bunch Has Had Enough URL: https://hyperallergic.com/lonnie-g-bunch-has-had-enough/ Last updated: 2026-09-09T12:01:47.000Z Lonnie G. Bunch III has had it. After months of incessant harassment and political prodding from the Trump White House, the Smithsonian Secretary announced that he's quitting his job with “very mixed emotions." What a sad way to kick off the fall season. It's also sad to see New York artist Lucien Smith die at the very young age of 37\. Once a market darling, he had abandoned the commercial art world for more community-focused work. Associate Editor Phillip Pyle looks back at his life and career. Also in the news: Another week, another museum heist in Europe. This time, two paintings disappear from the Renoir Museum in southern France. According to police, the thieves dropped two other paintings in the museum’s garden while officers chased them. Much more to read below, including John Yau on *Law & Order* writer and producer René Balcer, who also happens to be a photographer. Maybe Balcer can help Europe with its museum heist problem ... *DUN DUN.* —*Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/KaifungBaby-2025-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-law-order-writer-who-moonlights-as-an-artist/) [ The Law & Order Writer Who Moonlights as an Artist ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-law-order-writer-who-moonlights-as-an-artist/) Is René Balcer a street photographer, a documentary photographer, or a landscape photographer? All the above and more. Despite his achievements as a producer and writer for Law & Order — including a Primetime Emmy Award and multiple Edgar Awards — the throughline of Balcer’s life was direct photography. After studying poetry and photography at Concordia University in Montreal and taking a six-month seminar taught by the French New Wave filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard, Balcer worked as a cameraman, war reporter, editor, scriptwriter, documentary filmmaker, and film critic. Like Godard and other New Wave filmmakers, Balcer wrote reviews and made films, merging commentary and creativity. | John Yau [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-law-order-writer-who-moonlights-as-an-artist/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Renwick-Gallery-Talk-058.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/apply-for-a-2027-2028-fellowship-at-the-smithsonian-american-art-museum/) ****Apply for a 2027–2028 Fellowship at the Smithsonian American Art Museum** Fellowships at SAAM and its Renwick Gallery provide scholars with access to collections, community, and professional advancement. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/apply-for-a-2027-2028-fellowship-at-the-smithsonian-american-art-museum/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/lonnie-bunch-1-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/smithsonian-secretary-lonnie-bunch-steps-down-amid-trumps-attacks/) - [Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch will step down from his post](https://hyperallergic.com/smithsonian-secretary-lonnie-bunch-steps-down-amid-trumps-attacks/) by the end of the year, amid ongoing attacks on the institution by President Donald Trump and his administration. - Artist Lucien Smith, an abstract painter whose work as a nonprofit founder and restaurateur channeled the community ethos of 1970s New York, [dies at the age of 37](https://hyperallergic.com/artist-lucien-smith-fixture-of-nycs-downtown-scene-dies-at-37/). - A pair of thieves [steal two paintings](https://hyperallergic.com/renoir-artworks-worth-millions-stolen-in-five-minute-heist-in-france/)[ worth millions](https://hyperallergic.com/renoir-artworks-worth-millions-stolen-in-five-minute-heist-in-france/) from the Renoir Museum in southern France during an early-morning break-in on September 8\. - David Rubenstein, the former board chairman of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, [purchases Joel Shapiro’s "Blue"](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-ousted-kennedy-center-chairman-buys-removed-shapiro-sculpture/) (2019) just days after the National Park Service deinstalled the iconic sculpture from the center's grounds. --- ## Feature [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/01_Choe-Henderson_HANgang_2023-1-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/how-korean-paper-became-war-collateral/) [ How Korean Paper Became War Collateral ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-korean-paper-became-war-collateral/) Every sheet of Korean hanji I make carries the same question: What does it mean to preserve a tradition without flattening the people who created it? | Robert Choe-Henderson [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-korean-paper-became-war-collateral/) --- ## Book Review [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/N-1868-00-000014-wpu-1-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/for-sophie-lewis-femininity-is-not-the-enemy-of-feminism/) [ For Sophie Lewis, Femininity Is Not the Enemy of Feminism ](https://hyperallergic.com/for-sophie-lewis-femininity-is-not-the-enemy-of-feminism//) In “Femmephilia,” the author reclaims femininity, sexual pleasure, and adornment from patriarchal narratives in art and theorizes their liberatory powers. | Eileen G’Sell [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/for-sophie-lewis-femininity-is-not-the-enemy-of-feminism//) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Addison-Hyperallergic-image.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/america-in-the-making/) ****America in the Making** A new exhibition at the Addison Gallery of American Art examines how art throughout U.S. history reflects a growing national identity. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/america-in-the-making/) --- ## Member Comment This is well reasoned and well argued. Thanks for this. I appreciate that you bring up Kanye West too, because it seems to me that like Kusama, he has gotten a tacit pass for his racist behavior. This is the kind of criticism we need more of. —Seph Rodney on [**What the Art World Doesn’t Want You to Know About Yayoi Kusama*](https://hyperallergic.com/what-the-art-world-doesnt-want-you-to-know-about-yayoi-kusama/) --- ## ICYMI [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/whistler-nl-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/in-whistler-ann-patchett-tackles-loss-and-art/) [ In “Whistler,” Ann Patchett Tackles Loss and Art ](https://hyperallergic.com/in-whistler-ann-patchett-tackles-loss-and-art/) The beloved author’s new novel tells a story of familial loss and reconnection, beginning with a chance encounter at The Met. But why does it seem to imply that grief and art are at odds? | Lavinia Liang [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/in-whistler-ann-patchett-tackles-loss-and-art/) --- Featured opportunity ****Gulf Coast Journal — Toni Beauchamp Prize in Critical Art Writing** Gulf Coast invites entries for the 2026 Toni Beauchamp Prize in Critical Art Writing. Win $3,000 for first place or $1,000 as a runner-up. This year’s judge is critic Andrew Berardini. Deadline: September 14, 2026 | [gulfcoastmag.org](https://bit.ly/469wsrp?ref=hyperallergic.com) [Learn more ](https://bit.ly/469wsrp?ref=hyperallergic.com) ### A New Batch of Art-World Novels URL: https://hyperallergic.com/a-new-batch-of-art-world-novels/ Last updated: 2026-09-15T21:19:16.000Z Sometimes, all it takes is the prospect of a new book to pull me out of a reading slump. Elizabeth Alexander’s forthcoming essay collection did the trick, as did Layli Long Soldier’s book of poetry and visual art. They’re two of 15 art books my colleagues and I are itching to read this fall, which brings a particularly exciting slate of biographies, satirical art-world novels, and titles that don’t fit neatly into a single genre. I’m increasingly drawn to those latter books, the ones in between. Art historian Jennifer Higgie masters that nebulous form in *Bedlam*, a fictional account of Richard Dadd’s itinerant life and tragic struggles with mental health, reissued by Verso in July. Claudia Ross considers the sensitive task of inhabiting a historical figure’s voice, while Nageen Shaikh reviews a book on the often overlooked tradition of Pahari painting in India — not, she notes, to be characterized as “miniatures.” Read why scholars are moving away from that term below. More on grief and art in Ann Patchett’s latest novel, the latest news in the world of books and art, and some newsletter-exclusive peeks into what our editorial team is reading right now. (Hint: *Heated Rivalry* may or may not make an appearance.) —*Lakshmi Rivera Amin, associate editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/unnamed--1-.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/in-whistler-ann-patchett-tackles-loss-and-art/) [ In “Whistler,” Ann Patchett Tackles Loss and Art ](https://hyperallergic.com/in-whistler-ann-patchett-tackles-loss-and-art/) Artists and authors are taking the Year of the Horse quite seriously. Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of Homer’s *Odyssey* hit theaters this summer, featuring the classic Trojan horse and all it stands for: things both passed down orally and things unspeakable. And just a month before that came Ann Patchett’s *Whistler*, her 10th novel for adults, which also takes this year’s zodiac quite seriously — the book is named for a horse in a story within the story. | Lavinia Liang [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/in-whistler-ann-patchett-tackles-loss-and-art/) --- ## Guide [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Untitled-design-2--2.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/15-art-books-for-your-fall-reading-list/) [ 15 Art Books for Your Fall Reading List ](https://hyperallergic.com/15-art-books-for-your-fall-reading-list/) Guadalupe Rosales’s memoir, Christine Sun Kim’s artist book, Fady Joudah’s ode to the people of Gaza, and Elizabeth Alexander’s essay collection are among our most anticipated titles. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/15-art-books-for-your-fall-reading-list/) --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/south-asian-paintings.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/can-we-stop-calling-south-asian-painting-miniature/) [ Can We Stop Calling South Asian Painting “Miniature”? ](https://hyperallergic.com/can-we-stop-calling-south-asian-painting-miniature/) A book on 18th-century Pahari painting warns against thinking of these works as “miniatures,” a Western term, instead illuminating the artistic collaboration and ways of life at their heart. | Nageen Shaikh [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/can-we-stop-calling-south-asian-painting-miniature/) [ Virginia and Leonard Woolf’s Hogarth Press Gets an Exhibition of Its Own ](https://hyperallergic.com/virginia-and-leonard-woolfs-hogarth-press-gets-an-exhibition-of-its-own/) They were both writers, and amongst the remarkable fruits of their union was a decision to open a small press, which in time grew into something far from small. | Michael Glover [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/virginia-and-leonard-woolfs-hogarth-press-gets-an-exhibition-of-its-own/) [ Jennifer Higgie’s Empathetic Elegy for Richard Dadd ](https://hyperallergic.com/jennifer-higgies-empathetic-elegy-for-richard-dadd/) In *Bedlam*, the author and art critic does not describe the English painter’s often-sensationalized mental deterioration. Instead, she writes the novel in his voice. | Claudia Ross [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/jennifer-higgies-empathetic-elegy-for-richard-dadd/) --- ## In the News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/gautam-images.jpg)](https://feminisminindia.com/2026/09/01/the-blue-book-review-siddhesh-gautam-bakery-prasad/?ref=hyperallergic.com) - Siddhesh Gautam, whose [anti-caste comics](https://hyperallergic.com/dalit-history-month-is-not-a-token/) visualize the legacy of Ambedkarite and Dalit organizing, has [a graphic novel coming out in India](https://feminisminindia.com/2026/09/01/the-blue-book-review-siddhesh-gautam-bakery-prasad/?ref=hyperallergic.com). Penguin, please bring it to the US! - *End Times Fascism: And the Fight for the Living World* by duo Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor is coming out next week, and the [North America tour](https://naomiklein.org/events/?ref=hyperallergic.com) is already stacked. Event moderators include Jia Tolentino, Robin D. G. Kelley, and *Zeteo’s* Kat Abughazaleh. - Meanwhile, Claudia Rankine’s [tour](https://www.instagram.com/p/DcmFxWrG-TV?ref=hyperallergic.com) kicks off on Thursday for *Triage*, her first book since the conclusion of the American trilogy in 2020. - The indomitable author, historian, and filmmaker Sarah Schulman (whom I had the privilege of [interviewing](https://hyperallergic.com/sarah-schulmans-four-decades-of-lesbian-fiction/) in June) has a [novel coming out next fall](https://www.instagram.com/p/DcySr-yG7zc/?ref=hyperallergic.com). - Micro-publisher Sojourners for Justice Press released their 2027 risograph-printed calendar featuring 12 historical Black feminist publishers and printers. Get yours [here](https://sojourners4justice.press/calendar/?ref=hyperallergic.com). --- ## What We're Reading ### *On the Calculation of Volume* *(Book IV)* I'm on [Book IV](http://bookshop.org/a/539/9780811238410?ref=hyperallergic.com) of Solvej Balle's strangely addictive *On the Calculation of Volume* series, the story of a woman stuck in a time loop — a variously autumnal, never-ending 18th of November — that is unlike anything I've ever read, brimming with existential reflections on how we construct meaning. *—Valentina Di Liscia, senior editor* ### *After Hours at Dooryard Books* In [*After Hours at Dooryard Books*](http://bookshop.org/a/539/9798993593401?ref=hyperallergic.com), a man shows up under shadowy circumstances at a West Village bank bookshop in 1968 New York. He’s taken in by a kind lady and her bookshop manager. Soon, we discover the facts around his fear to go outside, while the bookshop manager’s sister, who is a renowned folk singer, shows up with her newborn after discovering her husband has become one of the thousands killed in the Vietnam War. It’s a backdrop for a curious love story between two men who are healing their own wounds, while the secrets surface and everyone wonders what they actually believe about those they love. It’s by Cat Sebastian, one of my favorite authors in the widely popular MM romance genre that has been on fire since the Heated Rivalry series broke records on TV late last year. —*Hrag Vartanian, co-founder and editor-at-large* --- ## Zines [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/zine-library-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/inside-the-3-000-zine-library-in-a-texas-living-room/) [ Inside the 3,000-Zine Library in a Texas Living Room ](https://hyperallergic.com/inside-the-3-000-zine-library-in-a-texas-living-room/) Michelle Millette’s Sherwood Forest Zine Library in Austin is part of a growing culture and community surrounding the self-published, easy-to-distribute booklets. | Shahrzad Rasekh [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/inside-the-3-000-zine-library-in-a-texas-living-room/) [ *Paper Cuts*: 600 Small Press Zines ](https://centerforbookarts.org/exhibitions/paper-cuts?ref=hyperallergic.com) This Thursday, the Center for Book Arts in Manhattan opens the doors to *Paper Cuts*, an exhibition with over 600 zines by small presses collected and curated by Christopher Kardambikis. In an email, he explained that it marks the end of the *Paper Cuts* podcast that gave the show its name, offering him “the opportunity to reach out to creators I had not spoken to before while bringing the project full circle by documenting and collecting the current activities of our oldest collaborators.” Kardambikis specifically shouted out the work of Pegacorn Press’s Caroline Kern ([whose fundraising patch for Gaza has hung in my room for two years](https://hyperallergic.com/palestine-solidarity-shines-at-the-new-york-art-book-fair-2024/)), #blkgrlswurld’s Christina Long, and Raw Meat Collective’s Kyle Quinn, each of whom curated a table of zines for the exhibition. “Each of their zine tables offer a different way of understanding DIY publications in the 21st century in the only way that makes sense: by placing the zines in conversation with each other,” he said. [ Read More ](https://centerforbookarts.org/exhibitions/paper-cuts?ref=hyperallergic.com) --- ## Member Comment Thank you for this review and for the incisive critique. It seems amazing that we still need to be pointing out how women artists, especially if they are beautiful, are often reduced to their sexuality and impact on men artists. A good friend of Martins, the US sculptor, Mary Callery, has also been diminished in this way in big books written by men about big men. —Linda Maria Grasso on "[Maria Martins Was More Than Just Duchamp’s Lover](https://hyperallergic.com/maria-martins-was-more-than-just-duchamps-lover/)" --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/color-charts.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-delightfully-saturated-history-of-color-charts/) [ The Delightfully Saturated History of Color Charts ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-delightfully-saturated-history-of-color-charts/) Three tomes give new meaning to “full color” by chronicling the visual history of color charts, swatches, palettes, and more. | Sarah Rose Sharp [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-delightfully-saturated-history-of-color-charts/) --- ## Required Reading - Colombian writer Ingrid Rojas Contreras interviews Mexican author Valeria Luiselli about her new book for [*Wasafiri*](http://wasafiri/?ref=hyperallergic.com). I am not exaggerating when I say I have dreamt of these two linking up. - The torturous experience of reading Wuthering Heights made me want to rip out my hair. I loved it. Emily van Duyne writes in the [*Rumpus*](https://therumpus.net/2026/07/31/this-dark-night-emily-bronte-a-life-by-deborah-lutz/?ref=hyperallergic.com) that a recent biography of Emily Brontë, arguably the most enigmatic of the literary sisters, offers rare new insights into the mind that concocted such a story. - At this point, it’s no secret that the *Atlantic* loves sounding the alarm about “the end of \[insert activity here\],” as Timothy Noah wrote about for the [*New Republic*](https://newrepublic.com/article/212923/the-atlantic-magazine-endism-fetish?ref=hyperallergic.com). For [*Defector*](https://defector.com/what-do-booksellers-make-of-the-end-of-reading?ref=hyperallergic.com), Joel Pinckney decided to ask booksellers what they think about the latest declaration: “the end of reading.” - Rachel Cusk’s Life of M has caused quite a stir; is it actually based on her friendship with Natalie Portman? The [*New York Times*](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/20/style/rachel-cusk-life-of-m-natalie-portman.html?ref=hyperallergic.com)’s Alexandra Alter asked her. ### An Art-Filled Fall in Upstate NY URL: https://hyperallergic.com/an-art-filled-fall-in-upstate-ny/ Last updated: 2026-09-08T21:10:09.000Z I sipped the last dregs of summer collecting at the bottom of my (discreet) Tom Collins this holiday weekend, taking in the beloved sights of prancing dogs with frisbees and determined children working together to climb an oak tree at Prospect Park. “They must not have iPads,” I told my friend while we watched the group of 10-and-unders arrange some stripped and fallen branches against a trunk and hold them in place, creating a precarious semblance of a ladder that reached the tree’s lowest arm. A handful of them tried their hand at getting to the branch, working impressively well as a team and taking heightened tumbles in stride. I thought it was a really endearing way to spend the last day of summer vacation, and I remain hopeful that this plucky band of problem-solvers and all kids in NYC make the most of their enviable qualities of fearlessness and fast-found friendships. I look to Mayor [Mamdani’s moratorium on student-facing AI programs](https://www.nyc.gov/mayors-office/news/2026/09/mayor-mamdani-and-chancellor-samuels-put-students-first-with-nat?ref=hyperallergic.com), and the new screen time limitations in classrooms from 2K through eighth grade, as agents to both protect and fortify those precious elements of childhood. Senior Editor Valentina Di Liscia’s review of *Marina* (2026), a performance developed by Julio Torres and Martine Gutierrez for the 2026 Whitney Biennial, finds that the campy production “defangs our toxic relationship to our screens” by approaching it with humor rather than stoking fear. Though I’m fully rotted from my own screen-based habits, I briefly reconnected with my inner child at the *Snoopy In Style NYC* exhibition in the Meatpacking District. It was unapologetically commercial, but nonetheless an enjoyable, well-intentioned rehashing of how the sassy cartoon beagle’s boundless imagination rocked the world. I hear that there’s a two-hour wait to get in on some days, though, so I’ll probably only hear from *true* Snoopy fans about their experience. It’s so easy to lose sight of the ingredients to a healthy social life and reliable community as adults. We forget that safety and security are reinforced in numbers, even in the face of the profound risks that encourage us to shut our doors. Amalia Uribe Guardiola, a 2025 Craft Archive Fellow, examines a specific demographic’s work to counteract this in Queens. Uribe Guardiola’s feature on two particular “costureros,” collective needlework circles for largely undocumented, working-class Latin American immigrant women, not only draws attention to an undersung contemporary textile archive but also unpacks how the meetings serve as a place of agency, collectivity, and personal reflection among attendees. Lastly, we usher in a presumably zany September with our newly published Upstate art guide for the season, an adjunct to our curated [Fall NYC art guide](https://hyperallergic.com/hyperallergic-fall-2026-new-york-art-guide/). --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/upstate-NY-shows.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/10-art-shows-to-see-in-upstate-new-york-this-september/) [ 10 Art Shows to See in Upstate New York This September ](https://hyperallergic.com/10-art-shows-to-see-in-upstate-new-york-this-september/) September welcomes the rituals of renewal — back to school! — and recognition, as the end of the year approaches. While the seasonal light and shadows cast dramatic beauty across the Hudson Valley, galleries and museums match the mood with robust exhibitions. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/10-art-shows-to-see-in-upstate-new-york-this-september/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/EllenDynebrinkmaybe_front_flash_2026_Hyperallergic-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/nordic-textile-takeover-the-cold-stitch/) ****Nordic Textile Takeover: The Cold Stitch** Opening September 4 at Scandinavia House, this exhibition, workshop series, and symposium program returns in its third iteration alongside New York Textile Month. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/nordic-textile-takeover-the-cold-stitch/) --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/marina.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/marina-dares-you-to-laugh-at-technology/) ### Valentina Di Liscia ***Marina* at the 2026 Whitney Biennial program** "*Marina* unfolds as a grotesque parade of visual delights, from its characters’ intricately festooned wearable assemblages to the luminescent fish-lanterns twinkling through the darkness to the ethereal dancers who embody water currents ...." [*Read the full review*](https://hyperallergic.com/marina-dares-you-to-laugh-at-technology/) ### Rhea Nayyar *Snoopy in Style NYC* at 25 Little West 12th Street "With a remarkable attention to detail, the exhibition juggles museum-level displays about Schulz’s own life and the origins of each iconic *Peanuts* character with the spectacle of Snoopy’s commercial and creative power." [*Read the full review*](https://hyperallergic.com/nyc-exhibition-celebrates-snoopys-enduring-influence-on-art-and-fashion/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/peter-hujar.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/an-unprecedented-look-at-renowned-photographer-peter-hujars-new-york-in-hujar-contact/) ****An Unprecedented Look at Renowned Photographer Peter Hujar’s New York in “Hujar:Contact”** The Morgan Library & Museum presents “Hujar:Contact,” currently on view through October 25. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/an-unprecedented-look-at-renowned-photographer-peter-hujars-new-york-in-hujar-contact/) --- ## Features [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/1200MulesPassage_image1-2.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-artists-paddling-350-miles-up-the-erie-canal/) [ The Artists Paddling 350 Miles Up the Erie Canal ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-artists-paddling-350-miles-up-the-erie-canal/) As part of “Mule’s Passage,” artists Z Behl and Kim Moloney are paddling six hours a day and camping for five weeks. | Taliesin Thomas [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-artists-paddling-350-miles-up-the-erie-canal/) [ Catherine Murphy Has Her Cake and Eats It Too ](https://hyperallergic.com/catherine-murphy-has-her-cake-and-eats-it-too/) The painter reconciles modernist conventions like the grid with one-point perspective, creating something fresh and entirely her own. | John Yau [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/catherine-murphy-has-her-cake-and-eats-it-too/) [ In Queens, Immigrant Women Sew a Truer Atlas ](https://hyperallergic.com/in-queens-immigrant-women-sew-a-truer-atlas/) The largely undocumented Latin American women of New York’s “costureros,” or needlework circles, are creating a countermap to archive the stories of their lives. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/in-queens-immigrant-women-sew-a-truer-atlas/) --- ## Memorable Moment [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Memorable-Moment.jpg)](https://www.instagram.com/p/DczCpdlpr1x/?ref=hyperallergic.com) Check out Staff Writer Rhea Nayyar's [experience at *Snoopy in Style NYC*!](https://www.instagram.com/p/DczCpdlpr1x/?ref=hyperallergic.com) --- ## What Else Is Happening? - Filmmaker Brydie O'Connor and art historian Dr. Ksenia M. Soboleva join Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art for a conversation celebrating the life and work of Barbara Hammer — the pioneering filmmaker whose practice transformed queer and experimental cinema. (Wed Sept 9) \[[Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art](https://secure.qgiv.com/for/leslie-lohmanmuseum/event/barbarahammer4ever/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Celebrate the 11th year of New York Fashion Week’s largest LGBTQIA+ fashion show at Brooklyn Museum, presented by queer style platform dapperQ. (Thurs Sept 10) \[[brooklynmuseum.org](https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/programs/dapperq-presents-legacy-september-2026/09-10-2026?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Hear from filmmaker Daniel Davies Llewellyn as he discusses his film detailing Joaquín Sorolla’s journey across the Iberian Peninsula while he painted *Vision of Spain*. (Sat Sept 12) \[[hispanicsociety.org](https://hispanicsociety.org/event/the-man-who-painted-spain-screening-and-filmmaker-qa/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Learn to paint in the style of Roberto Matta, the Chilean artist known for bridging European Surrealism and American Abstract Expressionism. (Sat Sept 12) \[[artsclubstudios.com](https://www.artsclubstudios.com/east-village-events/9-12-26-2?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Join Kapwani Kiwanga and Imani Perry in a conversation as they dive deeper into the material histories and process behind Kiwanga’s site-specific installation *BLEED.* (Sun Sept 13) \[[studiomuseum.org](https://www.studiomuseum.org/events/kapwani-kiwanga-in-conversation-with-imani-perry?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Ortiz y Sanchez (Pat­ty Ortiz + George Emilio Sanchez) will present *Acknowl­edge­ment & Recla­ma­tion*, a new pub­lic per­for­mance and tem­po­rary instal­la­tion on Gov­er­nors Island com­mis­sioned by More Art. (Sat Sept 12 and Sun Sept 13) \[[governorsisland.com](https://www.govisland.com/things-to-do/events/ortiz-y-sanchez-acknowledgement-reclamation?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Discover tarot’s influence in classical music at a concert hosted by the Morgan Library & Museum. (Wed Sept 23) \[[themorgan.org](https://www.themorgan.org/programs/concert-tarot-magic-music?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Head to Mrs. Gallery this weekend for their opening reception of *Decennium: Ten Years at Mrs.*, an evolving exhibition celebrating the gallery’s tenth anniversary. (Sat Sept 12) \[[mrsgallery.com](https://www.mrsgallery.com/2026-decennium?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - The Brooklyn Museum displays Michael Richards's “Free F'All” (1997) in acknowledgement of the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attack that killed the late artist, who had a 92nd-floor studio in Tower One. The sculpture commemorates the Tuskegee Airmen, the US Air Force’s first Black unit. (Opening Sept 11) \[[brooklynmuseum.org](http://brooklynmuseum.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Check out the latest exhibition from the Nancy Hoffman Gallery *Jody Guralnick: As Close as Breath* at the opening reception. (Sept 10) \[[nancyhoffmangallery.com](https://www.nancyhoffmangallery.com/exhibition-jody-guralnick-2026?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - See the first solo exhibition of Boston-based artist Yu-Wen Wu *From Rock to Cloud* at Nunu Fine Art. (Sep 10 through Oct 31) \[[nunufineart.com](https://www.nunufineart.com/yu-wen-wu-from-rock-to-cloud?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] ### For Sophie Lewis, Femininity Is Not the Enemy of Feminism URL: https://hyperallergic.com/for-sophie-lewis-femininity-is-not-the-enemy-of-feminism/ Last updated: 2026-09-14T20:28:21.000Z In challenging the opprobrious history of misogyny within visual art and broader culture, feminist critics can at times dismiss the delights of femininity itself. As independent scholar Sophie Lewis puts it, “when certain feminists first turned against girly things, it was a giant error in Western women’s liberation history.” Lewis’s new book [*Femmephilia: Love Letters to Trans Mermaids, Queer Mothers, and Marilyn Monroe*](https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.haymarketbooks.org%2Fbooks%2F2758-femmephilia&data=05%7C02%7Cepgsell%40wustl.edu%7C48ccbe8ae8d449d4962708dec34fc062%7C4ccca3b571cd4e6d974b4d9beb96c6d6%7C0%7C0%7C639162944511094028%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=y64ghS1fg%2FGi6vHPvc2iB29EFfspflXJ7CIJSjdSZgo%3D&reserved=0&ref=hyperallergic.com)(2026) aims to redress the strains of feminism that frame adornment as inherently frivolous. Engaging and embracing the “femme” impulses that abound in visual art, literature, and pop culture, Lewis celebrates what she deems the “liberatory,” rather than patriarchal, powers of femininity and feminine aesthetics. Best known for her [trenchant critiques](https://bookshop.org/a/539/9798888902493?ref=hyperallergic.com) of the nuclear family and trans-exclusionary feminism, Lewis has a keen penchant for the visual that has often been overlooked. But whether it’s plumbing the trippy subaqueous mise-en-scène of *My Octopus Teacher* (2020) or basking in the somatic smorgasbord of multimedia artist’s Adham Faramawy’s “[Skin Flick](https://adhamfaramawy.com/559-2/?ref=hyperallergic.com)”(2019), *Femmephilia* exalts in the act of looking as part and parcel of a feminist project. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/book-cover-5--1.jpg) Analyzing the myth of Daphne as represented in Faramawy’s 13-minute video, Lewis reframes feminist readings of the nymph as helpless virgin-turned-asexual tree. The artwork doesn’t “shame Apollo, nor does it kink-shame the desire to hug (or fuck) a tree,” Lewis argues. In Faramawy’s heady, libidinous version of the myth, the joys of eros are not to be hastily abandoned. Nor, for that matter, is beauty — at least not the kind that counts. “Beauty is a totalitarian god,” admits Lewis in a bold, single-line paragraph, only to follow it with, “but beauty — with a lower-case ‘b’ — is also sniffable, palpable, and unlearnable, perhaps, in the loamy undercommons, away from Apollo’s gaze.” Across *Femmephilia*, the sensorial elements of visual art merge with that of body horror, porn, poetry, myth, octopi — the slick legs of culture and nature tangled together. In a spirited, lusty read of Michelangelo’s lost “[Leda and the Swan](https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/after-michelangelo-leda-and-the-swan?ref=hyperallergic.com),” a tempera-on-canvas painting from 1530, Lewis celebrates the complicated power dynamic between the queen of Sparta and the “theriomorphic Zeus between her legs \[…\] trying his best to please.” While Leda’s story is often relayed as rape, effectively normalizing violence against women in mythology, Michelangelo renders something consensual. “She could crush him with ease, or wring his neck, if she wanted to,” Lewis muses, “but there is something she wants, something she’s receiving.” _This post is for subscribers only._ ### How Korean Paper Became War Collateral URL: https://hyperallergic.com/how-korean-paper-became-war-collateral/ Last updated: 2026-09-08T20:42:59.000Z *This article is part of a series focusing on underrepresented craft histories, researched and written by the* [*2025 Craft Archive Fellows*](https://hyperallergic.com/2025-center-for-craft-archive-fellows/)*, and organized in collaboration with the Center for Craft.* --- There are words that sit comfortably in the mouth. *Kozo* is not one of them. Every time I hear it used as the universal shorthand within East Asian papermaking, something in me tightens. Not because the word is incorrect. Not because Japanese papermaking is undeserving of admiration. I use the word myself. I teach it in workshops and have spent years working with the fibers, histories, and technologies associated with Japanese papermaking. My unease comes from somewhere more difficult to articulate. It comes from the growing realization that a field increasingly committed to the language of decolonization remains surprisingly comfortable with certain forms of historical amnesia. I convinced myself this reaction was personal. Perhaps I was reading too much into a word. Perhaps this discomfort belonged solely to me, a Korean-American papermaker carrying family histories and cultural inheritances that others did not share. Then, I began paying attention. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/02_Choe-Henderson_Hanji-Production_2024.jpg) Robert Choe-Henderson making **hanji* using the traditional Korean webal-ddeugi sheet-formation technique, Elf School of the Arts, 2024 (© Robert Choe-Henderson; photo by Rachel Watson, courtesy the artist) I tuned in to workshop descriptions, artist statements, conference presentations, residency announcements, and educational materials. I could not stop seeing "kozo" appear not simply as a Japanese term or fiber source, but increasingly as a category through which East Asian papermaking itself became legible. I asked myself, “When did one tradition become responsible for speaking on behalf of all the others?” The answer cannot be separated from history. For many Americans, Japanese occupation remains a distant historical event. For many Koreans, it remains a living inheritance. Between 1910 and 1945, the Korean language was suppressed, Korean names were replaced, and Korean cultural traditions subordinated to imperial authority. This was not merely a political project; it was a cultural one. Language became one of the ways empire reorganized identity itself. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Trump-Ousted Kennedy Center Chairman Buys Removed Shapiro Sculpture URL: https://hyperallergic.com/trump-ousted-kennedy-center-chairman-buys-removed-shapiro-sculpture/ Last updated: 2026-09-08T19:59:09.000Z David Rubenstein, the former board chairman of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, has purchased Joel Shapiro’s "Blue" (2019) just days after the National Park Service deinstalled the iconic sculpture from center grounds. The agency began removing late artist Joel Shapiro's [24-foot-tall sculpture](https://hyperallergic.com/critics-slam-petty-removal-of-joel-shapiro-sculpture-from-kennedy-center/) from the Kennedy Center's REACH (Renew, Experience, Activate, Create, and Honor) campus on September 2, leaving its future to the Joel Shapiro and Ellen Phelan Foundation. Amid renewed attempts to [stamp Trump's name](https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/us-judge-weighs-challenge-restore-trumps-name-kennedy-center-2026-08-27/?ref=hyperallergic.com) on the Kennedy Center facade and grounds, the seemingly nonsensical removal of "Blue" prompted condemnation from artists, cultural workers, and organizations like [Hands Off the Arts](https://www.instagram.com/p/DcyJddLEZ7E/?ref=hyperallergic.com). A billionaire philanthropist who has donated to organizations including the [Smithsonian Institution](https://hyperallergic.com/art-movements-135/) and the [National Park Service charity](https://hyperallergic.com/art-movements-209/), Rubenstein reportedly purchased the work for a sum of $2 million and will ultimately move "Blue" to the sculpture garden at the National Gallery of Art, according to the [*New York Times*](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/07/arts/design/blue-sculpture-kennedy-center-rubenstein.html?ref=hyperallergic.com). Rubenstein was among several Biden appointees ousted from the bipartisan Kennedy Center board by President Donald Trump in February 2025\. During his tenure, the philanthropist pledged [$50 million](https://www.kennedy-center.org/our-story/history/?ref=hyperallergic.com) to the center's REACH expansion project, which intends to honor [President John F. Kennedy's](https://www.kennedy-center.org/video/center/other/2019/welcome-to-the-reach--the-kennedy-center/?ref=hyperallergic.com) vision of bridging divides between artists and audiences. When the REACH campus opened in 2019, Shapiro, who [died in 2025](https://hyperallergic.com/joel-shapiro-sculptor-of-emotive-figures-dies-at-83/), gifted "Blue" as an inaugural landmark that could be seen from Potomac Parkway and other major Washington, DC, thoroughfares. Shortly after beginning his second presidential term, Trump replaced the former board with his own loyalist cohort and [made himself chairman](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/113964959500715895?ref=hyperallergic.com), the position formerly held by Rubenstein. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Artist Lucien Smith, Fixture of NYC’s Downtown Scene, Dies at 37 URL: https://hyperallergic.com/artist-lucien-smith-fixture-of-nycs-downtown-scene-dies-at-37/ Last updated: 2026-09-08T18:50:31.000Z Artist Lucien Smith, an abstract painter whose work as a nonprofit founder and restaurateur channeled the community ethos of 1970s New York, has died at the age of 37\. The news of his passing was confirmed by Erin Goldberger, director of Half Gallery, which showed the artist's work early on. The cause of death has not been made public. Smith was best known for his *Rain Paintings* series (2011–12), which he began making the year he graduated from Cooper Union by spraying canvases with acrylic paint loaded into fire extinguishers. Later subject to the rapid cycle of market growth and decline that defined the early-2010s movement reviving mid-20th-century abstraction and formalism, Smith quit commercial galleries in 2015 and began advocating for himself and others. “I remember Lucien wanted to do a video of himself dressed as a ghoul in a tuxedo walking through Times Square as a joke about being the face of ‘Zombie Formalism,’” Bill Powers, art dealer and Half Gallery owner, told *Hyperallergic*. “He had a sense of humor about his place in the world. He will be missed terribly.” Born in 1989 in Los Angeles, Smith was raised in the Lower East Side until his teenage years, when his mother, a fashion designer, and father, an artist and musician, moved him back to Los Angeles. Upon graduating high school, he returned to New York to study at Cooper Union, where he would develop the aesthetic language that would result in his [two-person 2011 thesis show, *Imagined Nostalgia*](https://officemagazine.net/serve-people-lucien-smith?ref=hyperallergic.com), and his near-immediate market success upon graduation. “Hobbes, The Rain Man, and My Friend Barney / Under the Sycamore Tree,” a painting originally purchased for $10,000 from the thesis show, was sold at auction at Phillips for $389,000 in 2013\. Two years later, collector Alberto Mugrabi alleged that the work was practically [unsellable](https://plastermagazine.com/features/zombie-formalism-2/?ref=hyperallergic.com), attesting to the market fluctuations that Smith openly acknowledged, stating on his website that he “battled with some of the pitfalls of gaining notoriety so early.” _This post is for subscribers only._ ### The Law & Order Writer Who Moonlights as an Artist URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-law-order-writer-who-moonlights-as-an-artist/ Last updated: 2026-09-08T18:40:14.000Z It was only two years ago, at an exhibition of the work of [Xu Bing at the Asia Society Texas](https://asiasociety.org/texas/exhibitions/xu-bing-word-alchemy?ref=hyperallergic.com) in Houston, that I felt my first inkling of the breadth of René Balcer’s contribution to culture. At that point, I was interested in learning everything I could about Xu’s linguistic experiments, from *A Book from the Sky* (1987–91) to his use of what he calls “Square Word Calligraphy” in different installations and publications. This had proven difficult, because Bing is not represented by an American gallery. Although I knew that Balcer and his wife, Carolyn Hsu, are friends of Xu's, and had supported major institutional exhibitions such as [*Xu Bing: Tobacco Project Virginia*](https://www.vmfa.museum/exhibitions/xu-bing-tobacco-project?ref=hyperallergic.com)(2011) at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, I did not expect to see works from that project at the Asia Society Texas, and I hadn’t known that Balcer had collaborated on one of them. For “Backbone” (2011), a grid of stenciled words from brand slogans Virginia enslavers used to identify their tobacco products, Balcer composed a blues poem honoring the enslaved Black women who picked the plant by hand. This encounter led me to learn more about Balcer, particularly after I sat on a panel about his photographs this past spring. What I discovered surprised me. Despite his achievements as a producer and writer for *Law & Order* — including a Primetime Emmy Award and multiple Edgar Awards — the throughline of Balcer’s life was direct photography, I came to realize. After studying poetry and photography at Concordia University in Montreal and taking a six-month seminar taught by the French New Wave filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard, Balcer worked as a cameraman, war reporter, editor, scriptwriter, documentary filmmaker, and film critic. Like Godard and other New Wave filmmakers, Balcer wrote reviews and made films, merging commentary and creativity. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Aptos-California--USA--1980.jpeg) René Balcer, "Aptos, California, USA" (1980) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch Steps Down Amid Trump’s Attacks URL: https://hyperallergic.com/smithsonian-secretary-lonnie-bunch-steps-down-amid-trumps-attacks/ Last updated: 2026-09-08T17:39:28.000Z Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch will step down from his post by the end of the year, amid ongoing attacks on the institution by President Donald Trump and his administration. In a statement shared with *Hyperallergic*, Bunch announced his departure with “very mixed emotions and heartfelt gratitude.” “There is no place like the Smithsonian — it has been one of the great loves of my life, and I am extraordinarily proud of what we have accomplished together,” Bunch said. “I leave with pride and sadness, gratitude and joy, and with enormous confidence in the people who will carry this remarkable institution forward.” Bunch was named the Smithsonian’s 14th secretary in June 2019, becoming the first Black American and first historian at the helm of the institution. He was previously the founding director of the African American History and Culture Museum, and had worked as a curator at the American History Museum and an education specialist at the National Air and Space Museum earlier in his career, totaling more than three decades of service at the Smithsonian. (Bunch also led the Chicago History Museum, a non-Smithsonian organization, from 2000 to 2005.) Since taking office in 2025, the Trump administration has sought to [whitewash United States history](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-whitewashes-history-in-new-smithsonian-executive-order/) by targeting the Smithsonian’s curatorial approaches, accusing the museum and research network of focusing too much on “[how bad slavery was](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-says-us-museums-should-focus-less-on-slavery/)” and mandating essentialist concepts of gender. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Renoir Artworks Worth Millions Stolen in Five-Minute Heist in France URL: https://hyperallergic.com/renoir-artworks-worth-millions-stolen-in-five-minute-heist-in-france/ Last updated: 2026-09-08T16:27:24.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Renoir_-_Portrait_de_Madame_Colonna_Romano-_non_date--.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Renoir_-_Jeune_femme_au_puits-_non_date--.jpg) Renoir's “Madame Colonna Romano” and “Jeune femme au puits" (both images via [Wikimedia](https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeune%5FFemme%5Fau%5Fpuits?ref=hyperallergic.com#/media/Fichier:Renoir%5F-%5FJeune%5Ffemme%5Fau%5Fpuits,%5Fnon%5Fdat%C3%A9.jpg) [Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Renoir%5F-%5FPortrait%5Fde%5FMadame%5FColonna%5FRomano,%5Fnon%5Fdat%C3%A9.jpg?ref=hyperallergic.com#/media/File:Renoir%5F-%5FPortrait%5Fde%5FMadame%5FColonna%5FRomano,%5Fnon%5Fdat%C3%A9.jpg), [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=hyperallergic.com)) A pair of thieves made off with two paintings from the Renoir Museum in southern France during a break-in early this morning, September 8\. The duo initially stole four of Renoir's paintings from the galleries but dropped two in the museum's garden while being chased by police. The operation lasted only five minutes, according to a [statement](https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story%5Ffbid=1578119937659573&id=100063847444820&rdid=ieUjKb2dG0bXG6c1#) from Mayor Bryan Masson of Cagnes-sur-Mer, who told French [media](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2026/09/08/thieves-steal-works-worth-9-million-in-renoir-art-museum-break-in%5F6757277%5F7.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) that the burglars were “well equipped and well informed,” as the pair used an electric saw to cut through the museum's exterior fence and the clips securing the paintings' frames. The museum's alarm automatically notified the local police, who arrived on the scene and chased the burglars across the property on foot. The pair made off with Pierre-Auguste Renoir's “Madame Colonna Romano” (c. 1910) and “Jeune femme au puits (Young Woman at the Well)” (c. 1886) — two lesser-known oil paintings by the Impressionist. They tried to take “Madame Stephen Pichon” (c. 1895) and “Coco Lisant” (c. 1905) as well, but ultimately left them behind. Per Masson's office, the value of thecombined works, including the two that were not ultimately taken, starts at €9 million ($10.5 million). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/GettyImages-2293659479-1.jpg) The Renoir Museum is located in Cagnes-Sur-Mer, a town in southern France. (photo Bedirhan Demirel/Anadolu via Getty Images) Police are investigating the whereabouts of the thieves and the two paintings that remain at large. Still, the museum's proximity to the Mediterranean Sea poses an increased risk of a cold trail. The Renoir raid is the latest in a spate of museum robberies sweeping across Europe. Just two weeks ago, two thieves [smashed a display case](https://hyperallergic.com/thieves-snatch-4-6m-diamond-necklace-from-viennese-museum/) and made off with a platinum and diamond necklace at the Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna. A recent [report from Europol](https://www.europol.europa.eu/publications-events/publications/changing-tactics-changing-targets-evolving-nature-of-museum-heists?ref=hyperallergic.com) warned that thieves are targeting museums and cultural heritage with “more direct and confrontational approaches,” especially highlighting the “growing use of violent force.” Another one of Renoir's paintings, “Les poissons” (c. 1917), was stolen alongside works by Paul Cezánne and Henri Matisse during a raid at the Magnani Rocca Foundation in Parma, Italy, [this March](https://hyperallergic.com/thieves-steal-paintings-worth-10m-by-cezanne-matisse-and-renoir/). Museum heists have garnered more media attention since last year's [jewel heist at the Louvre](https://hyperallergic.com/louvre-museum-closed-after-dramatic-daylight-heist/). ### Apply for a 2027–2028 Fellowship at the Smithsonian American Art Museum URL: https://hyperallergic.com/apply-for-a-2027-2028-fellowship-at-the-smithsonian-american-art-museum/ Last updated: 2026-09-08T14:34:28.000Z The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) and its Renwick Gallery invite applications to its [premier fellowship program](https://s.si.edu/420xiov?ref=hyperallergic.com), the oldest and largest in American art. Scholars from any discipline whose research engages the art, craft, and visual culture of the United States are encouraged to apply, as are those who foreground new perspectives, materials, and methodologies. Fellowships are residential and support full-time research in the Smithsonian collections. SAAM is devoted to advancing excellence in art history and encourages candidates from all backgrounds to apply. ### **Resources** Each fellow is provided a carrel in SAAM’s Research and Scholars Center. There, they have access to the museum’s collection of over 47,600 works, specialized study collections and databases, the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art, and an 180,000-volume branch library specializing in American art. The Research and Scholars Center is a short walk from other Smithsonian museums and libraries, the Library of Congress, the National Archives, and the National Gallery of Art. Regular workshops, seminars, and lectures provide a forum for lively scholarly exchange and professional advancement. ### **Fellowships Available** Candidates may apply to one or more of the following three opportunities: - [SIFP Fellowships at SAAM](https://s.si.edu/3JULqt6?ref=hyperallergic.com): SAAM hosts fellows through the Smithsonian Institution Fellowship Program (SIFP) and awards a number of named fellowships to predoctoral, postdoctoral, and senior candidates from this general pool. **Deadline: October 15, 2026** - [The Betsy James Wyeth Fellowship in Native American Art](https://s.si.edu/4fWiWes?ref=hyperallergic.com): This joint fellowship at SAAM and the National Museum of the American Indian is awarded for a twelve-month term at the predoctoral level or a nine-month term at the postdoctoral or senior level. **Deadline: October 15, 2026** - [The Audrey Flack Short-Term Fellowship](https://s.si.edu/3HzgXQS?ref=hyperallergic.com): One fellowship is awarded annually at the predoctoral, postdoctoral, or senior level for a one-month term. **Deadline: February 1, 2027** For more information, visit [americanart.si.edu/fellowships](https://s.si.edu/420xiov?ref=hyperallergic.com) or email [saamfellowships@si.edu](mailto:saamfellowships@si.edu). ### America in the Making URL: https://hyperallergic.com/america-in-the-making/ Last updated: 2026-09-08T14:30:25.000Z Art serves as a mirror of society — a visual record of the historical, political, and social transformations that shape a culture’s values, struggles, and identity. From the colonial period to the present, American art has registered these shifts, revealing how artists respond to and reinterpret the conditions of their time. [*America in the Making*](https://bit.ly/4hKMLBY?ref=hyperallergic.com) by the Addison Gallery of American Art, explores how the art of the United States has long expressed the ambition of a nation in formation, through early portraits that recorded new social hierarchies and a fledgling national identity, to 19th-century landscape paintings that celebrated nature while advancing the doctrines of Manifest Destiny and American exceptionalism. As the nation modernized, artists tackled the complexities of 20th-century life, turning away from the visible world by mid-century, and embracing abstraction, the subconscious, and a restless new spirit of individualism and dissent. Today, art continues to respond dynamically in real time to a rapidly changing world and to grapple with the urgent concerns of our present moment. With this exhibition, the Addison Gallery of American Art marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The entire building will be devoted to a chronological installation of works from the Addison Gallery’s permanent collection. The story of American art told through this collection is neither comprehensive nor objective and can be read as a window into the conditions, values, and assumptions under which it has been assembled and continues to grow. Its strengths and omissions reflect the circumstances of its formation, including individual taste, institutional priorities, and broader social and cultural forces. In this sense, the exhibition also offers a portrait of a collection in formation, one that, like America itself, remains continually “in the making.” Learn more at [addison.andover.edu](https://bit.ly/4hKMLBY?ref=hyperallergic.com). ### 15 US Museum Shows We Can’t Wait For URL: https://hyperallergic.com/15-us-museum-shows-we-cant-wait-for/ Last updated: 2026-09-08T10:00:36.000Z The autumnal equinox isn’t for a few weeks, but we’re officially marking the start of another seasonal shift on the calendar: art-world fall. Nary a pumpkin-spiced drink is yet in sight, but many an empty plastic cup of cheap rosé will tumble down a Tribeca street this week as galleries and institutions let in a cool-ish breeze from the outside to freshen up their stuffy interiors. We’re kicking off the festivities beyond the NYC bubble, with a must-read list of 15 exhibitions to see in museums across the US this fall, from Grandma Moses at Crystal Bridges to Karon Davis at the Seattle Art Museum. At the Canton Museum of Art in Ohio, an exhibition dedicated to the dynamic works of late artist and athlete Ernie Barnes just opened last month; Aaron Short sits down with his daughter, Erin Barnes, to trace the painter’s momentous legacy. But most artists don’t have a big institutional show in the works, or a waiting list for their works. Emerging artists, among the most vulnerable in our field, were the main target of a controversial residency program that ghosted applicants this summer, leaving many in the lurch. Writer Rana Alsoufi has the story. Sending you strength, kindness, and a deep cleansing breath, and I genuinely hope our paths cross this art-world fall! *—Valentina Di Liscia, senior editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/fall-museums.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/p/eef2531e-fec0-4153-91dd-9bfd55335cdf/) [ 15 Museum Exhibitions to See Across the US This Fall ](https://hyperallergic.com/p/eef2531e-fec0-4153-91dd-9bfd55335cdf/) The circus is coming to town, although maybe not in the form you’d expect. The art world, in all its acrobatics, pageantry, and occasional fun, is returning to cities across the United States this fall with a spate of acts. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/p/eef2531e-fec0-4153-91dd-9bfd55335cdf/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/soutine.jpg)](https://www.norrcohan.com/exhibitions/savdie-soutine?ref=hyperallergic.com) ****A Century Apart, Two Painters Distort the Body** Opening September 10, NORR COHAN presents **Savdie / Soutine*, an unprecedented exhibition pairing paintings by Chaïm Soutine (1893–1943) with new paintings by Ilana Savdie (b. 1986). Separated by a century and seen together for the first time, both painters make the instability of their subjects the substance of their work. [Learn more ](https://www.norrcohan.com/exhibitions/savdie-soutine?ref=hyperallergic.com) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/residency.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/p/80418066-39ac-4518-8156-a159c2865a60/) [ The Artist Residency That Never Was ](https://hyperallergic.com/p/80418066-39ac-4518-8156-a159c2865a60/) Abstract Mag invited dozens of artists to participate in a summer residency in Georgia. Then its social media pages went dark. | Rana Alsoufi [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/p/80418066-39ac-4518-8156-a159c2865a60/) - An Argentine couple has been ordered to return a Nazi-owned painting to its rightful heirs after the work was discovered in their living room last year. \[[*Infobae*](https://www.infobae.com/sociedad/policiales/2026/09/04/retrato-de-una-dama-la-justicia-ordeno-devolver-el-cuadro-robado-por-los-nazis-que-aparecio-en-una-casa-de-mar-del-plata/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - In Trump's latest attack on the Smithsonian, officials told the institution that federal agencies could stop working with the museum network if its leaders did not abandon their "ideological agenda." \[[*Washington Post*](https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/art/2026/09/02/trump-administration-threatens-cut-off-agencies-ties-smithsonian/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] --- ## Features [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/ernie.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/p/53ccf4c8-2e75-4c88-a508-d98154f2d024/) [ Preserving Ernie Barnes’s Legacy in Paint Tubes ](https://hyperallergic.com/p/53ccf4c8-2e75-4c88-a508-d98154f2d024/) The late artist and athlete who rendered joyous scenes of Black life, dance, and motion is the subject of renewed institutional attention as his daughter, Erin Barnes, works to conserve his studio practice. | Aaron Short [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/p/53ccf4c8-2e75-4c88-a508-d98154f2d024/) [ In Queens, Immigrant Women Sew a Truer Atlas ](https://hyperallergic.com/p/7a0abaa8-85bd-4d27-9c0b-157c45ed5a8a/) The largely undocumented Latin American women of New York’s “costureros,” or needlework circles, are creating a countermap to archive the stories of their lives. | Amalia Uribe Guardiola [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/p/7a0abaa8-85bd-4d27-9c0b-157c45ed5a8a/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/ThreeChairs-RacePOint-18x33.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/mitchell-johnson-twenty-one-years-in-truro-selected-paintings-1988-2026/) ****Mitchell Johnson: “Twenty-One Years in Truro (Selected Paintings 1988–2026)”** The artist’s sixth solo exhibition at Castle Hill will open to the public on September 8, 2026. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/mitchell-johnson-twenty-one-years-in-truro-selected-paintings-1988-2026/) --- ## Opinion [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/trees.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/p/36956c35-b7d5-410a-95f8-20944afc517e/) [ The Pine Trees That Would Not Leave Me ](https://hyperallergic.com/p/36956c35-b7d5-410a-95f8-20944afc517e/) While visiting the Lebanese mountain town Dhour El Choueir, I couldn’t shake off a painting and a poem I had translated two decades earlier. | Khatchig Mouradian [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/p/36956c35-b7d5-410a-95f8-20944afc517e/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Ronnarong-KHAMPHA--ACC-2012-2021--in-Ink-Neo-Lanna-Dance.-Photo-by-ALaLa-Dance-Fest..jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/funding-international-dialogue-the-asian-cultural-council-opens-2027-global-grant-cycle/) ****Funding International Dialogue: The Asian Cultural Council Opens 2027 Global Grant Cycle** ACC invites artists, arts professionals, scholars, and organizations to apply from Oct 1 to Nov 10, 2026. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/funding-international-dialogue-the-asian-cultural-council-opens-2027-global-grant-cycle/) --- ## Hyper Links - Palestinian writer Taqwa Ahmed Alwawi[ honors the students of Gaza's Class of 2026](https://www.thenation.com/article/world/gaza-class-of-2026-tawjihi-genocide-2008/?ref=hyperallergic.com), who took their *tawjihi* exit exams amid an ongoing genocide. - Artist Tucker Nichols's[ hilarious drawing](https://www.instagram.com/p/DcznNvVsBcS/?ref=hyperallergic.com) about Trump removing Joel Shapiro's "Blue" sculpture is perfect. TAKE IT AWAY!!!! - Did you know about[ votive candle vending machines](https://www.instagram.com/p/Dc1EXVQoBCG/?ref=hyperallergic.com)? --- ## ICYMI ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Untitled-design-2---1-.jpg) [ 15 Art Books for Your Fall Reading List ](https://hyperallergic.com/15-art-books-for-your-fall-reading-list/) Guadalupe Rosales’s memoir, Christine Sun Kim’s artist book, Fady Joudah’s ode to the people of Gaza, and Elizabeth Alexander’s essay collection are among our most anticipated titles. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/15-art-books-for-your-fall-reading-list/) ### 15 Museum Exhibitions to See Across the US This Fall URL: https://hyperallergic.com/15-museum-exhibitions-to-see-across-the-us-this-fall/ Last updated: 2026-09-10T22:19:35.000Z The circus is coming to town, although maybe not in the form you’d expect. The art world, in all its acrobatics, pageantry, and occasional fun, is returning to cities across the United States this fall with a spate of acts. Artist Karon Davis ushers us into the big top in an exhibition rife with circus archetypes at the Seattle Art Museum. In a group show atthe Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, we’re given front seats to the circus that is American democracy. There may be no ringmaster inside this tent, but there’s certainly showbiz: the Denver Art Museum has dedicated an entire show to the diva phenomenon, while at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Institute for Contemporary Art, Tony Cokes takes the shears to the codes of popular culture. The magic act continues elsewhere: every piece of rubbish that jewelry designer Bernhard Schobinger touched turned into gold, as evidenced by a new show at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. And up north, a photography exhibition at the Milwaukee Museum of Art pairs the alchemy of resource extraction with that of photography, a comparison that needs no smoke and mirrors, save for the one in a DSLR camera. *— Phillip Pyle, associate editor* ***Read our 2026 fall guides for*** [***New York***](https://hyperallergic.com/hyperallergic-fall-2026-new-york-art-guide/) ***and*** [***Los Angeles***](https://hyperallergic.com/15-art-shows-to-see-in-los-angeles-this-fall/)***.*** --- ### Turn the volume up! [**Nasher Museum of Art**](https://nasher.duke.edu/exhibitions/turn-the-volume-up/?ref=hyperallergic.com), Duke University, Durham, North Carolina Aug. 27–July 11, 2027 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/2009_3_1_v2_FINAL.jpg) Carrie Mae Weems, “Ode to Affirmative Action” (1989) (© Carrie Mae Weems; courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York) The allusion to NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s celebratory quoting of rapper KRS-One’s “Turn the Volume Up” (2020) in this exhibition’s title is fitting considering its interrogation of democratic participation. Works by artists including Kara Walker, Lyle Ashton Harris, Mike Kelley, and Sam Durant are presented as chronicles of the history of collective action through voting and organizing, inspiring a rare moment of hope amid America’s 250th anniversary. --- ### Going Underground: The Jewels of Bernhard Schobinger [**Museum of Fine Arts Houston**](https://www.mfah.org/art/exhibitions/going-underground-the-jewels-of-bernhard-schobinger?ref=hyperallergic.com), Houston, Texas Sept. 3–Jan. 3, 2027 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/11_Bernhard-Schobinger--Small-Tear-Drop-Chain--2014.jpg) Bernhard Schobinger, “Small Tear Drop Chain” (2014) (photo courtesy Museum of Fine Arts Houston) Fishing lures from Lake Zurich and asphalt chunks from a New York City street are among the materials found in Schobinger’s idiosyncratic jewelry pieces. With influences extending from Concrete Art, Dada, and the Situationists to Japanese culture and punk, Schobinger disrupts jewelry as an elitist luxury through his scavenged, rebellious, and rubbish-composed innovations. --- ### Joe Feddersen: Earth, Water, Sky [**Missoula Art Museum**](https://www.missoulaartmuseum.org/addcurrentexhinbitions/joefeddersen?ref=hyperallergic.com), Missoula, Montana Sept. 4–Dec. 31 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Feddersen_Elk-at-Spotted-Lake_2016.jpg) Joe Feddersen, “Elk at Spotted Lake” (2016) (image courtesy Missoula Art Museum) How do we treat the natural world? Colville artist Joe Feddersen explores the tension in that existential question through decorated woven baskets, spray-painted monoprint collages, and sandblasted blown glass works marked with indigenous symbolisms. This exhibition probes the complex and fragile bond between humans and the environment across four decades of Feddersen's multimedia practice. --- ### Grandma Moses: A Good Day’s Work [**Crystal Bridges Museum of Art**](https://crystalbridges.org/events/grandma-moses-a-good-days-work?ref=hyperallergic.com), Bentonville, Arkansas Sept. 12–March 29, 2027 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Black-Horses-1.jpeg) Grandma Moses, “Black Horses” (1942) (© Grandma Moses Properties Co., NY; courtesy Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art) You can almost hear the festive clamor of the townsfolk in “Deep Snow” (1957), one of the many intimate depictions of rural life in Anna Mary Robertson “Grandma” Moses’s oeuvre. Paintings of farmers knee-deep in hay, green patchwork expanses, and a barnyard wedding (before it became a trend) are part of this major show reviving the postwar legacy of Grandma Moses, who opened her first solo exhibition at 80 years old. --- ### The Gift: Emma Amos with Friends [**Cleveland Museum of Art**](https://www.clevelandart.org/exhibitions/gift-emma-amos-friends?ref=hyperallergic.com), Cleveland, Ohio Sept. 13–Jan. 24, 2027 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/EmmaAmos_The-Gift-six-back.jpg) Emma Amos, **The Gift* (1990–94); top (left to right): India Amos, Grace Williams, Kay WalkingStick; bottom: Lorna Simpson, Joan Semmel, Elizabeth Catlett (© Emma Amos; courtesy Ryan Lee Gallery, New York) As a gift for her daughter India’s 20th birthday, artist Emma Amos painted 48 watercolor portraits of women artists, art historians, and critics in her community. This exhibition brings together the entire suite of paintings in *The Gift* (1990–94), which includes portraits of Elizabeth Catlett, Lorna Simpson, bell hooks, Faith Ringgold, Howardena Pindell, Lucy Lippard, and Kay WalkingStick, for the first time in two decades. --- ### Tony Cokes: Texts, Tracks, Talks (1992–2026) [**Institute for Contemporary Art**](https://icavcu.org/exhibitions/tony-cokes-solo-exhibition/?ref=hyperallergic.com), Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia Sept. 18–Feb. 21, 2027 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/36019.jpg) Tony Cokes, still from ”Untitled (m.j.: the symptom)” (2020) (artwork © Tony Cokes; image courtesy the artist; Greene Naftali, New York; Felix Gaudlitz, Vienna; Hannah Hoffman, Los Angeles, and Beverly Hills) Tony Cokes’s confrontational text-based, sensory-driven practice samples moments, fragments, and movements across culture and history, spurring new and critical connections that diverge from dominant media narratives. Marking a welcome return to his alma mater, this exhibition presents a survey of the multimedia artist’s existing works alongside newly commissioned ones centering on themes of production, artistic intent, and the development of personal identity. --- ### From Noguchi to Asawa: Designing Postwar America [**Barnes Foundation**](https://www.barnesfoundation.org/exhibitions/noguchi-to-asawa-designing-postwar-america?ref=hyperallergic.com), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Sept. 20–Jan. 10, 2027 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/EX2026-2-7-3-00071_representation_45652_press-High-Res-JPEG--min-300dpi--High-Res-JPEG--min-300dpi--1.jpg) Isamu Noguchi, “My Arizona” (1943) (photo courtesy Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, New York) Isamu Noguchi and George Nakashima are among the six Japanese American artists featured in this exhibition that reconsiders the aesthetics of modern America. From album covers to living room lamps, the objects on display illuminate the influence of the artists’ practices in galleries and later, in American homes, where even the most quiet designs were informed by the traumas of World War II and Japanese-American concentration camps in the United States. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Preserving Ernie Barnes’s Legacy in Paint Tubes URL: https://hyperallergic.com/preserving-ernie-barness-legacy-in-paint-tubes/ Last updated: 2026-09-11T20:27:39.000Z When artist Ernie Barnes died in 2009, his daughter Erin was left to sort through the vestiges of materials the Los Angeles-based painter and professional football player had accumulated over his decades-long art practice. There were canvases, sure, but also paint tubes, brushes, and containers Barnes kept in the garage that he used as his studio to create vibrant, kinetic scenes of Black church gatherings, football games, and nightlife during the Jim Crow era, including his iconic work “[The Sugar Shack](https://www.erniebarnes.com/store/p/the-sugar-shack?ref=hyperallergic.com)” (1976), making him one of Southern California’s most beloved artists. For years, Barnes stored her father’s partially squeezed containers of Liquitex, Grumbacher, and Winsor & Newton acrylic paint and thought little about it until about a year ago, when she began to realize the materials were integral to commemorating his legacy. “I realized how much of the physical studio still existed through the paint tubes and brushes, and I felt a responsibility to preserve them as part of a record of his historical practice,” Barnes told *Hyperallergic*. “These tubes are the physical remnants of his creative process.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Barnes--The-Sugar-Shack.jpg) Ernie Barnes, "The Sugar Shack" (1976) (© Ernie Barnes Family Trust, courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Houston) Black figurative painters such as Jacob Lawrence, Amy Sherald, and Kerry James Marshall have been widely [celebrated](https://hyperallergic.com/as-united-states-slide-into-tyranny-europe-champions-black-american-artists/) by museums and institutions in the last decade. Barnes isn’t always mentioned in the same breath as other contemporary art stars despite the [$15.3 million](https://www.culturetype.com/2022/05/14/auction-record-sugar-shack-painting-by-ernie-barnes-sells-for-whopping-15-million/?ref=hyperallergic.com) sale of “The Sugar Shack” in 2022\. (Its buyer, energy trader Bill Perkins, told the *New York Times* that “for certain segments of America, it’s more famous than the ‘Mona Lisa.’”) That could soon change. A major documentary about Barnes’s life, [*Who is Ernie Barnes*](https://www.whoiserniebarnes.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com), was [announced](https://variety.com/2026/film/news/chike-ozah-coodie-simmons-who-is-ernie-barnes-documentary-1236806434/?ref=hyperallergic.com) in July, and the Canton Museum of Art in Ohio recently opened a special exhibition celebrating his work, [*Good Times: The Artistic Journey of Ernie Barnes*](https://cantonart.org/exhibits/good-times-artistic-journey-ernie-barnes-august-18-2026-november-1-2026?ref=hyperallergic.com)*,* on August 18\. Some of Barnes’s works will also be on display at the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, which opens to the public on September 22. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/EB3.jpeg) Erin Barnes with a photograph of her father and a selection from her project "Legacy in Color" (photo courtesy Erin Barnes) Barnes grew up in Durham, North Carolina, under Jim Crow segregation, learning about art from books and catalogs because museums did not allow Black people to enter them. Encouraged by his mother, he sketched throughout his childhood and attended North Carolina College (now North Carolina Central University) on a football scholarship. Barnes proved to be a gifted athlete in college and was drafted into the NFL, where he played for five seasons. But he never put aside his art and often made pencil or charcoal sketches of other players while he was on the sidelines during a game. “His teammates were in awe of how he could come up with an idea and sketch it right away,” Thaleen Barnes, Ernie’s second wife, told *Hyperallergic*. “When we went to places, he watched how people walked, their mannerisms, and how they talked. He was interested in their body, their form and movement. Just looking around the world that we lived in was an inspiration for him to sketch.” _This post is for subscribers only._ ### The Artist Residency That Never Was URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-artist-residency-that-never-was/ Last updated: 2026-09-07T16:00:01.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Rocket--2026-1.jpeg) "Rocket" (2026) by Syd Sauer, one of many artists who say they were ghosted by Abstract Mag after applying to their advertised residency (image courtesy Syd Sauer) Like hundreds of other visual artists around the world, 25-year-old airbrush painter Syd Sauer Wilson opened their email inbox on Friday, June 5, to what appeared to be the opportunity of a lifetime: an invitation to participate in an artist residency program hosted by Abstract Mag — a popular art-focused social media platform that had over 1 million followers — taking place overseas this summer. The residency promised an all-expenses-paid retreat in the mountainous regions of southern Georgia, where for two weeks in August, 40 visual artists would live in a “historic chateau” and pursue their practices while also exploring the country’s culture and traditions through a series of expeditions and activities. For the emerging artist hungry for any opportunity to create works in a historic environment without having to pay for travel, materials, or accommodations, a residency like this would be a dream come true. This was the case for Wilson, an early-career artist in Los Angeles. They had applied to last year’s residency, hosted in the 18th-century Château De Forbin in Marseille, for a $40 fee after seeing the open call for artists on Abstract Mag’s social media pages. Though Wilson didn’t apply to this year’s residency in Georgia, they received an email in June from a member of the program’s artist selection committee informing them that, after being shortlisted last year, they were personally invited to participate this August. “We look forward to welcoming you to Georgia this summer,” the end of the email obtained by *Hyperallergic* reads, with a link that directs the artist to submit more information about their availability, travel information, and any materials they will require during the residency. “ I was super, super excited,” Wilson told *Hyperallergic*. “I dropped down to the ground on my knees, and I was just like, ‘Oh my God.’ Throughout the day, I just kept looking up at the sky and saying, ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you.’ I called my parents, I shared the news with them, I shared the news with my friends.” But the dream began to crumble after Wilson opened social media to find hundreds of artists coming forward online with reports that they had received similar emails also inviting them to Abstract Mag’s Georgia summer residency this year, raising speculation within the art community about the program’s legitimacy. In July, Abstract Mag announced in since-deleted Instagram posts that 40 artists had been accepted. But artists say they were ghosted after the summer residency’s social media pages all went dark. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### The Pine Trees That Would Not Leave Me URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-pine-trees-that-would-not-leave-me/ Last updated: 2026-09-14T23:36:26.000Z Six years ago, on August 4, 2020, a [massive explosion](https://hyperallergic.com/deadly-beirut-explosion/) at the Port of Beirut killed more than two hundred people, wounded thousands, and devastated large parts of the capital. This August, sitting with a friend at a family-run restaurant amid the pine trees of Dhour El Choueir, a mountain town overlooking Beirut, I found myself unable to shake off a painting and a poem I had translated two decades earlier. Lebanese painter Moustafa Farroukh’s watercolor “A Group of Pines in Bekfaya” was painted just a few miles from here in 1936\. Born and first trained in Beirut under the painter Habib Serour, Farroukh later studied in Rome and Paris before returning to establish his practice in his native city. Through portraits and idealized landscapes, he offered a vivid vision of Lebanon’s people and terrain. Farroukh became a foundational figure in modern Lebanese painting, his art helping shape a visual language for the country while its political and cultural identity was still taking form under the French Mandate. The painting of the pine grove was seared into my memory when I first saw it in 2003 in a catalog accompanying a Sursock Museum exhibition of Farroukh’s works. (The watercolor was on loan from the private collection of Emile Nasrallah.) Sursock itself later became a victim of the Beirut Port explosion. The blast shattered its stained-glass windows and damaged the historic building as well as [dozens of artworks](https://hyperallergic.com/artemisia-gentileschi-painting-damaged-in-beirut-restoration-getty-museum/). The museum [reopened](https://hyperallergic.com/beirut-lebanon-sursock-museum-reopens-after-deadly-port-explosion) on May 26, 2023, with five exhibitions, one of them titled [*Beyond Ruptures*](https://sursock.museum/content/beyond-ruptures-tentative-chronology?ref=hyperallergic.com). In August 1937, the Armenian poet Vahan Tekeyan was also here in Dhour El Choueir when he wrote the sonnet “To a Lebanese Pine Tree.” I reconnected with the sonnet after returning home. I corrected a few errors in my translation, adjusted the wording and rhythms, and tried to bring the English closer to the movement of Tekeyan’s Armenian. Here is the translation as I read it now, at twice the age I was when I first attempted it, with many more years of witnessing Lebanon from near and far. ### To a Lebanese Pine Tree By Vahan Tekeyan Dhour El Choueir, Lebanon, August 1937 Your pain unfolds from the past, O soft-shadowed pine tree… Barely risen from the ground you have lost your maiden branch, the trace of which appears on you, dried and jutting, like a severed arm. Then countless others followed it, one after another… Until, once they thought your trunk had grown large enough, they let your upper branches sprout and thicken, and slowly adorn themselves with translucent tresses. And upon them too, how many fresh traces of the saw — all your grandchildren and great-grandchildren, dead too soon, whose open grave you have become beneath the skies… But you do not at all inspire, O green tree of the mountains, with memories of so many victims, any thought of mourning; you ever bring forth new life and sway in joyous mood… ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/IMG_0523.jpg) A view from a restaurant in Dhour El Choueir (photo Khatchig Mouradian) Born in Constantinople in 1878, Tekeyan came of age in an Armenian literary world that would be shattered during his lifetime. Poet, editor, teacher, and public figure, he belonged to a generation whose intellectual and literary lives cannot be separated from the violence that dispersed Ottoman Armenians across new geographies. By 1937, Lebanon had become one of the epicenters of Armenian revival in the Middle East. Survivors of the Armenian Genocide had reconstituted community life away from their ancestral towns, rebuilding around churches and secular institutions. Tekeyan participated directly in this process of revival. In September 1937, he became the first editor of a new Armenian newspaper in Beirut, *Zartonk* (“Awakening,” still [published today](https://zartonkdaily.net/?ref=hyperallergic.com)). Tekeyan included “To a Lebanese Pine Tree,” written the previous month in Dhour El Choueir, in the paper’s inaugural issue, nestled among news items ranging from the upcoming parliamentary elections in French Mandate Lebanon and domestic politics in Palestine to the Spanish Civil War and Mussolini’s visit to Germany. For all the Armenian resonances of Tekeyan’s wounded tree, the poem is emphatically Lebanese. Reading it in Lebanon in August 2026, I was struck less by what the pine might stand for than by how closely its contradictions seemed to belong to the country around me. The poem begins with history lodged in the body. “Your pain unfolds from the past,” Tekeyan tells the tree. The first wound appears low on the trunk. The lost branch resembles a human limb, its trace “dried and jutting, like a severed arm.” Before long, the instrument of amputation appears explicitly: the saw. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/A_Displaced_Armenian.png) Moustafa Farroukh, "A Displaced Armenian" (1933) (via [Wikimedia Commons)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A%5FDisplaced%5FArmenian.png?ref=hyperallergic.com) The mutilations accumulate. “Then countless others followed it, one after another.” Yet the tree continues upward. Its higher branches are eventually allowed to sprout and thicken, adorning themselves with “translucent tresses.” Tekeyan lets us glimpse flourishing before making us look again: those branches, too, bear “fresh traces of the saw.” And then Tekeyan shifts the metaphor. The injured body becomes a genealogy. Its branches are its “grandchildren and great-grandchildren, dead too soon.” The ancestor remains standing as its descendants disappear around it. Tekeyan then reverses the natural order of generations: The ancestor becomes the grave of its descendants, “whose open grave you have become beneath the skies.” Everything in the sonnet seems to carry us toward grief. Until it doesn’t. “But you do not at all inspire,” Tekeyan writes, “any thought of mourning.” And he tells us why: “You ever bring forth new life.” In writing and conversation about Lebanon, the word “resilience” is tossed around liberally. But endlessly celebrating people’s resilience can normalize what they are repeatedly forced to endure. No less common in Western media is the portrayal of Lebanon as hedonistic: its nightlife and crowded beach clubs, where the party continues amid economic collapse and political crisis. For decades, such coverage has treated the revival of Beirut’s bars and clubs as evidence that the country is “back.” It is a seductive shorthand. But like the celebration of resilience, this framing romanticizes precarity and escapism while obscuring the scars of war and the uneven costs of crisis. Tekeyan’s pine offers us something more compelling. Farroukh’s pines, in turn, offer a key to reading the poem. Farroukh’s trees stand together. Seen in this light, what is often flattened into hedonism may instead be understood as one manifestation of solidarity: an insistence on gathering with friends and family against the odds, even while bearing the traces of violence. My grandparents were child survivors of the Armenian Genocide who found refuge in Lebanon, where my parents and I were born. I grew up during the Lebanese Civil War and came of age in its aftermath. When I first translated Tekeyan’s poem in 2003 and encountered Farroukh’s painting in the exhibition catalog that same year, I was still living there. Three years later came another war. Soon thereafter, I moved to the United States. But it was only in Dhour El Choueir, in August 2026, that the poem and the painting came together for me, revealing something about Lebanon beyond the familiar scripts. The wounds remain. The tree sways. **Acknowledgment:** *The author would like to thank Rowina Bou Harb, Head of Archives at the Sursock Museum, for her assistance.* ### In Queens, Immigrant Women Sew a Truer Atlas URL: https://hyperallergic.com/in-queens-immigrant-women-sew-a-truer-atlas/ Last updated: 2026-09-08T16:15:53.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/TextileMap1-2.jpg) "The Collective Map of Paths" (2025–ongoing), 50 x 50 inches (photo by and courtesy Andrés Altamirano) *This article is part of a series focusing on underrepresented craft histories, researched and written by the* [*2025 Craft Archive Fellows*](https://hyperallergic.com/2025-center-for-craft-archive-fellows/)*, and organized in collaboration with the Center for Craft.* --- How can we delve into the archives of the present? Is it possible to unveil and touch the documents that communities are creating today to record and remember their history, or does understanding only arise with the passage of time? When does an object become an archive? For the past two years, I have been working with two immigrant-led *costureros*: circles of women from all over Latin America that gather to create textiles together. Located in different community centers in Northwestern Queens in New York City, these spaces have become a safe haven for many undocumented, working-class immigrants who are enduring racial profiling and persecution under the current immigration crackdown. Amid this terror, the intimacy and secrecy of the costureroset a table where gossip and generosity sit side by side with threads and needles. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/ALTAMIRANO_ANDRES_COSTURERO_0725-1.jpeg) Costurero member at work, featured in **Thread of Voice / Un hilo de voz* (photo by and courtesy Andrés Altamirano) The first group, BordeAndo*,* was founded in 2018 as a community engagement initiative of the Queens Museum, though it soon grew beyond the institution to become an independent collective. Its name plays with multiple meanings in Spanish: *bordar* (to embroider), *borde* (border or frontier), and the suffix -*ando*, which evokes movement or walking. Most of its members come from the Ecuadorian highlands (*la Sierra*), though others are from the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, and Mexico. They range in age from 30 to 83 and have lived in the United States for between 10 and 50 years. Las Comadres Bordadoras was founded in 2021 in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic by two Mexican immigrants, who sought to bring women out of isolation and foster a mutual support network. Their name, also difficult to translate, gestures toward camaraderie and kinship. The *comadre* refers specifically to women who are, in their words, “a midpoint between friend and family.” The comadrescome from Mexico, Cuba, El Salvador, Uruguay, Colombia, Ecuador, and Argentina; range in age from 35 to 75; and have lived in the United States for between two and 30 years. They mostly embroider Mexican cloth napkins, but all forms of needlework are welcome. This costurerocalls itself “nomadic” because it has moved around community gardens, public libraries, and schools in the area since its conception. Both circles are intergenerational, international spaces of confluence for transnational, working-class, largely undocumented immigrant women. Last year, BordeAndo and Las Comadres Bordadoras were the protagonists of [*Thread of Voice / Un hilo de voz*](https://queensmuseum.org/event/thread-of-voice-un-hilo-de-voz/?ref=hyperallergic.com) at the Queens Museum. The exhibition, which I curated, featured Andrés Altamirano’s photographs of the costurero members along with film by documentarian Eleonora Privitera. The visual narrative and documentation of this project was also done in collaboration with Altamirano. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/5-1.jpeg) Still from Eleonora Privitera, “Un hilo de voz” (2025), short film (image courtesy Eleonora Privitera) I see these costurerosas living archives — as sites where craft traditions converge, and concrete embodied and material practices connect geographies of affect and displacement, like a woman knitting a stitch learned by her grandmother back home or another embroidering a napkin for the altar of a dead loved one whose grave she cannot visit because of her migratory status. “Text” and “textile” share an etymological root — the Latin verb *texere* — that reveals both that texts are woven and textiles written. In this sense, textiles are texts that we have forgotten how to read, encoded with bodily gestures, storytelling practices, and materialities that could, if safeguarded, be called archives. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Art Books We’re Reading This Fall URL: https://hyperallergic.com/art-books-were-reading-this-fall/ Last updated: 2026-09-07T10:00:03.000Z Watch out, Brooklyn Public Library — there are approximately five dozen intriguing art books coming out this season I’d love to get my hands on. But today, my fellow editors and I narrowed our list down to 15 forthcoming titles we think you should read this fall. From a catalog on Kent Monkman’s response to a Vermeer painting to essays by Elizabeth Alexander, find your next art book below. More reads for your Labor Day weekend, including Matt Stromberg’s dispatch from the ill-fated Lucas Museum in Los Angeles and a glimpse into Rujuta Rao’s portable, modular studio. *—Lakshmi Rivera Amin, associate editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Untitled-design-2--1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/15-art-books-for-your-fall-reading-list/) [ 15 Art Books for Your Fall Reading List ](https://hyperallergic.com/15-art-books-for-your-fall-reading-list/) Christine Sun Kim’s archive of deafness in pop culture, Guadalupe Rosales’s East Los Angeles memoir, Kent Monkman’s pulls back the curtain on a Vermeer painting — it’s choose your own adventure in art books this fall. We’ve got far too many novels, catalogs, essay collections, and photography books coming out over the next three months to pick from, but these 15 caught our eye. Read on for a story within a story, an artist’s take on Moby-Dick from our resident Mellville fan, Associate Editor Lisa Yin Zhang, and much more. Happy reading! —*Lakshmi Rivera Amin, associate editor* [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/15-art-books-for-your-fall-reading-list/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/EllenDynebrinkmaybe_front_flash_2026_Hyperallergic--1-.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/nordic-textile-takeover-the-cold-stitch/) ****Nordic Textile Takeover: The Cold Stitch** Opening September 4 at Scandinavia House, this exhibition, workshop series, and symposium program returns in its third iteration alongside New York Textile Month. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/nordic-textile-takeover-the-cold-stitch/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/trump-arch.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-to-break-ground-on-triumphal-arch-before-federal-approval/) Excavation efforts are set to begin within the next two weeks for [President Donald Trump’s controversial “Great Triumphal Arch.](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-to-break-ground-on-triumphal-arch-before-federal-approval/)" --- ## Los Angeles [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/la-museum.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/las-lucas-museum-displays-narrative-art-for-the-few-not-the-people/) [ LA’s Lucas Museum Displays “Narrative Art” for the Few, Not the People ](https://hyperallergic.com/las-lucas-museum-displays-narrative-art-for-the-few-not-the-people/) Friction, dissonance, and multiplicity are overall avoided in favor of superficial unity and a flattening of difference at George Lucas and Mellody Hobson’s new institution. | Matt Stromberg [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/las-lucas-museum-displays-narrative-art-for-the-few-not-the-people/) --- ## Community [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/vfte-9.4.26.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-146/) [ A View From the Easel: Rujuta Rao ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-146/) “My studio is presently portable, modular, and itinerant.” [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-146/) --- ## Member Comment I know that political posters tend to fall off the "art show" spectrum, but I'd suggest adding this to the list - "Graphic Resistance: Seven Decades of California Posters for Peace & Justice" curated by the Center for the Study of Political Graphics at the Santa Monica Airport Arts Studios, 3026 Airport Avenue in Santa Monica. Go soon, closes September 7. —Lincoln Cushing on "[15 Art Shows to See in Los Angeles This Fall](https://hyperallergic.com/15-art-shows-to-see-in-los-angeles-this-fall/)" --- ## Hyper Links - Anne Carson [muses](https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n16/anne-carson/on-rosalia?ref=hyperallergic.com) on the spiritual experience of attending a Rosalía concert — the crossover we didn't know we needed. - Novelist Barbara Kingsolver [reflects](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/04/books/review/wendell-berry-appreciation.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) on the wisdom and lessons of poet Wendell Berry, who passed away last week. - A day in the life of the US Open’s unsung heroes: [the ball crew](https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/we-joined-the-us-open-ball-crew-for-a-day-its-harder-than-it-looks?ref=hyperallergic.com). --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/japan.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/what-was-hiroshima-like-before-the-atom-bomb-wakaji-matsumoto-photographs/) [ What Was Hiroshima Like Before the Atom Bomb? ](https://hyperallergic.com/what-was-hiroshima-like-before-the-atom-bomb-wakaji-matsumoto-photographs/) Wakaji Matsumoto’s photographs provide a glimpse of a world in the midst of transition into the next stage of global capitalism and Westernization. | AX Mina [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/what-was-hiroshima-like-before-the-atom-bomb-wakaji-matsumoto-photographs/) featured opportunity ****Hamiltonian Artists and American University — Hamiltonian Teaching Artist Residency** A new Spring Semester Teaching Artist Residency offers practicing visual artists a paid MFA-level teaching post plus fully funded housing and studio space in Washington, DC. Deadline: Priority deadline September 15 | [hamiltonianartists.org](https://bit.ly/4gMa3Gx?ref=hyperallergic.com) ### It Doesn’t Get Better Than This URL: https://hyperallergic.com/it-doesnt-get-better-than-this/ Last updated: 2026-09-06T12:13:45.000Z Scrolling on Instagram, I stumble upon a clip of a 25-year-old guy from Chicago walking by the water after finishing work at his finance job. He tells us that he’s on his way to his downtown apartment, where his girlfriend and his new puppy are waiting for him, and that later he plans to go get beers and watch college football with his friends. “And I gotta say, I don't think life gets much better than this,” he concludes, brimming with positivity. “It's mid 70s, the sun is out … Is this peak? I think I'm peaking right now.” What a lovely reminder to be grateful for life’s little things, I think to myself. Inspired, I share the video with my wife, because I want her to peak, too. She replies, “LOL, is this real?” The biggest art story of the week is about John Galliano, a fashion designer who was convicted of antisemitic and anti-Asian hate speech in France in 2011, and has once confessed his love for Hitler. This week, he pulled out of an exhibition at The Met’s Costume Institute after public and donor outcry. Until three weeks ago, I had no idea who Galliano was. I guess I’m not a big *Vogue* reader. If I had a time machine, I’d zap myself back to the day before I found out. But you take the good with the bad. Next month, I’ll be rounding out my first year as editor-in-chief. I think you'll enjoy what we have planned for this fall. I’m blessed with an excellent team. Meanwhile, tensions between a hostile barista and me reach a boiling point when a glass bottle falls on the floor and shatters. She’s been giving me the stink eye for weeks while a poster behind her declares, “ICE Is Not Welcome Here.” Out on the street, I find myself feeling jealous of a concrete mixer truck. It's constantly processing what’s inside, never letting any of it harden. I watch an interview with 99-year-old American painter Alex Katz. “Get outside yourself and move,” he tells the reporter. On my way home from work, I get hit with a sudden urge to make a detour onto Orient Avenue. A large park reveals itself and I go in for a stroll. I see people jogging or walking their dogs. Others are playing tennis, basketball, or squash. Skaters swing up and down in the air. One guy on a bench is halfway through *Anna Karenina*; two others are typing on their laptops, but by the looks of them, they must be completing manuscripts. The voices of merry children in the playground rise up to the sky. It's upper 70s; the sun is still out; and I gotta say, I don't think life gets much better than this. *—Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/krasner.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/what-i-got-wrong-about-krasner-and-pollock/) [ What I Got Wrong About Krasner and Pollock ](https://hyperallergic.com/what-i-got-wrong-about-krasner-and-pollock/) Earlier this year, the Metropolitan Museum of Art announced its forthcoming exhibition Krasner and Pollock: Past Continuous on Instagram, alongside a photograph of the artists by Hans Namuth. Seething, I looked to the comments for affirmation. I didn’t have to scroll for long. “Give her a solo show!” Months earlier, I had visited the Pollock-Krasner House in Springs, East Hampton, knowing far more about Jackson Pollock than I did Lee Krasner. I am a painter myself, and I had come to Springs in the wreck of yet another failed relationship … with a painter. I thought I already knew Krasner’s story. I thought her story was partly my own. | Lia Strasser [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/what-i-got-wrong-about-krasner-and-pollock/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/john-galliano-NL-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/john-galliano-withdraws-from-met-exhibition-after-backlash-over-racist-comments/) - The British fashion designer John Galliano [withdraws his upcoming exhibition](https://hyperallergic.com/john-galliano-withdraws-from-met-exhibition-after-backlash-over-racist-comments/) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, set to run concurrently with the 2027 Met Gala, after intense criticism of his past racist behavior. - The National Park Service [deinstalls an iconic 24-foot-tall sculpture](https://hyperallergic.com/critics-slam-petty-removal-of-joel-shapiro-sculpture-from-kennedy-center/) by late artist Joel Shapiro from the grounds of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. - The British Museum [hosts Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel](https://hyperallergic.com/what-in-the-devil-was-peter-thiel-doing-at-the-british-museum/) for a VIP viewing of the Bayeux tapestry, drawingconcerns among staff. - Following this week’s news of Yayoi Kusama’s passing, artists, galleries, museums, and fashion houses around the world [take to social media to reflect](https://hyperallergic.com/the-art-world-reacts-to-yayoi-kusamas-passing/) on the seismic loss. - [Thieves make off](https://hyperallergic.com/thieves-snatch-4-6m-diamond-necklace-from-viennese-museum/) with a platinum and diamond necklace from the Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna. - Demolitions at the Rike Park Music Theatre and Exhibition Hall in Tbilisi, Georgia [prompt outcry](https://hyperallergic.com/demolition-of-georgian-architectural-landmark-sparks-outcry/) from local community members and the architects. - A new exhibition in NYC [celebrates Snoopy’s enduring influence](https://hyperallergic.com/nyc-exhibition-celebrates-snoopys-enduring-influence-on-art-and-fashion/) on art and fashion. - Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich demands that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu [order the dismantling of 40 Palestinian memorials](https://hyperallergic.com/israels-smotrich-calls-to-destroy-40-palestinian-memorials-in-west-bank/) in the Occupied West Bank. - [Art Movements](https://hyperallergic.com/mildred-howard-wins-artists-legacy-foundation-award/): Mildred Howard wins the Artists’ Legacy Foundation Award, artists receive funding from the Anonymous Was A Woman Environmental Art Grants, Art Gallery of Ontario director steps down, Alex Katz on *PBS*, and more. --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/belgian-exhibition.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-belgian-exhibition-that-strives-to-decenter-the-west/) [ The Belgian Exhibition That Strives to “Decenter” the West ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-belgian-exhibition-that-strives-to-decenter-the-west/) With two contradictory briefs — to both decenter Europe and show Bruges’s centrality in international networks — an exhibition on the Belgian city is already off to a bumpy start. | Natasha Seaman [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-belgian-exhibition-that-strives-to-decenter-the-west/) [ Jennifer Higgie’s Empathetic Elegy for Richard Dadd ](https://hyperallergic.com/jennifer-higgies-empathetic-elegy-for-richard-dadd/) In “Bedlam,” the author and art critic does not describe the English painter’s often-sensationalized mental deterioration. Instead, she writes the novel in his voice. | Claudia Ross [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/jennifer-higgies-empathetic-elegy-for-richard-dadd/) [ “Marina” Dares You to Laugh at Technology ](https://hyperallergic.com/marina-dares-you-to-laugh-at-technology/) Julio Torres and Martine Gutierrez’s new performance is a grotesque parade of visual delights that defangs our toxic relationship to our screens. | Valentina Di Liscia [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/marina-dares-you-to-laugh-at-technology/) [ In “Whistler,” Ann Patchett Tackles Loss and Art ](https://hyperallergic.com/in-whistler-ann-patchett-tackles-loss-and-art/) The beloved author’s new novel tells a story of familial loss and reconnection, beginning with a chance encounter at The Met. But why does it seem to imply that grief and art are at odds? | Lavinia Liang [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/in-whistler-ann-patchett-tackles-loss-and-art/) --- ## Features [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/catherine-murphy.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/catherine-murphy-has-her-cake-and-eats-it-too/) [ Catherine Murphy Has Her Cake and Eats It Too ](https://hyperallergic.com/catherine-murphy-has-her-cake-and-eats-it-too/) The painter reconciles modernist conventions like the grid with one-point perspective, creating something fresh and entirely her own. | John Yau [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/catherine-murphy-has-her-cake-and-eats-it-too/) [ The Missing Colors of Black American Pigment-Making ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-missing-colors-of-black-american-pigment-making/) George Washington Carver is remembered as an innovative agricultural scientist, but his overlooked artistic work places him in a lineage of Black American natural dyeing traditions. | Teju Adisa Farrar [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-missing-colors-of-black-american-pigment-making/) [ The Artists Paddling 350 Miles Up the Erie Canal ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-artists-paddling-350-miles-up-the-erie-canal/) As part of “Mule’s Passage,” artists Z Behl and Kim Moloney are paddling six hours a day and camping for five weeks. | Taliesin Thomas [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-artists-paddling-350-miles-up-the-erie-canal/) [ Inside the 3,000-Zine Library in a Texas Living Room ](https://hyperallergic.com/inside-the-3-000-zine-library-in-a-texas-living-room/) Michelle Millette’s Sherwood Forest Zine Library in Austin is part of a growing culture and community surrounding the self-published, easy-to-distribute booklets. | Shahrzad Rasekh [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/inside-the-3-000-zine-library-in-a-texas-living-room/) [ How Fannuh Baskets Connect Liberia to the US Lowcountry ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-fannuh-baskets-connect-liberia-to-the-us-lowcountry/) Gullah Geechee basket-weaving is rooted in an oral tradition carried by enslaved people from Liberia’s Windward Coast. | Bilphena Decontee Yahwon [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-fannuh-baskets-connect-liberia-to-the-us-lowcountry/) --- ## Guides [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/upstate-NY-shows-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/10-art-shows-to-see-in-upstate-new-york-this-september/) [ 10 Art Shows to See in Upstate New York This September ](https://hyperallergic.com/10-art-shows-to-see-in-upstate-new-york-this-september/) Legendary gallerist Betty Parsons, the book art stylings of R. B. Kitaj, a celebration of Milton Avery’s family, and more. | Taliesin Thomas [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/10-art-shows-to-see-in-upstate-new-york-this-september/) [ 15 Art Shows to See in Los Angeles This Fall ](https://hyperallergic.com/15-art-shows-to-see-in-los-angeles-this-fall/) Carmen Lomas Garza’s tender scenes of Chicanx community, Huguette Caland’s life in lines, Indigenous artists on fire and stewardship, photography of trans mutual aid, and more. | Matt Stromberg [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/15-art-shows-to-see-in-los-angeles-this-fall/) --- ## Community [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/vfte-NM.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-145/) - [A View From the Easel](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-145/): printmaker and self-proclaimed “mountain ultrarunner” Hilary Lorenz transforms paper into boats, books, and weavings in the studio she built herself. - [In Memoriam](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-geles-cabrera-helch-and-jay-maisel/): we honor Geles Cabrera, a sculptor who explored the body; Helch, a street artist who upset Queen Elizabeth; Jay Maisel, a commercial photographer who shaped the medium, and others. --- ## Opportunities This Month [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/sept-opportunities.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/opportunities-in-september-2026/) Residencies, fellowships, grants, and open calls from the Gulf Coast Journal, the Harry Ransom Center, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Vermont Studio Center, and more in our monthly list of opportunities for artists, writers, and art workers. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/opportunities-in-september-2026/) ### 15 Art Books for Your Fall Reading List URL: https://hyperallergic.com/15-art-books-for-your-fall-reading-list/ Last updated: 2026-09-10T19:19:37.000Z Christine Sun Kim's archive of deafness in pop culture, Guadalupe Rosales's East Los Angeles memoir, Kent Monkman's pulls back the curtain on a Vermeer painting — it's choose your own adventure in art books this fall. We've got far too many novels, catalogs, essay collections, and photography books coming out over the next three months to pick from, but these 15 caught our eye. Read on for a story within a story, an artist's take on *Moby-Dick* from our resident Mellville fan, Associate Editor Lisa Yin Zhang, and much more. Happy reading! —*Lakshmi Rivera Amin, associate editor* --- [***East of the River: A Memoir of Los Angeles Girlhood***](http://bookshop.org/a/539/9780593447260?ref=hyperallergic.com) by Guadalupe Rosales | One World, September 8 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/book-cover-9-.jpg) In Guadalupe Rosales’s practice, the archive documents “what it feels like to hold something that is so meaningful.” That feeling is at the fore of her memoir, where images and other ephemera plumbed from the Los Angeles Chicana artist and educator’s personal archive are inseparable from the experiences that occasioned their capture. Rife with images of family, teenage friends, lowriders, and party flyers similar to those that appear in her portal-like, multi-media installations, this memoir stresses the importance of telling one’s own story, especially for those for whom the existing archives do not speak. —*Phillip Pyle* --- [***Christine Sun Kim: Deaf Material***](http://bookshop.org/a/539/9798991036757?ref=hyperallergic.com)| Primary Information, September 15 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/book-cover--6-.jpg) Christine Sun Kim has *range* — her drawing, installations, and video work are bitingly acidic, wickedly funny, and heartwrenchingly moving. With more than 600 photos of deaf imagery in mainstream culture — think memes, advertisements, disability signage, art, and more — that Kim has either taken or found, this book is not only a corrective to a lack of a comprehensive archive but also a glimpse into the mind of one of the most interesting artists working today. —*Lisa Yin Zhang* --- [***Signals Across Vast Distances: Essays and Tales***](http://bookshop.org/a/539/9781324118008?ref=hyperallergic.com) by Elizabeth Alexander | W. W. Norton & Company, September 15 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/book-cover--8-.jpg) Few books have stuck with me as poet, scholar, and Mellon Foundation President Elizabeth Alexander’s *The Light of the World* has. Published in 2015, three years after the sudden death of her husband, artist [Ficre Ghebreyesus](https://hyperallergic.com/ficre-ghebreyesus-galerie-lelong-gate-to-the-blue/), the poetic memoir was pinpricked with the devastating details of grief — shared recipes, an empty chair, a found acrostic. I’ll be first in line to read *Signals Across Vast Distances*, a collection of essays exploring a question artists have always chased: What is our role? —*Lakshmi Rivera Amin* --- [***Exhibit G: Poems, Essays, and Photographs of Gaza***](http://bookshop.org/a/539/9781639551989?ref=hyperallergic.com) by Fady Joudah | Milkweed Editions, September 22 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/book-cover--7-.jpg) One heart-rending photo from Gaza. Two, three, hundreds, thousands. In many, we see starved children walking around all day with empty pots instead of toys, begging for food. There's no school. No summer camp. No warm bath. No cozy bed. No storytime before sleep. No Pokémon cards or Spider-Man outfits. No roof to sleep under. No future in sight. Just grief and rubble all around. This moving collection of photos, poems, and essays by National Book Award finalist Fady Joudah tells their stories. Words by him and others express how the greatest chapter of Palestinian resistance and survival is now being written by the children of Gaza. —*Hakim Bishara* _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Trump to Break Ground on “Triumphal Arch” Before Federal Approval URL: https://hyperallergic.com/trump-to-break-ground-on-triumphal-arch-before-federal-approval/ Last updated: 2026-09-07T17:19:14.000Z Excavation efforts are set to begin within the next two weeks for President Donald Trump’s [controversial “Great Triumphal Arch,”](https://hyperallergic.com/the-arch-of-trump-triumph-and-downfall/) according to a statement Interior Secretary Doug Burgum posted on [X](https://x.com/SecretaryBurgum/status/2095587973907755133?ref=hyperallergic.com) on Thursday, September 3\. The announcement was made before the project has even received the green light from a federal review panel. The National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC), which evaluates design proposals throughout Washington, DC, preliminarily approved Trump's project on July 9, but issued several comments the president must address before earning the committee's [final approval](https://www.ncpc.gov/news/item/264/1/?ref=hyperallergic.com). The NCPC's primary concern is the height of the 250-foot-tall structure, which could violate the 130-foot cap imposed by the 1910 [Height of Buildings Act](https://www.ncpc.gov/topics/heights/?ref=hyperallergic.com) and obstruct the sightlines of [dozens of historical landmarks](https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/6005794-national-park-service-triumphal-arch-section-106-review/?ref=hyperallergic.com). "This will be one of the Great Pieces of American Architecture, honoring the history and significance of Arlington Cemetery and befitting the most powerful Capital in the World," Burgum added in his post on Thursday, [a month](https://www.ncpc.gov/review/meeting/?ref=hyperallergic.com) before the NCPC's next scheduled review on October 1. Sitting on the highly trafficked Memorial Circle near Arlington National Cemetery, the white granite-clad arch will include a “Military Observation Deck” and be topped by two statues of gold eagles and one of a golden winged figure. While the project has been presented as a celebratory marker of the country's 250th anniversary, Trump has also dedicated the monument, which many have deemed the “[Arc de Trump](https://hyperallergic.com/the-arch-of-trump-triumph-and-downfall/),” to [himself](https://www.instagram.com/reels/DP2WDAiEa4X/?ref=hyperallergic.com). The project received approval from Trump appointees at the Commission of Fine Arts in May and from the [National Park Service](https://parkplanning.nps.gov/document.cfm?parkID=186&projectID=136973&documentID=153235&ref=hyperallergic.com) last week. The latter nevertheless conceded in its report that "the proposed undertaking would result in adverse effects to the historic property,” impeding the sightlines of or from the Arlington House, Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, and the Kennedy Gravesite, among several other landmarks. To minimize the arch's potentially adverse impact, the NCPC recommended that Trump continue consultations under [Section 106](https://hyperallergic.com/could-this-new-legislation-protect-historic-sites-from-trumps-wrath/), a measure that mandates federal agencies to consider damages to historically significant sites before beginning construction projects. The president has routinely [rushed through](https://hyperallergic.com/national-gallery-of-art-protects-works-ahead-of-trumps-indycar-race/) the procedure, with the largely Trump-appointed Advisory Council on Historic Preservation [voting to reduce](https://hyperallergic.com/could-this-new-legislation-protect-historic-sites-from-trumps-wrath/) protections in July. Apart from an incomplete Section 106 review, the [Federal Aviation Administration](https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/12/politics/trump-arch-faa-flight-risk-assessment-vis?ref=hyperallergic.com) (FAA) is evaluating the arch's potential impact on air navigation given its placement just miles from Reagan National Airport, according to [*CNN*](https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/03/politics/trump-arch-construction-start?ref=hyperallergic.com). Per the NCPC's [recommendations](https://www.ncpc.gov/files/projects/2026/8778%5FNew%5FMonumental%5FArch%5F11.%5FNCPC%5FStaff%5FReport%5FJul2026.pdf?ref=hyperallergic.com), the administration should have held off on construction before the FAA determined what precautions to take. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### LA’s Lucas Museum Displays “Narrative Art” for the Few, Not the People URL: https://hyperallergic.com/las-lucas-museum-displays-narrative-art-for-the-few-not-the-people/ Last updated: 2026-09-05T02:01:20.000Z LOS ANGELES — After nearly two decades of planning and construction, a [spate of layoffs](https://hyperallergic.com/los-angeles-lucas-museum-lays-off-21-employees/), and [staffing controversies](https://hyperallergic.com/lucas-museum-chief-curators-sudden-exit-raises-questions/), the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art will open its doors to the public later this month in South Los Angeles’s Exposition Park. This week, members of the press were invited to tour the new institution and get a taste of the random and facile smorgasbord of art that awaits visitors. Founded by filmmaker George Lucas and his wife Mellody Hobson, co-CEO of Ariel Investments, the reportedly [$1 billion](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2026-09-02/lucas-museum-opening-george-lucas-speech-architect-spaceship?ref=hyperallergic.com) building designed by Ma Yansong/MAD Architects houses their collection of 40,000 works representing what they call “visual storytelling.” These include illustrations, history paintings, comic art, films, murals, and other genres that “have not always received the respect they deserve,” as press materials explain. The five-story, undulating, spaceship-like structure sits on an 11-acre campus of rolling green hills designed by Mia Lehrer of Los Angeles’s Studio-MLA, who also designed the building’s green roof. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Exterior2.jpg) A view of the Lucas Museum exterior “For thousands of years, that was the only way you could tell a story, with pictures,” Lucas said during a press preview on Wednesday, September 2 (seemingly disregarding traditions of oral histories or song). “Pictures and stories are very powerful. Put them together, and those two elements make a society.” “Narrative Art creates groups of people with common belief systems, which allows them to work together and not kill each other,” he continued, as if to finally resolve the question of what Narrative Art *is*, exactly, a query that has surrounded the museum for years. Ironically, there is very little narrative at all in the Museum of Narrative Art, at least curatorially. The collection is spread throughout 100,000 square feet of gallery space, divided into 30 or so thematic galleries — Adventure, Romance, Motherhood, Civic Life, Science Fiction, Comics, Sports, and others — with a few dedicated to individuals such as famed fantasy artist Frank Frazetta, American regionalist Thomas Hart Benton, and Norman Rockwell, whose specific brand of folksy Americana can be felt throughout. Artworks are displayed free of context or even any wall text aside from shiny, metal letters announcing each section. The thematic arrangement mashes together artworks of different styles and eras, linked by the flimsiest of threads, as if to say “Look, we’re all the same: we play sports, we work, we raise children!”, with little interest in exploring the specific cultural or social conditions from which they emerged. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### A View From the Easel URL: https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-146/ Last updated: 2026-09-04T17:12:54.000Z Welcome to the 353rdinstallment of A View From the Easel, a series in which artists reflect on their workspace. This week, Rujuta Rao carries a foldable studio wherever she goes, a poetic embrace of her life between continents and mediums. Want to take part? Check out our [submission guidelines](https://hyperallergic.com/submit-your-workspace-to-a-view-from-the-easel/) and share a bit about your studio with us through [this form](https://forms.gle/Erq7cyGEmMUxKrLe9?ref=hyperallergic.com)! All mediums and workspaces are welcome, including your home studio. --- ## [Rujuta Rao](https://www.rujutarao.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com), New York City ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/3_RujutaRao_Hyperallergic---Rujuta-Rao-1.jpg) ***How long have you been working in this space?*** I've had this itinerant studio since January. I usually set it up in public spaces in New York City. ***Describe an average day in your studio.*** I tend to work on multiple projects in a circular manner, moving from one to another, working incrementally on each until I feel I've worked on them enough. I learned as a child that this way of working supports my swiftly moving attention and sustains my interest in each project. I work until 4am every day, and I enjoy talking to my family and friends in India while I work late. That is our time together. ***How does the space affect your work?*** My studio is presently portable, modular, and itinerant. I carry it around and set it up in public spaces. Each space and the people in it affect my work. The modular parts that compose my studio are also utilized in my performances and working with them in a studio context is a way to practice activating them in performance. The parts alternate between becoming work surfaces, bar-like interfaces to engage with people, and screens that create a sense of privacy in public. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Nordic Textile Takeover: The Cold Stitch URL: https://hyperallergic.com/nordic-textile-takeover-the-cold-stitch/ Last updated: 2026-09-04T14:48:31.000Z This September in partnership with New York Textile Month, Scandinavia House presents the third iteration of NORDIC TEXTILE TAKEOVER, an exhibition, workshop series and symposium highlighting contemporary Nordic Textiles. This year’s program, [THE COLD STITCH](https://bit.ly/4yepptd?ref=hyperallergic.com), celebrates textile art as a living and evolving practice deeply rooted in the cultures of the North, where a strong tradition of working with textiles as an art form exists as stitching continues to mend, preserve and reimagine the world around us. On view from September 4-16, [the exhibition](https://bit.ly/4yepptd?ref=hyperallergic.com) brings together artists from across the Nordic region whose practices engage with textiles as both a material and language. These include Margrethe Aanestad (Norway), Valgerður Bergsdottir (Iceland), Ellen Dynebrink (Sweden), Ragna Froda (Iceland), Heidi Hankaniemi (Finland), Ingunn Fjóla IngÞórsdóttir (IS), Lee Jensen (Denmark), Andrea Magdalena Jonsdottir (IS), John K. Raustein (NO), Randi Samsonsen (Faroe Islands), Sunna Sigfríðardóttir (IS), Nora Martine Hjelle Strand (NO), Thórunn Elísabet (Tótalisa) (IS), Josabet Werkmäster (SE), Mette Winckelmann (DK) and Kiyoshi Yamamoto (NO). Through quilting, patchwork, collage, weaving, hand embroidery, sculptural textiles and visible and invisible stitching, the exhibition explores how textile traditions have continued to evolve within contemporary art. A stitch binds fragments together while allowing histories, emotions, reflections on the political climate, and personal narratives to remain visible. Echoing this feature, many of the works in the exhibition embrace reuse and transformation, giving discarded fabrics, garments, yarns, and textile remnants new meaning through the artistic process. ### THE COLD STITCH Event Schedule - Sept 5, 2pm: [Curator Walkthrough](https://bit.ly/4iJRe8e?ref=hyperallergic.com) led by Ragna Froda - Sept 8, 5:30pm: [Basket Weaving Workshop](https://bit.ly/4gQopoe?ref=hyperallergic.com) with Leila Bacch - Sept 12, 2pm: [Artist Talks](https://bit.ly/4yjZfFp?ref=hyperallergic.com) with Thórunn Elísabet (Tótalisa), Nora Martine Hjelle Strand, and Ingunn Fjóla Ingfiórsdóttir - Sept 12, 4pm-6pm: [Curator Walkthrough and ](https://bit.ly/4cnMbqm?ref=hyperallergic.com)[Reception](https://bit.ly/4cnMbqm?ref=hyperallergic.com) - Sept 13, 12pm – 4pm: [Stitching Circle Workshop](https://bit.ly/3VbpqzS?ref=hyperallergic.com) with Thórunn Elísabet (Tótalisa), Nora Martine Hjelle Strand,and Andrea Magdalena Jónsdóttir - Sept 16, 3pm – 6pm:[Artist Talk and Workshop](https://bit.ly/4zW9h14?ref=hyperallergic.com) with Heidi Hankaniemi - Sept 16, 6pm: Final [Curator Walkthrough](https://bit.ly/4iboMMv?ref=hyperallergic.com) ### **GALLERY HOURS** Sept 4-15: Tuesday-Sunday, 12pm – 6pm Sept 16: Wednesday, 12pm – 8pm Free Admission Organized by the American-Scandinavian Foundation (ASF), THE COLD STITCH is co-organized by Ragna Froda (IS/U.S.), director of New York Textile Month, and Emily Stoddart (Canada), manager of exhibitions and community programs at Scandinavia House. The exhibition is curated by Ragna Froda. All events take place at Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue (b/w 37th & 38th Streets), NYC. Learn more at [scandinaviahouse.org](https://bit.ly/4yepptd?ref=hyperallergic.com). ### Ann Patchett and Crying at The Met URL: https://hyperallergic.com/ann-patchett-and-crying-at-the-met/ Last updated: 2026-09-04T10:00:05.000Z Ever shed a tear in a museum? You’re not alone, my friend. There’s something cathartic about that rare moment, when you find yourself in front of a work of art that seems tailor-made for the very grief or joy or uncertainty you’re experiencing. Critic Lavinia Liang tries to locate this emotional connection with art — or a lack thereof — in Ann Patchett’s new novel, *Whistler*, which follows a single family’s unraveling and reunion bookended by the halls of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Our reports on ICE’s seizure of 22,000 smuggled artifacts in Florida, coverage of the Chinese Pavilion’s withdrawal from the Gwangju Biennale in South Korea in protest of the Taiwan Pavilion, guide to Upstate New York art shows this month, and more in this edition. *—Lakshmi Rivera Amin, associate editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/upstate-fall-shows.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/10-art-shows-to-see-in-upstate-new-york-this-september/) [ 10 Art Shows to See in Upstate New York This September ](https://hyperallergic.com/10-art-shows-to-see-in-upstate-new-york-this-september/) September welcomes the rituals of renewal — back to school! — and recognition, as the end of the year approaches. While the seasonal light and shadows cast dramatic beauty across the Hudson Valley, galleries and museums match the mood with robust exhibitions. | Taliesin Thomas [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/10-art-shows-to-see-in-upstate-new-york-this-september/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/moody-ad.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/radiant-geometries-opens-at-rice-universitys-moody-center-for-the-arts/) ****“Radiant Geometries” Opens at Rice University’s Moody Center for the Arts** Contemporary Indigenous and Latin American artists illuminate the convergence of math, metaphysics, and art in this new exhibition opening September 4. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/radiant-geometries-opens-at-rice-universitys-moody-center-for-the-arts/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Image--21--1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/ice-seizes-22-000-antiquities-in-florida/) - [ICE seizes over 22,000 ancient artifacts in Florida](https://hyperallergic.com/ice-seizes-22-000-antiquities-in-florida/) as part of a trafficking probe as the agency and Trump administration face criticism for escalating violence and threats to cultural heritage. - [China withdraws from South Korea’s Gwangju Biennale](https://hyperallergic.com/china-withdraws-from-gwangju-biennale-in-protest-of-taiwans-inclusion/) just nine days after event organizers restored the title of “Taiwan Pavilion” to a group show featuring Taiwanese artists. - [Art Movements](https://hyperallergic.com/mildred-howard-wins-artists-legacy-foundation-award/): Mildred Howard wins the Artists' Legacy Foundation Award, artists receive funding from the Anonymous Was A Woman Environmental Art Grants, Art Gallery of Ontario director steps down, Alex Katz on *PBS*, and more. - The High Museum of Art in Atlanta will mark its centennial this October with nearly 200 acquisitions and reinstallations of its American and African collections, including a section dedicated to 20th-century Nigerian art. \[[*Atlanta Voice*](https://www.theatlantavoice.com/arts/high-museum-marks-100th-year-with-new-nigerian-galleries-jacob-lawrence-acquisition-a2a80900?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Christie’s and Bonhams both hiked their premiums — the fees buyers pay on top of a work’s hammer price. \[[*Artnews*](https://www.artnews.com/art-news/market/christies-and-bonhams-quietly-hike-buyers-fees-1234796933/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/whistler-nl.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/in-whistler-ann-patchett-tackles-loss-and-art/) [ In “Whistler,” Ann Patchett Tackles Loss and Art ](https://hyperallergic.com/in-whistler-ann-patchett-tackles-loss-and-art/) The beloved author’s new novel tells a story of familial loss and reconnection, beginning with a chance encounter at The Met. But why does it seem to imply that grief and art are at odds? | Lavinia Liang [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/in-whistler-ann-patchett-tackles-loss-and-art/) --- ## Member Comment Wow! Absolutely fascinating information. Thank you for the extraordinary history. There's so much to know and appreciate here. —Willa Lewis on "[The Missing Colors of Black American Pigment-Making](https://hyperallergic.com/the-missing-colors-of-black-american-pigment-making/)" --- ## Hyper Links - Researcher and cultural theorist Flavia Dzodan [writes](http://cmp6cdrjz3l5ehi0/?ref=hyperallergic.com) about the need for art institutions to center “duration and longevity” in their conception of care, noting that she is “increasingly intolerant of ‘care’ as cultural programming” without tangible support. - Nerd out with this riveting [anatomy of a somewhat cloudy Edgar Degas self-portrait](https://www.getty.edu/news/edgar-degas-self-portrait-conservation/?utm%5Fmedium=email&utm%5Fcampaign=August%2020%202026&utm%5Fcontent=August%2020%202026%20CID%5Fbca9ce1cb546905f02f48abe00cb811c&utm%5Fsource=Campaign%20Monitor%20Communications) by the Getty Museum’s conservation team. - In a tender new review of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You" for *Pitchfork*, Lily Goldberg [writes](https://www.instagram.com/p/DcdLbiQDkH6/?img%5Findex=2&igsi=cmp6cDRjZ3l5eHI0&ref=hyperallergic.com), "I hear a simple yet radical answer to this question in Dolly’s version of 'I Will Always Love You': Loving people, even flawed people, can be its own self-rewarding, freeing act, a choice that need not be at odds with cultivating self-respect or demanding respect from others." - Inconvenient truths: [Is printmaking better than painting](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DcuERs8NoiF/?ref=hyperallergic.com)? --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/leo-lionni-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/leo-lionni-childrens-book-author-who-was-also-an-artist/) [ The Children’s Book Author Who Was Also an Artist ](https://hyperallergic.com/leo-lionni-childrens-book-author-who-was-also-an-artist/) Leo Lionni’s wide-ranging practice was kaleidoscopic and rooted in a strong sense of justice. | Lauren Moya Ford [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/leo-lionni-childrens-book-author-who-was-also-an-artist/) featured opportunity ****2027 Erie Canal Artists in Residence — Erie Canal Museum & New York State Canal Corporation** Seeking projects that reflect on the Erie Canal’s past, contemplate its present, and consider its future. All visual mediums welcome. Local and Indigenous artists preferred. Two selected artists will each receive a $10,000 stipend. Deadline: September 6, 2026 | [eriecanalmuseum.org](https://bit.ly/4wsfcJm?ref=hyperallergic.com) ### Mildred Howard Wins Artists’ Legacy Foundation Award URL: https://hyperallergic.com/mildred-howard-wins-artists-legacy-foundation-award/ Last updated: 2026-09-04T15:15:19.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Mildred-Howard-CO.-Judy-Dater-2023--1--1.jpg) Mildred Howard (photo Judy Dater, courtesy Artists' Legacy Foundation) [*Art Movements,*](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/art-movements/) *published every Thursday afternoon, is a roundup of must-know news, appointments, awards, and other art-world happenings.* --- ### A Major Milestone for Mildred Howard The Artists’ Legacy Foundation announced that **Mildred** **Howard** is the recipient of its 2026 Artist Award, an unrestricted $25,000 prize bestowed annually to a major painter or sculptor whose work “shows evidence of the hand.” Known for her public art across the Bay Area, alongside a diverse practice spanning assemblage, collage, sculpture, and installation, Howard has inspired countless people by salvaging objects and their histories to convey moving stories about the Black American experience. She has also been a beloved mentor and a pillar of her community for generations of local artists. “The journey is nothing without taking someone along with you,” Howard told [*Hyperallergic*](https://hyperallergic.com/mildred-howard-art-of-giving/) in 2023. In a statement about the award, Howard said that it “was a complete surprise and it comes at the perfect time.” “The award will assist in helping me to continue my practice,” she said. “To be able to have support in these unsettling times is crucial to most artists.” Previous recipients of the Artist Award include **Jaune Quick-to-See Smith**, **Howardena** **Pindell**, and **Suzan** **Frecon**, among many others. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/unnamed--17-.jpg) Mildred Howard, "Do We Have the Right to Remain Silent" (2021-26) (image courtesy Jenkins Johnson Gallery, San Francisco) --- ### Art Gallery of Ontario Director Steps Down **Stephan** **Jost** is departing from his role as director and CEO of the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) after a decade. Among his achievements, Jost helped secure over $500M in gifts of art and funds and led a major expansion of the museum's modern and contemporary exhibition space, according to a press statement. His tenure is also marked by major controversies and upheaval, including [labor strikes](https://hyperallergic.com/art-gallery-of-ontario-shutters-as-worker-strike-begins/) and allegations of censorship after AGO [reneged on a joint acquisition of a Nan Goldin artwork](https://hyperallergic.com/nan-goldin-speaks-out-on-censorship-at-art-gallery-of-ontario/) because of her public support for Gaza. --- ### Anonymous Was A Woman Environmental Art Grants ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Ifrah_Mansour_AWAWEAG1.jpg) Ifrah Mansour, "living history inside the Aqal" (2022) (photo courtesy the artist) Over two dozen women, transgender, and gender-nonconforming artists received nearly half a million dollars in funding for 27 projects in the fifth cycle of the Anonymous Was A Woman Environmental Art Grants. Among the recipients are **Mary** **Mattingly**, **Reniqua Allen-Lamphere**, **Alex J. Bledsoe**, **Tamara** **Cedré**, **Naomi Wanjiku Gakunga**, and **Fawn** **Douglas**; see the full list [here](https://www.anonymouswasawoman.org/2026-eag?ref=hyperallergic.com). The award, announced by Anonymous Was A Woman and the New York Foundation for the Arts, provides one-time grants of up to $20,000 for projects such as Minnesota-based **Ifrah** **Mansour**'s work centered around the hand-woven Somali nomadic dwelling known as *aqal*. “My work draws on the tools of the past to heal the present and to design the future,” Mansour wrote in an opinion for [*Hyperallergic*](https://hyperallergic.com/on-being-a-somali-artist-in-minnesota/). “It is rooted in radical imagination; in abundance, in kindness, and in collective care.” --- ### What Else Happened? - **Cuauhtémoc** **Medina** was named the curator of the 25th Bienal de Arte Paiz, held in Guatemala City and Antigua, Guatemala from November 2027 to February 2028. - **Margarita** **Lizcano** **Hernandez** was [appointed](https://www.instagram.com/p/DclnI%5F5u9cJ/?ref=hyperallergic.com) curatorial and programs associate at The Latinx Project. - **Leilah** **Babirye** is now represented by Salon 94 in collaboration with Gordon Robichaux and Galerie Max Hetzler. The artist will have her first solo exhibition with Salon 94 next spring. - **Edouard** **Kopp**, chief curator of the Menil Drawing Institute, was named the next director of the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University. - David Zwirner gallery announced that it [will display the final works](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/02/arts/design/yayoi-kusama-final-years.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) of **Yayoi** **Kusama** in an exhibition next spring. The artist [passed away](https://hyperallergic.com/yayoi-kusama-artist-of-infinities-dies-at-97/) last week at the age of 97. - David Nolan Gallery is opening a new 6,000-square-foot space in Tribeca on September 9, with a solo exhibition of works by **Valerio** **Adami**. --- ### Wildcard Alex Katz, who just celebrated his 99th birthday, joined *PBS News Hour*'s Senior Arts Correspondent Jeffrey Brown for an interview from his home and studio in Maine. When asked about his contrarian streak, which saw him pursue graphic figuration in NYC at a time when Abstract Expressionism was the talk of the town, Katz responded, “Something deep inside tells me not to go with the other guys. I think Jackson Pollock might be the best American painter ever, and I ain't like Jackson Pollock at all, you know?” Of his forthcoming exhibition *Le silence de la peinture*, which will pair his works with those of Henri Matisse at the French artist's namesake museum in Nice, Katz said, “Matisse is, in 400 years of European-American painting, the best technical painter, period. So I’ll put my paintings up there and see if they’re any good.” ### ICE Seizes 22,000 Antiquities in Florida URL: https://hyperallergic.com/ice-seizes-22-000-antiquities-in-florida/ Last updated: 2026-09-03T19:14:26.000Z Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) seized over 22,000 ancient artifacts in Florida last month, including Greco-Roman coins, terracotta and glass vessels, jewelry, and mosaic frames, yielding the largest object recovery in the department's ongoing probe into antiquities smuggling in the state. Dated between 1,000 and 5,000 years old, the objects are said to have originated from sites across Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean, Africa, and the Levant. The Tampa Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) unit partnered with archaeological specialists and researchers at the University of South Florida and the University of Pennsylvania to authenticate, contextualize, and conserve the objects yielded during the seizure. ICE and its parent entity, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), continue to wage a campaign of brutality against immigrants in the United States that has also had consequences for the country's cultural heritage. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), under which ICE and HSI operate, came under fire this April after the Customs and Border Protection crew erecting Donald Trump's border wall “inadvertently disturbed” the millennium-old Las Playas Intaglio in Arizona, ultimately [damaging a quarter of the Native American archaeological site](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-border-wall-crews-damage-1-000-year-old-native-etching-in-arizona/) with heavy machinery. DHS followed up in July by [waiving a majority](https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/07/27/2026-15096/determination-pursuant-to-section-102-of-the-illegal-immigration-reform-and-immigrant-responsibility?ref=hyperallergic.com) of environmental, public health, and historical preservation barriers to expedite the construction of border barriers from the Big Bend region to Amistad Reservoir, Texas, [threatening over 400 archaeological sites](https://hyperallergic.com/trumps-border-expansion-threatens-6-000-year-old-cave-paintings/) in the area. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### China Withdraws from Gwangju Biennale in Protest of Taiwan’s Inclusion URL: https://hyperallergic.com/china-withdraws-from-gwangju-biennale-in-protest-of-taiwans-inclusion/ Last updated: 2026-09-03T20:46:00.000Z China withdrew from South Korea's Gwangju Biennale this morning, September 3, just nine days after event organizers restored the title of "Taiwan Pavilion" to a group show featuring Taiwanese artists. The announcement, which was first reported by the [*Korea Times*](https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/foreignaffairs/20260903/china-to-withdraw-from-gwangju-biennale-in-protest-of-taiwan-pavilion?ref=artasiapacific.com), comes two days before the scheduled opening of the 16th edition of the biennale. Rifts between Taiwan, China, and event organizers surged in mid-August after the biennale axed the name of “Taiwan Pavilion" in their promotional materials and replaced it with the English acronym for the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, “NTMoFA.” Organizers initially [refused the name](https://www.instagram.com/p/DcQftIfj-dv/?img%5Findex=7&ref=hyperallergic.com) reversal demanded by Taiwan's [Ministry of Culture](https://www.moc.gov.tw/en/News%5FContent2.aspx?n=467&s=260839&ref=hyperallergic.com) and participating artists, who [condemned the change](https://hyperallergic.com/taiwanese-artists-accuse-south-koreas-gwangju-biennale-of-censorship/) as political censorship, but later reversed their decision on [August 25](https://www.instagram.com/p/DcgJk-0PY8-/?ref=hyperallergic.com). Responding to the name reinstatement, Chinese curator Ruan Yuelai announced the China Pavilion’s unanimous withdrawal during a Thursday morning press conference. “The Gwangju Biennale’s use of an incorrect name concerning the participation of the China and Taiwan regions has brought about a situation in which political factors intervene in the domain of art," Ruan said during [the press conference](https://www.koreajoongangdaily.com/lifestyle/china-pulls-out-of-gwangju-biennale-over-taiwan-name-dispute/12858032?ref=hyperallergic.com). _This post is for subscribers only._ ### In “Whistler,” Ann Patchett Tackles Loss and Art URL: https://hyperallergic.com/in-whistler-ann-patchett-tackles-loss-and-art/ Last updated: 2026-09-16T17:07:11.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/whistler-cover.jpeg) Cover of **Whistler: A Novel* by Ann Patchett (Harper, 2026) Artists and authors are taking the Year of the Horse quite seriously. Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of Homer’s [*Odyssey*](https://hyperallergic.com/a-homerist-reacts-to-christopher-nolans-the-odyssey/) hit theaters this summer, featuring the classic Trojan horse and all it stands for: things both passed down orally and things unspeakable. And just a month before that came Ann Patchett’s *Whistler*, her 10th novel for adults, which also takes this year’s zodiac quite seriously — the book is named for a horse in a story within the story. Patchett is known for her character-driven tales, and for writing literary fiction that remains accessible. She is perhaps best known for her 2001 breakaway hit [*Bel Canto*](http://bookshop.org/a/539/9780060838720?ref=hyperallergic.com), based on the Japanese embassy hostage crisis in Peru from the late 1990s, and for [*The Dutch House*](http://bookshop.org/a/539/9780062963680?ref=hyperallergic.com), published in 2019\. She has become something of a model within American fiction, with some characterizing her books as “[beach reads](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/24/books/review/summer-beach-reads.html?ref=hyperallergic.com)” and others following Patchett’s relationship-centered style. In Virginia Evans’s [*The Correspondent*](http://bookshop.org/a/539/9780593798430?ref=hyperallergic.com) (2025), Patchett herself even features as a minor character. *Whistler* opens with a chance encounter at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Daphne has not been in touch with her stepfather Eddie in 44 years. He and her mother suddenly divorced when she was nine, following a disastrous car accident that Eddie and Daphne both miraculously survived. While they waited for help in their smashed-up car, Eddie told Daphne the story of Whistler the horse, allegedly a tale he once received as a book pitch on his desk. (Eddie was an editor; Daphne became a high school English teacher for an all-girls private school in Manhattan.) Years later, Daphne still blames herself for Eddie’s sudden banishment from their family. Now 53 years old, Daphne is wandering the galleries with her husband, who spots an “old man” following them. The Met reappears only one other time in the book — at the very end, when members of the family conveniently make another trip there. But the museum, and the effects of art on memory and grief, hover over the entire story; another narrative thread involving a collection of rabbit paintings makes this preoccupation clear. This first serendipitous encounter at The Met, in the Contemporary wing, no less, is referenced again and again — Daphne’s first chance to reconnect with the only father figure she had ever had. The significance of their reunion is such that Daphne’s husband, watching her cry upon seeing Eddie again — before Charles Ray’s sculpture “[Two horses](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/825497?ref=hyperallergic.com)” (2019) — and “understanding none of it … \[still knew\] the big reveal should not have come here, in front of art.” That may be the book’s most central, crucial line. Eddie is the anchor, a center of gravity, for the broken family’s appreciation of the arts — of anything beyond pure survival, really. When the adult Daphne finally tells her mother about their run-in, she replies, “At the museum, that makes sense. Eddie had a great eye for art … Anything I know about art today is something Eddie taught me.” _This post is for subscribers only._ ### 10 Art Shows to See in Upstate New York This September URL: https://hyperallergic.com/10-art-shows-to-see-in-upstate-new-york-this-september/ Last updated: 2026-09-04T00:15:41.000Z September welcomes the rituals of renewal — back to school! — and recognition, as the end of the year approaches. While the seasonal light and shadows cast dramatic beauty across the Hudson Valley, galleries and museums match the mood with robust exhibitions. This month, Shaker Outpost features graceful ceramics by Paula Greif, and September presents a survey of artworks by the self-taught Black Arts Movement artist Reginald Madison. Dynamic fabric pieces by Holly McCabe take over the tattoo studio and gallery space at Distortion Society, while the Hessel Museum at Bard College presents the work of legendary gallerist, poet, and artist Betty Parsons. The Kleinert/James Center for the Arts at Byrdcliffe features older works by four generations of Avery family artists, and Troutbeck presents bright and bold collages by Delano Dunn. The thriving art scene in the Hudson Valley welcomes all to experience the glory of Mother Nature at her finest, as summer moves into fall! --- ### Paula Greif: Baskets & Buckets [**Shaker Outpost**](https://www.shakermuseum.us/collection/shaker-outpost-baskets-buckets-by-paula-greif ?ref=hyperallergic.com), 4 Depot Square, Chatham, New York Through Sep. 20 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/2026_08_17_Shaker-Museum-Outpost10325.jpeg) Paula Greif, “Stoneware Yellow Circle Basket” (center) (2026) (photo Luca Pearl Khosrova, courtesy Shaker Museum) The Shaker Museum in Chatham’s new building is scheduled to open in 2028, but in the meantime, it is hosting a series of pop-up exhibitions at its Shaker Outpost location. *Baskets and Buckets* features new works by ceramicist Paula Greif, whose work is a joyous exploration of these functional items in clay. Aptly titled pieces such as “Black Circle Basket” (all works 2026) and “White Porcelain Stick Basket” highlight Greif’s alignment with the Shaker principles of simplicity and quiet beauty. “Ovals Bucket” is an exquisite white form with blue shapes on its indented sides, while “Tree of Life Basket” is a graceful stoneware rendering of this sacred motif. Greif collaborated with local artists Doug Newton to create the handles and Nadia Yaron to fashion the wood grips on select artworks. Amid an eclectic career in art direction, album cover design, and commercial television, Greif’s exquisite ceramics are a pleasure to behold. --- ### Reginald Madison: New Slant Old Story [**September**](https://septembergallery.com/exhibitions/new-slant-old-story/?ref=hyperallergic.com), 4 Hudson Street, Kinderhook, New York Through Sep. 27 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Reginald-Madison--The-Dance-Lesson--1980--oil-on-salvaged-panels--36-x-64-inches.jpeg) Reginald Madison, “The Dance Lesson” (1980), oil on salvaged panels (photo courtesy September) The late Reginald Madison, a self-taught artist from the South Side of Chicago, was a pillar of the Black Arts Movement in the 1960s and ’70s. A youth spent surrounded by jazz musicians, and the discovery of a discarded box of paints, inspired his lifelong devotion to painting. September’s survey *New Slant Old Story* brings together some of Madison’s earliest works, many shown for the first time. Several portraits of nuns reflect the beginnings of his mature expressionistic style, including “Sister Veronica Marie” (1988) and “Choir Boys” (1992), featuring a nun between two exaggerated yellow figures that appear to be in the middle of belting out hymns. “Rude Nude Voodoo” (1979) is a curious scene with two demons engaging each other within hazy crimson environs, one with a pronounced erection. “The Dance Lesson” (1980), painted on salvaged panels, is a wild display that includes nuns cavorting with semi-nude figures with flames below, a devilish creature at the top, and angels flanking the spectacle on all sides. --- ### Ellen K. Levy: Displaced Tears in the Fabric of the Universe [**68 Prince Street Gallery**](https://www.68princestgallery.com/ellen-k-levy?ref=hyperallergic.com), 68 Prince Street, Kingston, New York Through Sep. 27 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/09_tear_catcher_2_medres.jpg) Ellen K. Levy, "Tear catcher #2" (2026) (photo Ellen K. Levy, courtesy Ellen K. Levy and 68 Prince Street Gallery) After receiving a NASA art commission in 1985, Ellen K. Levy remains fascinated by the space program, appropriating iconic images from the space age into swirling technological landscapes with a sci-fi edge. *Displaced Tears in the Fabric of the Universe*, curated by Alan Goolman at 68 Prince Street Gallery, presents a series of Levy’s works layering acrylic over digital collage on paper. “Transmission” (2019) includes a small floating astronaut at left, mathematically engineered structures in the middle, and detailed renderings of spacecraft toward the right. In “Space Nets” (2026), we hover above the Earth amid a jumble of satellites and other manmade structures in a heap of colliding space junk. Her sculptural installation “Astronaut Tears: In, On, and Through” (2026) offers a poetic vision of human tears, which, in zero gravity, act as miniature planets floating across the universe. --- ### Elisa Pritzker, Echoes of the Ancestral [**Arts Society of Kingston (ASK)**](https://askforarts.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com), 97 Broadway, Kingston, New York Sep. 5–27 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/3.-Elisa-Pritzker_-Geologic-era-Fish_2025.jpeg) Elisa Pritzker, “Geologic-era Fish” (2025), fabric, acrylic paint (courtesy the artist and Arts Society of Kingston) Elisa Pritzker honors her Argentine roots in a series of artworks at Arts Society of Kingston. Across recent 2D and 3D mixed media artworks, Pritzker explores legacy through her dynamic arrangements of fabric, ribbons, and other natural elements. “Ceremonial Stick” (2025) is a slender wood stick wrapped in patterned textiles and poised for ritual, while the chunky painted “Power Stone” (2026) rests atop a black wood base with crisscrossed fabric. Pritzker’s two tondos, “Geologic-era Fish” (2025) and “Ancient Ornament” (2025), contain sacred abstract and organic shapes that border on figurative, while her “Ancient Fishes” (2025) sculpture is a personal interpretation of this ancient image of two fish as symbols of fertility and abundance. --- _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Trump Somehow Mad at Stick Figure URL: https://hyperallergic.com/trump-somehow-mad-at-stick-figure/ Last updated: 2026-09-03T16:17:36.000Z Trump’s National Park Service nonsensically removed a bright-blue Joel Shapiro sculpture from outside the Kennedy Center yesterday without stating a reason. The late artist is known for his quasi-abstract, dynamic stick-figure artworks that could not offend your most politically questionable uncle, but our president will find a way. Was it too happy? Too person-shaped? Or even better … “woke”? Teju Adisa-Farrar’s must-read piece on Black American natural dyeing traditions is an antidote to cultural erasure. In the latest of our series on underrepresented craft histories, researched and written by the 2025 Craft Archive Fellows in collaboration with the Center for Craft, Adisa-Farrar traces the ways in which plants and organic fibers yielded a kaleidoscope of pigments whose histories are worthy of preservation and revival. --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/George-Washington-Carver-1.jpg) [ The Missing Colors of Black American Pigment-Making ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-missing-colors-of-black-american-pigment-making/) As one of humanity’s oldest crafts, natural pigment-making occupies the intersection of science, agriculture, and art. It requires curiosity and ingenuity to see a marigold flower, for instance, and know that it can stain fabrics with beautiful shades of mustard yellow to gold; to know, as our ancestors did, that they also have anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory properties. The blue color of denim traces its roots to indigo, a dye crop cultivated and processed by West Africans and their descendants throughout the Atlantic world. The global indigo trade that made blue textiles possible was deeply intertwined with enslaved labor and African dyeing knowledge. | Teju Adisa-Farrar [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-missing-colors-of-black-american-pigment-making/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/EXPLORE-YOUR-FUTURE--1-.jpg)](https://www.pratt.edu/continuing-and-professional-studies/certificates/?ref=hyperallergic.com) Pratt Institute’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies (SCPS) certificates support professional development, educational advancement, career change, and personal enrichment for both amateurs and professionals. Participants can attend in-person, online, or hybrid courses across 17 different art and design disciplines. Register by August 21 for the Fall Certificate Programs. [Learn more ](https://www.pratt.edu/continuing-and-professional-studies/certificates/?ref=hyperallergic.com) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/shapiro-nl.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/critics-slam-petty-removal-of-joel-shapiro-sculpture-from-kennedy-center/) - The National Park Service [deinstalls an iconic 24-foot-tall sculpture](https://hyperallergic.com/critics-slam-petty-removal-of-joel-shapiro-sculpture-from-kennedy-center/) by late artist Joel Shapiro from the grounds of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. - Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich demands that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu [order the dismantling of 40 Palestinian memorials](https://hyperallergic.com/israels-smotrich-calls-to-destroy-40-palestinian-memorials-in-west-bank/) in the Occupied West Bank. - A new exhibition in NYC [celebrates Snoopy's enduring influence](https://hyperallergic.com/nyc-exhibition-celebrates-snoopys-enduring-influence-on-art-and-fashion/) on art and fashion. - Venice Biennale Foundation President Pietrangelo Buttafuoco [defends the decision to include Russia](https://hyperallergic.com/venice-biennale-president-defends-russia-inclusion-in-new-interview/) in the 61st Venice Biennale this year despite pushback from the Italian Culture Ministry and the European Commission. - The Smithsonian’s board of regents has voted to house the fledgling National Museum of the American Latino in its existing Arts and Industries Building, bypassing congressional approval for a new site. \[[*NYT*](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/31/arts/design/smithsonian-latino-museum-arts-industries.html?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - The Gwangju Biennale Foundation has agreed to allow the name “Taiwan Pavilion” after artists [called the erasure of Taiwan](https://hyperallergic.com/taiwanese-artists-accuse-south-koreas-gwangju-biennale-of-censorship/) “a threat to freedom of expression and the global art community.” \[[Gwangju Biennale](https://www.instagram.com/p/DcgJk-0PY8-/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] --- ## In Memoriam [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/in-memoriam-9.2.26.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-geles-cabrera-helch-and-jay-maisel/) [ Remembering Geles Cabrera, Helch, and Jay Maisel ](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-geles-cabrera-helch-and-jay-maisel/) This week, we honor a sculptor who explored the body, a street artist who upset Queen Elizabeth, and a commercial photographer who shaped the medium. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-geles-cabrera-helch-and-jay-maisel/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/saic-ad.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/meet-with-the-school-of-the-art-institute-of-chicago-at-admissions-events-across-the-us-and-online/) ****Meet with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago at Admissions Events Across the US and Online** Learn more about the graduate degrees offered at SAIC and get all of your questions answered. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/meet-with-the-school-of-the-art-institute-of-chicago-at-admissions-events-across-the-us-and-online/) --- ## Member Comment As John Yau writes Catherine Murphy characterizing herself as an “observational painter” who bases her work on what she sees, I would describe Yau as an "observational critic," both with amazing creative capacities to portray without personalizing, but with differing forms of media. Reading this piece encouraged me to read the two adjoining writings Yau composed about Murphy. It's rare to have an opportunity to read such an in depth understanding of a capacity and with Murphy's willingness to evolve and yet maintain the structure that defines her work. It encourages me to explore and avoid getting stuck in a "series." —Butch Murphy on "[Catherine Murphy Has Her Cake and Eats It Too](https://hyperallergic.com/catherine-murphy-has-her-cake-and-eats-it-too/)" --- ## Hyper Links - Shoutout to our friends at *Hell Gate* for [this impeccable hate piece](https://hellgatenyc.com/7soulsdeep-street-art-hate/?ref=hyperallergic.com) on the ubiquitous NYC street “art” of @7SoulsDeep. “It cleaves its audience into two camps: People who have clapped when their plane landed, and everyone else,” *Hell Gate* writes. Chef’s kiss. - Radio presenter Zach Mander [added Karl Marx quotes to Richard Scarry illustrations](https://www.instagram.com/p/Dco27Hvk%5FKP/?igsi=MWJwYXBycGkzbG0wbw%3D%3D&ref=hyperallergic.com) and it’s making us all want to rise up against the bourgeoisie in this busy, busy town. - Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed had the [perfect retort](https://www.instagram.com/p/DcmG6IUEepb/?ref=hyperallergic.com) to *Fox News*’s out-of-touch defense of billionaires. - Did you know that 20% of your DNA comes from an unknown species? Welcome to the mysterious world of “[ghost DNA](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DcPDbQAyl7r/?igsi=ZDBuNWYzcGdsdmtj&ref=hyperallergic.com).**”** --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/opera.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/glass-handel-costanzo-george-condo-justin-peck/) [ Sketches from a Magical, Multimedia Opera Set in a Soaring Cathedral ](https://hyperallergic.com/glass-handel-costanzo-george-condo-justin-peck/) Anthony Roth Costanzo has made it his mission to make classical music appealing to broader and younger audiences. It worked. | Letícia Wouk Almino [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/glass-handel-costanzo-george-condo-justin-peck/) featured opportunity ****Asian Cultural Council — 2027 Global Grant Cycle** Grantees can pursue open-ended research rather than final productions. This unique focus on process encourages deep international dialogue, building lasting relationships, and advancing mutual understanding between the United States and Asia. Deadline: November 10 | [asianculturalcouncil.org](https://bit.ly/4c6AGTR?ref=hyperallergic.com) ### Venice Biennale President Defends Russia Inclusion in New Interview URL: https://hyperallergic.com/venice-biennale-president-defends-russia-inclusion-in-new-interview/ Last updated: 2026-09-02T21:40:12.000Z In an exclusive interview with the Italian newspaper [*Corriere della Sera*](https://www.corriere.it/politica/26%5Fsettembre%5F01/buttafuoco-la-biennale-e-autonoma-sul-padiglione-russo-rifarei-tutto-con-noi-vince-l-arte-f243e142-9d79-470f-83a2-30b26b3aexlk.shtml?ref=hyperallergic.com)*,* Venice Biennale Foundation President Pietrangelo Buttafuoco stood by the decision to include Russia in the 61st Venice Biennale this year despite pushback from the Italian Culture Ministry and the European Commission. The Venice Biennale Foundation faced immense criticism, calls for boycotts, and a widely circulated [open letter demanding revision](https://hyperallergic.com/over-6-000-sign-letter-opposing-russias-venice-biennale-pavilion/) after it announced this March that Russia would return to its pavilion for the 61st edition amid the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, stating that the Biennale administration “rejects any form of exclusion or censorship of culture and art.” Buttafuoco told *Corriere della Sera* that he would do “everything” again if he had to, adding that his handling of the pavilion was “more than fair and proper to the institution \[he\] preside\[s\] over” and that there was “not a single comma that violates laws and regulations.” Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli had asked the Venice Biennale Foundation to [provide all correspondence](https://cultura.gov.it/comunicato/28810?ref=hyperallergic.com) with the Russian Federation to evaluate the pavilion installation's compatibility with the European Union's sanctions regime. The European Commission also condemned Russia's inclusion, [t](https://www.euronews.com/culture/2026/04/13/reopening-of-the-russian-pavilion-at-the-venice-biennale-eu-threatens-to-cut-funding?ref=hyperallergic.com)[hreatening to freeze its €2 million (\~$2.3 million) culture grant](https://www.euronews.com/culture/2026/04/13/reopening-of-the-russian-pavilion-at-the-venice-biennale-eu-threatens-to-cut-funding?ref=hyperallergic.com) to the Foundation over the matter. In April, the Biennale's award [jury announced its intention to omit](https://hyperallergic.com/venice-biennale-awards-jury-wont-consider-russia-and-israel/) Russia and Israel from consideration for the Golden Lion awards, and [Giuli publicized his intent to forgo](https://cultura.gov.it/comunicato/28958?ref=hyperallergic.com) the Biennale's preview dates over Russia's inclusion. Ahead of the Biennale's opening, it was revealed that Buttafuoco and the Foundation's administrators worked with the Russian pavilion curator as early as June 2025 to ensure that Russia's participation played by the rules. Ultimately, the pavilion would [remain closed to the public for the Biennale's run](https://hyperallergic.com/russias-venice-pavilion-to-close-to-the-public-in-compliance-with-sanctions/) after the vernissage dates. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Remembering Geles Cabrera, Helch, and Jay Maisel URL: https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-geles-cabrera-helch-and-jay-maisel/ Last updated: 2026-09-02T19:45:17.000Z [*In Memoriam*](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/in-memoriam/) *is published every Wednesday afternoon and honors those we recently lost in the art world.* --- **Geles Cabrera** (1926–2026) *Mexican sculptor who explored the expressiveness of the human body* She [explored](https://www.as-coa.org/exhibitions/geles-cabrera-museo-escultorico?ref=hyperallergic.com) the expressive potential of the body when muralism dominated Mexican art, moving fluently between figuration and abstraction, gesture and sensuality. In 1966, she founded Museo Escultórico, an exhibition space in Coyoacán, where she showed her work for decades. In 2024, she received the Bellas Artes Medal in Visual Arts, Mexico's highest artistic honor. --- **Helch** (c. 1991–2026) *British street artist* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/image-4.png) **"**Boris is Helch" graffiti on the M4 rail crossing (photo Tadeusz Hare via [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%27Boris%5Fis%5FHelch%27%5F-%5FDSC%5F0387.jpg?ref=hyperallergic.com), [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=hyperallergic.com)) The anonymous British [street artist](https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2026/sep/01/helch-dies-uk-graffiti-artist?ref=hyperallergic.com) painted his tag, "HELCH," across public infrastructure in London. He famously upset Queen Elizabeth when he tagged a railway viaduct in view of Windsor Castle, the royal residence. --- **Yayoi Kusama** (1929–2026) *Japanese artist who channeled infinity* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/image-1.png) Yayoi Kusama (1929–2026) (photo Andrew Toth/Getty Images) The irreverent Japanese artist channeled hallucinations and other psychological phenomena into kaleidoscopic, polka-dotted paintings and sculptures that transfixed millions around the world. Her influence can be seen in key art historical moments from Minimalism and Pop Art to experiential art. Revelations about racist comments she made in her 2002 autobiography have tarnished her image in recent years. [*Read the obituary*](https://hyperallergic.com/yayoi-kusama-artist-of-infinities-dies-at-97/) --- **Christina Gascoigne** (1939–2026) *British ceramicist, photographer, and philanthropist* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/image-6.png) Christina Gascoigne (photo Grange Park Opera via [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1627471602730546&set=a.469232175221167), screenshot Lisa Yin Zhang/**Hyperallergic*) She made and sold [ceramics](https://cobboldfht.com/christina-gascoigne-1939-2026/?ref=hyperallergic.com) from a studio on the Thames, and her photography appears in multiple television series, including one on British castles. In 2014, she and her husband, the author and television presenter Bamber Gascoigne, transformed a home they inherited into the 700-seat Grange Park Opera in West Horsley, England. --- **Jay Maisel** (1931–2026) *Photographer who reshaped commercial photography* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/image-5.png) Jay Maisel (photo Nina Prommer via [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10210716576006418&set=t.100063691201476), screenshot Lisa Yin Zhang/**Hyperallergic*) Across a [seven-decade career](https://www.dpreview.com/news/jay-maisel-iconic-photographer-dies-95/?ref=hyperallergic.com) in magazines, advertising, and cultural institutions, the influential photographer is perhaps best known for the cover of Miles Davis's 1959 classic album *Kind of Blue.* He has been honored by the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame, American Society of Media Photographers, and the International Center of Photography. --- **Laura Spector** (1954–2026) *Artist of invasive species* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/image-2.png) Laura Spector (photo Laura Spector Design via [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=432894888844452&set=a.432894858844455), screenshot Lisa Yin Zhang/**Hyperallergic*) Using Asian bittersweet, an invasive species, as her medium, she [crafted](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/27/arts/design/laura-spector-dead.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) artworks, furniture, lighting, and more, making pieces for luminaries like Joan Baez and Sting. In recent years, she began making Photoshop collages called her *Identity Series*, featuring a recurring red-haired figure she called "Laura dolls." --- **David Thauberger** (1948–2026) *Canadian painter and sculptor* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/image-7-1.png) David Thauberger (photo Masters Gallery Ltd. via [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1061283136257117&set=a.191725056546267), screenshot Lisa Yin Zhang/**Hyperallergic*) He [shaped](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/artist-david-thauberger-dead-at-age-78-9.7328216?ref=hyperallergic.com) the way the art world perceived the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, depicting many of its modernist and brutalist buildings in his paintings. He was inducted into the Order of Canada, one of the nation's highest honors, in 2008, and received the Lieutenant Governor's Saskatchewan Artist Award the year after and the Saskatchewan Order of Merit in 2012. --- **Ally Van Tillo** (d. 2026) *Founder of the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/unnamed-1.png) Archive image of Ally Van Tillo with the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt (photo courtesy Waverley Care) [Inspired](https://fadmagazine.com/2026/09/02/ally-van-tillo-uk-aids-memorial-quilt-dies/?ref=hyperallergic.com) by the American Names Project Memorial Quilt, he coordinated the making of the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt by grieving friends, lovers, and families, honoring more than 600 lost to the disease. This month, the quilt will go on full display in Tramway, Glasgow. ### Israel's Smotrich Calls to Destroy 40 Palestinian Memorials in West Bank URL: https://hyperallergic.com/israels-smotrich-calls-to-destroy-40-palestinian-memorials-in-west-bank/ Last updated: 2026-09-03T19:33:05.000Z Days after a far-right Israeli politician took a sledgehammer to a Palestinian monument, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich demanded that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu order the dismantling of 40 additional Palestinian memorials in the Occupied West Bank, as first reported by Israel's [*Channel 14*](https://www.c14.co.il/article/1684041?ref=hyperallergic.com#google%5Fvignette)*.* Smotrich outlined his request in a letterin late August, two days after Zvi Sukkot, a member of the Knesset for Smotrich's right-wing Religious Zionist Party, [broadcasted](https://x.com/tzvisuccot/status/2092141424900813230?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2092141424900813230%7Ctwgr%5Edd3da0d6e6b2ecc93ab47252a390476d0f753423%7Ctwcon%5Es1%5F&ref%5Furl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jns.org%2Fnews%2Fisrael-news%2Fnetanyahu-condemns-mk-sukkots-unauthorized-demo-of-terror-monument&ref=hyperallergic.com) his destruction of a memorial in Madama Village. Inscribed in the stone facade were the names of Palestinians who have been killed by Israel. Netanyahu [denounced](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/25/world/middleeast/israel-lawmaker-palestinian-monument.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) Sukkot for taking the law into his own hands, while Smotrich defended his party member on [X](https://x.com/bezalelsm/status/2092188754119176624?ref=hyperallergic.com), pushing for the destruction of "dozens more terrorist monuments throughout Judea and Samaria." "These terrorist incitement (and memorial) infrastructures have existed for many years, just minutes away from Israeli cities," Smotrich wrote in his letter, responding to Netanyahu's criticisms of Sukkot's actions. "No systematic and sufficient work is being done to eliminate them." He attached a table with 40 Palestinian memorials, demanding that the prime minister instruct the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to dismantle the structures within 24 hours. Netanyahu has not publicly responded to the finance minister's demand. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### The Missing Colors of Black American Pigment-Making URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-missing-colors-of-black-american-pigment-making/ Last updated: 2026-09-03T16:25:34.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/gwc-yucca.jpg) George Washington Carver working on his painting "Yucca and Cactus" in 1940 (image public domain CC0 via the [National Park Service](https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/5251ea9b-6598-45ef-aab4-6d39cfc9037d?ref=hyperallergic.com)) *This article is part of a series focusing on underrepresented craft histories, researched and written by the* [*2025 Craft Archive Fellows*](https://hyperallergic.com/2025-center-for-craft-archive-fellows/)*, and organized in collaboration with the Center for Craft.* --- As one of humanity’s oldest crafts, natural pigment-making occupies the intersection of science, agriculture, and art. It requires curiosity and ingenuity to see a marigold flower, for instance, and know that it can stain fabrics with beautiful shades of mustard yellow to gold; to know, as our ancestors did, that they also have anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory properties. The blue color of denim traces its roots to indigo, a dye crop cultivated and processed by West Africans and their descendants throughout the Atlantic world. The global indigo trade that made blue textiles possible was deeply intertwined with enslaved labor and African dyeing knowledge. Indigo is just one of many plant and mineral dyes that Africans and Black Americans have cultivated and used to create an array of colors. *Bògòlanfini*, also known as mudcloth, is one such earth-based color tradition dating back to the Bambara people during the 12th century in present-day Mali. The word itself describes the process: “Bògò” means “clay” or “mud,” “lan” means “by way of,” and “fini” means cloth in Bambara — “mud by way of cloth.” Despite its foundational role in art and everyday life, natural pigment-making remains largely absent from institutional craft archives. As a researcher and environmental designer, I am deeply invested in Black people’s relationships to plant dyes, sustainable materials, and natural fibers. Yet, in searching for these histories, it seems that the archives fail to fully document the depth and breadth of this knowledge. What I found instead reminds us that pigment-making is an environmental craft tradition worthy of preservation, study, and contemporary revival. [Chemical-derived](https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/people/cp37617/william-henry-perkin?ref=hyperallergic.com) dyes were discovered accidentally in 1856, though plant-based dyes continued to be used well into the 20th century. Before then, the colors of textiles, art, and painted surfaces relied on natural dyes and pigments from local ecologies. Why do we celebrate finished works while overlooking the craft traditions — and people — that produced their color? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/IMG_4888--1---1-.jpg) Participants make pigments as part of a Natural Pigment Workshop led by artist [Kesiena Onosigho](https://www.kesiena.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) in collaboration with the Black Fiber and Textile Network, founded by Teju Adisa-Farrar. (photo Nyrie Benton) Despite the histories of plant dyes and pigments, I have not found any archives devoted specifically to natural color-making by Black folks in the United States. What I did find was that a celebrated historical figure’s pigment-making was one of his many great achievements, yet is often overshadowed by his other scientific contributions. George Washington Carver is widely remembered as an innovative agricultural scientist whose research transformed Southern farming through crop rotation, soil restoration, and resource conservation. Born into slavery in Missouri in the early 1860s, Carver was motivated by a desire to support poor Black farmers still living with the economic devastation of slavery and sharecropping. He believed that scientific knowledge and creative practice should be accessible to everyone. While Carver’s scientific accomplishments are well documented, his artistic and material practices have received far less attention. He was an accomplished artist, craftsperson, and natural pigment maker who understood resourcefulness as both necessity and a way of life. He believed people could make use of the materials available around them. As he notably advised, "From what you have, make what you want." One of the few moments when Carver's artistic work received widespread recognition came in a [November 1941 *Time* magazine profile](https://time.com/archive/6603680/art-black-leonardo/?ref=hyperallergic.com) that described him as the "Black Leonardo." The article coincided with the opening of the George Washington Carver Museum and Archives at Tuskegee University and noted that the institution housed 71 of Carver's original paintings, many created with paints he and his assistant made from peanut oil, Alabama clay, and vegetables. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Critics Slam “Petty” Removal of Joel Shapiro Sculpture From Kennedy Center URL: https://hyperallergic.com/critics-slam-petty-removal-of-joel-shapiro-sculpture-from-kennedy-center/ Last updated: 2026-09-02T17:30:38.000Z WASHINGTON, DC — The National Park Service (NPS) deinstalled an iconic 24-foot-tall sculpture by late artist Joel Shapiro from the grounds of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts today, September 2\. Before dawn, crews began wrapping, disassembling, and moving “Blue” (2019), one of 10 inaugural works of visual art on display when the Kennedy Center’s 4.6-acre REACH campus opened in September 2019\. The Kennedy Center did not provide a reason or advance notice of the work’sdeinstallation, but the NPS issued a [street-closure notice](https://www.nps.gov/nama/learn/management/rock-creek-parkway-closure-rod.htm?ref=hyperallergic.com) earlier this week indicating that the removal would be complete by Wednesday afternoon. The teardown project has [caused major delays](https://www.wusa9.com/article/life/local-life/kennedy-center/kennedy-center-remove-blue-statue-partial-closures-rock-creek-and-potomac-parkway/65-eaae4f49-c367-4ff0-acb1-95fa9fbfeb63?ref=hyperallergic.com) on Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway, a major thoroughfare into the city. According to the [*Washington Post*](https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/2026/09/02/kennedy-center-remove-landmark-blue-sculpture-campus/?ref=hyperallergic.com), the Joel Shapiro and Ellen Phelan Foundation will decide where it is next installed. The painted aluminum sculpture features rectangular appendages resembling arms and legs in the recognizable stick-figure style of the artist, who [passed away last year](https://hyperallergic.com/joel-shapiro-sculptor-of-emotive-figures-dies-at-83/) at the age of 83\. In a 2019 announcement on its [website](https://www.kennedy-center.org/video/center/fine-arts/2019/joel-shapiros-blue-at-the-reach--the-kennedy-center/?ref=hyperallergic.com), the Kennedy Center described “Blue” as “poised in mid-kick, turning the surrounding landscape into a giant stage as it prepares to pirouette across the grass.” Shapiro’s angular sculptures are held in several DC museum collections and are displayed on their grounds, including the National Gallery of Art, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “[Loss and Regeneration](https://www.ushmm.org/information/about-the-museum/architecture-and-art/loss-and-regeneration-by-joel-shapiro?ref=hyperallergic.com)” (1993) sits just outside the latter’s front doors. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### NYC Exhibition Celebrates Snoopy's Enduring Influence on Art and Fashion URL: https://hyperallergic.com/nyc-exhibition-celebrates-snoopys-enduring-influence-on-art-and-fashion/ Last updated: 2026-09-02T15:50:51.000Z Too late for the Whitney Biennial, too early for Armory Week, but through divine luck alone, I'm right on time for [*Snoopy in Style NYC*](https://www.peanuts.com/snoopy-in-style-nyc?ref=hyperallergic.com). This free exhibition in Manhattan's Meatpacking District pinpoints the beloved cartoon beagle's global influence in art, fashion, sports, and music. If you know, you know; but for those who don't — saying I'm just a fan of Snoopy would be a gross understatement. Therefore, this is *very* serious to me. Like many others on the Zillennial cusp, I too got swept up in the cultural renaissance of Charles M. Schulz's *Peanuts* universe in recent years. This phenomenon spiked in the lead-up to the 75th anniversary of Snoopy's debut appearance in Schulz's comic strip, a milestone celebrated last October. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/20260901_105732.jpg) An archival selection of Vince Guaraldi's **Peanuts* soundtracks displayed in Joe Cool's Listening Room All of that is to say that I'm impressed with how the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center in Santa Rosa, California, curated *Snoopy in Style NYC*. With a remarkable attention to detail, the exhibition juggles museum-level displays about Schulz's own life and the origins of each iconic *Peanuts* character with the spectacle of Snoopy's commercial and creative power. I was also quite touched by the resounding love for late jazz musician Vince Guaraldi, who composed the memorable soundtracks for televised adaptations of *Peanuts*. Guaraldi's soundtracks were played in a section called Joe Cool's Listening Room — a cozy, lovingly assembled mid-century modern listening space with wooden fixtures, acoustic treatments, and warm lighting. This immersive outfit was as comfortably nostalgic as the [recreation of Schulz's own studio](https://schulzmuseum.org/schulz-studio/?ref=hyperallergic.com) permanently displayed at the Santa Rosa museum. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/20260901_104239.jpg) Snoopy and Woodstock in haute couture beyond one's wildest imagination ... Yes, that's them in Valentino at the top. The bulk of the exhibition is devoted to Snoopy's irrefutable role in fashion. Considering how apparel is integral to how Snoopy embodies his alter egos, Joe Cool and World War I Flying Ace, I'm not surprised that dozens of clothing companies really went for it when dressing Snoopy and Woodstock dolls in haute couture. Labels including Adidas, American Eagle, Coach, Kith, Levi’s, Tommy Hilfiger, and others ensured that the beagle and his bird bestie were dripped out for any conceivable occasion — even Knicks in five. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Two Artists' Odyssey Up the Erie Canal URL: https://hyperallergic.com/two-artists-odyssey-up-the-erie-canal/ Last updated: 2026-09-02T10:00:23.000Z There’s wonder everywhere you look — especially the places you overlook. Maybe, in the apartment next door, there’s a library of 3,000 zines, as in Michelle Millette’s Sherwood Forest Zine Library in Austin, Texas. Perhaps, that canal that cuts through your town is the site of an upstream odyssey, as it is for Z Behl and Kim Moloney, who are spending six hours a day paddling up 350 miles of the Erie Canal. Speaking of overlooked wonder, let me introduce you to our Craft Archive Fellowship! In partnership with the Center for Craft, we offer $5,000 awards to support research on underrepresented craft histories around the United States, and publish fellows’ scholarship afterward. Today, I’m proud to present the first piece in our series. Bilphena Decontee Yahwon’s passion, care, and personal stake in exploring the shared origins of Liberian basket weaving and Gullah sweetgrass basketry came through so clearly in our conversations. “I could hear Liberia in the way people spoke,” she writes of her first visit to St. Helena Island, off the South Carolina coast, five years ago. Here, she teases out how *fannuh* baskets serve as both cultural tool and cultural memory across continents. *—Lisa Yin Zhang, associate editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/fannuh-baskets.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/how-fannuh-baskets-connect-liberia-to-the-us-lowcountry/) [ How Fannuh Baskets Connect Liberia to the US Lowcountry ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-fannuh-baskets-connect-liberia-to-the-us-lowcountry/) I first visited St. Helena Island off the South Carolina coast in 2021\. Like Louisiana, it was one of the few places I had traveled in the United States where I could hear Liberia in the way people spoke. I do not know how to fully explain it. It was in the rhythm of Gullah speech, what my mother would call “sing-songy.” It was in the syntax and cadence. As my mother would say, “my ears could hear it.” It was also on St. Helena Island, at the historic Penn Center, where I first saw an image of two women fanning rice. I immediately thought of so many women I had seen in Liberia, standing over harvested grain with woven baskets in hand, separating rice from chaff through sweeping motions. Woven from local grasses, palmetto, and other plant materials found across the Sea Islands off the coast of the Southeastern US, these baskets have become one of the defining craft traditions of Gullah Geechee culture in the Lowcountry, a region along South Carolina’s coast. To me, they felt like something I already knew. | Bilphena Decontee Yahwon [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-fannuh-baskets-connect-liberia-to-the-us-lowcountry/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/AAF_2026_NYF_02_04_Hyperallergic-email_w1200xh628_v12.jpg)](https://affordableartfair.com/fairs/new-york-fall/?utm%5Fsource=banner&utm%5Fmedium=display&utm%5Fcampaign=NYF26-hyperallergic-email&utm%5Fcontent=learn-more) ****Affordable Art Fair New York Fall 2026 is back!** Affordable Art Fair New York returns for its Fall edition from September 16-20 at the Starrett-Lehigh building in Chelsea. You’ll find over 90 galleries showcasing thousands of artworks all priced from $100-$1200\. Find your next favorite artwork! [Learn more ](https://affordableartfair.com/fairs/new-york-fall/?utm%5Fsource=banner&utm%5Fmedium=display&utm%5Fcampaign=NYF26-hyperallergic-email&utm%5Fcontent=learn-more) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/minnesota-fair.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/minnesota-state-fair-removes-anti-trump-crop-art-after-artist-was-harassed/) The Minnesota State Fair [removes a crop artwork](https://hyperallergic.com/minnesota-state-fair-removes-anti-trump-crop-art-after-artist-was-harassed/) containing an anti-Trump slogan at the artist’s request, after she was doxxed, harassed, and threatened by right-wing agitators. --- ## Features [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/zine-library.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/inside-the-3-000-zine-library-in-a-texas-living-room/) [ Inside the 3,000-Zine Library in a Texas Living Room ](https://hyperallergic.com/inside-the-3-000-zine-library-in-a-texas-living-room/) Michelle Millette’s Sherwood Forest Zine Library in Austin is part of a growing culture and community surrounding the self-published, easy-to-distribute booklets. | Shahrzad Rasekh [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/inside-the-3-000-zine-library-in-a-texas-living-room/) [ The Artists Paddling 350 Miles Up the Erie Canal ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-artists-paddling-350-miles-up-the-erie-canal/) As part of “Mule’s Passage,” artists Z Behl and Kim Moloney are paddling six hours a day and camping for five weeks. | Taliesin Thomas [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-artists-paddling-350-miles-up-the-erie-canal/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/morgan-ad.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/an-unprecedented-look-at-renowned-photographer-peter-hujars-new-york-in-hujar-contact/) ****An Unprecedented Look at Renowned Photographer Peter Hujar’s New York in “Hujar:Contact”** The Morgan Library & Museum presents “Hujar:Contact,” currently on view through October 25. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/an-unprecedented-look-at-renowned-photographer-peter-hujars-new-york-in-hujar-contact/) --- ## Guide [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/la-fall-art-guide.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/15-art-shows-to-see-in-los-angeles-this-fall/) [ 15 Art Shows to See in Los Angeles This Fall ](https://hyperallergic.com/15-art-shows-to-see-in-los-angeles-this-fall/) Carmen Lomas Garza’s tender scenes of Chicanx community, Huguette Caland’s life in lines, Indigenous artists on fire and stewardship, photography of trans mutual aid, and more. | Matt Stromberg [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/15-art-shows-to-see-in-los-angeles-this-fall/) --- ## Member Comment Just today started a paid subscription to **Hyperallergic* and immediately searched for "Kusama." And your really excellent article popped up. Thank you for writing about this aspect of the artist in such a sensitive, necessary way. Your article also contextualizes the artist in a broad net of essential questions that apply to culture builders--and to all of us--more generally. —Elaine Maisner on "[What the Art World Doesn’t Want You to Know About Yayoi Kusama](https://hyperallergic.com/what-the-art-world-doesnt-want-you-to-know-about-yayoi-kusama/)" --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/louise-bourgeois.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/louise-bourgeoiss-life-was-as-monumental-as-her-art/) [ Louise Bourgeois’s Life Was as Monumental as Her Art ](https://hyperallergic.com/louise-bourgeoiss-life-was-as-monumental-as-her-art/) Writing one of the first comprehensive biographies of a major artist could prove daunting, but taking on Bourgeois’s long life in art might be called heroic. | Bridget Quinn [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/louise-bourgeoiss-life-was-as-monumental-as-her-art/) --- ## Opportunities This Month [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/sept-opportunities-NL.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/opportunities-in-september-2026/) Residencies, fellowships, grants, and open calls from the Gulf Coast Journal, the Harry Ransom Center, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Vermont Studio Center, and more in our monthly list of opportunities for artists, writers, and art workers. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/opportunities-in-september-2026/) ### 15 Art Shows to See in Los Angeles This Fall URL: https://hyperallergic.com/15-art-shows-to-see-in-los-angeles-this-fall/ Last updated: 2026-09-15T21:12:17.000Z After the lazy, hazy days of summer, fall is a time to refocus and reimagine, and that goes for the art world too. This season, exhibitions across the city delve into important but underrecognized artists and movements, challenging what we thought we knew. Monica Majoli presents a series of drawings inspired by an influential lesbian photography workshop alongside material from the erstwhile Sisterhood Bookstore. *Nurtured Flames* at the Armory features Indigenous artists who explore Native fire stewardship, while *Flesh Witness* at REDCAT reveals systems of power and militarism in the occupied regions of East Asia and the Pacific. A career retrospective of late Beirut-born artist Huguette Caland at the Hammer celebrates the work of an artist who spent much of her life in Los Angeles, and a show on Tokio Ueyama situates him within a larger cultural and political framework of his era, including his incarceration alongside thousands of other Japanese Americans during World War II. And at the Getty, an exhibition of five influential Chicanx photographers offers various views of the ever-changing metropolis of Los Angeles. --- ### Monica Majoli: Countervision [**The June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives**](https://www.mazerlesbianarchives.org/mazer-events/2026/9/19/monica-majoli-opening-celebration-of-countervision?ref=hyperallergic.com), 626 North Robertson Boulevard, West Hollywood, California September 19–November 21 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/1-cropped.jpeg) Contact sheets from the archive of photographer Tee A. Corinne at the University of Oregon (photo Monica Majoli) *Countervision* pairs new drawings by American artist Monica Majoli with material from the June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives in West Hollywood. Presented by [Los Angeles Nomadic Division](https://www.nomadicdivision.org/projects-and-programs/countervision-monica-majoli?ref=hyperallergic.com) (LAND), the exhibition began with Majoli’s research into the Ovulars, a series of workshops led by lesbian photographers [Joan E. Biren (JEB)](https://hyperallergic.com/eye-to-eye-jeb-book-of-lesbian-portraits-gets-a-second-edition/), Tee A. Corinne, Honey Lee Cottrell, and Ruth Mountaingrove between 1979 and ’83\. Majoli created drawings based on photographs taken at the Ovulars of nude women joined in creative pursuit. These are presented unframed in a custom-built display, alongside objects from the feminist hub Sisterhood Bookstore, which operated in the Westwood neighborhood from 1972 to 1999, serving as a vital resource for Majoli as a young woman growing up in LA. --- ### Hold Each Other’s Hands: Trans Mutual Aid, 1966-1996 [**Oxy Arts**](https://oxyarts.oxy.edu/exhibitions/hold-each-others-hands-trans-mutual-aid-1966-1996?ref=hyperallergic.com), 4757 York Boulevard, Highland Park, Los Angeles Through December 5 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Hold-Each-Other-s-Hand---Sylvia-Rivera.jpg) Unknown photographer's image of Sylvia Rivera holding a banner at Christopher Street Liberation Day Parade in 1983 (image courtesy the LGBT Community Center National History Archive) Taking its name from a phrase popularized by trans activists Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, *Hold Each Other’s Hands* delves into networks of communal care established by transgender people from the mid-1960s to the mid-1990s, framing them as models for the future. Featuring archival materials, contemporary art, and community programming, the exhibition sheds light on systems developed to provide solidarity, security, and basic needs such as housing and healthcare. Archival installations focused on unhoused trans youth in 1960s San Francisco and Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) in 1970s New York City contextualize work by six LA-based artists, setting up intergenerational conversations. The exhibition is co-presented by Occidental College's Oxy Arts and One Institute as part of the annual, month-long[Circa: Queer Histories Festival](https://www.oneinstitute.org/circa/?ref=hyperallergic.com). --- ### Flesh Witness [**REDCAT**](https://www.gyopo.us/programs/flesh-witness?ref=hyperallergic.com), 631 West 2nd Street, Downtown, Los Angeles September 12–December 13 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/Jane-Jin-Kaisen-Burial-of-this-Order2.jpg) Still from Jane Jin Kaisen, "Burial of This Order" (2022), duration: 25 minutes (image courtesy REDCAT) This group show examines the impact of militarism in Asia and the Pacific region, focusing on Hawai‘i, Korea, Okinawa, the Philippines, and Samoa. Eleven artists and collectives take a critical view of how power and control are reinforced by the landscape, media, and physical structures of occupied lands. Organized by diasporic Korean arts nonprofit [GYOPO](https://www.gyopo.us/?ref=hyperallergic.com) and scholar Amy Kahng, *Flesh Witness* spans 50 years of sculpture, photography, mixed media, and installation art. Participating artists include Bernice Akamine, Mao Ishikawa, and Stephanie Syjuco. --- ### Artifacts from an Unborn Empire [**Brand Library and Art Center**](https://www.brandlibrary.org/upcoming-exhibition?ref=hyperallergic.com), 1601 West Mountain Street, Glendale, California September 26–December 31 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/KaylaTange_Kayla-Tange-I-Lost-My-Country--I-Lost-My-Home--I-Lost-My-Mother-Tongue_No-Record_2024-.jpg) Kayla Tange, "No Record, 2024 / I Lost My Country, I Lost My Home, I Lost My Mother Tongue" (2024), wood, LED, plexiglass, acrylic paint, nylon (image courtesy the artist) “History is written by the victors,” goes the old saying often [misattributed to Winston Churchill](https://slate.com/culture/2019/11/history-is-written-by-the-victors-quote-origin.html?ref=hyperallergic.com), a narrow philosophy that inevitably leads to biased and sanitized narratives. *Artifacts from an Unborn Empire* challenges that maxim, questioning accepted chronologies and the power structures that support them. Among the 22 artists is Rubén Esparza, whose *serape* flag hanging from a used broom pays tribute to the unheralded labor that forms the nation’s backbone. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### An Unprecedented Look at Renowned Photographer Peter Hujar’s New York in “Hujar:Contact” URL: https://hyperallergic.com/an-unprecedented-look-at-renowned-photographer-peter-hujars-new-york-in-hujar-contact/ Last updated: 2026-09-01T20:37:45.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/MOR-113788-026343-Hujar-HyperallergicBanners-Sep2026-640x960-2.jpg) “Hujar:Contact” offers a deep examination of the life, times, and creative evolution of master photographer Peter Hujar. The exhibition features more than 110 contact sheets and 20 enlargements from the [Morgan Library and Museum’s](https://bit.ly/4gw3zdA?ref=hyperallergic.com) collection, which includes over 5,700 contact sheets from throughout the artist’s career. Peter Hujar (1934–1987) began filing contact sheets and assigning them job numbers at age 21\. His records make it possible to track his development — from two decades as a studio assistant (1955–67) when he pushed himself to try work of every kind, into the late 1960s and his work as a freelancer in fashion, music, and advertising, and finally through his mature period (1974–87) as a fiercely independent and influential artist in the East Village. Many of the contact sheets bear editing marks that indicate ideas about cropping and printing and contextualize the exposures Hujar ultimately decided to enlarge. The intense, interactive quality of his portrait work comes to life in contact sheets that read as intimate pictorial narratives, revealing the nature of his attention and the unique personality of each of his subjects. As Hujar matures and struggles, and as the character of his social world changes from the 1950s through the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, his contact sheets tell the nuanced story of a lifetime, a community, and an era. To learn more, visit [themorgan.org](https://bit.ly/4gw3zdA?ref=hyperallergic.com). ### The Artists Paddling 350 Miles Up the Erie Canal URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-artists-paddling-350-miles-up-the-erie-canal/ Last updated: 2026-09-02T14:21:50.000Z WATERFORD, NY — The scene in Waterford, Upstate New York, in early August: A group of kind elders sing with gusto under wilted American flags. Excited supporters hover over artist duo Z Behl and Kim Moloney — together, called “BALONEY STEEL” — as they prepare to embark on what they call the “Mule’s Passage,” and paddle 350 miles (\~563 km) to Buffalo. After brief speeches and an emotional spoken-word piece by playwright Judy Tate, founder of the American Slavery Project, Behl and Maloney boarded their canoe at the end of the dock at the Eastern Gate corridor, the first in a series of locks that lift vessels from the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers into the canal system. The singers walked to the bridge above and were still belting their hearts out as the duo glided underneath — and thus began their journey against the current under a blazing summer sun. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/MulesPassage_image3.jpg) A group of singers on the dock in Waterford, NY on August 7, 2026, give voice to historical canal folk tunes during the “Mule’s Passage” launch event An artistic-cum-anthropological exploration of the Erie Canal, “Mule’s Passage” is a creative reimagining of the woman’s body as both an engine of industry and a narrator of history. With their canoe decorated like a mule, they honor the invisible labor that powered the early towpath canal that transformed the United States and the global economy as we know it. “Mule’s Passage” involves six hours of daily paddling and five weeks of camping for the duo, ending this Friday, September 5, when they are to land in Buffalo after traversing each of the counties along the waterway, also home to six territories of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. While retracing the old towpaths in a living study of work and folklore, “Mule’s Passage” also highlights the Erie Canal as a mechanism of Indigenous displacement: the development of the waterway carved through Native American lands, wrecking stewardship protocols and breaking contracts with Indigenous populations. The artists' expedition is punctuated by interviews with ecologists, historians, activists, and residents along the canal to foster conversations about the ecological impact of the manmade waterway. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/MulesPassage_image7-1.jpg) Paddle Expedition County map and sponsorship partner guidefor “Mule’s Passage” (2026) (image courtesy the artists) The project is supported by the Erie Canal Museum Artist-in-Residence (AIR) program and the New York State Canal Corporation, plus other sponsors including Bixpy (who supplied the electric outboard solar-charging motor for the canoe) and Camp Chow (who donated homemade dehydrated meals). The AIR program offers artists an opportunity to engage creatively with the iconic waterway “by blending art with storytelling to illuminate its cultural, environmental, and historical significance,” as [its website](https://www.canals.ny.gov/About/Residence-Program?ref=hyperallergic.com) puts it. Other project partners for the paddle include the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, which will host an exhibition of the “Mule’s Passage” documentation in spring 2027. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Minnesota State Fair Removes Anti-Trump Crop Art After Artist Was Harassed URL: https://hyperallergic.com/minnesota-state-fair-removes-anti-trump-crop-art-after-artist-was-harassed/ Last updated: 2026-09-01T19:39:40.000Z The Minnesota State Fair took down a crop artwork containing an anti-Trump slogan at the artist's request this weekend, after she was doxxed, harassed, and threatened by right-wing agitators, as first reported by the [*Minnesota Star Tribune*](https://www.startribune.com/state-fair-removes-crop-art-from-exhibition-after-artist-allegedly-doxxed/601884618?ref=hyperallergic.com). Against a backdrop of black and red beans, the artwork reads “8647” in yellow corn kernels, a sequence [often used in protest](https://www.npr.org/2026/04/29/nx-s1-5804483/8647-meaning-comey-indictment?ref=hyperallergic.com) of President Donald Trump. To "86" something, in the hospitality industry, means to get rid of it, and "47" has been interpreted as referring to Trump's status as the 47th United States President. After conservative news outlet [*Alpha News*](https://www.facebook.com/AlphaNewsMN/posts/minnesota-state-fair-seed-art-includes-an-8647-entry-i-couldnt-believe-my-eyes-w/1445389571058478/) zeroed in on the artist's creation across social media, others allegedly targeted, threatened, and shared the private address and details of the artist, per the *Tribune*. The artist has not yet replied to a request for comment. *Hyperallergic* is not reproducing the artwork image out of concern for their privacy. Ike Whiting, another participating crop artist who is familiar with the incident, told *Hyperallergic* that the artist reached out to the fair “with regard to her own safety” after experiencing harassment. "This particular situation goes way too far," Whiting said*.* "The need people feel to take matters into their own hands is shocking and unacceptable." _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Inside the 3,000-Zine Library in a Texas Living Room URL: https://hyperallergic.com/inside-the-3-000-zine-library-in-a-texas-living-room/ Last updated: 2026-09-10T19:43:56.000Z AUSTIN — Among a wave of protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) violence last year, a gathering outside the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, reportedly took a turn after a police officer [drew his gun](https://www.thenation.com/article/society/prairieland-defendants-texas/?ref=hyperallergic.com) and a demonstrator's suppressive fire hit him on the shoulder. Among the defendants handed lengthy prison sentences in connection with the incident is [tattoo artist Daniel “Des” Sanchez Estrada](https://hyperallergic.com/texas-tattoo-artist-gets-30-year-sentence-over-anti-trump-zines/). Estrada did not attend the protest, but he was sentenced to 30 years over a charge of concealing evidence. At the center of his case sits a box of zines. Zines are self-published booklets. Often hand-bound and independently circulated, they are low-cost, easy to distribute, and can feature a range of art media. Zines surged in popularity with the 1980s punk scene, although informally disseminated pamphlets had been a significant tool in the liberation movements of prior decades. “Zines, by nature, are supposed to be this open space to say whatever you want,” Michelle Millette, founder of Austin’s [Sherwood Forest Zine Library](https://www.sherwoodforestzinelibrary.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com), told *Hyperallergic*. “Zines have become one of the few spaces that allows someone to have their own opinion without having a comment section.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/2026_0613_SR_SherwoodZineLibrary_043.jpg) The Sherwood Forest Zine Library is nestled in its founder's living room and houses around 3,000 zines. The Sherwood Forest Zine Library is nestled in Millette’s living room, where a series of bookcases houses around 3,000 zines. She generally opens the library to the public over bimonthly, four-hour periods. Dozens of new and regular zinesters trickle in and out of her home during each open hour, some visiting for the novelty of the space, others taking a seat and catching up with familiar faces. The culture and community surrounding zines have now been growing steadily across Texas for over 30 years. From picnic meetups in Houston in the 1990sto dedicated sections in public libraries, and through zine festivals, workshops and mixers, communities have sprouted everywhere from the border city of El Paso to the mid-sized, northern city of Denton. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Opportunities in September 2026 URL: https://hyperallergic.com/opportunities-in-september-2026/ Last updated: 2026-09-08T03:33:34.000Z Hyperallergic’s monthly [Opportunities Listings](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/opportunities/) provide a resource to artists and creatives looking for funding and community support to further their work. Subscribe to receive this list of opportunities in your inbox each month. [Sign up here](#/portal/account/newsletters)! If you find this list valuable, consider becoming a [Hyperallergic Member](https://hyperallergic.com/membership/) to help us make it possible every month. --- ## Awards & Grants **Foundwork – 2026 Foundwork Artist Prize** The honoree will receive a $10,000 grant and studio visits with jurors Stefan Benchoam, François Ghebaly, Manuela Moscoso, Gabi Ngcobo, Esther Schipper. Three shortlisted artists will receive $1,000 grants. Deadline: September 25, 2026 | [foundwork.art](https://bit.ly/4wlSna9?ref=hyperallergic.com) **Gulf Coast Journal — Toni Beauchamp Prize in Critical Art Writing** Gulf Coast invites entries for the 2026 Toni Beauchamp Prize in Critical Art Writing. Win $3,000 for first place or $1,000 as a runner-up. This year’s judge is critic Andrew Berardini. Deadline: September 14, 2026 | [gulfcoastmag.org](https://bit.ly/3SVL3Ud?ref=hyperallergic.com) **CAA Publication Grants** The Millard Meiss Fund and Wyeth Foundation for American Art Grant support the publication of book-length scholarly manuscripts in the history of art, visual studies, and related subjects that have been accepted by a publisher on their merits but cannot be published in the most desirable form without a subsidy. Deadline: September 15, 2026 | [collegeart.org](https://www.collegeart.org/programs/publishing-grants?ref=hyperallergic.com) **Pedantic Arts — Pedantic Arts Residency + The Grant** Creatives and researchers are invited to apply to a 4-week Pittsburgh residency. Applications are also being accepted for The Grant, an opportunity that invites a visual artist, curator, or writer to conduct Pittsburgh-related research. Deadline: October 15, 2026 with $20 fee (or free before September 28) | [pedanticarts.org](https://bit.ly/4cb0NZT?ref=hyperallergic.com) --- ## Residencies & Fellowships **Hamiltonian Artists and American University — Hamiltonian Teaching Artist Residency** A new Spring Semester Teaching Artist Residency offers practicing visual artists a paid MFA-level teaching post plus fully funded housing and studio space in Washington, DC. Deadline: Priority deadline September 15 | [hamiltonianartists.org](https://bit.ly/4gMa3Gx?ref=hyperallergic.com) **Harry Ransom Center – 2027–2028 Fellowships** The center will award up to 50 funded fellowships to support on-site archival projects across various disciplines at the University of Texas at Austin’s humanities research library and museum. Read more on Hyperallergic. Deadline: November 6, 2026 | [ransom.center](https://bit.ly/3UEnqQn?ref=hyperallergic.com) **Smithsonian American Art Museum — 2027–2028 Research Fellowships** Residential fellowships at SAAM support full-time, independent research on US art, craft, and visual culture. Appointments are available at graduate, predoctoral, postdoctoral, and senior levels. Deadline to apply: October 15, 2026 | [americanart.si.edu](https://s.si.edu/420xiov?ref=hyperallergic.com) **Vermont Studio Center — Open Call for Summer and Fall 2027 Sessions** Artists and writers are invited to apply for a Vermont Studio Center residency. Sessions run for two, three, and four weeks, and include resident presentations, open studios, and an acclaimed Visiting Artists & Writers program. $25 Application Fee Deadline & Fee: September 30, 2026 | [vermontstudiocenter.org](https://bit.ly/4i0M0oi?ref=hyperallergic.com) **American-Scandinavian Foundation: Fellowships for Americans – 2026/2027 Award Cycle** The American-Scandinavian Foundation (ASF) offers long term (4-12 months) fellowships of up to $23,000 and short term (1-3 months) fellowships of up to $5,000 to individuals interested in pursuing research or creative-arts projects in the Nordic region. Deadline: November 1, 2026 | [amscan.org](https://bit.ly/4xs0OkU?ref=hyperallergic.com) **ARTS Southeast: ON::View Artist Residency: February — May, 2027** This fully-funded Residency in Savannah’s Starland Arts District provides a free, high visibility studio, lodging, and a stipend for an artist or curator to complete new work, continue an in-progress endeavor, or conduct research. $50 Application Fee Deadline:September 7th, 2026 | [artssoutheast.org](https://bit.ly/4gCDfia?ref=hyperallergic.com) **The Morgan Conservatory – Artist-in-Residence Program 2027** Explore papermaking, book arts, and letterpress printing at the nation’s largest center dedicated to these crafts. The residency offers emerging and established artists dedicated time, studio space, specialized equipment and a vibrant creative community. Deadline: October 5, 2026 | [morganconservatory.org](https://bit.ly/4ycRl0R?ref=hyperallergic.com) **Queens Museum — 2027-28 QM-Jerome Foundation Fellowship for Emerging Artists** This one-year fellowship awards two visual artists $20,000 each, professional development and mentorship from QM staff and an NY-based artist, and a solo exhibition at the Queens Museum in 2028\. Deadline: September 28, 2026 | [queensmuseum.org](https://bit.ly/4xe65wo?ref=hyperallergic.com) **Simons Foundation — Open Interval: Turbulence** A collaborative program that supports artists, scientists and arts organizations to engage in creative exchange. Awardees receive $30,000 and nine months to explore together. Deadline: October 21, 2026 | [simonsfoundation.org](https://bit.ly/4cc9dAj?ref=hyperallergic.com) **Tiger Strikes Asteroid New York and Transmitter Gallery — TNT Residency** Apply for a 6-month fully funded studio in NYC culminating in a solo exhibition or open studio event. $250 honorarium and professional installation shots included. Priority given to underrepresented artists. $35 application fee. Deadline: September 18, 2026 | [tigerstrikesasteroid.com](https://bit.ly/4ijppnl?ref=hyperallergic.com) ## ### Your Ultimate NYC Fall Art Guide URL: https://hyperallergic.com/your-ultimate-nyc-fall-art-guide/ Last updated: 2026-09-02T17:32:22.000Z It’s hard to believe it’s already September. How did it sneak up on us like that? Is it because August ended with a string of monumental losses within the arts and culture sector that left us bereft and disoriented? Let’s hear it for artist Justin Blinder, who created a device that makes electric City Bikes slow down in less affordable neighborhoods. That’s art activism you can actually feel. Read Eliana Perozo’s report, co-published with the nonprofit news organization *Next City*. Meanwhile, John Galliano withdraws his exhibition from the Costume Institute at The Met after an onslaught of criticism regarding his racist and antisemitic hate speech (which includes but is not limited to literally saying “I love Hitler”) that led to his conviction in 2011\. I guess this is a more favorable outcome compared to the Costume Institute’s 2023 exhibition for late Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld, and Jeff and Lauren (Sánchez) Bezos bankrolling the 2026 Met Gala, but one has to ask when and where the line gets drawn. This month, I’ll be budgeting my time to make the most of an intense lineup of coinciding art happenings. Thankfully, you have our extensive annual fall exhibition guide for New York City, which will make it *a lot* easier to map out my seasonal itinerary. I’m particularly intrigued by *Aziz Hazara: Coming Home* at the SculptureCenter as it contends with two decades of quotidian “leftovers” from the US-led NATO occupation of Afghanistan; Jack Shainman Gallery’s upcoming Gordon Parks exhibition featuring new insights from the families of Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, and other subjects Parks photographed; and *Raise Your Voice: New York Activism* at the Museum of the City of New York. There are dozens of other shows to check out in what’s shaping up to be a September to remember. --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/fall-guide-2.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/hyperallergic-fall-2026-new-york-art-guide/) [ Hyperallergic Fall 2026 New York Art Guide ](https://hyperallergic.com/hyperallergic-fall-2026-new-york-art-guide/) School’s back in session in the art world, too — this fall, exhibitions on textbook artists like Abstract Expressionists Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock, Pop artist Roy Lichtenstein, and modernist Constantin Brancusi are landing at The Met, the Whitney, and MoMA, respectively. Then there’s the shows writing the textbooks of tomorrow: surveys of artist-filmmaker Arthur Jafa, who remixes and shapes Black visual culture; photographer Taryn Simon, who plumbs American myths and institutions; and conceptual artist (and pathologist!) Teresa Margolles, who takes on death, that cruelest of subjects. Still, it’s not just blockbuster exhibitions this season. There’s something for everyone. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/hyperallergic-fall-2026-new-york-art-guide/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/AAF_2026_NYF_02_04_Hyperallergic-email_w1200xh628_v1-1.jpg)](https://affordableartfair.com/fairs/new-york-fall/?utm%5Fsource=banner&utm%5Fmedium=display&utm%5Fcampaign=NYF26-hyperallergic-email&utm%5Fcontent=learn-more) ****Affordable Art Fair New York Fall 2026 is back!** Affordable Art Fair New York returns for its Fall edition from September 16-20 at the Starrett-Lehigh building in Chelsea. You’ll find over 90 galleries showcasing thousands of artworks all priced from $100-$1200\. Find your next favorite artwork! [Learn more ](https://affordableartfair.com/fairs/new-york-fall/?utm%5Fsource=banner&utm%5Fmedium=display&utm%5Fcampaign=NYF26-hyperallergic-email&utm%5Fcontent=learn-more) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/09/john-galliano-NL.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/john-galliano-withdraws-from-met-exhibition-after-backlash-over-racist-comments/) - The British fashion designer John Galliano [withdraws his upcoming exhibition](https://hyperallergic.com/john-galliano-withdraws-from-met-exhibition-after-backlash-over-racist-comments/) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, set to run concurrently with the 2027 Met Gala, after intense criticism of his past racist behavior. - Artist Yayoi Kusama, who channeled psychological phenomena into impossibly kaleidoscopic artworks that enamored millions around the world, [dies at the age of 97](https://hyperallergic.com/yayoi-kusama-artist-of-infinities-dies-at-97/). --- ## Opinion [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/krasner-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/what-i-got-wrong-about-krasner-and-pollock/) [ What I Got Wrong About Krasner and Pollock ](https://hyperallergic.com/what-i-got-wrong-about-krasner-and-pollock/) I had assumed that loving an artist meant disappearing a little, and I had assumed that Lee Krasner had been forced to shrink, too. | Lia Strasser [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/what-i-got-wrong-about-krasner-and-pollock/) --- ## Feature [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/citibike-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/artists-device-slows-down-citi-bikes-in-less-affordable-neighborhoods/) [ Artist’s Device Slows Down Citi Bikes in Less Affordable Neighborhoods ](https://hyperallergic.com/artists-device-slows-down-citi-bikes-in-less-affordable-neighborhoods/) Justin Blinder’s latest project examines New York City’s affordability crisis and makes the disparities felt on a physical level. | Eliana Perozo [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/artists-device-slows-down-citi-bikes-in-less-affordable-neighborhoods/) --- ## What Else Is Happening? - On view at the Long Island Museum, visit *Enduring Heart: Native American Long Island*, a celebration of the First Peoples of Long Island through artifacts and art. (Through December 20) \[[longislandmuseum.org](https://longislandmuseum.org/exhibition/enduring-heart/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - IFC's 2026 Sundance Film Festival short film tour opens this week. (Wed Sept 2) \[[ifccenter.com](https://www.ifccenter.com/films/2026-sundance-film-festival-short-film-tour/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance will host a closing artists talk for its exhibition *America, the Beautiful?* (Wed Sept 2) \[[nomaanyc.org](https://www.nomaanyc.org/events/america-the-beautiful-exhibition/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Join LES Ecology Center and Black Girls Sew for a hands-on clothing repair and mending workshop. (Tues Sept 8) \[[lesecologycenter.org](https://www.lesecologycenter.org/calendar/clothing-repair-with-black-girls-sew/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Conduits of the Unseen: Women Artists Imagine Other Worlds at Andrew Edlin Gallery opens next week. (Opening Wed Sept 9) \[[edlingallery.com](https://www.edlingallery.com/exhibitions/conduits-of-the-unseen-women-artists-imagine-other-worlds?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - 440 Gallery announces the Call for Art for the 22nd annual Small Works Show 2026\. Submit by September 9\. (Wed Sept 9) \[[440gallery.com](https://440gallery.com/small-works-show-2026?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Join an Alma Thomas-inspired abstract painting workshop at Liz's Book Bar. (Sun Sept 13) \[[lizsbookbar.com](https://www.lizsbookbar.com/events/6210320260913?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Attend the Opening Reception of Bill Miller's upcoming solo exhibition. Miller has been using scraps of vintage linoleum as a principle medium for three decades. (Thurs Sept 17) \[[diefirmanyc.com\]](https://www.diefirmanyc.com/bill-miller?ref=hyperallergic.com) - Pete’s Candy Store is hosting its annual Mini Zinefest later this month! (Sat Sept 19) \[[Pete's Mini Zinefest](https://ma.to/event/petes-mini-zinefest-19-sep-2026?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Enjoy free sustainability-focused art activations in a community art garden in Harlem, with clay coasters, printmaking, and more! (Sat Sept 19) \[[The Unframed Arts Collective](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/it-takes-a-village-an-open-garden-art-studio-tickets-1996497351322?aff=ebdiglgoogleliveevents&ref=hyperallergic.com)\] ### How Fannuh Baskets Connect Liberia to the US Lowcountry URL: https://hyperallergic.com/how-fannuh-baskets-connect-liberia-to-the-us-lowcountry/ Last updated: 2026-09-01T20:33:55.000Z *This article is part of a series focusing on underrepresented craft histories, researched and written by the* [*2025 Craft Archive Fellows*](https://hyperallergic.com/2025-center-for-craft-archive-fellows/)*, and organized in collaboration with the Center for Craft.* --- I first visited St. Helena Island off the South Carolina coast in 2021\. Like Louisiana, it was one of the few places I had traveled in the United States where I could hear Liberia in the way people spoke. I do not know how to fully explain it. It was in the rhythm of Gullah speech, what my mother would call “sing-songy.” It was in the syntax and cadence. As my mother would say, “my ears could hear it.” It was also on St. Helena Island, at the historic Penn Center, where I first saw an image of two women fanning rice. I immediately thought of so many women I had seen in Liberia, standing over harvested grain with woven baskets in hand, separating rice from chaff through sweeping motions. Woven from local grasses, palmetto, and other plant materials found across the Sea Islands off the coast of the Southeastern US, these baskets have become one of the defining craft traditions of Gullah Geechee culture in the Lowcountry, a region along South Carolina's coast. To me, they felt like something I already knew. Much of the conversation around lineage has centered on African Americans tracing their ancestry back to the African continent. As someone born in Liberia, with ancestry that includes Bassa people from the Grand Bassa, Montserrado and River Cess regions and those who emigrated from the Caribbean, I have long been interested in tracing those lineages in the other direction as well. I have been searching for the strangers and kin created through the ruptures of slavery — the “commoners, the unwilling and coerced migrants who created a new culture in the hostile world of the Americas and fashioned themselves again, making possibility out of dispossession,” as Saidiya Hartman writes in [*Lose Your Mother: A Journey Along the Atlantic Slave Route*](https://bookshop.org/p/books/lose-your-mother-a-journey-along-the-atlantic-slave-route-saidiya-hartman/0515b38033771ed3?ean=9780374531157&affiliate=539&ref=hyperallergic.com)(2008). I am drawn to the ways language, dance, food, and material traditions become reflections of cultural survival and continual refashioning. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Image-1.jpg) St. Helena Island, South Carolina, in June 2021 “In Liberia,” dancer and anthropologist Pearl Primus reflected after spending two years in Monrovia as director of the Konoma Kende Performing Arts Center in the late 1950s to early '60s, “I found the very root of … dances like the Charleston, Lindy Hop and the old plantation dances … the same used during religious services in some churches in the South.” On St. Helena Island, and throughout my travels across the US South, I have found myself looking for those same connections that Primus traced back to Liberia. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### John Galliano Withdraws From Met Show URL: https://hyperallergic.com/john-galliano-withdraws-from-met-show/ Last updated: 2026-09-01T10:00:26.000Z Staging a retrospective at the Met Museum for a fashion designer convicted of antisemitic and anti-Asian hate speech was not the Costume Institute's best idea. After serious backlash, British designer John Galliano finally withdrew, and the show was officially canceled. Staff Writer Anna Lee has more about this debacle. Speaking of unsavory characters, billionaire Peter Thiel, who makes Lucifer blush, received red-carpet treatment at a VIP preview of the 11th-century Bayeux Tapestry at the British Museum in London. We're still trying to figure out why. Also today: Jennifer Higgie imagines a year in the life of painter Richard Dadd — who was famously institutionalized after killing his father — in a new novel; John Yau visits Catherine Murphy in her studio; and Senior Editor Valentina Di Liscia reviews a performance by Julio Torres and Martine Gutierrez at Manhattan’s Little Island. *—Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/john-galliano-NL-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/john-galliano-withdraws-from-met-exhibition-after-backlash-over-racist-comments/) [ John Galliano Withdraws From Met Exhibition After Backlash Over Racist Comments ](https://hyperallergic.com/john-galliano-withdraws-from-met-exhibition-after-backlash-over-racist-comments/) The British fashion designer John Galliano has withdrawn his upcoming exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, set to run concurrently with the 2027 Met Gala, after intense criticism of his past racist behavior. A French court convicted Galliano of antisemitic and anti-Asian hate speech directed at a French couple in February 2011, and a barrage of antisemitic slurs against a woman in October of the same year. He was fined a total of €6,000 ($6,962). A video of Galliano declaring “I love Hitler” was also circulated by the British tabloid, The Sun, leading to Dior firing the designer from his post as creative director in March 2011\. | Anna Lee [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/john-galliano-withdraws-from-met-exhibition-after-backlash-over-racist-comments/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/ICP-ad-1.jpg)](https://learn.icp.org/online-curatorial-writing-certificate?ref=hyperallergic.com) ****Writing and the Photographic Image One-Year Certificate Program at ICP** Find your voice and build a creative network in the International Center of Photography’s online One-Year Certificate Program in Writing and the Photographic Image. The 2027 program year begins in January. Submit your application by October 18 for priority admission and scholarship consideration. [Learn more ](https://learn.icp.org/online-curatorial-writing-certificate?ref=hyperallergic.com) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/palantir.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/what-in-the-devil-was-peter-thiel-doing-at-the-british-museum/) - The British Museum [hosts Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel](https://hyperallergic.com/what-in-the-devil-was-peter-thiel-doing-at-the-british-museum/) for a VIP viewing of the Bayeux tapestry, drawingconcerns among staff. - The Broad museum will pair students with contemporary artists in a new neighborhood-focused initiative called “Our Block, Our Stories," with the first iteration spotlighting South Los Angeles and artist Lauren Halsey. \[[*Los Angeles Times*](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-08-29/broad-launches-free-south-la-youth-art-program-with-lauren-halsey?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - After the State Department [removed](https://hyperallergic.com/us-state-department-takes-down-woke-kehinde-wiley-painting/) a Kehinde Wiley painting from the US Embassy in Santo Domingo, there are concerns that more artworks in embassies could be removed and potentially sold. \[[*Vanity Fair*](https://www.vanityfair.com/story/kehinde-wiley-state-department-art?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Workers at the Washington History Museum in Seattle are among the thousands of Washington Federation of State Employees members who walked out of their jobs yesterday, August 31, to demand a fair contract. \[[*WFSE*](https://actionnetwork.org/event%5Fcampaigns/wfse-walkout-with-washington?ref=hyperallergic.com)*\]* --- ## Feature [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/catherine-murphy.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/catherine-murphy-has-her-cake-and-eats-it-too/) [ Catherine Murphy Has Her Cake and Eats It Too ](https://hyperallergic.com/catherine-murphy-has-her-cake-and-eats-it-too/) The painter reconciles modernist conventions like the grid with one-point perspective, creating something fresh and entirely her own. | John Yau [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/catherine-murphy-has-her-cake-and-eats-it-too/) --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/richard.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/jennifer-higgies-empathetic-elegy-for-richard-dadd/) [ Jennifer Higgie’s Empathetic Elegy for Richard Dadd ](https://hyperallergic.com/jennifer-higgies-empathetic-elegy-for-richard-dadd/) In “Bedlam,” the author and art critic does not describe the English painter’s often-sensationalized mental deterioration. Instead, she writes the novel in his voice. | Claudia Ross [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/jennifer-higgies-empathetic-elegy-for-richard-dadd/) [ “Marina” Dares You to Laugh at Technology ](https://hyperallergic.com/marina-dares-you-to-laugh-at-technology/) Julio Torres and Martine Gutierrez’s new performance is a grotesque parade of visual delights that defangs our toxic relationship to our screens. | Valentina Di Liscia [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/marina-dares-you-to-laugh-at-technology/) --- ## Member Comment Are you going to write a book about this? It seems like you have more to say. I certainly would like a more in-depth exploration of how the public perception of this couple differs from how it is presented today. If not, you should. You would be the person to write it, referencing your own experience, which is singular but also is similar to how many female artists, famous or not, have either tried to fit it or fight against relationships like Krasner and Pollock. I haven't read Ninth Street Women or Gail Levin's biography of her yet. Maybe they covered it but I think there is still more to say. —Elizabeth Neubauer on "[What I Got Wrong About Krasner and Pollock](https://hyperallergic.com/what-i-got-wrong-about-krasner-and-pollock/)" --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/kusama-article.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/what-the-art-world-doesnt-want-you-to-know-about-yayoi-kusama/) [ What the Art World Doesn’t Want You to Know About Yayoi Kusama ](https://hyperallergic.com/what-the-art-world-doesnt-want-you-to-know-about-yayoi-kusama/) A new publication tries hard to reinvent Kusama as a champion of racial equity despite her troubling record of anti-Black statements. | Dexter Thomas [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/what-the-art-world-doesnt-want-you-to-know-about-yayoi-kusama/) featured opportunity ****Smithsonian American Art Museum — 2027–2028 Research Fellowships** Residential fellowships at SAAM support full-time, independent research on US art, craft, and visual culture. Appointments are available at graduate, predoctoral, postdoctoral, and senior levels. Deadline to apply: October 15, 2026 | [americanart.si.edu](https://s.si.edu/420xiov?ref=hyperallergic.com) ### "Marina" Dares You to Laugh at Technology URL: https://hyperallergic.com/marina-dares-you-to-laugh-at-technology/ Last updated: 2026-09-01T01:32:08.000Z Artistic attempts to contend with technology’s ever-tightening grip on our attention, institutions, and social abilities too often take the form of post-human fever dreams of the *Black Mirror* school — works that, while intended to be critical, easily devolve into [discursive, cyborg-filled feedback loops](https://hyperallergic.com/what-do-we-really-think-of-the-new-new-museum/). Julio Torres and Martine Gutierrez’s *Marina*, which premiered at Manhattan’s Little Island last week as part of the 2026 Whitney Biennial program, opts for a radically different tack: laughing at technology instead of fearing it, and winning our hearts rather than rotting our brains. The air is humid with a storm that never materialized as audience members stream into The Amph, Little Island’s open-air amphitheater, on Thursday, August 26\. Onstage, a figure in a burgundy pinstripe suit mouths wordlessly into a payphone set on a wooden dock suspended above a vaguely apocalyptic underwater mise-en-scène. Framed video screens playing water-wave patterns rise from coral outcroppings encrusted with rubber-tire bits, junk, and debris. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Marina-LI-vnina-7.jpg) Spike Einbinder as a narrator and detective on the stage of **Marina* Down in the murky waters of the Gowanus Canal, we learn, reside a sea wench named Marina (played by Gutierrez), her overprotective older sister, and an [anglerfish](https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals-the-ocean/animals-a-to-z/deep-sea-anglerfish?ref=hyperallergic.com) named Nano. They lead a parasitic existence, accruing the trash that sinks to the floor to reinforce their shells. No one seems to question their lifestyle until a distracted construction worker, barking his insecurities to his AI girlfriend while pacing the dock above them, drops his smartphone into the water. (“Is this a rectangle?” Nano asks, unironically.) Entranced by the device, Marina is drawn into a world of endless scrolls and highlight reels, where influencers peddle the familiar doctrine that a woman can find self-worth only through a man's validation. If this is all sounding very truth-universally-acknowledged so far, that’s because the plot of *Marina* is Frankensteined from paradigmatic tales of women scorned, from Homer’s [*Odyssey*](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/the-odyssey/) to Euripides’s *Medea* to *Jennifer’s Body* (2009). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Marina-LI-vnina-55.jpg) River L. Ramirez plays Mound, Marina's sister, in **Marina.* Our protagonist sets out with good intentions at first, snapping a candid selfie atop her garbage pile and uploading it to OkCupid, a platform that feels as dated a reference as the payphone. But no one swipes right, so she does what we all do online, to some degree or another: She pretends to be someone else. Marina finds her perfect alter-ego in a more conventionally attractive sea dweller, Ariel of Disney’s *The* *Little Mermaid* (1989), whose wide eyes and frizz-free red mane lure thirsty suitors like Jared, a “man of faith” who swears he’s 6’5 and a CEO but “will not be tasked with the emotional labor of dealing with your trauma.” In other words, they are not exactly a catch. When they realize they’ve quite literally been catfished and grow aggressive, they face the homicidal ire of Marina, their Apple Watches and motorcycle jackets becoming absorbed into her ever-growing junkyard ecology. Back on terra firma, our pinstriped narrator, a detective, is determined to crack the case of the fuckboys going missing down below. She recruits a randy garbageman named Dino to go undercover (“I’ll make it worth your while, but not by a lot — I’m solving this case on spec,” she tells him.) But as the saying goes, there’s a lid for every pot, and in a twist of fate, Marina turns out to be exactly Dino’s type: large claws, “kinky,” no interest in deodorant. Throughout this journey, Marina is faced with one of the greatest challenges of becoming oneself. She must learn to locate a sense of identity in her own existence, not in the men she kills or in the man she falls in love with, and certainly not in the carefully constructed chaos of the screen. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Jennifer Higgie’s Empathetic Elegy for Richard Dadd URL: https://hyperallergic.com/jennifer-higgies-empathetic-elegy-for-richard-dadd/ Last updated: 2026-08-31T20:27:25.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/1920px-Bacchanalian_Scene_by_Richard_Dadd.jpg) Richard Dadd, "Bacchanalian Scene" (1862) (image public domain US CC0 via [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bacchanalian%5FScene%5Fby%5FRichard%5FDadd.jpg?ref=hyperallergic.com)) In English painter Richard Dadd’s “The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke”(1855–64), the ghostly, gray faces of well-dressed Victorians nestle among human-size dandelions and shrubs, partially obscuring a shrouded figure raising an axe overhead. The [eerie work](https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/dadd-the-fairy-fellers-master-stroke-t00598?ref=hyperallergic.com) was painted at Broadmoor Hospital, a high-security psychiatric institution where Dadd was confined after his tenure at the famed Bethlem Royal Hospital, also known as “Bedlam.” Writer and art critic Jennifer Higgie captures a similarly uncanny world in her novel of the same name. Originally published by Sternberg Press in 2006 and re-released by Verso in July, *Bedlam* reimagines the painter’s infamous 1842 expedition through Europe, Southwest Asia, and North Africa as a draughtsman for a British nobleman, a journey that spurred a period of psychosis and resulted in Dadd committing patricide at age 26\. It’s this dark odyssey that propels Higgie’s fragmented, first-person account. Through diaristic, idiosyncratic snapshots, she translates Dadd’s uncanny, often Orientalist paintings and drawings into “his” own writing. Higgie’s bold approach illuminates the fragile boundaries between historically marginalized minds like Dadd’s and those of people who may never see the inside of a psychiatrist’s office. Truth and fiction merge and disjoint as Dadd moves toward crisis, a visceral and strange descent emphasized by Higgie’s choice to embody — not mediate or describe — his perspective. As Dadd says in *Bedlam*’s opening salvo from Broadmoor Hospital, “Perhaps it is the story that chooses the man … I did not write my life.” But Higgie did. In her telling, Dadd’s psychosis emerges from the artist’s increasingly off-kilter understanding of the relationship between reality and its representations. Tasked with capturing his international trip in sketches for [Sir Thomas Phillips](https://victorianweb.org/painting/dadd/paintings/3.html?ref=hyperallergic.com), Dadd wonders why he should “bother” to recreate the Alps in front of him if his drawings “can’t help but be inferior to the original,” ultimately soothing himself with the idea that “a drawing is simply another mountain.” He agonizes over the differences between what he draws and what he sees: “In every wave a picture hides from me, but none I can mention or describe to my companion,” he says, traveling across the Gulf of Corinth. Later, near En Gedi, a desert near the Dead Sea and present-day Occupied West Bank, metaphors collapse into hallucination. “I see scorpions the size of men haunting ruins,” he says. “I crash into walls I do not see.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/The_Fairy_Feller-s_Master-Stroke.jpg) Richard Dadd, "The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke" (1855–64), oil on canvas (image public domain US CC0 via [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The%5FFairy%5FFeller%27s%5FMaster-Stroke.jpg?ref=hyperallergic.com)) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Catherine Murphy Has Her Cake and Eats It Too URL: https://hyperallergic.com/catherine-murphy-has-her-cake-and-eats-it-too/ Last updated: 2026-09-02T21:18:17.000Z POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. — I first saw Catherine Murphy’s work at the now-defunct Xavier Fourcade gallery on Manhattan’s Upper East Side in 1980, and I have admired it ever since. Her career began when her paintings were included in the 1972 *Annual Exhibition* at the Whitney Museum of American Art (a precursor to the Biennial). Since then, Murphy has characterized herself as an “observational painter” who bases her work on what she sees. Throughout her career, however, she would move from what she saw to setting up situations based on dreams and memory, broadening the definition of realism as well as breaking with the realist painting convention of working on a one-to-one scale. With these two innovations, Murphy single-handedly pushed observational painting into a fertile territory that is all her own. Like [Alex Katz](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/alex-katz/), whose paintings she saw as a student, Murphy wanted to make large paintings that could hold their own next to the Abstract Expressionists and, in opposition to them, reject style and working in series. While I have written about Murphy many times, including in the [only monograph on her paintings and drawings](https://www.rizzoliusa.com/book/9780847848386/?ref=hyperallergic.com), I continue to find the richness and perceptual complexity of her works wonderfully daunting. Whether I am looking at two clear plastic bags filled with used clothes, stacked on a broken office chair; stacks of books with yellowed pages, seen from the side; or a wallpapered corner of a room with baseboard and red wall-to-wall carpet, I always feel like I am just scratching the surface. While I have long focused on her attention to detail within the overall view, it recently struck me that I had not paid enough attention to the structure of the paintings, and that the friction between the entire picture and its parts was another of the innovations for which Murphy deserves recognition. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/HQ29-CM22836D_Jars__2026_high_quality.jpeg) Catherine Murphy, "Jars" (2026), graphite on paper What I am proposing is that after breaking with the conventions governing realism, Murphy recognized that her ambition was even larger than her accomplishments. To keep moving, she had to take on the modernist conventions controlling abstraction, including the grid and the two-dimensional picture plane. Could they be reconciled with one-point perspective while being transformed into something fresh? Simply put: Murphy wanted to have her cake and eat it too. This meant she had to further articulate a trajectory that was hers alone, even as it brought pictorial challenges none of her contemporaries were addressing. To attain a rapprochement between realism and abstraction that had not been thought possible, she had to forgo the certainties she earned in her singular paintings and break new ground. Murphy is a subversive painter who has made work in dialogue with Renaissance painters and classical subjects, such as the nude, as well as work by her peers and generations before, including [Lois Dodd](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/lois-dodd/) and [Robert Mangold](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/robert-mangold/). Refusing to embrace the postmodern ideology that all is rubble, or that the utopian ideal of progress is dead, Murphy rejected the by-now-familiar strategies of parody, citation, and irony. She was not interested in mocking high modernist motifs, but rather in utilizing modernist compositional devices, such as the grid, to revamp the mundane into the unexpected. In making realism (the three-dimensional) and modernism (the two-dimensional plane) inseparable, she could shape and honor time passing without seeking sanctuary from inevitable destruction; this became a lifelong preoccupation. It is what makes her paintings so engaging. Confronted by her scrupulously formal arrangement of telling particulars, at once isolated and connected, we see something of ourselves in her work — the inevitability of mortality and solitude. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### What in the Devil Was Peter Thiel Doing at the British Museum? URL: https://hyperallergic.com/what-in-the-devil-was-peter-thiel-doing-at-the-british-museum/ Last updated: 2026-08-31T18:31:42.000Z The British Museum hosted Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel for a VIP viewing of the Bayeux tapestry on August 18, drawingconcerns among staff, per a report from the [*Guardian*](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2026/aug/31/british-museum-hosted-palantir-founder-peter-thiel-private-viewing-bayeux-tapestry?ref=hyperallergic.com). The museum declined to comment on the matter in an email to *Hyperallergic*, and it remains unclear if Thiel was part of a larger group privileged with viewing the 11th-century tapestry before its [coveted public exhibition](https://hyperallergic.com/bayeux-tapestry-to-return-to-uk-after-nearly-1000-years/) starting September 10. Thiel's VIP visit puzzled some, as the billionaire has never donated to the British Museum individually or through any of his businesses. Certain staff were concerned that Thiel's private viewing potentially limited public access to the historic weaving, as the museum must limit both the amount and intensity of light exposure on the tapestry to prevent damage. Thiel's visit to the museum is said to have been facilitated by its director of development. Board chair George Osbourne neither met with nor attended the VIP viewing with Thiel. A limited number of private viewings have been made available to various museum stakeholders while the exhibition gallery is still undergoing construction. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### John Galliano Withdraws From Met Exhibition After Backlash Over Racist Comments URL: https://hyperallergic.com/john-galliano-withdraws-from-met-exhibition-after-backlash-over-racist-comments/ Last updated: 2026-08-31T15:20:34.000Z The British fashion designer John Galliano has withdrawn his upcoming exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, set to run concurrently with the 2027 Met Gala, after intense criticism of his past racist behavior. A French court convicted Galliano of antisemitic and anti-Asian hate speech directed at a [French couple](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/sep/08/john-galliano-guilty-racism-antisemitism?ref=hyperallergic.com) in February 2011, and a barrage of antisemitic slurs against a woman in October of the same year. He was fined a total of €6,000 ($6,962). A video of Galliano declaring “I love Hitler” was also circulated by the British tabloid, *The Sun*, leading to Dior firing the designer from his post as creative director in March 2011\. When The Met announced the Costume Institute exhibition [*John Galliano: Horizons*](https://www.metmuseum.org/press-releases/john-galliano-horizons?ref=hyperallergic.com) in July, backlash resurfaced around the designer, who previously held positions at other major haute couture houses including Givenchy and Maison Margiela. Alice Tisch, a major Met donor, and New York politician Brad Lander were [among](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/31/style/john-galliano-met-gala-canceled.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) those who called for the museum to scrap the exhibition. “After much reflection and discussion with all those involved, I have decided, with great sadness, that it is best for the exhibition not to take place at this time,” Galliano wrote in a statement this morning, August 31. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Seeing Krasner and Pollock Together URL: https://hyperallergic.com/seeing-krasner-and-pollock-together/ Last updated: 2026-08-31T10:00:19.000Z As an editor, occasionally a pitch lands in your inbox that makes your heart rate quicken. That’s what I felt when artist and writer Lia Strasser emailed me a few weeks ago, attaching a very personal and moving essay about her relationship to the story of Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock. You may be familiar with the critique that Krasner’s oeuvre has been overshadowed by that of her husband — the alpha male, the household name, the frankly abusive spouse. When Strasser first saw a post announcing The Met’s upcoming exhibition dedicated to both artists, she winced. “*Give her a solo show!”* Then, Strasser retraced her steps — from the Abstract Expressionist couple’s home in East Hampton to the formative moments that shaped her own artistic identity — and discovered a different reading, one that centers rather than diminishes Krasner’s agency. Also today, the art world pays homage to Yayoi Kusama, who died last week at the age of 97; a Bruges exhibition that claims to de-center Europe fails to live up to its premise; and thieves make off with a diamond necklace from a museum in Vienna. *—Valentina Di Liscia, senior editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/krasner.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/what-i-got-wrong-about-krasner-and-pollock/) [ What I Got Wrong About Krasner and Pollock ](https://hyperallergic.com/what-i-got-wrong-about-krasner-and-pollock/) Earlier this year, the Metropolitan Museum of Art announced its forthcoming exhibition Krasner and Pollock: Past Continuous on Instagram, alongside a photograph of the artists by Hans Namuth. Seething, I looked to the comments for affirmation. I didn’t have to scroll for long. Months earlier, I had visited the Pollock-Krasner House in Springs, East Hampton, knowing far more about Jackson Pollock than I did Lee Krasner. I am a painter myself, and I had come to Springs in the wreck of yet another failed relationship … with a painter. I thought I already knew Krasner’s story. I thought her story was partly my own. | Lia Strasser [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/what-i-got-wrong-about-krasner-and-pollock/) --- --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/VERGE_Hyperallergic_IMG-2.png)](https://www.weareverge.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com) Aligning people and institutions, so both can thrive. [Learn more ](https://www.weareverge.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/kusama-2.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-art-world-reacts-to-yayoi-kusamas-passing/) - Following this week’s news of Yayoi Kusama's passing, artists, galleries, museums, and fashion houses around the world [take to social media to reflect](https://hyperallergic.com/the-art-world-reacts-to-yayoi-kusamas-passing/) on the seismic loss. - [Thieves make off](https://hyperallergic.com/thieves-snatch-4-6m-diamond-necklace-from-viennese-museum/) with a platinum and diamond necklace from the Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna. - Demolitions at the Rike Park Music Theatre and Exhibition Hall in Tbilisi, Georgia [prompt outcry](https://hyperallergic.com/demolition-of-georgian-architectural-landmark-sparks-outcry/) from local community members and the architects. --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/belgian-exhibition.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-belgian-exhibition-that-strives-to-decenter-the-west/) [ The Belgian Exhibition That Strives to “Decenter” the West ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-belgian-exhibition-that-strives-to-decenter-the-west/) With two contradictory briefs — to both decenter Europe and show Bruges’s centrality in international networks — an exhibition on the Belgian city is already off to a bumpy start. | Natasha Seaman [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-belgian-exhibition-that-strives-to-decenter-the-west/) --- ## Community [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/vfte-NM.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-145/) [ A View From the Easel: Hilary Lorenz ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-145/) “It’s just me, my dogs, and my turtle.” [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-145/) --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/ernest-cole.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/ernest-cole-anti-apartheid-photographer-who-was-stranded-in-america/) [ The Anti-Apartheid Photographer Who Was Stranded in America ](https://hyperallergic.com/ernest-cole-anti-apartheid-photographer-who-was-stranded-in-america/) Ernest Cole’s life story is an anti-colonialism epic, Cold War thriller, and a tragedy. | John Edwin Mason [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/ernest-cole-anti-apartheid-photographer-who-was-stranded-in-america/) ### Maybe This Fall Will Be Kind URL: https://hyperallergic.com/maybe-this-fall-will-be-kind/ Last updated: 2026-08-29T10:00:58.000Z From a high platform in the Broadway Junction station, I see a forlorn cloud hovering over the rooftops of East Brooklyn. The sky around it is perfectly clear. The next morning, I find it still standing in the same spot, but it’s faded, famished. That’s how bad things have gotten: The loneliness epidemic has now reached the clouds. Espresso in Williamsburg, watermelon juice in Ditmas Park, writing session in Ridgewood, soccer camp in Bed-Stuy. At a street corner, a mural by @blkopslife shows a hand holding a famous 1964 photo of Malcom X leaning on the shoulder of his tuxedoed friend, Muhammad Ali. It’s in a Black neighborhood that’s been almost completely gentrified. Dolly Parton suddenly dies at 80\. She touched the hearts of millions working nine to five. Sliman Mansour dies at 79\. He carried the weight of Palestinian pain on his back. I hope he catches a break in the afterlife. And then Yayoi Kusama follows, passing at 97\. She’ll live on for eternity thanks to her *Infinity Mirrored Rooms*. At lunch, the guy from the falafel place tells me that all humans were created from a single soul. I say that sounds good, but no lettuce for me, please. I fear it more than death these days. I watch clips of China’s humanoid robot olympics and don’t know whether to be amused or frightened. One robot boxer keeps jumping and kicking long after its head is ripped off. At a cafe, I overhear a businessman on a Zoom call announcing, “We’re going to make a big AI push towards the end of the year.” On the other end of the call I see the workers who will probably be replaced by that AI. I laugh at first when I hear that Vancouver police raided an art gallery because someone mistook a sculpture for a man in need of medical assistance. But then it turns out that passed out men are a common sight in the streets of the opioid crisis-stricken city. The moon is about to turn full, and a lot of aggression starts to make sense. A place called Insomnia Cookies is ironically most empty at night. Summer is on its hind legs, still acting out. Thousands flee for their lives from a huge wave in Nepal. But fall is pushing in, and I do believe it will be kind. *—Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/kusama.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/yayoi-kusama-artist-of-infinities-dies-at-97/) [ Yayoi Kusama, Artist of Infinities, Dies at 97 ](https://hyperallergic.com/yayoi-kusama-artist-of-infinities-dies-at-97/) Artist Yayoi Kusama, who channeled psychological phenomena into impossibly kaleidoscopic artworks that enamored millions around the world, died in a hospital in Tokyo on August 14 at the age of 97\. The news of her death was announced by her studio and David Zwirner Gallery today, August 26\. The labor-intensive quality of her works, combined with a Borgesian fascination with mirrors and the infinite, an openness about mental health struggles, and her ever-present red bob, rendered her an icon closer to a rock star or a spiritual leader than a contemporary artist. | Valentina Di Liscia [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/yayoi-kusama-artist-of-infinities-dies-at-97/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/pompeii.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/major-exhibition-of-pompeii-treasures-will-make-its-us-debut/) - An exhibition of artifacts from Pompeii [will make its United States debut](https://hyperallergic.com/major-exhibition-of-pompeii-treasures-will-make-its-us-debut/) at the Dallas Museum of Art this December. - The Department of State [removes Kehinde Wiley’s 2015 commissioned painting](https://hyperallergic.com/us-state-department-takes-down-woke-kehinde-wiley-painting/) from the United States embassy in the Dominican Republic, claiming that the artist’s “violent and racist words and depictions” have no place in the foreign relations agency. - Sliman Mansour, a renowned Palestinian painter who chronicled over six decades of his country’s fight for liberation, [dies at age 79](https://hyperallergic.com/sliman-mansour-painter-of-palestinian-hope-and-humanity-dies-at-79/). - Welsh music photographer Justin Thomas [is accusing painter Elizabeth Peyton](https://hyperallergic.com/artist-elizabeth-peyton-sued-over-painting-of-oasis-brothers/) of copyright infringement on his photograph of Liam and Noel Gallagher of the British rock band Oasis. - Ex-Pussy Riot Member Margarita Konovalova, who went by the alias Rita Flores, claims [she was coerced by Russia](https://hyperallergic.com/ex-pussy-riot-member-says-she-was-recruited-by-russia-to-spy-on-artists/) to spy on other dissident artists. - Mayor Zohran Mamdani [announces more than $8.4 million in grants](https://hyperallergic.com/nyc-arts-nonprofits-benefit-from-mamdanis-8-4-million-in-grants/) toward nonprofit and small business initiatives, including public art commissions and arts programming. - The 70-year-old Chinese dissident artist Gao Zhen [gets a three-year prison sentence](https://hyperallergic.com/chinese-artist-gao-zhen-gets-3-year-prison-sentence-for-mao-sculptures/) for his sculptures of communist revolutionary and leader Mao Zedong. - Sir Joshua Reynolds’s celebrated “Portrait of Mai (Omai)” [will be displayed at the Getty Museum](https://hyperallergic.com/famed-portrait-of-omai-will-go-on-view-at-las-getty-museum/) in Los Angeles beginning on September 14. - As part of the School of Sexuality Project’s 2026 “Vulva Gala,” [artists dressed in handmade vulva costumes](https://hyperallergic.com/artists-commit-to-the-bit-at-this-years-vulva-gala/) paraded down the aisle of a church in Long Beach as part of a community-centered celebration centering on approachable, destigmatized learning. - Maya Lin, the architect and artist behind the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC, and the Civil Rights Memorial in Alabama, [will debut her next public art commission](https://hyperallergic.com/maya-lin-to-build-otherworldly-floating-landscape-at-ut-austin/) in April 2027 at the University of Texas at Austin. - [Art Movements](https://hyperallergic.com/four-native-artists-commissioned-for-counterpublic-triennial/): Four Native artists are commissioned for the Counterpublic Triennial, the High Line’s fall lineup, new curators at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, a laid-off Artnet News reporter speaks out, and more. --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/south-asian-painting.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/can-we-stop-calling-south-asian-painting-miniature/) [ Can We Stop Calling South Asian Painting “Miniature”? ](https://hyperallergic.com/can-we-stop-calling-south-asian-painting-miniature/) A book on 18th-century Pahari painting warns against thinking of these works as “miniatures,” a Western term, instead illuminating the artistic collaboration and ways of life at their heart. | Nageen Shaikh [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/can-we-stop-calling-south-asian-painting-miniature/) [ How AIDS Activists Turned Graphic Design Into a Weapon ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-aids-activists-turned-graphic-design-into-a-weapon/) In the 1980s, a band of fed-up young men wheat-pasted New York with graphically stark flyers, posters, and stickers, demanding action. | Amy Levine-Kennedy [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-aids-activists-turned-graphic-design-into-a-weapon/) [ Maria Martins Was More Than Just Duchamp’s Lover ](https://hyperallergic.com/maria-martins-was-more-than-just-duchamps-lover/) A new book by leading Duchamp scholar Francis M. Naumann chronicles the artist’s affair with the Brazilian sculptor, but frequently reduces her influence and career to sexual allure. | Lauren Moya Ford [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/maria-martins-was-more-than-just-duchamps-lover/) --- ## Features [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/indian-market.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/an-ethos-of-by-us-for-us-at-the-santa-fe-indian-market/) [ An Ethos of “By Us, for Us” at the Santa Fe Indian Market ](https://hyperallergic.com/an-ethos-of-by-us-for-us-at-the-santa-fe-indian-market/) Participants in this year’s edition were unafraid to express themselves outside touristic expectations of “tradition,” making work meaningful to themselves and their communities of chosen kin and allies. | Thea Quiray Tagle [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/an-ethos-of-by-us-for-us-at-the-santa-fe-indian-market/) [ At This Year’s Rencontres d’Arles, Photography Rethinks Its Centers ](https://hyperallergic.com/at-this-years-rencontres-darles-photography-rethinks-its-centers/) The art world at times imagines itself outside politics, or at least agrees on them; the latest edition of the annual festival reveals otherwise. | Daniela Mayer [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/at-this-years-rencontres-darles-photography-rethinks-its-centers/) [ Artist’s Device Slows Down Citi Bikes in Less Affordable Neighborhoods ](https://hyperallergic.com/artists-device-slows-down-citi-bikes-in-less-affordable-neighborhoods/) Justin Blinder’s latest project examines New York City’s affordability crisis and makes the disparities felt on a physical level. | Eliana Perozo [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/artists-device-slows-down-citi-bikes-in-less-affordable-neighborhoods/) --- ## Guide [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/fall-guide-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/hyperallergic-fall-2026-new-york-art-guide/) [ Hyperallergic Fall 2026 New York Art Guide ](https://hyperallergic.com/hyperallergic-fall-2026-new-york-art-guide/) From Brancusi’s modernism to Krasner and Pollock’s midcentury stylings to Arthur Jafa’s contemporary lens, there’s something for everyone this season. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/hyperallergic-fall-2026-new-york-art-guide/) --- ## Community [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/gugg-fellowship.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/art-problems-how-do-i-get-the-guggenheim-fellowship/) [ Art Problems: How Do I Get the Guggenheim Fellowship? ](https://hyperallergic.com/art-problems-how-do-i-get-the-guggenheim-fellowship/) Tired of getting rejected year after year? Don’t despair. Paddy Johnson is here to help. | Paddy Johnson [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/art-problems-how-do-i-get-the-guggenheim-fellowship/) [ A View From the Easel: Rah Naqvi ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-351/) “A ritual I have is to always scribble a line or word, or poem that stayed with me while listening to an audiobook or song, onto the wall in my studio.” [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-351/) [ Remembering Marijke De Roover, Sliman Mansour, and Fabrizio Plessi ](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-marijke-de-roover-sliman-mansour-and-fabrizio-plessi/) This week, we honor a feminist Belgian performance artist, an icon of Palestinian liberation, and an Italian video art pioneer. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-marijke-de-roover-sliman-mansour-and-fabrizio-plessi/) ### Thieves Snatch $4.6M Diamond Necklace From Viennese Museum URL: https://hyperallergic.com/thieves-snatch-4-6m-diamond-necklace-from-viennese-museum/ Last updated: 2026-08-28T19:36:00.000Z Two visitors smashed a display case and made off with a platinum and diamond necklace at the Museum of Applied Arts (MAK) in Vienna yesterday afternoon, August 27\. Per the Viennese daily newspaper [*Der Standard*](https://www.derstandard.at/story/3000000337473/41-schlaege-auf-vitrine-eine-rekonstruktion-des-juwelen-coups-im-mak?ref=hyperallergic.com), the Van Cleef & Arpels necklace was last appraised at $4.6 million by Sotheby's. It was displayed as part of [*Glanzstücke*](https://www.mak.at/en/program/exhibitions/glanzstuecke?ref=hyperallergic.com), an ongoing exhibition featuring over 500 works gathered from the museum's design collection and the French luxury jewelry house. The 200-karat, 673-white diamond necklace was designed in 1939 for Egyptian Queen Nazli on the occasion of her daughterPrincess Fawzia's marriage to Iranian Prince Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who later became Iran's last shah. A press statement from the museum confirmed the theft, but officials declined to comment further due to the ongoing investigation. Austrian [media outlets](https://www.derstandard.at/story/3000000337473/41-schlaege-auf-vitrine-eine-rekonstruktion-des-juwelen-coups-im-mak?ref=hyperallergic.com) [reported](https://www.krone.at/4273235?ref=hyperallergic.com) that the two men paid for their ticketed entry into the museum before approaching the display case containing the necklace, a set of earrings, and a double-clip brooch from the same collection,along with two decorative wares. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### The Belgian Exhibition That Strives to "Decenter" the West URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-belgian-exhibition-that-strives-to-decenter-the-west/ Last updated: 2026-08-28T19:31:23.000Z BRUGES, Belgium — With its cobblestone streets, glossy green canals, and stepped gable townhouses, Bruges has the self-contained and unchanging quality of a scene in a snow globe. *Bigger Picture: Connected worlds of Bruges 900-1550* seeks to bust this myth, demonstrating the extent of the city’s historical connection with the rest of the world. The inaugural exhibition of BRUSK — “BRU” for Bruges and “SK” for schone kunsten (“fine art”) — a large new gallery attached to the [Groeningemuseum](https://www.museabrugge.be/en/visit/locations/groeningemuseum?ref=hyperallergic.com), the show is guest curated by Peter Frankopan, an Oxford medievalist and author of [a popular history of the Silk Road](http://bookshop.org/a/539/9781101912379?ref=hyperallergic.com). In addition to demonstrating Bruges’s global connections, the exhibition also invokes the notion of decentering the “West” from its self-appointed position as the hub of civilization, via a video presentation, starring Frankopan, that plays at its entry. With these two somewhat contradictory briefs — to both decenter Europe and show Bruges’s centrality in international networks — the exhibition is off to a bumpy start. A further complication is the vast number and type of objects on display: There are over 250 items, ranging from a surprisingly covetable chain mail jacket and underwhelming shreds of ancient silk to significant paintings by Titian, Jan van Eyck, and Hans Memling, as well as religious relics, manuscripts of North African and European origin, Turkish carpets, Viking artifacts, coins, religious garb, and more. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/MUS260504_01_FB.jpg) Installation view of **Bigger Picture: Connected worlds of Bruges 900-1550*(© Stad Brugge) To manage this vast range of materials, the exhibition is divided into four “worlds,” each defined by its own intricately designed enclosure delimited by hanging cloth. The “North Sea World,” for instance, is made up of triangular panels that recall sails, while the “Mediterranean World” is under a pavilion-style tent. Each world also has a distinct soundscape — the Mediterranean is evoked by a twitter of birds and the sound of creaking wagon wheels. “The World of Christianity” has bells and more birds. The “World of the Court” is accompanied, like a medieval feast, by gentle plucking on string instruments. In the darkened gallery, the worlds form dramatically lit islands, linked by white lines painted on the floor. Aided by the inventive but not illuminating animations playing in each world, the whole installation is reminiscent of the [opening credits](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7L2PVdrb%5F8&ref=hyperallergic.com) for *Game of Thrones*. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Demolition of Georgian Architectural Landmark Sparks Outcry URL: https://hyperallergic.com/demolition-of-georgian-architectural-landmark-sparks-outcry/ Last updated: 2026-08-28T19:28:12.000Z Demolitions are underway on the Rike Park Music Theatre and Exhibition Hall in Tbilisi, Georgia, prompting outcry from local community members and the architects who designed the two-structure complex. Set against the historic 19th-century buildings that define the capital city's dominant style, the landmark is known as the “Rike Tubes” for its futuristic appearance, a reminder of the country’s modernist push from the 2000s to the early 2010s. The Tbilisi City Hall’s Architectural Service issued the demolition permit in June to the owner, Rike Dom, with the dismantling process commencing [last month](https://georgiatoday.ge/demolition-of-rike-tubes-begins-in-tbilisi/?ref=hyperallergic.com) and due to wrap up by December. In interviews with [*Reuters*](https://www.reuters.com/world/demolition-modernist-arts-complex-tbilisi-sparks-outcry-2026-08-27/?ref=hyperallergic.com) and local outlets, many expressed concerns with the decision, describing the tourist hotspot as a defining feature of the capital city skyline. Italian architects Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas, of Fuksas Studio, were asked to design the complex for musical performance and contemporary art exhibitions in 2010, under then-Prime Minister Nika Gilauri and United National Movement (UNM) President Mikheil Saakashvili (who has been in prison for [nearly five years](https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/georgian-court-sentences-former-president-saakashvili-9-more-years-prison-2025-03-12/?ref=hyperallergic.com) for abuse of power charges). Construction began on the glass-and-steel tubes in 2011\. When the conservative Georgian Dream party came into power in 2012, officials froze construction, leaving the project unfinished. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### What I Got Wrong About Krasner and Pollock URL: https://hyperallergic.com/what-i-got-wrong-about-krasner-and-pollock/ Last updated: 2026-09-15T21:12:32.000Z Earlier this year, the Metropolitan Museum of Art announced its forthcoming exhibition *Krasner and Pollock: Past Continuous* on [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/DVJkDbKEkBS/?ref=hyperallergic.com), alongside a photograph of the artists by Hans Namuth. Seething, I looked to the comments for affirmation. I didn't have to scroll for long. *"Give her a solo show!"* Months earlier, I had visited the Pollock-Krasner House in Springs, East Hampton, knowing far more about Jackson Pollock than I did Lee Krasner. I am a painter myself, and I had come to Springs in the wreck of yet another failed relationship … with a painter. I thought I already knew Krasner's story. I thought her story was partly my own. The first stop on the tour was Krasner's studio: a small second-floor bedroom overlooking Accabonac Creek. The guide told us Pollock would displace Krasner when it was too cold to paint in the barn, and how she would then work by the warmth of the kitchen stove: a woman in the kitchen in the 1950s, working around her husband's tempestuousness. In the living room, we learned how Krasner navigated gender bias, poverty, and Pollock's alcoholism while using her own credibility in the art world to promote his paintings, the sales of which supported their frugal life. I mourned all the paintings that could have been had she not been saddled with such a mess. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/data-src-image-d8086cf6-d074-403d-9a0c-0fd374d518db.png) Lee Krasner, Jackson Pollock, and visitors in the studio in East Hampton, New York, August 23, 1953 (photo Tony Vaccaro/Getty Images) Then we crossed the lawn to the barn and its famous floor, where Pollock developed his drip technique. But I stared instead at the bare rectangles on the walls, fringed with splattered paint, the spaces where Krasner's canvases had hung. After Pollock's death, it took her a year to claim the studio. When she finally did, she painted at a sweeping scale and filled the barn with her own explosive work. As the guide described Krasner's grief-induced insomnia, I couldn't reconcile it: Why, when she finally had the studio her spirit and ambition deserved, when she was rid of the weight of that difficult man, was she so bereft? The tour ended, and I grumbled my way into the gift shop. Still looking for an injustice to protest, I struck up a conversation with an employee about women painters. He placed a large yellow book in my hands, saying, "This is a wonderful introduction, not just to Lee, but to the other women of Abstract Expressionism." Only then did he introduce himself: Matthew Ward, director of the Pollock-Krasner House. I bought Mary Gabriel's [*Ninth Street Women*](https://hyperallergic.com/ninth-street-women-mary-gabriel-little-brown-2018/)(2018), and we said goodbye. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/second-image-compilation.jpg) I stared at the bare rectangles on the walls, fringed with splattered paint, the spaces where Krasner's canvases had hung. (artwork © Lia Strasser) In the following months, I made a series of drawings from my photographs of the house and finished Gabriel's book. I sent Matt a short video of the work, and he suggested we discuss it over a call. About a week before we spoke, The Met announced the show. I assumed Matt would commiserate with me over the decision to exhibit Krasner alongside Pollock, but he was excited. "A lot of people don't know this, but for two of the most avant-garde artists of their time, they led surprisingly domestic lives,” he told me. “They slept in separate beds, and they made appointments to visit each other's studios. The romance was in the passion for their art, in what the other was doing on canvas." Throughout our conversation, I was struck by how often Matt said "they" and "them." He rarely referred to one artist apart from the other. Every time I tried to steer him toward Krasner's sacrifices, he returned to their partnership. "He was the face of their business, but she managed everything. I'm not sure Jackson would have kept painting if it weren't for Lee." Then he offered a thought that astonished me. He described Krasner's habit of destroying and reassembling older paintings that no longer felt true to the artist she had become, and wondered whether she had done something similar with her memories of Pollock. She outlived him by almost three decades. Perhaps she had revised the relationship to align with the Lee Krasner she became. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/third-image-compelation.jpg) The guide told us Pollock would displace Krasner when it was too cold to paint in the barn, and how she would then work by the warmth of the kitchen stove. (artwork © Lia Strasser) Still, I couldn't imagine anyone who knew Krasner's life intimately thinking The Met's decision was right. When I googled "contact Mary Gabriel," the most promising result was an author page on her publisher's website. I sent my note into the void and began working on a backup plan. Four days later, the author agreed to a Zoom call from her home in Ireland. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### The Art World Reacts to Yayoi Kusama’s Passing URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-art-world-reacts-to-yayoi-kusamas-passing/ Last updated: 2026-08-28T14:57:11.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/IMG_4135.jpg) Celebrity Illustrator Mr Doodle drew over a photo of Yayoi Kusama in his signature style. (image courtesy Mr Doodle) From her beloved dotted pumpkins to her immersive *Infinity Mirror Rooms*, artist Yayoi Kusama reenvisioned the pop avant-garde with artworks that often doubled as social commentary and public protest. Following this week's [news of her passing](https://hyperallergic.com/yayoi-kusama-artist-of-infinities-dies-at-97/) at the age of 97, artists, galleries, museums, and fashion houses around the world have taken to social media to reflect on the seismic loss. Tributes from Louis Vuitton to professional doodlers have flooded Instagram, each remembering the artist as a daring, radical, and complex force. Across generations and disciplines, these 12 testimonies cement Kusama’s legacy in polka-dotted perpetuity. --- ### Glenn Scott Wright Reflecting on decades of friendship, teatime, and routine visits with the late artist, Glenn Scott Wright, president of the Victoria Miro Gallery, [writes](https://www.instagram.com/p/DcizluOjWEK/?ref=hyperallergic.com), “Spending time with Kusama will forever be one of the greatest privileges of my life, and her wisdom, humour and friendship will be a part of my own eternal soul.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-27-at-3.51.19---PM-2.png) Screenshot **Hyperallergic* via [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/DcizluOjWEK/?ref=hyperallergic.com) --- ### Dean Sameshima Through old photographs of Kusama’s 1998 performance at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood, Dean Sameshima [recounts](https://www.instagram.com/p/Dci0vyijPaI/?img%5Findex=1&ref=hyperallergic.com) witnessing the artist’s thrilling, “tense” performance. Kusama would collect signature dots from audience members in this untitled number and stick them onto her fellow performers. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-27-at-3.48.03---PM-2.png) Screenshot **Hyperallergic* via [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/Dci0vyijPaI/?img%5Findex=1&ref=hyperallergic.com) --- ### Katy Hessel/The Great Women Artists British art historian Katy Hessel traces Kusama’s breaking from convention, captured in the small but mighty dot. “She showed us that all of those dots matter,” Hessel [writes](https://www.instagram.com/p/DciUY4lDjpa/?hl=en&img%5Findex=3&ref=hyperallergic.com). “It takes every single one of them to light up in order to make up the cosmos, to make something beautiful; it requires us to work together.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-27-at-3.53.08---PM.jpg) Screenshot **Hyperallergic* via [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/DciUY4lDjpa/?hl=en&img%5Findex=3&ref=hyperallergic.com) --- ### Museum Ludwig The Museum Ludwig in Cologne concluded a [major retrospective](https://www.museum-ludwig.de/en/home/exhibitions/yayoi-kusama?ref=hyperallergic.com) of Kusama’s work on August 2, just 12 days before the artist passed away. Over 480,000 people visited the five-month-long exhibition, the most successful in the institution’s history, according to David Zwirner gallery. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-27-at-3.53.39---PM-1.jpg) Screenshot **Hyperallergic* via [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/DciSpPnDLvn/?hl=en&img%5Findex=1&ref=hyperallergic.com) --- ### Sondra Meszaros Calgary-based artist Sondra Meszaros [pays homage](https://www.instagram.com/p/DchzNtVBUhQ/?ref=hyperallergic.com) to Kusama’s recurring philosophy of “Love Forever,” a phrase that would undergird dozens of the artist’s creations. Kusama routinely spread the love, passing out badges with the slogan to audience members at a 2012 exhibition at the [Whitney Museum of American Art](https://whitney.org/media/850?ref=hyperallergic.com). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-27-at-3.50.05---PM.jpg) Screenshot **Hyperallergic* via [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/DchzNtVBUhQ/?ref=hyperallergic.com) --- ### Louisiana Channel The Louisiana Museum of Art’s video channel [posted](https://www.instagram.com/p/Dci0vZrs32w/?hl=en&ref=hyperallergic.com) images of one of its founding editors, Christian Lund, greeting Kusama at eye level. The Louisiana Channel’s next [newsletter](https://louisiana.us16.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=ae846aca664cdd76415e102db&id=2831f89335&ref=hyperallergic.com) will detail that exchange from Lund’s perspective, brief, powerful, and memorable as it was. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-27-at-3.52.35---PM.jpg) Screenshot **Hyperallergic* via [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/Dci0vZrs32w/?hl=en&ref=hyperallergic.com) --- ### David Zwirner “At the time of her passing, Kusama was, without a doubt, the most famous living artist in the world,” [writes](https://www.instagram.com/p/DchrPYBnHmM/?img%5Findex=1&ref=hyperallergic.com) David Zwirner, who represented the artist since 2013\. Kusama had six solo exhibitions at Zwirner’s gallery, the latest being [*Yayoi Kusama: I Spend Each Day Embracing Flowers*](https://hyperallergic.com/new-yayoi-kusama-nyc-show-draws-lines-down-the-block/)in 2023, which drew lines down the block to experience one of her *Infinity Rooms*. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-27-at-3.49.50---PM.jpg) Screenshot **Hyperallergic* via [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/DchrPYBnHmM/?img%5Findex=1&ref=hyperallergic.com) --- _This post is for subscribers only._ ### A View From the Easel URL: https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-145/ Last updated: 2026-08-28T14:31:43.000Z Welcome to the 352ndinstallment of A View From the Easel, a series in which artists reflect on their workspace. This week, printmaker and self-proclaimed "mountain ultrarunner" Hilary Lorenz transforms paper into boats, books, and weavings in the studio she built herself. Want to take part? Check out our [submission guidelines](https://hyperallergic.com/submit-your-workspace-to-a-view-from-the-easel/) and share a bit about your studio with us through [this form](https://forms.gle/Erq7cyGEmMUxKrLe9?ref=hyperallergic.com)! All mediums and workspaces are welcome, including your home studio. --- ## [Hilary Lorenz](https://www.hilarylorenz.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com), Abiquiu, New Mexico ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/hilary_lorenz_easel_5---Hilary-Lorenz-1.jpg) ***How long have you been working in this space?*** I have been officially in my studio on and off since 2013\. I bought a small house in rural New Mexico in 2010 and started building my studio the following summer. I was still living in NYC and spending three months a year in Abiquiu until I moved here in 2022\. I am actually in Medanales, but many of us have multiple addresses for the post office, utility, etc. So it can be confusing. I built my studio with the help of two neighbors; it is entirely out of stones I picked up off a mountain, mud, local timber, and windows from Habitat for Humanity Restore. ***Describe an average day in your studio.*** I did not run electricity lines to my studio, which I didn’t think I needed since I work during the day in natural light. Not having electricity or Wi-Fi keeps me from getting lost on the internet. After I walk my dogs at 7am, I then run for an hour or so. I fill my water bottle and enter the studio. I normally work on one or two pieces at a time, so I look at what I completed the day before, evaluate my materials (always paper), and begin working. Studio time is almost always production time; I am producing physical artwork. I save my digital admin stuff to midday. In the summer it gets so hot, in the high 90s, that it is miserable to work in the studio from about 2pm to 6 pm; that is when I go into the house, which is cool, to do any grant writing or exhibition planning, anything that needs communication. After it cools off, I go back out to the studio for one to two hours. My studio is about 100 meters from the house. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/hilary_lorenz_easel_3---Hilary-Lorenz.jpg) ***How does the space affect your work?*** I love what I built. My studio is a place of comfort and security. When I am working at my 10-foot table, I look out my open glass doors to the mountains. I attached a corral to my studio for the dogs to hang out, and there is an acre they can wander around in. I often sit outside when I need to clear my head. But the outdoors also offers me additional space to do big messy projects, like my linocut-printed paper canoe or my "Shipwrecked" installation piece. ***How do you interact with the environment outside your studio?*** I am always looking outside when I am working. I set myself up so that when I am weaving my prints and drawings together, I can see outside. I also have three entrances to the studio and a lot of windows so that I can have the feeling of being in a protected space, protected from the sun and wind, but also feel like I am outside. I am also a mountain ultrarunner, so I spend huge amounts of time outdoors and in the mountains. It is an integral part of my making process. But being so rural, unless I leave there, it's just me, my dogs, and my turtle. It is rare to see people, which can be unsettling. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Hilary_Lorenz_easel_2---Hilary-Lorenz.jpg) ***What do you love about your studio?*** I am incredibly proud that I built it, and I hauled five massive truckloads of rocks that I picked up myself off the mountain to build the walls. I love that it is mine and I don’t pay rent. I love that I built my tables, and it gives me a sense of independence. Because I live so rurally, I mostly have to do things myself, which can be a struggle, but that is the way it is. I love constantly learning how to solve whatever problems come my way. I also love that when I go away, I can lock the door and leave. The building is mud and stone; it is strong and secure and requires minimal maintenance, but it is made from earth and one day, hopefully not for a very long time, it will naturally decompose right back into the ground. ***What do you wish were different?*** The absolutely toughest part of being here is the isolation. I am not fond of isolation. I am happy to be alone and work alone, but then I want to be able to walk out my door and see people, to meet friends, to go to openings, to dinner, without having to drive over 60 miles. I wish my studio were closer to, or in, an urban environment. I would love to walk out of my studio and get a coffee. I suppose I can do that now, but I have to make the coffee myself. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/HilaryLorenz_easel_4---Hilary-Lorenz.jpg) ***What is your favorite local museum?*** I love going to Site Santa Fe, though it is almost 70 miles away, so not super local. Also in Santa Fe, I love the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts. I always get charged up by the exhibitions there. New Mexico has many really interesting museums that all require long drives; some really surprised me, including the Bradbury Science Museum in Los Alamos, the telephone museum in Albuquerque, and the Roswell UFO Museum. That one was really fun. ***What is your favorite art material to work with?*** Paper! Absolutely paper; I print it; relief, intaglio, and lithography. I marble it, using *suminagashi* technique. I cut it up and weave it. I make boats and books with paper. I love paper, and the primary artwork I collect is also on paper. ### Your Guide to NYC Art Shows This Fall URL: https://hyperallergic.com/your-guide-to-nyc-art-shows-this-fall/ Last updated: 2026-08-28T10:00:50.000Z For me, autumn in New York means four things: art fair frenzy, leaf peeping, apple cider donuts, and lots and lots of openings. To help you navigate the wealth of stellar exhibitions this year, from gallery shows to blockbuster surveys, we’re proud to present our Hyperallergic Fall 2026 New York Art Guide. Choose your own adventure: *telenovelas* and their influence on contemporary art, Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock side by side, explorations of girlhood and art. As Associate Editor Lisa Yin Zhang writes in her foreword, there’s something for everyone. Enjoy. Read on for more in this edition, including a massive auction for an LGBTQIA+ art mentorship program, the many lives of beloved author Virginia Woolf’s small press, and the police who broke into a gallery after confusing a sculpture for a person (no, April Fools’ didn’t come early). *—Lakshmi Rivera Amin, associate editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/fall-guide.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/hyperallergic-fall-2026-new-york-art-guide/) [ Hyperallergic Fall 2026 New York Art Guide ](https://hyperallergic.com/hyperallergic-fall-2026-new-york-art-guide/) School’s back in session in the art world, too — this fall, exhibitions on textbook artists like Abstract Expressionists Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock, Pop artist Roy Lichtenstein, and modernist Constantin Brancusi are landing at The Met, the Whitney, and MoMA, respectively. Then there’s the shows writing the textbooks of tomorrow: surveys of artist-filmmaker Arthur Jafa, who remixes and shapes Black visual culture; photographer Taryn Simon, who plumbs American myths and institutions; and conceptual artist (and pathologist!) Teresa Margolles, who takes on death, that cruelest of subjects. Still, it’s not just blockbuster exhibitions this season. There’s something for everyone. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/hyperallergic-fall-2026-new-york-art-guide/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/bennett-ad-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-bennett-prize-opens-fifth-call-for-entries/) ****The Bennett Prize Opens Fifth Call for Entries** Women figurative realist painters can enter to win $75,000 and a traveling solo exhibition. Applications are open through September 19. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-bennett-prize-opens-fifth-call-for-entries/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/doll-invasion.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/major-queer-art-auction-features-peaches-chappell-roan-and-chani-nicholas/) - Dozens of donated artworks, archival media, experiences, and collectibles that embody the queer canon [are available through the second annual Queer | Art x Doll Invasion](https://hyperallergic.com/major-queer-art-auction-features-peaches-chappell-roan-and-chani-nicholas/) fundraiser exhibition. - Emergency personnel [force entry into Access Gallery in Vancouver](https://hyperallergic.com/police-break-into-vancouver-gallery-after-confusing-sculpture-for-person/) after a 911 caller mistook a sculpture of an art preparator as a person in need of medical attention. --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/woolf.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/virginia-and-leonard-woolfs-hogarth-press-gets-an-exhibition-of-its-own/) [ Virginia and Leonard Woolf’s Hogarth Press Gets an Exhibition of Its Own ](https://hyperallergic.com/virginia-and-leonard-woolfs-hogarth-press-gets-an-exhibition-of-its-own/) They were both writers, and amongst the remarkable fruits of their union was a decision to open a small press, which in time grew into something far from small. | Michael Glover [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/virginia-and-leonard-woolfs-hogarth-press-gets-an-exhibition-of-its-own/) --- ## Community [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/art-movements-8.27.26.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/four-native-artists-commissioned-for-counterpublic-triennial/) [ Four Native Artists Commissioned for Counterpublic Triennial ](https://hyperallergic.com/four-native-artists-commissioned-for-counterpublic-triennial/) Plus, the High Line’s fall lineup, new curators at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, a laid-off *Artnet News* reporter speaks out, and more in Art Movements. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/four-native-artists-commissioned-for-counterpublic-triennial/) --- ## Member Comment 10 must read photo books? Let's add at least one Jay Maisel book, "Light, Gesture and Color" would be a start or "Jay Maisel's New York". A giant. New York, born, bred and dead. Taught many of us to see. No artist like him. —Lorin Duckman on "[10 Photo Books to Read This Month](https://hyperallergic.com/10-photo-books-to-read-this-month/)" --- ## Remembering Yayoi Kusama [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/kusama-comic.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/yayoi-kusama-every-day-i-pray-for-love-david-zwirner/) [ Lost in Reflection With Yayoi Kusama ](https://hyperallergic.com/yayoi-kusama-every-day-i-pray-for-love-david-zwirner/) I could spend a week inside Yayoi Kusama’s infinity room. | Katie Fricas [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/yayoi-kusama-every-day-i-pray-for-love-david-zwirner/) [ Standing Inside Yayoi Kusama’s Mind ](https://hyperallergic.com/standing-inside-yayoi-kusama-mind/) How much of the effect is the object reflected, or the reflection of the object? | Michael Glover [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/standing-inside-yayoi-kusama-mind/) [ Yayoi Kusama’s Mesmerizing, Meditative Garden ](https://hyperallergic.com/yayoi-kusama-narcissus-garden/) Kusama’s installation connects with a broad reach of Rockaway’s history, as well as the impact of climate change on the area. | Gregory Volk [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/yayoi-kusama-narcissus-garden/) ### Hyperallergic Fall 2026 New York Art Guide URL: https://hyperallergic.com/hyperallergic-fall-2026-new-york-art-guide/ Last updated: 2026-09-02T14:45:45.000Z School’s back in session in the art world, too — this fall, exhibitions on textbook artists like Abstract Expressionists Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock, Pop artist Roy Lichtenstein, and modernist Constantin Brancusi are landing at The Met, the Whitney, and MoMA, respectively. Then there’s the shows writing the textbooks of tomorrow: surveys of artist-filmmaker Arthur Jafa, who remixes and shapes Black visual culture; photographer Taryn Simon, who plumbs American myths and institutions; and conceptual artist (and pathologist!) Teresa Margolles, who takes on death, that cruelest of subjects. Still, it’s not just blockbuster exhibitions this season. There’s something for everyone. For the girlies, a show at the American Folk Art Museum asks what art history can reveal about girlhood, a fraught and euphoric stage of life. Doll fanatic? Hopi Kachina dolls embodying fertility and rain spirits arrive at the Brooklyn Museum, while doll fashion at the Museum at FIT proves that creativity is all about the little things. Are you a *telenovela* fan? Boy, do we have a show for you. These exhibitions will take you to school, to church (or at least a Gothic chapel), to the streets. And listen, New York’s dedication to putting on shows about itself isn’t vain if it’s simply the best place on earth. See: a love letter to the Bowery at the New Museum, Masao Gozu’s half-century commitment to photographing fellow New Yorkers at MoMA PS1, an exhibition about the art of graffiti at the New York Historical, and more. Plus, artists from Stephanie Dinkins to Arakawa and Madeline Gins meditate on the posthuman, the transhuman, the biohacked human — but don’t worry, there are more than enough artists this season who are still caught up in what it means to be, simply, human. —*Lisa Yin Zhang, associate editor* --- _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Police Break Into Vancouver Gallery After Confusing Sculpture for Person URL: https://hyperallergic.com/police-break-into-vancouver-gallery-after-confusing-sculpture-for-person/ Last updated: 2026-08-27T19:45:44.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Access-Pending-009.jpg) Allysa Pierre's "Untitled (the preparator)" (2024) (photo courtesy Access Gallery) Emergency personnel forced entry into Access Gallery in Vancouver on the night of August 14, after a 911 caller mistook a sculpture of an art preparator as a person in need of medical attention, as first reported by the local media outlet [*CityNews*](https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2026/08/19/vpd-breaks-into-gallery-to-rescue-sculpture/?ref=hyperallergic.com). Officers were dispatched to the downtown address after a witness reported "a person's feet protruding from behind a counter ... and believed medical assistance was required," a spokesperson for the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) told *Hyperallergic*. Emergency responders broke the gallery lock, breached the front door, and subsequently realized it was a false alarm. As the gallery faces a 1,000 CAD (\~$722) repair bill, the incident has sparked online speculation that the witness could have thought artist Allysa Pierre's “Untitled (the preparator)” (2024) was a person experiencing an overdose‚ a fairly common sight amid Vancouver's ongoing [opioid crisis](https://vancouver.ca/people-programs/drugs.aspx?ref=hyperallergic.com). _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Major Queer Art Auction Features Peaches, Chappell Roan, and Chani Nicholas URL: https://hyperallergic.com/major-queer-art-auction-features-peaches-chappell-roan-and-chani-nicholas/ Last updated: 2026-08-27T19:40:36.000Z As the age-old saying goes, one person's director-signed *Paris is Burning* (1990) film poster is another artist's future Queer|Art|Mentorship stipend. Well, maybe that's not verbatim, but it's certainly true! The New York City-based nonprofit Queer|Art (QA) has launched its second annual [auction exhibition](https://givebutter.com/c/qa-di-26/auction?ref=hyperallergic.com) of iconic LGBTQIA+ art and memorabilia in conjunction with the organization's Fire Island-based, transfem-powered fund-*rager*, [Doll Invasion](https://www.dollinvasion.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com). On view at Participant Inc. and Salma Sarriedine galleries on Elizabeth Street through Sunday, August 30, the exhibition consists of dozens of donated artworks, wearables, archival media, experiences, and collectibles that embody the queer canon. If you're one of the lucky ducks who'll be partying it up this coming weekend at Doll Invasion, you can still [place ](https://givebutter.com/c/qa-di-26/auction?ref=hyperallergic.com)[bids online](https://givebutter.com/c/qa-di-26/auction?ref=hyperallergic.com) through Thursday, September 3. The auction's proceeds will benefit the [Queer|Art|Mentorship](https://www.queer-art.org/mentorship?ref=hyperallergic.com) (QAM) program, which partners established LGBTQIA+ artists with emerging artistsfor 10 months of 1:1 artistic and professional development. QAM culminates in a week-long retreat and offers a $2,500 stipend to participating artists. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/2026.-08.20.-Queer-ArtxDoll-Inasion.-Participant-Inc.-Photo-by-Rachel-Keane.-30-1.jpg) A limited edition **Paris is Burning* (1990) film poster signed by director Jennie Livingston The exhibition organizers described the offerings as “spanning generations, geographies, disciplines, and styles; existing on a vast spectrum of (ir)reverence, ephemerality, and broad (sub)cultural recognition.” Aside from the coveted *Paris is Burning* film poster, other objects include two original drawings by Tony Award-winning non-binary actor Cole Escola; five signed vinyl editions of Chappell Roan's debut album *The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess* (2023); transfem fashion photographer Lia Clay's dazzling portrait of Amanda Lepore; a sculptural self-portrait by Young Joon Kwak; and trans Hawaiian drag performer Sasha Colby's *makau* (fish hook) from her entrance look on the 15th season of *RuPaul's Drag Race* (2023). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/2026.-08.20.-Queer-ArtxDoll-Inasion.-Participant-Inc.-Photo-by-Rachel-Keane.-34-1.jpg) A selection of prints donated to the auction from the Museo de Arte Transfemenino (MAT) in Mexico City Several artists and cultural figures have donated experiences to the benefit auction as well: tattoo and performance artist Mars Hobrecker has offered a flash tattoo; astrologer Chani Nicholas has donateda one-hour reading; New York City Council member Tiffany Cabán will provide a curated reading list; and transgressive queer icon Peaches has promised two concert tickets and a meet-and-greet at select tour locations, as well as hard copies of her music and concert merch. Other highlights include a selection of prints from Mexico City's Museo del Arte Transfemenino, artist Nelson Santos's neon ode to Marsha P. Johnson, and Black lesbian feminist Barbara Smith's curated collection of rare, out-of-print publications. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/2026.-08.20.-Queer-ArtxDoll-Inasion.-Participant-Inc.-Photo-by-Rachel-Keane.-42-1.jpg) Artist Leah James’s cast-resin ETHEREALGIRL doll in a protective casing during the opening reception of Queer Art x Doll Invasion’s auction exhibition ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/2026.-08.20.-Queer-ArtxDoll-Inasion.-Participant-Inc.-Photo-by-Rachel-Keane.-9-1.jpg) A signed edition of Black and Pink’s newsletter zine, published before transfeminine activist, veteran, and whistleblower Chelsea Manning’s 2017 exit from incarceration, featuring a letter penned by Ms. Manning ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/2026.-08.20.-Queer-ArtxDoll-Inasion.-Participant-Inc.-Photo-by-Rachel-Keane.-2.jpeg) Five signed copies of Chappell Roan's **The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess* on vinyl ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/2026.-08.20.-Queer-ArtxDoll-Inasion.-Participant-Inc.-Photo-by-Rachel-Keane.-15-1.jpeg) Sasha Colby, the transgender Hawaiian drag performer who won the 15th season of **RuPaul's Drag Race* (2023), held this **makau* (fish hook) for her entrance look on the TV show. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/2026.-08.20.-Queer-ArtxDoll-Inasion.-Participant-Inc.-Photo-by-Rachel-Keane.-16-1.jpeg) Acacia Marable, “Things I would fuck if I had a dick #2” (2025) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/2026.-08.20.-Queer-ArtxDoll-Inasion.-Participant-Inc.-Photo-by-Rachel-Keane.-3.jpg) Made in recognition of trans activist Marsha P. Johnson, Nelson Santos's “Power to the People” (2019) models the handwritten sign the activist used to protest NYU’s Bellevue Hospital's inhumane treatment of queer and unhoused patients in 1970. ### Virginia and Leonard Woolf's Hogarth Press Gets an Exhibition of Its Own URL: https://hyperallergic.com/virginia-and-leonard-woolfs-hogarth-press-gets-an-exhibition-of-its-own/ Last updated: 2026-09-02T15:24:50.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Virginia-and-Leonard-Woolf--photographed-in-1914--The-Charleston-Trust-1.jpg) Virginia and Leonard Woolf, photographed in 1914 (all photos courtesy The Charleston Trust) SUSSEX, England — *Ouch*! Yes, there’s often a bit of a sting in Virginia Woolf’s comments, even about people of whom she is fond. “I’ve got a confession to make,” she once wrote. “I’m going to marry Leonard Wolf \[correct spelling: Woolf\]. He’s a penniless Jew. I’m more happy than anyone ever said was possible.” Is that spoken from a great height or not? After all, she was the daughter of the esteemed author Sir Leslie Stephen, hem hem. “Wolf” and she married. They were both writers. And amongst the remarkable fruits of their union was a decision to open a small press, which in time grew into something far from small. It was called the Hogarth Press, and an exhibition tells its story in a farmhouse set very much within Woolf country, by which I mean the Firle Estate in Sussex. In 1916 Virginia was out walking on the Downs, a ridge of hills smooth as the nap of a snooker table when seen from below, that runs along that part of the coast of England. She could see it from above: a house that became known as “Charleston.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/--LUCID_collectie_V_Woolf_055.jpg) Virginia Woolf, **Kew Gardens* (1919) with woodcuts by her sister Vanessa Bell, Hogarth Press (© LUCID collective) It was a former farmhouse with a sheep barn and threshing barn in close attendance. Virginia recommended it to her sister, painter Vanessa Bell, who was looking for somewhere to live. Vanessa was a conscientious objector who had left London to find manual work on a farm — penance for her disobedience to a country at war. She and Duncan Grant bought the place which became their on-and-off home for more than half a century. In time they filled it with many interesting people, artists and writers for the most part, some of whom lived there for a while. They became known as the [Bloomsbury Group](https://hyperallergic.com/a-garden-of-ones-own-gardening-bohemia-bloomsbury-women-outdoors-london/). Now, in a building that almost nudges at Charleston’s door, the exhibition puts on display about 200 books, all published by the Hogarth Press, telling the story of the press from its first beginnings in 1917. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Yayoi Kusama Dies at 97 URL: https://hyperallergic.com/yayoi-kusama-dies-at-97/ Last updated: 2026-08-27T17:46:25.000Z Yayoi Kusama, one of the world's most popular artists, died at a Tokyo hospital on August 14 at the age of 97\. Her studio shared the news last night. Senior Editor Valentina Di Liscia remembers the idiosyncratic Japanese artist, who reached legend status during her lifetime. If your art history leans Western, you likely know them as Indian “miniature paintings” — but let’s put a stop to that. A recent book on art from the Pahari region reviewed by Nageen Shaikh argues that the term is, well, minimizing. Besides, the name actually derives from the use of the red “minium” pigment, so, bit of a misnomer anyway — and as we know from running an art publication, words matter. History will come to life — and to Dallas — in the form of an exhibition of more than 160 treasures from Pompeii, drawn from the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. But important things are happening in this millennium, too: A former member of the feminist protest and performance art group Pussy Riot claims that she was recruited by Russia to spy on other artists, and painter and printmaker Elizabeth Peyton is being sued for copyright infringement. Plus, an artist introduces a device that slows a bike’s brakes in less-affordable neighborhoods, turning wealth inequality into physical sensation. That’s what art can do: Make ideas visceral. *—Lisa Yin Zhang, associate editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/citibike.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/artists-device-slows-down-citi-bikes-in-less-affordable-neighborhoods/) [ Artist’s Device Slows Down Citi Bikes in Less Affordable Neighborhoods ](https://hyperallergic.com/artists-device-slows-down-citi-bikes-in-less-affordable-neighborhoods/) While biking the perimeter of Prospect Park in Brooklyn, New York, on a sunny August afternoon, the pedal strokes are smooth. On the Citi Bike, I ease through all of Park Slope and most of Windsor Terrace, but as I bike through Prospect Lefferts Gardens, also known as Flatbush, tension builds. When I enter the park at Lincoln Avenue, where Flatbush begins, there is a massive shift in my ability to move. It is jarring, and I’m forced to dismount. I’m riding around with a device attached to the e-bike that manipulates the brakes depending on the levels of rent affordability in the neighborhood you’re biking through. The device is an artwork called “Ground Truth,” Justin Blinder’s latest creation and part of an exhibition with the same name. | Eliana Perozo [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/artists-device-slows-down-citi-bikes-in-less-affordable-neighborhoods/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/EXPLORE-YOUR-FUTURE--1--2.jpg)](https://www.pratt.edu/continuing-and-professional-studies/certificates/?ref=hyperallergic.com) Pratt Institute’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies (SCPS) certificates support professional development, educational advancement, career change, and personal enrichment for both amateurs and professionals. Participants can attend in-person, online, or hybrid courses across 17 different art and design disciplines. Register now for the Fall Certificate Programs. [Explore Here ](https://www.pratt.edu/continuing-and-professional-studies/certificates/?ref=hyperallergic.com) --- ## News ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/image-35-1.png) - Artist Yayoi Kusama, who captured the hearts of millions through her entrancing paintings, immersive mirror rooms, and radical message of love and acceptance, has [died at the age of 97](https://hyperallergic.com/yayoi-kusama-artist-of-infinities-dies-at-97/). - Ex-Pussy Riot Member Margarita Konovalova, who went by the alias Rita Flores, claims [she was coerced by Russia](https://hyperallergic.com/ex-pussy-riot-member-says-she-was-recruited-by-russia-to-spy-on-artists/) to spy on other dissident artists. - An exhibition of artifacts from Pompeii [will make its United States debut](https://hyperallergic.com/major-exhibition-of-pompeii-treasures-will-make-its-us-debut/) at the Dallas Museum of Art this December. - Welsh music photographer Justin Thomas [is accusing painter Elizabeth Peyton](https://hyperallergic.com/artist-elizabeth-peyton-sued-over-painting-of-oasis-brothers/) of copyright infringement on his photograph of Liam and Noel Gallagher of the British rock band Oasis. --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/holi-painting.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/can-we-stop-calling-south-asian-painting-miniature/) [ Can We Stop Calling South Asian Painting “Miniature”? ](https://hyperallergic.com/can-we-stop-calling-south-asian-painting-miniature/) A book on 18th-century Pahari painting warns against thinking of these works as “miniatures,” a Western term, instead illuminating the artistic collaboration and ways of life at their heart. | Nageen Shaikh [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/can-we-stop-calling-south-asian-painting-miniature/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/mitchell-johnson-three-chairs.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/mitchell-johnson-twenty-one-years-in-truro-selected-paintings-1988-2026/) ****Mitchell Johnson: “Twenty-One Years in Truro (Selected Paintings 1988–2026)”** The artist’s sixth solo exhibition at Castle Hill will open to the public on September 8, 2026. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/mitchell-johnson-twenty-one-years-in-truro-selected-paintings-1988-2026/) --- ## Community [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/marijke-de-roover.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-marijke-de-roover-sliman-mansour-and-fabrizio-plessi/) [ Remembering Marijke De Roover, Sliman Mansour, and Fabrizio Plessi ](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-marijke-de-roover-sliman-mansour-and-fabrizio-plessi/) This week, we honor a feminist Belgian performance artist, an icon of Palestinian liberation, and an Italian video art pioneer. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-marijke-de-roover-sliman-mansour-and-fabrizio-plessi/) --- ## Member Comment Wonderful article on Valadon, a joy to see and read! I do think it’s important to emphasize the role of Degas in her emergence as a significant artist. He was early to discover her powerful incisive draftsmanship, encouraged her, and bought and collected her work He was an enthusiastic admirer of her work, which is a great testament to her artistic importance. —Alex Clark on "[Model, Rebel, and Painter, Suzanne Valadon Defied the Odds](https://hyperallergic.com/suzanne-valadon-model-painter-rebel/)" --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/tarot-cards.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/how-a-tarot-deck-led-to-a-revolution/) [ How a Tarot Deck Led to a Revolution ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-a-tarot-deck-led-to-a-revolution/) What makes *The Tarot of A. E. Waite and P. Colman Smith* stand out is how much the book emphasizes the creative process and treats the cards like art.| AX Mina [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-a-tarot-deck-led-to-a-revolution/) ### Four Native Artists Commissioned for Counterpublic Triennial URL: https://hyperallergic.com/four-native-artists-commissioned-for-counterpublic-triennial/ Last updated: 2026-08-27T21:19:30.000Z [*Art Movements,*](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/art-movements/) *published every Thursday afternoon, is a roundup of must-know news, appointments, awards, and other art-world happenings.* --- ### Native Artists Tapped for Counterpublic The 2026 Counterpublic triennial in St. Louis, opening next month with the title *Coyote Time*, announced four new commissions by contemporary Native artists in partnership with the Walker Youngbird Foundation. These are among the close to 50 artworks that will debut across the city starting September 10\. Three artists invited by Anishinaabe curator **Wanda** **Nanibush —** [**Yatika Starr Fields**](https://hyperallergic.com/yatika-starr-fields-and-the-imagined-barrier-between-art-and-life/), part of the Cherokee, Mvskoke (Creek) and Osage nations; **Rebecca Belmore**, a member of Lac Seul First Nation (Anishinaabe); and Tlingit and Unangax̂ artist [**Nicholas** **Galanin**](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/nicholas-galanin/) — will engage with sites along the Mississippi Riverfront in relation to the Gateway Arch, the tallest monument in the United States and a reminder of the rhetoric of “westward expansion” that displaced millions of Native Americans. At the invitation of curator **Stefanie** **Hessler**, the Oglála Lakȟóta artist **Kite** will build an installation along the riverfront and in Tower Grove Park, informed by a series of workshops during which community members shared their dreams. --- ### NYC's High Line Reveals Fall Lineup ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Marianna-Simnett--Interlude--2025.-Installation-view-at-Art-Basel-Parcours-2025.-Courtesy-of-Marianna-Simnett-__and-Socie--te----Berlin.-Photo-by-Sebastiano-Pellion-di-Persano..jpeg) Marianna Simnett, "Interlude" (2025) at Art Basel Parcours 2025 (photo Sebastiano Pellion di Persano, courtesy Marianna Simnett and Société, Berlin) **Marianna** **Simnett**, **Amol K**. **Patil**, **Alvaro** **Barrington**, and **Christopher** **Williams** will create works for the fall program of the High Line in Manhattan, the organization shared this week. Simnett's video installation in a pair of food vendor carts, “Interlude,” will kick off the season in September, along with Williams's “MODEL” for the High Line's billboard at 10th Avenue and 18th Street, followed by debuts from Patil in October and Barrington in November. (The next [coveted Plinth commission](https://hyperallergic.com/which-artworks-will-grace-the-high-lines-plinth-next/) will be announced in 2027.) --- ### Acquisitions ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/01942_representation_49202_original.jpg) Isamu Noguchi, "Mississippi Fountain" (1961-62) (© The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York) - The New Orleans Museum of Art has acquired “Mississippi Fountain” (also known as “The Mississippi”), a monumental 1961–62 sculpture by **Isamu** **Noguchi**. The 40**\-**ton granite fountain centerpiece, gifted to the museum by the Besthoff family, was commissioned for architect Gordon Bunshaft's midcentury-modern K&B Plaza building in New Orleans. - Two early works by **Joan** **Jonas**, the multimedia “Mirror Pieces Installation II” (1969/2014) and the film “Wind”(1968), have been jointly acquired by The Gund at Kenyon College and the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. These are the first works by the pioneering video and performance artist to enter both institutions. --- ### What Else Happened? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Price-Tower-John-H-Waters-AIA.JPG) Exterior of Price Tower, March 2025 (photo John H. Waters, AIA, courtesy Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Yayoi Kusama, Artist of Infinities, Dies at 97 URL: https://hyperallergic.com/yayoi-kusama-artist-of-infinities-dies-at-97/ Last updated: 2026-08-28T23:17:45.000Z Artist Yayoi Kusama, who channeled psychological phenomena into impossibly kaleidoscopic artworks that enamored millions around the world, died in a hospital in Tokyo on August 14 at the age of 97\. The news of her death was announced by her studio and David Zwirner Gallery today, August 26\. The labor-intensive quality of her works, combined with a Borgesian fascination with mirrors and the infinite, an openness about mental health struggles, and her ever-present red bob, rendered her an icon closer to a rock star or a spiritual leader than a contemporary artist. “She continued to paint until her final days, never setting aside her brush, and continued \[her\] exploration of forever love and eternal soul,” the studio's [statement](https://yayoi-kusama.jp/en/news4518/?ref=hyperallergic.com) said. “We will carry forward Kusama’s wishes and, through art, continue to bring hope and strength for the future to people around the world.” Kusama was born in 1929 in Matsumoto, Japan, and began painting at an early age as a way to find relief from persistent hallucinations and the distress caused by emotional and physical abuse at home. Despite her family's disapproval, the young artist continued to create works with compulsive fervor and, after high school, enrolled in the Kyoto School of Arts and Crafts, where she studied the traditional Nihonga (日本画 ) style of Japanese painting. But she ultimately found it a suffocating and restrictive environment, and after exchanging impromptu letters with the American artist Georgia O’Keeffe, Kusama moved to New York City in 1958\. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/GettyImages-1181011939.jpg) Yayoi Kusama's iconic pumpkin on the Place Vendôme on October 14, 2019 in Paris, France (photo Pierre Suu/Getty Images) The city was the perfect incubator for Kusama to forge her avant-garde artistic identity, staging happenings and body art performances. She enrolled in the Art Students League of New York, and later shared a studio building with sculptors Eva Hesse and Donald Judd. It was during this period that Kusama debuted iconic, long-running series such as her famed *Infinity Nets* paintings, first exhibited at the artist-run Brata Gallery in 1959\. The otherworldly canvases, swathed in intricate netting or dot patterns at once delicate and hypnotic, represented her [quest](https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/30413?ref=hyperallergic.com) to “predict and measure the infinity of the unbounded universe, from my own position in it.” In addition to her *Accumulation* sculptures, consisting of furniture and other domestic objects covered in stuffed fabric phalluses, the 1960s saw a milestone moment for Kusama with her [first-ever *Infinity Room*](https://hirshhorn.si.edu/kusama/infinity-rooms/?ref=hyperallergic.com), included in an exhibition at the Castellane Gallery. Pioneering the immersive experiences that would rise to viral popularity decades later, the entrancing installations plunge viewers into an illusion of endless space achieved by chambers lined with lights, mirrors, or repeating shapes. These would become among her most beloved, recognized, and sought-after works, with international stagings of *Infinity Rooms* perpetually [drawing thousands of visitors](https://hyperallergic.com/new-yayoi-kusama-nyc-show-draws-lines-down-the-block/) lining up street blocks for hours to spend mere minutes in the dizzying, hyper-Instagrammable environments. ![New Kusama NYC Show Draws Lines Down the Block](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/size/w1200/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2023/05/infinity_room-1.jpg) The interior of Yayoi Kusama’s “Dreaming of Earth’s Sphericity, I Would Offer My Love” (2023), one of the artist’s famous **Infinity Mirror Rooms* (photo Elaine Velie/**Hyperallergic*) She resided in New York until 1973, when she returned to Japan. A few years later, Kusama voluntarily checked herself into a mental health facility in Tokyo where she remained a lifelong resident. Far from slowing down her career, she continued commuting to her studio every day and maintained an active practice, eventually rising to fame in a meteoric ascent that placed her monumental dotted pumpkins, psychedelic flower sculptures, and inhabitable installations among the most coveted and identifiable artworks in the world. Kusama officially represented Japan at the Venice Biennale in 1993 — almost 30 years after being expelled from the premises for selling hundreds of mirrored orbs to passersby in a historic [1966 guerrilla installation](https://smarthistory.org/yayoi-kusama-narcissus-garden/?ref=hyperallergic.com). That irreverent streak was a constant through her oeuvre. During the United States's deadly invasion of Vietnam, she staged a series of anti-war “naked protests” including a memorable demonstration outside the New York Stock Exchange in 1968\. The following year, she gathered a group of performers, [nude except for painted polka dots](https://www.moma.org/interactives/moma%5Fthrough%5Ftime/1960/yayoi-kusamas-grand-orgy-in-the-garden/?ref=hyperallergic.com), in the fountain of the sculpture garden at the Museum of Modern Art for a “Grand Orgy to Awaken the Dead at MoMA.” The unauthorized actions distilled the artist's radical pursuit of the body as a site of protest, sexual liberation, and political dissent. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/image--1-.jpeg) "Narcissus Garden" installation at the 33rd Venice Biennale (© YAYOI KUSAMA, image courtesy David Zwirner Gallery) But Kusama also faced criticism for what some viewed as her inconsistent adherence to feminist values and, more recently, [racist comments the artist made in her 2002 autobiography](https://hyperallergic.com/what-the-art-world-doesnt-want-you-to-know-about-yayoi-kusama/). On the eve of the opening of her exhibition *Infinite Love* at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 2023, the artist [publicly apologized](https://hyperallergic.com/yayoi-kusama-apologizes-for-anti-black-comments/) and expressed “deep regret” for her “hurtful and offensive” characterizations of Black people. Since her first solo show in Japan in 1952, Kusama has been the subject of countless exhibitions around the globe. Most recently, the Museum Ludwig in Cologne held a [career retrospective](https://www.museum-ludwig.de/en/home/exhibitions/yayoi-kusama?ref=hyperallergic.com) that was the institution's most successful in its history, as revealed by David Zwirner, the artist's longtime dealer, in a statement on Kusama's passing. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/GettyImages-612105116.jpg) Visitors stand in front of artist Yayoi Kusama's painting "Infinity Nets" during a preview of Fine Art Asia 2016 in Hong Kong on October 3, 2016\. (photo Anthony Wallace/AFP via Getty Images) Her works left a deep and lasting mark on key art historical movements, from 20th-century Minimalism and Pop Art to today's wave of experiential art. But it is without a doubt her transcendental vision of humanity, and her relentless pursuit of a meaningful existence, that will continue to stir hearts and minds well into the infinite future that she always imagined. “I’ve sought for truth of art with an ambition and fought like hell all my life to accomplish my purpose as a human being,” she said in an [interview](https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/yayoi-kusama-8094/introduction-yayoi-kusama?ref=hyperallergic.com) with the Tate in 2015\. “Even after I finish my life, I’d like to keep telling posterity about my way of art. I want younger people, or everyone, to talk about my enthusiasm reaching to space and also, my art as a token of my life even after my death.” “For that reason, I worked all this morning,” Kusama continued. “I’d like to keep creating art until the day I die.” ### Artist Elizabeth Peyton Sued Over Painting of Oasis Brothers URL: https://hyperallergic.com/artist-elizabeth-peyton-sued-over-painting-of-oasis-brothers/ Last updated: 2026-08-26T19:14:12.000Z Welsh music photographer Justin Thomas is accusing painter Elizabeth Peyton, David Zwirner Gallery, and Sotheby's of copyright infringement on his 1995 photograph of British pop star brothers, Liam and Noel Gallagher of the British rock band Oasis. In an [August 20 lawsuit](https://copyrightlately.com/pdfviewer/thomas-v-peyton-complaint/?auto%5Fviewer=true&ref=hyperallergic.com#page=&zoom=auto&pagemode=none) filed in the Southern District of New York, Thomas's attorney, Terry Parker, calls Peyton's painting, "Earl's Court (Liam + Noel)" (1996) a "slavish copy" of the 1995 photograph, according to court documents first covered by the legal blog [*Copyright Lately*](https://copyrightlately.com/oasis-photo-copyright-lawsuit/?ref=hyperallergic.com) and reviewed by *Hyperallergic*. Peyton's painting resembles a zoomed-in portion of Thomas's photograph, which captures the notoriously feuding siblings and Oasis musicians, in a rare moment of embrace. The iconic image bolted to fame during the British pop music wave throughout the United Kingdom, and a black-and-white print embellishes the cover of Thomas's 2024 photography book, *How Does It Feel? - Oasis 1995/2002.* Under [copyright law](https://www.justia.com/intellectual-property/copyright/fair-use/transformative-use/?ref=hyperallergic.com), a person accused of infringement must have significantly adapted the appearance of the copyrighted original to a "transformative" degree. The filing alleges that the similarities are far too many: "The only transformation is the medium itself, and Peyton’s slight cropping of the Copyrighted Work and adding different coloring and brush work." In her painting, Peyton adds details such as a blue flower-patterned sleeve. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Ex-Pussy Riot Member Says She Was Recruited by Russia to Spy on Artists URL: https://hyperallergic.com/ex-pussy-riot-member-says-she-was-recruited-by-russia-to-spy-on-artists/ Last updated: 2026-08-26T19:11:30.000Z Margarita Konovalova, who went by the alias Rita Flores as a member of the Russian punk feminist band and anti-Putin artist collective [Pussy Riot](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/pussy-riot/), recently claimed that she was coerced into spying on other dissident artists for the last three years by the Russian national security service (FSB) after they threatened her and her family's lives. Having fled Russia with the help of her lawyer earlier this month, Konovalova spoke freely about her experience for the first time in an exclusive interview with an independent news outlet for dissident Russian journalists called [*Port Media*](https://portmedia.info/not-news/rita-flores?ref=hyperallergic.com). She explained that after an FSB officer raided her apartment in February 2023, she was detained and threatened into cooperating. “It was just like in a movie: they sat me down at the table, I couldn't move, I couldn't look away,” Konovalova recounted in her interview. “They started recruiting me: they threatened me in every way, mocked me, said unpleasant things, threatened to kill my family, and said I'd never be able to prove who killed my mother.” The artist and activist said she was also threatened with criminal prosecution over social media posts criticizing the fatalities during the Battle of Bucha — part of the Russian offensive in Kyiv in 2022\. She recounted signing a non-disclosure agreement and additional paperwork outlining her cooperation with the FSB, after which she was reportedly assigned to research and write profiles on contemporary artists for the security service. She also claimed that the FSB seized all of her documents, except her Russian internal passport. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Major Exhibition of Pompeii Treasures Will Make Its US Debut URL: https://hyperallergic.com/major-exhibition-of-pompeii-treasures-will-make-its-us-debut/ Last updated: 2026-08-27T16:10:51.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Heracles-and-Omphale--1st-century-CE--Fourth-Style--Pompeii--IX--3--5.jpg) "Heracles and Omphale" (1st century CE) (© Photographic Archive, National Archaeological Museum; all images courtesy Dallas Museum of Art) An exhibition of artifacts from Pompeii and neighboring towns petrified by the ancient eruption of Mount Vesuvius is set to make its United States debut at the Dallas Museum of Art this December. Stucco reliefs, marble sculptures, frescoes, mosaics, and domestic wares are among more than 160 preserved objects included in *Journey Through Pompeii: Masterpieces from the National Archaeological Museum of Naples*, which the Texas museum announced on Wednesday, August 25. “The works in the exhibition have been a source of fascination and inspiration for centuries,” the Dallas Museum of Art’s assistant curator, Anabelle Gambert-Jouan, told *Hyperallergic*. “We're delighted to bring highlights from the National Archaeological Museum of Naples' outstanding collection to Texas audiences, who may not otherwise have the chance to see these treasures so close to home." ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Skeleton-carrying-two-jugs--askoi---1st-century-CE--Fourth-Style--Vesuvian-Area.jpg) "Skeleton carrying two jugs (askoi)" (1st century CE) (© Photographic Archive, National Archaeological Museum) With provenances in Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabia, three towns in the Bay of Naples encrusted in a layer of ash during Vesuvius’s eruption in 79 CE, the treasures provide insight into the patterns of daily life that were destroyed at the same time that the objects were preserved. Across galleries divided by themes of politics, sports, domesticity, and dining traditions, each object speaks to the environment in which it was originally used. A dining room-sourced, black-and-white mosaic of a skeleton carrying two wine jugs serves as a *memento mori* and a marker of Roman belief, where, in a [Dionysian twist](https://hyperallergic.com/stunning-frescoes-of-dionysian-cult-rituals-unearthed-in-pompeii/), the banquet often [reminded guests to enjoy themselves before their inevitable deaths](https://daily.jstor.org/a-roman-feast-of-death/?ref=hyperallergic.com). “Fourth Style” frescoes depict Roman myths, including Heracles’s period of serving Queen Omphale of Lydia, and a lone Cupid floating in an ether of yellow pigment. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Can We Stop Calling South Asian Painting "Miniature"? URL: https://hyperallergic.com/can-we-stop-calling-south-asian-painting-miniature/ Last updated: 2026-08-26T15:55:51.000Z In the vibrant 1760 painting “Taking of the toll (Dana-Lila),” Radha, the Hindu goddess of devotion, arrests a rattled Krishna for stealing toll money from his maiden companions, the *gopis*. Scholars believe that the work is similar to two other paintings based on a drawing model from a workshop, but they are uncertain about the place of origin. Formal analysis reveals that “Dana-Lila” most likely came from the 18th-century kingdom of Chamba, which then was home to at least 16 established artist families. Chamba, along with Kangra, Nurpur, and others in India, is located where the Himalayas meet the plains of Punjab in the state now known as Himachal Pradesh, together comprising the Pahari region. The substantial new catalog[ *Pahari Paintings: Art and Stories*](http://bookshop.org/a/539/9780300286489?ref=hyperallergic.com)(2026) is based on now-dispersed works amassed by scholar Catherine Glynn Benkaim, whose collection has been acquired by the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Cincinnati Art Museum, and the National Museum of Asian Art. This full-blooded hardcover catalog includes knockout reproductions, a crisp opening essay by curator Sonya Rhie Mace and art historian Sarang Sharma, and comprehensive analytical entries. Building on pioneering studies on Indian painting by [B. N. Goswamy](https://hyperallergic.com/the-wisdom-and-wonder-of-indias-leading-art-historian/), the book zooms in on the prolific ancestral network of artists and workshop systems in the Pahari region. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/dana-lila.jpg) Unrecorded artist from Northern India, Pahari kingdoms, "Taking of the toll, Dana-Lila" (c. 1760), gum tempera and gold on paper (image public domain CC0 via the [Cleveland Museum of Art](https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2018.86?ref=hyperallergic.com)) Unlike the more widely recognized traditions of Rajput painting from the independent Hindu Rajasthani courts or[ Mughal (Indo-Persian)](https://hyperallergic.com/legends-luxuries-dreams-of-imperial-mughal-ateliers-yael-rice/) manuscript illumination, Pahari painting most often centralized the loving relationship between Radha and Krishna. Painters, such as court artist Sajnu, were highly mobile across the established kingdoms in the Western Himalayas. Art historian Debra Diamondwrites that in the folio *The goddess Sumukhi, from a Mahavidya* (circa 1800), Sajnu and other workshop artists merged styles from Kangra and Mandi, resulting in gods with more pronounced features and jaunt expressions. In the rare cases when artists traveled out of state, we read about Purkhu, who left his family business in Kangra to work for Maharaja Ranjit Singh in present-day Lahore. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Remembering Marijke De Roover, Sliman Mansour, and Fabrizio Plessi URL: https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-marijke-de-roover-sliman-mansour-and-fabrizio-plessi/ Last updated: 2026-08-26T15:35:32.000Z [*In Memoriam*](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/in-memoriam/) *is published every Wednesday afternoon and honors those we recently lost in the art world.* --- **Marijke De Roover** (1990–2026) *Belgian performance artist* The Belgian artist [drew](https://marijkederoover.art/?ref=hyperallergic.com) on queer and feminist theories, exploring love, social hierarchies, and institutional power in performances that combined references to karaoke, Disney movies, and memes. She showed at institutions such as Centre Pompidou, the National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens, ARCADE in London, and more. "Marijke was a great talent," Nieck de Bruijn, founder of Upstream Gallery in Amsterdam, which represented the artist, told *Hyperallergic*. "Her unique position in the field of queer and feminist performances brought important issues about love, relationships, feminism and heteronormativity into the spotlight with great humor. In her far too short career, she left a lasting impression on contemporary art and feminist and LGBTQAI+ communities." --- **Sliman Mansour** (1947–2026) *Painter of Palestinian hope* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/image-24.png) Sliman Mansour (photo by Manolo Mylonas, image courtesy Zawyeh Gallery) Despite being jailed, beaten, and threatened by the Israeli government, Mansour remained steadfast in affirming human rights through his paintings. He is perhaps best known for the work “Camel of Hardships” (1973), depicting an elderly Palestinian man straining under the weight of the city of Jerusalem on his back, which became an icon for Palestinian liberation. [*Read the obituary*](https://hyperallergic.com/sliman-mansour-painter-of-palestinian-hope-and-humanity-dies-at-79/) --- **Margaret Barwick** (1931–2026) *Champion of the Cayman Islands visual arts community* The artist, landscape designer, and arts administrator [shaped](https://www.caymancompass.com/2026/08/24/margaret-barwick-artist-author-and-horticultural-pioneer-dies-at-95/?ref=hyperallergic.com) some of the Cayman Islands' most famed gardens and played a crucial role in growing its visual arts community. She chaired the Visual Arts Society from 1979–80, and headed the territory's first entry into the Caribbean Festival of Arts, CARIFESTA IV, in Barbados, in 1981\. --- _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Mitchell Johnson: "Twenty-One Years in Truro (Selected Paintings 1988–2026)" URL: https://hyperallergic.com/mitchell-johnson-twenty-one-years-in-truro-selected-paintings-1988-2026/ Last updated: 2026-08-26T14:45:22.000Z [Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill](https://bit.ly/4ieg1kE?ref=hyperallergic.com) presents a solo exhibition of paintings by San Francisco Bay Area artist Mitchell Johnson, September 8–20\. This is Johnson's sixth solo exhibition at Castle Hill, where he teaches a master color class every September. Castle Hill is pleased to present an exhibition of Mitchell Johnson's recent paintings in its new gallery at 10 Meetinghouse Road in Truro. Johnson has been making annual painting trips to the Outer Cape since 2005, and this exhibition will include new paintings as well as several never-before-exhibited early Truro paintings and Johnson's first New England painting, "Fall (Tabor Academy)" from 1988, made while he was a graduate student at Parsons School of Design in New York. The show will also include paintings from New York, Europe, and California. A new book, *Mitchell Johnson: Twenty-One Years in Truro*, will accompany the exhibition. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/PinkCloudsandBoatNorthTruro24x38-1.jpeg) Mitchell Johnson, "Pink Clouds and Boat (North Truro)," 2024-2026 24x38 inches oil/canvas Johnson's annual painting trips to Cape Cod began in May 2005, immediately after he saw the historic Giorgio Morandi/Josef Albers exhibition at Museo Morandi in Bologna, Italy. Johnson arrived on the Cape at a pivotal moment, when his paintings were becoming less brushy, less impressionistic, and more about large areas of distinct color. Truro was the perfect setting for Johnson to explore larger shapes and more distilled compositions, with its ever-present bands of sky, water, and sand. Johnson's color- and shape-driven paintings rely on familiar, even iconic, motifs to comment on color relativity and color perception. Although Johnson has continued to travel and paint extensively in California, France, New York, and elsewhere, the work produced in Truro occupies a special place within his broader body of work: Its topography offers Johnson a visual structure capable of supporting his ongoing interest in color relativity. The recurring bands of sky, dune, road, cottage, shadow, and water allow him to simplify forms without abandoning observation. ### **Public Programs** [The Gallery at Truro Center for the Arts](https://bit.ly/4ieg1kE?ref=hyperallergic.com) is open Monday-Friday, 10-4 and Saturday-Sunday, 12-4. Artist reception: Thursday, September 10, 4:00–6:00 pm Artist talk: Friday, September 11, 3:00–3:30 pm Private Exhibition Preview by appointment: Sunday, September 6 and Monday, September 7 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/TwoBoatsCapePorpoise18x24.jpeg) Mitchell Johnson, "Two Boats (Cape Porpoise)," 2026 18x24 inches oil/canvas ### **About the Artist** Mitchell Johnson began painting in the late 1970s as a teenager at Staten Island Academy. He received his MFA from Parsons School of Design in 1990, and also studied painting, drawing, and art history at the Washington Studio School and Randolph-Macon College. His paintings are in the permanent collections of 40 museums. He has been a visiting artist at the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, the American Academy in Rome, Borgo Finocchieto, and the Sol LeWitt House in Praiano, Italy. Additional information is available at [www.mitchelljohnson.com](https://bit.ly/4wBqdag?ref=hyperallergic.com). Follow Johnson on instagram @mitchell\_johnson\_artist. ### Artist's Device Slows Down Citi Bikes in Less Affordable Neighborhoods URL: https://hyperallergic.com/artists-device-slows-down-citi-bikes-in-less-affordable-neighborhoods/ Last updated: 2026-08-26T11:00:51.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/DSC01155.jpeg) "Ground Truth" is a device that manipulates a bike's brakes depending on the levels of the area's rent affordability. (photo courtesy Justin Blinder) *This story was copublished with* [*Next City*](https://nextcity.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com)*, a nonprofit news organization reporting on solutions for more sustainable, accessible, inclusive, and equitable cities.* While biking the perimeter of Prospect Park in Brooklyn, New York, on a sunny August afternoon, the pedal strokes are smooth. On the Citi Bike, I ease through all of Park Slope and most of Windsor Terrace, but as I bike through Prospect Lefferts Gardens, also known as Flatbush, tension builds. When I enter the park at Lincoln Avenue, where Flatbush begins, there is a massive shift in my ability to move. It is jarring, and I’m forced to dismount. I’m riding around with a device attached to the e-bike that manipulates the brakes depending on the levels of rent affordability in the neighborhood you’re biking through. The device is an artwork called “[Ground Truth](https://groundtruth.justin.work/?ref=hyperallergic.com),” Justin Blinder’s latest creation and part of an exhibition with the same name. Blinder is a researcher, biker, scientist, and, at his most vivid, an artist. The exhibition explores New York City’s affordability crisis and, through the device, makes the disparities felt on a physical level. While not publicly available, he created the device for both the Lyft manual and e-bikes and has biked over 35 miles across New York City himself with it installed. 0:00 /0:27 1× The device being mounted to a Citi Bike’s front wheel (video courtesy Justin Blinder) This work was made possible with money from [Idle Hands](https://idlehands.info/?ref=hyperallergic.com), an art incubation program founded in 2025 by Linden Renz and Gabrielle Sirkin. Blinder was the Idle Hands Incubation award’s inaugural winner, cashing out $10,000 and loads of professional support to make [Ground Truth](https://groundtruth.justin.work/?ref=hyperallergic.com) a reality. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Goodbye, Dolly, Artists Love You URL: https://hyperallergic.com/goodbye-dolly-artists-love-you/ Last updated: 2026-08-26T21:09:59.000Z From the heart-wrenching dulcet tones of "Jolene" to the boppy proletarianism of “9 to 5,” Dolly Parton has given us a soundtrack for every possible stage of life. Today we mourn the country singer, camp queen, hair icon, philanthropist of [wide-ranging](https://time.com/collections/time100-philanthropy-2025/7286075/dolly-parton/?ref=hyperallergic.com) generosities, and veritable Patron Saint of the South — particularly Appalachia and Tennessee, from which she proudly hailed and whose rich culture and people she loved deeply. In tribute to our dearest Dolly, who passed away yesterday at the age of 80, we're sharing an artwork from East Tennessee State University's 2020 [exhibition](https://www.etsu.edu/cas/art/galleries/archive/positive-negative/pn35dolly.php?ref=hyperallergic.com) dedicated to the musician. “Dolly was a proverbial ray of sunshine amidst an often dark world,” said artist Kym Day of her warm-hued portrait of the singer. “I depicted her gazing upward toward a future so bright she has to shade her eyes from its brilliance. I wanted the painting to reflect the unwavering light that she brought to the world.” Also today, vignettes from this year's Santa Fe Indian Market, a documentary that draws on the archive of late lesbian filmmaker Barbara Hammer, and the dystopian story of a Kehinde Wiley painting removed by the US State Department (in an unoriginal twist, it was deemed too “woke.”) — *Valentina Di Liscia, senior editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/santa-fe-indian-market.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/an-ethos-of-by-us-for-us-at-the-santa-fe-indian-market/) [ An Ethos of “By Us, for Us” at the Santa Fe Indian Market ](https://hyperallergic.com/an-ethos-of-by-us-for-us-at-the-santa-fe-indian-market/) Participants in this year’s edition were unafraid to express themselves outside touristic expectations of “tradition,” making work meaningful to themselves and their communities of chosen kin and allies. | Thea Quiray Tagle [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/an-ethos-of-by-us-for-us-at-the-santa-fe-indian-market/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/gao-zhen-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/chinese-artist-gao-zhen-gets-3-year-prison-sentence-for-mao-sculptures/) - The 70-year-old Chinese dissident artist Gao Zhen [gets a three-year prison sentence](https://hyperallergic.com/chinese-artist-gao-zhen-gets-3-year-prison-sentence-for-mao-sculptures/) for his sculptures of communist revolutionary and leader Mao Zedong. - Sir Joshua Reynolds’s celebrated “Portrait of Mai (Omai)” [will be displayed at the Getty Museum](https://hyperallergic.com/famed-portrait-of-omai-will-go-on-view-at-las-getty-museum/) in Los Angeles beginning on September 14. - The Department of State [removes Kehinde Wiley’s 2015 commissioned painting](https://hyperallergic.com/us-state-department-takes-down-woke-kehinde-wiley-painting/) from the United States embassy in the Dominican Republic, claiming that the artist’s “violent and racist words and depictions” have no place in the foreign relations agency. - A new report on cultural property theft from Europol reveals an "alarming shift" toward more aggressive tactics, including a rise in the use of violent weapons and the involvement of new criminal networks. \[[Europol](https://www.europol.europa.eu/media-press/newsroom/news/museum-heists-turn-violent-new-europol-report-cultural-property-theft-tactics?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - The Estonian Artists' Association launched an emergency auction of 124 donated artworks after scammers defrauded the organization of over $800K in May. \[[*ERR News*](https://news.err.ee/1610117731/artists-donate-124-works-for-emergency-auction-after-700-000-fraud-loss?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - The WNDR Museum, a Chicago and Boston venue for "immersive art experiences" including a Yayoi Kusama installation, is closing its doors. No reason was given, but we wonder if it's a sign of waning interest in the immersive art genre. \[[*Block Club Chicago*](https://blockclubchicago.org/2026/08/19/wndr-museum-closing-after-eight-years/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/barbara-hamer.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/barbara-hammer-through-her-own-lens/) [ Barbara Hammer Through Her Own Lens ](https://hyperallergic.com/barbara-hammer-through-her-own-lens/) “Barbara Forever” is both a biography and a conversation the late filmmaker has with herself. | Dan Schindel [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/barbara-hammer-through-her-own-lens/) --- ## Member Comment $27,635 a semester, they've lost 40% enrollment, half foreign student populations, and curriculum that includes lots of commercial arts for careers that will be substantively AI'd for the capitalists? They come for the arts first, so this is a bellwether for the rest of US society. But I wonder, has no one in Arts Admin not see this eventuality coming down the pike? I doubt Keith Haring had to pay even $1000/semester, his studio rent $150, and would never have made tuition in these times. Only the rich can avoid risk of a student loan anchor the rest of their lives. And as this entire economy for the top 10% is telling us, soon only they will only have open access to a future of one's own choosing. This is War on Humanity, prosecuted incrementally since the 80's, upon the bottom 90%. Cuts and austerity for us, while they build their gated digital utopias for themselves. —Sandy Sanders on "[School of Visual Arts Faculty “Blindsided” by Course Cuts Amid $22M Deficit](https://hyperallergic.com/school-of-visual-arts-faculty-blindsided-by-course-cuts-amid-22m-deficit/)" --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/who-gets-to-honor-native-wome.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/who-gets-to-honor-native-women-in-the-us/) [ Who Gets to Honor Native Women in the US? ](https://hyperallergic.com/who-gets-to-honor-native-women-in-the-us/) “Dignity of Earth and Sky,” unveiled in 2016, raises questions about who should depict Native people and how they should be portrayed. | Taylor Michael [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/who-gets-to-honor-native-women-in-the-us/) ### Famed “Portrait of Omai” Will Go on View at LA’s Getty Museum URL: https://hyperallergic.com/famed-portrait-of-omai-will-go-on-view-at-las-getty-museum/ Last updated: 2026-08-25T22:18:19.000Z Sir Joshua Reynolds's celebrated "Portrait of Mai (Omai)" (c. 1776) will be displayed at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles beginning on September 14, four years after it was subjected to a 15-month [export ban](https://hyperallergic.com/uk-extends-export-ban-on-coveted-portrait-of-omai/) issued by the United Kingdom to protect it from foreign sale. The work has undergone comprehensive technical analysis ahead of its United States debut, revealing new insights about the painter's technique. In a rare move, the Getty and the National Portrait Gallery [secured shared ownership](https://hyperallergic.com/getty-museum-helps-uk-acquire-portrait-of-omai/) of the work in 2023, with each institution paying half of the £50 million price tag ($61 million at the time). Conservators from the Getty and the National Portrait Gallery in London began analyzing the nearly eight-foot-long painting with flashlights and imaging technology after it arrived at the California museum in July. Over five weeks, the researchers discovered an array of pigments used by the artist and identified areas where he reworked the composition, as first reported by the[ *Los Angeles Times*](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2026-08-18/up-close-with-joshua-reynolds-portrait-of-mai-ahead-of-getty-debut?ref=hyperallergic.com) and confirmed by *Hyperallergic*. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/GTC_PORTRAITOFMAI_20260806_CD208573-1.jpg) Conservators zooming in on parts of the canvas at the Getty's Paintings Conservation Studio "Initial observations and results brought to light Reynolds’ use of thick and textured paint in certain areas of the painting, showing he reworked those parts of the composition with multiple colors and layers," a Getty spokesperson told *Hyperallergic*. Those areas include Mai's head and his intricately tattooed hands. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### US State Department Takes Down “Woke” Kehinde Wiley Painting URL: https://hyperallergic.com/us-state-department-takes-down-woke-kehinde-wiley-painting/ Last updated: 2026-08-25T20:37:02.000Z The Department of State removed Kehinde Wiley's 2015 commissioned painting from the United States embassy in the Dominican Republic this month, claiming that the artist's “violent and racist words and depictions” have no place in the foreign relations agency. In a statement shared with *Hyperallergic*, a spokesperson said that the department has consulted legal representatives to “ascertain whether the art can be sold.” Leah Campos, the Trump-appointed US Ambassador to the Dominican Republic as of 2025, posted a video of the painting's removal on [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/Db6ajTmuPB3/?ref=hyperallergic.com) on August 11\. The post's caption read:“In the Trump Administration and under my leadership we are turning away from globalist and woke ideologies and instead embracing American patriotism and the beauty of our great country! 🇺🇸” Wiley, known for painting [Barack Obama's presidential portrait](https://hyperallergic.com/official-obama-portrait-kehinde-wiley-amy-sherald-unveiled/) in 2018, was commissioned in 2013by the State Department to create “Young Artists After Siamesas 1960” for itsSanto Domingo embassy. The painting depicts four individuals — two standing together as if they're about to dance, and two seated on the floor at their feet — against a floral-patterned backdrop. Wiley studied the work of Dominican artists Celeste Woss y Gil and Gilberto Hernández Ortega in preparation for the work, which he completed with the help of local art students. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Chinese Artist Gao Zhen Gets 3-Year Prison Sentence for Mao Sculptures URL: https://hyperallergic.com/chinese-artist-gao-zhen-gets-3-year-prison-sentence-for-mao-sculptures/ Last updated: 2026-08-25T20:00:24.000Z The 70-year-old Chinese dissident artist Gao Zhen has been sentenced to three years in prison for his sculptures of communist revolutionary and leader Mao Zedong. The verdict was issued in the Sanhe City People's Court in Hebei Province on Tuesday, August 25, as reported by the[ *New York Times*](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/25/world/asia/china-artist-gao-zhen-jailed-mao-sculpture.html?ref=hyperallergic.com). The three-year sentence falls under an amendment passed by People’s Republic of China (PRC) leader Xi Jinping in 2021, which prohibits any perceived slander of China's deemed heroes and martyrs. Prosecutors pointed to sculptures created between 2005 and 2009, which include depictions of the communist leader repenting, or aiming fire at Jesus. Another is an enlarged bust of Mao with a cartoonish nose and enlarged breasts. The New York-based artist works with his younger brother Gao Qiang under the moniker “Gao Brothers.” The two are known for producing satirical and critical sculptures of the PRC founder and former Chinese Communist Party Chairman, including in the *Miss Mao* series, which they made from 2006 to 2009\. The duo was the subject of a major retrospective from 2010 to 2011 at the Kemper Museum of Art in Kansas City entitled [*Grandeur and Catharsis*](https://www.kemperart.org/exhibition/gao-brothers-grandeur-and-catharsis?ref=hyperallergic.com). Zhen was [arrested](https://hyperallergic.com/dissident-artist-gao-zhen-arrested-in-china/) during a family visit to Hubei province in August 2024, marking the beginning of a tedious legal ordeal that other Chinese artists, such as [Ai Weiwei and Guo Gai](https://hyperallergic.com/five-years-after-his-arrest-a-chinese-artist-continues-to-tell-the-truth/), have faced in recent years. Chinese officials not only ignored [international protests and artist petitions](https://hyperallergic.com/gao-zhen-chinese-artist-detained-for-defaming-mao-looks-ahead-to-trial/) surrounding Zhen’s arrest, but have continued to block his wife and son from leaving the country. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Dazed and Confused at the New Museum URL: https://hyperallergic.com/dazed-and-confused-at-the-new-museum/ Last updated: 2026-08-25T18:05:19.000Z I’ve always said that I shed worse than any dog I’ve ever met. Hundreds of my hairs cling to each other on my bedroom floor in lightly tangled clumps at any given moment, evidently undeterred by the might of my thrice-weekly dry-mop routine. That being said, I’m no stranger to hair-related art, and Bengali-American artist Rina Banerjee does a remarkable job of beautifying the visuals of loose hairs in her interdisciplinary practice. She unravels strands of hair from the realm of abjection and presents them as a nexus connecting her hybrid humans to the natural world — clouds, waves, plant roots, and atmospheric energies. To me, it’s just one of multiple familiar elements in Banerjee’s work, which investigates immigration, colonization, labor, alienation, and Hindu spirituality through a feminist lens. Jennifer Samet’s August installment of *Beer with a Painter* delves into Banerjee’s water-based paintings and assemblage in an extensive interview with the Brooklyn-based artist. In other local happenings, Mayor Zohran Mamdani has partnered with the NYC Department of Small Business Services to announce a multi-million-dollar investment into the city’s nonprofit and small business initiatives, including public art commissions and arts programming. How about some more themed trash bins on street corners? Those were a riot. Staff reporter Anna Lee has the details. Summer is winding down, and while it’s been one for the history books, I’m simply not ready to part with my late sunsets and outdoor adventures as we gear up for the onslaught of art world happenings coming up next month. Perhaps I can have the best of both worlds with the help of the Medina Triennial — the inaugural edition of which is running through Labor Day Weekend. Contributor Sara Reisman writes that compared to her visit to the Venice Biennale, the free, village-wide contemporary art exhibition along the Erie Canal was “one of relief, maybe even restoration.” I’m sold! Also of note — I finally made my way over to the New Museum to check out the renovation and the massive *New Humans* exhibition. I got lost twice and was frankly overwhelmed by the amount of disparately related art crammed into the exhibition. The amazing part is that when I tried to leave, I accidentally exited through a fire escape and, of course, the door locked behind me. I had to sheepishly descend the stairs into the back area of the museum's new restaurant Oberon, where I came across an employee folding napkins — his supervisor kindly led me out to the front of the museum while I sputtered about having the wayfinding capabilities of a housefly. Too late to embed myself in the cultural fabric via CBGB, too existentially unstable to make peace with the futurism of *New Humans*, but I’m right on time for the New Museum’s forthcoming exhibition on the history of the Bowery next month. I’ll be back! --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/nyc-grants.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/nyc-arts-nonprofits-benefit-from-mamdanis-8-4-million-in-grants/) [ NYC Arts Nonprofits Benefit from Mamdani’s $8.4 Million in Grants ](https://hyperallergic.com/nyc-arts-nonprofits-benefit-from-mamdanis-8-4-million-in-grants/) Mayor Zohran Mamdani joined forces with the New York City Department of Small Business Services (SBS) this week, announcing more than $8.4 million in grants toward nonprofit and small business initiatives, including public art commissions and arts programming. The Mayor’s Office disbursed 89 grants across the city, with most funds destined for Brooklyn, according to an August 17 statement. Among the awardees are the Red Hook Art Project, the Project for Public Spaces, the Fourth Arts Block, and Art on the Ave, a spokesperson for the Mayor’s Office told *Hyperallergic*. | Anna Lee [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/nyc-arts-nonprofits-benefit-from-mamdanis-8-4-million-in-grants/) --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/medina-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/art-as-infrastructure-at-the-medina-triennial/) ### Sara Reisman Medina Triennialin Medina, NY "Through a selection of works that examine the impacts of labor, regulation, extraction, and repair of our shared systems, the curators return to the central question: What does it take to keep things going?" [*Read the full review*](https://hyperallergic.com/art-as-infrastructure-at-the-medina-triennial/) #### Amy Levine-Kennedy *Love and Fury: New York’s Fight Against AIDS* at Poster House "In the mid-1980s, as the AIDS crisis simmered hotter and hotter in the apartments and bathhouses of New York, a band of frightened, fed-up young men took to copy shops around town. They were watching friends, partners, and lovers waste away with a mysterious virus, blamefully dubbed the “Gay Plague” by some. These kids knew what they were doing when they took jobs at Kinko’s. Clandestinely running the printers after hours ... they produced graphically stark, zanily colored flyers, posters, and stickers. In other words, a PR toolkit. Then, they wheat-pasted New York with abandon, demanding action." [*Read the full review*](https://hyperallergic.com/how-aids-activists-turned-graphic-design-into-a-weapon/) --- ## Interview [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/rina-2.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/beer-with-a-painter-rina-banerjee/) [ Beer With a Painter: Rina Banerjee ](https://hyperallergic.com/beer-with-a-painter-rina-banerjee/) “When you give up that power to the paint, it becomes your partner, helping you to make something beautiful,” said the Bengali-American artist at her studio in Dumbo. | Jennifer Samet [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/beer-with-a-painter-rina-banerjee/) --- ## What Else Is Happening? - Join *In These Times* for a special pop-up gallery and fundraiser supporting independent journalism and the fight to protect free speech. (Tues Aug 25) \[[*In These Times*](https://secure.actblue.com/donate/crabapple%5Fnyc?utm%5Fsource=ig&utm%5Fmedium=social&utm%5Fcontent=link%5Fin%5Fbio&fbclid=PAcGRvZgJleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA85MzY2MTk3NDMzOTI0NTkAAafU-7TG5Rkd3qmCfs3vCPTNOIiK8CJyEcr7hYf4-ejAR5kfOGp2TrHbOxEQTw%5Faem%5Fd57LuNtfZuLKJmO-bHNlyw)\] - Join The City Reliquary Museum for a screening of Patrick O’Hare’s “The Light at Dusk,” a photo-montage film that interweaves still photographs of New York City and upstate New York with a spoken text dealing with themes of memory, time, and the uncanny. (Wed Aug 26) \[[cityreliquary.org](https://www.cityreliquary.org/wednesday-august-26-screening-book-launch-and-artist-talkback-featuring-patrick-ohares-short-film-the-light-at-dusk/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - In a conversation at Poster House, cultural historian Eric Lott, jazz historian Jerome Jennings, curator Dominique Jean-Louis, and curator of the museum's current exhibition *Act Black*, Es-pranza Humphrey, will examine the enduring legacy of blackface minstrelsy across performance and visual culture. (Thurs Aug 27) \[[posterhouse.org](https://posterhouse.org/event/the-legacy-of-blackface-understanding-performance-posters-and-public-memory/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - In celebration of Climate Week, the Lower East Side Ecology Center is hosting a guided birding tour at Governors Island Park. (Thurs Aug 27) \[[lesecologycenter.org](https://www.lesecologycenter.org/calendar/climate-week-guided-birding-tour-at-governors-island-park/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Warm Up, MoMA PS1's signature outdoor music series, concludes its season this week! Enjoy underground and emerging talents from around the world. (Fri Aug 28) \[[momaps1.org](https://www.momaps1.org/en/programs/800-warm-up-2026?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - *The Forgotten Occupation: Jim Crow Goes to Haiti,* the acclaimed documentary by Alain Martin examining Haiti’s brutal occupation by the United Sates, returns to Brooklyn at Mocada Museum. (Fri Aug 28 & Sat Aug 29) \[[mocada.org](https://mocada.org/events/the-forgotten-occupation-film-screening-filmmaker-talk-final-night/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Attend the open house for *The Seventh AIM Biennial: Forms of Connection*, where you can participate in a variety of activities, including art-making, art talks, and more! (Sat Aug 29) \[[bronxmuseum.org](https://bronxmuseum.org/event/aim-biennial7-culminating/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Alex Strada's *Public Address* opens at Joyce Kilmer Park, platforming the perspectives of people living and working in shelters on signage produced by the NYC Department of Transportation. (Opening Mon Sept 14) \[[bronxmuseum.org](https://bronxmuseum.org/exhibition/public-address/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Celebrated activists and authors Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor discuss their book *End Time Fascism* in a conversation moderated by Jia Tolentino. (Tues Sept 15) \[[Books Are Magic](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/offsite-naomi-klein-astra-taylor-end-times-fascism-w-jia-tolentino-tickets-1993619977018?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - The Center for Fiction is celebrating the launch of Lydia Mathis’s debut story collection, *Desperate Bodies*, with writer, professor, and publisher Roxane Gay. (Tues Sept 15) \[[The Center for Fiction](https://centerforfiction.org/event/the-art-of-the-short-story-lydia-mathis-on-desperate-bodies-with-roxane-gay/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] ### An Ethos of "By Us, for Us" at the Santa Fe Indian Market URL: https://hyperallergic.com/an-ethos-of-by-us-for-us-at-the-santa-fe-indian-market/ Last updated: 2026-08-29T18:40:49.000Z SANTA FE — For Seneca artist Mary Jacobs and her daughters Kathryn Hopkins and Samantha Jacobs, beading is a multigenerational family affair. The three award-winning artists shared a booth at the Santa Fe Indian Market this month: Mary, who has shown at the Market for decades, displayed bags, earrings, and other adornments made in the traditional style of Iroquois raised beadwork, while Samantha won a first-prize ribbon for her intricately adorned “Once Upon a Story” box, featuring birds and other flora and fauna of the Northeast beaded over a lush blue velvet backing. Also on view were Hopkins's beadwork earrings that appealed to Gen Z, featuring large rabbit-fur puffs and intricate designs inspired by coral reefs. “Younger girls really love these big earrings that are back in style now,” she said. Every August, thousands of people converge upon New Mexico’s capital for the Santa Fe Indian Market hosted by the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts (SWAIA), which held its 104th edition August 15–16 with over 1,000 Native artists from more than 200 Tribal Nations. Many of the visitors are non-Native art collectors, museum curators, and tourists seeking to acquire or peruse unique textiles, jewelry, ceramics, clothing, paintings, and other arts and crafts made by Indigenous artists regarded as masters in their fields. Competition for a booth at the largest Indigenous art market in the United States is fierce, and the longer an artist’s participation at SWAIA, the higher the likelihood that they will win a major prize here. A majority of the artists who spoke to *Hyperallergic* this year reported a regular, continuous presence at the event, with some having participated for up to 26 consecutive years. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Nikyle-Begay.jpg) Nikyle Begay (Diné) in front of two saddle blankets made in a style he dubbed “bachelor pads,” as they were traditionally part of courting ceremonies towards marriage. Begay raises the sheep he uses for his weavings, with a fringe from Sháńdíín the ewe netting him first place in the traditional textiles category (pictured at left). Even so, emerging artists are always welcome at the Market, bringing new styles and energy into the space. Nikyle Begay (Diné), who was showing for the first time, won first place in the traditional textiles category for a saddle blanket with a signature curly sheep hair fringe. “It’s a particular type of honor,” Begay said of having a booth at the Santa Fe Indian Market. “Only the best of the best converge here.” Family lineages of craft and artistry are the foundation, but not the sole determinant, for many emerging artists at Indian Market. Myron Denetclaw (Diné) is currently an MFA student studying interdisciplinary arts at the University of Nevada, Reno, and comes from a long line of weavers. His proud parents, speaking to *Hyperallergic*, shared photos and stories of Myron’s great-grandmother Ruth Yabeny, grandmother Lucy Whitehorse, and great-aunt Marie Plummer, who were master weavers in the Teec Nos Pos style. “Myron just always made his own art and looked for mentors himself that he wanted to learn from. He’s entered art contests and won them since he was young,” said Milton Denetclaw, Myron’s father. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Myron-Denetclaw.JPG) Myron Denetclaw (Diné) hails from Ship Rock, New Mexico. His painting “Nightway Storytelling” (far right) depicts “young Navajo sandpainters sharing the story of the coming of the visiting three yeiis on the final night of the Nightway winter ceremonial.” _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Barbara Hammer Through Her Own Lens URL: https://hyperallergic.com/barbara-hammer-through-her-own-lens/ Last updated: 2026-08-25T17:04:18.000Z *Barbara Forever* (2026) sets itself apart from most biographical documentaries early on by eliding the first three decades of its subject’s life. In voiceover, the late [Barbara Hammer](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-barbara-hammer-who-envisioned-spaces-for-women-to-be-themselves/) avers that her life did not truly begin until she started making films and came out as a lesbian in the early 1970s. Hungry to make up for lost time, she reinvented herself with admirable speed, separating from her husband, with whom she lived in the woods of Northern California, and integrating into Berkeley’s queer and experimental filmmaking scenes. The documentary proceeds through the groundbreaking feminist filmmaker’s life and work chronologically, studying how her [artistic practice](https://hyperallergic.com/barbara-hammer-superdyke-surveys-her-iconic-role-in-queer-experimental-film/) and political convictions evolved. Save for some new interviews with Hammer’s longtime partner, Florrie Burke, the film is constructed almost entirely from archival materials. Hammer was meticulous in her self-documentation, saving reams of personal photographs, notes, videos, and voice recordings. It is in this way that she narrates her own life, with help from director Brydie O’Connor’s editorial interventions. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Barbara-Forever---Still-3.jpg) Still from **Barbara Forever* (2026), dir. Brydie O'Connor Those interventions mean that while the film’s timeline is linear, Hammer’s thoughts are not. Many of her audio recordings were made in her final years as she endured endometrioid ovarian cancer and mortality spurred her to evaluate her life. It was also in this context that she created her performance piece [*The Art of Dying or (Palliative Art Making in the Age of Anxiety)*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMeoAx9dZkI&ref=hyperallergic.com) in 2018, one year before her death. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Remembering Sliman Mansour URL: https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-sliman-mansour/ Last updated: 2026-08-25T10:00:05.000Z Sliman Mansour, a major figure in Palestinian art, died yesterday at age 79\. Drawing from the bleeding wound of the Nakba and the fight for liberation, his work is a defiant response to those who wish Palestine was just a distant memory. Mansour painted the pride and dignity of his people. There is no anger in his canvases. No call for revenge. Just a people who deserve to live on their land. I know for a fact that he wished none of these paintings had to be made in the first place. *—Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/AIDS_15-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/how-aids-activists-turned-graphic-design-into-a-weapon/) [ How AIDS Activists Turned Graphic Design Into a Weapon ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-aids-activists-turned-graphic-design-into-a-weapon/) In the mid-1980s, as the AIDS crisis simmered hotter and hotter in the apartments and bathhouses of New York, a band of frightened, fed-up young men took to copy shops around town. They were watching friends, partners, and lovers waste away with a mysterious virus, blamefully dubbed the “Gay Plague” by some. These kids knew what they were doing when they took jobs at Kinko’s. Clandestinely running the printers after hours — a so-far-indifferent corporate America owed the public more than the cost of a couple print-outs, they reasoned — they produced graphically stark, zanily colored flyers, posters, and stickers. In other words, a PR toolkit. Then, they wheat-pasted New York with abandon, demanding action. | Amy Levine-Kennedy [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-aids-activists-turned-graphic-design-into-a-weapon/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/saic-ad.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/meet-with-the-school-of-the-art-institute-of-chicago-at-admissions-events-across-the-us-and-online/) ****Meet with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago at Admissions Events Across the US and Online** Learn more about the graduate degrees offered at SAIC and get all of your questions answered. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/meet-with-the-school-of-the-art-institute-of-chicago-at-admissions-events-across-the-us-and-online/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/sliman-mansour.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/sliman-mansour-painter-of-palestinian-hope-and-humanity-dies-at-79/) - Sliman Mansour, a renowned Palestinian painter who chronicled over six decades of his country’s fight for liberation, [dies at age 79](https://hyperallergic.com/sliman-mansour-painter-of-palestinian-hope-and-humanity-dies-at-79/). - Amid Trump's threats to defund the National Museum of the American Latino, the Smithsonian board [will reportedly vote on housing the fledgling institution](https://hyperallergic.com/amid-trumps-threats-a-potential-home-for-smithsonian-latino-museum/) in the recently reopened Arts & Industries Building — a move that would allow it to bypass Congressional approval. - Mayor Zohran Mamdani [announces more than $8.4 million in grants](https://hyperallergic.com/nyc-arts-nonprofits-benefit-from-mamdanis-8-4-million-in-grants/) toward nonprofit and small business initiatives, including public art commissions and arts programming. - The Detroit Institute of the Arts [unveils a new public mural](https://hyperallergic.com/detroit-institute-of-art-unveils-neighhh-borly-display-of-love/) featuring a horse named Champagne. --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/maria-martins.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/maria-martins-was-more-than-just-duchamps-lover/) [ Maria Martins Was More Than Just Duchamp’s Lover ](https://hyperallergic.com/maria-martins-was-more-than-just-duchamps-lover/) A new book by leading Duchamp scholar Francis M. Naumann chronicles the artist’s affair with the Brazilian sculptor, but frequently reduces her influence and career to sexual allure. | Lauren Moya Ford [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/maria-martins-was-more-than-just-duchamps-lover/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/haley-institute.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/grounded-in-grain-washed-in-the-water/) ****Grounded in Grain, Washed in the Water** Black Southern traditions are not relics to be preserved behind glass, but dynamic systems of knowledge that continue to evolve. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/grounded-in-grain-washed-in-the-water/) --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/gala-dali.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/michele-gerber-klein-surreal-gala-dali/) [ The Story of Surrealism Isn’t Whole Without Gala Dalí ](https://hyperallergic.com/michele-gerber-klein-surreal-gala-dali/) In *Surreal*, Michèle Gerber Klein asks us to confront the unjust eclipse of Gala’s legacy by that of her husband, Salvador, whose career she brought to fruition. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/michele-gerber-klein-surreal-gala-dali/) featured listing ****Gulf Coast Journal — Toni Beauchamp Prize in Critical Art Writing** Gulf Coast invites entries for the 2026 Toni Beauchamp Prize in Critical Art Writing. Win $3,000 for first place or $1,000 as a runner-up. This year’s judge is critic Andrew Berardini. Deadline: August 31, 2026 | [gulfcoastmag.org](https://bit.ly/4g9epas?ref=hyperallergic.com) See more in this month’s [list of opportunities](https://hyperallergic.com/opportunities-in-august-2026/) for artists, writers, and art workers! ### Sliman Mansour, Painter of Palestinian Hope and Humanity, Dies at 79 URL: https://hyperallergic.com/sliman-mansour-painter-of-palestinian-hope-and-humanity-dies-at-79/ Last updated: 2026-08-25T18:15:51.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2023/12/portrait-2-sliman-mansour-by-manolo-mylonas-2-2016.jpg) Sliman Mansour (photo by Manolo Mylonas, all images courtesy Zawyeh Gallery) Sliman Mansour, a renowned Palestinian painter who chronicled over six decades of his country’s fight for liberation, has died in Jerusalem at age 79\. Mansour’s family announced the news in an Instagram story post on Monday, August 24, following an earlier announcement that the artist was in “critical condition.” The cause of death has not yet been made public. “To the world, he leaves behind a life filled with beauty, memory, and a legacy that will continue to live through all those he touched," the artist's family wrote in an Instagram story post. "But to us, we lost a father, our source of love, strength, and home." ![Sliman Mansour Preserves Palestinian History Through Art](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/size/w1200/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2023/12/sliman-mansour-rituals-under-occupation-1989.jpg) Sliman Mansour, “Rituals Under Occupation” (1989), oil on canvas, 47 1/2 x 40 inches Mansour was born in 1947 in Birzeit, Palestine, just months before the mass displacement and genocide of the Palestinian people began under the Nakba and the formal establishment of the State of Israel. Jailed, beaten, and threatened by the Israeli government throughout his career, Mansour remained steadfast in affirming human rights through his paintings. From his studio in Ramallah in the West Bank, the artist chronicled life before Israeli occupation and the subsequent devastation that the Israeli military inflicted on Palestinian civilians and communities. “Anything that is Palestinian, even just being here, breathing and thinking, is a sensitive matter to the Israelis because they built their narrative around denying our existence,” Mansour told [*Hyperallergic*](https://hyperallergic.com/sliman-mansour-preserves-palestinian-history-through-art/)in a 2023 interview. “Our work not only as painters but as intellectuals — in culture, in everything — is to express that we are here.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2023/12/sliman-mansour-camel-of-hardship-1973.jpg) Sliman Mansour, “Jamal al-Mahamel” (Camel of Hardship) (1973), oil on canvas, 28 x 41 1/2 inches _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Photo Books for Summer’s End URL: https://hyperallergic.com/photo-books-for-summers-end/ Last updated: 2026-08-24T21:57:14.000Z Even though September and the fall publication flurry are inching closer, mentally, I’m still in June — colorful, lush, sun-soaked June. My camera roll from this summer takes me right back to those euphoric weeks of New York City victory (Knicks in five!) and languorous time outdoors. Eight decades earlier, Helen Levitt captured the kernel of that same city spirit: children playing, subway shenanigans, and playful sidewalk chalk drawings. Hers is one of several bodies of work at the heart of new and recent photo books, evergreen companions of sorts. Check out our list of favorites this month, including titles on Nuyorican photographer Sophie Rivera and Walter Chandoha’s absolutely precious trove of some 90,000 cat photos. More today, including a monograph that analyzes the striking paintings by Armenian Genocide survivor Haroutiun Galentz and a critical review of a book on Britain’s theft of Asante gold heritage. *—Lakshmi Rivera Amin, associate editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/august-photo-books.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/10-photo-books-to-read-this-month/) [ 10 Photo Books to Read This Month ](https://hyperallergic.com/10-photo-books-to-read-this-month/) Hal Fischer’s archive of queer fashion, Sophie Rivera’s portraits of Nuyorican communities, Rania Matar’s love letter to Lebanon, and more new titles to check out from photo book publishers. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/10-photo-books-to-read-this-month/) --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/galentz-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/haroutiun-galentzs-true-colors/) [ Haroutiun Galentz’s True Colors ](https://hyperallergic.com/haroutiun-galentzs-true-colors/) A new book traces the function of color as both a mask and a mirror in psychological portraits by the modernist painter, who lost his parents during the Armenian Genocide. | Tamar Boyadjian [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/haroutiun-galentzs-true-colors/) [ Why Won’t Britain Return Looted Gold to Ghana? ](https://hyperallergic.com/why-wont-britain-return-looted-gold-to-ghana/) In *The African Kingdom of Gold*, Barnaby Phillips explores how British colonial forces plundered the Asante people and expertly traces the stolen artifacts’ afterlives in museum storage. | Aditya Iyer [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/why-wont-britain-return-looted-gold-to-ghana/) [ Maria Martins Was More Than Just Duchamp’s Lover ](https://hyperallergic.com/maria-martins-was-more-than-just-duchamps-lover/) A new book by leading Duchamp scholar Francis M. Naumann chronicles the artist’s affair with the Brazilian sculptor, but frequently reduces her influence and career to sexual allure. | Lauren Moya Ford [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/maria-martins-was-more-than-just-duchamps-lover/) --- ## In the News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/out-of-place-nl-1.jpg)](https://granta.com/products/out-of-place/?binding=paperback&isbn=9781803513065&ref=hyperallergic.com) - The London publishing house Granta just reissued Palestinian scholar Edward Said’s 1999 autobiography[*Out of Place*](https://granta.com/products/out-of-place/?binding=paperback&isbn=9781803513065&ref=hyperallergic.com), complete with a new design and foreword by British-Libyan writer Hisham Matar. A captivating painting graces the cover: “Epic No. 2” (1992) by Palestinian artist Ahmad Nawash, who, like the author, was displaced by the Nakba in 1948\. Spectral figures drift across his pale canvases, fragmented and floating through a landscape thick with fog. I love this selection; Nawash’s modernist vocabulary feels like a wordless companion to Said’s work, an effigy of collective grief, and an ode to Palestinian kinship. - Zine-lovers assemble — Printed Matter just announced the [programming](https://nyabf2026.printedmatterartbookfairs.org/programs?ref=hyperallergic.com) and [300 exhibitors](https://nyabf2026.printedmatterartbookfairs.org/exhibitors-1?ref=hyperallergic.com) for its New York Art Book Fair at MoMA PS1! Mark your calendars for September 24 to 27\. So many personal favorites I'm excited to see on this list, including Sming Sming, Ugly Duckling Presse, Wendy's Subway, Archivo de la Memoria Trans, Fugitive Materials, and Loose Joints Publishing. --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/speculative-light.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/beauford-delaney-artist-who-taught-james-baldwin-to-write-like-a-painter/) [ The Artist Who Taught James Baldwin to Write Like a Painter ](https://hyperallergic.com/beauford-delaney-artist-who-taught-james-baldwin-to-write-like-a-painter/) The essays in *Speculative Light* explore the many ways in which Beauford Delaney, another queer Black man, revolutionized Baldwin’s cultural perspective and imagination. | Jasmine Weber [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/beauford-delaney-artist-who-taught-james-baldwin-to-write-like-a-painter/) --- ## Required Reading - Roshan Abraham writes for [*Hammer & Hope*](https://hammerandhope.org/article/june-jordan-black-land-reform?ref=hyperallergic.com) about the unpublished novel June Jordan began writing after visiting Fannie Lou Hamer’s short-lived but groundbreaking Black farming cooperative, part of the community land trust movement that continues to this day. - For the [*Los Angeles Review of Books*](https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/femme-feminism-lori-marso-sophie-lewis-eileen-gsell/?ref=hyperallergic.com), Lori Marso reviews new titles by Eileen G’Sell — *Hyperallergic* contributor and critic extraordinaire — and Sophie Lewis that probe the politics of feminine aesthetics, complicating them and reclaiming their radical potential. - [*Slate*](https://slate.com/culture/2026/08/the-odyssey-movie-christopher-nolan-book-story-homer-emily-wilson-iliad.html?ref=hyperallergic.com)’s Nadira Goffe reports on the bump in sales of the *Odyssey* following the release of the film adaptation by Christopher Nolan (and how translator Emily Wilson’s recent viral pan factors into the equation). ### Maria Martins Was More Than Just Duchamp’s Lover URL: https://hyperallergic.com/maria-martins-was-more-than-just-duchamps-lover/ Last updated: 2026-08-24T21:13:19.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/MM-01.jpg) Unknown photographer’s portrait Maria Martins (undated) (all images courtesy Abbeville Press) In Marcel Duchamp’s enigmatic last artwork, a nude woman lies sprawled out in a field. According to Francis M. Naumann, the figure in [*Étant donnés*](https://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/marcel-duchamp-etant-donnes?ref=hyperallergic.com)(1946–66) is based on Maria Martins, the Brazilian sculptor who was Duchamp’s model and first true love. In [*Impossible: The Love Affair Between Marcel Duchamp and Maria Martins, and the Artwork It Inspired*](https://www.abbeville.com/products/impossible?srsltid=AfmBOoqfHh5W8tVPBaxqFy4EYCCHge9ejnQ6lAb4Eeeq7dMjUeZC2SW4&ref=hyperallergic.com) (2026), the historian draws a clear line from the artists’ little-known liaison to Duchamp’s mysterious magnum opus, arguing that Martins spurred his final two decades of artistic creation. The book takes its name from [Martins’s arresting 1946 bronze sculpture](https://www.moma.org/collection/works/81011?ref=hyperallergic.com). In the piece, two figures with sharp, pointed barbs draw closer to each other. For Naumann, the tension in the sculpture reflects the tortured relationship between Martins and Duchamp, who were magnetically drawn to one another but whose life circumstances ultimately kept them apart. The two artists first met in New York City in 1943, likely at Martins’s second solo show at Valentine Gallery. At the time, Duchamp was a 56-year-old French expat and [renowned artist](https://hyperallergic.com/ive-got-the-post-duchamp-blues/) and chess player, and Martins was a 49-year-old sculptor on the rise with studios in New York and Washington, DC. She was also married to the Brazilian ambassador to the United States with no plans for divorce. Still, the meeting proved pivotal. During their roughly eight-year affair, Martins was “the center of \[Duchamp’s\] emotional life,” Naumann writes, and “the main focus of his creative activities ... for some twenty years to come,” even after she moved to Paris and then São Paolo. Through sketches, artworks, letters, and gifts, the author reveals an unexpected creative exchange between the artists that proved beneficial to both, but especially to Duchamp. Naumann theorizes that Duchamp’s *Étant donnés* wasn’t just inspired by his drawings of Martins posing nude, but by his appreciation of her own daring artworks. Among them are the 1948 bronze sculpture “[Huitième voile (Eighth Veil)](https://www.artnet.com/artists/mar%C3%ADa-martins/huiti%C3%A8me-voile-OKU2AFpgGI6rOO6AP-LKGw2?ref=hyperallergic.com)” and her now-lost 1945 piece “Je crus avoir longuement rêvé que j'étais libre (I Believed that I Long Dreamed I Was Free),” in which female figures take a similarly open and erotic posture as in Duchamp’s later work. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/ART558663_silo.jpg) Maria Martins, “The Impossible, III” (1946), bronze Though the book sheds crucial light on Martins’s work, its overall portrayal of her is uneven. There’s already a clear imbalance in the way Naumann names his subjects: he calls Martins by her first name throughout the book, while Duchamp is referred to by his last name, reinforcing a sense of unequal standing. Moreover, the author proclaims Martins to be “one of the most important and accomplished Surrealist sculptors of her generation,” but he also calls her a “classic femme fatale, a seductress who did whatever she needed to get a man to fall in love with her.” He repeatedly emphasizes Martins’s physical attractiveness and even speculates that she "probably treated the act of making love as a wild and uninhibited event, entrapping her men as a Venus fly trap consumes its prey.” These passages feel one-dimensional, cartoonish, and frankly bizarre. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Detroit Institute of Arts Unveils Neighhh-borly Display of Love URL: https://hyperallergic.com/detroit-institute-of-art-unveils-neighhh-borly-display-of-love/ Last updated: 2026-08-25T20:53:19.000Z A horse named Champagne is the starof a new public mural in Michigancommissioned by the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA). Wrapping around two exterior walls of the *mane-*tenance barn in the animal's home in Waterford Township, “Champagne's Chateau” was commemorated on Saturday, August 22, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and meet-and-greet with Champagne herself. One of eight murals that will be debuted across the Detroit metro area this year as part of the DIA's Partners in Public Art Program (PIPA), the work is installed in Waterford's Hess-Hathaway Park, a 165-acre community park comprised of trails and an ["animal exhibit farm"](https://www.waterfordmi.gov/facilities/facility/details/HessHathaway-Park-2?ref=hyperallergic.com) housing horses, chickens, goats, sheep, peacocks, and bunnies. If the last seven centuries of Western art history have been more or less defined by patronage and the unruliness of the open market, the equine mural by Flint-based artist Johnny Fletcher resurrects a tradition more akin to that of the medieval icon painting. While not clad in a halo or resolutely religious, Champagne is certainly depicted as an icon. Painted at a monumental scale on the barn's front, she grazes in all her foreshortened glory in a field of sunflowers under a psychedelic sunset that wraps around the barn's side. There, a billy goat, a flock of chickens, and a trio of ducks roam throughout a Midwestern farm scene outfitted with a red barn, an old windmill, and a spring-fed pond. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/image-23.png) Town residents and employees from the Detroit Institute of the Arts gathered in Hess-Hathaway Park on Saturday, August 22, for a ribbon-cutting and to meet the mural's star, Champagne. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Amid Trump’s Threats, a Potential Home for Smithsonian Latino Museum URL: https://hyperallergic.com/amid-trumps-threats-a-potential-home-for-smithsonian-latino-museum/ Last updated: 2026-08-25T17:07:02.000Z The Smithsonian Institution's board will meet next Monday, August 31, to vote on housing the National Museum of the American Latino (NMAL) in the Smithsonian's recently reopened Arts & Industries Building, as reported in the [*Washington Examiner*](https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/equality-not-elitism/4695180/desperate-smithsonian-eyes-loophole-latino-museum/?ref=hyperallergic.com)and confirmed by the [*New York Times*](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/21/arts/design/smithsonian-museum-american-latino-building.html?ref=hyperallergic.com). The move would allow the fledgling museum to move forward in the face of the Trump administration's threats to defund the project altogether. Establishing the NMAL in the historic Arts & Industries Building would allow the Smithsonian to bypass congressional approval, which was an initial requirement under the original plan to build out a [new space for the museum](https://www.si.edu/newsdesk/factsheets/national-museum-american-latino?ref=hyperallergic.com) on or near the National Mall, because those parcels of land fall under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service. Founded in [2020](https://hyperallergic.com/congress-votes-in-favor-of-creating-national-museum-of-the-american-latino/), the NMAL has been operating out of a dedicated gallery within the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History since 2022\. Billed as a “permanent home to honor the stories, contributions, and impact of Latinos in the United States,” the NMAL has been repeatedly highlighted throughout the Trump administration's [targeted](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-whitewashes-history-in-new-smithsonian-executive-order/) [attacks](https://hyperallergic.com/white-house-renews-threats-to-smithsonian-institution/) against the Smithsonian's [“woke” ideologies](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-accuses-smithsonian-of-anti-white-activism-in-draconian-new-report/) and [programming](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-targets-lgbtq-history-migrants-and-more-in-chilling-smithsonian-hit-list/). An unnamed source told the *Times* that considering how things are going right now, the NMAL decided that gambling on congressional approval for a site for a brand-new building wasn't worth the risk. Last August, several of the museum's programs and didactics were included in [a memo](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-targets-lgbtq-history-migrants-and-more-in-chilling-smithsonian-hit-list/) supporting the White House's “[comprehensive internal review](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-american-exceptionalism-smithsonian/)” of the Smithsonian's public-facing content across all 21 museums, research centers, and the National Zoo. The Presidential budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2026 also [omitted federal funding for the museum's development](https://hyperallergic.com/museum-of-the-american-latino-could-vanish-under-trump/) in favor of reestablishing the decentralized Smithsonian Latino Center, which would mount programming throughout the Institution's network. The [Smithsonian also closed the NMAL's gallery](https://hyperallergic.com/smithsonian-latino-gallery-quietly-closes-for-nine-months/) at the American History Museum from August 2025 — just before National Hispanic Heritage Month — through spring of this year in preparation for [*¡Puro Ritmo!*](https://latino.si.edu/exhibitions/puro-ritmo?ref=hyperallergic.com) (2026), a salsa music-themed exhibition within the Institution's [*Our Shared Future: 250*](https://www.si.edu/250/exhibitions?ref=hyperallergic.com)programming. Furthermore, the American History Museum is also navigating operations while under the Trump administration's microscope. Director Anthea Hartig, whose leadership was extensively scrutinized in the [White House's 162-page report](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-accuses-smithsonian-of-anti-white-activism-in-draconian-new-report/) accusing the Smithsonian of promoting “extreme political activism” last month, underwent a [two-day congressional hearing](https://hyperallergic.com/smithsonian-hearings-most-bizarre-moments-ranked-by-tier/) on various allegations outlined in the report. Without federal support, the nascent NMAL's unwavering quest for a permanent home has called on the Smithsonian's board to reconsider the Arts & Industries Building as an option. Built in 1881, the structure initially served as the United States's first National Museum and is the second-oldest within the Smithsonian. The site sits between the National Museum of African Art and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Gardens. The building was known for its natural sciences and anthropology exhibits as the premier home of the Smithsonian's rapidly expanding collection, but later became the Institution's hub for historical developments in American science and technology after the National Museum of Natural History was built in 1910\. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1971, but the space itself fell out of fashion as the Smithsonian opened more specialized museums. Arts & Industries began operating as an incubation site for the developing museums before their permanent locations were built, hosting inaugural and temporary exhibits as well as other programs while being outfitted for collection storage and additional office space. Its mixed use yielded structural damage, leading to its indefinite closure for renovation in 2004; the building [reopened its doors to the public](https://www.si.edu/newsdesk/releases/smithsonian-reopens-iconic-and-historic-castle-and-arts-and-industries-building?ref=hyperallergic.com) for the first time in 22 years this summer with a show for the nation's 250th anniversary. ### Meet with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago at Admissions Events Across the US and Online URL: https://hyperallergic.com/meet-with-the-school-of-the-art-institute-of-chicago-at-admissions-events-across-the-us-and-online/ Last updated: 2026-09-03T20:16:35.000Z The graduate admissions team at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago has prepared a variety of events to assist students as they prepare a competitive application to their graduate programs. Join these virtual or in-person events over the coming months to learn more about graduate degrees at SAIC and get all of your questions answered! **See details and RSVP at** [**saic.edu/grevents**](https://bit.ly/4wJ57qz?ref=hyperallergic.com) ### **Virtual Events** (all times in CT) - August 25, 2pm: Architecture & Design Programs Deep Dive - August 25, 6pm: Low-Residency MFA Program Deep Dive - Sept 1, 12pm: MA Programs Deep Dive - Sept 15, 12pm: Application Prep Series: Statement of Intent - Sept 22, 12pm: Application Prep Series: Portfolio Overview - Sept 26, 12pm – 4pm: Graduate National Portfolio Day Online - Sept 29, 12pm: Application Prep Series: Application Process & Submitting in Slide Room - Nov 15, 11am – 3pm: Graduate National Portfolio Day Online #2 **On-Campus Events** - Oct 15, 5pm – 7pm: Graduate Admissions Meet and Greet - Oct 17, 10am – 2pmChicago Graduate Portfolio Day - Dec 5, 10am – 4pm: Explore SAIC ### **Coming to a City Near You** ***Meet with admissions one on one.* Save the Dates–**Appointments will be available in September. - California: Los Angeles, Nov 4-6; San Francisco Nov 9-11 - Maryland: Baltimore, Nov 4-6 - Massachusetts: Boston, Nov 11-13 - New York: New York City, Nov 11-13 - Pennsylviania: Philadelphia, Nov 4-6 - Rhode Island: Providence, Nov Nov 11-13 - Washington, D.C.: Nov 4-6 ### **National Graduate Portfolio Days** - 10/17/26 Graduate Portfolio Day, Chicago, IL - 11/8/26 Graduate Portfolio Day, Oakland, CA - 11/8/26 Graduate Portfolio Day, New York, NY - 12/7/26 Graduate Portfolio Day, Miami, FL Graduate Portfolio Days are events for prospective students who would like to get feedback on their portfolio, as well as have the opportunity to learn more about the curricula, faculty, and application procedures from a number of colleges. **See event details and RSVP at** [**saic.edu/grevents**](https://bit.ly/4wJ57qz?ref=hyperallergic.com)**.** --- SAIC also offers weekly [tours](https://bit.ly/4wQfZ6m?ref=hyperallergic.com) and [one-on-one sessions](https://bit.ly/4cH1sCx?ref=hyperallergic.com) with a counselor. To see all available programs and apply, visit [saic.edu/gradapp](https://bit.ly/45NCPjT?ref=hyperallergic.com). ### How AIDS Activists Turned Graphic Design Into a Weapon URL: https://hyperallergic.com/how-aids-activists-turned-graphic-design-into-a-weapon/ Last updated: 2026-08-28T14:53:52.000Z In the mid-1980s, as the AIDS crisis simmered hotter and hotter in the apartments and bathhouses of New York, a band of frightened, fed-up young men took to copy shops around town. They were watching friends, partners, and lovers waste away with a mysterious virus, blamefully dubbed the “Gay Plague” by some. These kids knew what they were doing when they took jobs at Kinko's. Clandestinely running the printers after hours — a so-far-indifferent corporate America owed the public more than the cost of a couple print-outs, they reasoned — they produced graphically stark, zanily colored flyers, posters, and stickers. In other words, a PR toolkit. Then, they wheat-pasted New York with abandon, demanding action. Ian Bradley-Perrin, curator of [*Love and Fury: New York’s Fight Against AIDS*](https://posterhouse.org/exhibition/love-fury-new-yorks-fight-against-aids/?ref=hyperallergic.com) at Poster House in Chelsea, showcases an apparatus for advocacy. The exhibition, set in this jewel of a museum’s small but sizzling subterranean space, traces how graphic designers — many of whom were themselves affected — wrestled AIDS into the hearts and minds of America. “Those activists figured out who the gatekeepers in the media were,” said Bradley-Perrin, an HIV-positive, socio-medical historian. “They imagined how we can create visuals and images that will grow our numbers but also speak to the general public.” Poster House presents the story in four parts. It can be viewed in either direction because, as Bradley-Perrin puts it, “In the context of AIDS, everything was happening all at once.” The first explores early grassroots efforts to educate and champion safe sex. The wall space further down shifts to action-focused designs and colors generated by feisty agitprop groups like the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) and Gran Fury. The aim: Target political inaction and unequal access to healthcare. The last two parts, “The Power of Design” and “The City that Danced for its Life,” illustrate tactics for mainstreaming activism to generate funds, grow gala culture, and even bring joy. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/1_1.jpg) Installation view of **Love and Fury: New York’s Fight Against AIDS* One of the quintessential works, created by a design group aiming for undeniable impact, blares “Silence = Death.” Its completely black background with a central pink triangle, a repurposing of the Nazi symbol for LGBTQ+ prisoners, leaves an impression of charged foreboding. Keith Haring took this message a step further with his classic “Ignorance = Fear” poster, featuring three bold-lined figures with crossed-out tummies and raised dukes, set against neon orange and cobalt blue, New York’s classic color scheme. It’s nice to see these two posters among the hits in the show, as without them, the NYC story of the AIDS agitprop machine would have felt incomplete. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Grounded in Grain, Washed in the Water URL: https://hyperallergic.com/grounded-in-grain-washed-in-the-water/ Last updated: 2026-08-24T15:39:38.000Z [*Grounded in Grain, Washed in the Water*](https://bit.ly/465peV3?ref=hyperallergic.com)*,* curated by Lauren Jackson Harris*,* explores ancestral narratives and the enduring relationships between land, water, memory, and Black life in the American South. Bringing together the work of Maya Freelon, Corey Alston, christa david, and Derrick Beasley, this collaborative exhibition between the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art and the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture considers how ancestral knowledge is carried across generations. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/6-MayaFreelon_FamilyTree2.JPG) Maya Freelon, **Family Tree*, 2024, Tissue paper and ink mono photo print, 30 x 20 inches. Rooted in resilience, creativity, and connection, this exhibition explores how the past traverses the body, the land, material traditions, and acts of imagination. The artists reveal that the histories embedded in Southern soil and waterways are not static remnants of the past, but living systems of knowledge that continue to shape contemporary Black life while offering pathways toward collective futures. The partnership between the Halsey Institute and the Avery Research Center underscores the exhibition's central premise: History is not confined to the archive. While the Avery preserves the records of African American life, the artists in *Grounded in Grain, Washed in the Water* activate these histories that often exist beyond written texts and boxed objects. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/3-christa_david_in-stillness-in-solitude-i-count-42-1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/2-DerrickBeasley_Conduit-1.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/4-christa_david_in-stillness-in-solitutde-i-count-53-2.jpg) Left: christa david, **in stillness in solitude i count 42*, 2026, Collage on paper, 10 x 8 inches 4\. ; Middle: Derrick Beasley, **Conduit*, 2025, River Grape Vine, Pine Tar, Steel, 12 x 168 x 18 inches; Right: christa david, **in stillness in solitude i count 53*, 2026, Collage on paper, 10 x 8 inches 5. Together, these artists reveal that Black Southern traditions are not relics to be preserved behind glass, but dynamic systems of knowledge that continue to evolve. Through basketry, collage, sculpture, painting, and immersive installation, these artists demonstrate that memory must be honored, practiced, embodied, cultivated, and imagined. Grain becomes more than sustenance; it becomes an inheritance. Water becomes more than geography; it becomes an archive. The body becomes both witness and vessel, carrying histories that extend beyond individual experience into cultural preservation. [The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art](https://bit.ly/3SkSkfQ?ref=hyperallergic.com) at the College of Charleston School of the Arts provides a multidisciplinary laboratory for the production, presentation, interpretation, and dissemination of ideas by innovative visual artists from around the world. As a non-collecting museum, we create meaningful interactions between adventurous artists and diverse communities within a context that emphasizes the historical, social, and cultural importance of the art of our time. Our exhibitions are free and open to the public. Learn more at [halsey.charleston.edu](https://bit.ly/465peV3?ref=hyperallergic.com). ### NYC Arts Nonprofits Benefit from Mamdani's $8.4 Million in Grants URL: https://hyperallergic.com/nyc-arts-nonprofits-benefit-from-mamdanis-8-4-million-in-grants/ Last updated: 2026-08-24T14:39:23.000Z Mayor Zohran Mamdani joined forces with the New York City Department of Small Business Services (SBS) this week, announcing more than $8.4 million in grants toward nonprofit and small business initiatives, including public art commissions and arts programming. The Mayor’s Office disbursed 89 grants across the city, with most funds destined for Brooklyn, according to an August 17 [statement](https://www.nyc.gov/mayors-office/news/2026/08/mayor-mamdani-invests-more-than--8-4-million-in-grants-to-suppor?ref=hyperallergic.com). Among the awardees are the Red Hook Art Project, the Project for Public Spaces, the Fourth Arts Block, and Art on the Ave, a spokesperson for the Mayor’s Office told *Hyperallergic*. Organizations can use the grants to cover project expenses, marketing and programming materials, space rentals, and event costs. For nonprofit arts organizations across the city, the news came as a major win. “This is a pivotal moment for our city and for public art,” Jean Cooney, who heads the arts nonprofit Creative Time, told *Hyperallergic*. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Should You Apply for the Guggenheim Fellowship? URL: https://hyperallergic.com/should-you-apply-for-the-guggenheim-fellowship/ Last updated: 2026-08-24T10:00:04.000Z So you’ve applied for the Guggenheim Fellowship for five years in a row, and still haven’t gotten it? That’s “early days” for this award, says Paddy Johnson in this especially juicy and candid edition of her advice column Art Problems. Read it to learn what artists should consider when deciding whether to spend a month out of their lives putting together a multi-page application, or doing literally anything else (learning an obscure language? Authoring a short memoir?) We’ve got a stacked newsletter to start your week. Critic Seph Rodney reviews Miles Greenberg’s immersive video installations at the Current in Stowe, Vermont, which plunge viewers in the artist’s durational performances, and Daniela Mayer takes us through this year’s Recontres d’Arles, the influential photo festival in France. Ah, Gustave Courbet, you would have loved the Vulva Gala — an annual celebration where artists don intricate vulva costumes in a gesture of body positivity and self-expression. See the most inventive outfits, adorned with everything from piercings to political messaging. *—Valentina Di Liscia, senior editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/gug15-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/art-problems-how-do-i-get-the-guggenheim-fellowship/) [ Art Problems: How Do I Get the Guggenheim Fellowship? ](https://hyperallergic.com/art-problems-how-do-i-get-the-guggenheim-fellowship/) Almost everyone gets rejected. Almost everyone applies more than once. Is it worth doing? That answer depends on information I don’t have. Let’s start with your time. The application process takes a lot of it. If you don’t have much time, don’t apply. The Foundation requests two four-page documents outlining your art-making plan for the year and your qualifications; three references; a list of significant work; work samples; and other basic information about yourself. You don’t put all of that together in a couple of hours. Most artists I work with spend at least a month on the application. | Paddy Johnson [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/art-problems-how-do-i-get-the-guggenheim-fellowship/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/hrc.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/ut-austins-harry-ransom-center-provides-funded-fellowships-in-the-arts-and-humanities/) ****UT Austin’s Harry Ransom Center Provides Funded Fellowships in the Arts and Humanities** The humanities library and museum will award up to 50 fellowships to support scholars, artists, and writers conducting on-site archival research. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/ut-austins-harry-ransom-center-provides-funded-fellowships-in-the-arts-and-humanities/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/floating-landscape.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/maya-lin-to-build-otherworldly-floating-landscape-at-ut-austin/) - Maya Lin, the architect and artist behind the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC, and the Civil Rights Memorial in Alabama, [will debut her next public art commission](https://hyperallergic.com/maya-lin-to-build-otherworldly-floating-landscape-at-ut-austin/) in April 2027 at the University of Texas at Austin. - As part of the School of Sexuality Project’s 2026 “Vulva Gala,” [artists dressed in handmade vulva costumes](https://hyperallergic.com/artists-commit-to-the-bit-at-this-years-vulva-gala/) paraded down the aisle of a church in Long Beach as part of a community-centered celebration centering on approachable, destigmatized learning. --- ## Photography [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/recontre-d-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/at-this-years-rencontres-darles-photography-rethinks-its-centers/) [ At This Year’s Rencontres d’Arles, Photography Rethinks Its Centers ](https://hyperallergic.com/at-this-years-rencontres-darles-photography-rethinks-its-centers/) The art world at times imagines itself outside politics, or at least agrees on them; the latest edition of the annual festival reveals otherwise. | Daniela Mayer [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/at-this-years-rencontres-darles-photography-rethinks-its-centers/) --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/miles-greenberg.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/miles-greenberg-rehearses-myths-for-the-future/) [ Miles Greenberg Rehearses Myths for the Future ](https://hyperallergic.com/miles-greenberg-rehearses-myths-for-the-future/) The artist’s performance videos invoke the wild, inestimable human spirit and make Black people the characters of universal stories. | Seph Rodney [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/miles-greenberg-rehearses-myths-for-the-future/) --- ## Community [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/vfte-8.21.26.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-351/) [ A View From the Easel: Rah Naqvi ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-351/) “A ritual I have is to always scribble a line or word, or poem that stayed with me while listening to an audiobook or song, onto the wall in my studio.” [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-351/) --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/navajo-textiles.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/tyrrell-tapaha-fresh-approach-pictorial-navajo-textiles/) [ Tyrrell Tapaha’s Fresh Approach to Pictorial Navajo Textiles ](https://hyperallergic.com/tyrrell-tapaha-fresh-approach-pictorial-navajo-textiles/) Diné fiber artist and sixth-generation weaver Tyrrell Tapaha expands lived experience and ideas about the future. | Erin Joyce [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/tyrrell-tapaha-fresh-approach-pictorial-navajo-textiles/) ### Chris Kraus, Venice Pavilions, Rina Banerjee URL: https://hyperallergic.com/chris-kraus-venice-pavilions-rina-banerjee/ Last updated: 2026-08-22T10:00:02.000Z “After New York, Aruba,” instructs a subway ad with a video showing waves softly crashing against the rocks of a tropical island. My immediate response is to Google where Aruba is. Oh, yes, of course. It’s a small Caribbean island just 18 miles north of Venezuela and it’s said to belong to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, home to the original Prince of Orange. We’ve been talking at the office about retiring the term “Golden Age” to describe the bloodiest peaks of Dutch colonialism. One land’s golden age is another’s inferno. The Netherlands shone brightest with gold that was never theirs. Our own King of Orange has another island on his mind. It’s in the Persian Gulf and it sits on a sea of black gold. He thought the Iran war would be a quick in-and-out like Venezuela, but got his fat ass stuck in a narrow strait. He’s still trying to checkmate the Iranians. Someone should tell him that the term comes from the Farsi words *Shah Mat*, meaning: the king is dead. Back at work, I run an interview that Chris Kraus did with artists Shirley Tse and Dana Berman Duff. They put up a show full of moons, but it’s really about us. People say that Kraus represents the apex of “90s cool.” I once gave her book *I Love Dick* to a girl in the hope that she’d love me. She read it and concluded that I was a dick. She ended up marrying me anyway. I still have fond memories of Venice in May. Nothing beats starting the day with a couple of espressos and a sweet lemon soda that comes with a slice of actual lemon on top. I was telling someone yesterday how I teared up several times during this biennale when I was face-to-face with the power and beauty of solidarity. I wouldn’t mind going back for another tour of the show. If you ask me, there’s no better time to visit the biennale than the fall. And after Venice, Aruba. *—Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/venice-pavillions-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/national-pavilions-we-loved-at-the-venice-biennale/) [ National Pavilions We Loved at the Venice Biennale ](https://hyperallergic.com/national-pavilions-we-loved-at-the-venice-biennale/) You’ve followed our on-the-ground reporting from the consequential 2026 Venice Biennale, running through November 22\. You’ve read, I hope, our reviews of Koyo Kouoh’s posthumous main exhibition *In Minor Keys*, Alma Allen’s unmemorable United States pavilion, and Gabrielle Goliath’s *Elegy* — displayed at a church after being cancelled by the South African pavilion. You’ve engaged with our coverage of Dayanita Singh’s project at the State Archives of Venice; Arthur Jafa and Richard Prince’s hit-and-miss collaboration; an interview with Khaled Sabsabi, whose Australian pavilion was censored under pressure from pro-Israel groups and later reinstated; and much more from the international exhibition and its collateral events. But we never got to tell you what we really thought of the national pavilions, and which ones you should visit or avoid. As the punishing heat waves of this summer taper off, this might be the perfect time to visit the biennale, if you haven’t already. Below is the first part of a conversation between Editor-at-Large Hrag Vartanian and critic Aruna D’Souza on which pavilions they liked, disliked, or remain torn about. They begin with a provocative argument in favor of national pavilions. Did they suddenly become nation-state stans? No, hold on, hear them out. — *Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief* [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/national-pavilions-we-loved-at-the-venice-biennale/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/youngest-curator.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/11-year-old-boy-sets-guinness-record-for-worlds-youngest-curator/) - An 11-year-old boy [sets the Guinness Record](https://hyperallergic.com/11-year-old-boy-sets-guinness-record-for-worlds-youngest-curator/) for the World’s Youngest Curator after opening the Cambridge Natural History Museum in Illinois. - Former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem [welcomes a sculpture](https://hyperallergic.com/halloween-comes-early-with-new-kristi-noem-statue-in-south-dakota/) of herself with her beloved steed, regrettably named “Iceman,” in South Dakota. - Thieves [steal four major paintings](https://hyperallergic.com/priceless-renaissance-paintings-stolen-from-italian-museum/) by Renaissance artist Antonello da Messina in under five minutes in a heist at the Museo Interdisciplinare Regionale in Sicily on Saturday night. - The Speed Art Museum in Kentucky [will return 24 Native American artifacts](https://hyperallergic.com/speed-art-museum-returns-24-native-artifacts-to-oklahoma-tribes/) to tribes in Oklahoma. - Record-breaking heatwaves across France [damage beloved flowers](https://hyperallergic.com/heatwaves-in-france-damage-beloved-flowers-at-monets-gardens/) at Monet's gardens in Giverny. The entire stock of multicolored blossoms lining the main alley has withered under the intense heat, sunshine, and persistent drought. - Angie Nixon, a Florida state representative and Democratic Socialist, [wins the state’s Senate primary](https://hyperallergic.com/angie-nixon-champion-of-black-art-and-culture-wins-florida-senate-primary-in-upset/) in a major upset. - Taiwanese artists [accuse the Gwangju Biennale](https://hyperallergic.com/taiwanese-artists-accuse-south-koreas-gwangju-biennale-of-censorship/) of political censorship after event organizers axed the country’s name from promotional materials. - A new archive developed by Writers Against the War on Gaza [serves as a digital memorial](https://hyperallergic.com/new-digital-archive-honors-gaza-journalists-killed-by-israel/) for the Palestinian journalists killed in Gaza since October 2023. - [Art Movements](https://hyperallergic.com/wolf-kahn-foundation-opens-new-space-in-nyc/): The Wolf Kahn Foundation opens a new space in NYC, MoMA PS1 is getting a new café, and which museum scored a sweet early Rothko? --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/risd-mfa.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/risd-mfa-students-paint-through-the-heartbreak/) [ RISD MFA Students Paint Through the Heartbreak ](https://hyperallergic.com/risd-mfa-students-paint-through-the-heartbreak/) Each painting is like an island awash with yearning, sending out a lighthouse signal into a fractured world. | Julie Schneider [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/risd-mfa-students-paint-through-the-heartbreak/) [ Art as Infrastructure at the Medina Triennial ](https://hyperallergic.com/art-as-infrastructure-at-the-medina-triennial/) The inaugural edition of the sprawling yet rigorous exhibition examines the labor, regulation, extraction, and repair of our shared systems. | Sara Reisman [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/art-as-infrastructure-at-the-medina-triennial/) [ Haroutiun Galentz’s True Colors ](https://hyperallergic.com/haroutiun-galentzs-true-colors/) A new book traces the function of color as both a mask and a mirror in psychological portraits by the modernist painter, who lost his parents during the Armenian Genocide. | Tamar Boyadjian [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/haroutiun-galentzs-true-colors/) --- ## Features [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/dean-millien-4.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/dean-milliens-aluminum-foil-animal-world/) [ Dean Millien’s Aluminum-Foil Animal World ](https://hyperallergic.com/dean-milliens-aluminum-foil-animal-world/) A highlight of “Greater New York” at MoMA PS1, the artist’s remarkable sculptures made from the humble household material continue a practice he began as a child in Brooklyn. | Bryan Martin [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/dean-milliens-aluminum-foil-animal-world/) [ The Artist Mapping Knoxville’s Art Scene With Wood and Wire ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-artist-mapping-knoxvilles-art-scene-with-wood-and-wire/) Three years ago, Lauren Farkas sketched a plan to see exhibitions during the city’s monthly art walk. Now, she crafts eclectic maps for each event to make the art scene more accessible. | Steven Friedlander [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-artist-mapping-knoxvilles-art-scene-with-wood-and-wire/) [ The Architect Shaping a New Chinese Vernacular ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-architect-shaping-a-new-chinese-vernacular/) Pritzker-winner Wang Shu’s design for the Ningbo Historic Museum reconciles China’s nostalgia with its desire for a shiny, avant-garde future. | John Yau [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-architect-shaping-a-new-chinese-vernacular/) [ Six Epic Artworks Inspired by “The Odyssey” ](https://hyperallergic.com/six-epic-artworks-inspired-by-the-odyssey/) From J.M.W. Turner to Romare Bearden, visual artists have long turned to Homer’s masterpiece and the power of myth as sources of inspiration. | Anna Lee [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/six-epic-artworks-inspired-by-the-odyssey/) --- ## Interviews [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/breathing-moons-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/shirley-tse-and-dana-berman-duffs-breathing-moons/) [ Shirley Tse and Dana Berman Duff’s Breathing Moons ](https://hyperallergic.com/shirley-tse-and-dana-berman-duffs-breathing-moons/) The artist duo — who go by “Relational” — explore the unseen forces that bind us to the universe. | Chris Kraus [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/shirley-tse-and-dana-berman-duffs-breathing-moons/) [ Beer With a Painter: Rina Banerjee ](https://hyperallergic.com/beer-with-a-painter-rina-banerjee/) “When you give up that power to the paint, it becomes your partner, helping you to make something beautiful,” said the Bengali-American artist at her studio in Dumbo. | Jennifer Samet [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/beer-with-a-painter-rina-banerjee/) --- ## Obituary [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/mary-heilmann-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/mary-heilmann-painter-of-irreverent-abstractions-dies-at-86/) [ Mary Heilmann, Painter of Irreverent Abstractions, Dies at 86 ](https://hyperallergic.com/mary-heilmann-painter-of-irreverent-abstractions-dies-at-86/) “My inspiration for art doesn’t really come from the history of painting,” the artist told Hyperallergic in a 2013 interview, “it comes from the community of art as it is now.” | Aaron Short [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/mary-heilmann-painter-of-irreverent-abstractions-dies-at-86/) --- ## Community [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/view-from-the-easel-8.17.26-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-144/) - [A View From the Easel](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-144/): Linda Lay sets up shop in the mobile home she grew up in, collapsing time and tenderly reclaiming the space through her vibrant art practice. - [In Memoriam](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-bou-meng-mary-heilmann-and-kumantjayi-walala-tjapaltjarri/): Remembering Bou Meng, a figurehead of genocide remembrance; Mary Heilmann, a pioneering abstract artist; Kumantjayi (Walala) Tjapaltjarri, an Aboriginal Australian painter, and others. ### Art Problems: How Do I Get the Guggenheim Fellowship? URL: https://hyperallergic.com/art-problems-how-do-i-get-the-guggenheim-fellowship/ Last updated: 2026-08-26T14:06:59.000Z *I've applied for the Guggenheim Fellowship for the last five years and got rejected every time. I believe I meet the required qualifications. Is this even worth doing? Please help! —Beverly, LA* Almost everyone gets rejected. Almost everyone applies more than once. Is it worth doing? That answer depends on information I don’t have. Let’s start with your time. The application process takes a lot of it. If you don’t have much time, don’t apply. The Foundation requests two four-page documents outlining your art-making plan for the year and your qualifications; three references; a list of significant work; work samples; and other basic information about yourself. You don’t put all of that together in a couple of hours. Most artists I work with spend at least a month on the application. You probably won’t win the award. I say that with empathy. In 2026, according to their press release, the Guggenheim Fellowship awarded 223 mid-career fellows between $60,000-$70,000 in 55 different fields of study. Of those recipients, 30 were in fine art and 19 in photography. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### At This Year's Rencontres d'Arles, Photography Rethinks Its Centers URL: https://hyperallergic.com/at-this-years-rencontres-darles-photography-rethinks-its-centers/ Last updated: 2026-08-24T16:28:13.000Z ARLES, France — When the 57th Rencontres d’Arles photography festival opened in the second week of July, its 47 exhibitions filled the ancient churches, modern galleries, and unconventional venues of Arles with contemporary photographs, and almost no air conditioning. Sweaty yet jovial visitors moved through Roman and medieval structures and along bustling streets lined with Parisian-priced cafés, carrying personal Evian misters and plastic spinning fans, new staples of the European summer in the age of climate crisis. Opening week drew 22,000 people, nearly half the population of Arles, a small French city on the Rhône once home to Vincent Van Gogh, yet everyone appeared to know everyone, or at least to know who everyone was. The festival runs through October 4, with a season pass costing €42 euros. More than 115 public events took place over the first week — artist panels, curator tours, book signings at the Arles Books Fair, an open-air cinema program by the documentary platform Tënk, sponsored parties that ran into the small hours — and the majority were free. Some ancillary, unofficial, art-world gatherings required an invitation; the rest simply required knowing where they were happening. “It doesn’t have as much pretension as a lot of the other \[art\] events — although people who have been coming longer would probably push back on that,” said Perry Shimon, a contributing editor at *Autre* and curator of *Filoxenia: Queer Joy in the Mediterranean*, a film and photographic project showcased at the festival. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/852D2E79-82B0-4318-A49D-EFCBE37ED147_1_105_c.jpeg) Charlotte Yonga featured in **The Best Possible Way to Tell the Truth…* curated by Nadine Hounkpatin Director Christoph Wiesner wrote in the catalog that “as everything pushes toward simplification, division and reduction,” the 57th edition of the Rencontres d'Arles would create a space for “complexity and attentiveness.” This year, that center space is given over to those whom the Western canon long consigned to its margins — though the festival itself avoids this vocabulary. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Miles Greenberg Rehearses Myths for the Future URL: https://hyperallergic.com/miles-greenberg-rehearses-myths-for-the-future/ Last updated: 2026-08-21T20:08:22.000Z STOWE, Vt. — Across three adjacent screens, a warrior slathered in black oil and clothed only in dark briefs draws her double-edged sword, carefully, ceremoniously, across another combatant’s. The opponent falls back, both sword arm and sword outstretched to keep her at bay. The warrior grips her blade with her naked left hand, applies force. Her opponent sinks to her knees still holding her own sword like a talisman, like a shield, like a plea for détente. The aggressor pulls back as murky crimson water swims up and around both warriors’ legs. Around them swirl six other performers, all armed with swords and clothed similarly, with their skin wholly coated in a dark lubricant so that only their palms, the insides of their ears, or their gleaming teeth break the obsidian spell. Even the typically white sclera of their eyes look dark (an effect I find out later is produced by wearing contact lenses) so they seem like members of an alien race performing a ritual of yet unknown significance. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Miles-Greenberg-Truth-13.jpeg) Detail of Miles Greenberg, "TЯUTH" (2023), 3-channel video, duration: 15 minutes I am watching “TЯUTH,” a three-channel video installation by Miles Greenberg at his [solo show](https://www.thecurrentnow.org/items/miles-greenberg?ref=hyperallergic.com) at the Current in Stowe, Vermont. The video is a lyrical, 15-minute distillation of a seven-hour durational performance staged in 2023 at Powerhouse Arts in Brooklyn, New York. Though the performers, who are all Black, make dramatic cuts and parries, as a former fencer I can tell they have carefully rehearsed, not intending to hurt each other. Greenberg confirmed this, conveying to me via the Current’s curator and executive director, Rachel Moore, that the swords are steel but the edges dulled. Regardless, the scenes are visually arresting. Throughout the video most of the engagements shown involve two fighters, but one scenario involves several fighters attempting to subdue a single warrior, which raises the stakes of danger, though I am relatively sure no one will be harmed. One of the most entrancing moments arrives when Greenberg, who is one of the performers, draws the flat of his sword against his tongue, thus transferring the black pigment to his mouth as he smiles conspiratorially at the camera. I am reminded of Friedrich Nietzsche’s contention in his [*On the Genealogy of Morality*](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/52319/52319-h/52319-h.htm?ref=hyperallergic.com) that the human animal was originally incalculable and wild, not acting in predictable, normalized ways. He argues that our development of custom, law, and punishment has caused us to become calculable despite our chaotic animal nature. In an adjoining gallery, another video work even more powerfully invokes that sense of our wild, inestimable spirit. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Miles-Greenberg-Mirror-5.jpg) Detail of Miles Greenberg, "LE MIROIR" (2025), 6-channel video, duration: 15 minutes “LE MIROIR,” a six-channel video presentation displayed on six monitors installed in a circle, is the second and final work in this show. It consists of an edited recording of a 2025 performance at Marrakesh's historic [El Badi Palace](https://badipalace.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) for the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, combined with footage shot in the Emirati desert on the border with Oman. There are 10 performers, again covered in black pigment and clothed in black athletic wear at various points in the video, standing atop plinths with mirrored surfaces and seated within a serene pool of water. The plinths are the mirrors, reflecting the surrounding landscape as the performers strike stylized and statuesque poses. Their sclera and irises here appear all white, again making them seem like users of magic, and they are attended by local animals that might [represent their familiars](https://www.britannica.com/topic/familiar?ref=hyperallergic.com): piebald pythons and white storks. At one point, a lone man sits atop a mirrored disc in a modified lotus position while a python swirls around his bare neck, chest, and shoulders. A significant part of the work follows Greenberg and another man engaging in physical play: walking while holding hands, tumbling down a desert dune together, carrying each other on their backs. The Current [describes](https://www.thecurrentnow.org/items/miles-greenberg?ref=hyperallergic.com) the work as “a surreal queer love story inspired by the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice,” which seems plausible but may be a bit too precise for what Greenberg ultimately offers. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Maya Lin to Build Otherworldly “Floating Landscape” at UT Austin URL: https://hyperallergic.com/maya-lin-to-build-otherworldly-floating-landscape-at-ut-austin/ Last updated: 2026-08-31T17:22:22.000Z Maya Lin, the artist and designer behind the [Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC](https://hyperallergic.com/an-anti-monument-to-match-our-moment/), and the Civil Rights Memorial in Alabama, will debut her next public art commission in April 2027 at the University of Texas at Austin. Commissioned by the university's public art program Landmarks, “Floating Landscape” will unfold across a 3,600-square-foot outdoor installation comprising sculptural, architectural, and ecological design elements. “‘Floating Landscape’ is both a work of art and a place people can inhabit,” Andrée Bober, founding director and curator of Landmarks, told *Hyperallergic*. The commission will be housed on the grounds of the Autry C. Stephens engineering building, within a meadow that the artist restored in collaboration with the landscape architecture firm Lionheart Places and the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. At its center will be a curvilinear concrete structure pockmarked with an opening through which the native plants of the meadow will sprout. LED lights embedded in the concrete will mimic the constellations that formed above Austin on the night of the university's founding in 1883. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2024/11/subif.jpg) A view from the path into Maya Lin's Vietnam Veterans Memorial (photo Lisa Yin Zhang/**Hyperallergic*) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Artists Commit to the Bit at This Year’s Vulva Gala URL: https://hyperallergic.com/artists-commit-to-the-bit-at-this-years-vulva-gala/ Last updated: 2026-08-21T22:35:08.000Z LONG BEACH, CA — Artists bedecked in handmade giant vulva costumes paraded down the aisle of the First Congregational Church of Long Beach as part of the School of Sexuality Project's 2026 “Vulva Gala” this Saturday, August 15\. Approximately 30 artists from the Los Angeles area were given homemade costumes to design and decorate as they liked — some adorned them with piercings and embraced self-expression, while others used their vulva outfits to call out injustices such as ICE violence against pregnant women. The second annual event drew approximately 400 guests. Bridgett Khoury is the queer Palestinian-Mexican mother of three who founded the School of Sexuality Project back in 2020 to “shift away from the dry, overly medical lecture style of learning and move into a festival symposium style of learning that builds community," she said. "We center humor and art in order to make an uncomfortable subject a little bit more approachable,” Khoury told *Hyperallergic* in an interview. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/data-src-image-ff07e299-e099-4b54-be0e-9951733c2d7d.jpeg) Some artists dressed as proudly pierced vulvas. Vulva costumes are a big part of the curriculum to destigmatize human anatomy, and Khoury's father actually hand-sews each of them in a diverse collection of skin tones and shapes. The project had lots of extras and shared the hand-sewn anatomical base with artists across the area back in February, with the invitation to create something that reflected their lived experiences and celebrated their bodies. “Giving these blank canvases to artists gave them the opportunity to tell their story,” Khoury said. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### A View From the Easel URL: https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-351/ Last updated: 2026-08-21T16:41:12.000Z Welcome to the 351stinstallment of A View From the Easel, a series in which artists reflect on their workspace. This week, Rah Naqvi paints with soil and tends his studio as a garden of creativity. Want to take part? Check out our [submission guidelines](https://hyperallergic.com/submit-your-workspace-to-a-view-from-the-easel/) and share a bit about your studio with us through [this form](https://forms.gle/Erq7cyGEmMUxKrLe9?ref=hyperallergic.com)! All mediums and workspaces are welcome, including your home studio. --- ## [Rah Naqvi](https://www.rahnaqvi.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com), Amsterdam Noord, Netherlands ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/IMG_3667---Rah.jpeg) ***How long have you been working in this space?*** Almost four years. ***Describe an average day in your studio.*** I have been listening to the anarchist audio library lately as I work. My routines shift greatly because I don’t believe in working solely within the studio; so much of what I am moved by comes from outside. On a studio working day, I’d have my coffee in the studio and start playing around with the work I intend to make. The audiobook usually fluctuates between a world radio station and excerpts of the book I’m listening to. I definitely work on multiple things at once because I get bored and distracted quite easily. The scattered interests keep me engaged longer, so I feel more fulfilled in the different mediums I am able to play around with. I think that really helps each medium better the other. A ritual I have is to always scribble a line or word, or poem that stayed with me while listening to an audiobook or song, onto the wall in my studio. It helps me keep track of what moved me and stays there as a reminder. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/IMG_3673---Rah.jpeg) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### UT Austin’s Harry Ransom Center Provides Funded Fellowships in the Arts and Humanities URL: https://hyperallergic.com/ut-austins-harry-ransom-center-provides-funded-fellowships-in-the-arts-and-humanities/ Last updated: 2026-08-21T16:17:27.000Z The Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin invites applications for its [2027–2028 research fellowship program](https://bit.ly/4qjSMHQ?ref=hyperallergic.com). Up to 50 fellowships will be awarded to support projects that require substantial on-site use of the center’s internationally renowned collections in the humanities. Fellowships are open to graduate students, current and former academic faculty at any career stage, and independent researchers — including journalists and artists — whose work engages deeply with archival materials. Residency lengths range from one week to two months, with stipends provided to support travel and research. The center’s collections span literature, photography, film, art, and cultural history, offering rich opportunities for interdisciplinary exploration. Recent acquisitions that are now accessible to researchers include the [Lorne Michaels Collection](https://bit.ly/46876da?ref=hyperallergic.com), [Ethel Waters Papers](https://bit.ly/45wR78o?ref=hyperallergic.com), and [Irwin Winkler Papers](https://bit.ly/4zlnC70?ref=hyperallergic.com). Research conducted by humanities scholars contributes to a dynamic body of knowledge that reshapes our understanding of what is preserved and valued in our communities. Applicants are encouraged to review the individual residency types and qualifications outlined in the application instructions. The deadline to apply is 5:00 pm, CST on November 6, 2026. ### About the Center The [Harry Ransom Center](https://bit.ly/45x9v10?ref=hyperallergic.com) is a humanities research library and museum that supports discovery, creativity, and scholarship. Its collections include nearly 45 million literary manuscripts, one million rare books, five million photographs, and more than 100,000 works of art. To learn more, visit [ransom.center/fellowships](https://bit.ly/4qjSMHQ?ref=hyperallergic.com). ### Pavilions We Loved in Venice URL: https://hyperallergic.com/pavilions-we-loved-in-venice/ Last updated: 2026-08-21T10:00:32.000Z The Venice Biennale made headlines in the spring, from the triumph of late curator Koyo Kouoh’s *In Minor Keys* to the historic pro-Palestine strike. Now that the dust has settled, Editor-at-Large Hrag Vartanian and critic Aruna D’Souza sat down to talk about the national pavilions — good, bad, and in-between. Today, we’re starting with the pavilions they loved. (Stay tuned for parts two and three.) Also, if you’re looking for a break from Christopher Nolan discourse, Staff Writer Anna Lee has just the ticket: a round-up of six artworks inspired by Homer’s epic, including Romare Bearden’s indelible retelling of the *Odyssey* through the lens of African-American life and culture. Read on for Senior Editor Valentina Di Liscia’s latest installment of Art Movements, a conversation with Bengali-American artist Rina Banerjee, and more. And our longstanding Required Reading column is migrating over to the books newsletter, a bi-weekly dispatch on all things art and literature by yours truly. [Subscribe](https://hyperallergic.com/about/#/portal/account/newsletters) to get it in your inbox on Monday! *—Lakshmi Rivera Amin, associate editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/venice-pavillions.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/national-pavilions-we-loved-at-the-venice-biennale/) [ National Pavilions We Loved at the Venice Biennale ](https://hyperallergic.com/national-pavilions-we-loved-at-the-venice-biennale/) You’ve followed our on-the-ground reporting from the consequential 2026 Venice Biennale, running through November 22\. You’ve read, I hope, our reviews of Koyo Kouoh’s posthumous main exhibition *In Minor Keys*, Alma Allen’s unmemorable United States pavilion, and Gabrielle Goliath’s *Elegy* — displayed at a church after being cancelled by the South African pavilion. You’ve engaged with our coverage of Dayanita Singh’s project at the State Archives of Venice; Arthur Jafa and Richard Prince’s hit-and-miss collaboration; an interview with Khaled Sabsabi, whose Australian pavilion was censored under pressure from pro-Israel groups and later reinstated; and much more from the international exhibition and its collateral events. But we never got to tell you what we really thought of the national pavilions, and which ones you should visit or avoid. As the punishing heat waves of this summer taper off, this might be the perfect time to visit the biennale, if you haven’t already. Below is the first part of a conversation between Editor-at-Large Hrag Vartanian and critic Aruna D’Souza on which pavilions they liked, disliked, or remain torn about. They begin with a provocative argument in favor of national pavilions. Did they suddenly become nation-state stans? No, hold on, hear them out. — *Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief* | Hrag Vartanian and Aruna D’Souza [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/national-pavilions-we-loved-at-the-venice-biennale/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/HyperallergicAnnouncementimageOre-Giron-1.png)](https://hyperallergic.com/radiant-geometries-opens-at-rice-universitys-moody-center-for-the-arts/) ***Radiant Geometries** ****on view at the Moody Center for the Arts, through Dec. 19, 2026** Exploring contemporary expressions of math, science, and technology in Indigenous knowledge systems, this group show includes works by Melissa Cody, Nanibah Chacon, Jordan Ann Craig, Patricia Domínguez, Sara Flores, Kite, Natalia Montoya Lecaros, Patrick Martinez, Cisco Merel, Caroline Monnet, and Eamon Ore-Giron. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/radiant-geometries-opens-at-rice-universitys-moody-center-for-the-arts/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/monet-garden-heatwaves.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/heatwaves-in-france-damage-beloved-flowers-at-monets-gardens/) Record-breaking heatwaves across France [damage beloved flowers](https://hyperallergic.com/heatwaves-in-france-damage-beloved-flowers-at-monets-gardens/) at Monet's gardens in Giverny. The entire stock of multicolored blossoms lining the main alley has withered under the intense heat, sunshine, and persistent drought. --- ## Features [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/artworks-inspired-by-the-odyssey.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/six-epic-artworks-inspired-by-the-odyssey/) [ Six Epic Artworks Inspired by “The Odyssey” ](https://hyperallergic.com/six-epic-artworks-inspired-by-the-odyssey/) From J.M.W. Turner to Romare Bearden, visual artists have long turned to Homer’s masterpiece and the power of myth as sources of inspiration. | Anna Lee [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/six-epic-artworks-inspired-by-the-odyssey/) --- ## Community [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/rina.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/beer-with-a-painter-rina-banerjee/) [ Beer With a Painter: Rina Banerjee ](https://hyperallergic.com/beer-with-a-painter-rina-banerjee/) “When you give up that power to the paint, it becomes your partner, helping you to make something beautiful,” said the Bengali-American artist at her studio in Dumbo. | Jennifer Samet [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/beer-with-a-painter-rina-banerjee/) [ Art Movements: Wolf Kahn Foundation Opens New Space in NYC ](https://hyperallergic.com/wolf-kahn-foundation-opens-new-space-in-nyc/) A permanent home for the artist’s archives, MoMA PS1 is getting a new café, which museum scored a sweet early Rothko, and more in Art Movements. | Valentina Di Liscia [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/wolf-kahn-foundation-opens-new-space-in-nyc/) --- ## Member Comment Thank you, Paddy for writing this. I am unfortunately (?) an honest and trusting person, and have sadly been learning that perceived friendships among artists can easily succumb to competitiveness, professional insecurity and perhaps even jealousy. I find this heart breaking, and it's an a bitter pill to learn to swallow. I appreciate you writing about this because it helps de-mystify what is actually transpiring. —Monique on “[Art Problems: Why Are There So Many Toxic People in the Art World?](https://hyperallergic.com/art-problems-why-are-there-so-many-toxic-people-in-the-art-world/)” --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/underwear-in-art.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/a-brief-history-of-underwear-in-art-nina-edwards/) [ A Brief History of Underwear in Art ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-brief-history-of-underwear-in-art-nina-edwards/) Author Nina Edwards weaves a seamless tale of the social, visual, and economic dimensions of the hidden garments that literally underpin our lives. | Rhea Nayyar [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-brief-history-of-underwear-in-art-nina-edwards/) ### National Pavilions We Loved at the Venice Biennale URL: https://hyperallergic.com/national-pavilions-we-loved-at-the-venice-biennale/ Last updated: 2026-08-24T20:21:02.000Z You've followed our [on-the-ground reporting](https://hyperallergic.com/historic-strike-disrupts-venice-biennale/) from the consequential 2026 Venice Biennale, running through November 22\. You've read, I hope, our reviews of Koyo Kouoh's posthumous main exhibition [*In Minor Keys*](https://hyperallergic.com/centuries-of-endurance-undergird-in-minor-keys/), Alma Allen's unmemorable [United States pavilion](https://hyperallergic.com/a-whole-lot-of-nothing-at-the-us-pavilion/), and Gabrielle Goliath's [*Elegy*](https://hyperallergic.com/gabrielle-goliath-sounds-a-call-to-action-in-venice/) — displayed at a church after being cancelled by the South African pavilion. You’ve engaged with our coverage of Dayanita Singh's [project at the State Archives of Venice](https://hyperallergic.com/how-dayanita-singh-organized-a-major-show-in-venice-without-institutional-funding/); Arthur Jafa and Richard Prince's [hit-and-miss collaboration](https://hyperallergic.com/helter-skelter-cant-look-america-in-the-eye/); an [interview with Khaled Sabsabi](https://hyperallergic.com/khaled-sabsabis-art-of-collective-becoming/), whose Australian pavilion was censored under pressure from pro-Israel groups and later reinstated; and much more from the international exhibition and its collateral events. But we never got to tell you what we really thought of the national pavilions, and which ones you should visit or avoid. As the punishing heat waves of this summer taper off, this might be the perfect time to visit the biennale, if you haven’t already. Below is the first part of a conversation between Editor-at-Large Hrag Vartanian and critic Aruna D'Souza on which pavilions they liked, disliked, or remain torn about. They begin with a provocative argument in favor of national pavilions. Did they suddenly become nation-state stans? No, hold on, hear them out. —*Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief* --- ### Prologue: In Defense of National Pavilions **Hrag Vartanian**: I know it’s a popular trend to decry the national pavilion concept, and past biennials have jettisoned the idea altogether, such as the São Paulo Biennial. But I think what makes Venice important and central is the tension between the main exhibition and the national pavilions. You can decry them all you want, and we should, since the nation-state has a great deal of issues, but our national identities and passports determine everything from funding to media attention. Removing them may make a bunch of academics and curators feel better for appearing above the fray, but all it would do is mask their privilege and fail to grapple with the fact that national borders still dictate so much. Look no further than the Venice Biennale’s own overrepresentation of Nordic countries, fossil fuel-funded monarchies and autocratic states, and other wealthy nations that funnel money to the arts, whether through government or private means. National pavilions also allot an opportunity for smaller nations to center their own artistic conversation. Discarding them would likely result in countries like Timor-Leste, Cape Verde, Nauru, and other nations practically disappearing in the larger exhibition, which happens at other biennials. The idea of removing national pavilions is usually most popular in the most privileged circles, often among those with the strongest passports, which tells you all you need to know. This year’s [boycotts](https://hyperallergic.com/historic-strike-disrupts-venice-biennale/) underlined the pressure points, and while I think some of the intervention was uneven — for instance, I’m not sure why ANGA didn’t highlight Turkey’s role in aiding Israel’s genocide in Gaza, despite the fact that the government has been central to access to gas and other resources, while underscoring the role of every other country with a pavilion in the Arsenale and Giardini — it was still valuable. **Aruna D'Souza**: I agree with this sentiment in general, especially given how many countries were able to show for the first time. Thirteen pavilions from countries in Africa! Panama had a pavilion at a time when Trump is threatening their sovereignty! And there are many more examples besides. The only downside of the way national pavilions are conceived, to my mind, comes when you look at the introductions to these displays. For so many of them, the commissioner or sponsor is listed, then the curator, then the exhibitor, aka the artist. This is how the Biennale itself wants things listed, if their catalog of national participation is any indication. I hate this demotion of the artist to a mere bureaucrat in service of a country so very much. --- ### **Ecuador** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/IMG_4696--1-.jpeg) A view of the Tawna Collective and artist Óscar Santillán’s pavilion for Ecuador (Hrag Vartanian/Hyperallergic) Balancing the Indigenous-led Tawna collective and artist Óscar Santillán, the Ecuadorian pavilion was an oasis of storytelling and reflection. The 26-minute video “Llaki” (2025) by Tawna was a particularly poignant story of how Indigenous people of non-heteronormative sexualities are forced to endure colonial structures, and how those same mores infect and change families and relationships. It doesn’t focus on the sadness of loss, but rather uplifts us by demonstrating how resilient those identities can be. Santillán’s “Medula” (2026) was a curious assemblage that included, according to the label, “Alien DNA,” while a neighboring work used a circuit board. It demonstrated the same resilience and fearless confrontation of the world and its ills. —*HV* ### **Democratic Republic of Congo** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/IMG_1479-1.JPG) Aimé Mpané’s “Le Souffle” (2026) at the National Pavilion of the Democratic Republic of Congo (Aruna D'Souza/Hyperallergic) Nine artists from the DRC and its diaspora brought the heat for the country’s inaugural participation in the biennale, under the trilingual title “Simba Moto! Seize the Fire! Saisis le Feu!” At the center of an installation designed by Johnny Leye, principal in the architectural firm Traumnovelle, an oval structure with plenty of places to sit a while and contemplate the art, we find Aimé Mpané’s “Le Souffle” (2026), in which three figures — a mother and two sons, made out of match sticks so they seem like topographically defined shells — sprawl on an air mattress. They could be comfortably napping in their beds, but they could also be drifting on an inflatable raft, searching for newer, safer homes. The photojournalist and documentary photographer Arlette Bashizi captures scenes from the eastern part of the country, including those of environmentally devastating mining practices. Patrick Bongo’s sculptures, made from recycled rubber, deepen the reflection on the human and environmental costs of dirty industries. Sammy Baloji’s tapestry, “Seeing Katharina” (2026), delves into the colonial histories that brought us to this point. In all, the show is ambitious and fierce. —*AD* _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Six Epic Artworks Inspired by “The Odyssey” URL: https://hyperallergic.com/six-epic-artworks-inspired-by-the-odyssey/ Last updated: 2026-08-20T21:13:20.000Z From Homerist fan clubs in Ancient Greece to a new wave of devotees enthralled by Christopher Nolan's latest blockbuster, *The Odyssey* has inspired almost 30 centuries worth of interpretations, artistic renditions, and adaptations. Trek through the masses at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and you'll be rewarded with an ancient terracotta depiction of a tender scene between Odysseus and his nurse Eurykleia upon his return to Ithaca. Or find yourself entranced by an oil painting of Calypso as a mermaid, all wrapped up in deep purples, graphite lines, and gold leaf. In a more contemporary vein, there are Paul Chan's inflatable sculptures, which generate their own ["moving images"](https://cycladic.gr/en/ektheseis/paul-chan-odysseus-and-the-bathers/?srsltid=AfmBOopzxXhxr7tUjVgSMTXN-I7Fj3V5e1szLJe2fCcIcXH9z-2t9Iad&ref=hyperallergic.com) as they breathe, wriggle, and sigh like the anthropomorphized inflatable tubes outside car washes. The six artworks below bring the poem into dialogue with myriad cultural histories, traditions, and mythologies, positioning the power of myth in its ability to traverse oceans of time and space. --- ## **J.M.W. Turner's "Ulysses Deriding Polyphemus" (1829)** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/N-0508-00-000027-A5-3.jpg) J.M.W. Turner, "Ulysses Deriding Polyphemus" (1829) (courtesy the National Gallery, London) While journalists often heckled J.M.W. Turner for his unconventional techniques, the English Romantic painter nevertheless leaned into his new hazy style to depict Odysseus' hasty getaway from the monumental, man-eating Cyclops, Polyphemus. In this pivotal moment in Book 9, all is briefly well: Our hero boasts a red banner, and a swarm of sea creatures celebrate at the ship's prow. Polyphemus is now a far-off threat, reduced to indistinguishable remains. As sunrays signifying victory rise in the east, the ship sails toward a palette of muddier unknowns, suggesting the misfortunes Odysseus and his crew have yet to face. English art historian John Ruskin deemed the painting "the central picture of Turner's career," and it has remained a prized possession of the National Gallery in London for well over a century. ## **Romare Bearden's *A Black Odyssey* series (1977)** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/RB_014.jpg) Installation view of Romare Bearden’s “The Sea Nymph" (1977), from **A Black Odyssey* series, at a 2014–15 exhibition at Columbia University's Wallach Gallery (photo courtesy Wallach Gallery) Themes of dislocation, mourning, unforeseen trials, and an insatiable longing for home saturate Homer’s *Odyssey*. Artist Romare Bearden situates these affects within an African-American context in his series *A Black Odyssey* (1977), transforming the epic across 20 collages into a vehicle for conveying the Black Atlantic historical imaginary. Bearden's crisp cutouts and linework captivated writers including [Ralph Ellison](https://artmuseum.princeton.edu/art/stories-perspectives/magazine-spring/summer-2011?ref=hyperallergic.com), who applauded the artist's "\[s\]urreal blending of styles, values, hopes and dreams which characterize much of Negro American history." Take "The Sea Nymph," for instance, which depicts Odysseus being rescued by the goddess Ino from a watery death. Bearden centers Black subjects in his rendition of the tale from Book 5, presenting the ship as a metaphor for the floating prisons of the Middle Passage and the tragedies hastened by the cruelty of the transatlantic slave trade. From 2012 to 2015, the series was part of a touring Smithsonian exhibition that ended at Columbia University's Wallach Gallery, just blocks away from Bearden’s former home in Harlem. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Beer With a Painter: Rina Banerjee URL: https://hyperallergic.com/beer-with-a-painter-rina-banerjee/ Last updated: 2026-08-20T20:11:40.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/PORTRAIT_OF_RINA_BANERJEE_AT_ESPACE_LOUIS_VUITTON_TOKYO_2026_Photo_credits_Jeremie_Souteyrat__Louis_Vuitton--1--2.jpg) Rina Banerjee at Espace Louis Vuitton Tokyo, 2026 (photo Jérémie Souteyrat / Louis Vuitton) In Rina Banerjee’s world, fingers become tree roots, hair blends with clouds, and the insides come out. We met at her new studio in Dumbo, Brooklyn, and continued the conversation by phone last month. She had come from an errand at the Social Security Administration office and was preoccupied by concerns about how the second-language English speakers would fare — an empathy deeply connected to themes in her work. Her sculpture comments on societal dislocations and separations, proposing a radical conjoining of the earth and feminine energy. A single sculpture might include light bulbs, incense, eggs, gourds, feathers, souvenirs, furniture, textiles, cowrie shells, and hair. Much like the works themselves, each title is a poem in itself. Banerjee’s paintings vivify watery worlds populated by hybrid animal-human figures, their hair or fingernails cascading into tendrils and melding into clouds, waves, and atmosphere. They float in space, just as her sculptures often hover above the ground. Her work is seductive in its organization of color, its variety of textures, and its arabesques, but she resists grounding her forms, figures, or even the viewer in a definable space. There is never solid footing. In this way, she expresses the experience of immigrant families and beauty found amid precarity. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Rina_Banerjee_Shareena_-_2023_Courtesy_of_the_artist_and_Perrotin.jpg) Rina Banerjee, “Shareena, she chose, lost all her noodles explorer of better beauty in other people poodles. Caught hair in parts like runaway wigs and easter egg washed head with inand ribbons redfooled nature and her suiter to read her as different” (2023), watercolor paper, ink, dye, acrylic, coffee, sodium bicarbonate, and varnish (image courtesy the artist and Perrotin) Banerjee also highlights the women who have uplifted her work. Among them are Jane Farver, who included her work in the 2000 Whitney Biennial; Courtney Martin, who curated an early group exhibition at Smack Mellon and was recently responsible for the Yale Center for British Art’s acquisition of her 2003 [sculpture](https://britishart.yale.edu/news-and-press/yale-center-british-art-showcase-rina-banerjees-immersive-sculpture-first-time?ref=hyperallergic.com), a monumental Taj Mahal made from a steel-and-copper frame wrapped in a skin of pink plastic; Laura Steward Heon, who curated *Yankee Remix* at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA); and Jodi Throckmorton, who curated her traveling mid-career survey exhibition, [*Make Me a Summary of the World*](https://hyperallergic.com/rina-banerjee-make-me-a-summary-of-the-world-pennsylvania-academy-of-fine-art/). We spoke about her journey from polymer engineering to painting, the symbolism of her materials as related to her family’s migrations in a postcolonial world, the influence of artists including Richard Mayhew and Santa Barraza on her work, and the pantheon of Hindu female deities. Rina Banerjee was born in Kolkata, India, in 1963 and lived briefly in London and Manchester, England, before moving to New York City. She currently lives and works in Brooklyn. She received a BS in Polymer Engineering from Case Western Reserve University and an MFA from the Yale School of Art in 1995\. Banerjee’s work is currently on view in two institutional exhibitions: [*You made me leave home…*](https://us.louisvuitton.com/eng-us/magazine/articles/espace-louis-vuitton-tokyo?ref=hyperallergic.com) at the Louis Vuitton Espace in Tokyo, Japan; and [*Rina Banerjee: Take me, take me, take me . . . to the Palace of love*](https://britishart.yale.edu/exhibitions-programs/rina-banerjee-take-me-take-me-take-me-palace-love?ref=hyperallergic.com) at the Yale Center for British Art. --- _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Heatwaves in France Damage Beloved Flowers at Monet’s Gardens URL: https://hyperallergic.com/heatwaves-in-france-damage-beloved-flowers-at-monets-gardens/ Last updated: 2026-08-20T20:05:10.000Z Amid a series of fatal, record-breaking heatwaves rippling across France, gardeners maintaining Claude Monet's house and gardens in Giverny reported that the scorching conditions have damaged the Impressionist painter's beloved nasturtiums. In a video segment broadcast on [*France24*](https://www.france24.com/en/heatwaves-damage-monet-s-gardens-in-the-north-of-france?ref=hyperallergic.com) this week, deputy head gardener Rémi Lecoutre said that this is the first time that heat damage has occurred to this extent, calling the matter “incredibly sad.” The entire stock of multicolored blossoms lining the main alley has withered under the intense heat, sunshine, and persistent drought. In an email to *Hyperallergic*, a spokesperson for Monet's house and gardens mentioned that the nasturtiums will have to be replanted, but assured that they'd be ready tobloom again next year. “Fortunately, we have a very effective nighttime automatic watering system that allows irrigation right at ground level,” the spokesperson explained, adding that the gardeners' dense grouping of plants reduces water loss. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/15.jpg) A view of the main alley, speckled with vibrant flowers and lush leaves _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Wolf Kahn Foundation Opens New Space in NYC URL: https://hyperallergic.com/wolf-kahn-foundation-opens-new-space-in-nyc/ Last updated: 2026-08-27T17:04:27.000Z [*Art Movements,*](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/art-movements/) *published every Thursday afternoon, is a roundup of must-know news, appointments, awards, and other art-world happenings.* --- ### Wolf Kahn Foundation Opens Permanent Space in NYC The legacy of Wolf Kahn, the German-born American artist whose lush, hue-drenched landscapes bridged Realism and Color Field painting, is entering a new era with a permanent space for his foundation in New York City. The Wolf Kahn Foundation and Archives at 134 West 26th Street will be open by appointment starting Monday, August 24, one year ahead of the late artist's centennial in October 2027\. It’s the first designated center for scholarship on the painter, housing a trove of research materials including early studies, letters, lectures, publications, and photographs. Ellen McCulloch-Lovell, president of the Wolf Kahn Foundation and a friend of Kahn until his death in 2020, told *Hyperallergic* that while he traveled widely and lived half the year on a hill farm in Vermont, the artist “always returned to his studio in NYC.” “A refugee from Nazi Germany, he rejoined his family in the US, graduated from NY's High School of Music and Art, and after a stint in the Navy, took classes at the New School for Social Research and entered the Hans Hofmann School. He taught at Cooper Union, met many of his artist peers of the day, and helped organize Hansa Gallery,” McCulloch-Lovell said. “The Foundation's presence in New York reflects his career and identification as a Second Generation, New York School artist,” she added. --- ### MoMA PS1 Gets a New Eatery In more New York news, MoMA PS1 will open a café led by chef DeVonn Francis in early October. Named Symone and inspired by Francis’s Caribbean and Jamaican roots, its menu will feature French-African cuisine, includingcurry chicken salad sandwiches and patties. The restaurant will soft launch with select menu items during Printed Matter’s NY Art Book Fair from September 24–27\. Sounds mouthwatering — just hope it’s not a classic $20 art-world sandwich situation. --- ### Acquisitions ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Madea-detail.JPG) Stephany Brown, “Madea: America’s Heart Song” (detail) (2025) (image courtesy Mississippi Museum of Art) - The Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson has added a trove of artworks to its collection, including photographs by **Tommy Kha,** 33 mid-20th-century Choctaw baskets, a hand-drawn abstract compos**i**tion by **Rob Carpenter**, and 18 works from **Doy Gorton**’s *White South* series, photographs taken between 1969 and 1970 that document Southern society during legalized white supremacy. Also among the new holdings is heritage quilter **Stephany Brown**’s “Madea” (2025), a piece inspired by the African-American women “on whose shoulders she stands,” in her words. - The Cape Ann Museum in Gloucester, Massachusetts, scored an exquisite early watercolor and gouache painting by **Mark Rothko**. “Untitled (wharf, Gloucester, Massachusetts)” (1934), donated to the institution by the artist’s son, **Christopher Rothko**, depicts the city’s inner harbor as seen from neighboringEast Gloucester, where the painter summered with friends **Adolph Gottlieb** and **Milton Avery.** --- ### What Else Happened? _This post is for subscribers only._ ### “Radiant Geometries" Opens at Rice University's Moody Center for the Arts URL: https://hyperallergic.com/radiant-geometries-opens-at-rice-universitys-moody-center-for-the-arts/ Last updated: 2026-08-20T16:47:42.000Z [*Radiant Geometries: Vectors of Knowledge from the Indigenous Americas*](https://moody.rice.edu/exhibitions/radiant-geometries?ref=hyperallergic.com)explores contemporary expressions of math, science, and technology in Indigenous knowledge systems. Through a framing of North, Central, and South America as interconnected regions, the group show includes Melissa Cody, Nanibah Chacon, Jordan Ann Craig, Patricia Domínguez, Sara Flores, Kite, Natalia Montoya Lecaros, Patrick Martinez, Cisco Merel, Caroline Monnet, and Eamon Ore-Giron. At a moment when the social and environmental consequences of technological advancement are prompting global concern, this selection of works — among them paintings, sculptures, textiles, video works, and site-specific commissions — conveys the value of relational teachings in this ongoing debate. Set on the campus of a leading research university, the presentation includes artists whose works evoke the symbiotic relationship between art, math, technology, and science, often through the language of abstraction. Among them, Sara Flores’s paintings foreground the interdependence of all life forms and call attention to interspecies care; Patrick Martinez’s painted sculpture, inspired by the pre-Columbian murals of Cacaxtla, positions Indigenous architecture as sites of material knowledge and urban intelligence; Natalia Montoya Lecaros’s totemic sculptures draw on an Aymara ceremonial dance that honors agricultural cycles; Caroline Monnet’s Styrofoam installation etched with Anishinaabe iconography, reconsiders colonial legacies in architecture; Patricia Domínguez’s videos explore astronomy and plant intelligence to bridge spiritual and scientific divides; Cisco Merel’s totemic work references protective sigils found in Guna textile traditions; and Melissa Cody’s jacquard tapestry fuses Navajo textile traditions with computational aesthetics. In addition, newly commissioned works by Ore-Giron and Chacon extend the visibility of knowledge as an evolving technology, illuminating its transmission across generations while continuously responding to the future. The exhibition, running September 4 - December 19, 2026, opens with a reception featuring remarks from Nanibah Chacon and Natalia Montoya Lecaros. Subsequent public programming features a collaboration with [Danza Azteca Macuilxochitl and Nameless Sound,](https://moody.rice.edu/events/dimensions-variable-danza-azteca-macuilxochitl-nameless-sound?ref=hyperallergic.com) as well as [Eamon Ore-Giron in conversation](https://moody.rice.edu/events/artists-dialogue-eamon-ore-giron-lori-boornazian-diel-steven-gullberg?ref=hyperallergic.com) with Rice Professor Lori Boornazian Diel, and Steven Gullberg, Professor of Cultural Astronomy at the University of Oklahoma. ### A Progressive Win for Artists in Florida URL: https://hyperallergic.com/a-progressive-win-for-artists-in-florida/ Last updated: 2026-08-20T10:00:22.000Z Angie Nixon's primary victory in Florida is a step forward for affordability, labor rights, and working families. It may also be a win for the arts. The now-official Senate candidate and Democratic Socialist started a bookstore and community art space in her native Jacksonville, dedicated to uplifting Black culture and local artists. Plus, did you know she co-wrote a comic book with her daughter? BRB, moving to Florida (words I never thought I'd write...) There's more to cheer on today. The Speed Museum is repatriating two dozen artifacts to the Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, including sacred objects that belong in rituals and ceremonies — not behind glass. “Family members can now come back and say, ‘wow, my great grandpa made this,’” Fred Mosqueda, an Arapaho Tribe representative who lives in Oklahoma, told Staff Reporter Anna Lee. In some personal news, I was recently on the Atlas Obscura podcast discussing a topic that's occupied much of my research and heart in recent years: Casa Cueva, Juan O'Gorman's cave dwelling in Mexico City, and the controversy over its disappearance. Listen [here](https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-cave-house-in-mexico-city/id1555769970?i=1000782108467&ref=hyperallergic.com). *—Valentina Di Liscia, senior editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/angie-nixon.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/angie-nixon-champion-of-black-art-and-culture-wins-florida-senate-primary-in-upset/) [ Angie Nixon, Champion of Black Art and Culture, Wins Florida Senate Primary in Upset ](https://hyperallergic.com/angie-nixon-champion-of-black-art-and-culture-wins-florida-senate-primary-in-upset/) Angie Nixon, a Florida congresswoman and Democratic Socialist with a track record of supporting universal health care, denouncing Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and championing Black arts and culture, won the state’s Senate primary race last night in a major upset. With less than a million dollars funding her largely grassroots campaign, she clinched 56% of the votes to beat out retired US Army Lieutenant Colonel and combat veteran Alex Vindman, a moderate with significant party endorsements and $16 million in backing. The 42-year-old Jacksonville native is now set to face incumbent Republican Senator Ashley Moody in the November general election. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/angie-nixon-champion-of-black-art-and-culture-wins-florida-senate-primary-in-upset/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Ronnarong-KHAMPHA--ACC-2012-2021--in-Ink-Neo-Lanna-Dance.-Photo-by-ALaLa-Dance-Fest.-2.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/funding-international-dialogue-the-asian-cultural-council-opens-2027-global-grant-cycle/) ****Funding International Dialogue: The Asian Cultural Council Opens 2027 Global Grant Cycle** ACC invites artists, arts professionals, scholars, and organizations to apply from Oct 1 to Nov 10, 2026. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/funding-international-dialogue-the-asian-cultural-council-opens-2027-global-grant-cycle/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/speed-museum.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/speed-art-museum-returns-24-native-artifacts-to-oklahoma-tribes/) - The Speed Art Museum in Kentucky [will return 24 Native American artifacts](https://hyperallergic.com/speed-art-museum-returns-24-native-artifacts-to-oklahoma-tribes/) to tribes in Oklahoma. - The MIT List Visual Arts Center [adds nine new acquisitions](https://hyperallergic.com/mit-students-can-now-borrow-works-by-jennie-c-jones-and-nayland-blake/) to the Student Lending Collection, including works by Jennie C. Jones and Nayland Blake. ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/galentz.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/haroutiun-galentzs-true-colors/) [ Haroutiun Galentz’s True Colors ](https://hyperallergic.com/haroutiun-galentzs-true-colors/) A new book traces the function of color as both a mask and a mirror in psychological portraits by the modernist painter, who lost his parents during the Armenian Genocide. | Tamar Boyadjian [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/haroutiun-galentzs-true-colors/) --- ## Community [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/In-Memoriam-8.20.26.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-bou-meng-mary-heilmann-and-kumantjayi-walala-tjapaltjarri/) [ Remembering Bou Meng, Mary Heilmann, and Kumantjayi (Walala) Tjapaltjarri ](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-bou-meng-mary-heilmann-and-kumantjayi-walala-tjapaltjarri/) This week, we honor a figurehead of genocide remembrance, a pioneering abstract artist, and an Aboriginal Australian painter. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-bou-meng-mary-heilmann-and-kumantjayi-walala-tjapaltjarri/) --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/chess-2.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-contentious-history-of-a-lost-cave-house-in-mexico-city/) [ The Contentious History of a Lost Cave House in Mexico City ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-contentious-history-of-a-lost-cave-house-in-mexico-city/) The destruction of “Casa Cueva,” one of Juan O’Gorman’s last architectural works, pitted two great artists against each other in one of the most divisive episodes in Mexican contemporary art history. | Valentina Di Liscia [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-contentious-history-of-a-lost-cave-house-in-mexico-city/) ### Speed Art Museum Returns 24 Native Artifacts to Oklahoma Tribes URL: https://hyperallergic.com/speed-art-museum-returns-24-native-artifacts-to-oklahoma-tribes/ Last updated: 2026-08-22T17:40:40.000Z Two dozen cultural treasures will head home to Native American communities tonight, August 19, following a ceremony at the Speed Art Museum in Kentucky, where they are currently housed. The Louisville museum’s first repatriation under the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) includes artifacts that belong to the Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, such as beaded bags, a turtle amulet, and a cradle board. In 2023, Speed curators connected with tribal representatives to determine which items in the museum’s collection were due for repatriation under NAGPRA. The act [stipulates](https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title25/chapter32&edition=prelim&ref=hyperallergic.com) that items associated with a "particular Indian tribe or Native Hawaiian organization" must be repatriated upon the request of a representative or descendant of that group. During a site visit the following year, the team found that 24 out of nearly 100 possible objects were eligible for return, as first reported by Louisville’s [*Courier Journal*](https://www.courier-journal.com/story/entertainment/arts/2026/08/18/speed-art-museum-returns-sacred-belongings-to-indigenous-tribes/91353181007/?ref=hyperallergic.com). "Family members can now come back and say, 'wow, my great grandpa made this,'" Fred Mosqueda, a representative of the Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma, told *Hyperallergic*. "These items are sacred." One such item in the collection is a sundance rattle, a Native ceremonial instrument used in rituals across North America. Traditionally made of animal leather, bird feathers, and claws, the rattle mimics the plodding of a [herd of buffalo](https://www.animalsandsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/lawrence.pdf?ref=hyperallergic.com). Another artifact set for repatriation is a Cheyenne cradle board, an object traditionally made by a community of women and used in perpetuity for the tribe’s next expecting mother. The items originally came to the museum in 1930 as a gift from German-American photographer Frederick Weygold, said Speed Museum Assistant Curator and NAGPRA coordinator Sirene Martin. NAGPRA guidelines were [updated in 2024, ](https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/12/13/2023-27040/native-american-graves-protection-and-repatriation-act-systematic-processes-for-disposition-or?ref=hyperallergic.com)strengthening tribal authority in the repatriation process and requiring museums to update their inventories of Native objects. Chester Whiteman, another representative of the Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma, told *Hyperallergic* that before the changes, museums and institutions "would only let us see what they wanted us to see." Following the revisions, the [American Museum of Natural History](https://hyperallergic.com/american-museum-of-natural-history-repatriates-remains-of-124-native-people/) in New York returned the remains of 124 Native people and 90 Native cultural artifacts in July 2024 (the museum still holds thousands of human remains in its collection). Later that year, the National Park Service [awarded $3 million](https://hyperallergic.com/national-park-service-allots-3m-to-repatriate-native-heritage/) in grants toward Native repatriation efforts across the country. “So much of the repatriation is invisible to the public,” Martin told *Hyperallergic*. “This asks us to bring the human back to the humanities.” The repatriation is a welcome break from a challenging year at the institution, which dissolved its educational department and laid off nine employees last [October](https://hyperallergic.com/kentucky-speed-art-museum-axes-education-department/), citing financial challenges. The Speed Museum’s chief curator Erika Holmquist-Wall will moderate a panel discussion on NAGPRA and the repatriation process with Mosqueda, Whiteman, and Martin at this [evening’s event](https://www.speedmuseum.org/event/speed-salon-talks-theory/?ref=hyperallergic.com). Following the conversation and a recessional ceremony, the tribal representatives Mosqueda and Whiteman will load the sacred objects into a vehicle and begin driving them back to their rightful homes in Oklahoma. Mosqueda and Whiteman said they plan to keep the items in their offices until they can secure a dedicated storage area. "All these articles should be in Native hands," Whiteman added. "They weren't made to be put on display. They weren't made to make money off of. They belong to somebody." ### Remembering Bou Meng, Mary Heilmann, and Kumantjayi (Walala) Tjapaltjarri URL: https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-bou-meng-mary-heilmann-and-kumantjayi-walala-tjapaltjarri/ Last updated: 2026-08-25T14:10:17.000Z [*In Memoriam*](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/in-memoriam/) *is published every Wednesday afternoon and honors those we recently lost in the art world.* --- **Bou Meng** (1941–2026) *Cambodian painter who survived the Khmer Rouge* His ability to [paint propaganda portraits](https://apnews.com/article/cambodia-khmer-rouge-bou-meng-tuol-sleng-s21-4249e0990d282b636e0f3eedcc600ad2?ref=hyperallergic.com) of then-Cambodian dictator Pol Pot and other leaders, including China's Chairman Mao Zedong and North Korea's President Kim Il Sung, led to his being one of only seven people known to have lived through the Khmer Rouge torture center in Cambodia. He was one of the most recognizable figures of Cambodian genocide remembrance, notably testifying before the national courts against a prison chief in 2009\. Later, he began painting murals of holy scenes in meditation centers and Buddhist temples. Bou Meng "actively contributed to the process of seeking justice for the victims," the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum [said](https://cambodianess.com/article/s-21-survivor-bou-meng-dies-at-85-as-living-witnesses-to-khmer-rouge-era-dwindle?ref=hyperallergic.com) in a statement, adding that his death represented "the loss of an important historical witness to the crimes committed by the Pol Pot genocide against the Cambodian people." --- **Mary Heilmann** (1940–2026) *Pioneering abstract artist* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/image-17.png) Mary Heilmann at the opening of **303 Gallery: 35 Years* on July 18, 2019, in New York City (photo Sylvain Gaboury/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images) An abstract painter who rubbed elbows with artists like Richard Serra and Robert Smithson, she enjoyed a late-career renaissance in her 60s, when she began making the boxy plywood chairs for which she is best known. She received a solo show and retrospective at the New Museum, and her work has been shown at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Whitechapel Gallery in London, and more. [*Read the obituary*](https://hyperallergic.com/mary-heilmann-painter-of-irreverent-abstractions-dies-at-86/) --- **Daria Alyoshkina** (1982–2026) *Ukrainian graphic artist, paper-cutter, and sculptor* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Untitled-6.jpg) Daria Alyoshkina (photo @daria.alyoshkina via [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/DXrd6LIDK6P/?hl=en&ref=hyperallergic.com), screenshot Lisa Yin Zhang/**Hyperallergic*) Her [sculptures](https://www.stvolodymyr.org/news/in-memory-of-daria-alyoshkina?ref=hyperallergic.com) have been shown across Ukraine and in Poland, and her *vytynanky* paper cuttings — a monochrome Ukrainian form — have been shown in the United States, Poland, France, Germany, and beyond. --- **Jack Crabtree** (1938–2026) *British figurative painter* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/image-18.png) Jack Crabtree (photo Walter Waygood via [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/walter.waygood.12/posts/jack-crabtreea-highly-respected-person-an-outstanding-lecturer-and-a-true-artist/2317679215723823/), screenshot Lisa Yin Zhang/**Hyperallergic*) His [social realist paintings](https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2026/aug/13/jack-crabtree-obituary?ref=hyperallergic.com) of steelworkers, miners, and industrial communities drew upon his own working-class childhood. He documented coalfields in south Wales and became the first recipient of the Ruhr Arts Fellowship in 1977, which he spent documenting the German coal and steel industry. --- **John D. Edwards** (1952–2026) *British painter and sculptor* He exhibited his [luminous, semi-abstract paintings](https://johndedwards.com/about/?ref=hyperallergic.com) at galleries in London, New York, Chicago, and Tokyo until a cancer diagnosis, which led him to write and illustrate *How Cancer Saved My Life* (2007). In his work in the art world, notably at the Waddington Gallery, he crossed paths with artists like Jim Dine, Kenneth Noland, Dan Flavin, and more. --- **Robin Hill** (1932–2026) *Wildlife artist and fixture of Washington, DC art* His [hyper-detailed illustrations](https://georgetowner.com/articles/2026/08/17/robin-hill-artist-birdman-neighbor-dies-at-94/?ref=hyperallergic.com) of the natural world — in particular, birds — recalled those of artist and naturalist John James Audubon. With his wife, Marcia Carter, he turned workspaces around Washington, DC into artistic salons. --- **Thora Jacobson** (1949–2026) *Champion of art in Philadelphia* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/image-19.png) Thora Jacobson (left) (photo Mural Arts Philadelphia via [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1597711892401170&set=pcb.1597712125734480), screenshot Lisa Yin Zhang/**Hyperallergic*) She was CEO of the Fleisher Art Memorial, executive director of the Philadelphia Art Alliance, director of design review for Mural Arts Philadelphia, chair of the Philadelphia Art Commission, among [many more roles in the arts in the city](https://www.inquirer.com/obituaries/thora-jacobson-obituary-philadelphia-ridley-art-fleisher-20260813.html?ref=hyperallergic.com). She was also a curator, served on juries for exhibitions, and wrote essays for catalogs and art books, winning the Visionary Woman Award from Moore College of Art and one for lifetime achievement from Tri-State Artists Equity. "Thora was a force of nature," Monica Zimmerman, executive director of the Flesicher Art Memorial, told *Hyperallergic*. "She modeled what real access and equity in the arts could look like decades before it was a bigger conversation." --- **Kumantjayi (Walala) Tjapaltjarri** (d. 2026) *Australian Aboriginal painter* A member of the Papunya Tula, an artist cooperative of Aboriginal people from Australia's Western Desert, his [paintings](https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/arts-and-culture/pintupi-nine-artist-s-death-breaks-link-to-pre-white-australia-20260810-p60mxd?ref=hyperallergic.com) explore subjects such as the Tingari Cycle, an Aboriginal epic. He was one of the Pintupi Nine, a group of Indigenous nomads from Western Australia's Gibson Desert known for making contact with settler society in 1984, and his work is in notable collections internationally, including those of Steve Martin and Beyoncé. --- **Patrick Vilaire** (1941–2026) *Haitian sculptor, painter, and ceramicist* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/image-20.png) Patrick Vilaire (photo Tito.ht via [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1546933077473925&set=pcb.1546933117473921), screenshot Lisa Yin Zhang/**Hyperallergic*) He [explored](https://repeatingislands.com/2026/08/16/haitian-visual-artist-patrick-vilaire-passes-away/?ref=hyperallergic.com) power, memory, oppression, death, Vodou, and Haitian history in his sculptures, paintings, and more. He was also a writer and researcher, and was named Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government in 1991 and received the Édouard Glissant Prize in 2010\. ### Haroutiun Galentz’s True Colors URL: https://hyperallergic.com/haroutiun-galentzs-true-colors/ Last updated: 2026-08-19T18:27:02.000Z Painter Haroutiun Galentz (1910–1967), orphaned and displaced during the Armenian Genocide, remains one of the 20th century’s most vital yet enigmatic modernist figures. He navigated the impossible demands of Lebanese nationalism, French colonialism, Soviet Stalinism, and Armenian socialism, but his work has been studied differently across these contexts. By reuniting his displaced works and reading them chronologically, [*Haroutiun Galentz: The Form of Colour*](https://www.skira-arte.com/products/haroutiun-galentz-the-form-of-colour?ref=hyperallergic.com) (2025) argues that the artist developed a singular modernist language rooted in color and psychological portraiture. This language, editors Vartan Karapetian and Marie Tomb claim, was not a rejection of his circumstances but a sophisticated response to displacement and ideological pressure. The argument is persuasive, but it raises an uncomfortable question: If color and form were sincere expressions of a fractured self, were they also a convenient disguise, a coping mechanism that protected him from confronting the harsh realities of his life? The book argues, especially through art historian Silvia Burini's semiotic essay, that Galentz's portraits and landscapes used chromatic intensity and structural distortion to express inner truth. Burini writes that Galentz's bold, often unnatural colors — vivid reds, deep blues, striking violets — are not arbitrary but function as emotional equivalents. Consider the self-portrait "Bonjour Tristesse” (1955). The title, borrowed from Françoise Sagan's 1954 novel, announces melancholy. To express it, Galentz fractures his own face into warm and cool planes, shadow and light. The sadness is not in the expression but in the structure of color. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/145.jpeg) Haroutiun Galentz, "Female Portrait" (1965), oil on canvas (image courtesy Skira) What emerges is Galentz's radical understanding of portraiture. He did not paint what a person looks like. He painted what it feels like to be that person, or perhaps what it feels like to be himself looking at that person. He painted faces and landscapes the way he did because realism felt untrue to his experience of the loss of both of his parents in 1915 amid the violence and displacement of the Armenian Genocide; of teaching himself to make art as an unhoused orphan in Syria; of a fractured, displaced world. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Angie Nixon, Champion of Black Art and Culture, Wins Florida Senate Primary in Upset URL: https://hyperallergic.com/angie-nixon-champion-of-black-art-and-culture-wins-florida-senate-primary-in-upset/ Last updated: 2026-08-20T14:30:35.000Z Angie Nixon, a Florida state representative and Democratic Socialist with a track record of supporting universal health care, denouncing Israel's genocide in Gaza, and championing Black arts and culture, won the state's Senate primary race last night in a major upset. With less than a million dollars funding her largely grassroots campaign, she clinched 56% of the votes to beat out retired US Army Lieutenant Colonel and combat veteran Alex Vindman, a moderate with significant party endorsements and $16 million in backing. The 42-year-old Jacksonville native is now set to face incumbent Republican Senator Ashley Moody in the November general election. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Funding International Dialogue: The Asian Cultural Council Opens 2027 Global Grant Cycle URL: https://hyperallergic.com/funding-international-dialogue-the-asian-cultural-council-opens-2027-global-grant-cycle/ Last updated: 2026-08-19T15:56:23.000Z [The Asian Cultural Council (ACC)](https://bit.ly/4c6AGTR?ref=hyperallergic.com) is officially seeking applicants for its 2027 Global Grant Cycle. Designed for artists, arts professionals, scholars, and organizations, ACC fellowships provide the funding, freedom, and time to pursue open-ended research rather than final productions. This unique focus on process encourages grantees to foster deep international dialogue, build lasting relationships, and advance mutual understanding between the United States and Asia. To date, ACC has supported approximately 6,000 transformative exchanges across 16 disciplines and 26 countries and regions. For those ready to expand their research, collaborate globally, and join a vibrant international network of alumni, submit an application this fall. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/AlterBibo--a-Solo-Exhibition-by-Tekla-Tamoria.-Curated-by-VANINI-Belarmino--ACC-2014-.-Co-organised-by-Belarmino-Partners-and-ChinaHouse--Georgetown--Penang--Malaysia--12-March-14-April-2025.-Photo-by-Chia-Chieh-Thum.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Julie-McMillan--Pareena-Lin--and-Lai-Yi-Ohlsen-in-Benjamin-Akio-KIMITCH---s--ACC-2024--Tiger-Hands-at-The-Shed--2022.-Photo-by-Erin-Baiano.-3.jpg) Left: AlterBibo, a Solo Exhibition by Tekla Tamoria. Curated by VANINI Belarmino (ACC 2014). Co-organised by Belarmino&Partners and ChinaHouse, Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia, 12 March-14 April 2025\. Photo by Chia Chieh Thum; Right: Julie McMillan, Pareena Lin, and Lai Yi Ohlsen in Benjamin Akio KIMITCH’s (ACC 2024) Tiger Hands at The Shed, 2022\. Photo by Erin Baiano. ### **Key Information:** - **Eligible Fields:** Architecture, Art History, Crafts, Curation, Dance, Ethnomusicology, Film, Museum Studies, Music, Photography, Theater, Visual Art, and more. - **Eligibility:** Citizens or legal permanent residents of the United States and 25 eligible countries and regions in Asia. - **Application Window:** Applications are accepted online from **October 1 - November 10, 2026**. --- Connect with ACC on [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/asianculturalcouncil/?hl=en&ref=hyperallergic.com), [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/asian-cultural-council/?ref=hyperallergic.com), and [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/asianculturalcouncil/). Review the complete 2027 grant guidelines and begin your application at [www.asianculturalcouncil.org](https://bit.ly/4c6AGTR?ref=hyperallergic.com). For additional questions regarding eligibility or the application process, please contact: [application@accny.org](mailto:application@accny.org). ### MIT Students Can Now Borrow Works by Jennie C. Jones and Nayland Blake URL: https://hyperallergic.com/mit-students-can-now-borrow-works-by-jennie-c-jones-and-nayland-blake/ Last updated: 2026-08-19T19:50:22.000Z Celebrating the 49th year of its beloved [Student Lending Art Program](https://listart.mit.edu/art-artists/slap?ref=hyperallergic.com) (SLAP), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) List Visual Arts Center has added nine acquisitions to its collection, available for students to borrow for free. Among over 700 framed artworks are new additions from artists including American Artist, Jennie C. Jones and Nayland Blake — all ofwhich will be exhibited at the List Center at the end of the month. Since 1977, the program has enabled students to customize their living space with a work of museum-quality contemporary art for the academic year. The Student Lending Collection will be displayed in its entiretyat the List Center from September 1 through September 13, during which students can peruse and apply for their preferred artworks through the program's lottery system. Those who aren't selected via lottery are still able to choose a remaining artwork on a first-come, first-served basis. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### The Kristi Noem Statue Nobody Asked For URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-kristi-noem-statue-nobody-asked-for/ Last updated: 2026-08-19T10:00:37.000Z It’s just one horseman rather than four, but it certainly portends apocalypse: A bronze sculpture of former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem — who spearheaded Trump’s deadly immigration crackdown in Minneapolis — was just unveiled in South Dakota. She’s depicted in full so-called “ICE Barbie” attire, because that’s the kind of year we’re having. The Medina Triennial, thankfully, is a breath of fresh air. Sara Reisman visited the New York village, where artwork is slotted all around town, including in the local high school, on Main Street, and even on the Erie Canal. It’s a vision of public infrastructure as site of sharing, learning, growth, and repair. Imagine that. *—Lisa Yin Zhang, associate editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/medina.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/art-as-infrastructure-at-the-medina-triennial/) [ Art as Infrastructure at the Medina Triennial ](https://hyperallergic.com/art-as-infrastructure-at-the-medina-triennial/) It was artist Mary Mattingly, known for her large-scale, often livable floating structures that address climate change in the form of rising water, who first told me about the Medina Triennial about a year ago. Knowing that Mattingly was launching her “Floating Garden” (2026), a new, permanent iteration of Swale, a publicly accessible edible garden she first launched on New York City’s East River in 2016, was enough to get me to Medina. But having attended the opening weekend of the Venice Biennale the month before, I was wary of traveling to see art at a time when so much of the world is in crisis. Compared to my Venice experience, however, Medina was one of relief, maybe even restoration. A sprawling yet rigorously organized community-wide exhibition in a rural community in Western New York bisected by the Erie Canal, the inaugural edition of the beautifully curated Medina Triennial draws on historical site-responsive shows with an eye toward sustainability. Bringing together more than 100 artworks by 39 artists across 10 locations, Co-Artistic Directors Kari Conte and Karin Laansoo commissioned and selected projects that synthesize art, ecology, architecture, and rural culture to explore maintenance as a vital social, political, and environmental act. Through a selection of works that examine the impacts of labor, regulation, extraction, and repair of our shared systems, the curators return to the central question: What does it take to keep things going? | Sara Reisman [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/art-as-infrastructure-at-the-medina-triennial/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/kristi-noem-statue.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/halloween-comes-early-with-new-kristi-noem-statue-in-south-dakota/) - Former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem [welcomes a sculpture](https://hyperallergic.com/halloween-comes-early-with-new-kristi-noem-statue-in-south-dakota/) of herself with her beloved steed, regrettably named “Iceman,” in South Dakota. - Taiwanese artists [accuse the Gwangju Biennale](https://hyperallergic.com/taiwanese-artists-accuse-south-koreas-gwangju-biennale-of-censorship/) of political censorship after event organizers axed the country’s name from promotional materials. - The faculty union at the School of Visual Arts in New York City says some of its members [were “blindsided” by the cancellations of courses and programs](https://hyperallergic.com/school-of-visual-arts-faculty-blindsided-by-course-cuts-amid-22m-deficit/) as the school pursues budget cuts amid a structural deficit. --- ## Feature [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/lover-love.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/shu-lea-cheang-gives-trans-artists-the-wings-to-fly/) [ Shu Lea Cheang Gives Trans Artists the Wings to Fly ](https://hyperallergic.com/shu-lea-cheang-gives-trans-artists-the-wings-to-fly/) The filmmaker invites visitors to move and reposition the screens in her four-channel video at Leslie-Lohman, an ever-evolving mosaic of trans performances and dreamscapes. | Livia Caligor [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/shu-lea-cheang-gives-trans-artists-the-wings-to-fly/) --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/ghana-looted-gold.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/why-wont-britain-return-looted-gold-to-ghana/) [ Why Won’t Britain Return Looted Gold to Ghana? ](https://hyperallergic.com/why-wont-britain-return-looted-gold-to-ghana/) In “The African Kingdom of Gold,” Barnaby Phillips explores how British colonial forces plundered the Asante people and expertly traces the stolen artifacts’ afterlives in museum storage. | Aditya Iyer [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/why-wont-britain-return-looted-gold-to-ghana/) --- ## ICYMI [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/august-photo-book-2.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/10-photo-books-to-read-this-month/) [ 10 Photo Books to Read This Month ](https://hyperallergic.com/10-photo-books-to-read-this-month/) Hal Fischer’s archive of queer fashion, Sophie Rivera’s portraits of Nuyorican communities, Rania Matar’s love letter to Lebanon, and more new titles to check out from photo book publishers. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/10-photo-books-to-read-this-month/) featured opportunity ****Jentel Artist Residency — Winter/Spring 2027 Residencies** Jentel Artist Residency offers 3-week residencies in the foothills of Wyoming’s Bighorn Mountains, which include a $300 stipend, a private bedroom, shared living spaces, and a separate studio. The application fee is $30\. Read more on [hyperallergic.com](https://hyperallergic.com/p/301f55cf-21f7-449e-bbd1-f6ab49ecd308/?member%5Fstatus=free). Deadline: September 15, 2026 | [jentelarts.org](https://bit.ly/4fpCv0p?ref=hyperallergic.com) See more in this month’s [list of opportunities](https://hyperallergic.com/opportunities-in-august-2026/) for artists, writers, and art workers! ### Art as Infrastructure at the Medina Triennial URL: https://hyperallergic.com/art-as-infrastructure-at-the-medina-triennial/ Last updated: 2026-08-20T16:39:52.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Finnegan_Shannon_hello-from-my-bedside-table_2022.jpg) Finnegan Shannon, "Hello from my bedside table" (2022), vinyl banner (all photos Sara Reisman/**Hyperallergic* unless otherwise noted) MEDINA, N.Y. — It was artist Mary Mattingly, known for her large-scale, often livable floating structures that address climate change in the form of rising water, who first told me about the Medina Triennial about a year ago. Knowing that Mattingly was launching her “Floating Garden” (2026), a new, permanent iteration of *Swale,* a publicly accessible edible garden she first launchedon New York City’s East River in 2016, was enough to get me to Medina. But having attended the opening weekend of the [Venice Biennale](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/venice-biennale/) the month before, I was wary of traveling to see art at a time when so much of the world is in crisis. Compared to my Venice experience, however, Medina was one of relief, maybe even restoration. A sprawling yet rigorously organized community-wide exhibition in a rural community in Western New York bisected by the Erie Canal, the inaugural edition of the beautifully curated Medina Triennial draws on historical site-responsive shows with an eye toward sustainability. Bringing together more than 100 artworks by 39 artists across 10 locations, Co-Artistic Directors Kari Conte and Karin Laansoo commissioned and selected projects that synthesize art, ecology, architecture, and rural culture to explore maintenance as a vital social, political, and environmental act. Through a selection of works that examine the impacts of labor, regulation, extraction, and repair of our shared systems, the curators return to the central question: What does it take to keep things going? _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Who Stole the Guggenheim’s Picasso? URL: https://hyperallergic.com/who-stole-the-guggenheims-picasso/ Last updated: 2026-08-18T20:17:14.000Z There are only a handful of soon-to-be-cancelled plans left this summer, which ultimately leaves me with far too much time to ruminate on anything and everything. I want to get to know my neighbors better, but I refuse to take off my headphones when I’m on the go. I say I’ll spend more time making the most of what the city has to offer, but I often just stop at CVS before going straight home. I tell myself I should make more art just for fun, but I’m so critical of my output that I don’t even put anything out. When I’m not agonizing over my self-defined and over-inflated wrongs, I’m stuck on the untimely loss of Hayden Panettiere, which followed shortly after that of Daveigh Chase; how Luigi Mangione pleaded guilty to stalking and shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson; and the unfathomable wickedness surrounding the murder of Celeste Rivas Hernandez. In my attempt to extract myself from this spiral yesterday evening, I encountered a skittish raccoon scuttling up the stoop of an ornate apartment building, an indecisive carpenter bee bouncing between bright orange blossoms at the edge of someone’s patio, and a towering trio of sunflowers that were just past their prime while walking home from my station. We’re all just trying our best to look after ourselves in the environments we’ve found ourselves in with the tools we have. In the midst of it all, I’m grateful for artist Dean Millien’s aluminum-foil animal sculptures and Poh Si Teng’s documentary *American Doctor* (2026) about the genocide in Gaza. I also wish good luck to DCLA’s new deputy commissioner Bryan Joseph Lee, whose record shows care for Black, Brown, and queer artists and audiences. Each of the above possesses an enviable combination of boundless love and fiery drive for transformation. I’m also eager to see which way the needle moves in the Guggenheim Museum’s newly filed suit against private collectors who are holding onto a Picasso painting from the collection that had been stolen while on loan 65 years ago. Senior Editor Valentina Di Liscia has the story. --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/dean-millien-3.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/dean-milliens-aluminum-foil-animal-world/) [ Dean Millien’s Aluminum-Foil Animal World ](https://hyperallergic.com/dean-milliens-aluminum-foil-animal-world/) Entering Dean Millien’s high-ceilinged Bushwick studio, I found the artist watching a Marcel Duchamp interview on his laptop, surrounded by a menagerie of his aluminum foil animal sculptures. When I asked him why, he told me about his recent visit to Duchamp’s current retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art. “Seeing his work helps my mind,” he said. “Great artists give me an idea of where I should go. I always trust myself as an artist, but I like to see how others have grown in the past.” While Millien’s background as a self-taught artist might differ from that of figures like Duchamp, his recent inclusion in MoMA PS1’s Greater New York is proof that the need to make art exists beyond the walls of the commercial art world. Still, what struck me in meeting Millien was his lack of interest in posturing. He’s driven by an urge to keep elevating his practice, taking in influences from art history while sticking with his instincts. Having grown up with a developmental disability, he has spent time working with the city’s ecosystem of organizations supporting artists with disabilities. | Bryan Martin [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/dean-milliens-aluminum-foil-animal-world/) --- ## Film [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/american-doctor-NL-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/american-doctor-is-an-indictment-of-us-leadership-and-media/) [ “American Doctor” Is an Indictment of US Leadership and Media ](https://hyperallergic.com/american-doctor-is-an-indictment-of-us-leadership-and-media/) In a new documentary on Gaza, three humanitarian physicians from the United States navigate the horrors of genocide as they struggle to treat civilians in a buckling, under-resourced hospital in Khan Younis. Screening this week at the Angelika Film Center in Manhattan, journalist Poh Si Teng’s debut feature documentary American Doctor (2026) uses the physicians’ accounts as indisputable evidence of the cruelty inflicted on Gaza. Urgently produced in one year with on-the-ground footage by the Gaza cinematography company Alef Multimedia, American Doctor premiered at the Sundance Film Festival only weeks after its completion, and has since been acquired by Watermelon Pictures for distribution. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/american-doctor-is-an-indictment-of-us-leadership-and-media/) American Doctor is [screening ](https://americandoctorfilm.com/buy-tickets?ref=hyperallergic.com)at the Angelika Film Center in Manhattan until August 27\. --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/pitt-picasso.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/a-picasso-vanished-in-1961-the-guggenheim-now-wants-it-back/) - In 1961, a Picasso was stolen from the University of Pittsburgh, where it was on loan from the Guggenheim. It just resurfaced decades later — and the museum [is suing the current owners](https://hyperallergic.com/a-picasso-vanished-in-1961-the-guggenheim-now-wants-it-back/) of the painting to get it back. - Cultural strategist Bryan Joseph Lee [has been appointed](https://hyperallergic.com/nyc-culture-commissioner-diya-vij-appoints-bryan-joseph-lee-as-deputy/) deputy commissioner of New York City’s Department of Cultural Affairs. - Mary Heilmann, a pioneering abstract artist who enjoyed a late-career renaissance after achieving global acclaim in her late 60s, [dies at the age of 86](https://hyperallergic.com/mary-heilmann-painter-of-irreverent-abstractions-dies-at-86/). --- ## What Else Is Happening? - Try something new with a workshop on the traditional art of batik. Participants will be guided through the full batik process, including using natural dyes, and will take away a finished textile piece. (Wed Aug 19) \[[The People's Forum](https://peoplesforum.org/events/batik-natural-dye/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Join Ugly Duckling Presse for an open studio where you can write letters to friends and make your own mail art! (Thurs Aug 20) \[[Ugly Duckling Presse](https://www.instagram.com/p/DcKGO6hHPPG/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fweb%5Fcopy%5Flink&igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D&igsi=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D)\] - The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts is hosting a participatory printmaking workshop combining simple meditative and bodily exercises with spontaneous drawing and responses to found and textured objects. (Thurs Aug 20) \[[rbpmw-efanyc.org](https://www.rbpmw-efanyc.org/events-1/2026/8/20/experimental-print-workshop-with-shubho-o-sana?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - For the first time ever, the [Queer|Art](https://www.queer-art.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com) x [Doll Invasion](https://www.dollinvasion.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com) Auction will be accompanied by an in-person exhibition hosted at [Participant Inc.](https://participantinc.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com) & [Salma Sarriedine.](https://www.instagram.com/salma%5F%5Fnyc/?hl=en&ref=hyperallergic.com) (Thurs Aug 20) \[[Queer|Art](https://givebutter.com/c/qa-di-26?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Visit the opening reception of Our *True Colors*, presented by the Women in the Arts Foundation in cooperation with Pictor Gallery. (Thurs Aug 20) \[[Women in the Arts Foundation](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/our-true-colors-opening-reception-tickets-1996823677372?aff=oddtdtcreator&utm%5Fsource=ig&utm%5Fmedium=social&utm%5Fcontent=link%5Fin%5Fbio&fbclid=PAcGRvZgJleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA85MzY2MTk3NDMzOTI0NTkAAaeOaR0b1HZDYtshcMv9vYCa71pV2u6-GAzMUct9jMLHykdd%5FwNVEhSmlo0m0w%5Faem%5FFdw8dvMOkC27oDMkma89bg)\] - Pageant’s Studio Residency at MoMA culminates in *Pageant Presents Pageant*, a daylong performance marathon comprising 25 short pieces—a combination of new work and existing excerpts from artists who have performed at Pageant’s space in Brooklyn. (Fri Aug 21) \[[moma.org](https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/11609?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Artshack Brooklyn is having a student sidewalk sale, where 100% of the proceeds go to the students in their recent classes. (Sat Aug 22) \[[Artshack Brooklyn](https://www.instagram.com/p/DcJVUjFRvrg/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fweb%5Fcopy%5Flink&igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D&igsi=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D)\] - Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's Arts Center at Governors Island is having Open Studios to invite the public into the workspaces and creative processes of the 2026 Cohort of Arts Center Residents. (Sat Aug 22) \[[lmcc.net](https://lmcc.website/august-open-studios?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Celebrate the greatest city in the world with a one-night-only literary party aboard the 1885 tall ship *Wavertree* presented by Dream Baby Press and the South Street Seaport Museum. (Wed Aug 26) \[[southstreetseaportmuseum.org](https://southstreetseaportmuseum.org/dream-baby/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - The New York Residency & Studios Foundation (NARS) is hosting an opening reception for *Subject to...*, a group exhibition featuring work from the Season III International Residency Artists, curated by NARS Curatorial Fellow Christine Yi-Ting Chen. (Fri Aug 28) \[[narsfoundation.org](https://www.narsfoundation.org/events/event/subject-to?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Join Thrift4Gaza for their annual summer thrift pop-up in collaboration with Salam Charity. 100% of thrift proceeds will go toward initiatives in Gaza. (Sat Aug 29) \[[Thrift4Gaza](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/thrift4gaza-x-salamcharity-pop-up-tickets-1997450779050?aff=oddtdtcreator&ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Urban Bat Project NYC and Queer Walks ad Hikes are teaming up to offer one last free Prospect Park Bat Walk! (Sat Sept 5) \[[Urban Bat Project NYC](https://www.instagram.com/p/DbyP9pXu2CT/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fweb%5Fcopy%5Flink&igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D)\] - The Rockaway Film Festival takes place from Sept 2–6, starting with *Eternity One*, which follows a small fishing community on the verge of being swept away by rising sea levels. \[[rockawayfilmfestival.org](https://www.rockawayfilmfestival.org/programs?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] ### Taiwanese Artists Accuse South Korea’s Gwangju Biennale of Censorship URL: https://hyperallergic.com/taiwanese-artists-accuse-south-koreas-gwangju-biennale-of-censorship/ Last updated: 2026-08-19T15:06:10.000Z Taiwanese artists are accusing the Gwangju Biennale of political censorship after event organizers axed the country's name from promotional materials. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Why Won’t Britain Return Looted Gold to Ghana? URL: https://hyperallergic.com/why-wont-britain-return-looted-gold-to-ghana/ Last updated: 2026-08-18T19:57:29.000Z When Prempeh I was enstooled as *Asantehene* (king of the Asante Empire) in 1888, his immediate concern was the British presence on the Gold Coast of Africa. Barely a decade had passed since colonial forces led by Sir Garnet Wolseley sacked the Asante capital of Kumasi, unleashing devastating violence. That trauma still lingers: The Asante people remember the 1873–74 war as the “Sagrenti War,” a corruption of Wolseley’s name. Prempeh would not prevail. In late 1895, British forces under Sir Francis Scott marched into Kumasi again, looting and burning the royal palace and mausoleum. They demanded not only a vast indemnity in gold but also the Golden Stool, the most sacred symbol of Asante identity. Prempeh prostrated himself before Maxwell, and, according to Asante oral accounts, begged him to “not take my people and myself away.” It made no difference. Prempeh was deported to the Seychelles, where he would spend nearly three decades in exile. The Golden Stool remained hidden and protected from the British, awaiting his return. This episode forms part of the wider story told in Barnaby Phillips’s [*The African Kingdom of Gold: Britain and the Asante Treasure*](http://bookshop.org/a/539/9781836431336?ref=hyperallergic.com)(2026). Combining archival research with original interviews, Phillips reconstructs a history of violence and systematic plunder while following the afterlives of the looted objects themselves. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### School of Visual Arts Faculty “Blindsided” by Course Cuts Amid $22M Deficit URL: https://hyperallergic.com/school-of-visual-arts-faculty-blindsided-by-course-cuts-amid-22m-deficit/ Last updated: 2026-08-18T19:51:50.000Z The faculty union at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York City says some of its members were “blindsided” by the cancellations of courses and programs as the school pursues budget cuts amid a $22 million structural deficit, the largest in its 79-year history. On July 1, nearly a year after [30 SVA employees were laid off](https://hyperallergic.com/school-of-visual-arts-quietly-lays-off-staff/) due to “financial challenges,” the school's interim president Christopher J. Cyphers said in an all-staff email that the school will introduce measures to reduce operating costs. He cited multiple factors, including “the ongoing dismantling of education and the arts by the federal government,” a 40% drop in enrollment since 2019, and a dwindling international student population, which in [fall 2025](https://sva.edu/about/facts-and-policies/data-and-reports/student-data?ref=hyperallergic.com) made up 45% of the undergraduate student population and 53% of the graduate cohort. In an August 7 [statement](https://www.instagram.com/svafac.uaw/p/DbwNdswu9xq/?hl=en&ref=hyperallergic.com) on Instagram, the faculty union said that even department chairs were unaware of the cancellations of "a slew of courses and dozens of foundation blocks, regardless of the number of students enrolled." _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Shu Lea Cheang Gives Trans Artists the Wings to Fly URL: https://hyperallergic.com/shu-lea-cheang-gives-trans-artists-the-wings-to-fly/ Last updated: 2026-08-18T20:18:53.000Z Upon entering the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art in Soho, viewers are enveloped by projections of an animated Berlin apartment block. As the image loops around the room, a third-floor window swings open and smoke pours into the overcast sky, transforming into a six-winged seraphim that flaps its way into another portal. Taiwanese-American artist and filmmaker Shu Lea Cheang’s commission[*LOVER LOVE*](https://leslielohman.org/exhibitions/shu-lea-cheang-lover-love?ref=hyperallergic.com), on view through January 3, 2027, excavates the experiences and dreams of transgender and gender-nonconforming people through the marriage of physical and virtual landscapes. In the museum’s largest commission to date, a 28-minute film featuring the performances of eight artists plays across four screens suspended on tracks throughout the gallery. The exhibition invites viewers to push and reposition the screens, creating overlapping, complementary, and juxtaposed compositions. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Burning_angel1.jpeg) Still from Shu Lea Cheang, "LOVER LOVE" (2026), four-channel digital film, duration: 28 minutes, with movable screens and interactive speaker system (image courtesy the artist) The show serves as a tribute to Cheang’s late friend and longtime collaborator Aérea Negrot, a Berlin-based Venezuelan musician and DJ. Negrot took her own life in 2023, and her tragic passing served as the impetus for *LOVER LOVE*. “When I heard that Aérea killed herself, I didn’t believe it,” Cheang told *Hyperallergic* in a Zoom interview. “I really think she believed she could fly when she stepped out of the window.” _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Halloween Comes Early With New Kristi Noem Statue in South Dakota URL: https://hyperallergic.com/halloween-comes-early-with-new-kristi-noem-statue-in-south-dakota/ Last updated: 2026-08-18T15:00:02.000Z Former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, who led Trump’s deadly immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, welcomed a sculpture of herself with her beloved steed, regrettably named “Iceman,” in South Dakota on August 7\. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Mary Heilmann Dies at 86 URL: https://hyperallergic.com/mary-heilmann-dies-at-86/ Last updated: 2026-08-18T10:00:26.000Z My favorite installation at MoMA PS1's quinquennial *Greater New York* was Dean Millien's assemblage of city rats and cats made of aluminum foil. It was impressive, charming, and refreshing. There's a good story behind these silver animals: As a child, Millien’s toys were thrown away, so he made his own from aluminum foil. Today, Bryan Martin visits the self-taught artist's studio in Brooklyn to hear from him about sculpture, disability, and his creative kinship with Marcel Duchamp. In the news: another week, another museum heist in Europe. This time, thieves walk off with four masterpieces by Renaissance artist Antonello da Messina from a museum in Sicily. We also honor beloved abstract painter Mary Heilmann, who passed away last Friday at age 86\. There’s more to read this morning, including Julie Schneider's review of the RISD MFA painting show and John Yau on China's anti-starchitect architect. *—Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/mary-heilmann.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/mary-heilmann-painter-of-irreverent-abstractions-dies-at-86/) [ Mary Heilmann, Painter of Irreverent Abstractions, Dies at 86 ](https://hyperallergic.com/mary-heilmann-painter-of-irreverent-abstractions-dies-at-86/) Mary Heilmann, a pioneering abstract artist who enjoyed a late-career renaissance after achieving global acclaim in her late 60s, died on Long Island on Friday at the age of 86\. The Bridgehampton and Manhattan-based painter had suffered complications from a fall, according to a statement from her studio. Originally a ceramicist, Heilmann shifted course to painting after moving to New York, crafting off-kilter, geometric compositions that put an irreverent spin on hard-edged abstraction. She adopted a technique that allowed neon-bright colors to drip across her canvases in a sly commentary about largely male artists whose self-serious works dominated much of Manhattan’s downtown art scene. Heilmann’s work would later be featured in exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the New Museum, Dia Beacon, the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, the Orange County Museum of Art, the Kunstmuseum Bonn in Germany, and Whitechapel Gallery in London. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/mary-heilmann-painter-of-irreverent-abstractions-dies-at-86/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/EXPLORE-YOUR-FUTURE--1--1.jpg)](https://www.pratt.edu/continuing-and-professional-studies/certificates/?ref=hyperallergic.com) Pratt Institute’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies (SCPS) certificates support professional development, educational advancement, career change, and personal enrichment for both amateurs and professionals. Participants can attend in-person, online, or hybrid courses across 17 different art and design disciplines. Register by August 21 for the Fall Certificate Programs. [Explore Here ](https://www.pratt.edu/continuing-and-professional-studies/certificates/?ref=hyperallergic.com) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/renaissance-paintings.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/priceless-renaissance-paintings-stolen-from-italian-museum/) - Thieves [steal four major paintings](https://hyperallergic.com/priceless-renaissance-paintings-stolen-from-italian-museum/) by Renaissance artist Antonello da Messina in under five minutes in a heist at the Museo Interdisciplinare Regionale in Sicily on Saturday night. - Cultural strategist Bryan Joseph Lee [has been appointed](https://hyperallergic.com/nyc-names-bryan-joseph-lee-as-new-deputy-culture-commissioner/) deputy commissioner of New York City’s Department of Cultural Affairs. --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/risd.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/risd-mfa-students-paint-through-the-heartbreak/) [ RISD MFA Students Paint Through the Heartbreak ](https://hyperallergic.com/risd-mfa-students-paint-through-the-heartbreak/) Each painting is like an island awash with yearning, sending out a lighthouse signal into a fractured world. | Julie Schneider [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/risd-mfa-students-paint-through-the-heartbreak/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Aerial-VSC-Campus-2400x1350-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/deepen-your-creative-practice-at-vermont-studio-center-2/) ****Deepen Your Creative Practice at Vermont Studio Center** Full and partial fellowships available for artists and writers [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/deepen-your-creative-practice-at-vermont-studio-center-2/) --- ## Features [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/dean-millien-2.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/dean-milliens-aluminum-foil-animal-world/) [ Dean Millien’s Aluminum-Foil Animal World ](https://hyperallergic.com/dean-milliens-aluminum-foil-animal-world/) A highlight of “Greater New York” at MoMA PS1, the artist’s remarkable sculptures made from the humble household material continue a practice he began as a child in Brooklyn. | Bryan Martin [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/dean-milliens-aluminum-foil-animal-world/) [ The Architect Shaping a New Chinese Vernacular ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-architect-shaping-a-new-chinese-vernacular/) Pritzker-winner Wang Shu’s design for the Ningbo Historic Museum reconciles China’s nostalgia with its desire for a shiny, avant-garde future. | John Yau [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-architect-shaping-a-new-chinese-vernacular/) --- ## Member Comment Love this story. More than 25% of the entire country's private nonprofit colleges and universities are at serious risk of closing. It's something of a perfect storm in higher education right now. There are expected to be LOTS of former campuses for sale. This sounds like an excellent outcome for this particular real estate in this dreadful time for institutions of higher learning. Please note, dear reader, I'm not on the East Coast and may not see all the ramifications of this Philly situation. I speak generally, but perhaps ignorantly in regard to this specific sitch. —Jozanne Rabyor on "[Former Philly UArts Building to Become Affordable Housing for Artists](https://hyperallergic.com/former-philly-uarts-building-to-become-affordable-housing-for-artists/)" --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/mojave-mirage.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/wild-punk-and-slightly-off-kilter-an-interview-with-mary-heilmann/) [ Wild, Punk and Slightly Off-Kilter: An Interview with Mary Heilmann ](https://hyperallergic.com/wild-punk-and-slightly-off-kilter-an-interview-with-mary-heilmann/) I visited Mary Heilmann recently in her Bridgehampton studio. At the end of our time together, she took a small painting of a wave, and turned it upside-down. It was the perfect gesture to sum up our conversation and the themes of her work — an offhand reminder of its yin-yang quality. | Jennifer Samet [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/wild-punk-and-slightly-off-kilter-an-interview-with-mary-heilmann/) ### Mary Heilmann, Painter of Irreverent Abstractions, Dies at 86 URL: https://hyperallergic.com/mary-heilmann-painter-of-irreverent-abstractions-dies-at-86/ Last updated: 2026-08-17T21:12:07.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/GettyImages-1164990688.jpg) Mary Heilmann at the opening of **303 Gallery: 35 Years* on July 18, 2019, in New York City (photo Sylvain Gaboury/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images) Mary Heilmann, a pioneering abstract artist who enjoyed a late-career renaissance after achieving global acclaim in her late 60s, died on Long Island on Friday at the age of 86\. The Bridgehampton and Manhattan-based painter had suffered complications from a fall, according to a [statement](https://www.instagram.com/p/DcE6TNoEQ7K/?ref=hyperallergic.com) from her studio. Originally a ceramicist, Heilmann shifted course to painting after moving to New York, crafting off-kilter, geometric compositions that put an irreverent spin on hard-edged abstraction. She adopted a technique that allowed neon-bright colors to drip across her canvases in a sly commentary about largely male artists whose self-serious works dominated much of Manhattan’s downtown art scene. Heilmann’s work would later be featured in exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the New Museum, Dia Beacon, the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, the Orange County Museum of Art, the Kunstmuseum Bonn in Germany, and Whitechapel Gallery in London. “My inspiration for art doesn’t really come from the history of painting,” Heilmann said in a 2013 [interview](https://hyperallergic.com/wild-punk-and-slightly-off-kilter-an-interview-with-mary-heilmann/) with *Hyperallergic*. “It comes from the community of art as it is now, and also popular culture, like movies and music and books and fashion, especially street fashion, not high fashion.” _This post is for subscribers only._ ### NYC Culture Commissioner Diya Vij Appoints Bryan Joseph Lee as Deputy URL: https://hyperallergic.com/nyc-culture-commissioner-diya-vij-appoints-bryan-joseph-lee-as-deputy/ Last updated: 2026-08-18T15:27:47.000Z Cultural strategist Bryan Joseph Lee has been appointed deputy commissioner of New York City's Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA), the agency announced today, August 17. Lee, who will work alongsideDCLA Commissioner [Diya Vij](https://hyperallergic.com/diya-vij-named-nyc-culture-commissioner/), enters the post with extensive experience centering marginalized communities' access to and perspectives in performing arts throughout his career. Through his Harlem-based agency CNTR ARTS, Lee has spent the last five years as a consultant and creative producer for several arts organizations, ranging from the With Love Project, For The Gworls, and the Ghetto Film School to the Lincoln Center, Pique-Nique, and the Brooklyn Arts Council. The news comes just six weeks after NYC Mayor [Zohran Mamdani approved $323 million](https://hyperallergic.com/nyc-mayor-mamdani-approves-record-323m-funding-for-culture/) in city funding for cultural affairs for the 2027 fiscal year, marking the largest-ever budget afforded to DCLA. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Dean Millien’s Aluminum-Foil Animal World URL: https://hyperallergic.com/dean-milliens-aluminum-foil-animal-world/ Last updated: 2026-08-21T14:03:36.000Z Entering Dean Millien’s high-ceilinged Bushwick studio, I found the artist watching a Marcel Duchamp interview on his laptop, surrounded by a menagerie of his aluminum foil animal sculptures. When I asked him why, he told me about his recent visit to [Duchamp’s current retrospective](https://hyperallergic.com/ive-got-the-post-duchamp-blues/) at the Museum of Modern Art. “Seeing his work helps my mind,” he said. “Great artists give me an idea of where I should go. I always trust myself as an artist, but I like to see how others have grown in the past.” While Millien’s background as a self-taught artist might differ from that of figures like Duchamp, his recent inclusion in MoMA PS1’s [*Greater New York*](https://hyperallergic.com/what-we-loved-and-didnt-in-greater-new-york/) is proof that the need to make art exists beyond the walls of the commercial art world. Still, what struck me in meeting Millien was his lack of interest in posturing. He’s driven by an urge to keep elevating his practice, taking in influences from art history while sticking with his instincts. Having grown up with a developmental disability, he has spent time working with the city’s ecosystem of organizations supporting artists with disabilities. “My background doesn’t make me feel ostracized or anything,” he commented. “I always had intuition, a good feeling about what I liked and what I wanted.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/IMG_0823.jpeg) Installation view of Millien's "The Cats and the Rats" in **Greater New York* at MoMA PS1 (photo Bryan Martin/**Hyperallergic*) The artist was born in Brooklyn in 1972 to Haitian immigrants who settled in Ditmas Park. Millien’s core memories from his childhood center around toys and television: “My young mind was strictly focused on that. I was around art, and I just didn't know it.” This obsession was compounded when his father, in a moment of frustration, discarded all of Millien's toys. This early loss became a critical part of his creative development. He began making his own toys, initially out of scrap materials like sponges and paper. Eventually, he sculpted them out of aluminum foil, his primary material to this day for its durability and availability as a household staple. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### RISD MFA Students Paint Through the Heartbreak URL: https://hyperallergic.com/risd-mfa-students-paint-through-the-heartbreak/ Last updated: 2026-08-21T23:25:25.000Z Clingy, thick-hot summer air followed me into Uffner & Liu gallery on a recent Friday afternoon. But as soon as I reached the top of the gallery’s stairs, I found myself pulled into a more temperate realm. Standing on the top step, peering through a steel grid covering Isabel Horgan’s egg-tempera painting “Mirage” (all works 2026) like the mesh of a fence, my eyes traced a light-dappled path into a verdant forest clearing. A lone figure clad in a spotless white gown appears to be digging, searching for something unseen. This enigmatic, fairytale-esque scene could have been plucked from any number of historical eras, were it not for the gas pipes poking up in the foreground. So begins [*Marooned*](https://uffnerliu.com/exhibitions/upstairs-gallery-risd-mfa-painting-show?ref=hyperallergic.com). The exhibition brings together 17 artworks by the 11 artists who comprise the Rhode Island School of Design’s 2026 Master of Fine Arts in Painting program cohort: Lloyd-Princeton Cangé, Callie Coccia, Siran Liu, Kati Lowe, Lucy Luckovich, Banshee Maria, Shiyeon Monk, Pavol Roskovensky, Talha Shams, and Ricky Vasan, as well as the aforementioned Horgan. Though this group represents a breadth of interests and aesthetic sensibilities, from airy, tactile abstractions to glossy, unsettling realism, curator Ajay Kurian unearthed enough throughlines in the selected works to knot together a visually and emotionally resonant net. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Priceless Renaissance Paintings Stolen From Italian Museum URL: https://hyperallergic.com/priceless-renaissance-paintings-stolen-from-italian-museum/ Last updated: 2026-08-17T18:15:16.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/image-15.png) Antonello da Messina, "San Gregorio Polyptych" (1473) (image courtesy Museo Interdisciplinare Regionale via [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Museo%5Fregionale%5F%28Messina%29%5F09.jpg?ref=hyperallergic.com), [CC BY 4.0](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:CC-BY-4.0?ref=hyperallergic.com "Category:CC-BY-4.0")) Thieves made off with four major paintings by Renaissance artist Antonello da Messina in under five minutes in a heist at the Museo Interdisciplinare Regionale (MuMe) in Sicily on Saturday night, August 15. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### The Architect Shaping a New Chinese Vernacular URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-architect-shaping-a-new-chinese-vernacular/ Last updated: 2026-08-17T17:45:42.000Z NINGBO, China — In May of this year, I took a short trip to Ningbo, China. I was especially interested in going because I knew that Wang Shu, the first Chinese citizen to receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2012, built multiple buildings or complexes within the city — the world’s busiest seaport, on the coast of the East China Sea. In contrast to Richard Meier, Zaha Hadid, and other Pritzker winners who rose to prominence late last century and in the early oughts, Wang was not interested in becoming a starchitect. As I was going to be in Ningbo for only two days, I knew that I would be unable to see all of Wang’s projects and settled for one: the Ningbo Historic Museum, completed in 2008\. Because of Wang’s work, I knew that I would return to Ningbo before I had even arrived. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Wang_Shu_at_Venice_Biennale_2027-1.jpg) Wang Shu in 2026 (photo Luca Fazzolari via [Wikimedia Commons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wang%5FShu%5Fat%5FVenice%5FBiennale%5F2027.jpg?ref=hyperallergic.com), [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=hyperallergic.com); edit Lisa Yin Zhang/**Hyperallergic*) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Deepen Your Creative Practice at Vermont Studio Center URL: https://hyperallergic.com/deepen-your-creative-practice-at-vermont-studio-center-2/ Last updated: 2026-08-17T16:15:06.000Z A [Vermont Studio Center residency](https://bit.ly/4q6O7sG?ref=hyperallergic.com) provides artists and writers from around the world with the time and space to deepen their creative practice while building a solid network of mentors, collaborators, and friends. Sessions run for two, three, and four weeks, and include resident presentations, open studios, and an acclaimed Visiting Artists & Writers program. Nestled in the Green Mountains, [Vermont Studio Center](https://bit.ly/4cc7WsQ?ref=hyperallergic.com) hosts a global community within a historic, pastoral village. The walkable campus provides private studios, a dining hall, and private rooms in shared lodging along the banks of the Gihon River. Residents can explore swimming holes, hiking and biking trails, and the rural charm of neighboring towns as they expand their creative potential and build a creative community. The fall 2026 open call runs from August 15 through September 30 and will fill residencies from July 2027 to December 2027\. Each session welcomes 40 residents of varying mediums and genres at all career levels. All residents receive partial fellowships and 35% receive [full fellowships](https://bit.ly/45lAsVf?ref=hyperallergic.com). Learn more at [vermontstudiocenter.org](https://bit.ly/4q6O7sG?ref=hyperallergic.com) ### Chris Kraus, Relational, and the Moon URL: https://hyperallergic.com/8-15-26-weekly-newsletter-2/ Last updated: 2026-08-17T10:00:43.000Z You may know Chris Kraus for her 1997 epistolary novel *I Love Dick* and other cult classics, or for her experimental films and incisive cultural criticism. For the last two decades, she has also followed and written about the work of Shirley Tse and Dana Berman Duff, and after reading Kraus’s interview with the artists — who collaborate under the name “Relational” — it’s plain to see why their work had such a pull on the writer. Lunar power and tidal waves are among the elements of their video-photo-sculptural exhibition *The Universe Breathes Us*, a poetic manifesto on the ephemeral forces that carry us. Speaking of unseen energies, artist Lauren Farkas's whimsical maps trace Knoxville, Tennessee's art ecosystem in felt, wire, animation, and watercolor. Also today, Staff Writer Rhea Nayyar on a new digital archive rooted in oral histories that honors the journalists killed in the Gaza genocide. *—Valentina Di Liscia, senior editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/breathing-moons.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/p/6d435d1a-c06e-4064-8600-72d399656fd9/) [ Shirley Tse and Dana Berman Duff’s Breathing Moons ](https://hyperallergic.com/p/6d435d1a-c06e-4064-8600-72d399656fd9/) When sculptor Shirley Tse was invited by her former student Anna Hrund Másdóttir to produce an original exhibition at her cooperative gallery King and Bang in Reykjavik, her first thought was to invite her friend and former teacher, the film and video maker Dana Berman Duff, to collaborate with her. Geography, landscape, desire and time are some of the interests these two artists shared. The result is an extraordinary manifestation of physical elements — breath, moon and tides — that bind us and the universe. Working under the name “Relational,” their exhibition The Universe Breathes Us was exhibited at Kling and Bang in 2025, and again this summer at Shoshana Wayne Gallery in Los Angeles. Both iterations included a live choral performance of an original song by Berman Duff and her husband, the composer-musician Alan Duff Berman. Seeing it for the first time, I was struck by the deceptive simplicity of each of the elements and the subtly seamless ways that they animate each other. | Chris Kraus [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/p/6d435d1a-c06e-4064-8600-72d399656fd9/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/digital-archive.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/p/e465f653-c212-47fa-b63c-fcf50a8f56f4/) - A new archive developed by Writers Against the War on Gaza [serves as a digital memorial](https://hyperallergic.com/p/e465f653-c212-47fa-b63c-fcf50a8f56f4/) for the Palestinian journalists killed in Gaza since October 2023\. - An 11-year-old boy [sets the Guinness Record](https://hyperallergic.com/p/8324418f-b134-47eb-9c63-be29ae2fe06c/) for the World's Youngest Curator after opening the Cambridge Natural History Museum in Illinois. --- ## Feature [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/knoxville.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/p/de6e904e-37b4-4868-b9fb-d190becdc966/) [ The Artist Mapping Knoxville’s Art Scene With Wood and Wire ](https://hyperallergic.com/p/de6e904e-37b4-4868-b9fb-d190becdc966/) Three years ago, Lauren Farkas sketched a plan to see exhibitions during the city’s monthly art walk. Now, she crafts eclectic maps for each event to make the art scene more accessible. | Steven Friedlander [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/p/de6e904e-37b4-4868-b9fb-d190becdc966/) --- ## Community [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/view-from-the-easel-8.17.26.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/p/d8f84d16-a5ec-4ab1-a1e8-cb6d65d67565/) [ A View From the Easel: Linda Lay ](https://hyperallergic.com/p/d8f84d16-a5ec-4ab1-a1e8-cb6d65d67565/) “The literal environment outside of my studio is the mobile home park I used to play in as a child in the ’80s.” [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/p/d8f84d16-a5ec-4ab1-a1e8-cb6d65d67565/) --- ## Member Comment Bravo! to Brian Karl's assessment of the Hammer exhibition. In this contemporary world of obsessive devotion to ancestors (real or imagined) it is refreshing to learn that some artist's efforts do fail to visually communicate. The inclusion of Mary Sully's is a significant plus. This under-rated work of portraiture, though humble in physical presence, stands as a monument of incisive creativity that speaks of indigenous backgrounds while simultaneously addressing contemporary culture. Such grand visual thinking! —Don Dugal on "[The Living World Feels Dead at the Hammer](https://hyperallergic.com/the-living-world-feels-dead-at-the-hammer/)" --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/ruth-asawa.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/ruth-asawa-proved-that-mothering-is-inherently-artistic/) [ Ruth Asawa Proved That Mothering Is Inherently Artistic ](https://hyperallergic.com/ruth-asawa-proved-that-mothering-is-inherently-artistic/) Jordan Troeller’s book about the Bay Area sculptor and her artist-mother community shows us how reciprocity and caretaking become the work itself, not just the subject or the conditions. | Christen Clifford [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/ruth-asawa-proved-that-mothering-is-inherently-artistic/) ### Betye Saar, Picasso, BlackStar URL: https://hyperallergic.com/betye-saar-picasso-blackstar/ Last updated: 2026-08-15T10:00:33.000Z Summer and the streets are teeming with beautiful young people. In a shop window, I catch my reflection staring at me with contempt. I need a haircut but have no barber to go to. The last one talked too much about his prostate and made me look like the reincarnation of Saddam Hussein. I spot a pretty well-known artist walking towards me. We’ve met and emailed before, but we can’t really be called friends. We exchange side glances and notice each other, but make an unspoken agreement to keep walking anyway. In hindsight, I should've stopped to say hi. But it was a muggy day and it was hard enough to just exist. I put on my dark Ray-Bans to avoid any more awkward encounters. Speaking of Ray-Bans, you should read the piece on the recent guerrilla action by the group Everyone Hates Elon. It’s a poster of Jeffrey Epstein wearing Meta’s camera glasses, captioned: “Glasses for people who don’t do consent.” Driving across Brooklyn, blasting Pink Floyd, I hit the brakes when a flock of geese starts waddling across the bridge over Newtown Creek. They seem to enjoy the attention from charmed drivers filming on their phones. They don't know about the huge poultry slaughterhouse on the other side. Neighborhoods around me change from White to Hasidic to Black and Brown. Someone on the radio says the president has completely lost his mind. An expert explains that it takes 17 generations to overcome a major generational trauma. Sorry, mister, but I don’t think I can wait that long. *—Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/betye-saar-feature-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/how-betye-saar-came-to-be/) [ How Betye Saar Came to Be ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-betye-saar-came-to-be/) There is an African Adinkra symbol, “Sankofa,” that means “go back and get it.” It’s intended to preach the importance of looking to the past when shaping the future, and to share wisdom between generations. On the occasion of her 100th birthday, Roberts Projects in Los Angeles organized an exhibition to recognize the earliest professional works of Betye Saar — the prolific assemblage artist who prodded the psyche of the Black American experience for over seven decades before her death last month. The show sheds light on a lesser-known facet of her canon: costume design. Through the over 200 archival objects in the show, one gets a good sense of the multiple pots Saar had her fingers in at the beginning of her career. Costume design, dancing (a full-wall photo of a young dancing Saar acts as the exhibition greeter), photography, drawing, jewelry, garments, greeting cards, album covers, and more are on view. The range depicts Saar’s broad curiosities, but it also underlines her particular skill in identifying various potentials and fitting them together. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-betye-saar-came-to-be/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/joan-mitchell-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/p/49c1ba1c-02c2-43e8-9074-654a27d08a07/) - The Joan Mitchell Foundation [announcesthe recipients](https://hyperallergic.com/p/49c1ba1c-02c2-43e8-9074-654a27d08a07/) of its 2026 Fellowships, one of the most coveted prizes awarded to visual artists in the United States. - Russian missile attacks [have damaged or destroyed](https://hyperallergic.com/russia-has-damaged-or-destroyed-over-4-500-cultural-sites-in-ukraine/) over 4,500 cultural sites, according to a statement from Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture. - A [new mock ad](https://hyperallergic.com/jeffrey-epstein-dons-meta-ai-glasses-in-damning-guerrilla-ad/) by the activism group Everyone Hates Elon depicts the Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses on a photo of Jeffrey Epstein, overlaid with the statement, “Glasses for people who don’t do consent.” - A Picasso that vanished from the University of Pittsburgh in 1961 has resurfaced — and the Guggenheim [is headed to court](https://hyperallergic.com/a-picasso-vanished-in-1961-the-guggenheim-now-wants-it-back/) to get it back. - [Elvira Dyangani Ose will succeed](https://hyperallergic.com/elvira-dyangani-ose-to-succeed-koyo-kouoh-at-zeitz-mocaa/) Koyo Kouoh as the artistic director of Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town, South Africa. - The National Gallery of Art is studying the [possible impact of racecar vibrations](https://hyperallergic.com/national-gallery-of-art-protects-works-ahead-of-trumps-indycar-race/) on artwork ahead of Trump’s “Freedom 250 Grand Prix.” - A 2,300-year-old papyrus fragment containing parts of Homer’s *Odyssey* is [now on view](https://hyperallergic.com/2-300-year-old-fragment-of-homers-odyssey-now-on-view-at-the-met/) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. - A 17th-century still life that had gathered dust for decades in storage at the National Museum of Norway is [set to resurface](https://hyperallergic.com/long-misattributed-clara-peeters-still-life-resurfaces-after-decades-in-storage/) in a forthcoming exhibition, where it will be publicly attributed to the Flemish painter Clara Peeters for the first time. - While exploring the warm waters of the Sicilian coast last week, two Italian divers [discovered hundreds of clay vessels](https://hyperallergic.com/divers-stumble-upon-2-000-year-old-roman-shipwreck-in-italy/) piled atop an approximately 2,000-year-old Roman shipwreck. - The San Diego Museum of Art [lays off 11 employees](https://hyperallergic.com/san-diego-museum-of-art-lays-off-11-workers/), citing “rising operational costs” and funding uncertainties. - “The Bowery: Devil’s Mile,” opening September 24 at the New Museum, [traces 400 years of the iconic strip](https://hyperallergic.com/forthcoming-new-museum-show-is-a-love-letter-to-the-bowery/) known as a destination for fun, however raucous or refined. --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/the-oyster-nl-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-lost-pearls-of-new-york-city/) [ The Lost Pearls of New York City ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-lost-pearls-of-new-york-city/) Alan Michelson’s public art installation “The Oyster” on Governors Island conjures up the overlooked history of Indigenous shell middens. | Hrag Vartanian [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-lost-pearls-of-new-york-city/) [ Nathaniel Mary Quinn’s Fragments of Home ](https://hyperallergic.com/nathaniel-mary-quinns-fragments-of-home/) His fractured portraits at the National Public Housing Museum reckon with memory, family, and a childhood shaped by Chicago’s Robert Taylor Homes. | Lori Waxman [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/nathaniel-mary-quinns-fragments-of-home/) --- ## Film [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/american-doctor-NL.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/american-doctor-is-an-indictment-of-us-leadership-and-media/) [ “American Doctor” Is an Indictment of US Leadership and Media ](https://hyperallergic.com/american-doctor-is-an-indictment-of-us-leadership-and-media/) The new documentary follows three humanitarian physicians as they grapple with the horrors of the US-funded genocide in Gaza. | Rhea Nayyar [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/american-doctor-is-an-indictment-of-us-leadership-and-media/) [ Six Films on Art and Resistance at BlackStar Film Festival ](https://hyperallergic.com/six-films-on-art-and-resistance-at-blackstar-film-festival/) The Philadelphia festival platformed films on Anishinaabe repatriation, the spirited life of art historian Dr. Leslie King Hammond, the Puerto Rican history of the Upper West Side, and more. | Lakshmi Rivera Amin and Elodie Saint-Louis [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/six-films-on-art-and-resistance-at-blackstar-film-festival/) --- ## Interview [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/blackstar-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/maori-karmael-holmes-looks-back-on-15-years-of-blackstar/) [ Maori Karmael Holmes Looks Back on 15 Years of BlackStar ](https://hyperallergic.com/maori-karmael-holmes-looks-back-on-15-years-of-blackstar/) The Philadelphia film festival’s founder reflects on its evolution into a hub for experimental, polyphonic storytelling amid a rapidly changing country and world. | Chenoa Baker [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/maori-karmael-holmes-looks-back-on-15-years-of-blackstar/) --- ## Books [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/august-photo-book-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/10-photo-books-to-read-this-month/) [ 10 Photo Books to Read This Month ](https://hyperallergic.com/10-photo-books-to-read-this-month/) Hal Fischer’s archive of queer fashion, Sophie Rivera’s portraits of Nuyorican communities, Rania Matar’s love letter to Lebanon, and more new titles to check out from photo book publishers. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/10-photo-books-to-read-this-month/) --- ## Community [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/christian-bernard-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-christian-bernard-al-gury-and-hermione-carline/) - [In Memoriam](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-christian-bernard-al-gury-and-hermione-carline/): This week, we honor Christian Bernard, the founding museum director; Albert “Al” Gury, an artist who shaped PAFA; Hermione Carline, a painter of transience, and others. - [A View From the Easel](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-143/): Lilit Martirosyan summons the memories embedded in wool and soil while the sounds of opera arias fill her studio. - [Required Reading](https://hyperallergic.com/required-reading-797/): Nancy Spero’s pro-choice art, Valentina Di Liscia on “Casa Cueva,” Brooklyn’s smallest museum, Jamaica Kincaid’s eyebrows, Israeli cuisine and Palestinian erasure, and more. ### Shirley Tse and Dana Berman Duff's Breathing Moons URL: https://hyperallergic.com/shirley-tse-and-dana-berman-duffs-breathing-moons/ Last updated: 2026-08-21T23:25:51.000Z When sculptor Shirley Tse was invited by her former student Anna Hrund Másdóttir to produce an original exhibition at her cooperative gallery Kling and Bang in Reykjavik, her first thought was to invite her friend and former teacher, the film and video maker Dana Berman Duff, to collaborate with her. Geography, landscape, desire and time are some of the interests these two artists shared. The result is an extraordinary manifestation of physical elements — breath, moon and tides — that bind us and the universe. Working under the name “Relational,” Tse and Berman Duff's exhibition[*The Universe Breathes Us*](https://shoshanawayne.com/exhibitions?ref=hyperallergic.com) was first staged at Kling and Bang in 2025, and again this summer at Shoshana Wayne Gallery in Los Angeles. Both iterations included a live choral performance of an original song by Berman Duff and her husband, the composer-musician Alan Duff Berman. Seeing it for the first time, I was struck by the deceptive simplicity of each of the elements and the subtly seamless ways that they animate each other. In Tse’s photograph “Orkney Moon”(2025), a soccer ball covered in rice paper rests in a green summer field on a Scottish island. Reborn as a moon, it migrates into a series of sculptures that fill the main gallery, contained by projections of Duff’s videos on opposite walls. In “The Other Side of the Moon Is Not Dark” (2025), a giant moon slowly rotates, and in “The Breathing Ocean (Portal)” (2026), the moon meets a video of the original Icelandic choir fracturing into a kind of northern lights. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/swg-46.jpg) Relational (Shirley Tse & Dana Berman Duff), **Sun and Moon* (2025) In an adjacent room, film and sculptural elements combine in the surprisingly moving installation *Sun and Moon* (2025). Suspended by thread from the gallery ceiling, Tse’s rice-paper moon casts changing shadows in the white light of Duff’s 16mm projector. The tail end of a big reel of film flaps incessantly. I’ve followed and written about both Tse’s and Duff’s work for more than two decades. *The Universe Breathes Us* felt like a new and exciting departure. On August 4, we met at the gallery to talk about it. This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity. --- _This post is for subscribers only._ ### New Digital Archive Honors Gaza Journalists Killed by Israel URL: https://hyperallergic.com/new-digital-archive-honors-gaza-journalists-killed-by-israel/ Last updated: 2026-08-14T16:45:35.000Z “Anas was one of the journalists who ran into the line of fire,” reads a translated eulogy by independent journalist Doaa Shaheen about her late colleague, prominent *Al Jazeera* reporter Anas al-Sharif, 28, who was killed alongside four other journalists on August 10, 2025, by a targeted Israeli strike on their media tent near al-Shifa Hospital. “He covered events as they unfolded because he believed the Palestinian narrative was worth this effort and exhaustion,” Shaheen's voice note continued. “Our stories are worth all this suffering. They deserve our presence on the front lines, documenting the truth.” Shaheen's oral eulogy is one of several devoted to [al-Sharif](https://newyorkwarcrimes.com/livingrecord/anas-al-sharif/?ref=hyperallergic.com) on a new digital memorial for Gaza's martyred journalists.Developed and launched by the Writers Against the War on Gaza (WAWOG) yesterday, August 12, [“TheLiving Record”](https://newyorkwarcrimes.com/livingrecord/?ref=hyperallergic.com)is an oral archive for remembering and recognizing the small but extraordinarily endangered community of Palestinianreporters, especially as the number of Gaza press fatalities by Israel since October 2023 hovers at around [240](https://www.ifj.org/war-in-gaza?ref=hyperallergic.com). The Living Record launched with individual memorial pages for 24 slain journalists. Profiles and eulogies for another 21 journalists will be added throughout the fall, and the archive will continue to grow in acknowledgment of the [historically high yield](https://www.ifj.org/war-in-gaza?ref=hyperallergic.com) of targeted press fatalities during the Gaza genocide. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### The Artist Mapping Knoxville’s Art Scene With Wood and Wire URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-artist-mapping-knoxvilles-art-scene-with-wood-and-wire/ Last updated: 2026-08-21T23:26:58.000Z KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — On the first Friday of each month, a dozen or more exhibitions open across galleries, studios, and temporary spaces in Knoxville. For many people in the small city’s art community, the night is either an overwhelming jumble or a repetitive routine. Artist Lauren Farkas’s [maps](https://knoxvilleartmaps.substack.com/) offer a way through. “If everything is on the map, people get overwhelmed,” Farkas told *Hyperallergic*. “I put all the things that I would like to go to if I had enough time on the map.” Farkas, a high school art teacher at L&N STEM Academy who has lived in Knoxville for nine years, said that she considers her educational work to be “a long-form performance piece.” She approaches each map as an artwork with a similar sense of structure: The geography remains fixed, while the shows and events shift from month to month. Anchored by the Knoxville Museum of Art (KMA) and the University of Tennessee School of Art, the city's arts ecosystem extends beyond downtown’s familiar gallery circuit to include a growing network of artist-run spaces, community studios, and exhibitions that many attendees might otherwise overlook. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### 11-Year-Old Boy Sets Guinness Record for World’s Youngest Curator URL: https://hyperallergic.com/11-year-old-boy-sets-guinness-record-for-worlds-youngest-curator/ Last updated: 2026-08-14T15:30:16.000Z A few weeks shy of his 10th birthday, Anderson Taylor opened a museum in the small town of Cambridge, Illinois, with just one display case. Two years later, after expanding the collection to over a dozen cases of animal fossils, iridescent bones, and rare minerals, Taylor set a Guinness World Record as the world’s youngest museum curator. Announced July 15, the award notes the curator's precise age as nine years and 340 days old when the Cambridge Natural History Museum opened on August 10, 2024\. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### A View From the Easel URL: https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-144/ Last updated: 2026-08-27T16:13:51.000Z Welcome to the 350thinstallment of A View From the Easel, a series in which artists reflect on their workspace. This week, Linda Lay sets up shop in the mobile home she grew up in, collapsing time and tenderly reclaiming the space through her vibrant art practice. Want to take part? Check out our [submission guidelines](https://hyperallergic.com/submit-your-workspace-to-a-view-from-the-easel/) and share a bit about your studio with us through [this form](https://forms.gle/Erq7cyGEmMUxKrLe9?ref=hyperallergic.com)! All mediums and workspaces are welcome, including your home studio. --- ## [Linda Lay](https://www.instagram.com/lindalaylindalay/?ref=hyperallergic.com), Marina, California ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Studio-Outside---Linda-Lay.JPG) ***How long have you been working in this space?*** Three years. ***Describe an average day in your studio.*** An average day in my studio begins around 10 in the morning, as I’m most productive at the start of the day, and although I rise early, I like to first have coffee with my partner at home, which is nearby. In my main working areas I have little “stations” where I keep projects-in-progress, often with supplies close at hand, so that I can get right to it. I allow myself the freedom to start with whatever feels natural in the moment, as I know that will lead me to working on whatever has a deadline. In art school, one of my professors observed that my “starting routine” for making art is something like what a dog does when they lie down for a nap — how they move around in circles on their bed until it feels right to settle in. I’m still very much that way, figuratively, of course. The first thing I do when I enter the studio is open the windows for airflow and light. I then walk around to say “hello” to the space and plants, and if I feel the need to, I safely light some sage. I always burn incense as this helps me feel like I'm setting some sort of "intention" for the day. I often listen to podcasts or audiobooks once I get settled into working. (I love *Fashion Neurosis* by Bella Freud.) When I was busy converting this mobile home, which I was raised in, into my art studio, I was listening more to music from eras of my past that I may have listened to when I was a child and teenager, or what I listened to when I moved away from home at the start of the ’90s. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Studio-Kitchen---Linda-Lay.JPG) ***How does the space affect your work?*** _This post is for subscribers only._ ### The Guggenheim Wants Its Picasso Back URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-guggenheim-wants-its-picasso-back/ Last updated: 2026-08-14T10:00:09.000Z In 1961, a painting by Pablo Picasso on loan from the Guggenheim Museum mysteriously vanished from the University of Pittsburgh. This week, the museum filed a lawsuit to get it back. Senior Editor Valentina Di Liscia has the scoop on the rediscovery and where it’s been for the last six decades. In other rediscovered painting news, Staff Writer Anna Lee reports on a 17th-century Flemish still life that surfaced after years lost in storage at the National Museum of Norway, where it will soon be correctly attributed to artist Clara Peeters for the first time. More below, including Art Movements, Required Reading, and some of the best films on art and resistance that critic Elodie Saint-Louis and I saw at the unparalleled BlackStar Film Festival in Philadelphia last weekend. Coincidentally, BlackStar shares an office building with the Village of Industry & Art, a nonprofit that plans to transform the city’s shuttered dorm rooms into affordable apartment units. As loyal as I am to Pittsburgh, I gotta say, Philly’s art scene is cooking. —*Lakshmi Rivera Amin, associate editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/image-14-1-1.png)](https://hyperallergic.com/a-picasso-vanished-in-1961-the-guggenheim-now-wants-it-back/) [ A Picasso Vanished in 1961\. The Guggenheim Now Wants It Back ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-picasso-vanished-in-1961-the-guggenheim-now-wants-it-back/) The Picasso had disappeared without a trace. On the morning of February 6, 1961, a graduate student and dormitory aide at the University of Pittsburgh reported Picasso’s painting “Femme dans un fauteuil” (1918) missing from the Students Union building. The 13.5-by-10.5-inch oil had been on loan from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation for an exhibition in the fall semester, and was due to be returned to the museum later that month. The school reported the theft to the Pittsburgh Police Department and the FBI was swiftly brought in to investigate, but despite a slew of news articles, notifications to institutions across North America, and a reward for information, the case went cold. More than six decades later, the Guggenheim says the painting has turned up, and it is headed to court to get it back. | Valentina Di Liscia [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-picasso-vanished-in-1961-the-guggenheim-now-wants-it-back/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Scout_UArtsCelebration_2025_06_04_ShoshanaIsaacs00042-1-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/former-philly-uarts-building-to-become-affordable-housing-for-artists/) - The Village of Industry & Art will [transform a dormitory in a former Philly UArts building](https://hyperallergic.com/former-philly-uarts-building-to-become-affordable-housing-for-artists/) into 45 affordable units for artists by fall 2027. - [A long-misattributed painting is set to resurface](https://hyperallergic.com/long-misattributed-clara-peeters-still-life-resurfaces-after-decades-in-storage/) in a forthcoming exhibition at the National Museum of Norway, where it will be publicly attributed to the Flemish painter Clara Peeters for the first time. - [Art Movements](https://hyperallergic.com/24-latin-american-art-scholars-named-islaa-fellows/): New leaders at the Portland Art Museum and Storm King Art Center, the new cohort of fellows at ISLAA, the bittersweet closure of a West Coast arts magazine, Mamdani’s plans for Elizabeth Street Garden, and more. --- ## Film [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/One-More-Show-1-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/six-films-on-art-and-resistance-at-blackstar-film-festival/) [ Six Films on Art and Resistance at BlackStar Film Festival ](https://hyperallergic.com/six-films-on-art-and-resistance-at-blackstar-film-festival/) The Philadelphia festival platformed films on Anishinaabe repatriation, the spirited life of art historian Dr. Leslie King Hammond, the Puerto Rican history of the Upper West Side, and more.| Lakshmi Rivera Amin and Elodie Saint-Louis [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/six-films-on-art-and-resistance-at-blackstar-film-festival/) --- ## Community [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/2026-summer-08-1-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/required-reading-797/) [ Required Reading ](https://hyperallergic.com/required-reading-797/) This week: Nancy Spero’s pro-choice art, Valentina Di Liscia on “Casa Cueva,” Brooklyn’s smallest museum, Jamaica Kincaid’s eyebrows, Israeli cuisine and Palestinian erasure, and more. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/required-reading-797/) --- ## Member Comment It would be helpful to know what portion of those destroyed books had already been digitized by their publishers (perhaps during the printing process). In 1553 Servetus's book surely wasn't. Christopher Knight on “[AI Companies Are Pulping Our Humanity](https://hyperallergic.com/ai-companies-are-pulping-our-humanity/)” --- ## ICYMI [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/AmericanDoctor_Still8_CourtesyOfWatermelonPictures.-2-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/american-doctor-is-an-indictment-of-us-leadership-and-media/) [ “American Doctor” Is an Indictment of US Leadership and Media ](https://hyperallergic.com/american-doctor-is-an-indictment-of-us-leadership-and-media/) The new documentary follows three humanitarian physicians as they grapple with the horrors of the US-funded genocide in Gaza. | Rhea Nayyar [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/american-doctor-is-an-indictment-of-us-leadership-and-media/) ### Required Reading URL: https://hyperallergic.com/required-reading-797/ Last updated: 2026-08-13T22:38:55.000Z Next great listen unlocked: Senior Editor Valentina Di Liscia was recently a guest on the *Atlas Obscura* podcast to discuss the controversy around the destruction of the kaleidoscopic "[Casa Cueva](https://hyperallergic.com/the-contentious-history-of-a-lost-cave-house-in-mexico-city/)," one of the last works by architect Juan O'Gorman (who also designed the studios of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera), by fellow Mexican artist Helen Escobedo. Tune in to her brilliant narration of this contentious chapter in art history [wherever you get your podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-cave-house-in-mexico-city/id1555769970?i=1000782108467&ref=hyperallergic.com). Just off the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway in Carroll Gardens is a small but mighty museum dedicated entirely to a single painting. Sculptor Elliott Arkin established the Salvator Mundi Museum of Art right in the lobby of his building, staging exhibitions with often absurd connections to the Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece, now perhaps best known for its sale to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for a preposterous $450.3 million. [*Gothamist*](https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/brooklyns-smallest-and-strangest-art-history-museum-is-hidden-in-plain-sight?ref=hyperallergic.com)'s Hannah Frishberg reports: > Where once there were coats, umbrellas, and his daughter’s bicycle, there is now the Salvator Mundi Museum of Art, currently featuring an exhibition on orbs, inspired by the crystal sphere in the painting. It’s the second show of the year, and Arkin has lost track of how many shows there’ve been in total. > > “We had a show called Salvator Barbie. I had a show based on Dianne Modestini, who was the woman who restored the painting,” Arkin rattled off while climbing the stairs to his apartment, hidden behind a secret door in the museum, currently adorned with various orbs and placards about them. “And then I had an exhibition about the beetles that ate Renaissance paintings back in the day.” Jamaica Kincaid, author of groundbreaking works of postcolonial literature, was also shaving her eyebrows before it was cool. For [*Harper's* *Bazaar*](https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/art-books-music/a73357952/jamaica-kincaid-interview/?ref=hyperallergic.com), historian and journalist Kaitlyn Greenidge asked Kincaid about summoning the courage to define her own style and artistic identity as a young writer (and her unpopular distaste for romance novels): > **What was the inspiration for shaving off your eyebrows?** > > I don’t remember. I think I just wanted to be different. I wanted to write in a certain way. I wanted to say things like the Diana Ross piece. I thought it was all part of the same effort to say something that I really thought. This is how I really thought. And in fact, part of the reason I don’t really read it is because I can’t believe I let people know what I was really thinking. I still have a problem today writing. The idea of telling people, “This is what I really think about my garden, about colonialism.” > > I just like thinking to myself. One insidious element of Palestinian cultural erasure, especially common in New York City, comes in the form of the "Israeli" restaurant. Miss Ada, Cafe Mogador, and other crowd-pleasers started as Israeli-owned restaurants absorbing Southwest Asian and North African dishes, obscuring their origins in the process. *New York Magazine*'s Madeline Leung Coleman writes for [*Grubstreet*](https://www.grubstreet.com/article/middle-eastern-restaurants-new-york.html?ref=hyperallergic.com)for the publication's massive *Habibi City* edition: > There had been Israeli chefs in the city for nearly all of Israel’s existence. There had been Syrian and Lebanese chefs here even longer. With few exceptions, however, most Arab, Iranian, or North African restaurants were assigned their role: cheap, quick, outer-borough. The food they made was relegated to halal carts outside your office and blandly exotic midtown dinner spots, mezze platters on Atlantic Avenue and grill houses in Bay Ridge. Some of these places served excellent food. But they tended to submerge their origins in euphemisms: They called their food “Oriental,” then “Mediterranean.” The New Israeli chefs cruised free of post-9/11 baggage, happy to announce their connections to Israel and talk about the Tel Aviv food scene. Unhindered by the stereotypes that dogged other Middle Eastern food, the promoters of New Israeli cuisine gave themselves permission to be expensive. There's something uniquely painful about the death of a language, a living tapestry of memory, culture, and belonging. Over a century after the Ottoman Empire murdered 1.5 million people in the Armenian Genocide, Western Armenian language speakers are still working to revitalize it. Translator Lori Yeghiayan Friedman, whose grandparents survived the genocide, writes in her deeply personal essay for the [*Rumpus*](https://therumpus.net/2026/07/31/a-map-of-languages-dead-and-dying/?ref=hyperallergic.com): > A poster of the alphabet, all thirty-six of its curvy letters, hangs on my wall. It is beautifully framed with double matting. I bought an even bigger poster when I visited the Republic of Armenia twenty years ago. It’s still rolled up and in a tube. I vow to frame that one too; the letters forever preserved, under glass, never to fade, the gorgeous swirls printed in deep, middle ages-looking colors, inky and fresh, always. I will remember him, Mesrob Mashdots, the alphabet’s inventor, and honor him and his role in preventing our extinction. My girl Mina Le is here to say: [Free us from the clip-art book cover](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeutlJcC-Ak&ref=hyperallergic.com)! If you haven't yet been sucked into the transphobic discourse about Drew Afualo, save yourself the trouble. Author Meghan L. Dowling explains why transness allows for [broader, truer definitions of womanhood](https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTAoe8Gvq/?ref=hyperallergic.com): > [@meghanldowling](https://www.tiktok.com/@meghanldowling?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "@meghanldowling") the point is that womanhood is too often defined by men and that’s bad. duh [#erfightmaster](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/erfightmaster?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "erfightmaster") @Drew Afualo [#greenscreen](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/greenscreen?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "greenscreen") [♬ original sound - Meghan L. Dowling](https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-7672465835310549773?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "♬ original sound - Meghan L. Dowling") Deana Burke has spent a year [documenting the sources](https://www.tiktok.com/@wetclaude/video/7672791996297186573?is%5Ffrom%5Fwebapp=1&sender%5Fdevice=pc&ref=hyperallergic.com) generative AI draws from, and once again, the slop machine loses: > [@wetclaude](https://www.tiktok.com/@wetclaude?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "@wetclaude") > > just so we all have the information > > [♬ original sound - Deana Burke](https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-7672792158298704654?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "♬ original sound - Deana Burke") The [real British mon-bark-y](https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTDRMtvA9/?ref=hyperallergic.com): > [@doxiedaily](https://www.tiktok.com/@doxiedaily?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "@doxiedaily") I’m always left smitten by boys in uniform. I think it’s the little paws peeking out beneath their tunics that really get me every time. Please tell me I’m not the only one who finds it utterly irresistible. On Duty — from my Iconic Dogs of London series. This portrait was far too much fun to create with the ever-fabulous Monty, Barney, Benji and Ozzie of @the\_daxie\_trouble The limited edition print is now available through my online store, ready to bring a little royal charm to your walls. 🤍 What catches you most… the paws or the hats? 🫣 💂🏼💂🏾💂🏿💂🏽 @canonuk [#liveforthestory](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/liveforthestory?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "liveforthestory") [♬ original sound - DoxieDaily](https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-7669039445162150687?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "♬ original sound - DoxieDaily") If this isn't [me in 60 years](https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTDRMTepF/?ref=hyperallergic.com), something will have gone terribly wrong: > [@kesharijaisi0](https://www.tiktok.com/@kesharijaisi0?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "@kesharijaisi0") Watch your 👄 .[#badie](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/badie?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "badie") [#slay](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/slay?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "slay") [#quee](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/quee?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "quee") [♬ Watch your mouth - Female Rap](https://www.tiktok.com/music/Watch-your-mouth-7078402862799915781?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "♬ Watch your mouth - Female Rap") [*Required Reading*](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/required-reading/) *is published every Thursday afternoon and comprises a short list of art-related links to long-form articles, videos, blog posts, or photo essays worth a second look*. ### 24 Latin American Art Scholars Named ISLAA Fellows URL: https://hyperallergic.com/24-latin-american-art-scholars-named-islaa-fellows/ Last updated: 2026-08-13T22:07:31.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/IMAGE-GRID.jpg) ISLAA's 2026–27 Fellows (photos courtesy ISLAA) [*Art Movements,*](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/art-movements/) *published every Thursday afternoon, is a roundup of must-know news, appointments, awards, and other art-world happenings. Today, we report on a new cohort of fellows at ISLAA, the bittersweet closure of a West Coast arts magazine, Mamdani's plans for Elizabeth Street Garden, and new leaders at SFMOMA, the Portland Art Museum, and more.* --- ### Institute for Studies on Latin American Art Announces 2026 Fellows The curatorial practices of the Bienal de La Habana, *neográfica* in Mexico, women printmakers in Buenos Aires, and a Chilean artist’s experiments with early artificial intelligence: These are just some of the areas and topics that 24 scholars will delve into as 2026–27 fellows at the Institute for Studies on Latin American Art (ISLAA). The New York City nonprofit this week announced the cohort of 16 Latin American scholars and eight US-based PhD researchers for this year's program, a record size for ISLAA's fellowship. They are **Gonzalo** **Aguilar**, **Amaury A. García Rodríguez**, **Daniel Link**, **Isabel** **Plante**, **Sebastián** **Vidal Valenzuela**, **Mónica Amieva Montañez**, **Fernando** **García**, **Lucía** **Laumann**, **Farah** **Beatriz Leyva Batlle**, **Ayelen Pagnanelli**, **Julián** **Sánchez** **González**, **Torrivilla**, **Ana Inciarte**, **Letícia Asfora Falabella Leme**, **Danila Desirée Nieto**, **Pedro Edgar Rizo Peña**, **Pablo Guarín Robledo**, **Leandro Martínez Depietri**, **Michelle Patiño-Flores**, **Doreen Ríos**, **Jana Soler Libran**, **Natasha Tiniacos Ferrer**, **Henry Neim Osman**, and **Cristalina** **Parra.** Each fellow will spend two to four weeks accessing ISLAA’s Research Center in Tribeca, which houses over 1,000 archival collections, artist files, and primary sources on modern and contemporary art in Latin America and the Caribbean. Ariel Aisiks, founder of ISLAA, told *Hyperallergic* that an initial pool of 13 recipients was expanded to 24 “in response to the strength of the applications.” “The response to this call revealed the depth of the research now taking place across the Americas,” Aisiks said. --- ### The Portland Art Museum Has a New Director **Michael J. Anderson** has been appointed to lead the Oregon institution starting October 12\. Anderson, currently president and CEO of the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, succeeds **Brian** **Ferriso**, who stepped down to lead the Dallas Museum of Art last summer. --- ### SFMOMA Names Head of Painting and Sculpture ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Anna-Katz-scaled.jpg) Anna Katz (photo Owen Kolasinski, courtesy SFMOMA) The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) announced that **Anna** **Katz** will be its new senior curator and head of Painting and Sculpture. Katz will be the first person to hold the position, which was recently endowed by the family of **Doris and Donald Fisher**. She heads to SFMOMA after an 11-year tenure at from the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, where she notably curated the [first full-scale survey of the Pattern and Decoration movement](https://hyperallergic.com/with-pleasure-pattern-and-decoration-in-american-art-moca-la/), among other shows. --- ### A West Coast Art Magazine Says Goodbye *Variable West*, a nonprofit publication founded in 2020 by Portland-based writer and editor **Amelia** **Rina** with support from Critical Minded, is shutting down. In a heartfelt [statement](https://www.instagram.com/p/Db50LsWG7RK/?ref=hyperallergic.com) this week, Rina acknowledged the present challenges plaguing the media landscape and said she no longer had the capacity to maintain the site alongside her full-time job. Both she and Associate Editor **Ella** **Ray** “manage different, comorbid disabilities that make life difficult in many ways,” she said. “For me, one particular challenge in this context has been the social and in-person requirements that seem to be necessary for networking and fundraising. It never felt easy for me and was often extremely draining, which led to feelings of frustration and inadequacy,” Rina wrote. “I suspect this is difficult for others as well.” --- ### What Else Happened? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/JMFellow-2026-german-v-1.jpg) vanessa german, "Sad Rapper" (2023) (image courtesy Joan Mitchell Foundation) - The Joan Mitchell Foundation announced the 15 recipients of its 2026 fellowships. Read about them in [*Hyperallergic*](https://hyperallergic.com/15-artists-named-2026-joan-mitchell-fellows/). - The Storm King Art Center announced the appointment of **Anne Reeve** as senior curator, effective November 1. - The South London gallery **Sid Motion** will shutter in October after a decade of programming, the *Art Newspaper* [reports](https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2026/08/11/stopping-while-were-ahead-london-gallery-sid-motion-to-shut-after-a-decade?ref=hyperallergic.com). - Gallery Kendra Jayne Patrick now represents **Antonio Darden**. - **Emily** **Mello** was named executive director of Mural Arts Philadelphia. - **Art Toronto** revealed the [105 exhibitors for the fair's 27th edition](https://arttoronto.ca/home/exhibitors/?ref=hyperallergic.com), taking place October 29 to November 1\. --- ### Will Mamdani Save an Embattled Sculpture Garden? ![New York’s Elizabeth Street Garden Saved From Demolition](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/size/w1200/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2025/06/gettyimages-2214403864.jpg) A stone lion sculpture next to green lawn at the Elizabeth Street Garden in New York City (photo via Getty Images) After a decade-long saga involving [lawsuits](https://hyperallergic.com/elizabeth-street-garden-sues-nyc-amid-eviction-battle/), [community activism](https://hyperallergic.com/beloved-elizabeth-street-garden-in-manhattan-faces-eviction/), and advocacy by celebrities like Patti Smith and Robert De Niro, Mayor Zohran Mamdani will likely scrap a plan to turn the beloved Elizabeth Street Garden in Lower Manhattan into affordable housing, the [*New York Times*](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/11/nyregion/mamdani-elizabeth-street-garden-housing.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) reports. Sources told the paper that the Mamdani administration is in talks with the developers, who sued the city after the property was designated as "parkland," to settle the dispute. ### Former Philly UArts Building to Become Affordable Housing for Artists URL: https://hyperallergic.com/former-philly-uarts-building-to-become-affordable-housing-for-artists/ Last updated: 2026-08-13T20:21:27.000Z Living on Philadelphia's Avenue of the Arts will become a reality for dozens of artists as early as next year. The Village of Industry & Art (VIA) announced on August 12 that it will transform a former University of the Arts (UArts) dormitory into 45 affordable apartments. The news comes after the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation awarded the VIA a $2.5 million grant for the building project and the establishment of on-site arts programming. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Six Films on Art and Resistance at BlackStar Film Festival URL: https://hyperallergic.com/six-films-on-art-and-resistance-at-blackstar-film-festival/ Last updated: 2026-08-19T15:27:27.000Z PHILADELPHIA — Held from August 6 to 9, the BlackStar Film Festival marked its [15th anniversary](https://hyperallergic.com/maori-karmael-holmes-looks-back-on-15-years-of-blackstar/) this year with 91 films underscoring its ongoing commitment to “a cinema for liberation.” That vision is one of collective endurance, a shared struggle rooted in solidarity and dogged determination. It suffused Haile Gerima’s *Black Lions, Roman Wolves*, a five-part documentary on Ethiopia’s resistance to the Italian invasion of 1935; artist Suneil Sanzgiri’s “An Impossible Address,” a poetic documentary on the legacy of Indian and African freedom struggles against Portuguese colonialism; and Harlan Banks’s “I Wonder Shall I Fly,” weaving Black diasporic footage with precious 1940s recordings of interviews with formerly enslaved people. It also permeated the panels and joyful gatherings that bind BlackStar’s mission to its practice of building an ecosystem for independent and experimental film workers, artists, and writers beyond the market. We selected a few favorites from the festival that deepened our experience of visual art and brought the fight for a just world into view. --- ### [*A Life in Art*: *Through the Eye of Dr. Leslie King Hammond*](https://www.alifeinart.net/?ref=hyperallergic.com) (2026), dir. Ben Baker-Lee and Rassaan Hammond ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/A-Life-in-Art_Poster_Still.jpg) Still from **A Life in Art*: **Through the Eye of Dr. Leslie King Hammond* (2026), dir. Ben Baker-Lee and Rassaan Hammond (image courtesy TrueView Film) When art historian, critic, and artist Dr. Leslie King Hammond was a child, one of her eyes had to be removed. She recalls the transformative experience of watching a glassblower create her artificial eye. The glassblower’s ability to shape raw material into something intricate and lifelike captivated her. That fascination never left her, leading to a lifelong dedication to the arts. It’s a fitting origin story for Hammond, who has spent her career teaching others how to see work by artists of color with greater clarity and precision. *A Life in Art: Through the Eye of Dr. Leslie King Hammond*, directed by Ben Baker-Lee and Rassaan Hammond, her son, pays tribute to these efforts. Hammond has taught and mentored numerous artists, including Ernest Shaw, Jeffrey Kent, and Amy Sherald. In one scene, we see Hammond in the studio with Sherald as she paints Michelle Obama’s portrait for the National Gallery, the commission that catapulted her to fame. We witness Hammond’s brilliance as she remarks on the painting in progress, her enthusiasm infectious as she contextualizes Sherald’s work. Hammond’s approach to criticism is unabashedly honest. In the film, she describes pushing artists to defend their position and articulate their vision so the value of their work isn’t diminished or misunderstood. At heart is a desire to help them articulate “the meat of the journey of \[their\] lives.” Interactions with family, peers, and friends reveal that joy, humor, and care are integral to Hammond’s practice, just as vital as the rigor with which she writes and speaks about art. Her friendships with artist [Joyce J. Scott](https://hyperallergic.com/the-serious-joy-of-joyce-j-scott-retrospective-baltimore-museum-art/) and fellow curator [Lowery Stokes Sims](https://hyperallergic.com/lowery-stokes-sims-and-chloe-bass-talk-empathy-art-and-education/) are a delight to behold. —*Elodie Saint-Louis* --- ### [*Aanikoobijigan \[ancestor / great-grandparent / great-grandchild\]*](https://www.documentary.org/project/aanikoobijigan-ancestor-great-grandparent-great-grandchild?ref=hyperallergic.com)(2026), dir. Adam and Zack Khalil ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Aanikoobijiganancestorgreatgrandparentgreatgrandchild__149351698_aanikoobijigan_1.jpeg) Still from **Aanikoobijigan \[ancestor / great-grandparent / great-grandchild\]* (2026), dir. Adam and Zack Khalil In the bowels of the Michigan State University (MSU) football stadium, as games rage on and fans roar, ancestors were forced to lie in wait. That haunting scene is captured in one of many indelible sequences in *Aanikoobijigan*, an experimental collage of documentary and video art directed by brothers Adam and Zack Khalil (Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians). The film traces the Michigan Anishinaabek Cultural Preservation and Repatriation Alliance’s (MACPRA) years-long efforts to bring home the stolen remains of hundreds of Anishinaabe ancestors held by the MSU Museum. The result is a poignant, creative homage to the organizers who held the university accountable, to the ancestors themselves, and to the ongoing fight to repair the colonial violence still inflicted by museums today. Rejecting the traditional documentary form, Adam and Zack Khalil capture the depth of this specific repatriation case by weaving together interviews with MACPRA officers and Native leaders; the colonial history of museums and archaeology; and visceral, artistic shots that leave a particularly harrowing residue in the mind's eye. The spirit of the film shines through the voices of outspoken advocates like the late Sydney Martin (Gun Lake Tribe) — a fiery badass who worked as a tribal historic preservation officer and passed away in February of this year — and archaeologist Sonya Atalay (Anishinaabe-Ojibway), who explains the existential threats that non-linear conceptions of time, and relational definitions of selfhood, pose to Western museums. In the experimental registers, vertiginous shots snake through the sterile environs of archaeological and institutional archives, mimicking the disorientation of burial desecration to remind us that the struggle isn't over yet. The narrator’s provocation from the beginning of the film lingers after the lights go up: “If an object is animate, an archive is a prison. If an object is an Ancestor, when can the grandkids visit?” —*Lakshmi Rivera Amin* --- ### [*One More Show*](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt38933379/?ref=hyperallergic.com) (2025), dir. Ahmed Al Danaf and Mai Saad ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/One-More-Show.jpg) Still from **One More Show* (2025), dir. Ahmed Al Danaf and Mai Saad Words fail in the face of *One More Show*. The documentary follows five members of the [Free Gaza Circus](https://www.freegazacircus.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com) as they navigate displacement and dodge the daily threat of violence under genocide while juggling, beatboxing, and dancing for displaced children and families. Gazan cinematographer Ahmed Al Danaf co-directed the film across borders and internet blackouts with Egypt-based filmmaker Mai Saad, capturing much of the soundscape — children singing, the constant buzz of drones overhead — on a single neck microphone. (All proceeds from the film go directly to the Free Gaza Circus.) Though Al Danaf and his crew remain behind the camera, their quiet presence and shared grief guide the lens at every turn. Slow, speechless stretches of the film draw our attention to the hum of life in Gaza on the seaside, in the refugee camps, in the markets. The filmmakers record the Free Gaza Circus cooking and conversing as they touch on pain and humor in equal measure. Troupe co-founder Youssef Khedr recalls the bombing that destroyed the circus school he worked so hard to build, clown-in-training Adam Anwar confesses a fear greater than death, and troupe members comfort one another while putting on makeup and fixing bowties before a performance, children’s cheers ringing outside the tent. “Ready to go rogue? And make art?” hollers one member during their pre-clowning huddle. Eighteen years in, the group’s core belief touches each troupe member and child it reaches: Art persists. —*Lakshmi Rivera Amin* --- ### [*Bouchra*](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt36543744/?ref=hyperallergic.com)(2025), dir. Orian Barki and Meriem Bennani ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Bouchra.jpg) Still from **Bouchra* (2025), dir. Orian Barki and Meriem Bennani Those familiar with *2 LIZARDS*, filmmaker Orian Barki and visual artist Meriem Bennani’s viral web series chronicling life in New York during the COVID-19 lockdown, will recognize elements of its idiosyncratic universe in *Bouchra*, the duo’s debut feature. Like *2 Lizards*, *Bouchra* draws from Bennani’s personal experience and features a cast of anthropomorphic animals. The film’s protagonist is the titular Bouchra, an endearing Moroccan filmmaker who has been estranged from her mother, Aicha, after coming out to her in a letter. A sojourn back home offers an opportunity to address the rift between them, and Bouchra begins making a film about her relationship with her mother. Their conversations, full of tenderness and humor, are the film’s emotional engine. A film within a film, *Bouchra* shifts back and forth from Bouchra’s process of making the film and the actual film she ends up creating. Barki and Bennani complicate this structure in the closing sequence, in which Aicha and a lively group of actresses rehearse one of the earlier scenes. Shot in a documentary style, the sequence adds yet another layer to the film. Sexy, formally inventive, and poignant, *Bouchra* is a must-see. —*Elodie Saint-Louis* --- ### *La West Side Familia* (2026), dir. Taylor Hosking ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/West-Side-Familia.jpg) Still from **La West Side Familia* (2026), dir. Taylor Hosking We’ve all seen the Upper West Side of movies and pop culture: liberal, affluent, predominantly White. But at 93rd Street and Columbus Avenue, La West Side Familia has been advocating for the local Puerto Rican community’s rights for over half a century. Founder Chino Familia is one of the pivotal figures at the center of this documentary by journalist and first-time filmmaker Taylor Hosking, who grew up in the same building her late mother was raised in, on the block where the organization was launched. With *La West Side Familia*, Hosking braids personal, communal, and political threads to narrate the Puerto Rican history of the neighborhood while processing the loss of her mother during the COVID-19 pandemic. She interviews family members and longtime Nuyoricans who carry memories of the area in the 1970s and ’80s, before the crack epidemic fractured the community and its budding break-dancing and hip-hop circles, and highlights remarkable footage of the local squatters’ rights movement. Chino’s eyes light up as he recounts those early years, from his first protest as a child to his participation in the Puerto Rican independence activists’ [1977 occupation of the Statue of Liberty](https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/puerto-rican-nationalists-occupy-statue-of-liberty/?ref=hyperallergic.com). George “SEN-One” Morillo, a pioneering graffiti writer, offers us a glimpse into the unbridled world of tagging, even revisiting the abandoned underground Amtrak rails that he and other artists made their own. After the screening on August 7, an emotional Chino got a well-deserved standing ovation and joined the panelists onstage. Though many of his fellow organizers have passed away, this film is a testament to their legacy and the next generation following La Familia’s lead, Hosking among them. —*Lakshmi Rivera Amin* --- ### *Palestine 36* (2025), dir. Annemarie Jacir ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/PALESTINE--36.jpg) Still from **Palestine 36* (2025), dir. Annemarie Jacir Annemarie Jacir’s sweeping historical drama chronicles the Arab Revolt of 1936 to ’39 against British colonial rule, a crucial period in Palestinian history. The film also reveals how the conflict involved a struggle between farmers, dependent on the land for their survival, and members of the Palestinian bourgeoisie, many of whom accommodated the British and turned a blind eye to the mounting catastrophe around them. At the beginning of the film, we meet Yusuf (Karim Daoud Anaya), a young man caught between life in his village Al-Basma and Jerusalem, where he works as a chauffeur for Amir (Dhafer L’Abidine), a wealthy businessman and husband of Khuloud Atef (Yasmine al Massri), a passionate, headstrong journalist who wields her pen to voice Palestinians’ concerns. Although *Palestine 36* initially appears to center Yusuf, there is no single protagonist. Each character is part of a larger tapestry: dockworker Khaled (Saleh Bakri), whose mistreatment pushes him to join the resistance, and villagers Hanan (Hiam Abbass, excellent as always), Abu Rabab (Kamel El Basha), their widowed daughter Rabab (Yafa Bakri), and granddaughter Afra (Wardi Eilabouni), who resist their displacement as best as they can. Jacir depicts revolt not as a spontaneous achievement of exceptional individuals, but as something that emerges from collective humiliations, losses, and acts of resistance. —*Elodie Saint-Louis* **Editor’s Note:* The authors' travel and accommodations were paid for by ALMA Communications.* ### A Picasso Vanished in 1961. The Guggenheim Now Wants It Back URL: https://hyperallergic.com/a-picasso-vanished-in-1961-the-guggenheim-now-wants-it-back/ Last updated: 2026-08-27T22:11:58.000Z The Picasso had disappeared without a trace. On the morning of February 6, 1961, a graduate student and dormitory aide at the University of Pittsburgh reported Picasso's painting "Femme dans un fauteuil" (1918) missing from the Students Union building. The 13.5-by-10.5-inch oil had been on loan from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation for an exhibition in the fall semester, and was due to be returned to the museum later that month. The school reported the theft to the Pittsburgh Police Department and the FBI was swiftly brought in to investigate, but despite a slew of news articles, notifications to institutions across North America, and a reward for information, the case went cold. More than six decades later, the Guggenheim says the painting has turned up, and it is headed to court to get it back. In a lawsuit filed in New York State Supreme Court this week, the Guggenheim Foundation accused Massachusetts residents Lawrence Jay Handler and Wendy Cohen Handler of unlawfully withholding the painting, disregarding the museum's ownership rights, and unjustly benefiting from possessing stolen property. According to court filings, the Handlers purchased “Femme dans un fauteuil” from Beadleston Fine Art in Manhattan in 1999, nearly 40 years after it went missing in Pittsburgh. But the Guggenheim learned of the painting's reappearance only in July 2023, when a researcher at Christie's who was looking into the work for a private sale consignment brought it to the museum's attention. Collector and mining tycoon Solomon R. Guggenheim, the institution's namesake founder, was listed in the provenance entry for the work in the “[Zervos](https://cahiersdart.com/collections/zervos?srsltid=AfmBOoqgt1IO5S%5FW7ZEgRGJLgfTOwVEOKDEDpTJzCh38EFvZ8YIVB4Bq&ref=hyperallergic.com),” Picasso's 1949 catalogue raisonné. Picasso painted the abstract composition while honeymooning with his first wife, the ballerina Olga Khokhlova, near Biarritz. Guggenheim would acquire the work from London's Gallery Zwemmer in 1936\. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/GettyImages-948243946-1.jpg) An archival photo of the Guggenheim Museum in New York (photo Louis Goldman/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images) It's unclear how the work made its way to the since-shuttered Beadleston gallery on Fifth Avenue, where the Handlers allegedly acquired it. Nor does the lawsuit say whether the Handlers or the gallery were aware of the artwork's provenance. (The gallery's founder, Bill Beadleston, was [reportedly](https://www.forbes.com/2001/02/06/0206artfraud.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) among the victims of a $50 million fraud scheme orchestrated by fugitive art dealer [Michel Cohen](https://www.forbes.com/2001/02/06/0206artfraud.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) in the early 2000s.) As soon as it learned of the painting's whereabouts, the Guggenheim moved quickly, sending the owners a formal letter demanding its return in August 2023\. That demand was promptly refused, according to court filings. “Femme dans un fauteuil” has remained in limbo at Christie's ever since. A spokesperson for the Guggenheim told *Hyperallergic* that it had “attempted to settle the matter with the individuals holding the work.” “This Picasso, titled 'Femme dans un fauteuil (Woman in an armchair)'(1918), was stolen in 1961 while on loan from the Guggenheim to a university,” the spokesperson said. “The Guggenheim is and always has been the painting’s rightful owner, and we look forward to its recovery.” *Hyperallergic* has contacted the Handlers for comment via their attorney at Withers Art and Advisory. Lawrence Jay Handler practices internal medicine and Wendy Cohen Handler is the owner of the private art and jewelry brokerage Estate Treasures, according to the lawsuit. Two unnamed individuals, John Doe and Jane Doe, are also listed as defendants, representing any others who might claim an interest in the painting. The compact canvas from Picasso's Synthetic Cubist period was valued at $10,000 to $60,000 in 1961, according to the court documents, and is now believed to be worth millions. In filings, the museum requests $3.5 million in compensatory damages, excluding counsel fees, and a declaratory judgment from the court. Though the Guggenheim received a $7,000 payment from its insurer, Chubb, after the theft in 1961, the museum says it repaid the proceeds in late 2023, following the Christie's discovery, and that Chubb has confirmed the restoration of title to the Guggenheim. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/GettyImages-138877436.jpg) Marc Chagall's "The Cattle Trader" was at the center of a relevant lawsuit by the Guggenheim in the 1980s. (photo Pierre-Philippe Marcou/AFP via Getty Images) The Guggenheim was previously involved in a different, precedent-setting case over a stolen artwork. In the late 1980s, the museum sought to recover a Chagall gouache that it said was taken from its premises by a mailroom employee two decades earlier. The painting made its way to a Madison Avenue gallery, where it was sold to a couple who displayed it in their living room for years. When the Guggenheim demanded its return, the defendants argued that they had purchased the gouache in good faith — that they had no reason to believe it had been stolen, and that the museum had waited too long before reporting it missing. The court eventually ruled that [the lawsuit could move forward](https://www.nytimes.com/1991/02/15/arts/guggenheim-may-sue-for-chagall-court-says.html?ref=hyperallergic.com), cementing New York State as a jurisdiction that tends to protect an artwork's rightful owner, even when the property is acquired by a good-faith buyer. (The two parties eventually [settled](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1993/12/29/museum-settles-suit-over-stolen-chagall/dbf737a8-3d61-44de-90de-af0475f995b4/?ref=hyperallergic.com) in 1993.) “To place the burden of locating stolen artwork on the true owner and to foreclose the rights of that owner to recover its property if the burden is not met would, we believe, encourage illicit trafficking in stolen art,” wrote Chief Judge Solomon Wachtler in a 1991 [opinion](https://www.law.cornell.edu/nyctap/I91%5F0018.htm?ref=hyperallergic.com). ### Long-Misattributed Clara Peeters Still Life Resurfaces After Decades in Storage URL: https://hyperallergic.com/long-misattributed-clara-peeters-still-life-resurfaces-after-decades-in-storage/ Last updated: 2026-08-13T15:49:31.000Z A 17th-century still life that had gathered dust for decades in storage at the National Museum of Norway is set to resurface in a forthcoming exhibition, where it will be publicly attributed to the Flemish painter Clara Peeters for the first time. Opening October 8, [*~~Woman~~ Painter*](https://www.nasjonalmuseet.no/en/exhibitions-and-events/national-museum/exhibitions/2026/-painter/?ref=hyperallergic.com) brings "Still Life with small game and grapes on a gilded tazza" (c. 1620) together with the works of 18 other influential yet sometimes overlooked women artists. Originally attributed to Ambrosius Brueghel, the son of the famed Flemish painter Jan Brueghel the Elder, the still life was acquired by the Oslo museum as a prized possession in[ 1845](https://www.nasjonalmuseet.no/en/collection/object/NG.M.00158?ref=hyperallergic.com). According to curator Cynthia Osiecki, the painting was shipped off to storage after experts retracted the Brueghel attribution in the early 20th century. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### A New Chapter for Zeitz MOCAA URL: https://hyperallergic.com/a-new-chapter-for-zeitz-mocaa/ Last updated: 2026-08-13T10:00:14.000Z After Koyo Kouoh died suddenly in May 2025, she left more than an immense void in the hearts of those who knew the visionary curator. Kouoh, chief curator of the 61st Venice Biennale, had also led the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in South Africa since 2019\. This week, the Cape Town institution entered a new chapter with the appointment of Elvira Dyangani Ose as artistic director. Starting this fall, the Spanish curator will bring her expertise in modern and contemporary African art and her vision of meeting artists where they’re at. “I’ll go to Johannesburg, or Accra, or Kumasi, or Nairobi,” she said in a 2017 interview. “I will meet the people there and try to understand the context of their works.” Staff Writer Rhea Nayyar has the story. Also today, SF Camerawork is the latest San Francisco arts organization to close, to the surprise of some in its community, reports Associate Editor Phillip Pyle, and Brian Karl reviews a Hammer Museum exhibition of works that incorporate "living materials,” from avocado and cacao to achiote and natural dyes. *—Valentina Di Liscia, senior editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/AmericanDoctor_Still8_CourtesyOfWatermelonPictures.-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/american-doctor-is-an-indictment-of-us-leadership-and-media/) [ “American Doctor” Is an Indictment of US Leadership and Media ](https://hyperallergic.com/american-doctor-is-an-indictment-of-us-leadership-and-media/) In a new documentary on Gaza, three humanitarian physicians from the United States navigate the horrors of genocide as they struggle to treat civilians in a buckling, under-resourced hospital in Khan Younis. Screening this week at the Angelika Film Center in Manhattan, journalist Poh Si Teng’s debut feature documentary American Doctor (2026) uses the physicians’ accounts as indisputable evidence of the cruelty inflicted on Gaza. Urgently produced in one year with on-the-ground footage by the Gaza cinematography company Alef Multimedia, American Doctor premiered at the Sundance Film Festival only weeks after its completion, and has since been acquired by Watermelon Pictures for distribution. | Rhea Nayyar [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/american-doctor-is-an-indictment-of-us-leadership-and-media/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/museum-south-africa.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/elvira-dyangani-ose-to-succeed-koyo-kouoh-at-zeitz-mocaa/) - [Elvira Dyangani Ose will succeed](https://hyperallergic.com/elvira-dyangani-ose-to-succeed-koyo-kouoh-at-zeitz-mocaa/) Koyo Kouoh as the artistic director of Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town, South Africa. - The San Francisco photography organization SF Camerawork abruptly [announces its closure](https://hyperallergic.com/sf-camerawork-photo-champion-for-five-decades-abruptly-announces-closure/) after 52 years. --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/brian-karl-hammer.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-living-world-feels-dead-at-the-hammer/) [ The Living World Feels Dead at the Hammer ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-living-world-feels-dead-at-the-hammer/) “Several Eternities” feels overly careful and unable to combust as fully as it could have. | Brian Karl [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-living-world-feels-dead-at-the-hammer/) --- ## Community [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/christian-bernard.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-christian-bernard-al-gury-and-hermione-carline/) [ Remembering Christian Bernard, Al Gury, and Hermione Carline ](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-christian-bernard-al-gury-and-hermione-carline/) This week, we honor the founding museum director, an artist who shaped PAFA, and a painter of transience. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-christian-bernard-al-gury-and-hermione-carline/) --- ## Member Comment Thank you! These are amazing, and it's so frustrating that they were disparaged and unknown for so long. —Christopher Pelham on “[The Miscarriage Collages That Were Too Much for the Art World](https://hyperallergic.com/joanne-leonard-miscarriage-collages-that-were-too-much-for-the-art-world/)” --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/angela-davis.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-the-women-of-the-black-panther-party/) [ Remembering the Women of the Black Panther Party ](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-the-women-of-the-black-panther-party/) Comrade Sisters centers photographs and personal accounts of the women who made up over two-thirds of the party. | Taylor Michael [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-the-women-of-the-black-panther-party/) featured listing ****The Bennett Prize – 2026/2027 Award Cycle** For women figurative realist painters. The grand prize winner receives $75,000 and a solo exhibition. The first runner-up receives $10,000\. A five-person jury will select 10 finalists to be featured in a group exhibition that will travel the US. The application fee is $50\. Read more on [**Hyperallergic*](https://hyperallergic.com/the-bennett-prize-opens-fifth-call-for-entries/). Deadline: September 19, 2026 | [thebennettprize.org](https://www.thebennettprize.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com) See more in [this month’s list of opportunities](https://hyperallergic.com/opportunities-in-august-2026/) for artists, writers, and art workers! ### SF Camerawork, Photo Champion for Five Decades, Abruptly Announces Closure URL: https://hyperallergic.com/sf-camerawork-photo-champion-for-five-decades-abruptly-announces-closure/ Last updated: 2026-08-12T20:52:39.000Z The San Francisco photography organization SF Camerawork will close its doors after 52 years, the nonprofit announced on [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/Db30rdnGgif/?hl=en&img%5Findex=1&ref=hyperallergic.com) this week. Its last day of operations is set for August 16, concurrent with the closing of John Chiara’s solo show [*Bay Panel*](https://sfcamerawork.org/john-chiara-bay-panel?ref=hyperallergic.com) at its gallery space in the Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture. “Despite the determined efforts of our staff, Board, artists, donors, and supporters to secure a sustainable future, we have reached the difficult conclusion that we can no longer continue operations,” the organization said in its announcement, which cites “rising operating costs, declining public funding, and a changing philanthropic landscape” as factors in their decision. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### “American Doctor” Is an Indictment of US Leadership and Media URL: https://hyperallergic.com/american-doctor-is-an-indictment-of-us-leadership-and-media/ Last updated: 2026-08-12T19:55:36.000Z In a new documentary on Gaza, three humanitarian physicians from the United States navigate the horrors ofgenocide as they struggle to treat civilians in a buckling, under-resourced hospital in Khan Younis. Screening this week at the [Angelika Film Center](https://americandoctorfilm.com/buy-tickets?ref=hyperallergic.com) in Manhattan, journalist Poh Si Teng's debut feature documentary [*American Doctor*](https://americandoctorfilm.com/trailer?ref=hyperallergic.com) (2026) uses the physicians' accounts as indisputable evidence of the crueltyinflicted on Gaza. Urgently produced in one year with on-the-ground footage by the Gaza cinematography company Alef Multimedia, *American Doctor* premiered at the Sundance Film Festival only weeks after its completion, and has since been acquired by Watermelon Pictures for distribution. The documentary follows Mark Perlmutter, a Jewish American orthopedic surgeon, and Zoroastrian trauma surgeon Feroze Sidhwa during and after their humanitarian aid trips to the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis. It also features Chicago-based emergency physician and human rights advocate Thaer Ahmad, whom Israel has repeatedly denied entry into Gaza for aid brigades since 2024 due to his Palestinian heritage. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### The Living World Feels Dead at the Hammer URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-living-world-feels-dead-at-the-hammer/ Last updated: 2026-08-12T20:56:07.000Z LOS ANGELES — The rumbling in a small foyer in the Hammer Museum gave me pause before I entered a gallery where eight boulders hunkered amidst piles of soil. I couldn’t help but look up at the rattling of track lights overhead. Was this my first California earthquake of the millennium? Somewhat reassuringly, nearby wall text explained that Raven Chacon’s sound piece “Study for Vertical Earth” (2026) had translocated underground audio recordings to animate the constructed space of the galleries. This unsettling beginning for the exhibition [*Several Eternities in a Day: Form in the Age of Living Materials*](https://hammer.ucla.edu/exhibitions/2026/several-eternities-day-form-age-living-materials?ref=hyperallergic.com) induces a sense of immersion in a specific place, in contrast to the dozens of standalone, mostly visual pieces of sculpture and painting. Accompanying signage provides reminders of the not-always-visible spirits which, like the vibrations of Chacon’s audio interventions, inhabit the world around us. This connection to such animated spirits through living forms is one primary principle underlying the show. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Elvira Dyangani Ose to Succeed Koyo Kouoh at Zeitz MOCAA URL: https://hyperallergic.com/elvira-dyangani-ose-to-succeed-koyo-kouoh-at-zeitz-mocaa/ Last updated: 2026-08-12T18:45:41.000Z The Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA) in Cape Town, South Africa, announced this week that Elvira Dyangani Ose has been appointed as its artistic director effective October 1\. Concluding a 15-month search, Dyangani Ose's appointment comes after the sudden and untimely loss of Zeitz MOCAA's late Executive Director and Chief Curator of six years, [Koyo Kouoh](https://hyperallergic.com/koyo-kouoh-dies-at-57/), who died in May 2025\. Dyangani Ose was among the five women jurors that Kouoh, who was named [chief curator of the 61st Venice Biennale](https://hyperallergic.com/venice-biennale-names-koyo-kouoh-as-its-new-curator/) before her death, had appointed for the Golden Lion awards. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Remembering Christian Bernard, Al Gury, and Hermione Carline URL: https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-christian-bernard-al-gury-and-hermione-carline/ Last updated: 2026-08-12T18:52:09.000Z [*In Memoriam*](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/in-memoriam/) *is published every Wednesday afternoon and honors those we recently lost in the art world.* --- **Christian Bernard** (1950–2026) *French critic, curator, and museum director* The French critic and curator was the [founding director](https://www.rjb.ch/Deces-de-Christian-Bernard-ex-directeur-du-MAMCO-a-Geneve.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) of Geneva's Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. He helped establish the Regional Contemporary Art Fund Rhône-Alpes, a French government-funded regional collection of contemporary art, served as artistic director of the Printemps de Septembre contemporary art festival in Toulouse, and founded the publishing house Walden N. He was also an accomplished poet, receiving the Grand Prix de Poésie 2026 for a lifetime of work from the French Academy mere weeks before his passing. --- **Vincent Browne** (1947–2026) *Irish sculptor of beloved public landmarks* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Untitled-5-1.jpg) Vincent Browne in 2025 beside his work "The Sea Captain" (2007) (photo Jane Jermyn via [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10167801939908012&set=pcb.10167801941228012), screenshot Lisa Yin Zhang/**Hyperallergic*) He made one of Dublin's best-loved landmarks, a bronze usher outside of the now-defunct Screen Cinema. He also created a sculpture of a seat outside of the iconic Temple Bar in the same city, and an anti-war memorial in Limerick. --- **Hermione Carline** (1951–2026) *British painter who explored light and transience* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Untitled-4-1.jpg) Hermione Carline (photo @hermione.carline via [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/DYRnJftjJeB/?img%5Findex=1&ref=hyperallergic.com), screenshot Lisa Yin Zhang/**Hyperallergic*) Her [semi-abstract oil paintings](https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2026/aug/11/hermione-carline-obituary?ref=hyperallergic.com) in muted, pastel shades capture the transience of light. The daughter of painters Richard Carline and Nancy Carline (née Higgins) and part of a long line of artists stretching back to the 19th century, she held art classes in her south London home, and her 2024 painting "Golden Shine" was shortlisted for the 2025 John Ruskin Prize. --- **Albert “Al” Gury** (1951–2026) *Painter and educator* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/image-12.png) Albert “Al” Gury (photo @al.gury.7 via [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/DaBGJ-hlW3K/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fweb%5Fcopy%5Flink&igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==&igsi=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==), screenshot Lisa Yin Zhang/**Hyperallergic*) In his paintings, he [captured](https://www.pafa.org/news/pafa-mourns-passing-albert-al-gury-beloved-painter-educator-author-advocate-friend-062926?ref=hyperallergic.com) domestic scenes and landscapes in bright colors and deep shadows with confident, blocky brush strokes. He served as chair of the Painting Department at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts — where he was also once a student — between 2000 and 2022, and shaped the institution as a teacher for almost four decades. --- **Martha Rivers Ingram** (1935–2026) *Nashville's First Lady of the Arts* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/image-13-1.png) Martha Rivers Ingram in 2020 (photo via [Wikimedia Commons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Martha%5FRivers%5FIngram,%5FOctober,%5F2020.jpg?ref=hyperallergic.com), [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=hyperallergic.com)) Chairman and CEO of Ingram Industries, she was also a [philanthropist](https://nashvillebanner.com/2026/08/06/martha-ingram-nashville-arts-philanthropist-obituary/?ref=hyperallergic.com) who served on the board of many Nashville arts organizations, including the Frist Center for the Visual Arts. She also co-authored multiple books on performing arts in the city. --- **Chris Smith** (1937–2026) *British photojournalist and sports photographer* He captured luminaries like Muhammad Ali and landmark events like the 1980 Olympics for publications like the *Guardian* and the *Sunday Times*. He won the Sports Photographer of the Year four times and individual Sports Picture of the Year two times, and exhibited his work in galleries and museums. ### Meet This Year’s Joan Mitchell Fellows URL: https://hyperallergic.com/meet-this-years-joan-mitchell-fellows/ Last updated: 2026-08-12T10:05:04.000Z Wake up, babe, the winners of the Joan Mitchell Foundation fellowships — one of the most coveted prizes in art — just dropped. Among the artists receiving the $60,000 award are Atlanta-based Krista Clark, Blue Ridge Mountains-based vanessa german, and Lexington, Kentucky-based Dianna Settles. What does the award mean to these artists? “Stability,” sculptor Beatriz Cortez told Senior Editor Valentina Di Liscia flatly. Yep. It’s one of the hardest thing in the art world to come by — look no further than the San Diego Museum of Art, which just laid of 11 workers, almost a tenth of its staff. Or even to the continued destruction of Ukrainian cultural sites by the Russian military, affecting almost 200 arts educational institutions and 150 museums and galleries. And yet, and yet. Despite it all, there are still those among us who dare dream for a more stable, equitable, and wonderful future — check out Chenoa Baker's interview with Maori Karmael Holmes, founder of the BlackStar Film Festival in Philadelphia, which took place late last week. “Let’s look at the work that’s being made and what it has the power to do,” Holmes said, “always concerned with creating a better world.” *—Lisa Yin Zhang, associate editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/blackstar.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/maori-karmael-holmes-looks-back-on-15-years-of-blackstar/) [ Maori Karmael Holmes Looks Back on 15 Years of BlackStar ](https://hyperallergic.com/maori-karmael-holmes-looks-back-on-15-years-of-blackstar/) The Philadelphia film festival’s founder reflects on its evolution into a hub for experimental, polyphonic storytelling amid a rapidly changing country and world. | Chenoa Baker [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/maori-karmael-holmes-looks-back-on-15-years-of-blackstar/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/joan-mitchell.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/p/49c1ba1c-02c2-43e8-9074-654a27d08a07/) - The Joan Mitchell Foundation [announcesthe recipients](https://hyperallergic.com/p/49c1ba1c-02c2-43e8-9074-654a27d08a07/) of its 2026 Fellowships, one of the most coveted prizes awarded to visual artists in the United States. - Russian missile attacks [have damaged or destroyed](https://hyperallergic.com/russia-has-damaged-or-destroyed-over-4-500-cultural-sites-in-ukraine/) over 4,500 cultural sites, according to a statement from Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture. - The San Diego Museum of Art [lays off 11 employees](https://hyperallergic.com/san-diego-museum-of-art-lays-off-11-workers/), citing “rising operational costs” and funding uncertainties. ## August Books Guide [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/august-photo-book.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/10-photo-books-to-read-this-month/) [ 10 Photo Books to Read This Month ](https://hyperallergic.com/10-photo-books-to-read-this-month/) Hal Fischer’s archive of queer fashion, Sophie Rivera’s portraits of Nuyorican communities, Rania Matar’s love letter to Lebanon, and more new titles to check out from photo book publishers. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/10-photo-books-to-read-this-month/) --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/craxton-.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/a-charming-cat-alogue-of-john-craxton-kittens/) [ A Charming Cat-alog of John Craxton’s Kittens ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-charming-cat-alogue-of-john-craxton-kittens/) John Craxton would see the animal mid-action and think, that’s another picture. On the occasion of National Cat Day, here are some of his most fantastic felines. | David Carrier [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-charming-cat-alogue-of-john-craxton-kittens/) ### 15 Artists Named 2026 Joan Mitchell Fellows URL: https://hyperallergic.com/15-artists-named-2026-joan-mitchell-fellows/ Last updated: 2026-08-12T14:43:41.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/JMFellows-2026-HeadshotComposite-Square.jpg) Left to right: Krista Clark, Cameron Clayborn, Sarah Elizabeth Cornejo, Beatriz Cortez (photo Ruben Diaz), Azza El Siddique, Sam Frésquez, Coulter Fussell (photo Jerry Siegel), vanessa german (photo Charlie Rubin), Porfirio Gutierrez, Roscoe Hall, Janet Olivia Henry (photo Christopher Garcia Valle), Erica Lord, Rob Rhee, Ruben Ulises Rodriguez Montoya, Dianna Settles (all courtesy Joan Mitchell Foundation) The Joan Mitchell Foundation announced todaythe recipients of its [2026 Fellowships](https://www.joanmitchellfoundation.org/journal/announcing-the-2026-joan-mitchell-fellows?ref=hyperallergic.com), one of the most coveted prizes awarded to visual artists in the United States. The 15 fellows will each receive $60,000 in unrestricted funding distributed over five years, in the spirit of the late abstract artist's stated commitment to “aid and assist” painters and sculptors. This year's fellows are Krista Clark (Atlanta, GA), Cameron Clayborn (Memphis, TN), Sarah Elizabeth Cornejo (Davidson, NC), Beatriz Cortez (Los Angeles and Davis, CA), Azza El Siddique (New Haven, CT), Sam Frésquez (Chicago, IL), Coulter Fussell (Water Valley, MS), vanessa german (Blue Ridge Mountains, NC), Porfirio Gutierrez (Ventura, CA), Roscoe Hall (Birmingham, AL), Janet Olivia Henry (Jamaica, NY), Erica Lord (Santa Fe, NM), Rob Rhee (Seattle, WA), Ruben Ulises Rodriguez Montoya (Sunland Park, NM), and Dianna Settles (Lexington, KY). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/JMFellow-2026-Cortez-B-6.jpg) Beatriz Cortez, “Stela Z, after Quiriguá (Contrary Warrior)” (2023) “Having an award that you know is coming year after year is so important because of what you can explore long-term,” said fellow Beatriz Cortez in a phone call with *Hyperallergic*. Cortez was finalizing a commission for the Boston Public Art Triennial when her home burned down in the devastating [Altadena Fire](https://hyperallergic.com/it-looks-like-a-bomb-exploded-la-artists-grapple-with-loss-as-fires-rage/) in 2025\. Though grateful for an outpouring of support, she was “exhausted,” and found it difficult to dive back into the heart of her practice: large-scale sculpture. The El Salvador-born, LA-based artist was recently appointed professor of Chicana/o/x Studies at the University of California, Davis, and also teaches in the school's art program. In her own studio, she gives contemporary form to ancestral knowledge through monumental artworks such as welded**\-**steel monolithsmodeled after Maya stelaeexhibited at the [Storm King Art Center](https://hyperallergic.com/beatriz-cortez-nomadic-volcano-sculpture-lands-at-storm-king/) and the [Venice Biennale](https://www.labiennale.org/en/art/2024/nucleo-contemporaneo/beatriz-cortez?ref=hyperallergic.com) — a labor-intensive practice that benefits from the freedom to experiment with different mediums and processes. Asked what the Joan Mitchell award means to her, Cortez responded with one word: “stability.” “I know \[the fellowship\] will transform my practice because I will have the opportunity to make the works that I dream of, and also explore new ways of working,” Cortez said. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/JMFellow-2026-Settles-D-7.jpg) Dianna Settles, "Good is the reckoning that uses no tallies and does no counting" (2023) Other fellows this year echoed this desire to “take up space,” in the words of Krista Clark, who said the no-strings-attached funds will allow her to hire a studio assistant and work at a greater scale. Cameron Clayborn, another recipient, will invest in a nearby studio space, and Sam Frésquez will purchase a small truck to acquire and transport bigger materials. Dianna Settles sees a transition from “working within constraint toward building a more materially rigorous, conceptually integrated, and ambitious body of work over time.” Janet Olivia Henry, who is the oldest recipient this year at age 79 — the youngest is 29 — articulated a common yet less frequently discussed challenge for artists whose trajectories do not reflect traditional, linear paradigms: “The paradox of late-career recognition is that my work is being treated as historic material while I’m still here,” she said. The artist and educator plans to use the fellowship funds to tackle legacy planning, bookkeeping, taxes, documentation, and storage. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/JMFellow-2026-Henry-J-10.jpg) Janet Olivia Henry, "Ritual (Self-Portrait)" (2025) Launched in 2021, the Joan Mitchell Fellowship transformed the nonprofit's previous grant offerings into a program that could sustain artistic practices over time, rather than provide one-time cash infusions. Factoring in the community-building and skill development opportunities also offered to fellows, the foundation's total commitment is about $1.3 million per cohort. “Artists have told us, again and again, that careers stall not for lack of talent, but because they need more consistent support, tools for self-advocacy, and access to art-world networks and engaged peers,” Solana Chehtman, director of artist programs at the Joan Mitchell Foundation, told *Hyperallergic*. The selection process involves an initial pool of artists recommended by 125 nominators, who are then asked to submit online applications. This year, 41% of nominators identified as working artists, the foundation said. Christa Blatchford, the Joan Mitchell Foundation's executive director, emphasized the connection between the fellowship's present priorities and the values of its namesake, particularly the “generosity she showed to other artists.” “For more than 30 years, we have built on that spirit through unrestricted grants, trusting that each artist knows best what they need to support their career and achieve their goals,” Blatchford said. ### Art Dispatches From “Habibi City” URL: https://hyperallergic.com/art-dispatches-from-habibi-city/ Last updated: 2026-08-11T22:16:55.000Z We went to sleep in New York last night, and woke up in Habibi City this morning, according to *New York Magazine*. I welcome the celebration of this cultural SWANA-sance, but it comes with the realization that I’ll probably never be able to get another ticket to [Laylit](https://www.instagram.com/laylitparty/?hl=en&ref=hyperallergic.com) again. Aside from the looming threats of rain, this week brings plenty to the table — shall we start with some oysters? On Governors Island, Mohawk artist Alan Michelson (Six Nations of the Grand River) challenges the erasure of the Lenape in New York City by invoking shell middens. With almost a million oyster shells from Manhattan restaurants, Michelson’s “The Oyster” (2026) represents both Indigenous futurity and the mollusk’s rise, fall, and revival in the city. Have a glance at the review by Editor-at-Large Hrag Vartanian for some more historical context. Heading uptown, The Met has recently pulled its preserved papyrus fragment of Homer’s *The Odyssey* from exhibition retirement. Currently displayed in the Department of Greek and Roman Art, the fragment contains three lines from Book 20 of the poem that don’t appear in the text published today. Rest assured that it’s not the only part of the story that Christopher Nolan omitted in his film rendition of the story … :\~) And lastly, in commemorating the life and work of the late Simone Forti, reada previously unpublished interview with the artist about her relationship with Yoko Ono, who has dedicated one of her famous screaming pieces to Forti. Speaking with Julia Bryan-Wilson in 2014, she also recalls her visits to Ono’s loft on Chambers Street with peers including John Cage, Bob Morris, and Yvonne Rainer. --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/simone-forte-2.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/simone-forti-talks-yoko-ono-dance-and-aging-in-never-before-published-interview/) [ Simone Forti Talks Yoko Ono, Dance, and Aging in Never-Before-Published Interview ](https://hyperallergic.com/simone-forti-talks-yoko-ono-dance-and-aging-in-never-before-published-interview/) About a dozen years ago, I happened to be simultaneously writing two different essays about two of the most influential artists of the 20th century who are almost exact contemporaries: Simone Forti (born in Italy in 1935) and Yoko Ono (born in Japan in 1933). Only two years apart, these women had many other things in common besides age: They were both transcultural migrants whose early lives were shaped by the deprivations of fascism and war. Both experienced discrimination — Forti’s Jewish family left Italy as a result of Mussolini’s Racial Laws, while Ono was (and still is) by turns exoticized and vilified as an Asian woman. As cross-disciplinary groundbreakers, both Forti and Ono transgress the boundaries between sound, drawing, poetry, participation, movement, new media, and sculpture. They continually invoked touch as mode of connection, and they both incorporated everyday objects as charged collaborators. Often, their art manifests a sly irreverence towards physical decorum, from Forti’s seething mound of limbs in Huddle (1961) to Ono’s satirical 1971 Museum of Modern (F)Art. Ono radically shifted the terrain of art and music through works like her conceptual instruction paintings; likewise, Forti’s works based on captive animals — the subject of my 2015 essay “Simone Forti Goes to the Zoo” — forever reshaped how we think bodies should be and move. | Julia Bryan-Wilson [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/simone-forti-talks-yoko-ono-dance-and-aging-in-never-before-published-interview/) --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/the-oyster-nl.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-lost-pearls-of-new-york-city/) ### Hrag Vartanian ***The Oyster* on Governors Island** "The oysters in Michelson’s installation are just as far-flung as its visitors, echoing the scale of change and the way globalization has forced the migration of people, animals, and things in order to survive in the storms brought on by colonialism and its descendants, including neo-liberal capitalism. [*Read the full review*](https://hyperallergic.com/the-lost-pearls-of-new-york-city/) --- ## Member Comment I do love where I live, but not for the art scene. There's just no place like NYC. Thanks for this dazzling round-up. —Jozanne Rabyor on "[15 Outdoor Art Shows to See in NYC This Summer](https://hyperallergic.com/15-outdoor-art-shows-to-see-in-nyc-this-summer/)" --- ## What Else Is Happening? - A 2,300-year-old papyrus fragment containing parts of Homer’s *Odyssey* is [now on view](https://hyperallergic.com/2-300-year-old-fragment-of-homers-odyssey-now-on-view-at-the-met/) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. - “The Bowery: Devil’s Mile,” opening September 24 at the New Museum, [traces 400 years of the iconic strip](https://hyperallergic.com/forthcoming-new-museum-show-is-a-love-letter-to-the-bowery/) known as a destination for fun, however raucous or refined. - Screening from today through August 20 at the Angelika Film Center, journalist Poh Si Teng's new documentary *American Doctor* (2026) details the healthcare horrors observed by three US physicians volunteering in Gaza. (Through Aug 20) \[[americandoctor.com](https://americandoctorfilm.com/buy-tickets?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Artist Chang Yuchen and linguist Ross Perlin will be in conversation at Printed Matter to talk about Yuchen's exhibition and how her practice intersects with language. (Wed Aug 12) \[[printedmatter.org](https://www.printedmatter.org/programs/events/2269?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Hear performances of student work from The Octavia Project at its Summer Showcase at CARA. Inspired by Octavia E. Butler, The Octavia Project uses speculative fiction as a lens through which to envision new futures and greater possibilities for our world. (Thurs Aug 13) \[[cara-nyc.org](https://www.cara-nyc.org/program/events/octavia-project-summer-showcase-2026?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - See juror-selected works from the Art Students League of New York at the opening reception. (Thurs Aug 13) \[[The Art Students League](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2026-juried-selection-opening-reception-tickets-1995698953292?aff=oddtdtcreator&ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Join Greenwich House Pottery for an in-person artist talk with Michelle Im, who will give an overview of her work and share the project she is working on during her summer residency. (Thurs Aug 13) \[[Greenwich House Pottery](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/artist-talk-michelle-im-tickets-1994390810602?aff=ebdssbdestsearch&ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Poster House is screening *Harlem Rides the Range* (1939) in connection with their current exhibition, followed by a conversation about the history of Black Westerns. (Sat Aug 15) \[[posterhouse.org](https://posterhouse.org/event/screening-conversation-harlem-rides-the-range/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Storefront for Art and Architecture is hosting a [lecture and conversation with Martha Rosler](https://storefront.nyc/program/revisiting-if-you-lived-here-lecture-and-conversation-with-martha-rosler/?ref=hyperallergic.com), where they'll revisit her seminal work *If you Lived Here…* (1989) and its continued resonance with housing advocacy today. (Tues Aug 18) \[[storefront.nyc](https://storefront.nyc/program/revisiting-if-you-lived-here-lecture-and-conversation-with-martha-rosler/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] ### 10 Photo Books to Read This Month URL: https://hyperallergic.com/10-photo-books-to-read-this-month/ Last updated: 2026-08-12T02:13:31.000Z In 1976, Helen Levitt photographed a child balancing between a lime-green car and the sidewalk curb above a stream of runoff in New York City, her birthplace and the subject of most of her six-decade career. Levitt's practice encapsulated the quiet politics and visual poetry that photography can offer us. The recent news of Steidl Verlag's [close call with bankruptcy](https://hyperallergic.com/photobook-publisher-steidl-in-dire-straits-after-threat-of-bankruptcy/) throws into vivid relief the importance of independent photo book publishers, and our editors and critics have several suggestions for anyone looking for a place to start. Choose your own adventure: Walter Chandoha's endearing photos of family felines, Hal Fischer's archive of queer fashion, Sophie Rivera's portraits of Nuyorican communities, and more. While you're at it, show some love to the indie photo book publishers like [TBW Books](https://www.instagram.com/tbwbooks?ref=hyperallergic.com), [Kris Graves Projects](https://krisgravesprojects.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com), and others hard at work to support the artists and storytellers transforming our worldviews with their cameras. —*Lakshmi Rivera Amin, associate editor* --- [***Family Cats: From the Archive 1949–1962***](http://bookshop.org/a/539/9788862088589?ref=hyperallergic.com) by Walter Chandoha | Damiani, June 2026 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/book-cover.jpg) “Cats! They drive you crazy and they blind you with love,” writes fashion icon and former *Vogue* visionary Grace Coddington in her foreword for *Family Cats*, a bite-sized new book of Walter Chandoha’s kitten photographs. Chandoha, a combat photographer overseas during the Second World War, trained his lens on the feline subject upon his return to the US, where he would produce a staggering 90,000 images of cats — which sounds impressive until you see my iPhone photo library. Unsurprisingly, the “[One Cat Photographer to Rule Them All](https://hyperallergic.com/success-secrets-of-a-famous-cat-photographer/)” crafted some truly fantastic portraits of kittens, whose tiny paws and endearing awkwardness fill the pages of this publication. —*Valentina Di Liscia, senior editor* --- [***Sophie Rivera: Double Exposures***](http://bookshop.org/a/539/9781597115971?ref=hyperallergic.com), edited by Susanna V Temkin | Aperture, July 2026 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/book-cover--1-.jpg) Take a look at Sophie Rivera’s self-portrait peering over her sunglasses, pipe between pursed lips, and tell me you don’t want to know more. The born-and-raised Nuyorican artist, who passed away in 2021, made photographic portraits of people in her community; a retrospective of her work at El Museo del Barrio closed mere days ago. But the show lives on in the accompanying catalog, in which curators and scholars like Susanna Temkin and Elizabeth Sherman deepen a viewer’s understanding of her relationship to disability, feminism, and her Puerto Rican identity — interspliced by gorgeous plates of her work. —*Lisa Yin Zhang, associate editor* [*Read Julia Curl’s review of the exhibition*](https://hyperallergic.com/sophia-riveras-mythology-of-everyday-new-york/) --- [***Rania Matar: Where Do I Go?***](https://www.kaphbooks.com/books/where-do-i-go/?ref=hyperallergic.com) | Kaph Books and the Eskenazi Museum of Art, April 2026 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/book-cover--2-.jpg) Using the lingua franca of social media images, artist Rania Matar threads the presence of beautiful women with the ruins of a place she loves deeply: Lebanon. Sometimes the figures appear to collapse from exhaustion or look at us with questioning glances; the photographs never settle into a lull that allows us the privilege of ignoring their power. This book accompanies her recently closed exhibition that was mounted at the University of Indiana’s Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art that focused on young Lebanese women and how they reimagined a country that has faced the toll of war, disasters, and governmental collapse for over 50 years. *—Hrag Vartanian, editor-at-large* --- [***Silent Springs***](https://loosejoints.biz/collections/forthcoming/products/silent-springs?ref=hyperallergic.com) by Michele Borzoni and Rocco Rorandelli | Loose Joints Publishing, July 2026 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/book-cover--3-.jpg) As much of Europe marks its hottest summer on record, and heatwaves and wildfires there continue to claim thousands of lives, a new book documents the people combatting climate change and environmental destruction. *Silent Springs* — whose title pays tribute to American scientist and author Rachel Carson’s [groundbreaking and controversial 1962 book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent%5FSpring?ref=hyperallergic.com) — opens with a glossary of words related to climate activism. Terms like "eco-anxiety," "repression," and "uprising" come starkly to life in Michele Borzoni and Rocco Rorandelli’s sharply focused photos from 2021 to 2024 of the encampments, actions, and rallies of resistance groups like [Extinction Rebellion](https://rebellion.global/?ref=hyperallergic.com), [Ende Gelände](https://www.ende-gelaende.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com), and [Last Generation](https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/organization/last-generation?ref=hyperallergic.com). Across agricultural fields, mining sites, highways, and schools across Europe, these pictures present passionate people — many of them strikingly young — who leave their phones (and any forms of ID) behind, bravely marching and militating against corporations, governmental institutions, and police in the sun and snow. At a time when so many of us feel paralyzed about the Earth's future climate and its implications, this book offers a heartening vision of hope. —*Lauren Moya Ford* --- [***Helen Levitt***](http://bookshop.org/a/539/9780500030974?ref=hyperallergic.com), edited by Joshua Chuang | Thames & Hudson, May 2026 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/book-cover--4-.jpg) "Though Levitt is perhaps best known for her photographs of children’s chalk drawings in the 1930s, they comprise only a fraction of her six-decade practice, whose emotional complexity and formal innovation continue to captivate. The comprehensive book *Helen Levitt*, edited by Joshua Chuang, draws from the breadth of her output with rarely seen images and scholarly essays that focus on her early expeditions with a Leica, 1941 trip to Mexico, experiments with color photography, two series taken in the New York subway, and final photographs from the 1980s." —*Natalie Weis* [*Read the review*](https://hyperallergic.com/helen-levitt-captured-the-poetry-of-new-york-city/) --- [***Social Season***](https://www.mackbooks.us/products/social-season?ref=hyperallergic.com) by Miranda Barnes | MACK, January 2026 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/book-cover--5-.jpg) Miranda Barnes has been working between documentary and commercial photography for a better part of the decade. *Social Season*, Barnes’s debut monograph, covers Black debutante balls she photographed in Detroit between 2022 and 2025\. Debutante balls have their origins in European nobility and were later appropriated by African Americans during Emancipation as a celebration of cultural pride and dignity. Barnes’s photographs skew the visual binary of celebrating or critiquing notions of Black respectability and class that have now become synonymous with Black debutante balls. She offers a caring and candid window into the small moments of Black life that center on waiting, meditating, and preparing for one's moment in the spotlight, highlighting how debutante balls create community and showcase youth sartorial expression. —*Imani Williford* --- [***L is for Look: Children's Photobooks***](https://www.spectorbooks.com/book/l-is-for-look?ref=hyperallergic.com), edited by Anne Lacoste and Rose Durr | Spector Books, May 2026 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/book-cover--6-.jpg) While picture books have long been understood as tools that help children build visual literacy, *L is for Look* explores the less-trodden yet equally delightful territory of photo books designed with young audiences in mind. The catalog weaves together the genre’s roots in early-20th-century pedagogy with later avant-garde experiments in graphic design, all while foregrounding the centrality of women artists and teachers, like Tana Hoban and Mary Steichen Calderone, in shaping the field. What’s exciting here are the ways these books toy with photography’s claims to veracity, geared toward readers who are nascent participants in the project of making sense of the world around them and their place within it. Playful crops, dynamic layouts, and photomontages and tableaus aren’t intended to deceive or persuade, but rather to catalyze that corner of the imagination that bubbles in the space between fiction and reality. —*Nanase Shirokawa* --- [***Hal Fischer: Seminal Works***](http://bookshop.org/a/539/9781597115957?ref=hyperallergic.com) | Aperture, February 2026 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/book-cover--8-.jpg) Photographer Hal Fischer’s work is often about clothes and thecodes embedded in gay fashion in the 1970s. Fischer explains the appeal of the cowboy archetype and the color-coding of bandanas; in one hilariously deadpan text, he writes: “Handkerchiefs are also employed in the treatment of nasal discharge and in some cases may have no significance in regard to sexual contact.” Fischer’s writing also informs *18th Near Castro St. x 24*, a series of photos in which he took a photo of the same bus stop from the same position every hour for a full day. His descriptions of what he did for the hour between each snapshot bring the story of the artist and the space surrounding the photograph into the picture. It’s important, exquisite, perfect. —*Nathan Gelgud* --- [***CPW Upstate Photography Biennial***](https://cpw.org/shop/?ref=hyperallergic.com)| 1080PRESS, June 2026 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/book-cover--7-.jpg) “The memory of a society extends as far as the memory of the groups composing it,” noted sociologist Maurice Halbwachs in 1950\. “It is constantly transformed along with the group itself.” This ever-evolving idea of collective identity describes the nearly 40 artists in the inaugural Upstate Photography Biennial in Kingston, New York. Unbound by theme and even medium, Center for Photography at Woodstock curators Adam Ryan and Marina Chao selected artists based on what it means to make photo-based work in this moment. The resulting exhibition catalog is not a survey of photographers in the orbit of New York City, but a careful reflection on the strength in the adaptability of community — artistic and otherwise. —*Frances Cathryn* --- [***Dead Letter Room***](https://www.eriskayconnection.com/dead-letter-room/?ref=hyperallergic.com)*,* by Allie Tsubota, translations by Art Translators Collective | The Eriskay Connection, February 2026 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/book-cover-1.jpg) *Dead Letter Room*, the first book of photography and writings by Allie Tsubota, is based on a series of the same name that the artist developed in 2022\. It follows a fictionalized correspondence across time and place between Tsubota and 20th-century Japanese poet Hara Tamiki, who recounts his experiences of surviving the bombing of Hiroshima and the reverberations of mechanized warfare in what would become known as the Atomic Age. Alongside these speculative texts, Tsubota stages another dialogue between archival photographs collected by the United States Strategic Bombing Survey in Occupied Japan in 1945 and her own documentation of contemporary life there. Spanning nearly 120 years, the scope of this project is broad, but Tsubota’s ability to focus on details that ground the viewer in the humanity of an imperial archive offer us a guide to navigating militarized violence as it operates today. —*Frances Cathryn* ### San Diego Museum of Art Lays Off 11 Workers URL: https://hyperallergic.com/san-diego-museum-of-art-lays-off-11-workers/ Last updated: 2026-08-11T20:48:55.000Z Just six months after celebrating its 100th anniversary, the San Diego Museum of Art laid off 11 employees last Wednesday, August 5, citing "rising operational costs" and funding uncertainties. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Russia Has Damaged or Destroyed Over 4,500 Cultural Sites in Ukraine URL: https://hyperallergic.com/russia-has-damaged-or-destroyed-over-4-500-cultural-sites-in-ukraine/ Last updated: 2026-08-11T20:48:15.000Z Russian missile attacks have damaged or destroyed 1,990 cultural heritage sites and 2,625 cultural infrastructure facilities in Ukraine as of July 31, according to a statement from Ukraine's [Ministry of Culture](https://mincult.gov.ua/en/news/russian-aggression-against-culture-russia-has-damaged-1990-cultural-heritage-sites-and-2625-cultural-infrastructure-facilities/?ref=hyperallergic.com). The affected sites include 196 arts education institutions, 141 museums and galleries, and historic sites on UNESCO's World Heritage List. Cultural institutions across 24% of Ukrainian territories and nearly half of the country's community cultural centers have been damaged during Russia's prolonged and deadly campaign. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Maori Karmael Holmes Looks Back on 15 Years of BlackStar URL: https://hyperallergic.com/maori-karmael-holmes-looks-back-on-15-years-of-blackstar/ Last updated: 2026-08-11T20:47:49.000Z This year, the United States semiquincentennial converges with BlackStar Film Festival’s 15th edition. At a moment when the nation contends with competing ideas of truth, BlackStar marked this milestone by doing what it does best: serving as a leading platform for experimental nonfiction and polyphonic storytelling. Held in Philadelphia from August 6 to 9, this year’s festival included 91 films and foregrounded stories from Haiti, alongside Haile Gerima’s [five-part epic](https://blackstarprojects.org/festival/2026/films/black-lions-roman-wolves?ref=hyperallergic.com) on Ethiopian resistance against Italian colonialism, unraveling the constructs of historical, present, and future. Founded in 2012 by filmmaker and curator Maori Karmael Holmes, BlackStar began as a film festival centered on the work and storytelling traditions of Black people and the African diaspora. What started as an annual gathering has grown into [BlackStar Projects](https://blackstarprojects.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com), a nonprofit organization supporting Black, Brown, and Indigenous filmmakers. Its programming now extends beyond the festival to exhibitions, a filmmaker seminar, a production lab, and [*Seen*](https://blackstarprojects.org/seen?ref=hyperallergic.com), a journal of film, art, and visual culture. Holmes served as the festival’s programmer for its first nine years before moving into her current role as chief executive and artistic officer, shifting from programming individual works to building the institutional infrastructure that supports them. Her own path from making [*Scene Not Heard: Women in Philadelphia Hip Hop*](https://blackstarprojects.org/festival/2026/films/scene-not-heard-women-in-philadelphia-hip-hop?ref=hyperallergic.com) (2006) to founding and leading BlackStar reflects the festival’s evolution from a platform for films into a broader ecosystem for artists and audiences. *Hyperallergic* spoke with Holmes about the labor of love behind BlackStar and what it means to preserve a festival’s original vision while allowing it to grow and adapt. Our conversation has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity. --- _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Meta's Glasses for Betas URL: https://hyperallergic.com/metas-glasses-for-betas/ Last updated: 2026-08-11T10:00:52.000Z The best artwork this week is not hanging in a museum or a blue-chip gallery; it's a mock street ad showing Jeffrey Epstein wearing Meta's new AI-powered Ray-Bans with the slogan "glasses for people who don't do consent." In case you didn't know, these glasses can photograph and record you without permission. Just when you think you can't resent Meta any more than you already do, Mark Zuckerberg reminds you that there's a lot left to hate. While Epstein burns in hell, Betye Saar, who passed away recently just days before her 100th birthday, is probably giving art workshops to angels in heaven. Our contributor Nereya Otieno got to speak with the assemblage artist in her final weeks at a show of her custom designs in Los Angeles. And what's a Tuesday without a good shipwreck story? Hundreds of nearly intact amphorae were found in a 2,000-year-old shipwreck off the coast of Sicily. What will we leave at the bottom of the ocean for future generations? Meta AI glasses? *—Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/betye-saar-feature.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/how-betye-saar-came-to-be/) [ How Betye Saar Came to Be ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-betye-saar-came-to-be/) There is an African Adinkra symbol, “Sankofa,” that means “go back and get it.” It’s intended to preach the importance of looking to the past when shaping the future, and to share wisdom between generations. On the occasion of her 100th birthday, Roberts Projects in Los Angeles organized an exhibition to recognize the earliest professional works of Betye Saar — the prolific assemblage artist who prodded the psyche of the Black American experience for over seven decades before her death last month. The show sheds light on a lesser-known facet of her canon: costume design. Through the over 200 archival objects in the show, one gets a good sense of the multiple pots Saar had her fingers in at the beginning of her career. Costume design, dancing (a full-wall photo of a young dancing Saar acts as the exhibition greeter), photography, drawing, jewelry, garments, greeting cards, album covers, and more are on view. The range depicts Saar’s broad curiosities, but it also underlines her particular skill in identifying various potentials and fitting them together. | Nereya Otieno [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-betye-saar-came-to-be/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/bennett-ad.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-bennett-prize-opens-fifth-call-for-entries/) ****The Bennett Prize Opens Fifth Call for Entries** Women figurative realist painters can enter to win $75,000 and a traveling solo exhibition. Applications are open through September 19. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-bennett-prize-opens-fifth-call-for-entries/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/indy.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/national-gallery-of-art-protects-works-ahead-of-trumps-indycar-race/) - The National Gallery of Art is studying the [possible impact of racecar vibrations](https://hyperallergic.com/national-gallery-of-art-protects-works-ahead-of-trumps-indycar-race/) on artwork ahead of Trump's "Freedom 250 Grand Prix." - A [new mock ad](https://hyperallergic.com/jeffrey-epstein-dons-meta-ai-glasses-in-damning-guerrilla-ad/) by the activism group Everyone Hates Elon depicts the Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses on a photo of Jeffrey Epstein, overlaid with the statement, “Glasses for people who don’t do consent.” - While exploring the warm waters of the Sicilian coast last week, two Italian divers [discovered hundreds of clay vessels](https://hyperallergic.com/divers-stumble-upon-2-000-year-old-roman-shipwreck-in-italy/) piled atop an approximately 2,000-year-old Roman shipwreck. --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/nathaniel-mary-quinn.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/nathaniel-mary-quinns-fragments-of-home/) [ Nathaniel Mary Quinn’s Fragments of Home ](https://hyperallergic.com/nathaniel-mary-quinns-fragments-of-home/) His fractured portraits at the National Public Housing Museum reckon with memory, family, and a childhood shaped by Chicago’s Robert Taylor Homes. | Lori Waxman [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/nathaniel-mary-quinns-fragments-of-home/) --- ## Member Comment it's a wonderful reflection on how an artist contributes to the larger effort to heal the waters and share the historical perspective of relationships built between communities. I wish it were a permanent installation. —Oletha DeVane on "[The Lost Pearls of New York City](https://hyperallergic.com/the-lost-pearls-of-new-york-city/)" --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/collage.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/joanne-leonard-miscarriage-collages-that-were-too-much-for-the-art-world/) [ The Miscarriage Collages That Were Too Much for the Art World ](https://hyperallergic.com/joanne-leonard-miscarriage-collages-that-were-too-much-for-the-art-world/) In 1974, the San Francisco Art Institute isolated Joanne Leonard’s series Journal of a Miscarriage from the rest of the works in her solo show. Has anything changed since? | Christine Hume [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/joanne-leonard-miscarriage-collages-that-were-too-much-for-the-art-world/) ### Nathaniel Mary Quinn’s Fragments of Home URL: https://hyperallergic.com/nathaniel-mary-quinns-fragments-of-home/ Last updated: 2026-08-11T16:59:19.000Z CHICAGO — More than 10 million people in the United States have called public housing home over the past century, yet the country boasts only one museum dedicated to the subject. The National Public Housing Museum (NPHM), after nearly two decades as a roving entity, opened a permanent home in Chicago in early 2025\. It seeks to address one of the most intersectional of histories, connecting art, design, architecture, human rights, politics, social policy, the economy, systemic racism, immigration trends, policing practices, and more. The museum occupies the sole remaining section of the Jane Addams Homes, constructed in 1938 on the southwest side of Chicago. It’s currently surrounded by an empty lot nearly the size of a city block, courtesy the Chicago Housing Authority’s Plan of Transformation, launched back in 1999 to solve the problem of deteriorating buildings, unsafe projects, and racial segregation with widescale demolition and the mostly unfulfilled promise of replacement mixed-income housing for all. That plan eventually amounted to the largest net loss of affordable housing in the country’s history. This story is just one of many told at the NPHM via an engaging combination of archival, experiential, historic, and artistic displays. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/_Still-Here_-Zhegagoynak-_-Andrea-Carlson--2024--on-the-rear-of-the-NPHM.jpg) Andrea Carlson, "Still Here: Zhegagoynak" (2024), on the rear of the NPHM The day I visited, offerings included an exhibit devoted to personal objects lent by public housing residents across the country, from a hand-stitched wedding dress and a heavyweight championship belt to an item I found especially relatable, a rotary phone with an extra-long cord. A case study of a rare recent success story, the Millers River Apartments in Cambridge, Massachusetts, nearly broke my head with its meticulous dissection of the impossibly complicated American tax credit system. Especially generous are a pair of apartment units recreating the homes of specific families representative of particular eras: the Turovitzes, Jewish immigrants who were among the first to occupy the Jane Addams Homes, and the Hatches, an African-American couple with eight children who moved in in 1960\. A third apartment, set in the 1950s, screens an immersive film explaining what happened in between from a policy perspective, including redlining and racist covenants, via the entrancing silhouette puppetry of the performance collective Manual Cinema. The museum’s courtyard delights with large limestone animal sculptures, designed by local polymath Edgar Miller for the Jane Addams Homes’ original outdoor play area, now beautifully restored. Also outside are three bang-up works of public art. “Still Here: Zhegagoynak” (2024), a palimpsestic 40-foot-tall (\~12.2m) mural by Andrea Carlson, acknowledges the land under the NPHM as being unceded by the Potawatomi. Amanda Williams and Olalekan Jeyifous fashioned an exuberant glass entry portico splashed with colors taken from paint chips left behind when the building’s final residents were forced to move out — vivid hues applied to apartment walls in defiance of Chicago Housing Authority rules mandating beige or light green. Over in the parking lot, Marisa Morán Jahn and Rafi Segal invented new ways to play basketball using a tricycle-mounted hoop system and a radically reimagined court design. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Divers Stumble Upon 2,000-Year-Old Roman Shipwreck in Italy URL: https://hyperallergic.com/divers-stumble-upon-2-000-year-old-roman-shipwreck-in-italy/ Last updated: 2026-08-11T14:36:25.000Z While exploring the warm waters of the Sicilian coast last week, two Italian divers discovered hundreds of clay vessels piled atop an approximately 2,000-year-old Roman shipwreck. In an [Instagram post](https://www.instagram.com/p/DbxuimnM67g/?ref=hyperallergic.com) chronicling the discovery, Giacomo De Mola recalled finding the site with his diving partner, Igor Bisulli, after mistaking the wreck for a "big rock." Sicilian cultural authorities clarified in a [statement](https://www.carabinieri.it/in-vostro-aiuto/informazioni/comunicati-stampa/individuato-un-relitto-di-epoca-romana-ad-una-profondit%C3%A0-di-46-metri?ref=hyperallergic.com) that the ship resides at a depth of 46 meters (151 feet) and primarily carries Dressel 1A amphorae (named after the German archaeologist Heinrich Dressel), late Roman Republic ceramic wine jars characterized by their angularity, pointed base, and collared rim. The divers also unearthed two anchor stumps and an unidentifiable lead structure. "The discovery is, to me, now very exciting," De Mola told *Hyperallergic.* "I did not expect it to be so important." ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Foto1-1.jpeg) The divers initially mistook the wreck for "a big rock." Italian Minister of Culture Alessandro Giuli described the site in a statement to *Hyperallergic* as "one of the most important underwater archaeological discoveries of recent years." Underwater photos of the discovery, which De Mola shared with *Hyperallergic*, show piles of amphorae overgrown with sea life. In each image, the signature vessel shape remains prominent, with glimpses of the original red clay base peeking through thick crusts of barnacles and vegetation. Dated between the second and first centuries BCE, the wreck could provide further insights into Ancient Rome's war-torn expansion throughout the Mediterranean. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Foto6-1.jpeg) The findings are being hailed as “one of the most important underwater archaeological discoveries of recent years.” De Mola speculated that the wreck could also contain Lamboglia 2 amphorae, along with clay jars from Neo-Punic-era North Africa. Sicilian authorities have not yet disclosed the classifications of the amphorae and their contents. The discovery recalls other ancient Roman shipwreck findings in recent years. In 2019, over 300 [amphorae](https://hyperallergic.com/nearly-intact-roman-shipwreck-rests-just-six-feet-beneath-mallorca-waters/) were found in the hull of a 1,700-year-old vessel in Mallorca. Two years later, another [collection of amphorae](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/28/ancient-roman-ship-discovered-off-coast-of-sicily?ref=hyperallergic.com) was discovered off the coast of Palermo. "The sea never ceases to amaze us," De Mola wrote on Instagram. "This time we didn’t find just a wreck. We found a piece of our history." ### RIP Vermeer, You Would’ve Hated AI URL: https://hyperallergic.com/rip-vermeer-you-wouldve-hated-ai/ Last updated: 2026-08-10T20:48:49.000Z Every book is a record of the life of the people who thumbed through it, the binder who secured its pages in place, the designers who chose its cover and typeset. So, when news emerged that Anthropic scanned and destroyed out-of-print titles to train Claude, it felt like a gut-punch to the very spirit of storytelling and artmaking that has always sustained our humanity. This week, author Ed Simon articulates the fascist logic behind this destruction, and reminds us why we must keep reading, writing, and critiquing in the face of it. Writer Natasha Seaman, for one, had mixed feelings about a new book on Vermeer, who has amassed a devoted following in part because his personal history still largely remains a mystery. Read her sharp review of the biography below, plus the latest in art book news. As for me, I’m counteracting the technocracy’s affront on books by revisiting old favorites (*Pride & Prejudice*, yes, I am an Austenphile) and discovering new ones (Valeria Luiselli’s *Beginning Middle End* and Jennifer Higgie’s *Bedlam*). Put that in your algo and smoke it, Anthropic. *—Lakshmi Rivera Amin, associate editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/ai-book-shredding-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/ai-companies-are-pulping-our-humanity/) [ AI Companies Are Pulping Our Humanity ](https://hyperallergic.com/ai-companies-are-pulping-our-humanity/) After Spanish physician and theologian Michael Servetus was burnt at the stake in 1553 for religious heresy, only three surviving copies of his *The Restoration of Christianity* would be spared from the bonfire. One particular copy, now held by the University of Edinburgh library, is ironically believed to have been personally saved by the Protestant leader John Calvin, who was responsible for Servetus’s execution in Geneva. Anyone familiar with Calvin, who bragged in a letter that he had “purged the Church of so pernicious a monster,” knows that the book wasn’t preserved due to affection for Servetus, but rather a bibliophile’s sentiment — even a doctrinaire, zealous, tyrannical bibliophile. And yet, as bizarre as Calvin’s motivations might have been, he’s still not as noxious as the artificial intelligence companies, including Anthropic, that have been involved in bulk purchasing, digitizing, and then pulping out-of-print books to train their large language models. Calvin at least had the excuse of his God; AI companies don’t even have that. | Ed Simon [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/ai-companies-are-pulping-our-humanity/) --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/vermeer-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-fruitless-search-for-vermeers-personal-god/) [ The Fruitless Search for Vermeer’s Personal God ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-fruitless-search-for-vermeers-personal-god/) A recent biography spends too much time speculating about the Dutch artist’s religious beliefs and not enough exploring other mysteries, including his possible use of a camera obscura. | Natasha Seaman [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-fruitless-search-for-vermeers-personal-god/) --- ## News From the Book World [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/steidl.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/photobook-publisher-steidl-in-dire-straits-after-threat-of-bankruptcy/) - The Germanpublishing giant Steidl Verlag, known for photobooks by leading artists including Nan Goldin, Gordon Parks, Walker Evans, and Joseph Beuys, [is facing an uncertain future](https://hyperallergic.com/photobook-publisher-steidl-in-dire-straits-after-threat-of-bankruptcy/) after coming close to bankruptcy. --- ## Member Comment It’s gotten to be that Hyperallergic is the most important thing I read every day. I thank this publication for the work it does. As someone tasked with the liquidation of an artist’s estate, I can tell you that many, many beautiful books are going to go into the trash this year, without the help of the marauding industries of AI. Library simply do not want book donations, as a rule. —Sally Eckhoff on "[AI Companies Are Pulping Our Humanity](https://hyperallergic.com/ai-companies-are-pulping-our-humanity/)" --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/imani-perry-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-history-of-blackness-is-entwined-with-blue/) [ The History of Blackness Is Entwined With Blue ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-history-of-blackness-is-entwined-with-blue/) Manet’s portrait of Jeanne Duval reveals how racism trains us to see colors in particular and sometimes contradictory ways. | Imani Perry [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-history-of-blackness-is-entwined-with-blue/) ### Jeffrey Epstein Dons Meta AI Glasses in Damning Guerrilla Ad URL: https://hyperallergic.com/jeffrey-epstein-dons-meta-ai-glasses-in-damning-guerrilla-ad/ Last updated: 2026-08-10T20:27:08.000Z A new mock ad by the activism group Everyone Hates Elon depicts the increasingly controversial Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses on a New York State sex offender registry intake photo of Jeffrey Epstein, overlaid with the statement, “Glasses for people who don't do consent.” The guerrilla ad was featured on a sandwich board planted outside Ray-Ban's flagship store in London this weekend. “Just helping @rayban @meta sell their pervert glasses by making sure everyone sees their new ad :)” EHE wrote in an [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/Dbx3%5FLaiH%5FM/?igsh=MTBpZWFtOWk2YW10OA%3D%3D&img%5Findex=1&ref=hyperallergic.com) post. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### National Gallery of Art Protects Works Ahead of Trump's IndyCar Race URL: https://hyperallergic.com/national-gallery-of-art-protects-works-ahead-of-trumps-indycar-race/ Last updated: 2026-08-10T20:58:58.000Z An IndyCar race taking place in the nation’s capital later this month as part of President Trump's “Freedom 250” celebrations is under scrutiny as experts study the possible impact of race car vibrations on thousands of artworks held in museum collections near the track. The National Gallery of Art (NGA), one of several institutions located on the [1.7-mile](https://www.freedom250gp.com/news-multimedia/news/2026/08/04/08-04-track-activation-partners?ref=hyperallergic.com) Freedom 250 Grand Prix circuit — along with the Hirshhorn Museum, the National Archives, and the National Museum of the American Indian, and others — conducted a study to examine possible consequences “out of a great abundance of caution,” a spokesperson said. “Based on the results, we have implemented a set of measures to ensure the safety of our staff, visitors, collection, and facilities during the race,” the NGA spokesperson told *Hyperallergic* in a statement, noting that the museum is not disclosing specific findings. According to the [*New Republic*](https://newrepublic.com/article/213797/trump-250-grand-prix-bad-idea?ref=hyperallergic.com), some artworks at the Washington, DC, museum have been reinstalled to face away from the side of the building that faces the racetrack. Further images from the [*Washington Post*](https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/2026/08/05/national-gallery-studied-whether-freedom-250-indycar-vibrations-will-affect-art/?ref=hyperallergic.com) showed that some outdoor artworks had been boarded up, including I.M. Pei's skylights in front of the museum's East building. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/P20260713DT-1177.jpg) A Freedom 250 Grand Prix-themed helmet inscribed with President Trump's name (photo The White House via [Flickr](https://www.flickr.com/photos/202101414@N05/55391827179/?ref=hyperallergic.com)) A White House spokesperson told *Hyperallergic* that the White House and IndyCar's parent company, Penske Corporation, "have followed all appropriate protocols and been in close coordination with all relevant agencies to ensure this is also the safest and most secure race for all visitors to enjoy.” (Penske Corporation is owned by Republican donor Roger Penske, who is the father of Jay Penske, founder of [Penske Media Corporation](https://hyperallergic.com/penske-gobbles-up-vox-media/).) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### How Betye Saar Came to Be URL: https://hyperallergic.com/how-betye-saar-came-to-be/ Last updated: 2026-08-11T17:36:13.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Betye-Dancing-With-Betye_1.jpg) Betye Saar in front of a reproduction of a photograph of herself at **Let's Get It On: The Wearable Art of Betye Saar* (all photos Nereya Otieno/**Hyperallergic*) LOS ANGELES — There is an African Adinkra symbol, “Sankofa,” that means “go back and get it.” It’s intended to preach the importance of looking to the past when shaping the future, and to share wisdom between generations. On the occasion of her 100th birthday, Roberts Projects in Los Angeles organized an exhibition to recognize the earliest professional works of Betye Saar — the prolific assemblage artist who prodded the psyche of the Black American experience for over seven decades before [her death last month](https://hyperallergic.com/betye-saar-who-opened-portals-between-worlds-dies-at-99/). The show sheds light on a lesser-known facet of her canon: costume design. Through the over 200 archival objects in the show, one gets a good sense of the multiple pots Saar had her fingers in at the beginning of her career. Costume design, dancing (a full-wall photo of a young dancing Saar acts as the exhibition greeter), photography, drawing, jewelry, garments, greeting cards, album covers, and more are on view. The range depicts Saar’s broad curiosities, but it also underlines her particular skill in identifying various potentials and fitting them together. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Antigone_1.jpg) Installation view of **Let's Get It On: The Wearable Art of Betye Saar* Some of the first archival photographs in the show are costume and set designs for a 1970 production of *Antigone* at the [Inner City Cultural Center ](https://innercityculturalcenter.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com)(ICCC), then located at the intersection of Washington and Vermont in Los Angeles. Saar worked on the costumes for the play but also did the backgrounds; the wallpaper was her first foray into collage work. “I just love materials,” Saar said during a press walkthrough of the show. “This was one of the first times I really got to play with that sort of collage work long before I knew what assemblage was.” In fact, this entire exhibition is an ode to Saar discovering the practice of mixing media for which she would become internationally recognized. In her costume work, she reimagined second-hand clothes into abstract garments for the stage or gathered found materials to fashion into accessories. Her sketches and fabric swatches are displayed in vitrines underneath photos of the designs in situ. With certain productions, she explained during the walkthrough, she would “often break down some of the stage work to a smaller scale to sell in the gift shop.” That idea is reminiscent of her classic assemblage work “BlackGirl’s Window” (1969), made around the same era. In addition to the early costumes, the exhibition highlights Saar’s domestic creations for her three daughters — Lezley, Alison, and Tracye (plus Tracye’s stuffed bear “Tutti”) — and homemade outfits for the very first years of the [Renaissance Pleasure Faire](https://renfair.com/socal/?ref=hyperallergic.com). _This post is for subscribers only._ ### The Native History of NYC's Oysters URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-native-history-of-nycs-oysters/ Last updated: 2026-08-10T10:42:59.000Z The oyster, writes Hrag Vartanian, is "no incidental New Yorker, but perhaps its most symbolic creature." Hyperallergic's co-founder and editor-at-large visits Mohawk artist Alan Michelson’s poetic installation in Governor’s Island, where about a million oyster shells culled from Manhattan restaurants stir reflections on Native land and historical memory. Vartanian muses on the glorious mollusk’s history, from Lenape shell middens to NYC’s menus to the detrimental effects of their disappearance on our ecosystems. In Michelson’s work, Vartanian writes, “the shells become forces of insurgency, counter-experts that quietly refute settler innocence and its alibi that ‘nothing was here’ before extraction.” Still can’t get a ticket for Christopher Nolan's *The Odyssey* in New York? Welcome to the club. Here’s a cooler plan: Head uptown to The Met to see a rare, 2,300-year-old fragment with lines from Homer’s epic, now on view at the museum. No hot takes about the historical accuracy of Bronze Age armor required. Papyrus > IMAX. *—Valentina Di Liscia, senior editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/the-oyster.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-lost-pearls-of-new-york-city/) [ The Lost Pearls of New York City ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-lost-pearls-of-new-york-city/) Walking down Pearl Street in Manhattan’s Chinatown, you probably don’t realize that the name marks the original 17th-century East River shoreline of New York City. In fact, the street was named for a Lenape shell midden that was located on its southern section, which is also believed to have been adjacent to a Lenape canoe landing. It was one of many prominent middens that marked the region, and as Mark Kurlansky explains in his bestselling book The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell (2006), middens are “the most common marker of a pre-European settlement anywhere in the area of the mouth of the Hudson.” These piles of oyster shells, he notes, were sometimes as much as four feet deep, sometimes buried in the ground, sometimes piled high. | Hrag Vartanian [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-lost-pearls-of-new-york-city/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/2747_Hyperallergic_1920x1080_1-1.jpg)](https://www.swanngalleries.com/auction/lgbtq-art-material-culture-history-august-13-2026/?ref=hyperallergic.com) Swann Auction Galleries is hosting it's 7th LGBTQ+ Art Material Culture & History auction featuring Tom of Finland, Hugh Steers, Lorenza Böttner, Keith Haring, Andy Warhol, and more. The sale will also include works consigned on behalf of the Detroit Queer Biennial and the Leslie Lohman Museum. [Learn more ](https://www.swanngalleries.com/auction/lgbtq-art-material-culture-history-august-13-2026/?ref=hyperallergic.com) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/met-odyssey.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/2-300-year-old-fragment-of-homers-odyssey-now-on-view-at-the-met/) - A 2,300-year-old papyrus fragment containing parts of Homer’s *Odyssey* is [now on view](https://hyperallergic.com/2-300-year-old-fragment-of-homers-odyssey-now-on-view-at-the-met/) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. - As escalates attacks against historic sites and the artworks housed within them, Democrats and preservationist groups [are pushing for](https://hyperallergic.com/could-this-new-legislation-protect-historic-sites-from-trumps-wrath/) protective countermeasures. - Twenty-six Islamic artworks from the Louvre Museum [will be shown](https://hyperallergic.com/smithsonian-to-show-historic-islamic-artworks-from-louvres-collection/) at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art in Washington, DC, next month. - “The Bowery: Devil’s Mile,” opening September 24 at the New Museum, [traces 400 years of the iconic strip](https://hyperallergic.com/forthcoming-new-museum-show-is-a-love-letter-to-the-bowery/) known as a destination for fun, however raucous or refined. --- ## Community [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/view-from-the-easel-8.7.26.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-143/) [ A View From the Easel: Lilit Martirosyan ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-143/) “Going back there is a psychological, conscious choice to enter the space and interact with the energy.” [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-143/) --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/fresh-sets.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/tembe-denton-hurst-fresh-sets-nail-art/) [ Fresh Sets Examines the Fine Art of Nail Art ](https://hyperallergic.com/tembe-denton-hurst-fresh-sets-nail-art/) Writer Tembe Denton-Hurst argues that this wearable art form isn’t just an extension of our fingertips, but also an extension of ourselves. | Rhea Nayyar [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/tembe-denton-hurst-fresh-sets-nail-art/) ### Savneet Talwar, Anna Boghiguian, Iris van Herpen URL: https://hyperallergic.com/anna-boghiguian-savneet-talwar-iris-van-herpen/ Last updated: 2026-08-08T10:00:34.000Z Sunset over Brooklyn at the end of a workday puts my mind at relative ease. A discarded still life of white roses in a golden frame resting against a pile of black trash bags outside someone's house ends up being the most memorable art installation of the week. A new storefront church opens near my house; I see it one night when I go to buy milk for the kids. It's got a lobby with fancy-looking brown leather sofas for the faithful to sit comfortably on. I pass by a bookstore and see a photobook by Hans Wilschut titled *Beirut, Epi-Centre Ville*. It traces the impact of the devastating blast of 2020 on the city's streets and soul. The book piques my interest, but I keep walking and see a Honda Civic with a license plate that reads "FATIGUE." I pull my phone out to snap a picture of it, and get reminded that it's August 4, the sixth anniversary of the blast. At work, we publish a piece about desperate drawings made by immigrant children held in ICE detention camps. It breaks my heart to pieces. News about community members fighting to reinstate SAIC professor Savneet Talwar, who was unjustly put on leave for asking students to imagine treatment for a pro-Palestinian protester, put my heart back together again. Outside an open studios event in Brooklyn, I talk with an artist who makes the case for "holding on to hope." "Isn't hope for people who have no power?" I ask her. "Exactly," she says. *—Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Ai-companies.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/ai-companies-are-pulping-our-humanity/) [ AI Companies Are Pulping Our Humanity ](https://hyperallergic.com/ai-companies-are-pulping-our-humanity/) After Spanish physician and theologian Michael Servetus was burnt at the stake in 1553 for religious heresy, only three surviving copies of his The Restoration of Christianity would be spared from the bonfire. One particular copy, now held by the University of Edinburgh library, is ironically believed to have been personally saved by the Protestant leader John Calvin, who was responsible for Servetus’s execution in Geneva. Anyone familiar with Calvin, who bragged in a letter that he had “purged the Church of so pernicious a monster,” knows that the book wasn’t preserved due to affection for Servetus, but rather a bibliophile’s sentiment — even a doctrinaire, zealous, tyrannical bibliophile. And yet, as bizarre as Calvin’s motivations might have been, he’s still not as noxious as the artificial intelligence companies, including Anthropic, that have been involved in bulk purchasing, digitizing, and then pulping out-of-print books to train their large language models. Calvin at least had the excuse of his God; AI companies don’t even have that. | Ed Simon [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/ai-companies-are-pulping-our-humanity/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/2747_Hyperallergic_1920x1080_2-1.jpg)](https://www.swanngalleries.com/auction/lgbtq-art-material-culture-history-august-13-2026/?ref=hyperallergic.com) Swann Auction Galleries is hosting it's 7th LGBTQ+ Art Material Culture & History auction featuring Tom of Finland, Hugh Steers, Lorenza Böttner, Keith Haring, Andy Warhol, and more. The sale will also include works consigned on behalf of the Detroit Queer Biennial and the Leslie Lohman Museum. [Learn more ](https://www.swanngalleries.com/auction/lgbtq-art-material-culture-history-august-13-2026/?ref=hyperallergic.com) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/savneet-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/hundreds-demand-reinstatement-of-saic-professor-savneet-talwar/) - Over 400 members of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s community [resume calls for the reinstatement](https://hyperallergic.com/hundreds-demand-reinstatement-of-saic-professor-savneet-talwar/) of Savneet Talwar. - Francisco Correa Cordero, the founder of the downtown New York gallery Lubov, [dies at the age of 37](https://hyperallergic.com/lubov-gallery-founder-francisco-correa-cordero-dies-at-37/). - [ICE releases scans of nine pages](https://hyperallergic.com/drawings-by-children-in-texas-ice-facility-are-a-cry-for-help/) seized by children detained in Texas to podcast host Allison Gill after she filed a lawsuit in March. - [Police arrest 16protesters](https://hyperallergic.com/16-arrested-for-showing-portraits-of-people-killed-by-ice-in-dc-senate-building/) who unfurled banners bearing portraits of Immigration and Customs Enforcement victims on the marble floor of the Hart Senate Office Building. - Trump [proposed a historically low Smithsonian budget](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-proposes-lowest-smithsonian-budget-in-years/) as his appointees push other measures to stifle funding at the museum and research network. - Three of Pittsburgh’s pickleball courts are [transformed into vibrant artworks](https://hyperallergic.com/sharmistha-ray-transforms-pickleball-courts-into-stunning-artworks/) as part of Sharmistha Ray’s “Geometry of Play.” - The Eric Carle Museum staff [are pushing to unionize](https://hyperallergic.com/eric-carle-museum-workers-push-for-union-vote/) due to allegations of understaffing, a lack of promotions, and poor workplace conditions. - Unionized workers at the Victoria and Albert East Storehouse, a publicly accessible museum storage site, [vote unanimouslyto strike](https://hyperallergic.com/v-a-storehouse-workers-vote-to-strike-over-amazon-style-conditions/) over alleged “Amazon-style” working practices. - The new exhibition *Help Wanted / Leave Now* traces “Operation Wetback,” one of the [United States’s worst deportation campaigns](https://hyperallergic.com/california-exhibition-to-document-one-of-the-uss-worst-deportation-campaigns/) against undocumented Mexican workers. - After 20 years of delays, allegations, and recalibrations, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation will [open the doors](https://hyperallergic.com/long-contested-guggenheim-abu-dhabi-gets-opening-date/) to its Frank Gehry-designed Abu Dhabi outpost on December 11. - [A new study finds](https://hyperallergic.com/art-orgs-that-received-more-covid-era-funding-outperforming-others-study-finds/) that arts and culture organizations that received more funding from local governments during the COVID-19 pandemic tended to fare better in subsequent years. - [Art Movements](https://hyperallergic.com/an-artist-reimagines-frieze-londons-loos/): Gray Wielebinski’s scented artworks for Frieze London's bathrooms, Michelle Grabner’s gift to a Wisconsin museum, Gagosian’s real estate footprint shrinks, and other news. --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/vermeer-2.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-fruitless-search-for-vermeers-personal-god/) [ The Fruitless Search for Vermeer’s Personal God ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-fruitless-search-for-vermeers-personal-god/) A recent biography spends too much time speculating about the Dutch artist’s religious beliefs and not enough exploring other mysteries, including his possible use of a camera obscura. | Natasha Seaman [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-fruitless-search-for-vermeers-personal-god/) [ Ellen Pau’s Elegy to a Vanishing Hong Kong ](https://hyperallergic.com/ellen-paus-elegy-to-a-vanishing-hong-kong/) In the video art pioneer’s first US exhibition, water’s changing states become a metaphor for the city. | Gladys Lou [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/ellen-paus-elegy-to-a-vanishing-hong-kong/) [ The Scent of Ancient Rome in St. Louis ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-scent-of-ancient-rome-in-st-louis/) An exhibition makes a case for the sensuality of these marble sculptures, recreating the perfumes and balms that once adorned them. | Eileen G’Sell [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-scent-of-ancient-rome-in-st-louis/) --- ## Interviews [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/simone-forte-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/simone-forti-talks-yoko-ono-dance-and-aging-in-never-before-published-interview/) [ Simone Forti Talks Yoko Ono, Dance, and Aging in Never-Before-Published Interview ](https://hyperallergic.com/simone-forti-talks-yoko-ono-dance-and-aging-in-never-before-published-interview/) “I remember sitting with Yoko on a ledge on the PS1 roof and talking together comfortably,” said the late performance artist. “It was restful.” | Julia Bryan-Wilson [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/simone-forti-talks-yoko-ono-dance-and-aging-in-never-before-published-interview/) [ Anna Boghiguian on Weaving Armenia ](https://hyperallergic.com/anna-boghiguian-on-weaving-armenia/) “The gift of being alive is developing a garden in oneself,” the Armenian-Egyptian artist told Hyperallergic, “and to move towards heaven.” | Avedis Hadjian [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/anna-boghiguian-on-weaving-armenia/) --- ## Features [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/iris-van-herpen.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-day-i-pleated-with-iris-van-herpen/) [ The Day I Pleated With Iris van Herpen ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-day-i-pleated-with-iris-van-herpen/) A show at the Brooklyn Museum invites guests to work alongside the Dutch fashion designer in her recreated atelier. | Livia Caligor [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-day-i-pleated-with-iris-van-herpen/) [ Kimsooja Comes Full Circle ](https://hyperallergic.com/kimsooja-comes-full-circle/) Her first exhibition in Toronto for 30 years captures her single-minded focus on the needle as a metaphor for folding and unfolding, memory and displacement. | Rea McNamara [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/kimsooja-comes-full-circle/) --- ## Guide [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/LA-art-shows.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/10-art-shows-to-see-in-los-angeles-this-august/) [ 10 Art Shows to See in Los Angeles This August ](https://hyperallergic.com/10-art-shows-to-see-in-los-angeles-this-august/) Betye Saar’s wearable art, Alfredo Ramos Martínez’s mountain ranges, the world’s largest pop-up book, three South Asian artists redefine monumentality, and more. | Matt Stromberg [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/10-art-shows-to-see-in-los-angeles-this-august/) --- ## Community [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/required-reading-8.7.26.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/required-reading-796/) - [Required Reading](https://hyperallergic.com/required-reading-796/): A Renaissance altarpiece returns home, Yoko Ono at the Broad, the anti-AI writing movement, an uncertain future for butterfly collectors, the harp is hot again, and more. - [In Memoriam](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-milan-knizak-simone-forti-and-francisco-correa-cordero/): Remembering Milan Knížák, Simone Forti, Francisco Correa Cordero, and others. - [A View From the Easel](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-348/): Connor Czora mines the history of porcelain ceramics while teaching the next generation of potters in DC. ## Opportunities Residencies, fellowships, grants, and open calls from the Erie Canal Museum, Jentel Artist Residency, Princeton University, and more in our [monthly list of opportunities](https://hyperallergic.com/opportunities-in-august-2026/) for artists, writers, and art workers. ### 2,300-Year-Old Fragment of Homer’s “Odyssey” Now on View at The Met URL: https://hyperallergic.com/2-300-year-old-fragment-of-homers-odyssey-now-on-view-at-the-met/ Last updated: 2026-08-07T20:28:07.000Z The subway trek to the Upper East Side is slightly easier than Odysseus's journey across the Mediterranean, provided the 6 train is running. For those who prevail, their reward will be plentiful: A 2,300-year-old papyrus fragment containing parts of Homer's *Odyssey* is now on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The institution announced this week that the object would emerge from its long retirement on August 5\. The fragment is now on public view at the museum in Gallery 162. In a [video](https://x.com/metmuseum/status/2085130149880578318?ref=hyperallergic.com) accompanying The Met's announcement, Séan Hemingway, curator in charge of Greek and Roman art, described the papyrus as “the earliest preserved fragment of Homer's Odyssey that we have today.” _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Could This New Legislation Protect Historic Sites From Trump's Wrath? URL: https://hyperallergic.com/could-this-new-legislation-protect-historic-sites-from-trumps-wrath/ Last updated: 2026-08-07T20:25:07.000Z As President Donald Trump and his appointees escalate their legislative attacks against [historic sites](https://hyperallergic.com/trumps-border-expansion-threatens-6-000-year-old-cave-paintings/) and the artworks housed within them, Democrats and preservationist groups are pushing for protective countermeasures. On July 24, the [heavily Trump-appointed](https://www.achp.gov/news/president-trump-appoints-new-achp-members?ref=hyperallergic.com) Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) advanced a proposal that could diminish legal protections of historic sites. The 16–5 vote approved revisions to Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, a measure that mandates federal agencies to consider possible damages to historically significant sites before undertaking construction projects. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### The Lost Pearls of New York City URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-lost-pearls-of-new-york-city/ Last updated: 2026-08-26T14:07:31.000Z Walking down Pearl Street in lower Manhattan, you probably don’t realize that the name marks the original 17th-century East River shoreline of New York City. In fact, the street was named for a [Lenape shell midden](https://ospi.k12.wa.us/sites/default/files/2023-10/manahatta%5Fto%5Fmanhattan.pdf?ref=hyperallergic.com) that was located on its southern section, which is also believed to have been adjacent to a Lenape canoe landing. It was one of many prominent middens that marked the region, and as Mark Kurlansky explains in his bestselling book [*The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell* ](http://bookshop.org/a/539/9780345476395?ref=hyperallergic.com)(2006), middens are “the most common marker of a pre-European settlement anywhere in the area of the mouth of the Hudson.” These piles of oyster shells, he notes, were sometimes as much as four feet deep, sometimes buried in the ground, sometimes piled high. The early 17th-century Dutch colonists were the first to note these large piles and many of them remained well into the 19th century when the last vestiges were dismantled and then used as filler for roads and other modernization projects. Brooklyn writer Daniel Tredwell wrote in his 1839 diary that he would explore these piles with his father: > “On the way out we pass many Indian shell heaps bleached as white as snow, which they much resemble at a distance. Some of them on the banks of the creek extend from fifteen to thirty feet upon the bank, and under water, in many instances entirely across the creek. These shell heaps, long ere this, has excited our curiosity and we had proposed all manner of questioning concerning their authors. These questions my father did not and could not satisfactorily answer, and we were consequently unsatisfied, and hence there was a constantly recurring inquiry.” The passage highlights that the erasure of Indigenous settlement was so thorough in 19th-century New York that it never occurred to the Tredwell family that the landmarks they visited were consciously created by those whom they displaced. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Schenck-Governors-Island-2026_07_31-DJI_0144--1-.jpg) Installation view of of Alan Michelson, "The Oyster" (2026), commissioned by More Art in partnership with Billion Oyster Project and Governors Island Arts (photo Timothy Schenck for Governors Island Arts) That forgetting is at the foundation of Alan Michelson’s “The Oyster” project, which opened this past weekend on Governors Island and will continue until late fall. This history, Michelson’s public artwork suggests, is stillpresent, and equally contested, as people who live here continue to ignore the mark that the oyster has on our daily lives. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Forthcoming New Museum Show Is a Love Letter to the Bowery URL: https://hyperallergic.com/forthcoming-new-museum-show-is-a-love-letter-to-the-bowery/ Last updated: 2026-08-07T17:56:45.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Untitled-1-1.jpg) A 1796 map of New York by Bernard Ratzer (image courtesy The Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division) A hand-pump fire engine from 1830 and surviving dime museum attractions will be displayed alongside Jacob Riis's documentary photography and art by Keith Haring, Lynda Benglis, June Leaf, and others in the New Museum's forthcoming exhibition about the Bowery. [*The Bowery: Devil’s Mile*](https://www.newmuseum.org/exhibition/the-bowery-devils-mile/?ref=hyperallergic.com) will comprise archival materials, artifacts, and artworks representing four centuries of innovation and inspiration along the museum's home street. The show will open on September 24 alongside a previously announced [Arthur Jafa survey](https://hyperallergic.com/largest-ever-arthur-jafa-survey-coming-to-new-museum/) in the Manhattan institution's [newly expanded](https://hyperallergic.com/whats-so-new-about-the-new-museum-building/) building. Originally a [Lenape footpath](https://villagepreservation.org/2021/08/23/whats-lost-in-a-name-the-bowery-and-the-lost-mohican-trail/?ref=hyperallergic.com) spanning the length of Mannahatta, the thoroughfare, later dubbed Bowerij Road (*bowerij* is the Dutch word for farm), connected colonial New Amsterdam to the northern farmlands. During the 1640s, 11 Black men enslaved by the Dutch were [emancipated and allotted plots of land](https://merchantshouse.org/blog/manuel-plaza/?ref=hyperallergic.com) along the Bowery, marking the area as the first free Black settlement in Manhattan. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Bowery_3.jpeg) David Godlis, “Blondie, PUNK Magazine Benefit, CBGB” (1977) (photo courtesy David Godlis) After the Dutch ceded their territory to the British, New York was born in 1664\. The upper Bowery became leisurely estates for the wealthy, while the lower portion was outfitted for the livestock industry. Entrepreneurship along the Bowery stimulated an amusement-centered economy of taverns, vaudeville and burlesquetheaters, circuses, and dime museums. By the 19th century, the strip was a reputed destination for fun, however raucous or refined. Several immigration waves established the Bowery's multicultural identity during the early 19th century. However, the lack of public health services and boundless population growth led to an explosion of overcrowded and unsanitary tenement housing, violent crime, and rampant disease and infestations. An economic downturn led to further infamy as taverns were replaced with dive bars, hotels were converted into flophouses, and illicit activities overtook the once-popular arts scene. Though muckraker Jacob Riis [shed light on the squalid conditions](https://www.tenement.org/blog/todays-other-half/?ref=hyperallergic.com) in the area, the street continued to wither amid the Great Depression and Prohibition. By the 1940s, the Bowery was labeled the city's “Skid Row.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Bowery_2.jpg) Unknown artist, “The Five Points” (c. 1827) (image courtesy The Metropolitan Museum of Art) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Bowery_7.jpg) Jacob Riis, “\[Family in room in tenement house.\],” from **How the Other Half Lives* (1890) (photo courtesy Museum of the City of New York) The gritty scape sharpened the Bowery's edge during the midcentury, after it was deemed an affordable, untapped haven for artists including Mark Rothko, William Burroughs, and John Giorno. The Bowery's cultural revival was ignited by the Beat Generation and the growth of Abstract Expressionism. The street also became a punk and new wave mecca with the 1973 opening of CBGB, which launched the careers of bands including Blondie, the Ramones, the B-52s, and the Talking Heads. The New Museum, which only shifted to the Bowery in 2007, said in a press release that the forthcoming exhibition is merely an “introduction” to the “richness and complexity of the Bowery and its generative power and concentrated energy as a street, a neighborhood, and a state of mind.” ### Smithsonian to Show Historic Islamic Artworks From Louvre’s Collection URL: https://hyperallergic.com/smithsonian-to-show-historic-islamic-artworks-from-louvres-collection/ Last updated: 2026-08-07T17:21:30.000Z Twenty-six Islamic artworks from the Louvre Museum will touch down at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art in Washington, DC, next month. Opening September 26, *From the Louvre: Masterpieces of Islamic Art* will display carved rosewood doors, jade cups, an oil painting of Persian ruler Fath-Ali Shah Qajar, and other culturally significant objects traveling to the United States for the first time. The artworks span 12 centuries of Islamic history and include treasures from the Ottoman Empire in Turkey, the Mughal Empire in South Asia, and the Umayyad dynasty in Spain. Many of the pieces were originally functional, and most graced the households of the elite. Simon Rettig, associate curator of Islamic art at the National Museum of Asian Art and co-curator of *From the Louvre*, told *Hyperallergic* that the presentation of these objects aims to exceed "a monolithic overview of Islamic art." _This post is for subscribers only._ ### A View From the Easel URL: https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-143/ Last updated: 2026-08-07T17:02:10.000Z Welcome to the 349thinstallment of A View From the Easel, a series in which artists reflect on their workspace. This week, Lilit Martirosyan summons the memories embedded in wool and soil while the sounds of opera arias fill her studio. Want to take part? Check out our [submission guidelines](https://hyperallergic.com/submit-your-workspace-to-a-view-from-the-easel/) and share a bit about your studio with us through [this form](https://forms.gle/Erq7cyGEmMUxKrLe9?ref=hyperallergic.com)! All mediums and workspaces are welcome, including your home studio. --- ## [Lilit Martirosyan](https://www.instagram.com/lit.martirosyan/?ref=hyperallergic.com), Yerevan, Armenia ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/DSC01732---Lilit-Martirosyan.JPG) ***How long have you been working in this space?*** Around three and a half years. ***Describe an average day in your studio.*** It’s 8 am and the dazzling waves of the sun are penetrating through the floor-to-ceiling window frame, leaving a checkered shadow on the floor. It’s relatively quiet and the studio stays filled with sunlight till 1pm, so I try to spend some good morning hours there and catch the light. Sometimes when I work on a project I get completely consumed, staying in till late evening, and other times when I’m in between works it’s more about sketching, slow idea and material exploration, and browsing of the artist books I have around. I work in different media: installation, painting, printmaking … So my routine and materials change a lot, from physical work of sifting the soil to aesthetic surface experimentation with oil paint. When working on a series I often juggle between artworks while they dry but generally prefer finishing a project before jumping to something else. There is always something playing in the background. I’m very much into old music, classic rock, ’30s jazz, and recently opera arias that help me to phase away. ***How does the space affect your work?*** I am much more focused in the studio than anywhere else. I like that my living space is separate from my artistic space and I can be as messy as I want and free in my process, letting people in only at the stage of the work I’m comfortable for them to see. While the ideas and inspiration can come from anywhere, it is always best for me to do the making in the studio without any distraction and around my own creative “artifacts.” It is like a saving bank of creative energy that you accumulate during your work, so going back there is a psychological, conscious choice to enter the space and interact with the energy. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/DSC01911---Lilit-Martirosyan.JPG) ***How do you interact with the environment outside your studio?*** The studio is in the industrial part of the city, always buzzing with noise, though it has its charm once you get used to it. It is situated in a former silk factory building from the Soviet era. Now, the first floor is a gold market and the rest is occupied by all kinds of small factories and studios. There are some artist studios but they are scattered around the building and everyone comes and goes at their own pace. ***What do you love about your studio?*** I love that it has high ceilings, it is practically a perfect cube, and the big window. For me it is a welcoming and not abusive space in the sense that I can always start fresh without the aggravation of the past work. ***What do you wish were different?*** I wish it were closer to my place. I usually commute around 40 minutes but I try to treat it like a legal time out, a routine when you can catch up on something you have been putting off or just rest and people-watch. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/DSC01788---Lilit-Martirosyan.JPG) ***What is your favorite local museum?*** I like the Cafesjian Center for the Arts. ***What is your favorite art material to work with?*** For now, I really like working with natural materials like wool or soil. I really enjoy playing with tactile materials that have their own cultural and philosophical eloquence and transform their perception through scale, repetition, and other interventions. Recently I have been working on a series of soil installations that were represented in my project *Body of Earth* at ICA Yerevan (curated by Lilit Grigoryan). I wanted to lift the earth and give it a solid entity that you face vertically, and I wanted to stretch it however I want. It turned out to be a quite physical process of sifting, gluing, pressing, but also a very rewarding one where you work with a living material that often times directs you. As a result, I had ripped soil “sculptures” that spoke about land commodification and post-war traumas expressing human condition through land condition. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/DSC01886---Lilit-Martirosyan.JPG) ### Simone Forti in Her Own Words URL: https://hyperallergic.com/simone-forti-in-her-own-words/ Last updated: 2026-08-07T10:00:21.000Z In 1961, Yoko Ono dedicated one of her famous screaming pieces to performance artist Simone Forti, who died in Los Angeles last week. That same year, Forti debuted her piece *Five Dance Constructions and Some Other Things* in Ono’s Manhattan loft. Just two years apart (with Ono being the elder), these two legends shared much in common. In a never-before-published interview with scholar and curator Julia Bryan-Wilson, Forti reflects on her history with Ono, aging, and her career over the decades with her typical charm and humility. In the news, police arrest 16 protesters who carried portraits of people killed by ICE agents in a US Senate building. Also in DC, seven Smithsonian museums close because of a faulty cooling system. Also today: Artist Anna Boghiguian talks about her woven tapestries of Armenia's natural history, an artist is commissioned to reimagine Frieze London’s restrooms, and did you know that the harp is hot again? Read our weekly columns Art Movements and Required Reading for more. Happy Friday! *—Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/simone-forte.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/simone-forti-talks-yoko-ono-dance-and-aging-in-never-before-published-interview/) [ Simone Forti Talks Yoko Ono, Dance, and Aging in Never-Before-Published Interview ](https://hyperallergic.com/simone-forti-talks-yoko-ono-dance-and-aging-in-never-before-published-interview/) About a dozen years ago, I happened to be simultaneously writing two different essays about two of the most influential artists of the 20th century who are almost exact contemporaries: Simone Forti (born in Italy in 1935) and Yoko Ono (born in Japan in 1933). Only two years apart, these women had many other things in common besides age: They were both transcultural migrants whose early lives were shaped by the deprivations of fascism and war. Both experienced discrimination — Forti’s Jewish family left Italy as a result of Mussolini’s Racial Laws, while Ono was (and still is) by turns exoticized and vilified as an Asian woman. As cross-disciplinary groundbreakers, both Forti and Ono transgress the boundaries between sound, drawing, poetry, participation, movement, new media, and sculpture. They continually invoked touch as mode of connection, and they both incorporated everyday objects as charged collaborators. | Julia Bryan-Wilson [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/simone-forti-talks-yoko-ono-dance-and-aging-in-never-before-published-interview/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/swann.jpeg)](https://www.swanngalleries.com/auction/lgbtq-art-material-culture-history-august-13-2026/?ref=hyperallergic.com) Swann Auction Galleries is hosting it's 7th LGBTQ+ Art Material Culture & History auction featuring Tom of Finland, Hugh Steers, Lorenza Böttner, Keith Haring, Andy Warhol, and more. The sale will also include works consigned on behalf of the Detroit Queer Biennial and the Leslie Lohman Museum. [Learn more ](https://www.swanngalleries.com/auction/lgbtq-art-material-culture-history-august-13-2026/?ref=hyperallergic.com) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/ice-protest.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/16-arrested-for-showing-portraits-of-people-killed-by-ice-in-dc-senate-building/) - [Police arrest 16protesters](https://hyperallergic.com/16-arrested-for-showing-portraits-of-people-killed-by-ice-in-dc-senate-building/) who unfurled banners bearing portraits of Immigration and Customs Enforcement victims on the marble floor of the Hart Senate Office Building. - Seven Smithsonian locations in Washington, DC, [close temporarily](https://hyperallergic.com/cooling-system-malfunction-shutters-seven-smithsonian-museums/) due to a cooling system malfunction. --- ## Interview [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/weaving-armenia.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/anna-boghiguian-on-weaving-armenia/) [ Anna Boghiguian on Weaving Armenia ](https://hyperallergic.com/anna-boghiguian-on-weaving-armenia/) “The gift of being alive is developing a garden in oneself,” the Armenian-Egyptian artist told Hyperallergic, “and to move towards heaven.” | Avedis Hadjian [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/anna-boghiguian-on-weaving-armenia/) --- ## Community [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/required-reading-8.6.26.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/required-reading-796/) [ Required Reading ](https://hyperallergic.com/required-reading-796/) This week: a Renaissance altarpiece returns home, Yoko Ono at the Broad, the anti-AI writing movement, an uncertain future for butterfly collectors, the harp is hot again, and more. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/required-reading-796/) [ An Artist Reimagines Frieze London’s Loos ](https://hyperallergic.com/an-artist-reimagines-frieze-londons-loos/) Gray Wielebinski’s scented artworks for the fair’s bathrooms, Michelle Grabner’s gift to a Wisconsin museum, Gagosian’s real estate footprint shrinks, and other news. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/an-artist-reimagines-frieze-londons-loos/) --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/van-gogh-paris.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/van-gogh-and-the-siren-song-of-paris-miles-j-unger/) [ Van Gogh and the Siren Song of Paris ](https://hyperallergic.com/van-gogh-and-the-siren-song-of-paris-miles-j-unger/) The artist’s internal revolution erupted in the radical innovations of his years in the city, which seemed to offer refuge from the storms of his life. | Miles J. Unger [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/van-gogh-and-the-siren-song-of-paris-miles-j-unger/) ### An Artist Reimagines Frieze London's Loos URL: https://hyperallergic.com/an-artist-reimagines-frieze-londons-loos/ Last updated: 2026-08-06T21:55:36.000Z [*Art Movements,*](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/art-movements/) *published every Thursday afternoon, is a roundup of must-know news, appointments, awards, and other happenings in today’s chaotic art world.* --- ### Frieze London Is About to Get Less Shitty One of the most demoralizing aspects of attending an art fair — and there are many — is surely using the restrooms, which are either sad Coachella-style portapotties or perfectly functional yet drab facilities with one absurdly labeled “[exhibitors only](https://hyperallergic.com/presenting-hyperallergic-2024-armory-show-booth-awards/)” stall. Maybe that's why Frieze London invited artist **Gray** **Wielebinski** to reimagine its public bathrooms “as a site of refuge and exposure” (that's a real quote from the press release) for its upcoming September edition. Wielebinski is developing a series of urinal and toilet rim deodorizers that diffuse a custom scent, produced by the aptly named creative studio Dean's Bottom. What will they smell like — a stack of freshly printed cash? The inside of a Geneva Freeport storage unit? Turpentine? Duchamp could never. --- ### Michelle Grabner Gift Works to Midwest Museum ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/ex.gra.2026.5010-jpeg-only.jpg) Michelle Grabner (photo Myrica von Haselberg, courtesy John Michael Kohler Arts Center) Artist **Michelle Grabner** has made a landmark gift of more than 2,000 works to the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. The trove includes Grabner's own artworks as well as 300 pieces by 50 artists in her personal collection — among them **Mary** **Heilmann**, **Robert** **Longo**, **Pat** **Steir**, and **Victor** **Vasarely** — and several decades’ worth of archives from her tenure at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. --- ### Gagosian Ditches London Space Gagosian Gallery is closing its two-story space in central London after three years of programming, leaving just two outposts in the city as the [mega gallery identity crisis](https://hyperallergic.com/pace-gallerys-hall-of-mirrors/) continues. Gagosian is planning to vacate its Basel location as well, the *Art Newspaper* [reported](https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2026/07/31/gagosian-exits-locations-in-basel-and-londons-burlington-arcade?ref=hyperallergic.com). Earlier this summer, Pace also said it was [shrinking its London footprint](https://www.ft.com/content/5c661326-0e44-4f74-a63c-40a474fbf923?ref=hyperallergic.com), after shockingly [laying off 50 staffers](https://hyperallergic.com/pace-cuts-50-workers-and-50-artists-citing-a-broken-gallery-model/) and removing 50 artists from its roster. --- ### What Else Happened? _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Required Reading URL: https://hyperallergic.com/required-reading-796/ Last updated: 2026-08-07T05:25:36.000Z At 93 years old, Yoko Ono has witnessed multiple generations take up the questions at the heart of her practice, which at its core is about our humanity and responsibility to one another. [*Los Angeles Times*](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2026-07-21/yoko-onos-cut-piece-has-lost-little-of-its-cutting-urgency?ref=hyperallergic.com) music critic Mark Swed's dispatch from recent performances of Ono's works — including "Cut Piece" — traces her oeuvre as a living organism in itself, bringing new lessons with each iteration: _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Simone Forti Talks Yoko Ono, Dance, and Aging in Never-Before-Published Interview URL: https://hyperallergic.com/simone-forti-talks-yoko-ono-dance-and-aging-in-never-before-published-interview/ Last updated: 2026-08-24T20:21:22.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/SO1UYW4_Cropped_SO1UYW3-1504852977.jpg) Left to right: Yoko Ono, Simone Forti, John Cage, and David Tudor. Photographed on the evening of Toshi Ichiyanagi's performance at Ono's Chambers Street loft in New York, January 1961\. (photo by Minoru Niizuma, © Yoko Ono) About a dozen years ago, I happened to be simultaneously writing two different essays about two of the most influential artists of the 20th century who are almost exact contemporaries: Simone Forti (born in Italy in 1935) and Yoko Ono (born in Japan in 1933). Only two years apart, these women had many other things in common besides age: They were both transcultural migrants whose early lives were shaped by the deprivations of fascism and war. Both experienced discrimination — Forti’s Jewish family left Italy as a result of Mussolini’s Racial Laws, while Ono was (and still is) by turns exoticized and vilified as an Asian woman. As cross-disciplinary groundbreakers, both Forti and Ono transgress the boundaries between sound, drawing, poetry, participation, movement, new media, and sculpture. They continually invoked touch as mode of connection, and they both incorporated everyday objects as charged collaborators. Often, their art manifests a sly irreverence towards physical decorum, from Forti’s seething mound of limbs in [*Huddle*](https://hyperallergic.com/simone-forti-finds-the-dancer-within-us/)(1961) to Ono’s satirical 1971 [*Museum of Modern (F)Art*](https://hyperallergic.com/momas-one-woman-show-now-the-ballad-of-yoko/). Ono radically shifted the terrain of art and music through works like her conceptual instruction paintings; likewise, Forti’s works based on captive animals — the subject of my 2015 essay “[Simone Forti Goes to the Zoo](https://direct.mit.edu/octo/article/doi/10.1162/OCTO%5Fa%5F00215/59263/Simone-Forti-Goes-to-the-Zoo?ref=hyperallergic.com)” — forever reshaped how we think bodies should be and move. I had long been intrigued by a 1961 Ono screaming piece dedicated to Simone — "[Voice Piece for Soprano,](https://hyperallergic.com/double-lives-mumok/) to Simone Morris” (Forti was then married to Robert Morris). At that time, no one had yet asked Forti about her reactions to this, nor specifically about her encounters with Ono in the 1960s and beyond. There is photo-documentation of them standing together in Ono’s legendary Chambers Street Loft, with John Cage in the background, possibly chatting. Forti’s *Five Dance Constructions and Some Other Things* debuted in Ono’s loft that same year. Maybe a brief interview would illuminate new aspects of what I perceived as their kinship? So along with having her perform her delightful elephant walk, in 2014 I asked Forti directly. She confessed to not having the best memory, but her recollections are still valuable. In honor of Forti’s [passing last week at 91](https://hyperallergic.com/simone-forti-artist-of-movement-and-chance-dies-at-91/), which has prompted an outpouring of admiration for her decades of innovation, I unearthed this never-before-published exchange from my archives. 0:00 /0:18 1× Simone Forti performing her elephant dance in 2014 (courtesy Julia Bryan-Wilson) --- **Julia Bryan-Wilson**: *When did you first meet Yoko Ono? What were some of your initial impressions of her?* **Simone Forti**: I must have started hearing Yoko's name around 1960\. I knew that she was married to Toshi Ichiyanagi and that they both were doing interesting work in the larger artistic community that I shared with La Monte Young. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### 16 Arrested for Showing Portraits of People Killed by ICE in DC Senate Building URL: https://hyperallergic.com/16-arrested-for-showing-portraits-of-people-killed-by-ice-in-dc-senate-building/ Last updated: 2026-08-06T18:28:36.000Z WASHINGTON, DC — Police arrested 16protesters who unfurled banners bearing portraits of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) victims on the marble floor of the Hart Senate Office Building yesterday, August 5, according to a statement issued by Women's March. The protesters were members of the Women’s March advocacy organization and had staged a “die-in” while holding banners representing the tombstones of people who were killed by ICE agents or died in ICE custody. They had gathered to call out senators who had financed ICE’s violence and were preparing to leave Washington for the August recess, the group said. Capitol Police has not yet responded to *Hyperallergic*’s inquiries about the arrests or charges. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/kjones1T4A1450.JPG) The activists were members of Women's March who staged a “die-in” while holding banners. The banners featured hand-drawn illustrations by Italian artist Gianluca Costantini depicting the faces of [Alex Pretti](https://hyperallergic.com/artists-pay-tribute-to-alex-pretti/), [Renée Good](https://hyperallergic.com/artists-react-to-the-ice-killing-of-renee-nicole-good/), [Lorenzo Salgado Araujo](https://hyperallergic.com/artists-memorialize-lorenzo-salgado-araujo-houston-man-killed-by-ice/), Ruben Ray Martinez, Ryan Carol Kidd, Jonah Neal, Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, and two other unidentified individuals. Held up like gravestones in uneven rows, the portraits include their names and the month and date of their deaths, along with the words “Killed by I.C.E.” “My drawings portray people who died in ICE custody not as numbers or headlines, but as individual lives: faces, bodies, families, and stories that deserve to be remembered,” Costantini wrote in an email to *Hyperallergic.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/kjones1T4A1596.JPG) The banners featured hand-drawn illustrations by Italian artist Gianluca Costantini. Women’s March has been [running campaigns](https://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=u001.3KIwXUuHm3VZKH4Y-2FATZl26uvgvEwB6UXkqd7ywk1EOj7ri6kYobyyNl8RceOurMPFT2KhRVaA2zBlqV9fKDm377GXUkVOU5itgWoWUDAjQ-3DAZ9m%5FlbyCc3tIcXjGdmYhHgKOe8vo5jgiKrWgj1cWoa-2BVfGnjWE7dbDxLq-2BPW-2Bfn-2BlRDiFPyODCvhVQl2m6efq-2FPFG-2BT7pjHA5PzUX83WOvB2ppB-2BzZ3D7cQTj-2BnRFnPL2Il9EaczMcQxgWv5G3AaXpvJohL5LAxEhuJzVq4-2B3omydxsN4YusWerxiS6iVThXqHhZ8WKuytaBuczLc9uFuTze5wbiorIaxcGSt0s6AwwFKO0gVF5gm-2BBxpilKEIcAts1MSZpakEjIuStceW12qbuSxaiX4xcDlDrSFSOmtKLsnjldQLmbMcXXtXjUgYOfD9r9AUc5GNj-2BG9EIk9ra3UPUQX2lielXfN-2F3X-2BGC7u8sP6N27aqkMkkSefJpQoC-2Fj5TmUKd3FFRvTXlCFCJG0w6x5Q-3D-3D&ref=hyperallergic.com) directly calling out and appealing to ICE agents over the past year. “Women’s March is in this fight because ICE’s violence doesn’t end with the people it detains or kills. Women are left to carry the wreckage, for their families, their communities, and each other,” the group’s executive director, Rachel O’Leary Carmona, said in the press release. Costantini has long collaborated with advocacy organizations across the world, including ActionAid, Amnesty International, and Words Without Borders. He was [accused of terrorism](https://artistsatriskconnection.org/blog/drawing-for-human-rights/?ref=hyperallergic.com) by the Turkish government in 2016 because of his resistance art and is most well known for [a controversial short comic](https://www.channeldraw.org/2015/02/04/buttes-chaumont-la-storia-di-cherif-kouachi/?ref=hyperallergic.com) he created about the Charlie Hebdo shooting attack. Shortly after the banners were unfurled on Wednesday, police [snatched](https://www.instagram.com/p/DbqlBUuOH1R/?ref=hyperallergic.com) and crumpled them up and arrested the protestors, who were zip-tied, escorted out of the building, and placed in police vans. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/data-src-image-52312ee4-33a1-499d-9396-34bab24d24ce.jpeg) Protesters dropped banners from the upper-level balconies. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/kjones.JPG) Images show zip-tied protesters being taken into police vans. Women’s March protestors also unfurled black and white banners from upper-level balconies reading “ICE Kills” and “Abolish ICE,” alongside another bearing the names and numbers of people who have been murdered by ICE or have died in ICE custody — at least 54 [total](https://6abc.com/post/man-detained-delaney-hall-immigration-facility-newark-dies-medical-emergency-ice/19621467/?ref=hyperallergic.com) since Trump took office for his second term. The protestors had amended the figures, crossing them out with red paint, to recognize the higher number as [more information comes to light](https://abcnews.com/US/man-detained-new-jersey-immigration-facility-dies-after/story?id=135338815&ref=hyperallergic.com). Although it is illegal under [D.C. Code § 10-503.16](https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/10-503.16?ref=hyperallergic.com) and federal regulations to protest in the Capitol or congressional buildings, Costantini said that “it is important to force political representatives to confront the consequences of their policies.” “Behind words such as ‘enforcement’ and ‘detention’ are people separated from their loved ones, abused, neglected, and killed,” Constantini told *Hyperallergic*. “Art can make visible what institutions try to turn into something abstract or invisible.” ### Cooling System Malfunction Shutters Seven Smithsonian Museums URL: https://hyperallergic.com/cooling-system-malfunction-shutters-seven-smithsonian-museums/ Last updated: 2026-08-06T18:22:52.000Z Seven Smithsonian locations in Washington, DC, closed today, August 6, due to a "mechanical issue." According to the institution's announcement on [X](https://x.com/smithsonian/status/2085334859468210606?ref=hyperallergic.com), the affected museums include the National Museum of the American Indian, Hirshhorn Museum, National Museum of Asian Art, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Castle, Arts and Industries Building, and the S. Dillon Ripley Center. A Smithsonian representative told the [*Washington Post*](https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/2026/08/06/7-smithsonian-buildings-closed-over-mechanical-issue/?ref=hyperallergic.com) that the buildings had stopped receiving cold water from their cooling system. The city is experiencing yet another swampy summer, with today's heat index values reaching near or above 100 degrees (\~38 Celsius). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Smithsonian_Castle_-1--1.jpg) An exterior of The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden photographed in Washington, DC on March 28, 2025\. (Photo by Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post via Getty Images) The announcement recalls the [closure](https://washingtonian.com/2025/07/15/ac-problem-closes-four-smithsonian-museums-on-the-national-mall/?ref=hyperallergic.com) of four Smithsonian locations last summer, due to central plant issues that disrupted heating, ventilation, and air conditioning control. After three days, the museum reopened to the public. It is not yet clear whether the mechanical issue will affect any of the buildings' collections, as many must be maintained under climate-controlled conditions. The Smithsonian has not responded to *Hyperallergic*'s request for comment. There are currently no details about a reopening timeline for the buildings. Further updates will appear on the Smithsonian's virtual [visitor center page](https://www.si.edu/visit?ref=hyperallergic.com). ### Anna Boghiguian on Weaving Armenia URL: https://hyperallergic.com/anna-boghiguian-on-weaving-armenia/ Last updated: 2026-08-06T21:07:55.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Weaving-Culture_Anna-Boghiguian_Sevak-Thomasians_2-2.jpg) Installation view of **Anna Boghiguian: Weaving Culture* (photo Sevak Thomasians, all photos courtesy AHA collective and National Gallery of Armenia) YEREVAN, Armenia — After half a century of traveling around the world, Armenian-Egyptian artist Anna Boghiguian brings her art to Yerevan, at the National Gallery of Armenia. [*Weaving Culture*](https://www.gallery.am/en/anna-boghiguian-weaving-culture-2026-05-15-2026-08-15?ref=hyperallergic.com) is a natural history of Armenia illustrated in carpet, with the occasional irruption of people or supernatural beings. Suns, stars, flowers, and animals populate the works, much like the motifs of traditional Armenian rugs. Yet in traditional rugs, celestial bodies and creatures are encoded in smaller, geometric motifs, and are not always recognizable at first sight. In Boghiguian’s works, they become large and figurative, though often stylized, presences, set against expanses of pastel colors. In the words of curator Nairi Khatchadourian, Boghiguian’s project amounts to the invention of the watercolor carpet. *Anna Boghiguian:* *Weaving Culture* tells its story in 37 rugs and three drawings, divided between three acts in contiguous halls. The first lays out the mountains of Armenia — massive, their tall peaks often tightly pressed against each other in a confusion of blues, browns, and purples. A huge red sun with yellow rays presides over a landscape bound by two red and grayish peaks separated by what looks like a valley. The second act is the garden. Trees and plants with large, blooming, blood-red flowers dominate here. A human figure appears in “Man with Pomegranate and Snake” (all works 2025–26). Storks are as ubiquitous in these works as they are in Armenia. The large tapestry “The Sound of Nature is Music” portrays clearly discernible trees, mountains, and flowers, yet its sinuous lines and the jumble of colors and undulating shapes may carry a faint echo of [Arshile Gorky](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/arshile-gorky/)’s landscapes. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Hundreds Demand Return of SAIC Professor URL: https://hyperallergic.com/hundreds-demand-return-of-saic-professor/ Last updated: 2026-08-06T10:00:01.000Z There are good people out there who are aware of their collective power and refuse to be crushed by the powers that be. In Glasgow, the building and archive of the now-defunct Centre for Contemporary Arts are being offered to the highest bidder. The local community is stepping in to stop it. In Chicago, art therapy professor Savneet Talwar was put on leave for the crime of asking students to imagine a treatment plan for a pro-Palestinian protester. Hundreds from the School of the Art Institute's community have signed a petition demanding her reinstatement. There's one group, however, that barely has anyone to fight for its rights: the children held in ICE detention facilities. Today we show you drawings made by these traumatized children. They'll break your heart, if you have one. *—Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/ICE-children-s-drawings.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/drawings-by-children-in-texas-ice-facility-are-a-cry-for-help/) [ Drawings by Children in Texas ICE Facility Are a Cry for Help ](https://hyperallergic.com/) One letter spells out “AYUDA POR FAVOR” (“HELP PLEASE” in Spanish). Another translates to “I am nine years old. Can you help me get out of this jail? We are children, not criminals.” These messages and other similar ones sprawl across the 91 pages that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) seized in February from children detained at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in South Texas. Almost six months later, ICE has released scans of nine of those pages to podcast host Allison Gill after she filed a lawsuit in March. Gill, best known as the host of The Daily Beans news podcast, shared images of the nine pages on her Substack on August 3, the same day that ICE fulfilled her request. In February, Gill’s lawyer, Kel McClanahan, filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), demanding that ICE provide her with the letters seized from children detained in Dilley. | Anna Lee [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/savneet.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/hundreds-demand-reinstatement-of-saic-professor-savneet-talwar/) - Over 400 members of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s community [resume calls for the reinstatement](https://hyperallergic.com/hundreds-demand-reinstatement-of-saic-professor-savneet-talwar/) of Savneet Talwar. - [A new study finds](https://hyperallergic.com/art-orgs-that-received-more-covid-era-funding-outperforming-others-study-finds/) that arts and culture organizations that received more funding from local governments during the COVID-19 pandemic tended to fare better in subsequent years. - Advocates, politicians, and artists [are ramping up their campaigns](https://hyperallergic.com/advocates-rally-to-stop-sale-of-glasgows-centre-for-contemporary-arts/) against the sale of Glasgow’s Centre for Contemporary Arts building and archive, saying it would be a devastating loss to Scotland’s cultural history. ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/vermeer.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-fruitless-search-for-vermeers-personal-god/) [ The Fruitless Search for Vermeer’s Personal God ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-fruitless-search-for-vermeers-personal-god/) A recent biography spends too much time speculating about the Dutch artist’s religious beliefs and not enough exploring other mysteries, including his possible use of a camera obscura. | Natasha Seaman [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-fruitless-search-for-vermeers-personal-god/) [ The Scent of Ancient Rome in St. Louis ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-scent-of-ancient-rome-in-st-louis/) An exhibition makes a case for the sensuality of these marble sculptures, recreating the perfumes and balms that once adorned them. | Eileen G’Sell [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-scent-of-ancient-rome-in-st-louis/) --- ## Community [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/milan-knizak.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-milan-knizak-simone-forti-and-francisco-correa-cordero/) [ Remembering Milan Knížák, Simone Forti, and Francisco Correa Cordero ](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-milan-knizak-simone-forti-and-francisco-correa-cordero/) This week, we honor a Czech Fluxus artist, a pioneering choreographer, and a promising gallery director. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-milan-knizak-simone-forti-and-francisco-correa-cordero/) --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/herbalist.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/exquisite-illustrations-of-pioneering-woman-herbalist-elizabeth-blackwell/) [ The Exquisite Illustrations of a Pioneering Woman Herbalist ](https://hyperallergic.com/exquisite-illustrations-of-pioneering-woman-herbalist-elizabeth-blackwell/) *A Curious Herbal*, the first modern edition of Elizabeth Blackwell’s 18th-century botanical guide, grants her the recognition that she has long deserved. | Lauren Moya Ford [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/exquisite-illustrations-of-pioneering-woman-herbalist-elizabeth-blackwell/) ### Hundreds Demand Reinstatement of SAIC Professor Savneet Talwar URL: https://hyperallergic.com/hundreds-demand-reinstatement-of-saic-professor-savneet-talwar/ Last updated: 2026-08-06T21:16:06.000Z With less than three weeks until the start of the fall semester, over 400 members of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago's (SAIC) community have resumed their [calls for the reinstatement](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSej%5FCBgv9MUifxQTLAzEpsqFQRHWYrz75-FyJMESLCdUIx7ng/viewform?ref=hyperallergic.com) of Savneet Talwar. The professor was [abruptly put on leave last spring](https://hyperallergic.com/saic-puts-professor-on-leave-after-palestine-reference/) after one of her class assignments mentioned violence against Palestinian civilians. Talwar, a tenured professor in SAIC's graduate art therapy and counseling program, was informed by the administration in April that a student had accused her of discrimination over a hypothetical case study, sparking an ongoing investigation from the school. “Professor Talwar should not be suspended and brought under investigation for mentioning Palestinians in a case study for an art therapy class,” reads a section of the [petition](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSej%5FCBgv9MUifxQTLAzEpsqFQRHWYrz75-FyJMESLCdUIx7ng/viewform?ref=hyperallergic.com), which was released on July 20 by SAIC performance alumni Mary Zerkel and Michael Thomas, and co-signed by artist and alum Dread Scott. “Palestinians are real people and violence against Palestinians is a fact.” In addition to the allegations of “clear censorship” and compromised academic freedom, the [petition](https://hyperallergic.com/art-orgs-that-received-more-covid-era-funding-outperforming-others-study-finds/) also statesthat Talwar was denied due process with a grievance committee over the complaint, and that her administrative leave is a “violation of American Association of University Professors (AAUP) policy that is also stated in \[SAIC's\] faculty handbook.” “I want to emphasize that the actions of the senior administration have seriously threatened academic freedom, due process, and shared governance at SAIC,” Talwar wrote in an email to *Hyperallergic*. The professor said that not only had SAIC put her on leave in the middle of the spring semester, but the school also canceled her scheduled summer course despite its high enrollment. Though she's listed as the instructor for two courses this fall, she told *Hyperallergic* that she has neither been formally reinstated nor received the renewal contract sent annually to all faculty. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Advocates Rally to Stop Sale of Glasgow's Centre for Contemporary Arts URL: https://hyperallergic.com/advocates-rally-to-stop-sale-of-glasgows-centre-for-contemporary-arts/ Last updated: 2026-08-05T21:19:46.000Z Advocates, politicians, and artists are ramping up their campaigns against the sale of Glasgow's Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) building and archive, which they say would be a devastating loss to Scotland's cultural history. Due to financial troubles, the CCA permanently closed its doors in January, leaving the fate of its building and archival collection uncertain. The Sauchiehall Street headquarters previously housed the Third Eye Centre, founded in 1974 by Scottish playwright Tom McGrath, which welcomed artists such as actor Whoopi Goldberg, poet Allen Ginsberg, and painters Steven Campbell and Ken Currie. The CCA replaced the Third Eye Centre after it closed in 1991 and helped retrieve formerly inaccessible archival records for researchers. It would go on to host programming and exhibitions by artists such as [Janine Antoni](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/janine-antoni/), who had her first solo show at the institution. The CCA archives were recently listed as an [asset](https://mbvaluation.com/asset%5Ffor%5Fsale/sale-by-private-treaty-the-third-eye-centre-centre-for-contemporary-art-archive/?ref=hyperallergic.com) under the advisory firm MB (Middleton Barton) Valuation for liquidation proceedings. Included in the potential sale are papers, films, photographs, brochures, and other publications, along with similar documents from the Third Eye Centre. Between the two defunct museums, the archives span over 50 years of Scotland's cultural history and contemporary art scene. Critics warn that selling the archives could break up the collection and remove the records from public access and view. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/FRZ_2859-1.jpg) Critics fear that selling the archives could break up the collection. The Scottish Government agency, Creative Scotland, owns the Sauchiehall Street institution and announced plans to sell or lease the building to buyers last month. In a [July 23 statement](https://www.creativescotland.com/news-stories/latest-news/archive/2026/07/350-sauchiehall-street-call-for-expressions-of-interest?ref=hyperallergic.com), Creative Scotland said that it would work with the Scottish archive groups, Glasgow Life and the Ballast Trust, to ensure that both archives remain "complete, protected and available to researchers and the wider public." "The Third Eye Centre and CCA Archive documents these important cultural institutions," a Glasgow Life spokesperson told *Hyperallergic*. "We are committed to seeing it retained in Glasgow." It is unclear what specific measures the three organizations are undertaking to keep the archives intact and in the city. At an auction last week, furniture, fittings, and tech equipment from the CCA were sold for as little as £1 (\~$1.35). The archive and the building remain up for sale, with the MB Valuation welcoming offers until August 14\. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/FRZ_2706.jpg) A protester holds up a sign at the July 31 protest outside the CCA building. Meanwhile, protesters have been advocating for the archives to remain in one piece and for the building to maintain public ownership. Throughout July, artists and former workers at the Glasgow museum have campaigned with the Save Our CCA activist group. On July 31, dozens demonstrated in front of the museum, holding signs that read, "Culture not closure," and "Culture doesn't exist without spaces to create it." The group also launched a [petition](https://www.change.org/p/save-the-cca-keep-350-sauchiehall-street-as-a-public-cultural-asset?recruiter=1424194482&recruited%5Fby%5Fid=20f74a10-8740-11f1-ba63-4fa2009ebb0d&utm%5Fsource=share%5Fpetition&utm%5Fcampaign=starter%5Fonboarding%5Fshare%5Fpersonal&utm%5Fmedium=copylink&share%5Fid=SfGY4njpcL), demanding that Creative Scotland stop the sale of 350 Sauchiehall Street, consult with the public, and ensure the building remains an accessible cultural venue for all. While Creative Scotland has expressed a desire to maintain the building as a venue for arts and culture, campaigners say it is not a mandatory condition for the sale. “Our aims as artists and educators are being thwarted by the council's gutting of the city's cultural infrastructure,” Tanoa Sasraku, an artist and lecturer at Glasgow School of Art, said in a statement shared with *Hyperallergic*. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/FRZ_2741.jpg) Dozens gathered outside the CCA building with signs and banners. Karla Black, a modern sculptor, saw her first exhibition at the CCA, and attended events, gigs, and screenings there while attending the Glasgow School of Art in the late 1990s. “There was a structure of public funding and public exhibition spaces that created the art of our generation in Glasgow,” Black stated. “It's not fair to rob future generations of their opportunity.” Scottish politicians have similarly called for the preservation of the building. Paul Sweeney, a member of the Scottish Parliament for Glasgow, sent an opposition letter to the national government, cautioning that the current proposal "risks placing a nationally significant cultural venue beyond the reach of the public and the arts sector." “We need urgent clarification from the liquidator about what they’re doing with their assets of the CCA,” Sweeney told *Hyperallergic*. He added that Creative Scotland should seek lease agreements with nonprofit arts organizations. “Let’s see the CCA and the successor organization use it for the purpose of a cultural center for the public good, and not as a commercial enterprise,” Sweeney said. ### The Scent of Ancient Rome in St. Louis URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-scent-of-ancient-rome-in-st-louis/ Last updated: 2026-08-06T16:34:48.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/2026_IP_0391_o2--1---1--1.jpg) Unknown artist, “Statue of Trajan from Minturno” (end of the 1st century–beginning of the 2nd century CE), marble, to the left of four marble busts (image courtesy the Saint Louis Art Museum, all other photos Eileen G’Sell/**Hyperallergic*) ST. LOUIS — A lilac arcade of undulating arches, a box redolent of honey and rose petals, a slender-necked vessel of iridescent glass. Flouting the [masculine connotations](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/sep/19/the-roman-empire-why-men-just-cant-stop-thinking-about-it?ref=hyperallergic.com) of the Roman Empire, [*Ancient Splendor: Roman Art in the Time of Trajan*](https://www.slam.org/exhibitions/ancient-splendor-roman-art-in-the-time-of-trajan/?ref=hyperallergic.com), at the Saint Louis Art Museum, honors the era’s sensuality of a kind that resonates today as felicitously feminine. Organized by Lucrezia Ungaro, archaeological curator of the city of Rome, with curator Hannah Segrave leading on-site production, this playful exhibition resists the overwrought gravitas typical of displays of ancient Roman art, inviting us to envision a period beyond battle and expansionism and instead marked by an efflorescence of art, architecture, and culture. Trajan ruled from 98 to 117 CE as the second of the “[Five Good Emperors](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Five-Good-Emperors?ref=hyperallergic.com),” so designated for their ability to foster growth, stability, and innovation. Greeting us at the entrance of *Ancient Splendor*, a marble statue of Trajan in military costume appears less imperious than engaged, his gaze straight ahead, his contrapposto capturing him as a leader moving Rome forward. A champion of arches as a structural motif, Trajan boasts a *pteryge*s, or skirt, of scalloped layers that echoes their rounded shape. His *paludamentum*, or cloak, ripples around his shoulder and forearm, softening his resolute stance and gaze. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/IMG_3059-1.jpeg) Unknown artist, "Colossal Bust of Plotina" (112/114 CE), marble Accented with splashes of purple and pink — the former alluding to the [Tyrian dye](https://hyperallergic.com/the-hidden-labor-behind-the-luxurious-colors-of-purple-and-indigo/) that only the emperor could wear — the exhibition foregrounds the unprecedented influence that women held during Trajan’s reign. The enormous bust of Plotina, his wife, is the same size and height as his own, similarly lit to suggest a partnership of equals. “If Trajan saw himself as the new Caesar,” Segrave explained during a private exhibition walkthrough in June, “his sister Marciana was his right-hand advisor, and his wife Plotina was pushing for critical legislation — fairer taxation, access to education, and assistance for the impoverished and orphans.” In the opposite gallery, a nude statue of Apollo, god of the sun and archery, leans upon the trunk of a small tree, his free hand curled over his wavy hair gathered in a tiara-like knot. A scent box on the wall smells like the [perfumed oil](https://www.npr.org/2025/03/25/nx-s1-5332367/ancient-greece-rome-statues-smell-study-research?ref=hyperallergic.com) rubbed onto the surfaces of sculptures when they were exhibited in Roman homes. Across the hall, another scent box smells of *garum*, a fermented fish sauce common in ancient Roman cooking. Designed by Alexy Karenowska, director of technology at the Institute for Digital Archaeology, these olfactory stations bring visitors into the highly multi-sensory affair that characterized daily life in the empire. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/IMG_3030.jpeg) Rose and honey scent box, designed by Alexy Karenowska, director of technology at the Institute for Digital Archaeology Toward the end of the exhibition, a section titled Women’s Spaces and Faces speaks to the ideals of beauty, taste, and decorum to which women were taught to aspire — as represented by a series of busts of aristocratic ladies; a vitrine of delicate gold, glass, and emerald jewelry; and a fresco depictingthe [judgment of Paris](https://www.greeklegendsandmyths.com/judgement-of-paris.html?ref=hyperallergic.com). While the ancient bling no doubt dazzles, the show directly invites visitors to consider the invisible labor, often performed by enslaved people, behind the beauty “industry” of the time. Meanwhile, in the section Religion and Myth, a statue portrays Trajan’s grandniece Sabina in the guise of agriculture and fertility goddess Ceres, reflecting how women in the imperial family often assumed the roles of priestess in public religious rituals. Almost entirely intact, though almost 2,000 years old, Sabina exudes the calm mien of classical antiquity, her palm clasping blooms and a few shoots of wheat to honor the deity. Visitors interested in examining a badass battle helmet or a glowering statue of Caligula, a notoriously “bad emperor” a half-century before Trajan, will not be disappointed. But neither will those hungry for a more sumptuous immersion in an era in which women were not only duly adorned but often played an active role in civic life. With works on loan from collections of the Vatican, Ostia Antica, the National Roman Museum, and the Naples National Archaeological Museum — many of which have previously never left Italy — *Ancient Splendor* reminds us that, just as Rome wasn’t built in a day, nor were the virtues of civilization bequeathed to us by a bunch of bros in togas. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/IMG_3051-1.jpeg) Unknown artist, "Sabina as Ceres" (137–38 CE), marble [Ancient Splendor: Roman Art in the Time of Trajan](https://www.slam.org/exhibitions/ancient-splendor-roman-art-in-the-time-of-trajan/?ref=hyperallergic.com) *continues at the Saint Louis Art Museum (1 Fine Arts Drive, St. Louis, Missouri) through August 16\. The exhibition was organized by Lucrezia Ungaro, archaeological curator of the city of Rome.* ### The Fruitless Search for Vermeer’s Personal God URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-fruitless-search-for-vermeers-personal-god/ Last updated: 2026-08-05T21:04:09.000Z During his lifetime, Johannes Vermeer was well regarded, though hardly famous. Unlike his compatriot Rembrandt, whose critical fortunes declined during his lifetime but never left the public consciousness, Vermeer simply disappeared until the mid-19th century. In the 1860s, French art historian Théophile Thoré plucked him from obscurity and nicknamed him the “Sphinx of Delft” for his enigmatic paintings and slim presence in the historical record. Since then, Vermeer has become a modern obsession, his work inviting considerable scholarly examination and becoming the subject of various [works of film and fiction](https://www.essentialvermeer.com/books/books%5Fliterature.html?ref=hyperallergic.com), not to mention the sold-out 2023 [exhibition](https://hyperallergic.com/basking-in-vermeers-light-at-rijksmuseum/) at Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Art historian Andrew Graham-Dixon’s new biography, [*Vermeer: A Life Lost and Found*](http://bookshop.org/a/539/9781324124115?ref=hyperallergic.com) (2026), joins the fray with an encomiastic, highly readable, and implausibly sweeping reinterpretation of the 17th-century Dutch master’s life and work. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Remembering Milan Knížák, Simone Forti, and Francisco Correa Cordero URL: https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-milan-knizak-simone-forti-and-francisco-correa-cordero/ Last updated: 2026-08-05T21:04:49.000Z [*In Memoriam*](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/in-memoriam/) *is published every Wednesday afternoon and honors those we recently lost in the art world.* --- **Milan Knížák** (1940–2026) *Czech performance artist, sculptor, and musician* The [Czech artist](https://www.mg-lj.si/en/visit/4438/in-memoriam-milan-knizak-1940-2026/?ref=hyperallergic.com) was associated with the Fluxus movement, performing happenings and noise music concerts around the country. He also served as director of the Czech National Gallery in Prague between 1999 and 2011, and was a professor of intermedia at the city's Academy of Fine Arts. In 2010, he won the nation's Medal of Merit, and his work is held in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, Tate Gallery in London, and more. "His work challenged conventional understandings of art and its social function, while contributing to the formation of international artistic networks that transcended political and ideological boundaries," the Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova in Slovenia said in a statement. "His legacy continues to shape the history of postwar avant-garde art and its relevance today." --- **Simone Forti** (1935–2026) *Pioneering choreographer* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/image-2.png) Simone Forti in 2015 (photo Jason Underhill) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Drawings by Children in Texas ICE Facility Are a Cry for Help URL: https://hyperallergic.com/drawings-by-children-in-texas-ice-facility-are-a-cry-for-help/ Last updated: 2026-08-06T15:31:27.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/letter.jpg) A nine-year-old child in detention at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center asked for legal aid and to help them "get out of this jail." (all images courtesy Allison Gill) One letter spells out “AYUDA POR FAVOR” (“HELP PLEASE” in Spanish). Another translates to “I am nine years old. Can you help me get out of this jail? We are children, not criminals.” These messages and other similar onessprawl acrossthe 91 pages that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) seized in February from children detained at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in South Texas. Almost six months later, ICE has released scans of nine of those pages to podcast host Allison Gill after she filed a lawsuit in March. Gill, best known as the host of *The Daily Beans* news podcast, shared images of the nine pages on her [Substack](https://www.muellershewrote.com/p/breaking-exclusive-ice-seized-drawings?ref=hyperallergic.com) on August 3, the same day that ICE fulfilled her request. In February, Gill's lawyer, Kel McClanahan, filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), demanding that ICE provide her with the letters seized from children detained in Dilley. When she did not hear back, the podcast host filed a lawsuit asking for the documents. ICE deemed only nine of the 91 letters "responsive," refusing to release the others because they allegedly qualify for exemptions under the FOIA. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/2026-ICLI-00039--First-and-Final-Release--Aug-2026---bates-1-9---2-.jpg) A page by a child in ICE detention obtained by Allison Gill, which reads "liberty" in Spanish Gill wrote in her Substack that these nine images alone were enough to elicit an overwhelming sense of "terror and cruelty." The scans, which Gill shared with *Hyperallergic*, include blank coloring pages depicting cartoon bears surrounded by hearts, and an elephant with a flower tucked behind its ear. One, which depicts a scene from the popular children's TV series *Bluey* (2018–), is partially colored in. Two pages read "LIBERTAD" ("LIBERTY") in large, impactful letters, and two others are scrawled with pleas for help. In a letter dated February 10, the nine-year-old author depicts themself and their mother, father, and two siblings (ages seven and 15) trapped behind bars. "Please, a federal judge see this letter and help us," the child writes above their stick-figure drawing. “We have been here for 47 days.” ICE redacted the child's name and other parts of their short message with the FOIA exemptions code *(b)(6), (b)(7)(C) and (b)(7)(E).* "Leave us in your country, don’t deport us," the letter ends. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Art Orgs That Received More COVID-Era Funding Outperforming Others, Study Finds URL: https://hyperallergic.com/art-orgs-that-received-more-covid-era-funding-outperforming-others-study-finds/ Last updated: 2026-08-05T19:25:44.000Z Arts and culture organizations that received more funding from local governments during the COVID-19 pandemic tended to fare better in subsequent years, a new study suggests. A [new report](https://culturaldata.org/city-arts-sector-trends/overview/?ref=hyperallergic.com) from SMU (Southern Methodist University) DataArts zooms in on data from 10 cities between 2019 and 2024, linking local public investments to stronger performances in the arts sector. From Sacramento and Seattle to New York City and Philadelphia, the study highlights diverging trends across cities — some rebounded from the pandemic and even exceeded their 2019 numbers, while others plummeted. Through data compiled from the first cohort of local arts agencies that are part of the City Arts Data Exchange, a partnership between SMU DataArts and Bloomberg Associates, researchers determined that local funding was a key indicator of how each city performed. The pandemic [devastated](https://hyperallergic.com/arts-sector-shrank-at-twice-the-rate-of-us-economy-during-pandemic-nea-finds/) many arts and culture organizations. Live performance spaces shuttered for good, people visited galleries through screens and virtual simulations, and unemployment in the art industry [soared](https://hyperallergic.com/95-of-us-artists-have-lost-income-due-to-pandemic-survey-says/). How local governments chose to support their arts sector during that time made a difference in both the immediate recuperation of those organizations and their long-term success. While the 10 cities in the study started off with similar financial indicators, such as revenue, average expenses, and operating surplus, the pandemic created an enormous chasm. Audience metrics split, operating expenses widened, and six of the cities in the study experienced an over 20% decline in their revenue trajectories. The study assessed not just financial data, but considered attendance numbers as an indicator of community relevance and performance. Even though 40% of organizations in the cohort grew their audience since 2019, 55% haven't recovered their pre-pandemic attendance numbers. Cities like Cleveland received strong support from public agencies, which researchers believe could have contributed to the city's 48% revenue increase between 2019 and 2024\. Although the local government decreased its share of covered expenses, Cleveland's per capita investment in arts and culture grants remained at the top of the cohort. Among them, the public funding group [Cuyahoga Arts and Culture](https://www.cacgrants.org/who-we-support/grant-recipients/?ref=hyperallergic.com) distributed dozens of relief grants to youth orchestras, dance houses, heritage museums, writing centers, and children's museums. Atlanta experienced a 55% expense increase and a revenue growth of 50%. With an even steadier upward trajectory than Cleveland, it showed a sustainable path forward for arts sectors in other cities. The Mayor's Office of Cultural Affairs in Atlanta continued its regular funding programs and created [relief funds](https://ocaatlanta.com/archives/15547?ref=hyperallergic.com) during the pandemic. Philadelphia, on the other hand, experienced the most drastic decline in per capita local arts funding. While grants from private funders, such as the William Penn Foundation, helped mitigate some of the public cuts, the city saw a 33% decrease in arts sector expenses, a 28% decline in revenue, and the most cuts to both full-time (-47%) and part-time (-71%) staff in arts and culture organizations among the cities in the study*.* While the study does not prove an inherently causal relationship between local arts funding and the success of those organizations, Jen Benoit-Bryan, who serves as executive director of SMU DataArts and a researcher on the study told *Hyperallergic* that sustained or growing local investment should remain a major consideration for different funding groups. David Andersson, an advisor for Bloomberg's arts and culture team, echoed Benoit-Bryan, adding that while there are numerous reasons why some arts sectors perform better than others, "consistent local government support is clearly one of them." As the data exchange amasses more cities in coming years, researchers expect to build on this study's findings. Benoit-Bryan described the report as a "starting point rather than a conclusion," adding that "\[a\]s that network expands, we'll be able to examine these patterns across many more communities, test whether the relationships observed in this first cohort hold more broadly and build a stronger understanding of how local policy choices, funding structures, and sector conditions interact over time." The researchers said that cities with harder-hit arts sectors can still adjust their funding strategies using the findings from this cohort. "Since the pressure felt by the arts and culture sector varies by location, budget, and/or discipline, making funding decisions that are informed by data and strategic priorities is crucially important for civic leaders," researcher Michael DeWhatley told *Hyperallergic*. "This project, and the greater work of the City Arts Data Exchange, is meant to shed some light on the different ways that policy choices and funding structures intersect with real-world sector conditions. " ### Pleating With Iris van Herpen URL: https://hyperallergic.com/pleating-with-iris-van-herpen/ Last updated: 2026-08-05T10:00:55.000Z I swear, we have the luckiest writers in the world. Case in point: Livia Caligor got up close and personal with Iris van Herpen, one of the coolest fashion designers out there — you might be familiar with her dress made out of thousands of hand-formed, iridescent glass bubbles, which Olympic skier Eileen Gu wore to the 2026 Met Gala. At the Brooklyn Museum, visitors can join van Herpen in creating a garment that will evolve over the course of the exhibition. Yes, I’m jealous. Meanwhile, Trump continues his warpath against the Smithsonian. He just proposed the smallest budget of the decade for the nation’s largest museum, education, and research complex. But in good news, Rice University in Houston, whose undergraduate arts programs have been steadily gaining traction in recent years, is now offering free tuition for families earning up to $200,000 a year. We love to see greater accessibility in the art world, and we can’t wait to see what this next generation of artists brings to the table. *—Lisa Yin Zhang, associate editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/irisvanherpen1-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-day-i-pleated-with-iris-van-herpen/) [ The Day I Pleated With Iris van Herpen ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-day-i-pleated-with-iris-van-herpen/) “Hands are like a language,” Iris van Herpen says as we pleat a textile together inside the recreated atelier at the center of Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses. “Each pair that joins me in creating this dress will influence the DNA of the garment.” A first of its kind, the live installation at the Brooklyn Museum invites visitors to work alongside the Dutch fashion designer in creating a garment that will evolve over the course of the show’s run. “I want to share the most beautiful part of my work — the craftsmanship — in a really intimate setting,” van Herpen tells *Hyperallergic* in an interview. “My atelier is my most sacred space.” | Livia Caligor [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-day-i-pleated-with-iris-van-herpen/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/smithsonian-budget.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-proposes-lowest-smithsonian-budget-in-years/) - The White House proposed the smallest federal budget of the decade for the institution earlier this year. But while these preliminary numbers make headlines, quieter measures [may pose other funding hurdles](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-proposes-lowest-smithsonian-budget-in-years/) for the museum and research network. - After confirming its opening date for this coming December, the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi[ names Valerie Hillings as its inaugural director](https://hyperallergic.com/valerie-hillings-named-inaugural-director-of-guggenheim-abu-dhabi/). - Rice University [will extend its free tuition program](https://hyperallergic.com/rice-university-extends-free-tuition-to-families-earning-up-to-200k/) to students from families earning between $100,000 and $200,000 each year. --- ## Feature [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/kimsooja.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/kimsooja-comes-full-circle/) [ Kimsooja Comes Full Circle ](https://hyperallergic.com/kimsooja-comes-full-circle/) Her first exhibition in Toronto for 30 years captures her single-minded focus on the needle as a metaphor for folding and unfolding, memory and displacement. | Rea McNamara [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/kimsooja-comes-full-circle/) --- ## Guide [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/la-art-shows.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/10-art-shows-to-see-in-los-angeles-this-august/) [ 10 Art Shows to See in Los Angeles This August ](https://hyperallergic.com/10-art-shows-to-see-in-los-angeles-this-august/) Betye Saar’s wearable art, Alfredo Ramos Martínez’s mountain ranges, the world’s largest pop-up book, three South Asian artists redefine monumentality, and more. | Matt Stromberg [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/10-art-shows-to-see-in-los-angeles-this-august/) --- ## Member Comment It’s gotten to be that Hyperallergic is the most important thing I read every day. I thank this publication for the work it does. As someone tasked with the liquidation of an artist’s estate, I can tell you that many, many beautiful books are going to go into the trash this year, without the help of the marauding industries of AI. Library simply do not want book donations, as a rule. —Sally Eckhoff on “[AI Companies Are Pulping Our Humanity](https://hyperallergic.com/ai-companies-are-pulping-our-humanity/)” --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/catholic-code-of-old-masters.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/how-to-crack-the-catholic-code-of-the-old-masters/) [ How to Crack the Catholic Code of the Old Masters ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-to-crack-the-catholic-code-of-the-old-masters/) Suzanna Ivanič’s book *Catholica: The Visual Culture of Catholicism* is an essential primer on how Catholicism intersects with art history. | Daniel Larkin [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-to-crack-the-catholic-code-of-the-old-masters/) featured opportunity ****Art at a Time Like This — Take One Action** Open call for brave poitical images and ideas of civic actions to save democracy. Selected artists will join a public art campaign this fall and/or be featured in an online exhibition. Honorarium up to $1,000. Deadline: August 21, 2026 | [atlt.org](https://bit.ly/4fywQ8c?ref=hyperallergic.com) See more in this month’s [list of opportunities](https://hyperallergic.com/opportunities-in-august-2026/) for artists, writers, and art workers! ### Best Outdoor Art Shows This Summer URL: https://hyperallergic.com/best-outdoor-art-shows-this-summer/ Last updated: 2026-08-04T21:30:49.000Z Hello! My name is Rhea, and I’m coming up on my fourth year as a staff writer at *Hyperallergic*. Our beloved Lisa has kindly handed me the mic for the New York newsletter now that she's based in Iowa City. Thankfully, she's still working with *Hyperallergic*, but she's certainly a tough act to follow in this particular department. Nevertheless, I’m pleased to share some details about MoMA PS1’s new courtyard commission, in which an interactive garden installation toes the line between Eden and hedon by way of a giant teddybear’s rectum. No, this is not the premise of a fanfiction story for Lewis Carroll’s *Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland* … We’re just talking about Precious Okoyomon’s *Among the Flowers I Learned to Love: A Garden of Decreation*, which “transforms the concrete corner of the museum into a place of joy, exploration, and, dare I say, tranquility,” per *Hyperallergic*’s co-founder and Editor-at-Large Hrag Vartanian. On view for the next two years, Okoyomon’s installation is high on our list of 15 must-see outdoor art shows across all five boroughs. For those who prefer foolproof air conditioning over unpredictable weather patterns, I might suggest a visit to the Brooklyn Museum for a monumental exhibition devoted to Dutch fashion designer Iris van Herpen. An established name in celebrity and haute couture, van Herpen is best known for her gravity-defying, 3D-printed designs that take structural inspiration from the natural world. One of our contributors, Livia Caligor, had a chance to both speak and pleat with the designer onsite at the makeshift atelier featured in the exhibition. Running from my own thoughts on the treadmill we call life, I often forget about how privileged I am to live in a city bursting at the seams with culture and inspiration. Perhaps a visit to [*My Camera Is My Sketchbook*](https://schoelkopfgallery.com/exhibitions/55-richard-estes-my-camera-is-my-sketchbook/overview/?ref=hyperallergic.com) at the Schoelkopf Gallery is in order, as Richard Estes’s visual reflections on New York City remind us that beauty can be appreciated and captured anywhere. --- --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/reflecting-new-york.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/15-outdoor-art-shows-to-see-in-nyc-this-summer/) [ 15 Outdoor Art Shows to See in NYC This Summer ](https://hyperallergic.com/15-outdoor-art-shows-to-see-in-nyc-this-summer/) Slide through a teddy bear, get weird with a neural network’s hallucinations, play ping-pong on an artist-made table, and so much more. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/15-outdoor-art-shows-to-see-in-nyc-this-summer/) --- ## Features [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/precious.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/a-precious-garden-grows-at-moma-ps1/) [ A Precious Garden Grows at MoMA PS1 ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-precious-garden-grows-at-moma-ps1/) Precious Okoyomon’s new work transforms the concrete corner of the museum courtyard into a place of joy, exploration, and, dare I say, tranquility. | Hrag Vartanian [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-precious-garden-grows-at-moma-ps1/) [ The Day I Pleated With Iris van Herpen ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-day-i-pleated-with-iris-van-herpen/) A show at the Brooklyn Museum invites guests to work alongside the Dutch fashion designer in her recreated atelier. | Livia Caligor [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-day-i-pleated-with-iris-van-herpen/) --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/walter-benjamin.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/walter-benjamin-warned-us-about-ai/) ### Julia Curl ***Walter Benjamin and the Edges of Photography* at the Jewish Museum** “Photographs that aestheticize things while erasing their meaning are dangerous, \[Benjamin\] argued .... Practitioners can bathe the chimneys of a steel factory in the same soft light as the trees of a forest, but unlike the paintbrush, the camera creates an undeniable impression of reality. Beyond that, not only can photography glaze everything into something beautiful, but people (myself included) will happily eat it up.” [*Read the full review*](https://hyperallergic.com/walter-benjamin-warned-us-about-ai/) ### Gladys Lou ***Ellen Pau: She Moves* at SculptureCenter** “Water reappears in various forms .... Its changing states, from melting ice to evaporating mist, become a metaphor for Hong Kong herself — 'always on the verge of disappearing,' as late cultural theorist Ackbar Abbas puts it — leaving little time for reflection before new changes arrive.” [*Read the full review*](https://hyperallergic.com/ellen-paus-elegy-to-a-vanishing-hong-kong/) --- ## What Else Is Happening? - The IFC Center is showing *Wild Inside*, a documentary about Flaco the owl! After the screening today, stay for a talk with Jacqueline Emery and David Lei, wildlife photographers and coauthors of [*Finding Flaco: Our Year with New York City’s Beloved Owl*](https://hyperallergic.com/finding-flaco-lovingly-details-new-york-owl-year-of-freedom/). (Tues Aug 4) \[[ifccenter.com](https://www.ifccenter.com/films/wild-inside/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Enjoy an evening of artisans, vendors, live music, dance, and dialogue at the Bronx Music Heritage Center, welcoming artists from the Andean diaspora, including Amado Espinoza. (Wed Aug 5) \[[Bronx Music Hall](https://events.bxtimes.com/event/noche-andina-breath-of-the-andes/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - The Bronx Museum is teaming up with Wave Hill for a night of music, art, and community in celebration of David Antonio Cruz’s exhibition. (Fri Aug 7) \[[bronxmuseum.org](https://bronxmuseum.org/event/first-friday-august26/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Bring your junk journal with you to the library for an evening of community crafting! (Fri Aug 7) \[[nypl.org](https://www.nypl.org/events/programs/2026/08/07/junk-journal-night?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - The Whitney's Free Friday Nights continues this week with live music by Flore Laurentienne. (Fri Aug 7) \[[whitney.org](https://whitney.org/events/flore-laurentienne?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Join Dancers for Palestine for a screening and discussion of short films exploring dance in Palestine and its diaspora. (Sat Aug 8) \[[interferencearchive.org](https://interferencearchive.org/event/palestine-through-dance-film-watch-party/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - 8Ball Community is hosting a zine fair at the La Plaza Cultural Community Garden. (Sat Aug 8) \[[8Ball Community](https://www.instagram.com/p/DbRph8OoNlo/?hl=en&ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Join Brooklyn Public Library for "Ancestors, Archives, and Art Making," a three-part workshop series in which participants will learn technical skills for preserving their family stories and ancestral-inspired artmaking. (Sat Aug 8) \[[bklynlibrary.org](https://discover.bklynlibrary.org/?event=true&eventtags=genealogy&event=true&ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts's new photo exhibition explores the surprising animal muses behind some of the world's greatest performers. Through Feb 2027) \[[nypl.org](https://www.nypl.org/events/exhibitions/unleashed-pets-performing-arts?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] ### Trump Proposes Lowest Smithsonian Budget in Years URL: https://hyperallergic.com/trump-proposes-lowest-smithsonian-budget-in-years/ Last updated: 2026-08-04T20:49:57.000Z Steady on its warpath against the Smithsonian, the White House proposed the smallest federal budget of the decade for the institution earlier this year. But while these preliminary numbers make headlines, quieter measures may pose other funding hurdles for the museum and research network. The President's budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2027, outlined in a [House subcommittee appropriations bill](https://appropriations.house.gov/news/press-releases/committee-approves-fy27-interior-and-environment-appropriations-act?ref=hyperallergic.com) approved this June, proposes an allotment of $961.3 million in federal funds for the Smithsonian — about 11% below FY26’s $1.08 billion budget. The outlined FY27 figure for the Smithsonian's salaries and expenses comes out to $841.3 million, while the allotment for facilities maintenance and capital projects amounts to $120 million for the second year in a row. The White House budget request also outlines a projected 6% reduction in full-time Smithsonian staff, dropping from an estimated 4,047 employees to a proposed 3,804\. The pared resources fall in line with the Trump administration's [punitive fixation](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-targets-lgbtq-history-migrants-and-more-in-chilling-smithsonian-hit-list/) with the Smithsonian, which has been routinely accused of pushing a so-called “woke” agenda through exhibitions, programming, and other public-facing materials across the 21 museums and national zoo. However, the figures are far from final at this stage, explained Mark B. Harkins, a congressional expert and senior fellow at the Government Affairs Institute at Georgetown University. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Rice University Extends Free Tuition to Families Earning Up to $200K URL: https://hyperallergic.com/rice-university-extends-free-tuition-to-families-earning-up-to-200k/ Last updated: 2026-08-04T20:51:29.000Z Rice University, whose arts undergraduate programs have been steadily gaining traction, will now offer free tuition for students from families earning between $100,000 and $200,000 each year, starting with the cohort matriculating in 2027\. The Houston university previously provided free tuition to students whose family income ranged from $75,000 to $140,000, and covered tuition, mandatory fees, and room and board to students from families that earned up to $75,000 (which has now been raised to a $100,000 threshold). _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Valerie Hillings Named Inaugural Director of Guggenheim Abu Dhabi URL: https://hyperallergic.com/valerie-hillings-named-inaugural-director-of-guggenheim-abu-dhabi/ Last updated: 2026-08-04T19:52:43.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Valerie-Hillings---Credits-Justin-Kase-Conder.jpg) Guggenheim Abu Dhabi's inaugural director, Valerie Hillings (photo Justin Kase Conder, courtesy the museum) Shortly after [confirming its opening date](https://hyperallergic.com/long-contested-guggenheim-abu-dhabi-gets-opening-date/) for this coming December, the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi announced that Valerie Hillings will serve as the museum's inaugural director. Hillings returns to the Guggenheim's United Arab Emirates outpost after having previously served as its associate director of curatorial affairs from 2009 to 2018\. Hillings has led the North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) in Raleigh for the last eight years. Her tenure was marked by acquisitions for the "[People's Collection](https://www.midtownmag.com/ncma-reinstall/?ref=hyperallergic.com)" — a reinterpretation of the museum's holdings through the lens of public accessibility. Under her leadership, [NCMA's collection strategy](https://capitalanalyticsassociates.com/spotlight-on-valerie-hillings-director-ceo-north-carolina-museum-of-art-ncma/?ref=hyperallergic.com) emphasized acquiring work by women, LGBTQIA+, minority, and local artists. While strategic, Hillings's appointment at the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi stokes the [ongoing controversy](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/guggenheim-abu-dhabi/) surrounding the [exploitation](https://hyperallergic.com/gulf-labor-monitoring-report-finds-ongoing-labor-violations-at-guggenheim-abu-dhabi/) and [dire forced labor conditions](https://hyperallergic.com/abu-dhabi-guggenheim/) for the [migrant construction workers](https://hyperallergic.com/human-rights-watch-releases-damning-report-on-labor-conditions-in-abu-dhabi/) who built out the museum, alongside the Louvre Abu Dhabi and the New York University campus, on Saadiyat Island. The labor conditions have sparked [multiple](https://hyperallergic.com/protesters-shame-guggenheim-and-its-trustees-with-light-projections/) [protest](https://hyperallergic.com/breaking-may-day-occupation-at-guggenheim-closes-museum-guggoccupied/) [interventions](https://hyperallergic.com/protesters-stage-intervention-at-guggenheims-futurist-exhibition/) and [calls](https://hyperallergic.com/gulf-labor-coalition-calls-on-artists-to-boycott-guggenheim-abu-dhabi/) to [boycott](https://hyperallergic.com/abu-dhabi-guggenheim/) the Guggenheim Foundation over the last 15 years. Before joining the NCMA, Hillings worked for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation from 2004 to 2018\. She began on the curatorial team at the Guggenheim Museum in Manhattan, co-organizing and curating topical and collections-based exhibitions onsite and internationally. In 2009, two years before site work for the Frank Gehry-designed building began, Hilling was tapped to develop the collection for the Abu Dhabi outpost in partnership with the city's Department of Culture and Tourism. The growing collection and forthcoming exhibitions center output and art movements from 1960 onward that “reflect and advance Abu Dhabi’s role as a catalyst for creative production and innovation in the arts,” per a press release from the Guggenheim Foundation. ### Kimsooja Comes Full Circle URL: https://hyperallergic.com/kimsooja-comes-full-circle/ Last updated: 2026-08-06T21:12:49.000Z TORONTO — Kimsooja held her first North American solo exhibition, *Soo-ja Kim: A Laundry Field/Sewing into Walking, Looking into Sewing*, nearly 30 years ago. Organized at the Oakville Galleries, a contemporary art museum in an affluent Lake Ontario town approximately 22 miles (\~35.4 km) west of Toronto, the artist had the Centennial Gallery walls painted black and hung dozens of colorful, used Korean bedcovers from clotheslines. “There is a swirling energy from the overhead fans as the bedcovers create alleyways for the viewer to walk through or between,” writes Oakville Galleries Curator of Contemporary Art Marnie Fleming in [the exhibition catalog](https://e-artexte.ca/id/eprint/11905/?ref=hyperallergic.com). “Wind generated movement becomes animation as Kim makes the bed covers’ intimate relationship with women’s lives, as well as their role in divisive labour, instructively visible.” Today — many international exhibitions, commissions, and biennial and triennial representations later — she returns to Toronto with [*Kimsooja: Dimensions of a Needle*](https://moca.ca/exhibitions/kimsooja/?ref=hyperallergic.com) at the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto (MOCA). The taut survey of works from the past 20 years succinctly captures her methodical experiments with video performance, architectural installation, and ceramics, not to mention her single-minded focus on the needle as a metaphor for folding and unfolding, memory and displacement. Rooted in the artist’s increasingly immaterial philosophy of “non-doing” and “non-making,” the site-specific installations take over MOCA’s first and third floors, savvily beginning on its main floor with “To Breathe—Mokum” (2025–26), a work that intentionally recalls the clothesline installation of “A Laundry Field.” _This post is for subscribers only._ ### The Day I Pleated With Iris van Herpen URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-day-i-pleated-with-iris-van-herpen/ Last updated: 2026-08-04T22:13:54.000Z "Hands are like a language," Iris van Herpen says as we pleat a textile together inside the recreated atelier at the center of [*Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses*](https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/iris-van-herpen?ref=hyperallergic.com). “Each pair that joins me in creating this dress will influence the DNA of the garment.” A first of its kind, the live installation at the Brooklyn Museum invites visitors to work alongside the Dutch fashion designer in creating a garment that will evolve over the course of the show’s run. “I want to share the most beautiful part of my work — the craftsmanship — in a really intimate setting,” van Herpen tells *Hyperallergic* in an interview. “My atelier is my most sacred space.” Based in the Netherlands, she will periodically return to the recreated studio throughout the exhibition, transforming visitors’ pleated textiles into a garment and embroidering fragments of their conversations into it. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### 10 Art Shows to See in Los Angeles This August URL: https://hyperallergic.com/10-art-shows-to-see-in-los-angeles-this-august/ Last updated: 2026-08-04T18:08:32.000Z For the dog days of August, we’ve got several shows that turn away from grand artistic gestures toward the intimate, personal, and everyday. Lisson showcases Spencer Finch’s torn-envelope interventions, bits of painted and collaged wonder. *Textiles as Monument* at the Fowler Museum features three artists who use soft materials to memorialize those excluded from mainstream historical recognition. A show honoring the longstanding, recently demolished Echo Park restaurant Taix tries to capture its eccentric charm as a home for neighborhood regulars and Gen-Z bohemians alike. And a show at Roberts Projects focused on the garment, jewelry, and costume design of the late assemblage art pioneer Betye Saar shines a light on this important but overlooked aspect of her oeuvre. --- ### Let's Get It On: The Wearable Art of Betye Saar [**Roberts Projects**](https://www.robertsprojectsla.com/exhibitions/lets-get-it-on-the-wearable-art-of-betye-saar??ref=hyperallergic.com), 442 South La Brea Avenue, Hancock Park, Los Angeles Through August 22 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/1968_Saar_Betye_PhotoCarolABeers_CourtesyoftheartistandRobertsProjects-LosAngeles.jpg) Photo by Carol A. Beers of Betye Saar in North African dress in 1968 (image courtesy the artist and Roberts Projects, Los Angeles) Betye Saar, who [passed away last week at the age of 99](https://hyperallergic.com/betye-saar-who-opened-portals-between-worlds-dies-at-99/), was a pioneering figure in LA assemblage, crafting astute juxtapositions of found objects that celebrated Black and female representation with wit, humor, and biting social critique. *Let’s Get it On* focuses on a lesser-known part of her practice: her costume design. The show includes more than 200 garments, photographs, and drawings spanning the 1950s through the 1970s. Among them are her costume designs for productions at the Inner City Cultural Center, a multicultural performing arts space formed after the 1965 Watts Rebellion, as well as clothes she made for her daughters to wear at the Renaissance Pleasure Faire at the Paramount Ranch in the late ’60s and early ’70s. Based heavily on archival research, the exhibition adds a crucial puzzle piece to Saar’s extensive legacy. --- _This post is for subscribers only._ ### AI Is the New Book Burning URL: https://hyperallergic.com/ai-is-the-new-book-burning/ Last updated: 2026-08-04T10:00:04.000Z Just when we thought tech companies couldn’t get more odious, they took a page from the long, tyrannical tradition of book burning. Author and bibliophile Ed Simon opines today about the horrific revelation that Anthropic scanned and then shredded out-of-print books to train its large language models, a shameless act of artistic plunder aimed at gutting our humanity. Read and share, and take this as a sign to support your local library while you’re at it. Meanwhile, artists continue to offer glimmers of hope in unexpected places. Case in point: psychedelic pickleball courts in Pittsburgh (say that five times fast). A co-founder of the experimental collective Hilma’s Ghost and proponent of public art, Sharmistha Ray designed vivid murals in their signature geometric style to bring one of the city’s recreational spaces to life. Say what you want about pickleball, but it gets the people going. More today, including a tribute to beloved dealer and Lubov gallerist Francisco Correa Cordero, who passed away on Sunday at age 37. *—Lakshmi Rivera Amin, associate editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/ai-book-shredding.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/ai-companies-are-pulping-our-humanity/) [ AI Companies Are Pulping Our Humanity ](https://hyperallergic.com/ai-companies-are-pulping-our-humanity/) The recent revelation about Anthropic’s systematic digitization and destruction of out-of-print books portends a rapacious future, one where soulless LLMs swell while the shelves starve. | Ed Simon [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/ai-companies-are-pulping-our-humanity/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/pickleball-courts.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/sharmistha-ray-transforms-pickleball-courts-into-stunning-artworks/) - Three of Pittsburgh's pickleball courts are [transformed into vibrant artworks](https://hyperallergic.com/sharmistha-ray-transforms-pickleball-courts-into-stunning-artworks/) as part of Sharmistha Ray's "Geometry of Play." - Francisco Correa Cordero, the founder of the downtown New York gallery Lubov, [dies at the age of 37](https://hyperallergic.com/lubov-gallery-founder-francisco-correa-cordero-dies-at-37/). - Two alumni from the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan have come forward with previously unreported abuse[ allegations against Jeffrey Epstein](https://hyperallergic.com/michigan-arts-school-alumni-allege-abuse-by-jeffrey-epstein/) while he was a benefactor of the school. - The Eric Carle Museum staff [are pushing to unionize](https://hyperallergic.com/eric-carle-museum-workers-push-for-union-vote/) due to allegations of understaffing, a lack of promotions, and poor workplace conditions. ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/ellen-pau.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/ellen-paus-elegy-to-a-vanishing-hong-kong/) [ Ellen Pau’s Elegy to a Vanishing Hong Kong ](https://hyperallergic.com/ellen-paus-elegy-to-a-vanishing-hong-kong/) In the video art pioneer’s first US exhibition, water’s changing states become a metaphor for the city. | Gladys Lou [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/ellen-paus-elegy-to-a-vanishing-hong-kong/) --- ## Member Comment I grew up in the 60's and 70's in San Francisco where all library racks were packed tight and high. Cozy corners everywhere to stroll through random new finds I could discover no other way. Even as late as 2000 in Fremont, California their main Library was packed tight and high. But since, every library I have entered has been de-libraried. From my questioning and listening, the new government management mentality has been to turn libraries, and indeed any similar public service facility, into "community centers" with programs and gimmicks to make government appear to be serving public desires. But all one has to do is look at the racks and the "program promotion" campaigns to see the actual intent: to de-intellectualize and spectacularize the public sphere. A form of happy-washing cultural wipe-out. —Sandy Sanders on "[AI Companies Are Pulping Our Humanity](https://hyperallergic.com/ai-companies-are-pulping-our-humanity/)" --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/ginseng-roots.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/a-mystical-obsessive-encounter-with-the-ginseng-root/) [ A Mystical, Obsessive Encounter With the Ginseng Root ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-mystical-obsessive-encounter-with-the-ginseng-root/) Craig Thompson’s rhizomatic new graphic novel about the root’s farming industry exposes the paradoxes of Trump’s America. | Noah Fischer [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-mystical-obsessive-encounter-with-the-ginseng-root/) ### Lubov Gallery Founder Francisco Correa Cordero Dies at 37 URL: https://hyperallergic.com/lubov-gallery-founder-francisco-correa-cordero-dies-at-37/ Last updated: 2026-08-04T19:43:13.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/image.png) Lubov's statement on the passing of gallery founder Francisco Correa Cordero (screenshot via [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/Dbl0AVfy3ys/?ref=hyperallergic.com)) Francisco Correa Cordero, the founder of the downtown New York gallery Lubov, died on Sunday, August 2, at the age of 37\. The news of his passing was announced by the gallery’s [Instagram account](https://www.instagram.com/p/Dbl0AVfy3ys/?ref=hyperallergic.com) today, August 3\. The cause of death was not listed, but the gallery said in its statement that he passed away "surrounded by what he loved the most — his chosen family, laughter and so much love." _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Eric Carle Museum Workers Push for Union Vote URL: https://hyperallergic.com/eric-carle-museum-workers-push-for-union-vote/ Last updated: 2026-08-03T22:23:37.000Z *Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?* The Eric Carle Museum staff have started unionizing. Workers announced the news on [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/DblDLIfES3q/?img%5Findex=1&ref=hyperallergic.com) on August 3, amid staff allegations of understaffing, a lack of promotions, and poor workplace conditions at the Massachusetts museum established by the beloved children's book author and illustrator. According to their post, employees filed for a full-time and part-time staff election with the National Labor Relations Board. "We call upon Museum leadership not to interfere with or delay a union vote," the post reads. Under representation from the United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 2110, the group demanded that as many staff as possible be allowed to vote in the election, given they fit the eligibility criteria. Carle, the late children's book artist best known for *The Very Hungry Caterpillar* (1969) and his collaboration with Bill Martin Jr. on *Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?* (1967), founded the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in November 2002 with his wife, Barbara Carle. In the 23 years since its opening, the museum has welcomed more than a million visitors to Amherst, Massachusetts, to see the author's illustrations and iconic tissue paper collages. However, a litany of recent allegations have pushed museum staff to the point of unionizing. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Sharmistha Ray Transforms Pickleball Courts Into Stunning Artworks URL: https://hyperallergic.com/sharmistha-ray-transforms-pickleball-courts-into-stunning-artworks/ Last updated: 2026-08-03T22:24:18.000Z Pickleball aficionados in downtown Pittsburgh get to enjoy an art experience as they play thanks to artist Sharmistha Ray's vibrant floor murals. The artist's new "Geometry of Play" installation invites the public to step into — and onto — the vibrant surfaces, pickleball paddle in hand. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Michigan Arts School Alumni Allege Abuse by Jeffrey Epstein URL: https://hyperallergic.com/michigan-arts-school-alumni-allege-abuse-by-jeffrey-epstein/ Last updated: 2026-08-03T19:54:04.000Z *Editor’s Note: The following story contains mentions of sexual assault. To reach the National Sexual Assault Hotline, call 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or visit* [*online.rainn.org*](http://online.rainn.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com)*.* Two alumni from the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan have come forward with previously unreported abuse allegations against Jeffrey Epstein while he was a benefactor of the school. The alumni's allegations against the financier,which include claims of sexual misconduct and assault, emerged during a two-year external investigation into a history of abuse at the arts boarding school and summer camp. In addition to the new accounts about Epstein, the investigation culminated in a [97-page report](https://www.interlochen.org/about/historical-investigation?ref=hyperallergic.com) in which dozens of alumni madeabuse allegations against 47 adults affiliated with the school between the 1950s and the 2010s. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Ellen Pau’s Elegy to a Vanishing Hong Kong URL: https://hyperallergic.com/ellen-paus-elegy-to-a-vanishing-hong-kong/ Last updated: 2026-08-27T16:12:59.000Z Drops of water trickle down a plain white wall under a heavenly light in Ellen Pau’s 1988 video installation “She Moves 她去.” Flanked by soft white veils and a nostalgic, wooden armchair, the work introduces water as a central motif in Pau’s long-standing interest in Hong Kong as a city in constant transition, moving through cycles of lost and found. [*Ellen Pau: She Moves*](https://www.sculpture-center.org/exhibitions/14802/ellen-pau-she-moves?ref=hyperallergic.com) at SculptureCenter, curated by Freya Chou, is the first United States survey exhibition of the woman widely regarded as Hong Kong’s video art pioneer. Across 15 videos and installations spanning the late 1980s to the present, water reappears in various forms: a crying wall, swimmers diving into Victoria Harbour, the scent of tear gas. Its changing states, from melting ice to evaporating mist, become a metaphor for Hong Kong herself — “always on the verge of disappearing,” as late cultural theorist Ackbar Abbas [puts it](http://www.lamarre-mediaken.com/Site/Film%5F279%5F0%5Ffiles/Abbas%20New%20Hong%20Kong%20Cinema.pdf?ref=hyperallergic.com) — leaving little time for reflection before new changes arrive. The city’s rapid transformation is reflected in the afterlife of “She Moves.” Over the years, the work has been transferred across formats — NTSC to PAL, VHS to DVD — remastered, and, most recently, restored with AI. With each iteration, something is lost, and something new is layered in. That state of flux is mirrored by the installation, an intimate space that invites viewers to take a seat, temporarily occupying the position of an absent subject. Who is the “she” in the title? Could it be Pau herself, who once rested in that very chair; the woman in a floral dress, who appears briefly on screen; the visitors who enter and exit the space; or even Hong Kong herself? _This post is for subscribers only._ ### AI Companies Are Pulping Our Humanity URL: https://hyperallergic.com/ai-companies-are-pulping-our-humanity/ Last updated: 2026-08-21T14:04:28.000Z After Spanish physician and theologian Michael Servetus was burnt at the stake in 1553 for religious heresy, only three surviving copies of his *The Restoration of Christianity* would be spared from the bonfire. One particular copy, now held by the [University of Edinburgh library](https://libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk/diu/2018/03/30/michael-servetus-christianismi-restitutio/?ref=hyperallergic.com), is ironically believed to have been personally saved by the Protestant leader John Calvin, who was responsible for Servetus’s execution in Geneva. Anyone familiar with Calvin, who bragged in a letter that he had “purged the Church of so pernicious a monster,” knows that the book wasn’t preserved due to affection for Servetus, but rather a bibliophile’s sentiment — even a doctrinaire, zealous, tyrannical bibliophile. And yet, as bizarre as Calvin’s motivations might have been, he’s still not as noxious as the artificial intelligence companies, including [Anthropic](https://www.reuters.com/world/us-judge-approves-anthropics-15-billion-settlement-copyright-lawsuit-2026-07-20/?ref=hyperallergic.com), that have been involved in bulk purchasing, digitizing, and then pulping out-of-print books to train their large language models. Calvin at least had the excuse of his God; AI companies don’t even have that. In a sobering report by Frank Landymore in[ *Futurism*,](https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-companies-destroying-rare-books?ref=hyperallergic.com)published last Saturday, explains that Large Language Models (LLMs) are increasingly trained on their own slop, creating a need to train them on pre-2022 writing that is uncontaminated by AI itself — that’s the particular sales pitch made by [ISBNdb](https://isbndb.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com), a company supplying bulk orders of books to tech companies — with purchases of between one thousand and one million volumes at a time. A “hydraulic powered cutting machine” slices off book spines and removes the pages, which are scanned and digitized before being pulped. This process of “destructive scanning” is a way to elude copyright regulations through a legal loophole, with the result being that “an AI company could be destroying some of the few remaining copies that can be found” of these books. The destruction of books, as Servetus’s case demonstrates, is [hardly a historical rarity](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/brief-history-book-burning-printing-press-internet-archives-180964697/?ref=hyperallergic.com). Nor is the pulping of books for non-ideological reasons uncommon, as publishers are responsible for destroying nearly [25% of works released each year](https://www.bookdrop.com/blog/sustainability-impact?ref=hyperallergic.com), almost always because they didn’t sell. Rather, what the recent revelation portends is unique and terrifying: the rapacious, cannibalistic devouring of culture so as to feed the very technology meant to replace the human. The indifference of the LLM is chilling in its own way; one imagines that if a copy of Servetus’s book fell beneath the lifeless eye of the digitizer, it would simply upload all of those theological arguments into the hungry maw of the machine, where it would only serve as fodder for the advanced plagiarism device which is artificial intelligence. “We see a future where intelligence is a utility,” [said](https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-altman-ai-utility-electricity-water-openai-2026-3?ref=hyperallergic.com) OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, “and people buy it from us on a meter.” This is a future where technocracy has accomplished its war against the sacred materiality and artistry of the book itself, where everything is reduced to so much predictive binary. It’s an act of literal erasure for which George Orwell’s cliched warning that “who controls the past controls the future” is restored to its original impact. LLMs swell while the shelves starve, the result being an act of libricide, of corporate indifference to the obliteration of culture, ideas, and humanity itself. ### Opportunities in August 2026 URL: https://hyperallergic.com/opportunities-in-august-2026/ Last updated: 2026-08-05T22:33:25.000Z Hyperallergic’s monthly [Opportunities Listings](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/opportunities/) provide a resource to artists and creatives looking for funding and community support to further their work. Subscribe to receive this list of opportunities in your inbox each month. [Sign up here](#/portal/account/newsletters)! If you find this list valuable, consider becoming a [Hyperallergic Member](https://hyperallergic.com/membership/) to help us make it possible every month. --- ## Residencies, Workshops, & Fellowships **2027 Erie Canal Artists in Residence — Erie Canal Museum & New York State Canal Corporation** Seeking projects that reflect on the Erie Canal’s past, contemplate its present, and consider its future. All visual mediums welcome. Local and Indigenous artists preferred. Two selected artists will each receive a $10,000 stipend. Deadline: September 6, 2026 | [eriecanalmuseum.org](https://bit.ly/4wsfcJm?ref=hyperallergic.com) **Jentel Artist Residency — Winter/Spring 2027 Residencies** Jentel Artist Residency offers 3-week residencies in the foothills of Wyoming’s Bighorn Mountains, which include a $300 stipend, a private bedroom, shared living spaces, and a separate studio. The application fee is $30\. Read more on [hyperallergic.com](https://hyperallergic.com/p/301f55cf-21f7-449e-bbd1-f6ab49ecd308/?member%5Fstatus=free). Deadline: September 15, 2026 | [jentelarts.org](https://bit.ly/4fpCv0p?ref=hyperallergic.com) **Two Artist Fellowships - Hodder & PAF — Princeton University, Lewis Center for the Arts** Princeton Arts Fellowships - 2 years, teaching required, open to dance, music, theater artists. Hodder Fellowships - 1 year, no teaching, open to dance, music, theater, and visual artists. Deadline: Sept. 8, 2026 | [arts.princeton.edu/fellowships](https://bit.ly/4x8ZgM4?ref=hyperallergic.com) --- ## Open Calls for Art & Writing **Art at a Time Like This — Take One Action** Open call for brave political images and ideas of civic actions to save democracy. Selected artists will join a public art campaign this fall and/or be featured in an online exhibition. Honorarium up to $1,000. Deadline: August 21, 2026 | [atlt.org](https://bit.ly/4fywQ8c?ref=hyperallergic.com) **Culture Forward — The Svane Family Foundation** A three-year, $5M initiative supporting arts and culture projects that draw audiences to Downtown San Francisco. Open to local and national artists and organizations. Experimentation is welcome. Deadline: September 1, 2026 | [svaneff.org/cultureforward](https://bit.ly/4fwZPta?ref=hyperallergic.com) --- ## Grants & Awards **The Bennett Prize – 2026/2027 Award Cycle** For women figurative realist painters. The grand prize winner receives $75,000 and a solo exhibition. The first runner-up receives $10,000\. A five-person jury will select 10 finalists to be featured in a group exhibition that will travel the US. The application fee is $50\. Read more on [*Hyperallergic*](https://hyperallergic.com/the-bennett-prize-opens-fifth-call-for-entries/). Deadline: September 19, 2026 | [thebennettprize.org](https://bit.ly/4vVnQ1P?ref=hyperallergic.com) **2026 Foundwork Artist Prize — Foundwork** The honoree will receive a $10,000 grant and studio visits with jurors Stefan Benchoam, François Ghebaly, Manuela Moscoso, Gabi Ngcobo, Esther Schipper. Three shortlisted artists will receive $1,000 grants. Deadline: September 25, 2026 | [foundwork.art/artist-prize](https://bit.ly/4wlSna9?ref=hyperallergic.com) **Prize for Contemporary Southern Art — The Gibbes Museum and Society 1858** Awarded to an artist whose work contributes to a new understanding of art in the South. The winner will receive a $10,000 unrestricted prize, an artwork exhibited at the museum for one year, and a three-day series of events honoring the artist in Charleston. Deadline: September 14, 2026 | [gibbesmuseum.org](https://www.gibbesmuseum.org/1858-prize/?ref=hyperallergic.com) --- 🎯 Check out more opportunities at [hyperallergic.com/tag/opportunities](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/opportunities/). To feature an opportunity from your organization on *Hyperallergic*, get in touch at [hyperallergic.com/advertise](https://hyperallergic.com/advertise/). ### Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Will Finally Open URL: https://hyperallergic.com/guggenheim-abu-dhabi-will-finally-open/ Last updated: 2026-08-03T10:00:41.000Z After 20 long years of delays and allegations of abuse against migrant workers, the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi has finally announced an opening date: December 11\. Yay? Across the world, another major museum is just gearing up its labor battle. Unionized workers at the Victoria and Albert Museum’s East Storehouse location voted unanimously to strike, alleging insufficient time to use the toilet or drink water. All the world’s an Amazon warehouse, it seems. But not everything trends toward shit. Sometimes the reverse takes its course — as a former military settlement-turned-artist settlement in Taipei shows us. May we all head that way. — *Lisa Yin Zhang, associate editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/06-1-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/how-a-former-military-settlement-in-taipei-became-an-artist-residency/) [ How a Former Military Settlement in Taipei Became an Artist Residency ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-a-former-military-settlement-in-taipei-became-an-artist-residency/) Tucked away in a small forested area on the banks of the Xindian River in Taipei City lies the Treasure Hill Artist Village. Founded by retreating soldiers in the 1940s, the former anti-aircraft base turned squatter settlement has been through a number of reincarnations. Its latest form, launched in 2010, is as a so-called “living history,” where the descendants of its original inhabitants live side by side with artists in residence. | Andrew Nachemson [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-a-former-military-settlement-in-taipei-became-an-artist-residency/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Hero-Shot-3---Guggenheim-Abu-Dhabi-1-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/long-contested-guggenheim-abu-dhabi-gets-opening-date/) - After 20 years of delays, allegations, and recalibrations, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation will [open the doors](https://hyperallergic.com/long-contested-guggenheim-abu-dhabi-gets-opening-date/) to its Frank Gehry-designed Abu Dhabi outpost on December 11. - The new exhibition *Help Wanted / Leave Now* traces “Operation Wetback," one of the [United States's worst deportation campaigns](https://hyperallergic.com/california-exhibition-to-document-one-of-the-uss-worst-deportation-campaigns/) against undocumented Mexican workers. - Unionized workers at the Victoria and Albert East Storehouse, a publicly accessible museum storage site, [vote unanimouslyto strike](https://hyperallergic.com/v-a-storehouse-workers-vote-to-strike-over-amazon-style-conditions/) over alleged “Amazon-style” working practices. --- ## Film Review [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/STP-STILL-4---Courtesy-of-Watermelon-Pictures-1-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-thorny-politics-of-protest-photography/) [ The Thorny Politics of Protest Photography ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-thorny-politics-of-protest-photography/) A new documentary follows the work of activist and photographer Misan Harriman, but risks overly aestheticizing the movements he captures. | Eileen G'Sell [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-thorny-politics-of-protest-photography/) --- ## Guide [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Reflecting-New-York---Stefan-Falke-1-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/15-outdoor-art-shows-to-see-in-nyc-this-summer/) [ 15 Outdoor Art Shows to See in NYC This Summer ](https://hyperallergic.com/15-outdoor-art-shows-to-see-in-nyc-this-summer/) Slide through a teddy bear, get weird with a neural network’s hallucinations, play ping-pong on an artist-made table, and so much more. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/15-outdoor-art-shows-to-see-in-nyc-this-summer/) --- ## Community [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Czora_StudioView_2026-6---Connor-Czora-1-1-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-348/) [ A View From the Easel ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-348/) Connor Czora mines the history of porcelain ceramics while teaching the next generation of potters in DC. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-348/) --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/freshsets3-1-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/tembe-denton-hurst-fresh-sets-nail-art/) [ Fresh Sets Examines the Fine Art of Nail Art ](https://hyperallergic.com/tembe-denton-hurst-fresh-sets-nail-art/) Writer Tembe Denton-Hurst argues that this wearable art form isn’t just an extension of our fingertips, but also an extension of ourselves. | Rhea Nayyar [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/tembe-denton-hurst-fresh-sets-nail-art/) ### Betye Saar, Simone Forti, Walter Benjamin URL: https://hyperallergic.com/betye-saar-simone-forti-walter-benjamin/ Last updated: 2026-08-01T10:00:32.000Z How many days of your life have been ruined because of someone else's fragile ego? How many times have so-called "friends" shamelessly stolen your ideas? In this month's Art Problems column, Paddy Johnson tackles an uncomfortable question: Why are there so many toxic people in the art world? Read her tips on how to protect yourself from insecure peers and bad-faith actors. Hope it helps. Speaking of toxic people, President Trump has ordered the installation of content warning signs outside the Smithsonian National Museum of American History to alert the public against the institution's alleged leftist bias. "No other president has seen fit to vandalize taxpayer-funded museums with a billboard telling people not to go inside, while directing them to more politically 'palatable' — which is to say extreme right-wing — revisions of the historical record," writes Ed Simon in a must-read opinion piece below. In other stories, this week we said goodbye to two giants: assemblage artist Betye Saar, who died just four days before her 100th birthday, and performance artist Simone Forti, who passed away at 91\. We mourn their death while celebrating the massive legacies they've left behind. —*Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/01_Dumile-Feni-African-Guernica-1-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/madrid-museum-puts-picasso-in-dialogue-with-african-guernica/) [ Madrid Museum Puts Picasso in Dialogue With “African Guernica” ](https://hyperallergic.com/madrid-museum-puts-picasso-in-dialogue-with-african-guernica/) Spanning over 25-feet wide and 11-feet high, Pablo Picasso’s painting “Guernica” (1937) is as monumental in size as it is in cultural significance. Its startling depiction of state brutality against civilians has made it an emblem of post-war Spanish identity, and its cry against violence has resonated with besieged people worldwide — from Vietnam to Gaza — throughout the past nine decades. A new annual exhibition series at the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid, which has served as the canonical work’s permanent home since 1992, places “Guernica” in dialogue with other artworks. The new program, titled History Doesn’t Repeat Itself, but It Does Rhyme, partly aims to revisit the universal political impulses behind the anti-war painting — but its first iteration also exposes race as an urgent issue for contemporary art institutions in Spain. | Agnish Ray [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/madrid-museum-puts-picasso-in-dialogue-with-african-guernica/) SPONSORED ****Support Independent Art Reporting** Independent, critical reporting is increasingly hard to come by. But you can ensure it doesn’t disappear. By becoming a paid member of the **Hyperallergic* community, you not only help keep our lights on, but ensure our hands (and pens) remain untied. **Hyperallergic* isn't beholden to large corporations or billionaires. Instead, our journalism is funded by readers like you: individuals who fight for integrity and justice during increasingly unjust times. With your support (as little as $6.67/month!), you are joining a community of people who value and advocate for independent journalism and greater transparency in the arts. The perks aren’t bad either… We hope you’ll join us. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/#/portal/account/plans) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/censorship-study-lead-1-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/sexual-assault-allegations-get-artists-canceled-more-than-murder-study-finds/) - A[recent psychological study ](https://hyperallergic.com/sexual-assault-allegations-get-artists-canceled-more-than-murder-study-finds/)on so-called “cancel culture” and artistic impact found that its respondents reacted more punitively toward an artist accused of sexual assault (SA) compared to an artist accused of murder. - [Art Movements](https://hyperallergic.com/todd-caissie-takes-the-helm-at-the-montclair-art-museum/): Todd Caissie is named the new executive director of the Montclair Art Museum. Plus, curators are named for the Aichi Triennale and Biennale of Sydney in our weekly roundup of industry news. - Trump has [ordered federal officials to install content warning labels](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-orders-installation-of-warning-signs-outside-smithsonian-museum/) outside the Smithsonian National Museum of American History after his administration accused the institution of “anti-white” practices. - Japan’s historic [Kumamoto Castle is damaged](https://hyperallergic.com/historic-japanese-castle-damaged-in-7-1-magnitude-earthquake/) after a 7.1-magnitude earthquake hits the country. - The European Central Bank [reveals 10 shortlisted design proposals](https://hyperallergic.com/europeans-vote-on-new-leonardo-da-vinci-banknote-design/) for euro banknotes centered on either the theme of “European culture” or “rivers and birds” — and Leonardo da Vinci is in one of the designs. - The Germanpublishing giant Steidl Verlag is [facing an uncertain future](https://hyperallergic.com/photobook-publisher-steidl-in-dire-straits-after-threat-of-bankruptcy/) after coming close to bankruptcy. - Trump [spends $5 million in public funds](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-regilds-dc-statues-mar-a-lago-style/) on the regilding of two of the DC equestrian statues, “Arts of War” and “Arts of Peace.” --- ## Trump Administration [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/image-14-1-1.png)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-smithsonian-is-not-the-presidents-museum/) [ The Smithsonian Is Not the President’s Museum ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-smithsonian-is-not-the-presidents-museum/) The Trump administration’s latest order marks an unprecedented effort to subordinate one of America’s foremost public institutions to partisan power.| Ed Simon [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-smithsonian-is-not-the-presidents-museum/) [ Smithsonian Hearing’s Most Bizarre Moments Ranked by Tier ](https://hyperallergic.com/smithsonian-hearings-most-bizarre-moments-ranked-by-tier/) “Is Mickey Mouse racist?” Texas Republican Congressman Brandon Gill asked National Museum of American History Director Anthea Hartig. | Rhea Nayyar [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/smithsonian-hearings-most-bizarre-moments-ranked-by-tier/) --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/4_1-1-2-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/walter-benjamin-warned-us-about-ai/) [ Walter Benjamin Warned Us About AI ](https://hyperallergic.com/walter-benjamin-warned-us-about-ai/) The philosopher believed that good photography provokes cognition while dangerous photography soothes, as seen in a jewel box show at the Jewish Museum. | Julia Curl [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/walter-benjamin-warned-us-about-ai/) [ An Exhibition Lets Self-Taught Artists Speak for Themselves ](https://hyperallergic.com/an-exhibition-lets-self-taught-artists-speak-for-themselves/) At the Folk Art Museum, “Self-Made” overcomes the problem of “insiders” ventriloquizing self-taught artists. | Ekin Erkan [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/an-exhibition-lets-self-taught-artists-speak-for-themselves/) [ The Queer Surrealists Who Fought Nazis With Paper Bullets ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-queer-surrealists-who-fought-nazis-with-paper-bullets/) Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore shared a magnificent life as both romantic and creative partners, one in which gender proved as mercurial as the political climate of World War II. | Eileen G'Sell [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-queer-surrealists-who-fought-nazis-with-paper-bullets/) [ Why Did Rembrandt Die Poor? ](https://hyperallergic.com/why-did-rembrandt-die-poor/) Rembrandt pioneered the saleable self, but unlike his rival, Gerard Van Honthorst, failed to reconcile his personal vision with the market. | Natasha Seaman [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/why-did-rembrandt-die-poor/) [ The Shakers Weren’t Minimalists ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-shakers-werent-minimalists/) An exhibition posits that the sect happened upon the ideals of modern design, overlooking the contradictions and vitality of its culture. | Isabella Segalovich [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-shakers-werent-minimalists/) [ Widline Cadet’s Doubled Diaspora ](https://hyperallergic.com/widline-cadets-doubled-diaspora/) The Haitian-born photographer explores how various media, from dusty analog photo albums to cell phone videos, store and shape personal histories of migration. | Debra Brehmer [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/widline-cadets-doubled-diaspora/) --- ## Features [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/DSC02924-1-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/a-precious-garden-grows-at-moma-ps1/) [ A Precious Garden Grows at MoMA PS1 ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-precious-garden-grows-at-moma-ps1/) Precious Okoyomon’s new work transforms the concrete corner of the museum courtyard into a place of joy, exploration, and, dare I say, tranquility. | Hrag Vartanian [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-precious-garden-grows-at-moma-ps1/) --- ## Obituaries [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Betye-Saar-at-her-studio-in-Laurel-Canyon--Los-Angeles--2026.-Courtesy-of-the-Artist-and-Roberts-Projects--Los-Angeles.-Photo--David-Sprague-copy-1-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/betye-saar-who-opened-portals-between-worlds-dies-at-99/) [ Betye Saar, Who Opened Portals Between Worlds, Dies at 99 ](https://hyperallergic.com/betye-saar-who-opened-portals-between-worlds-dies-at-99/) Her visionary assemblages recast the debris of American history into monuments of Black resilience and liberation. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/betye-saar-who-opened-portals-between-worlds-dies-at-99/) [ Simone Forti, Artist of Movement and Chance, Dies at 91 ](https://hyperallergic.com/simone-forti-artist-of-movement-and-chance-dies-at-91/) The Italian-born choreographer and performance artist mixed boundless curiosity with a formal rigor across a broad creative spectrum that spanned New York, Los Angeles, and Rome. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/simone-forti-artist-of-movement-and-chance-dies-at-91/) --- ## Community [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/2-3-2.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/art-problems-why-are-there-so-many-toxic-people-in-the-art-world/) [ Art Problems: Why Are There So Many Toxic People in the Art World? ](https://hyperallergic.com/art-problems-why-are-there-so-many-toxic-people-in-the-art-world/) Every industry has toxic people, but desperation gives the art-world toxicity its particular flavor. The field is full of people making and supporting art, but the money available from collectors, grants and philanthropy combined can’t sustain most of them. We fight over the scraps. Some of us handle scarcity better than others, but nobody is their best self. | Paddy Johnson [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/art-problems-why-are-there-so-many-toxic-people-in-the-art-world/) [ A View From the Easel ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-142/) Shahryar Nashat sculpts along to the sounds of Kelis’s “Milkshake” and experiments with “a nautical glue the color of honey.” [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-142/) [ Required Reading ](https://hyperallergic.com/required-reading-795/) Remembering Betye Saar on her 100th birthday, saving a women’s sculpture garden, Emily Wilson breaks the internet, climate scientists on OnlyFans, and more. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/required-reading-795/) [ In Memoriam ](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-betelhem-makonnen-betye-saar-and-keith-a-morrison/) We honor explorer of diasporic consciousness, a revolutionary assemblage artist, and the first Black dean of art in the US. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-betelhem-makonnen-betye-saar-and-keith-a-morrison/) ### The Thorny Politics of Protest Photography URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-thorny-politics-of-protest-photography/ Last updated: 2026-07-31T21:25:27.000Z In a 2013 [essay](https://thepointmag.com/criticism/perilous-aesthetics/?ref=hyperallergic.com), author Barrett Swanson asked, “At what point does the aesthetic excellence of the photograph eclipse the depicted event, or, worse, distract the viewer from inquiring into what happened?” With the synchronous explosion of digital news content and unremitting global calamity, it’s a question that strongly resonates today, particularly with photography of protest and social movements. If these images overtly flatter the protestor, they can be accused of fueling performative activism and pulling attention away from the crisis at hand; if they are toobeautiful, they might conceal the real risk of violence from the state. Still, if they are too graphic, they can rob the subjects of their dignity, making a cheap spectacle of dissidence. These are tensions of which photographer-activist Misan Harriman, who has rapidly made a name for himself documenting protests since the summer of 2020, is no doubt keenly aware. Harriman is the subject of Andy Mundy-Castle’s new documentary [*Shoot the People*](https://www.watermelonpictures.com/films/shoot-the-people?ref=hyperallergic.com), which follows the 48-year-old Nigerian-born Brit as he chronicles activist movements across three continents. While Harriman's evolution from an amateur photographer to the first Black photographer to shoot the cover of *Vogue'*s September edition is impressive, more exigent is his artful representation of protests, especially (though not exclusively) those in which primarily Black and Brown people are filling the streets. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### California Exhibition to Document One of the US’s Worst Deportation Campaigns URL: https://hyperallergic.com/california-exhibition-to-document-one-of-the-uss-worst-deportation-campaigns/ Last updated: 2026-07-31T20:38:28.000Z Juan Garcia, history professor emeritus at the University of Arizona, grew up in South Texas in an established Mexican-American ranching family. When he was around six years old, his father abruptly abandoned his trade and relocated his nine children to Chicago. The reasons his family left Texas were complicated, and the retired professor has sincespent his career studying the political headwinds that punctuated the lives of his farmer father and his mother, who lived in the United States as an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, as they headed east. Some of the fruits of Garcia's[research](https://bookshop.org/p/books/operation-wetback-the-mass-deportation-of-mexican-undocumented-workers-in-1954-juan-r-garcia/5bb8b7aa67c1bac1?ean=9780313213533&affiliate=539&ref=hyperallergic.com) and excerpts of his family story will be publicly displayed in a forthcoming exhibition at Sacramento's California Museum, entitled [*Help Wanted / Leave Now: "Operation Wetback" & the Revolving Door of Mass Deportation*](https://californiamuseum.org/help-wanted-leave-now/?ref=hyperallergic.com)*.* Organized in collaboration with historians including Garcia and labor rights activist Dolores Huerta, the bilingual exhibition revolves around "Operation Wetback," one of the US's most notorious operations to deport Mexican immigrants. ("Wetback" was a derogatory term used to refer to undocumented immigrants who may have crossed into the US through the Rio Grande.)The exhibition will open on August 13 and run through January 10, 2027. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### 15 Outdoor Art Shows to See in NYC This Summer URL: https://hyperallergic.com/15-outdoor-art-shows-to-see-in-nyc-this-summer/ Last updated: 2026-08-06T18:33:57.000Z You know what they say: When the heat, and smoke, and floods go away, New York comes out to play. It's finally time, and you've more than earned it. We've put together a playlist of sorts, one that takes you to islands, beaches — even bus shelters — across all five boroughs. See the city through a different lens via giant kaleidoscopes in Pelham Bay. Have yourself a game of ping-pong on artist-designed tables at Rockaway Beach. Get a little intimate with a massive teddy bear in a courtyard in Queens. Get weird with a neural network's hallucinations in a Midtown sculpture garden. Frolic on Governors Island, my personal paradise. And if you find yourself craving a little AC, check out our list of [30 indoor exhibitions](https://hyperallergic.com/30-must-see-art-shows-in-new-york-city-this-summer/) to see this summer. It's the best time of year on the best city on earth. Live a little! —*Lisa Yin Zhang, associate editor* --- ### Gabriel Orozco: Public Nature [**JCDecaux Bus Shelters in New York City, Chicago, and Boston**](https://www.publicartfund.org/exhibitions/view/gabriel-orozco-public-nature/?ref=hyperallergic.com) Through Sep. 6 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/GabrielOrozco-0913.jpg) Installation view of Gabriel Orozco, "Montaña con cielo rosa (Mountain Under a Pink Sky" (2026) (photo Nicholas Knight, courtesy of Public Art Fund, NY) There’s nothing better than that moment when routine life parts like a curtain and a moment of artistic interest shines through. Like encountering one of Gabriel Orozco’s photos at a bus shelter across the city (plus Boston and Chicago). These *trompe-l'oeil* depictions intertwine natural and urban life — a tree shoots through a wall in one — transporting you when you least expect it. --- ### Between Tides [**Beach 67, Rockaway Beach**](https://www.publicartfund.org/exhibitions/view/between-tides/?ref=hyperallergic.com), Beach 67th Street, Arverne, Queens Through Sep. 13 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Schenck-PAF-Between-Tides-2026_06_25-DSC_4696.jpg) Moko Fukuyama, "Old School" (2026), aluminum boat, reclaimed wood, plywood, automotive paint (photo Timothy Schenck; courtesy the artist and Public Art Fund, NY) Summer brought us to the intersection of art and athletics with basketball and soccer, but Rockaway Beach is holding down the vibe for the rest of the season with several sculptural ping-pong tables. Crafted by Moko Fukuyama, Ilana Harris-Babou, Las Hermanas Iglesias, Carlos H. Matos, Amalia Pica, and the collective SUPERFLEX, the tables function as interactive art installations that encourage play and public convening. It’s BYOP (bring your own paddle … and balls), but there are free equipment rentals available throughout the weekends! --- ### Graciela Cassel: Nature Through Kaleidoscopes [**Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum**](https://www.bartowpellmansionmuseum.org/visit/exhibitions/?ref=hyperallergic.com), 895 Shore Road, Pelham Bay, Bronx Through Sep. 19 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Orange-Kaleid.-Cassel.JPG) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Radar-Kaleidsocope.-Cassel.JPG) Graciela Cassel, "Orange Kaleidoscope" (left) and "Radar Kaleidoscope" (right) (both 2025, photos courtesy Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum) At this historic 19th-century manor house, two sculptures refract the landscape and craft it anew through steel, mirrors, and the visitor’s own gaze. Argentina-born artist Graciela Cassel offers these monumental kaleidoscopes as lenses through which we might refocus our perception of the natural world as it changes over the course of the show’s yearlong installation. --- ### Genesis Belanger: Heads or Tails [**City Hall Park**](https://www.publicartfund.org/exhibitions/view/genesis-belanger-heads-or-tails/?ref=hyperallergic.com), Broadway and Chambers Street, Civic Center, Manhattan Through Nov. 15 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/02-GenesisBelanger-9667.jpg) Genesis Belanger, "Distressed Assets" (2026), pigmented cast concrete with stainless steel legs and armature (photo Nicholas Knight, courtesy the artist, Pace Gallery, Perrotin, and Public Art Fund, NY) This presentation of three sculptures by Genesis Belanger establishes City Hall Park as a rendezvous site for both reflection and recreation. Belanger calls on park visitors to embrace their own beauty, as well as that of their surroundings and broader ecosystem, with weighty sculptures that somehow manage to emphasize the lightness of life. --- ### Pierre Huyghe: UUmwelt [**Museum of Modern Art**](https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/5912?ref=hyperallergic.com),11 West 53rd Street, Midtown, Manhattan Through Nov. 29 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/0877-Pierre-Serpentine.jpg) Installation view of works by Pierre Huyghe (photo courtesy the Museum of Modern Art) Generative artificial intelligence is dependent on human output, but can it interpret our own thoughts before we externalize them? Pierre Huyghe investigates AI’s potential to realize the human imagination in an interactive, multimedia body of work in MoMA's courtyard. Born from an artificial neural network’s interpretation of recorded brain activity from a person asked to imagine a series of images, *UUmwelt* is also activated by visitors whose gazes alter the network’s generative imagery in real time. --- ### Roberto Lugo: Alfarero del Barrio (Village Potter) [**Madison Square Park**](https://madisonsquarepark.org/art/exhibitions/roberto-lugo/?ref=hyperallergic.com), 11 Madison Avenue, Flatiron, Manhattan Through Dec. 6 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/image-26.png) Lugo’s “Capicú de Cariño (I Heard It Both Ways)” in Madison Square Park In this joyous display of Puerto Rican pride, Roberto Lugo adapts his singular painted ceramics into a two-part colossal sculpture series in Madison Square Park. Lugo's egalitarian urn subverts historic associations of pottery with aristocracy via portraits of his own parents alongside renowned Puerto Rican figures including Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Broadway composer Lin-Manuel Miranda. [*Read Staff Writer Isa Farfan's report*](https://hyperallergic.com/roberto-lugos-colossal-ode-to-puerto-rico-rises-in-madison-square-park/) --- ### Guardian Spirit [**Brooklyn Bridge, Pier 1, and Manhattan Bridge View (Public Art Fund)**](https://www.publicartfund.org/exhibitions/view/woody-de-othello-guardian-spirit/?ref=hyperallergic.com), Dumbo, Brooklyn Through March 8, 2027 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/WoodyDeOthello-6772.jpg) Woody De Othello, "Awareness" (2026), redwood (photo Nicholas Knight, courtesy Public Art Fund, NY) Three talismanic sculptures stand watch on the shores of Brooklyn, overlooking Manhattan and Governors Island. Artist Woody De Othello’s totemic guardians accompany four monumental bronzes in this installation, reimagining Kongo *nkisi* objects often inhabited by spirits. Together they invite us to pause and reflect on the rituals, people, and small moments of tenderness that give form to our days. --- ### Homecoming: Chakaia Booker [**Socrates Sculpture Park**](https://socratessculpturepark.org/exhibition/homecoming-chakaia-booker/?ref=hyperallergic.com), 32-01 Vernon Boulevard, Long Island City, Queens Through April 2027 Chakaia Booker, who cuts and bends tires into transfixing abstract sculptures, returns to Socrates Sculpture Park to exhibit three works she made there in the late 1990s and early 2000s. On the occasion of the park’s 40th anniversary, *Homecoming* reunites the sculptures with the site of their inception, whose history has been shaped by the labor of countless staff members, visitors, and artists, including Booker herself. --- ### Oscar Tuazon: Eternal Flame for Scott Burton [**NYC AIDS Memorial**](https://www.nycaidsmemorial.org/eternalflame?ref=hyperallergic.com), St. Vincent’s Triangle, Greenwich Village, Manhattan Through May 30, 2027 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/OscarTuazon-0415.jpeg) **Oscar Tuazon: Eternal Flame for Scott Burton* (2026) (photo Nicholas Knight, courtesy the New York City AIDS Memorial) Next to the historic New York City AIDS Memorial, a starlit sentinel reaches into the sky like a beacon. Artist Oscar Tuazon’s installation honors the life and work of American sculptor and performance artist Scott Burton, who died in 1989 from AIDS-related complications, by reimagining his last public commission. Though Burton's piece was decommissioned in 2022, Tuazon’s “Eternal Flame” keeps the spirit of his practice burning brightly in our collective memory. --- ### Tuan Andrew Nguyen: The Light That Shines Through the Universe [**High Line**](https://www.thehighline.org/art/projects/tuan-andrew-nguyen-propsoal/?ref=hyperallergic.com), Chelsea, Manhattan Spring 2026–Fall 2027 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/image-29.png) Tuan Andrew Nguyen’s “The Light That Shines Through the Universe” (2026) glimmers warmly on the High Line plinth (photo Rhea Nayyar/**Hyperallergic*) Tuan Andrew Nguyen’s commission for the High Line pays homage to cultural loss and spiritual persistence through a 30-foot sandstone Buddha. The sculpture is a reference to two sixth-century statues in Afghanistan that were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001\. In Nguyen’s reimagining, the statue stands tall, a symbol of resilience in the face of loss. [*Read Staff Writer Rhea Nayyar's report*](https://hyperallergic.com/a-buddha-is-reborn-on-the-high-line/) --- ### Public Address by Alex Strada [**Various locations**](https://storefront.nyc/program/public-address-by-alex-strada/?ref=hyperallergic.com) Through Oct. 2027 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Public-Address_Brooklyn-Installation_2.jpg) Installation view of Alex Strada, “Public Address” (2026) in Downtown Brooklyn (photo Michael Oliver; courtesy DCLA, DHS, and Storefront for Art & Architecture) A culmination of her multiyear artist residency with NYC’s Department of Homeless Services, Alex Strada’s *Public Address* transposes handwritten reflections from the residents and frontline workers of city-operated shelters onto aluminum street signs installed along the streets of four boroughs. Alongside Strada’s main installation in Columbus Park, the street-side insights of our impacted neighbors open a channel for dialogue between NYC’s “right to shelter” obligation, the increasing privatization of public space, and the worsening housing affordability crisis. --- ### **Courtyard Commission: Precious Okoyomon** [**MoMA PS1**](https://hyperallergic.com/a-precious-garden-grows-at-moma-ps1/), 22-01 Jackson Avenue, Long Island City, Queens Through 2028 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/image-25.png) Staring at the exit of Okoyomon’s “The Pleasure Principle” (2026) in the MoMA PS1 courtyard (photo Hrag Vartanian/**Hyperallergic*) Precious Okoyomon humanizes the very institutional MoMA PS1's courtyard with a tiny forest filled with a cornucopia of plants. At the center is "The Pleasure Principle," the latest iteration of the artist's lost childhood teddy bear, which invites you to slide through its butt until you exit through its mouth. A tranquil — and welcome — patch of green in a neighborhood increasingly crowded out by tall condo buildings. --- ### Public Art on Governors Island [**Governors Island**](https://www.govisland.com/things-to-do/public-art?ref=hyperallergic.com) Long-term view ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Cabin_credit-Timothy-Schenck.jpeg) Installation view of Rachel Whiteread, "Cabin" (2016) (photo Timothy Schenck, courtesy the Trust for Governors Island) Trust us, Governors Island is worth the trek, or more accurately, the short ferry ride — even more so for the wonderful public art offerings. This season, highlights are Mohawk artist Alan Michelson’s installation consisting of hundreds of thousands of oysters, drawing on New York’s little-known history as an oyster hub. Plus, Sam Van Aken’s public-orchard-as-artwork with more than 100 fruit trees, Rachel Whiteread’s ghostly cabin, Mark Dion’s mad laboratory, and more still. --- ### Photoville Festival [**Various Locations**](https://photoville.nyc/exhibitions/?ref=hyperallergic.com) Long-term view ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/The-Wild-Within---Ryan-Koopmans---Alice-Wexell.jpeg) Ryan Koopmans & Alice Wexell, "The Wild Within" (2026) (photo courtesy Photoville Festival) New York City’s premier photo festival stages free outdoor photography exhibitions across the five boroughs. Among the ongoing highlights are an ode to grassroots soccer communities on a global scale in *Goal Click: Window to the World* at the South Street Seaport*,* a celebration of the quiet and quotidian in *My Love Letter to Queens* at Astoria Park, and a closer look at a Bolivian youth subculture inspired by manga and kawaii accessories through *Identity* at Travers Park. --- ### Sara Ouhaddou: Al Qalam (The Pen) [**Elizabeth H. Berger Plaza**](https://www.nycgovparks.org/news/press-releases?id=22306&ref=hyperallergic.com), Financial District, Manhattan Ongoing ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/05/IMG_2067.jpg) City officials, including new cultural affairs commissioner Diya Vij, unveiled Ouhaddou’s tribute to the Little Syria literary community on April 30\. (photo Hrag Vartanian/**Hyperallergic*) Sara Ouhaddou’s vivid mosaics, a monument to the city’s first Arabic-speaking enclave, animate a lush plaza in Manhattan’s financial district. Ouhaddou, born in France to a Moroccan family, tenderly places her own experience as an immigrant in dialogue with the literary history of Manhattan’s “Little Syria,” a thriving neighborhood of immigrants from Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine that was dismantled by the creation of the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel in the 1940s. This work translates excerpts of works by nine of the neighborhood’s prolific writers, such as [Khalil Gibran](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/kahlil-gibran?ref=hyperallergic.com), into her own mosaic language, emulating the complex linguistic and cultural exchanges that defined the neighborhood. [*Read Staff Writer Isa Farfan's report*](https://hyperallergic.com/historic-monument-honors-new-yorks-first-arabic-speaking-community/) *This guide was written by Hrag Vartanian, Rhea Nayyar, Lakshmi Rivera Amin, Lisa Yin Zhang, and Isa Farfan.* ### Long-Contested Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Gets Opening Date URL: https://hyperallergic.com/long-contested-guggenheim-abu-dhabi-gets-opening-date/ Last updated: 2026-07-31T20:27:30.000Z After 20 years of delays, allegations, and recalibrations, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation will open the doors to its Frank Gehry-designed Abu Dhabi outpost on December 11\. The 30-gallery museum will join seven other cultural institutions on Saadiyat Island, including the Zayed National Museum and Berklee Abu Dhabi. "The museum’s art collection is uniquely local and global, centred in the region but with works from all continents," Guggenheim Director and CEO Mariët Westermann said in a statement. She expressed that the museum will showcase the "experimental character of art since 1960," including abstractions, storytelling, painting, and moving images. In the past 16 years, the art activism group Gulf Labor Coalition (GLC)has been calling attentionto abuse allegations of [migrant workers](https://hyperallergic.com/un-investigates-guggenheim-abu-dhabi-parent-company-for-labor-abuses/) and violations of [local and international labor laws](https://hyperallergic.com/gulf-labor-monitoring-report-finds-ongoing-labor-violations-at-guggenheim-abu-dhabi/) linked to the new museum. In 2015, an offshoot of the group called Gulf Ultra Luxury Faction (G.U.L.F.)staged a [May Day occupation](https://hyperallergic.com/203794/breaking-may-day-occupation-at-guggenheim-closes-museum-guggoccupied/) of the Guggenheim Museum in New Yorkand a [May 8 occupation](https://hyperallergic.com/205465/breaking-gulf-labor-and-other-arts-groups-occupy-venices-guggenheim-guggoccupied/) of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice during the Venice Biennale. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/image-23.png) On May Day 2015, members of the Gulf Ultra Luxury Faction (G.U.L.F.) unveiled a large parachute in the Guggenheim Museum rotunda with the words “Meet Workers Demands Now” (photo Benjamin Sutton/Hyperallergic) "None of the initial reasons for this action have been adequately resolved over the years, despite Gulf Labor's strident efforts, and the art world's generally sympathetic response," GLC Co-Founder Andrew Ross told *Hyperallergic* after this week's announcement about the December opening. The Guggenheim Museum and Foundation has not yet responded to *Hyperallergic*'s request for comment. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### How a Former Military Settlement in Taipei Became an Artist Residency URL: https://hyperallergic.com/how-a-former-military-settlement-in-taipei-became-an-artist-residency/ Last updated: 2026-07-31T17:43:40.000Z TAIPEI, Taiwan — Two tiny lightbulbs dangle from five feet of wire, blinking on and off to the rhythm of human breath. Magnets attached to the bulbs pull them together or push them apart at random, mimicking the relationships between people — or communities. “I was inspired when I drove by the bridge outside and saw Treasure Hill,” Taiwanese artist Jia-Jhen Syu, whose installation was part of the larger project, “The Third Memorial,” displayed at the artist residency in April and May, told *Hyperallergic.* Tucked away in a small forested area on the banks of the Xindian River in Taipei City lies the Treasure Hill Artist Village. Founded by retreating soldiers in the 1940s, the former anti-aircraft base turned squatter settlement has been through a number of reincarnations. Its latest form, launched in 2010, is as a so-called “living history,” where the descendants of its original inhabitants live side by side with artists in residence. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/04-1.jpg) Artist Jia-Jhen Syu standing beside a sculpture he made from used soap at Treasure Hill in April “Each household has its own story,” Yi-Chen Bai, who was born in Treasure Hill to a Kuomintang foot soldier, said to *Hyperallergic*. Originally from China’s Hubei province, her father was on the losing side of the Chinese Civil War, which led to the communist overthrow of the Republic of China government — which then retreated to its final stronghold of Taiwan in 1949. Some of the soldiers from the Republic settled in Treasure Hill, which the government viewed as a temporary military camp. It initially tried to prevent the troops from bringing their families with them or building more permanent infrastructure on the site, but its attempts were unsuccessful. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### V&A Storehouse Workers Vote to Strike Over “Amazon-Style” Conditions URL: https://hyperallergic.com/v-a-storehouse-workers-vote-to-strike-over-amazon-style-conditions/ Last updated: 2026-07-31T17:32:33.000Z Unionized workers at the Victoria and Albert (V&A) East Storehouse, a publicly accessible museum storage site, have voted unanimouslyto strike over alleged ["Amazon-style"](https://prospect.org.uk/news/prospect-members-to-strike-over-amazon-style-working-practices-at-flagship-va-site?ref=hyperallergic.com) working practices. On Wednesday, July 29, all of the Storehouse employees who voted in a union ballot said they would go on strike, citing being "denied sufficient time during the day for toilet breaks or for drinks," according to a press release shared by Prospect, the union that represents them. The union is demanding that the museum give employees two paid breaks per day, a requestit said the museum has failed to adopt. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### A View From the Easel URL: https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-348/ Last updated: 2026-07-31T17:33:04.000Z Welcome to the 348thinstallment of A View From the Easel, a series in which artists reflect on their workspace. This week, Connor Czora mines the history of porcelain ceramics while teaching the next generation of potters in DC. Want to take part? Check out our [submission guidelines](https://hyperallergic.com/submit-your-workspace-to-a-view-from-the-easel/) and share a bit about your studio with us through [this form](https://forms.gle/Erq7cyGEmMUxKrLe9?ref=hyperallergic.com)! All mediums and workspaces are welcome, including your home studio. --- ## [Connor Czora](http://connorczoraart.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com), Washington, DC ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Czora_StudioView_2026-1---Connor-Czora.jpg) ***How long have you been working in this space?*** Seven years. ***Describe an average day in your studio.*** I work at District Clay Center, where I also teach. Every day, I get to the studio between 1pm and 2pm to catch up on emails before diving into my own work. Ceramics go through several stages before they’re finished: throwing/building, surface decoration, glazing, decal transfers, and gilding. Each stage can take days or weeks, so in one workday, I’ll often find myself just throwing or just applying luster. I rotate between music and audiobooks in the background. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Simone Forti’s Dance of Life URL: https://hyperallergic.com/simone-fortis-dance-of-life/ Last updated: 2026-07-31T10:00:59.000Z For generations of students, Simone Forti expanded the possibilities of movement and medium. The choreographer, dancer, and performance artist died on Wednesday, leaving behind a decades-long career rife with collaborations and experiments that redefined postmodern art. Matt Stromberg looks back on Forti’s remarkable life and practice today. In the news, Trump gives two Leo Friedlander sculptures in DC a $5 million gilded retouch à la Mar-a-Lago. More in this edition, including art historian Natasha Seaman on Rembrandt and his more commercially successful Golden Age rival. —*Lakshmi Rivera Amin, associate editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Simone-Portrait-2015-1-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/simone-forti-artist-of-movement-and-chance-dies-at-91/) [ Simone Forti, Artist of Movement and Chance, Dies at 91 ](https://hyperallergic.com/simone-forti-artist-of-movement-and-chance-dies-at-91/) Throughout her lengthy career, she mixed boundless curiosity with a formal rigor across a broad creative spectrum that included movement, painting, poetry, video, and even holography. “The more you look, you will find her standing in the midst of nearly every avant-garde that hit New York and California over five decades at least,” said Glenn Phillips, chief curator at the Getty Research Institute, which acquired Forti’s archives in 2020, in an email to *Hyperallergic*. | Matt Stromberg [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/simone-forti-artist-of-movement-and-chance-dies-at-91/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Panther-Cave-3-1-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/trumps-border-expansion-threatens-6-000-year-old-cave-paintings/) - Hundreds of archaeological sites are [now under threat](https://hyperallergic.com/trumps-border-expansion-threatens-6-000-year-old-cave-paintings/) after the federal government announced that the Texan portion of the US-Mexico border wall will be exempt from environment preservation laws. - The Mount Amel Castles in Lebanon and the archaeological ruins of Sebastia in the Occupied West Bank are [added as UNESCO World Heritage Sites](https://hyperallergic.com/israel-incensed-as-unesco-adds-lebanese-and-west-bank-sites-to-world-heritage-list/) amid Israel’s targeted land seizures and ongoing military offensives. - Trump [spends $5 million in public funds](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-regilds-dc-statues-mar-a-lago-style/) on the regilding of two of the DC equestrian statues, "Arts of War” and “Arts of Peace." - [Art Movements](https://hyperallergic.com/todd-caissie-takes-the-helm-at-the-montclair-art-museum/): Todd Caissie is named the new executive director of the Montclair Art Museum. Plus, curators are named for the Aichi Triennale and Biennale of Sydney in our weekly roundup of industry news. --- ## Art Review [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Pickenoy-Regents-of-the-Spinhuis-2-1-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/why-did-rembrandt-die-poor/) [ Why Did Rembrandt Die Poor? ](https://hyperallergic.com/why-did-rembrandt-die-poor/) Rembrandt pioneered the saleable self, but unlike his rival, Gerard Van Honthorst, he failed to reconcile his personal vision with the market. As demonstrated by a small coda to the exhibition *Rembrandt 1632: Creation of a Brand*, Rembrandt is a name that sells. A case displays ads for Rembrandt-branded tobacco, boxes of toothpaste, and even a television (the name suggests a fair amount of drama but inconsistent picture clarity). Rembrandt’s own first efforts to imbue his name with this power, this exhibition asserts, came in 1632, when he moved from Leiden to Amsterdam. Running the length of a capacious, purple-walled corridor in the Old Master-encrusted Wilhelmshöhe Palace in Kassel, Germany, the exhibition pinpoints Rembrandt’s transformation into a self-declared, first-name-only celebrity as he stared down the Amsterdam art market. | Natasha Seaman [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/why-did-rembrandt-die-poor/) --- ## Community [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/GettyImages-2287089833-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/required-reading-795/) [ Required Reading ](https://hyperallergic.com/required-reading-795/) Remembering Betye Saar on her 100th birthday, saving a women’s sculpture garden, Emily Wilson breaks the internet, climate scientists on OnlyFans, and more. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/required-reading-795/) --- ## Member Comment "The ongoing conversations (not debate) about the usefulness of AI for the the creative world of art, keep me wondering if I'm missing something much like I'm sure many accused Walter Benjamin. I ponder if AI's rigidity is much like some professors in art institutes....stifling growth. For me, the process brings joy, learning and experimenting with each effort. My fear is more with the potential world wide loss of creative individuality. Like Benjamin, I prefer to be amazed and not anesthetized. So, what is the place for or usefulness of AI?" Butch Murphy on “[Walter Benjamin Warned Us About AI](https://hyperallergic.com/walter-benjamin-warned-us-about-ai/)” --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/sinnapah-mary_the-book-of-violette-the-great-camouflage_2025_jcg18427_credit-danbradica_v01.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-shapeshifting-paintings-of-kelly-sinnapah-mary/) [ The Shapeshifting Paintings of Kelly Sinnapah Mary ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-shapeshifting-paintings-of-kelly-sinnapah-mary/) The various iterations of the artist’s schoolgirl avatar allude to a burgeoning womanhood at a crossroads of celestial being and commonality. | Seph Rodney [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-shapeshifting-paintings-of-kelly-sinnapah-mary/) ### Simone Forti, Artist of Movement and Chance, Dies at 91 URL: https://hyperallergic.com/simone-forti-artist-of-movement-and-chance-dies-at-91/ Last updated: 2026-07-30T22:23:14.000Z Simone Forti, the pioneering choreographer who bridged the worlds of performance, dance, and contemporary art, passed away at her home in Los Angeles on Wednesday morning at the age of 91, according to Jason Underhill,her longtime assistant and a trustee of the Simone Forti Art Trust. While the cause could not be confirmed, she was open about her years-long [battle](https://spikeartmagazine.com/articles/interview-simone-forti-2024?ref=hyperallergic.com) with Parkinson’s disease. Throughout her lengthy career, she mixed boundless curiosity with a formal rigor across a broad creative spectrum that included movement, painting, poetry, video, and even holography. “The more you look, you will find her standing in the midst of nearly every avant-garde that hit New York and California over five decades at least,” said Glenn Phillips, chief curator at the Getty Research Institute, which acquired [Forti’s archives](https://www.getty.edu/research/special%5Fcollections/notable/forti.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) in 2020, in an email to *Hyperallergic*. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Trump Regilds DC Statues Mar-a-Lago Style URL: https://hyperallergic.com/trump-regilds-dc-statues-mar-a-lago-style/ Last updated: 2026-07-30T22:35:37.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/GettyImages-2287540807-1.jpg) "Sacrifice," one of the two statues that make up the **The Arts of War* equestrian statues along Arlington Memorial Bridge in Washington, DC, on July 29, 2026\. (photo by Kent Nishimura / AFP via Getty Images) The scaffolding is coming down around two newly regilded bronze equestrian sculptures in Washington, DC, according to a recent post from President Donald Trump on [Truth Social](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116994539588037223?ref=hyperallergic.com). On July 27, the president shared photos of the process alongside the message, "Taking down the scaffolding around the regilded Arts of War sculptures!" Amid Trump's ongoing makeover of dozens of monuments, statues, and landmarks across the capital city, the *Arts of War* statues are just two of the four horse statues slated for a revamp, with the accompanying pair of *Arts of Peace* statues set to receive the same treatment. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Arts_of_War_-_Arlington_Memorial_Bridge_-_2013-09-30.jpg) DC's **Arts of War* statues in 2013 (photo Tim Evanson via [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Arts%5Fof%5FWar%5F-%5FArlington%5FMemorial%5FBridge%5F-%5F2013-09-30.jpg?ref=hyperallergic.com) and [Flickr](https://www.flickr.com/photos/timevanson/10909574274/?ref=hyperallergic.com), [CC BY-SA 2.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en?ref=hyperallergic.com)) In late May, [NOTUS](https://www.notus.org/trump-white-house/national-park-service-dc-beautification-contracts-horse-statues?ref=hyperallergic.com) reported that the National Park Service (NPS) granted a $5.1 million no-bid contract for the project to the Gilders' Studio in Maryland. However, in recent documents obtained by [*The New York Times*](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/03/us/politics/park-service-bridge-statues-gold.html?ref=hyperallergic.com), the NPS estimated that repairs would only cost around $2.4 million, around half of the amount allotted to the studio. According to the *Times*, the Department of the Interior, which oversees the NPS, declined their requests to comment on the alleged discrepancy. Commissioned in 1929 and erected in 1951 on Lincoln Memorial Circle, Leo Friedlander's *Arts of War* sculptures (individually titled "Valor" and "Sacrifice") and James Earle Fraser's *Arts of Peace* sculptures ("Music and Harvest" and "Aspiration and Literature") have long been subject to concerns about their upkeep and preservation. Having not been restored since the 1970s, the sculptures had dulled over time and gradually began revealing patches of their bronze base. In addition to regilding the statues, the Gilders' Studio is also restoring the granite plinths they rest upon. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/GettyImages-2287540441--1--2.jpg) **The Arts of War* statues on Lincoln Memorial Circle in Washington, DC, received a new golden exterior. (photo Kent Nishimura/AFP via Getty Images) While the four statues were originally gilded, they bear the resemblance of other, previously non-gilded or even nonexistent structures that have surfaced with a golden sheen during Trump's tenure. From the [Oval Office](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-top-envoy-steve-witkoff-says-palais-de-l-elysee-looks-just-like-mar-a-lago/) to the proposed [state ballroom](https://katherineclark.house.gov/2026/06/16/usa-today-trump-ballroom-soars-to-600m-with-taxpayers-on-hook-for-half-report/?ref=hyperallergic.com), which is projected to cost $600 million, the president is at the helm of several construction projects with Mar-a-Lago flourishes and hefty price tags. The Gilders' Studio has not yet replied to *Hyperallergic*'s request for comment. ### Why Did Rembrandt Die Poor? URL: https://hyperallergic.com/why-did-rembrandt-die-poor/ Last updated: 2026-07-30T20:32:29.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Pickenoy-Regents-of-the-Spinhuis-2.jpg) Nicolaes Eliasz Pickenoy, “Regents of the Spinhuis” (1628) (all photos Natasha Seaman/**Hyperallergic*) KASSEL, Germany, and UTRECHT, the Netherlands — As demonstrated by a small coda to the exhibition [*Rembrandt 1632: Creation of a Brand*](https://www.heritage-kassel.de/en/visit/exhibitions/rembrandt-1632-creation-of-a-brand?ref=hyperallergic.com), Rembrandt is a name that sells. A case displays ads for Rembrandt-branded tobacco, boxes of toothpaste, and even a[ television](https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/%E2%80%9Crembrandt%E2%80%9C-fe-852e-television-receiver-veb-sachsenwerk-radeberg/lgE2YRXcby0xVQ?hl=en&ref=hyperallergic.com) (the name suggests a fair [amount of drama](https://sammlung.staedelmuseum.de/en/work/the-blinding-of-samson?ref=hyperallergic.com) but inconsistent[ picture clarity](https://goteborgskonstmuseum.se/en/exhibitions-fel/rembrandts-the-conspiracy-of-claudius-civilis/?ref=hyperallergic.com)). Rembrandt’s own first efforts to imbue his name with this power, this exhibition asserts, came in 1632, when he moved from Leiden to Amsterdam. Running the length of a capacious, purple-walled corridor in the Old Master-encrusted Wilhelmshöhe Palace in Kassel, Germany, the exhibition pinpoints Rembrandt’s transformation into a self-declared, first-name-only celebrity as he stared down the Amsterdam art market. Voluminously productive in this year, Rembrandt made etchings, as well as painted history paintings, portraits of himself and others, and *tronies*, the distinctively Dutch bust-length genre of anonymous yet highly distinct character types. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Rembrandt-Nuremberg-SP.jpg) Rembrandt van Rijn, "Self Portrait" (1632), oil on panel To introduce this early, ambitious, and entrepreneurial Rembrandt, the exhibition begins with two self-portraits. In one, he wears a steel gorget and sits in an adoring patch of light that graces his youthful skin and illuminates the crystal depths of one of his irises. In the other — and stranger — one, the artist wears a simple brown jacket, the highlights in his wild curls scratched into the wet paint to reveal the red ground below. Most of his face is in shadow, his eyes now black holes, giving the artist a searching, intense, and nearly feral quality. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Todd Caissie Takes the Helm at the Montclair Art Museum URL: https://hyperallergic.com/todd-caissie-takes-the-helm-at-the-montclair-art-museum/ Last updated: 2026-07-30T19:52:17.000Z [*Art Movements,*](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/art-movements/) *published every Thursday afternoon, is a roundup of must-know news, appointments, awards, and other happenings in today’s chaotic art world.* --- ### New era at the Montclair Art Museum **Todd Caissie** was named executive director of the Montclair Art Museum (MAM) after serving as deputy director starting last year and interim director beginning this one. He succeeds **Ira Wagner**, who is retiring after taking on the role in 2020\. Alongside recently appointed chief curator [Kate Kraczon](https://hyperallergic.com/art-movements-curators-named-for-el-museos-latine-art-survey/), the museum is entering a new era — one it calls "people-centric," emphasizing emerging and underrepresented artists. "Traditionally, museums are object-driven and function like black holes—accumulating art while gatekeeping narratives," Caissie, a member of the Osage Nation, said in a statement. "I envision MAM functioning like an exploding sun." Shine bright, Mr. Caissie. --- ### What Else Happened? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Kevin_Tervala_sm_photo_Maximilian_Franz-1.jpg) Kevin Tervala (photo courtesy Minneapolis Institute of Art) - **Kevin Tervala** was named chief of Curatorial Affairs and Exhibitions at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. - **Cathleen Chaffee** was named artistic director and **Jillian Jones** named executive director at the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, beginning November 1\. - **Low Kee Hong** was named the artistic director of the 26th edition of the Biennale of Sydney in 2028\. - **Suleman Aqeel Khilji** is now represented by White Cube in collaboration with Standard Oslo gallery in Norway and the continuing support of Jhaveri Contemporary in Mumbai, India. - **Shabbir Hussain Mustafa** was named artistic director of the 2028 Aichi Triennale in Japan. - **Alice Shintani** is now represented by Alison Bradley Projects in the United States, in collaboration with Almeida & Dale in São Paulo, Brazil. - **Stephanie Wiles** will retire as director of the Yale University Art Gallery in spring 2027, a position she took on in 2018\. - The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago won the 2026 Ellsworth Kelly Award from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. - **Orkideh Torabi** and **Susan Hamburger** are now represented by Asya Geisberg Gallery. - **Michael Zavros** won the people's choice category of the Art Gallery of New South Wales's Archibald Prize, Australia's premier portrait competition. --- ### Wild Card: Oysters Galore ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/The-Oyster_Alan-Michelson_install-progress_photo-by-Yen.jpeg) Detail of Alan Michelson, "The Oyster" (2026) (photo Yen (@yencetera), courtesy More Art in partnership with Billion Oyster Project and Governors Island Arts) One of my favorite fun facts about New York City is that we used to be an oyster town, before overfishing led to the death of our oyster beds just about a century ago. Mohawk artist Alan Michelson's "The Oyster," a monumental outdoor sculpture opening on Governors Island today, July 30, draws on that history: Salvaged shells are encased in steel mesh enclosures in an homage to Lenape oyster middens and shell rings. The project, one of three commissions responding to the nation's 250th anniversary, was developed in collaboration with More Art and the Billion Oyster Project. There's not quite a billion oysters in Michelson's installation, but I'd say a couple hundred thousand is still more than enough. ### Required Reading URL: https://hyperallergic.com/required-reading-795/ Last updated: 2026-07-30T18:41:34.000Z The classicists are fighting! Emily Wilson, whose celebrated *Odyssey* translation bucked historically Western and misogynistic approaches, has caused quite a stir with her scathing critique of Christopher Nolan's film in the [*London Review of Books*](https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n14/emily-wilson/an-uncomplicated-man?ref=hyperallergic.com). Far from a stuffy academic take, her text recognizes the murkiness of adaptations and still insists that Nolan bungles the questions of humanity and morality at the center of the epic: > But the representation of Odysseus as a reluctant warlord makes a nonsense of the movie’s imagined world. We are not shown that war or killing are bad, only that good men sometimes feel bad about it – a very different point. Any serious depiction of violence, ancient or modern, must show the perspectives of the victims as well as the perpetrators, and the Homeric poems easily clear the bar – but Nolan doesn’t. The Trojans are dehumanised by their masks; we know none of them by name or face. The hands of Odysseus and Telemachus are bloodied only by the most righteous, computer-game modes of killing, and we feel no pity or horror at the deaths of their victims, whether Trojans, giants, suitors or slaves. During the sack of Troy – which he supposedly organised – Odysseus gazes around in bewilderment and horror, as if he has never seen a massacre before. Filmmaker Shu Lea Cheang's *Fresh Kill* (1994), starring Erin McMurtry and my personal icon Sarita Choudhury, was decidedly ahead of its time. It follows a lesbian couple as they expose a network of corporate pollution, weaving what the filmmaker calls an "eco-cybernoia" story about capitalism and hacking as activism. Critic Elissa Suh spoke with Cheang about the film for [*Dirt*](https://dirt.fyi/article/2026/07/100-percent-rotten?ref=hyperallergic.com): > **ES: The toxic fish conspiracy runs through the film, but food is also almost ambient: images of sushi bars, contamination, the commodity chain. Was food specifically part of the argument, or did that come naturally as part of the Staten Island setting?** > > **SLC:** Food is quite relevant to me personally. Living in New York, my work always involved collaboration with different performers and artists, and we always ended up in the kitchen—my kitchen. I was living on the Bowery at the time, and people would gather, and because we were poor artists who couldn’t afford restaurants, sharing food at home became a very communal event. I’ve always had that tradition. The fish and the sushi in *Fresh Kill* are different, though. It’s almost reverse engineering. The logic of toxic waste being dumped from developed countries into developing ones gets flipped: the toxic fish comes back through the food supply, comes back to haunt you. It’s a kind of revenge. In 2021, curator Claire Mander set out to challenge the famously sexist history of monuments by founding the Artist's Garden on a terrace in London, the world's only public sculpture garden dedicated to women artists. But as is so often the case with public space, the city ordered it cleared by October (which the founder suspects is part of a plan to develop the property). For the [*Guardian*](https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2026/jul/30/fight-save-artists-garden-womens-sculpture-park?ref=hyperallergic.com), Anita Chaudhuri reports on the movement to save this vital space as a haven for repose, community, and celebration: > Hodby believes that sculpture has a particular power to engage the public in a way that art on gallery walls does not. “There’s an immediacy about it, there’s no separation between the work and the world.” This is true. On the day I visit, London is in the grip of a heatwave. Office workers, builders on an early lunch, bemused tourists, all throng the space. A toddler crawls towards Mexican artist Adeline de Monseignat’s pebbled Croissant, no doubt spying a potential see-saw. In the distance, I spot people posing for selfies beside Alice Wilson’s Savoy, a giant forest of technicolor timbers. The *Atlantic* is on a years-long streak of running stories declaring the "end of reading." Of course, we all know what we're up against — tech companies threaten to sap us of our creativity and the American education system consistently fails young people — but what function do these sensationalist pieces serve beyond getting more clicks for the website? Timothy Noah writes in the [*New Republic*](https://newrepublic.com/article/212923/the-atlantic-magazine-endism-fetish?ref=hyperallergic.com)about the magazine's lazy "doom porn" problem, which extends well beyond the literacy crisis: > Other things that *The* *Atlantic* has declared to be ending: “The End of Men” (July/August 2010), “The End of Diplomacy” (February 2026), The End of High-School English” (December 2022), “The End of Minimalism” (July/August 2020), “The End of Trust” (November 2021), “The End of Human Rights” (March 2026), “The End of Democracy Has Already Begun” (September 2024), “This is the Way a World Order Ends” (April 2025), “The End of Rule of Law in America” (May 2025), “How America Ends” (December 2019), “The End of the West” (November 2002), and, most hyperbolically of all, Francis Fukuyama flagging “More Proof That This Is Really the End of History” (October 2022). Only very occasionally does the thing that’s ending merit a “good riddance,” but in September 2025 *The* *Atlantic* did post a Hanna Rosin podcast under the heading, “Is This the End of Kids on Social Media?” Alas, it wasn’t, except on Facebook. Students in India have been organizing mass protests against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party after a Supreme Court justice likened unemployed young people to cockroaches — giving the movement its incredible name: "Cockroach Janata Party." Arundhati Roy, one of my favorite writers, contextualizes the movement, and the violent backlash likely to still come, within broader fights for justice across India for the [*Walrus*](https://thewalrus.ca/the-cockroach-revolution-indias-students-are-rewriting-the-rules-of-protest/?ref=hyperallergic.com): > It’s silly to expect major political change to come from this. But to dismiss it as just a heady moment would be obtuse. It’s no surprise that the wires and live-screaming TV channels are burning up with gossip and innuendo and conspiracy theories about foreign funding and Central Intelligence Agency plots. Speaking as a proud andolanjeevi (Modi’s derisive name for people like me), I confess that when it all began, I was wary too. I worried that we were heading into another Anna Hazare moment—that so-called anti-corruption people’s movement of 2011—which, regardless of its early intentions, eventually gifted us three terms of being ruled by a political party that has destroyed every institution in this country, one that sees no separation between itself as a political party and the government of India, one that respects neither the country nor its citizens, and one that has shamed us internationally and brought India to its knees. > > But my suspicions about the Cockroach Janta Party were allayed when I saw the hostility of the mainstream media toward them. That, to me, was the first and most reassuring sign. Katrina vanden Heuvel's new piece in the [*Nation*](https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/zohran-mamdani-politics-of-joy-new-york-city-quality-of-life-government/?ref=hyperallergic.com) is one of the most hopeful pieces I've read recently. She identifies the "politics of joy" that suffuse Zohran Mamdani's administration and the grassroots movement that elected him, a reminder that joy is a fundamental right at the heart of civic life: > Least publicized, but no less impactful, the administration has also highlighted the city’s many free and affordable leisure opportunities that may otherwise go under-utilized. City Hall launched an interactive “[Summer in NYC](https://www.nyc.gov/mayors-office/news/2026/05/ahead-of-summer-break--mayor-mamdani-launches-interactive-websit?ref=hyperallergic.com)” website designed to help youth find nearby activities, from free movie screenings to craft classes at local libraries—all of which have underlying public safety benefits. As Renita Francois, the new deputy mayor of community safety [said](https://www.nyc.gov/mayors-office/news/2026/07/mamdani-administration-releases-summer-safety-plan--highlighting?ref=hyperallergic.com), “Safety is not just the absence of violence, but the presence of opportunity, dignity, and community.” As if we needed any further proof of the government's disastrous cuts to research funding, some climate scientists have turned to an unlikely source of income: OnlyFans. Bryce Canyon of [*River Front Times*](https://www.riverfronttimes.com/can-onlyfans-save-climate-research/?ref=hyperallergic.com) spoke to the researchers about the dire state of affairs: > "We should not have to make an OnlyFans account for our marmots,” Renkey said again, and she’s right. The federal funding landscape for scientific research is the actual problem, and a marmot subscription service is not a substitute for stable institutional support. Dan Blumstein, the UCLA professor who leads the research, was direct about the stakes. “Nationally funded research has been around since World War II and has led to an incredible increase of knowledge globally,” he said. “But that’s what’s under threat right now. I’ve never seen anything like this.” The Huntington has been recirculating its touching 2024 [documentary](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0n2Dg3C10Y&t=3s&ref=hyperallergic.com) on Betye Saar, that indomitable artist who passed away earlier this week, just before she would have celebrated her 100th birthday today: Imagine paying someone to dunk your book into a cup of coffee ... the [social currency of appearing well-read](https://www.tiktok.com/@rubysstudiox/video/7666125240937844000?is%5Ffrom%5Fwebapp=1&sender%5Fdevice=pc&ref=hyperallergic.com) is really doing a number on us: > [@rubysstudiox](https://www.tiktok.com/@rubysstudiox?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "@rubysstudiox") 📚 what is happening to reading? When did it become so serious we now outsource it? ✍️ more thoughts and a proper full on rant is up on Substack (link in bio) [#booktok](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/booktok?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "booktok") [#reading](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/reading?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "reading") [#books](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/books?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "books") [#intellectual](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/intellectual?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "intellectual") [#culture](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/culture?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "culture") [♬ Moment Of Reflection - Jhonatan Rodrigues & Piano Sky & Dee Piano](https://www.tiktok.com/music/Moment-Of-Reflection-7539149620821379073?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "♬ Moment Of Reflection - Jhonatan Rodrigues & Piano Sky & Dee Piano") Love to see some [divine intervention at the gym](https://www.tiktok.com/@joyfilledjessica/video/7662404828332559630?ref=hyperallergic.com): > [@joyfilledjessica](https://www.tiktok.com/@joyfilledjessica?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "@joyfilledjessica") Don’t think that went as he planned. 😅 @metabolicmuscle [#gymhumor](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/gymhumor?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "gymhumor") [#fitnesshumor](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/fitnesshumor?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "fitnesshumor") [#gymgirl](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/gymgirl?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "gymgirl") [#fitnessmotivation](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/fitnessmotivation?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "fitnessmotivation") [#funny](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/funny?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "funny") [♬ original sound - joyfilledjessica](https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-7662404923190971150?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "♬ original sound - joyfilledjessica") [*Required Reading*](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/required-reading/) *is published every Thursday afternoon and comprises a short list of art-related links to long-form articles, videos, blog posts, or photo essays worth a second look*. ### Trump’s Border Expansion Threatens 6,000-Year-Old Cave Paintings URL: https://hyperallergic.com/trumps-border-expansion-threatens-6-000-year-old-cave-paintings/ Last updated: 2026-07-30T18:00:40.000Z Hundreds of archaeological sites, including 6,000-year-old cave paintings, are under threat as the Trump administration moves to expand its southern border barrier in the Big Bend region of Texas. Amanda Castañeda, archaeology director of the [Shumla Archaeological Research and Education Center](https://shumla.org/about-us/staff-and-board/?ref=hyperallergic.com), told *Hyperallergic* that at least 425 Texas archaeological sites, including 84 intricate cave murals, could be disrupted by a Trump administration plan to create a $46 billion "[smart wall](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-administration-46-billion-smart-wall-races-ahead-us-mexico-borde-rcna352762?ref=hyperallergic.com)" along the United States-Mexico border. The border wall expansion would include both physical barriers and artificial intelligence-powered surveillance infrastructure. On Monday, July 27, the federal government [exempted](https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/07/27/2026-15096/determination-pursuant-to-section-102-of-the-illegal-immigration-reform-and-immigrant-responsibility?ref=hyperallergic.com) the wall from environmental preservation laws, including the Archaeological and Historic Preservation Act and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. The administration argues that the area is a "high illegalentry" point for undocumented migrants, though the area has been described as "[remote, harsh, and seldom trafficked by migrants](https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/west-texas-border-barrier/?ref=hyperallergic.com)." " This \[border wall\] route goes in and out of different canyons, so the potential for damage to these rock art sites and just archaeology in general is very large," Castañeda said in a phone call. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Israel Incensed as UNESCO Adds Lebanese and West Bank Sites to World Heritage List URL: https://hyperallergic.com/israel-incensed-as-unesco-adds-lebanese-and-west-bank-sites-to-world-heritage-list/ Last updated: 2026-07-30T16:21:37.000Z Amid Israel's targeted land seizures and ongoing military offensives, the Mount Amel Castles in Lebanon and the archaeological ruins of Sebastia in the Occupied West Bank are among [six new locations](https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/facing-major-threats-six-new-sites-join-unescos-list-world-heritage-danger-three-them-emergency?ref=hyperallergic.com) that were urgently added to UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in Danger this week. The international agency immediately recognized both locations as vulnerable upon inscribing them as World Heritage Sites at the World Heritage Committee's 48th session in Busan, South Korea. Israel condemned the designations, accusing UNESCO of “cynical exploitation of cultural heritage for political purposes.” _This post is for subscribers only._ ### How to Get Canceled in the Art World URL: https://hyperallergic.com/how-to-get-canceled-in-the-art-world/ Last updated: 2026-07-30T10:00:30.000Z You know, I’ve long wondered what exactly gets you canceled in the art world, because it doesn’t seem like a whole lot does. A recent psychological study is somewhat illuminating: Respondents reacted more negatively toward an artist accused of sexual assault compared to one accused of murder. In this time of war, the Reina Sofía puts art history’s most recognizable anti-war painting — Picasso’s “Guernica” (1937) — in dialogue with other artworks to explore political parallels. Right now, it’s paired with South African artist Dumile Feni’s large-scale charcoal drawing “African Guernica” (1967) — particularly timely, Agnish Ray writes, as racial hostilities simmer in Spain. Meanwhile, a garden grows in Queens — Editor-at-Large Hrag Vartanian visits artist and poet Precious Okoyomon’s commission in the courtyard of MoMA PS1, which invites viewers to enter a giant teddy bear’s butt and slide through its mouth. *—Lisa Yin Zhang, associate editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/censorship-study.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/sexual-assault-allegations-get-artists-canceled-more-than-murder-study-finds/) [ Sexual Assault Allegations Get Artists Canceled More Than Murder, Study Finds ](https://hyperallergic.com/sexual-assault-allegations-get-artists-canceled-more-than-murder-study-finds/) A recent psychological study on so-called “cancel culture” and artistic impact found that its respondents reacted more punitively toward an artist accused of sexual assault (SA) compared to an artist accused of murder. The sentiment was consistent whether the artist was previously unknown or identified as a respondent’s favorite, and the study revealed that political orientation was not a predictor across the responses. | Rhea Nayyar [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/sexual-assault-allegations-get-artists-canceled-more-than-murder-study-finds/) --- --- ## Features [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/precious-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/a-precious-garden-grows-at-moma-ps1/) [ A Precious Garden Grows at MoMA PS1 ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-precious-garden-grows-at-moma-ps1/) Precious Okoyomon’s new work transforms the concrete corner of the museum courtyard into a place of joy, exploration, and, dare I say, tranquility. | Hrag Vartanian [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-precious-garden-grows-at-moma-ps1/) [ Madrid Museum Puts Picasso in Dialogue With “African Guernica” ](https://hyperallergic.com/madrid-museum-puts-picasso-in-dialogue-with-african-guernica/) Dumile Feni’s monumental drawing is part of the Museo Reina Sofía’s new program “History Doesn’t Repeat Itself, but It Does Rhyme.” | Agnish Ray [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/madrid-museum-puts-picasso-in-dialogue-with-african-guernica/) --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/widline-cadet.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/widline-cadets-doubled-diaspora/) [ Widline Cadet’s Doubled Diaspora ](https://hyperallergic.com/widline-cadets-doubled-diaspora/) The Haitian-born photographer explores how various media, from dusty analog photo albums to cell phone videos, store and shape personal histories of migration. | Debra Brehmer [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/widline-cadets-doubled-diaspora/) [ The Shakers Weren’t Minimalists ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-shakers-werent-minimalists/) An exhibition posits that the sect happened upon the ideals of modern design, overlooking the contradictions and vitality of its culture. | Isabella Segalovich [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-shakers-werent-minimalists/) --- ## Community [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/makonnen.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-betelhem-makonnen-betye-saar-and-keith-a-morrison/) [ Remembering Betelhem Makonnen, Betye Saar, and Keith A. Morrison ](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-betelhem-makonnen-betye-saar-and-keith-a-morrison/) This week, we honor an explorer of diasporic consciousness, a revolutionary assemblage artist, and the first Black dean of art in the US. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-betelhem-makonnen-betye-saar-and-keith-a-morrison/) --- ## ICYMI [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/odyssey-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/a-homerist-reacts-to-christopher-nolans-the-odyssey/) [ A Homerist Reacts to Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-homerist-reacts-to-christopher-nolans-the-odyssey/) “This is a tale of a man affected by trauma, but without any sense that it changed him at all.” [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-homerist-reacts-to-christopher-nolans-the-odyssey/) ### Madrid Museum Puts Picasso in Dialogue With "African Guernica" URL: https://hyperallergic.com/madrid-museum-puts-picasso-in-dialogue-with-african-guernica/ Last updated: 2026-08-03T15:19:07.000Z MADRID — Spanning over 25-feet wide and 11-feet high, Pablo Picasso’s painting “Guernica” (1937) is as monumental in size as it is in cultural significance. Its startling depiction of state brutality against civilians has made it an emblem of post-war Spanish identity, and its cry against violence has resonated with besieged people worldwide — from Vietnam to Gaza — throughout the past nine decades. A new annual exhibition series at the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid, which has served as the canonical work's permanent home since 1992, places “Guernica”in dialogue with other artworks. The new program, titled [*History Doesn’t Repeat Itself, but It Does Rhyme*](https://www.museoreinasofia.es/en/exhibition/history-doesnt-repeat-itself-it-does-rhyme-dumile-feni-african-guernica?ref=hyperallergic.com)*,* partly aims to revisit the universal political impulses behind the anti-war painting — but its first iteration also exposes race as an urgent issue for contemporary art institutions in Spain. The inaugural installment sees Picasso’s masterpiece paired with the late South African artist Dumile Feni’s “African Guernica” (1967), a large-scale charcoal drawing that evokes a similar spirit of protest and anguish. While the former responded to the bombing of the eponymous Basque town by fascist forces on April 26, 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, “African Guernica” emerged from the insidious, pervasive violence of racism during South African Apartheid. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Sexual Assault Allegations Get Artists Canceled More Than Murder, Study Finds URL: https://hyperallergic.com/sexual-assault-allegations-get-artists-canceled-more-than-murder-study-finds/ Last updated: 2026-08-03T16:48:08.000Z A[recent psychological study](https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Faca0000856&ref=hyperallergic.com) on so-called "cancel culture" and artistic impact found that its respondents reacted more punitively toward an artist accused of sexual assault (SA) compared to an artist accused of murder. The sentiment was consistent whether the artist was previously unknown or identified as a respondent's favorite, and the study revealed that political orientation was not a predictor across the responses. While SA accusations incited the most calls for the censure and economic devaluation of an artist's work, the study found that the allegations didn't meaningfully reduce respondents' enjoyment of the artwork itself, reflecting inconsistencies between public and private behavior. Propelled by the wake of the #MeToo movement and increased dialogue about the motives behind cancel culture, the findings bring questions about moral posturing and personal feelings to the fore. Titled “[Canceling Creativity? Exploring Artist Censure As a Function of Crime Type](https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Faca0000856&ref=hyperallergic.com),” the study led by Rebecka Hahnel-Peeters, an assistant professor of psychology at Indiana State University whose research specializes in sexual conflict and moral judgment, was published in the journal *Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts* this March. *Hyperallergic* spoke withfellow researchers Keelah Williams and Jaimie Krems, associate professors of psychology at Hamilton College and the University of California, Los Angeles, respectively, about the findings and the next steps. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### The Shakers Weren’t Minimalists URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-shakers-werent-minimalists/ Last updated: 2026-07-30T18:33:10.000Z PHILADELPHIA — Imagine walking down a dirt pathway towards a bright, clean building in rural upstate New York. The windows are shutterless, neatly spaced rectangles; the roof is softly arched; and the walls are rattling with the screams, shouts, and stomps of dozens of people inside. You’ve arrived at the Second Meetinghouse of Mount Lebanon, the beating heart of a tiny, celibate, egalitarian, pacifist Christian sect: the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing, better known as the Shakers, named for the distinctive ecstatic dances that accompanied joyful song during worship. A society of revolutionaries, when they burst onto the scene of 18th-century America, they were considered profoundly [threatening](https://theconversation.com/the-celibate-dancing-shakers-were-once-seen-as-a-threat-to-society-250-years-later-theyre-part-of-the-sound-of-america-265828?ref=hyperallergic.com). Today, they are best remembered for crafting stylish [chairs](https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/the-shakers-how-an-early-christian-sect-defined-one-of-americas-most-enduring-craft-traditions?ref=hyperallergic.com). But they sought nothing less than to build heaven on earth. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/IMG_2858.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/IMG_2841-1.jpg) Left: Shaker community, Mount Lebanon, New York High chair with tape seat (c. 1880–83), birch and webbing; right: installation view of **The Shakers: A World in the Making* [*The Shakers: A World in the Making*](https://icaphila.org/exhibitions/the-shakers-a-world-in-the-making/?ref=hyperallergic.com), a traveling exhibition that debuted at Vitra Design Museum and is currently on display at the Institute of Contemporary Art Philadelphia, includes beautiful historic objects from Shaker design history, as well as works of contemporary art inspired by Shakers’ aesthetics and values. A collaboration with the Shaker Museum currently under construction in Chatham, New York, one might assume the exhibition was timed to coincide with [*The Testament of Ann Lee*](https://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/why-did-the-oscars-snub-one-of-2025s-best-movies/?ref=hyperallergic.com), the 2025 quasi-musical film about the founding of the Shakers. But apparently, the two projects are unrelated. Which sets up the question: Why an exhibition about the Shakers at all? And why now? Despite its many striking examples of Shaker art and craft, the show gives no clear direction. For the most part, it retells the standard story of a once 6,000-strong sect, with only three [remaining members](https://www.npr.org/2025/08/19/nx-s1-5476267/the-number-of-shakers-in-the-u-s-rises-to-3?ref=hyperallergic.com), that somehow happened upon both ideals of modern design and gender equality (of a sort) long before much of the rest of society caught up. And yet, the very objects on the exhibition floor present a number of problems: How are we meant to square the characterization of Shakers as strict minimalists with rugs and drawings positively bursting with color and ornament? And how do we reconcile the Shakers’ commitment to radical equality with their well-moneyed commercial ventures? _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Remembering Betelhem Makonnen, Betye Saar, and Keith A. Morrison URL: https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-betelhem-makonnen-betye-saar-and-keith-a-morrison/ Last updated: 2026-07-29T19:27:52.000Z [*In Memoriam*](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/in-memoriam/) *is published every Wednesday afternoon and honors those we recently lost in the art world.* --- **Betelhem Makonnen** (1972–2026) *Artist who explored diasporic consciousness* Through photography, video, public art, and installations, she [explored](https://betelhemmakonnen.com/About-1?ref=hyperallergic.com) diasporic consciousness, embedded memory, and contemporary experience. In the 2019 video work “change means revolution in Amharic (person, place and thing),” for instance, she wanders through trees wearing a mask of herself as a child. "On her own now," Billie Anania wrote in a [review](https://hyperallergic.com/two-transnational-artists-connect-through-shared-experiences-of-displacement/) in this magazine that same year, "the artist hides behind her former self, occasionally lifting the mask to face the world with caution." Makonnen's work has been shown at the Contemporary Austin, Visual Arts Center at the University of Texas at Austin, Blanton Museum, and more. She was on faculty at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, co-organized the Ethiopian video art platform Addis Video Art Festival, and co-founded the Austin, Texas-based art collective Black Mountain Project. "I am finding ways to actively align my practice to support and participate in the abolitionist movements of our times," Makonnen [wrote](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-during-times-of-quarantine-12/) in a 2020 edition of Hyperallergic's A View From the Easel column. "Our times are in our hands. Work, rest, repeat." --- **Betye Saar** (1926–2026) *Assemblage artist who opened portals between worlds* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/image-21.png) Betye Saar in Los Angeles (2026) (photo David Sprague, courtesy Roberts Projects) She trawled the archive of Americana and transmuted its most vile depictions of Blackness into mystical, visionary, and revolutionary assemblages. Her 1972 work “The Liberation of Aunt Jemima," for which she placed a racist caricature within a shadowbox and equipped her with a gun and a hand grenade, launched the Black Women's Movement, according to Angela Davis. [*Read the obituary*](https://hyperallergic.com/betye-saar-who-opened-portals-between-worlds-dies-at-99/) --- **Jenny Birchall** (1948–2026) *British painter of whimsical beach scenes* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Untitled-15.jpg) Detail of Jenny Birchall, "Queens Jubilee" (undated) (photo @jennybirchallartist via [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/CXd3zLDIlA0/?ref=hyperallergic.com), screenshot Lisa Yin Zhang/**Hyperallergic*) She made [whimsical paintings](https://www.jennybirchall.co.uk/profile.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) on wood centered on the shores of Cornwall, England, intermixing rock stars, gay icons, other artists, and other figures in cheery compositions. --- **Richard Edgcumbe** (1951–2026) *British scholar of European metalwork and curator* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Untitled-14.jpg) Richard Edgcumbe (photo Tricia Topping via [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1890782621612150&set=a.244633272893768), screenshot Lisa Yin Zhang/**Hyperallergic*) As a [scholar](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2026/07/26/richard-edgcumbe-victoria-albert-museum-curator-coronet/?ref=hyperallergic.com), his 1990 book *The Art of the Gold Chaser in Eighteenth-Century London* remains foundational in the field. As curator and museum worker, he worked his way up from assistant curator at the Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery to registrar at the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff to assistant keeper of Metalwork at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. There, his final and most significant acquisition was a sapphire-and-diamond coronet designed by Prince Albert for Queen Victoria in 1840\. --- **Joseph A. Helman** (1937–2026) *Gallerist and dealer* He [opened](https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-joseph-helman-15784?ref=hyperallergic.com) his namesake gallery in St. Louis in 1968, showcasing artists like Richard Serra, Roy Lichtenstein, and Frank Stella, as well as staging one of Allan Kaprow's *Happenings*. He partnered with Irving Blum to form powerhouse gallery Blum Helman in 1973, retiring in 1995\. --- **Keith A. Morrison** (1942–2026) *Painter, printmaker, educator, and critic* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Untitled-12-1-1.jpg) Keith A. Morrison (photo Keith Anthony Morrison via [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151474317811542&set=pb.100057628600853.-2207520000&type=3), screenshot Lisa Yin Zhang/**Hyperallergic*) His watercolor, oil, and acrylic paintings and prints were [inspired](https://keithmorrison.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) by his Afro-Caribbean heritage and Jamaican landscapes, and are held in the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and more. He was a dean and professor of painting emeritus at the Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University as well as a curator, critic, and more; prior to that, he became the first Black academic dean of art within a predominantly White art school in the United States in 1993, when he joined the San Francisco Art Institute. --- **Guy Tudor** (1934–2026) *Conservationist and wildlife illustrator* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Untitled-16.jpg) Guy Tudor (photo Don Riepe via [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BYCFdCVPS/), screenshot Lisa Yin Zhang/**Hyperallergic*) With a pen and brush, he [illustrated](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/25/science/guy-tudor-dead.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) thousands of birds in books like *A Guide to the Birds of Colombia* (1986), *A Guide to the Birds of Venezuela* (1978),and *Field Guide to the Songbirds of South America* (2009), many of which became monumental and influential works. In 1990, he received a MacArthur Award for his work as an illustrator and conservationist. --- **Martie Wing Young** (1930–2026) *Scholar of Asian art and curator* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/MartieYoung-2011-Credit-Robert-Barker-1.jpg) Martie Wing Young in 2011 (photo Robert Barker, courtesy Cornell University) A [scholar](https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2026/07/martie-young-great-hero-johnson-museum-art-dies-96?ref=hyperallergic.com) of Asian art, he was a member of Cornell University's faculty from 1959 through 1998\. He was a key figure in the creation of the university's Johnson Museum of Art, including the commissioning of I. M. Pei as its architect, and served as its interim director in the early 1990s. ### A Precious Garden Grows at MoMA PS1 URL: https://hyperallergic.com/a-precious-garden-grows-at-moma-ps1/ Last updated: 2026-07-29T19:03:24.000Z In the famously barren courtyard of MoMA PS1 in Long Island City, Queens, a garden for the next two years has been planted. Created by artist and poet Precious Okoyomon, the elaborate installation invites us to approach a giant teddy bear’s butt and slide through its core to exit through the mouth, like a tongue. “The rectum isn’t a grave, it’s just a portal,” the artist told me during the press event that took place during an overcast Wednesday sprinkled with drizzle. Their statement riffs on Leo Bersani’s 1987 seminal queer theory [essay](https://web.english.upenn.edu/~cavitch/pdf-library/Bersani%5FRectum.pdf?ref=hyperallergic.com) “Is the Rectum a Grave?” _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Widline Cadet’s Doubled Diaspora URL: https://hyperallergic.com/widline-cadets-doubled-diaspora/ Last updated: 2026-07-29T16:45:08.000Z MILWAUKEE — Handmade ceramic lizards with tails that morph into flowers cling to the walls of photographer Widline Cadet’s exhibition at the Milwaukee Art Museum. These little creatures crouch low or grip onto the corners of the ceiling as if silently accompanying us through the artist’s [first solo institutional show](https://mam.org/exhibitions/widline-cadet/?ref=hyperallergic.com) in the United States, marking a territory of displacement and adaptation. Cadet, who grew up in Haiti and now lives in Los Angeles, immigrated to New York City at age 10 to reunite with her mother, who had arrived years earlier. Because immigration is a fraught, violent issue in the US, every museum exhibition that humanizes these stories feels urgent. Cadet explores concepts of separation and memory using a full range of photo-based processes that also speak to the way that various media, from dusty analog photo albums to cell phone videos, store and shape personal histories. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### How to Survive Art-World Toxicity URL: https://hyperallergic.com/how-to-survive-art-world-toxicity/ Last updated: 2026-07-29T10:00:37.000Z Who is the Antinous to our art-world Odysseus? So glad you asked. As Paddy Johnson explains in Art Problems today, toxicity among artists, dealers, and collectors is not quite as clear-cut as the betrayal in Homer’s epic, despite what Matt Damon may have you think. Read her latest column for advice on navigating an industry that “continuously hands us chances to trade meaning for advantage.” Meanwhile, Julia Curl visits an exhibition on German-Jewish philosopher Walter Benjamin, whose seminal essay on art and mass replication takes on new urgency in the age of AI. Working during the same era, French-Jewish artists Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore defied the conventions of their time, from gender roles to political apathy. Eileen G’Sell considers a show that traces the duo’s radical collage and photography, including the “paper bullets” they wielded to wage a war of information on the Nazi party. Read on for more in reviews and news, including the 17th-century Japanese castle damaged in yesterday’s devastating earthquake and art publisher Steidl’s brush with bankruptcy. —*Lakshmi Rivera Amin, associate editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/2-3-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/art-problems-why-are-there-so-many-toxic-people-in-the-art-world/) [ Art Problems: Why Are There So Many Toxic People in the Art World? ](https://hyperallergic.com/art-problems-why-are-there-so-many-toxic-people-in-the-art-world/) Every industry has toxic people, but desperation gives the art-world toxicity its particular flavor. The field is full of people making and supporting art, but the money available from collectors, grants and philanthropy combined can’t sustain most of them. We fight over the scraps. Some of us handle scarcity better than others, but nobody is their best self. | Paddy Johnson [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/art-problems-why-are-there-so-many-toxic-people-in-the-art-world/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/The-New-Colossus-2018-2020-charcoal-on-synthetic-vellum--five-panels--114_-x-180_-1--1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/looking-for-history-moca-cts-new-exhibition-explores-memory-landscape-and-the-american-story/) ****Looking for History: MoCA\\CT’s New Exhibition Explores Memory, Landscape, and the American Story** Rick Shaefer, Ellen Harvey, and Michael Borders question how history is created, remembered, and reimagined. On view through November 15, 2026. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/looking-for-history-moca-cts-new-exhibition-explores-memory-landscape-and-the-american-story/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/japanese-caslt.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/historic-japanese-castle-damaged-in-7-1-magnitude-earthquake/) - Japan’s historic [Kumamoto Castle is damaged](https://hyperallergic.com/historic-japanese-castle-damaged-in-7-1-magnitude-earthquake/) after a 7.1-magnitude earthquake hits the country. - French police [arrest a man](https://hyperallergic.com/man-arrested-in-broad-daylight-theft-of-2-500-year-old-gold-torque-from-french-museum/) in connection with the theft of a 2,500-year-old gold torque from a museum in Burgundy. - The Germanpublishing giant Steidl Verlag is [facing an uncertain future](https://hyperallergic.com/photobook-publisher-steidl-in-dire-straits-after-threat-of-bankruptcy/) after coming close to bankruptcy. --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Claude-Cahun.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-queer-surrealists-who-fought-nazis-with-paper-bullets/) [ The Queer Surrealists Who Fought Nazis With Paper Bullets ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-queer-surrealists-who-fought-nazis-with-paper-bullets/) Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore shared a magnificent life as both romantic and creative partners, one in which gender proved as mercurial as the political climate of World War II. | Eileen G’Sell [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-queer-surrealists-who-fought-nazis-with-paper-bullets/) [ Walter Benjamin Warned Us About AI ](https://hyperallergic.com/walter-benjamin-warned-us-about-ai/) The philosopher believed that good photography provokes cognition while dangerous photography soothes, as seen in a jewel box show at the Jewish Museum. | Julia Curl [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/walter-benjamin-warned-us-about-ai/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/BSFF26_Ad_Hyperallergic_2400x1350_West-Side-Familia-2-4.png)](https://hyperallergic.com/indie-film-from-the-global-majority-blackstar-celebrates-15-years-of-cinema-for-liberation/) ****Indie Film From the Global Majority: BlackStar Celebrates 15 Years of Cinema for Liberation** The world’s most significant and groundbreaking filmmakers of color will gather to showcase their work in Philadelphia August 6-9. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/indie-film-from-the-global-majority-blackstar-celebrates-15-years-of-cinema-for-liberation/) --- ## Member Comment Thank you for recirculating this review. I loved this book so much because it showed that despite being ignored in many cases, despite poverty, despite infirmity, these women continued to create. I love the fact that the book is honest about creativity in the later years of life and how compromises occur, but the human need for realization never stops. The book was unflinching and Sophia Stewart's article really shows that. I read the book because I had seen it reviewed here first in Hyperallergic as a top pick. Your top picks never disappoint! —Holly Wong on “[The Women Artists Who Found Freedom in Old Age](https://hyperallergic.com/women-artists-who-found-freedom-in-old-age-grand-finales-susan-gunbar/)” --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/dine-art.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/dine-weaver-venancio-aragon-dyes-wool-with-kool-aid/) [ Diné Weaver Venancio Aragón Dyes Wool With Kool-Aid ](https://hyperallergic.com/dine-weaver-venancio-aragon-dyes-wool-with-kool-aid/) The Diné weaver and teacher reimagines pre-trading-post-era weaving techniques, continually coloring his practice with new aesthetic and material horizons. | Sháńdíín Brown, Zach Feuer [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/dine-weaver-venancio-aragon-dyes-wool-with-kool-aid/) ### Man Arrested in Broad Daylight Theft of 2,500-Year-Old Gold Torque From French Museum URL: https://hyperallergic.com/man-arrested-in-broad-daylight-theft-of-2-500-year-old-gold-torque-from-french-museum/ Last updated: 2026-07-28T21:50:43.000Z French police [arrested a man](https://www.lest-eclair.fr/id819932/article/2026-07-28/une-arrestation-apres-le-vol-du-torque-de-la-princesse-de-vix-au-musee-du-pays?ref=hyperallergic.com) in connection with the theft of a 2,500-year-old gold torque from the Musée du Pays Châtillonnai in Burgundy. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### The Queer Surrealists Who Fought Nazis With Paper Bullets URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-queer-surrealists-who-fought-nazis-with-paper-bullets/ Last updated: 2026-08-10T13:39:33.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/IOU-1.jpg) Marcel Moore, "Title unknown" (c. 1930), exhibition copy of a photographic collage (image courtesy Jersey Heritage Collection) ST. LOUIS — “Beneath this mask, another mask. I will never be finished removing all these faces.” This line from a photocollage created by Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore speaks to the magnificent, magnanimous life they shared as both romantic and creative partners — one in which gender and familial identity proved as mercurial as France’s tumultuous political climate in the 1920s and ’30s. Born Lucy Renee Mathilde Schwob and Suzanne Malherbe, respectively, the two met as teens in their hometown of Nantes and fell recklessly in love. They then became legal stepsisters when Moore’s widowed mother married Cahun’s divorced father in 1917, a cover for their queer partnership that enabled them to cohabitate the rest of their lives. Moving to Paris in 1920, the pair adopted the pseudonyms Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore, and quickly became imbricated in the circles of the artistic avant-garde — producing Surrealist illustrations, photographs, and collages that drolly deconstruct gendered archetypes. These delightfully strange black-and-white works, few exceeding five by three inches, form the crux of the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis’s exhibition [*And I Saw New Heavens and a New Earth: The Partnership, Art, and Activism of Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore*](https://camstl.org/exhibitions/and-i-saw-new-heavens-and-a-new-earth/?ref=hyperallergic.com). With a scope and potency beyond the modest length of its checklist, the show celebrates the couple’s eclectic output as a reflection of the queerness of both their union and artistic collaboration. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Historic Japanese Castle Damaged in 7.1-Magnitude Earthquake URL: https://hyperallergic.com/historic-japanese-castle-damaged-in-7-1-magnitude-earthquake/ Last updated: 2026-07-28T19:51:59.000Z Japan's historic Kumamoto Castle was damaged after a 7.1-magnitude earthquake hit the country today, July 28\. Video footage on [X](https://x.com/sirokumadio/status/2082005760830210312?ref=hyperallergic.com) shows a section of the moat wall tumbling down onto the lawn and into the water, near the entrance from the castle's Ninomaru Plaza in Kumamoto Prefecture on the southwest island of Kyushu. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Walter Benjamin Warned Us About AI URL: https://hyperallergic.com/walter-benjamin-warned-us-about-ai/ Last updated: 2026-07-28T21:02:46.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/4_1-1.jpg) Man Ray (Emmanuel Radnitzky), “Portrait of Marchesa Casati” (1927), gelatin silver print (all photos Julia Curl/**Hyperallergic*) Walter Benjamin could’ve told us the problem with AI about a century ago. In 1931, before the technology could even be dreamed of, the German and Jewish philosopher and media theorist was becoming concerned with a different emerging medium: photography. With eerie prescience, Benjamin wrote that he feared that it could “endow any soup can with cosmic significance but cannot grasp a single one of the human connections in which it exists.” Photographs that aestheticize things while erasing their meaning are dangerous, he argued. Practitioners can bathe the chimneys of a steel factory in the same soft light as the trees of a forest, but unlike the paintbrush, the camera creates an undeniable impression of reality. Beyond that, not only can photography glaze everything into something beautiful, but people (myself included) will happily eat it up. We love to consume pretty images, sometimes especially when the subjects themselves are not: Even today, people will[ relish the awful sublimity](https://www.reddit.com/r/UrbanHell/comments/bhy7po/essen%5Fgermany%5Fin%5F1929%5Falbert%5Frengerpatzsch/?ref=hyperallergic.com) of a factory’s smokestacks and fail to see the[ Nazi weapons forge](https://www.nytimes.com/1967/08/01/archives/alfried-krupp-last-sole-ruler-of-german-steel-empire-dies-hitlers.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) staring back at them. Benjamin’s essay on the topic, “[A Little History of Photography](https://monoskop.org/images/0/0e/Benjamin%5FWalter%5F1931%5F1999%5FLittle%5FHistory%5Fof%5FPhotography.pdf?ref=hyperallergic.com)” (1931), is the subject of a small but scrumptious[ presentation](https://thejewishmuseum.org/exhibitions/walter-benjamin-and-the-edges-of-photography/?ref=hyperallergic.com) at the Jewish Museum that is timed to coincide with its monumental[ Paul Klee exhibition](https://hyperallergic.com/the-angel-of-history-is-stuck-in-jerusalem/). _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Art Problems: Why Are There So Many Toxic People in the Art World? URL: https://hyperallergic.com/art-problems-why-are-there-so-many-toxic-people-in-the-art-world/ Last updated: 2026-07-31T21:38:35.000Z *Why are there so many toxic people in the art world, and how do I protect myself — professionally and emotionally — from them? —A. Goodman, NY* Every industry has toxic people, but desperation gives the art-world toxicity its particular flavor. The field is full of people making and supporting art, but the money available from collectors, grants, and philanthropy combined can’t sustain most of them. We fight over the scraps. Some of us handle scarcity better than others, but nobody is their best self. When I worked as an art critic, people often asked me to write pieces exposing the bad behavior of professionals they didn’t like. Often the targets deserved a takedown, but the requests never sat well with me (and usually weren’t stories, just gripes). Running down the list of terrible things I’ve seen people do, I wondered whether toxicity was just cluelessness. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Curtis Sliwa and Massive Hot Dog in Times Square URL: https://hyperallergic.com/curtis-sliwa-and-massive-hot-dog-in-times-square/ Last updated: 2026-07-28T17:09:37.000Z I can’t say I’ve ever dreamed of watching a recreation of Curtis Sliwa’s infamous 1992 kidnapping and assassination attempt in front of a 65-foot hot dog in Times Square, but that’s just because of a lack of imagination. Our Editor-at-Large Hrag Vartanian found all the above and then some — drag Melania, Epstein file cumshot, etc. — during a visit to *The Most American Pageant Ever!*, an absurdist performance event that felt like an elegy during this national moment. Also in this issue, we unpack a quieter though no less symbol-laden event a ways uptown. In May, a quill snapped off a nearly two century-old statue of Thomas Jefferson that once stood in City Hall, while it was being moved at the New York Historical. Todd Fine argues that the Mamdani administration ought to reclaim it as an emblem of democratic, labor, and socialist movements. Elsewhere around the city, three generations of Amazonian artists, including the brilliant and misunderstood modernist Chico da Silva; a weaving circle at Abrons Art Center; an exploration of the gut at LES community center ABC No Rio; and so much more to fill your days. I’m so very jealous. This is the last week you’ll find me in your inbox, as I’m moving to Iowa City this weekend — no place to write the New York newsletter from — and handing it off to my wonderful colleagues. Thank you for everything. Hope to be back soon — hold it down for me in the meantime, will you? —*Lisa Yin Zhang, associate editor* --- --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/america-pageant-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/giant-wieners-drag-queens-and-curtis-sliwa-at-the-most-american-pageant-ever/) [ Giant Wieners, Drag Queens, and Curtis Sliwa at “The Most American Pageant Ever!” ](https://hyperallergic.com/giant-wieners-drag-queens-and-curtis-sliwa-at-the-most-american-pageant-ever/) Watching Curtis Sliwa watch comedian Spike Einbinder — brother of Hacks star Hannah Einbinder and son of Saturday Night Live alum Laraine Newman — get shot in a comedic recreation of the former New York City Republican mayoral candidate’s infamous 1992 kidnapping and shooting was the kind of experience I’ll remember for the rest of my life. Thankfully, the other parts of the performance were just as absurd, verging on the erratic, which was pitch-perfect for The Most American Pageant Ever!, an event billed as a “renewed portrait of America,” though it often felt more like an elegy during the nation’s semiquincentennial year. | Hrag Vartanian [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/giant-wieners-drag-queens-and-curtis-sliwa-at-the-most-american-pageant-ever/) --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/helen-levitt-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/helen-levitt-captured-the-poetry-of-new-york-city/) ### Natalie Weis ***Helen Levitt*, book edited by Joshua Chuang** "Levitt didn’t work with any particular political agenda other than the belief, still somewhat radical for its time, that the city’s working-class communities of color possessed a beauty and drama all their own." [*Read the full review*](https://hyperallergic.com/helen-levitt-captured-the-poetry-of-new-york-city/) [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/chico-da-silva-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/beyond-the-myth-of-chico-da-silva/) ### John Yau ***Riverlines: Chico da Silva, Joseca Yanomami, and Kuenan Mayu, Three Generations of Amazonian Indigenous Artists* at David Nolan Gallery** "By presenting da Silva with two Amazonian artists of different generations, the exhibition undermines the oppressive Western notion of the artist as an isolated genius." [*Read the full review*](https://hyperallergic.com/beyond-the-myth-of-chico-da-silva/) [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/sva.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/sva-grads-make-art-out-of-historys-rubble/) ### Julie Schneider ***Finding Here*, 2026 SVA MFA Art Practice Thesis Exhibitionat Art Cake** "With a rollicking DIY spirit, these handcrafted works offer a reminder that it’s possible to rewrite what came before, push back against harmful systems, and invent better ways of living together." [*Read the full review*](https://hyperallergic.com/sva-grads-make-art-out-of-historys-rubble/) --- ## Opinion [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/jefferson-statue-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/mayor-mamdani-should-reclaim-the-citys-jefferson-statue/) [ Mayor Mamdani Should Reclaim the City’s Jefferson Statue ](https://hyperallergic.com/mayor-mamdani-should-reclaim-the-citys-jefferson-statue/) The fact that the quill of David d’Angers’s statue of the third US president broke during the nation’s 250th anniversary provides more than an irresistible symbolic trope. | Todd Fine [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/mayor-mamdani-should-reclaim-the-citys-jefferson-statue/) --- ## What Else Is Happening? - The New York Foundation for the Arts [awards $903,000 to 132 artists](https://hyperallergic.com/132-new-york-artists-receive-903-000-in-grants/) across New York State in its joint fellowship program with the New York State Council on the Arts. - New York Chinatown residents and activists protested outside a town hall event organized by the Museum of Chinese in America, [condemning the leadership’s acceptance of a $35 million grant](https://hyperallergic.com/protesters-decry-chinatown-museums-acceptance-of-jail-money-at-town-hall/) from the city tied to the construction of a boroughjail. - Two painters [are suing The Hole Gallery](https://hyperallergic.com/artists-sue-nyc-gallery-the-hole-for-nonpayment/), alleging that it owes them a combined sum of about $50,000 in outstanding sales proceeds. - Just a few months after the reopening of the New Museum’s expanded building, a [water leak shut down](https://hyperallergic.com/new-museums-shiny-new-building-leaks-during-flash-floods/) the Manhattan institution for a full weekend. - Hyperallergic contributor Seph Rodney will moderate a conversation about entropy in artist Meg Webster's work, tied to her show at Paula Cooper. (Tues July 28) \[[impulsemagazine.com](https://www.impulsemagazine.com/events?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - The Bronx River Art Center is hosting an opening reception for *Persona / Non Persona*, a dynamic group exhibition by the queer art collective Magenta Lounge. (Thurs July 30) \[[bronxriverarg.org](https://www.bronxriverart.org/gallery-upcoming?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Join Asia Art Archive in America for a screening, artist talk, and discussion featuring Christy Chan and Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya that confronts violent power structures. (Thurs July 30) \[[aartsalliance.org](https://www.aaartsalliance.org/events/the-past-is-the-present-an-evening-with-christy-chan-and-amanda-phingbodhipakkiya?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Studio6 Gallery is hosting an opening reception for *U&LC: Upper and Lower Case*, an international exhibition celebrating the power of letterform, featuring work from three graffiti pioneers. (Thurs July 30) \[[Studio6](https://ma.to/event/ulc-opening-reception-30-jul-2026?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - The opening reception of the Bower Gallery's Annual Juried Exhibition is this week. (Thurs July 30) \[[bowerygallery.org](https://bowerygallery.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - At Abrons Arts Center, join a weaving circle led by artist Cyle Warner, exploring Caribbean breeze block patterns, conversation, repetition, and shared making. (Fri July 31) \[[Abron Arts Center](https://ma.to/event/we-came-together-to-watch-the-breeze-31-july-2026?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Come to the opening of ABC No Rio Visual Arts Collective's *Lower Intestine* at Onetwentyeight Gallery, where subterranean artists examine the guts and hidden mechanisms churning beneath the surface world. (Sun Aug 2) \[[abcnorio.org](https://www.abcnorio.org/events/art-exhibition-opening-lower-intestine/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] ### Photobook Publisher Steidl in Dire Straits After Threat of Bankruptcy URL: https://hyperallergic.com/photobook-publisher-steidl-in-dire-straits-after-threat-of-bankruptcy/ Last updated: 2026-07-28T15:52:01.000Z The Germanpublishing giant Steidl Verlag, known for photobooks by leading artists including Nan Goldin, Gordon Parks, Walker Evans, and Joseph Beuys, is facing an uncertain future after coming close to bankruptcy. The publisher has recently [resolved insolvency proceedings](https://www.ndr.de/kultur/buch/steidl-verlag-gerettet-insolvenzverfahren-verlassen,steidl-verlag-102.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) that wereopened against it after the company allegedly withheldemployee salaries and failed to make social security contributions. Founded by Gerhard Steidl in 1968, the publisher had faced preliminary insolvency proceedings after a German agency that regulates part-time employment filed a claimagainst the company earlier this month. According to [*Der Spiegel*](https://www.spiegel.de/kultur/steidl-verlag-aus-goettingen-meldet-vorlaeufige-insolvenz-an-a-c5f659ca-23a2-45db-bb61-f54fcec2d249?ref=hyperallergic.com)*,* the company had allegedly owed outstanding wages to numerous employees, some of whom claim they had not been paid for up to six months. As of its insolvency filing on July 10, the company reportedly had not paid a five-figure sum in wages, and several lawsuits filed by staff were still pending. *Der Spiegel* also reported that the company withheld social security contributions, catalyzing the collecting agency Minijob-Zentrale to open insolvency proceedings against it. Gerhard Steidl [attributed](https://www.ndr.de/kultur/buch/steidl-verlag-gerettet-insolvenzverfahren-verlassen,steidl-verlag-102.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) the company's poor financial state to United States tariffs and a subsequent 50% drop in the publisher's international sales. In some [cases](https://globallawexperts.com/what-happens-when-a-company-files-for-insolvency-in-germany/?ref=hyperallergic.com), insolvency proceedings in Germany can lead to the liquidation of a company's assets in order to resolve its debts. However, the court proceedings against Steidl were closed on Thursday, July 23, after the company settled its claims, according to [*NDR*](https://www.ndr.de/kultur/buch/steidl-verlag-gerettet-insolvenzverfahren-verlassen,steidl-verlag-102.html?ref=hyperallergic.com)*.* The publishing house has not yet responded to multiple requests for comment from *Hyperallergic.* Though it resolved its disputes in court, the publishing house reportedly relinquished its rights to the works of one of its star artists, the late German literary and visual artist Günter Grass, amid its financial fallout. *NDR* reports that the Günter and Ute Grass Foundation had claimed the rights to the artist's works after Steidl repeatedly defaulted on payments. Despite its public-facing financial difficulties, Steidl is reportedly optimistic about his publishing house's future. "What has improved significantly now, due to this economic crisis — which I acknowledge and which is actually improving daily — is that we are now over the worst of it and are managing to make ends meet," Steidl [said](https://www.ndr.de/kultur/buch/steidl-verlag-gerettet-insolvenzverfahren-verlassen,steidl-verlag-102.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) to *NDR*. "A total of twelve serious investors have now contacted us: four from Switzerland, three from the USA, two from Singapore, and one from Korea." ### Looking for History: MoCA\CT's New Exhibition Explores Memory, Landscape, and the American Story URL: https://hyperallergic.com/looking-for-history-moca-cts-new-exhibition-explores-memory-landscape-and-the-american-story/ Last updated: 2026-07-28T15:24:53.000Z [*Looking for History*](https://bit.ly/4x03Dc1?ref=hyperallergic.com)at the Museum of Contemporary Art \\ Connecticut ([MoCA\\CT](https://bit.ly/4yEIc1W?ref=hyperallergic.com)) presents Rick Shaefer, Ellen Harvey, and Michael Borders in solo exhibitions that examine how the nation’s past echoes through the present. On view through November 15, the show marks the 250th anniversary of the United States through work that engages memory, identity, and place. The exhibition is anchored by [Rick Shaefer](https://bit.ly/4woBmMl?ref=hyperallergic.com)’s allegorical series *Colossi*, monumental charcoal drawings displayed together for the first time. The artist’s expansive landscapes are interrupted by impenetrable walls and ominous towers that prioritize self-glorification, technological advancement, or imperialism over efforts to achieve unity. From afar, the compositions evoke Old Master etchings; at close range, their surfaces reveal a contemporary sensibility. He invites viewers into meditations on the physical and metaphorical boundaries that define our nation and, increasingly, our planet. While the recently completed *Colossi* series depicts barriers, Shaefer’s *Water Crossing* portrays the boat journey taken by refugees hoping to reach a welcoming haven. His evocative series *Liberty Dismantled* confronts the slow unraveling of the Mother of Exiles as a metaphor for our country’s eroding commitment to refuge and belonging. Shaefer’s meticulous linework invites contemplation on the widening gap between America’s founding ideals and the decisions shaping our future. On view through August 2, [Ellen Harvey](https://bit.ly/44TjFIV?ref=hyperallergic.com)'s *The Disappointed Tourist* includes more than 200 postcard-style paintings from her ongoing award-winning international project, inspired by places that no longer exist. From August 13 until the exhibition’s close, [Michael Borders](https://bit.ly/4pE69Cl?ref=hyperallergic.com)' *Connecticut Industry* fills the gallery with an immersive mural that chronicles Connecticut's industrial history and traces the evolution of the state's landscapes, industries, and innovations. Together, the exhibition offers three distinct yet interconnected perspectives on America’s past, present, and potential future. Visit [mocact.org](https://bit.ly/4x03Dc1?ref=hyperallergic.com) to learn more. ### Betye Saar Dies at 99 URL: https://hyperallergic.com/betye-saar-dies-at-99/ Last updated: 2026-07-28T10:00:02.000Z Today we begin with sad news: Betye Saar dies in Los Angeles just four days before her 100th birthday. Read Associate Editor Lisa Yin Zhang's obituary of the beloved assemblage artist, who inspired many. In other stories, the Smithsonian is under attack, again. In the latest episode of the Trump administration's war against the DC institution, the president orders the installation of signs that warn visitors about “extreme political activism” at the National Museum of American History (NMAH). This is not a bad dream — it's all real. "No other president has seen fit to vandalize taxpayer-funded museums with a billboard telling people not to go inside, while directing them to more politically 'palatable' — which is to say extreme right-wing — revisions of the historical record," writes Ed Simon in an urgent opinion piece today. Also, check out Staff Writer Rhea Nayyar's tier list ranking of the most ridiculous questions that NMAH Director Anthea Hartig had to answer during a recent congressional hearing. “Is Mickey Mouse racist?” one Republican congressman asked her. *—Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/smithsonian-opinion.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-smithsonian-is-not-the-presidents-museum/) [ The Smithsonian Is Not the President’s Museum ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-smithsonian-is-not-the-presidents-museum/) In 1846, the Smithsonian Institution was established, in the words of its benefactor and namesake, British scientist James Smithson, “for the increase & diffusion of Knowledge among men.” Today, the 21 museums centered in Washington, DC, and more than 200 affiliates throughout the United States, have indeed increased and diffused knowledge in the maintenance of an astounding 157 million objects. Along with the preservation and distribution of knowledge — never a neutral term — these museums have been the site of discourse and debate, conversation and controversy, as any indispensable cultural institution should be. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-smithsonian-is-not-the-presidents-museum/) SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/black-curators-matter-2.jpeg)](https://shop.getty.edu/products/black-curators-matter-conversations-on-art-and-change-9798887120140?srsltid=AfmBOoqU54HmdVRq2Xk48-sm3MbarO2BgcXLfcuCNmKNMP34iSOq05Ts&ref=hyperallergic.com) Through powerful interviews and archival insight, Black Curators Matter chronicles the voices and visionaries who reshaped American museums from the 1970s to today. [Learn more ](https://shop.getty.edu/products/black-curators-matter-conversations-on-art-and-change-9798887120140?srsltid=AfmBOoqU54HmdVRq2Xk48-sm3MbarO2BgcXLfcuCNmKNMP34iSOq05Ts&ref=hyperallergic.com) ## More On the Smithsonian [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/smithsonian-hearing.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/smithsonian-hearings-most-bizarre-moments-ranked-by-tier/) [ Smithsonian Hearing’s Most Bizarre Moments Ranked by Tier ](https://hyperallergic.com/smithsonian-hearings-most-bizarre-moments-ranked-by-tier/) “Is Mickey Mouse racist?” Texas Republican Congressman Brandon Gill asked National Museum of American History Director Anthea Hartig. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/smithsonian-hearings-most-bizarre-moments-ranked-by-tier/) [ Trump Orders Installation of Warning Signs Outside Smithsonian Museum ](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-orders-installation-of-warning-signs-outside-smithsonian-museum/) The administration’s demand comes just days after the director of the National Museum of American History testified before a congressional subcommittee. | Isa Farfan [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-orders-installation-of-warning-signs-outside-smithsonian-museum/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/betye-saar-newsletter.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/betye-saar-who-opened-portals-between-worlds-dies-at-99/) - Betye Saar [dies at 99](https://hyperallergic.com/betye-saar-who-opened-portals-between-worlds-dies-at-99/) in Los Angeles. Her visionary assemblages recast the debris of American history into monuments of Black resilience and liberation. - Elon Musk promises to use his AI platform, Grok Imagine, to [create his own full-length version of *The Odyssey*](https://hyperallergic.com/tell-us-o-muse-of-elon-musks-racist-ai-version-of-the-odyssey/)by the end of this year. - The European Central Bank [reveals 10 shortlisted design proposals](https://hyperallergic.com/europeans-vote-on-new-leonardo-da-vinci-banknote-design/) for euro banknotes centered on either the theme of “European culture” or “rivers and birds” — and Leonardo da Vinci is in one of the designs. --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/folk-art.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/an-exhibition-lets-self-taught-artists-speak-for-themselves/) [ An Exhibition Lets Self-Taught Artists Speak for Themselves ](https://hyperallergic.com/an-exhibition-lets-self-taught-artists-speak-for-themselves/) At the Folk Art Museum, “Self-Made” overcomes the problem of “insiders” ventriloquizing self-taught artists. | Ekin Erkan [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/an-exhibition-lets-self-taught-artists-speak-for-themselves/) --- ## Member Comment Maybe he didn't want to sit outside for hours on end waiting for oil paints to dry, or have to cart an easel everywhere. Maybe the iPad gave him the ability to paint and create uninhibited, scrolling and creating without having to start a new painting each time, each observation stepping from one moment to the next, each season morphing into another through a digital medium other than 'traditional' paint. Maybe he didn't want to create a masterpiece but to 'paint' using a different form of mark-making. Even with your eyes half closed, you can tell it's work by Hockney. It's still interesting and valid. —Simon McClelland Morris on “[You Can Love David Hockney and Still Hate His iPad Paintings](https://hyperallergic.com/you-can-love-david-hockney-and-still-hate-his-ipad-paintings/)” --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/lois-dodd.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/ode-to-lois-dodd/) [ An Ode to Lois Dodd ](https://hyperallergic.com/ode-to-lois-dodd/) A new monograph on the nonagenarian American painter is a well of bliss. | Hakim Bishara [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/ode-to-lois-dodd/) ### Betye Saar, Who Opened Portals Between Worlds, Dies at 99 URL: https://hyperallergic.com/betye-saar-who-opened-portals-between-worlds-dies-at-99/ Last updated: 2026-07-28T20:12:51.000Z Betye Saar, who trawled the depraved archive of Americana and transmuted its most vile depictions of Blackness into conceptually freighted assemblages that are mystical, moving, and revolutionary, died at 99 in Los Angeles yesterday, July 26\. Her death was confirmed by Roberts Projects, which represented her. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Smithsonian Hearing's Most Bizarre Moments Ranked by Tier URL: https://hyperallergic.com/smithsonian-hearings-most-bizarre-moments-ranked-by-tier/ Last updated: 2026-07-27T23:10:54.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/tier-final.jpg) Some of the most memorable moments from the congressional hearing, ranked on the basis of impact (edit Rhea Nayyar/**Hyperallergic*, all screenshots via [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=961Mclohmi8&ref=hyperallergic.com)) Last week, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform grilled National Museum of American History (NMAH) Director Anthea Hartig during a [congressional hearing](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=961Mclohmi8&ref=hyperallergic.com) on allegations outlined in the [White House's 162-page July report](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-accuses-smithsonian-of-anti-white-activism-in-draconian-new-report/) that accused the Smithsonian Institution (SI) of promoting “extreme political activism." As one would expect, the hearing rapidly devolved into explosive statements tumbling out of the mouths of the Republican committee members before Hartig could answer a majority of the questions — each more accusatory and absurd than the last. The Trump administration's [fixation on the Smithsonian](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-whitewashes-history-in-new-smithsonian-executive-order/) has spiraled from critiquing its “woke” narrative to threatening the majority of the institution's funding unless it handed over the didactics, staff information, and planned programming from each museum and research center for review. Similar to how Hartig was mentioned extensively in the 162-page report, President Trump himself previously took direct aim at former National Portrait Gallery Director Kim Sajet, whom [he claimed to have fired](https://hyperallergic.com/amid-assault-on-the-arts-trump-says-he-fired-national-portrait-gallery-director/) in 2025 because she prioritized diversifying programming and collection acquisitions. Hartig, who has led the NMAH since 2019 as the museum's first woman director, was asked no less than the following: - Are you sexualizing children? - Do you believe men can become women? - What *is* a woman? - When was *your* gender revealed to you? - Do you think it's the goal of the SI to promote White supremacy culture? - Is Mickey Mouse racist? - Is it important to be polite? - What is “Latina power?” - Do you think that it's appropriate for the SI to sell Latina power paraphernalia? - What about the tens of millions of aborted babies killed in America — where is the justice and compassion for them? _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Tell Us, O Muse, of Elon Musk's Racist AI Version of "The Odyssey" URL: https://hyperallergic.com/tell-us-o-muse-of-elon-musks-racist-ai-version-of-the-odyssey/ Last updated: 2026-07-27T23:11:33.000Z As audiences flock to theaters to watch [Christopher Nolan's reimagining of Odysseus' journey home](https://hyperallergic.com/a-homerist-reacts-to-christopher-nolans-the-odyssey/) from the Trojan War, Elon Musk has begun waging a battle of his own against the director. Taking to X on July 21, [Musk promised](https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2079758604656316619?s=20&ref=hyperallergic.com) to use his AI platform, Grok Imagine, to create his own full-length version of *The Odyssey* by the end of this year. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### The Smithsonian Is Not the President's Museum URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-smithsonian-is-not-the-presidents-museum/ Last updated: 2026-07-27T22:20:34.000Z In 1846, the Smithsonian Institution was established, in the words of its benefactor and namesake, British scientist James Smithson, “for the increase & diffusion of Knowledge among men.” Today, the 21 museums centered in Washington, DC, and more than 200 affiliates throughout the United States, have indeed increased and diffused knowledge in the maintenance of an astounding 157 million objects. Along with the preservation and distribution of knowledge — never a neutral term — these museums have been the site of discourse and debate, conversation and controversy, as any indispensable cultural institution should be. Over their long history, museums have “evolved to become institutions in which objects and learning are associated to help human beings understand the world around them,” writes John E. Simmons in [*Museums: A History*](https://bookshop.org/p/books/museums-a-history-john-e-simmons/11f1366372534632?ean=9781538171516&affiliate=539&ref=hyperallergic.com)(2022)*.* Even while such institutions have always bolstered official narratives and aggrandized governments, in an ostensibly democratic country, the Smithsonian has embodied Simmons’s observation with its legacy of being administered in a spirit of expertise rather than just by politics. During its nearly two-century history, the Smithsonian has had its share of controversies, especially during the recent battle of attrition that is the Culture Wars. Right-wing critics [accused](https://theconversation.com/with-its-executive-order-targeting-the-smithsonian-the-trump-administration-opens-up-a-new-front-in-the-history-wars-253397?ref=hyperallergic.com) the 1991 exhibition *The West as America, Reinterpreting Images of the Frontier, 1820-1920* at the Smithsonian American Art Museum of being anti-American. A 1995 exhibition at the National Air and Space Museum about the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which included the actual *Enola Gay* B-29 bomber that dropped the atomic bomb, [drew criticism from veterans’ groups.](https://history-on-trial.lib.lehigh.edu/trial/enola/?ref=hyperallergic.com) *Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture,* a 2010 exhibition of LGBTQ+ artists at the National Portrait Gallery, was denounced [by conservatives as being “anti-Christian”](https://hyperallergic.com/interview-david-c-ward/) because of a video art piece that featured 10 seconds of ants crawling on a crucifix. In all of these instances, the predictable occurred: Republican politicians fulminated and threatened to cancel federal funding, reactionary pundits bloviated and encouraged protest, and public debates (sometimes healthy and sometimes not) were waged around what the function of a museum should be. To varying degrees, such responses, and the responses to those responses, are expected markers of the discourse that defines democracy — though all of those exhibitions admirably served the institution’s original purpose outlined by Smithson. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/image-14.png) Demonstrators protesting against Trump’s executive actions aimed at the Smithsonian institution on May 3, 2025, in Washington, DC (photo by Craig Hudson/**Washington Post* via Getty Images) Last Friday, however, the Culture Wars [escalated in an ominous fashion](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-orders-installation-of-warning-signs-outside-smithsonian-museum/) when the Trump administration issued an executive order with the loaded title “Restoring Trust in the Smithsonian Institution.” The Secretary of the Interior, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the Administrator of General Services, and the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, it decreed, are now charged with installing “temporary signage along the \[National Park Service\]-maintained sidewalks and walkways used by the public to access the \[National Museum of American History\],” informing visitors of what the Executive Order terms “Ideological Capture.” _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Trump Orders Installation of Warning Signs Outside Smithsonian Museum URL: https://hyperallergic.com/trump-orders-installation-of-warning-signs-outside-smithsonian-museum/ Last updated: 2026-07-27T20:03:49.000Z President Trump has ordered federal officials to install content warning labels outside the Smithsonian National Museum of American History (NMAH) after his administration accused the institution of “[anti-white](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-accuses-smithsonian-of-anti-white-activism-in-draconian-new-report/)” practices. The order, issued on Friday, July 24, compels the Department of the Interior (DOI) to place “temporary signage along the NPS-maintained sidewalks and walkways used by the public to access the Museum.” The new signagewould display the findings from the administration’s recent [162-page report](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-accuses-smithsonian-of-anti-white-activism-in-draconian-new-report/) blasting the NMAH for its alleged “extreme political activism.” A spokesperson for the White House declined to provide information on when those signs would go up. The Smithsonian also declined to respond to *Hyperallergic’s* request for comment. Trump’s order is the latest — and most audacious — play in the administration’s ongoing attempt to alter the institution’s exhibits that portray negative aspects of American history, including anti-Latino discrimination, chattel slavery, and the struggle for women’s rights and gender parity. In his order, the president vowed to “take all available steps to ensure that the issues identified in the Report are addressed,” including a thinly veiled threat to revoke federal funding by evaluating the institution’s compliance with “funding or contract conditions.” The Smithsonian is a public-private organization that receives over $1 billion in federal appropriations each year. Trump’s mandate also accused the museum of not “appropriately honoring the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence during this 250th anniversary year.” In response, the president said he would display “temporary exhibits or signage" containing the administration’s preferred information about the signatories. Friday’s executive order came days after congressional Republicans grilled NMAH director and longtime public historian Anthea Hartig on museum content thatthe Trump administration finds problematic. Among the most inflammatory accusations madeagainst the NMAH in the July report was that the museum was promoting “citizenship for millions of illegal aliens” through an exhibition on [pluralism](https://americanhistory.si.edu/explore/exhibitions/many-voices?ref=hyperallergic.com) in the United States. It also repeatedly alleged anti-White bias within the institution. Hartig, who oversees only one of the institution’s 21 museums and zoos, found herself testifying in front of the House Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency on July 21 after she was accused of "advancing an ideological agenda contradictory to the Museum's founding purpose of fostering patriotism" in the government report. In a [short testimony](https://www.congress.gov/119/meeting/house/119481/witnesses/HHRG-119-GO16-Wstate-HartigA-20260721.pdf?ref=hyperallergic.com) to the subcommittee, Hartig defended her work at the museum and the NMAH's mission to "\[add\] the evidence, voices and objects that earlier tellings left out, so that more Americans can see themselves in the national story." She also continually denied any partisanship at the museum. In the over two-hour ordeal, Hartig fielded bizarre questions and remarks from Republican members of the subcommittee, including accusations that the museum sold “Latina power paraphernalia” and was “sexualized” through its display of imagery of drag queen RuPaul. At one point, ColoradoRepublican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert asked Hartig where the historian had received the authority to "turn the National Museum of American History into a vehicle for progressive political activism." While the current administration and congressional Republicans apply pressure to NMAH to change what the president does not agree with, [volunteer groups of citizen historians](https://hyperallergic.com/documenting-the-history-trump-wants-to-erase/) have documented exhibits and wall texts at the institution — and at National Park Service sites — fearing Trump-ordered changes. One such group, Citizen Historians, has already photographed the museum’s three floors, according to its [website](https://www.citizenhistorians.org/progress?ref=hyperallergic.com). Yale University American history professor David Blight testified alongside Hartig, as well as right-wing Heritage Foundation fellow Mike Gonzalez and former Heritage Foundation vice president Matthew Spalding. Taking questions from the first Gen-Z Congress member, Florida Democrat Maxwell Alejandro Frost, Blight speculated that Trump’s actions at the Smithsonian could be modeled after those of the 1937 Degenerate Art exhibition architect, Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels. “Dr. Blight, if Congress or the White House starts deciding historical or political interpretation, how is that different from political censorship?” Frost asked Blight. “It is political censorship,” Blight responded. Last week's Smithsonian attacks came days after the Trump administration [replaced](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-whitewashes-george-washingtons-slavery-history-in-new-display/) an exhibition on slavery in Philadelphia with language that minimized President George Washington's role in upholding the institution. The DOI has not yet responded to *Hyperallergic*'srequests for comment. *Staff Reporter Anna Lee contributed writing to this report.* ### Europeans Vote on New Leonardo da Vinci Banknote Design URL: https://hyperallergic.com/europeans-vote-on-new-leonardo-da-vinci-banknote-design/ Last updated: 2026-07-27T19:51:47.000Z Leonardo da Vinci could appear on the 100-euro banknote in a few years**,** and you can help make that happen. On Thursday, July 23, the European Central Bank (ECB) revealed 10 shortlisted design proposals for euro banknotes centered on either the theme of "European culture" or "rivers and birds" —marking the first full redesign of the bills since they began circulating in 2002\. Selected by an independent jury from a pool of over 1,200 graphic designers, the chosen artists hail from countries scattered across the European Union(EU). Each proposal includes respective designs for the five, 10, 20, 50, 100, and 200-euro banknotes, centered around two themes with strong public support, as determined by previous ECB-issued surveys. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Benjamin Moser on Frederic Edwin Church URL: https://hyperallergic.com/7-2/ Last updated: 2026-07-27T16:43:21.000Z We may be nearing the halfway point of summer, but Helen Levitt’s tender snapshots of New York City keep the humor and poetry of the streets alive year-round. A comprehensive book on the late photographer, who spent nearly seven decades documenting moments of levity and communion in the city’s working-class neighborhoods, is a perfect companion to ward off the mid-summer scaries — a reminder that the quiet joy of the everyday doesn’t rise and fall with the seasons. Critic Natalie Weis offers a reflection on the new tome today. Also in this edition, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and translator Benjamin Moser considers a biography of the intrepid Hudson River painter Frederic Edwin Church. He writes that the painter “managed to convey all the nation’s fears — of slavery, war, and disunion — through moody images of clouds and trees,” captured in the measured portrait by author Victoria Johnson. More art books to round out July below, including a callback to *Grand Finales: The Creative Longevity of Women Artists* by Susan Gubar, well worth a revisit as you line up your next summer reads. —*Lakshmi Rivera Amin, associate editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/levitt.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/helen-levitt-captured-the-poetry-of-new-york-city/) [ Helen Levitt Captured the Poetry of New York City ](https://hyperallergic.com/helen-levitt-captured-the-poetry-of-new-york-city/) Photographer Helen Levitt, who was born in Bensonhurst in 1913 and died at the age of 95 in her fifth-floor apartment in Greenwich Village, lived in New York City her entire life (save for a five-month sojourn to Mexico) and never lost her Flatbush accent. She was friends with photographers Henri Cartier-Bresson and Walker Evans, and, like the latter, collaborated with writer James Agee, but she never received the level of attention and acclaim that her male contemporaries did. Though Levitt is perhaps best known for her photographs of children’s chalk drawings in the 1930s, they comprise only a fraction of her six-decade practice, whose emotional complexity and formal innovation continue to captivate. The comprehensive book *Helen Levitt*, edited by Joshua Chuang, draws from the breadth of her output with rarely seen images and scholarly essays that focus on her early expeditions with a Leica, 1941 trip to Mexico, experiments with color photography, two series taken in the New York subway, and final photographs from the 1980s. | Natalie Weis [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/helen-levitt-captured-the-poetry-of-new-york-city/) --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/edwin-church-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-many-lives-of-frederic-edwin-church/) [ The Many Lives of Frederic Edwin Church ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-many-lives-of-frederic-edwin-church/) Victoria Johnson’s biography is a nuanced portrait of the artist, whose landscapes conveyed the anxieties of a nation struggling over slavery, war, and disunion. | Benjamin Moser [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-many-lives-of-frederic-edwin-church/) [ The Album Art Music Left Behind ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-album-art-music-left-behind/) Two projects examine the visual art and design that shape our perception of music, from Raymond Pettibon’s Foo Fighters record covers to the ephemera of bygone bands. | Divya Mehra [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-album-art-music-left-behind/) --- ## ICYMI [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/william-kentridge.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/a-natural-history-of-william-kentridges-studio/) [ A Natural History of William Kentridge’s Studio ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-natural-history-of-william-kentridges-studio/) Let it be said, the studio is a safe space for stupidity. A space where impulses can be given the benefit of the doubt. | William Kentridge [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-natural-history-of-william-kentridges-studio/) --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/women-artists-book.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/women-artists-who-found-freedom-in-old-age-grand-finales-susan-gunbar/) [ The Women Artists Who Found Freedom in Old Age ](https://hyperallergic.com/women-artists-who-found-freedom-in-old-age-grand-finales-susan-gunbar/) The artists profiled in Grand Finales refused to consign themselves to what the author calls “Little-Old-Lady-Land,” and opted to keep searching, pushing, and trying new things. | Sophia Stewart [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/women-artists-who-found-freedom-in-old-age-grand-finales-susan-gunbar/) ### An Exhibition Lets Self-Taught Artists Speak for Themselves URL: https://hyperallergic.com/an-exhibition-lets-self-taught-artists-speak-for-themselves/ Last updated: 2026-07-27T16:41:50.000Z It should come as no surprise that the term “outsider art” was coined not by any of the artists it applies to but by an “insider” academic, Roger Cardinal, in 1972\. This explains why the concept was limited to late 19th and early 20th-century “Sunday painters" like [Henri Rousseau](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/henri-rousseau/), [William Doriani](https://collection.folkartmuseum.org/people/3087/william-doriani?ref=hyperallergic.com), and [Morris Hirshfield](https://hyperallergic.com/the-singular-vision-of-morris-hirshfield/) rather than any of the preceding millennia of artists. Museums, too, have played a role in limiting how “outsider art” has been traditionally understood. Collectors and curators like [Jean and Howard Lipman](https://www.nytimes.com/1998/06/24/arts/jean-h-lipman-88-authority-on-folk-art-and-museum-patron.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) helped introduce European-American self-taught artists into the collections of North American art institutions like the Whitney and High Museums during the mid-20th century. But in doing so, they often overlooked myriad traditions — including ones that were geographically proximate, like Haudenosaunee art or Hopi Kachina carving. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### A Guerrilla Girl Drops Her Mask URL: https://hyperallergic.com/a-guerrilla-girl-drops-her-mask/ Last updated: 2026-07-27T10:00:47.000Z Four decades ago, the Guerrilla Girls changed the museum landscape for good. The collective has fought against sexism and racism in the art world ever since, all while keeping their identities anonymous — until now. Staff Writer Rhea Nayyar reports on artist Joyce Kozloff’s decision to reveal her role as a founding Guerrilla Girl last week. Also in the news, a MAGA-friendly artist’s sculpture of Thomas Jefferson is the latest addition to the Rose Garden, part of Trump’s plan to restructure the White House grounds. Further down the rabbit hole of technocracy, AI company Nvidia has stamped its CEO’s name onto the next iteration of San Francisco’s California College of the Arts, which will reopen as a satellite campus of Vanderbilt University. Elsewhere in the Bay Area, another vision of art and political engagement blooms in the work of Emory Douglas, former Black Panther Party culture minister. Critic Max Blue visits the 83-year-old artist’s survey exhibition for a bracing reminder that art can be a portal to a better world. *—Lakshmi Rivera Amin, associate editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/joyce-kozloff.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/joyce-kozloff-reveals-herself-as-guerrilla-girls-founding-member/) [ Joyce Kozloff Reveals Herself as Guerrilla Girls Founding Member ](https://hyperallergic.com/joyce-kozloff-reveals-herself-as-guerrilla-girls-founding-member/) Artist and activist Joyce Kozloff has taken off the mask after 41 years, disclosing in a new interview with *Art Journal Open* that she was among the founding members of the Guerrilla Girls. She also revealed that “Liubov Popova” was her assigned pseudonym within the collective, whose members took the names of late women artists to maintain their own anonymity. In 2016, she published a (sneaky) biographical essay in *Hyperallergic* that both examined and lauded the Russian artist’s creative evolution and career milestones throughout her unfortunately short life. | Rhea Nayyar [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/joyce-kozloff-reveals-herself-as-guerrilla-girls-founding-member/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/cranbrook-academy-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/cranbrook-academy-of-art-reopens-applications-for-fall-2026/) ****Cranbrook Academy of Art Reopens Applications for Fall 2026** The art institution is accepting applications from June 22 through August 15 for artists and designers considering graduate study. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/cranbrook-academy-of-art-reopens-applications-for-fall-2026/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/tj.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-installs-thomas-jefferson-statue-in-the-rose-garden/) - President Donald Trump [continues to furnish the White House Rose Garden](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-installs-thomas-jefferson-statue-in-the-rose-garden/) with statues of his favorite predecessors, most recently adding a bronze of the third US president, Thomas Jefferson. - Vanderbilt University’s new San Francisco arts and designcampus [will bear the name of Nvidia co-founder](https://hyperallergic.com/nvidia-ceo-pours-75m-into-san-francisco-art-campus/) Jensen (Jen-Hsun) Huang after the billionaire committed millions to the institution. --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/douglas-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/emory-douglass-lifetime-of-revolutionary-art/) [ Emory Douglas’s Lifetime of Revolutionary Art ](https://hyperallergic.com/emory-douglass-lifetime-of-revolutionary-art/) At age 83, the former Black Panther Party culture minister continues to explore the possibilities of unapologetically political art. | Max Blue [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/emory-douglass-lifetime-of-revolutionary-art/) [ Sable Elyse Smith Reveals the Shapes of State Violence ](https://hyperallergic.com/sable-elyse-smith-reveals-the-shapes-of-state-violence/) The artist’s critique of the prison-industrial complex simultaneously deepens and skewers the legacies of Minimalism. | Liz Kim [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/sable-elyse-smith-reveals-the-shapes-of-state-violence/) --- ## Community [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/AVFTE-7.24.26.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-142/) [ A View From the Easel: Shahryar Nashat ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-142/) “Always in stock: coffee, beer, tequila, and that Swiss chocolate named Ragusa.” [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-142/) --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/caricature.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/how-leonardo-da-vinci-monstrous-drawings-inspired-modern-caricature/) [ How Leonardo’s “Monstrous” Drawings Inspired Modern Caricature ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-leonardo-da-vinci-monstrous-drawings-inspired-modern-caricature/) “Grotesque Head of an Old Woman,” recently acquired by the National Gallery of Art, is one of several studies by Leonardo exploring exaggerated facial expression. | Elaine Velie [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-leonardo-da-vinci-monstrous-drawings-inspired-modern-caricature/) ### Christopher Nolan, David Hockney, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara URL: https://hyperallergic.com/christopher-nolan-david-hockney-luis-manuel-otero-alcantara/ Last updated: 2026-07-25T10:00:50.000Z After five years in a maximum-security prison outside Havana, Cuban dissident artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara was released and exiled to Miami. He's a free man now, but there's not much to celebrate. The US continues to choke the island, driving its people into despair. Justice is scarce both here and there. Meanwhile, everyone's talking about Christopher Nolan's film adaptation of *The Odyssey*, so we got a certified Homerist to review the film for us. "As a spectacle, the movie is a fantastic success," writes Joel P. Christensen of CUNY Graduate Center. "As a reflection of us, it fails." Now to a delicate subject: the late David Hockney's iPad paintings. Yes, the tablet device allowed him to continue making art in his sunset years, but must we pretend to like the outcome even if we don't? Our London critic Olivia McEwan thinks not. Scroll down to read about the political message behind a giant wiener in Times Square, the short-spined raccoon that became the darling of misfits everywhere, and the intense backlash over a Hollywood star's pair of earrings. Thanks for reading. I think I'll go see *The Odyssey* this weekend. *—Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/zendaya-newsletter.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/zendayas-earrings-are-part-of-a-much-bigger-problem/) [ Zendaya’s Earrings Are Part of a Much Bigger Problem ](https://hyperallergic.com/zendayas-earrings-are-part-of-a-much-bigger-problem/) Zendaya faced backlash for wearing a pair of 3,000-year-old Iranian gold discs at a London photocall for Christopher Nolan’s forthcoming adaptation of The Odyssey earlier this month. The discs, mounted in 18-karat gold and diamonds, were recently made into earrings by jeweler Glenn Spiro as part of his Materials of the Old World collection, and subsequently acquired by London jewelry house Barron London, who stated that they are part of the company’s private collection and not for sale. However, they did not belong on the red carpet at all. Described as a “voracious collector,” mesmerized by special artifacts “regardless of their provenance,” Spiro said in an interview about the collection, “You can wear something around your neck that dates back thousands of years but is still contemporary and cool.” One online review of Spiro’s collection perfectly captures the performative exoticism driving this kind of repurposing: “... fragments of forgotten empires are not merely displayed but reborn.” [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/zendayas-earrings-are-part-of-a-much-bigger-problem/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/BSFF26_Ad_Hyperallergic_2400x1350_West-Side-Familia-2-3.png)](https://hyperallergic.com/indie-film-from-the-global-majority-blackstar-celebrates-15-years-of-cinema-for-liberation/) ****Indie Film From the Global Majority: BlackStar Celebrates 15 Years of Cinema for Liberation** The world’s most significant and groundbreaking filmmakers of color will gather to showcase their work in Philadelphia August 6-9. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/indie-film-from-the-global-majority-blackstar-celebrates-15-years-of-cinema-for-liberation/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/ICA-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-art-institute-of-chicago-to-cut-its-entire-custodial-staff/) - The Art Institute of Chicago plans to [transfer its in-house custodial workforce](https://hyperallergic.com/the-art-institute-of-chicago-to-cut-its-entire-custodial-staff/) to a private contractor in August, drawing outcry from unionized workers. - Cuban dissident performance artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara [arrived in Miami](https://hyperallergic.com/cuban-artist-luis-manuel-otero-alcantara-exiled-to-the-us/) after over a week of ambiguity surrounding his whereabouts following his scheduled release from a five-year sentence for “contempt, defamation, and public disorder.” - New York Chinatown residents and activists protested outside a town hall event at the Museum of Chinese in America, [condemning the leadership’s acceptance of a $35 million grant](https://hyperallergic.com/protesters-decry-chinatown-museums-acceptance-of-jail-money-at-town-hall/) from the city that they believe is tied to the construction of a boroughjail. - Following a legal battle between the city of Philadelphia and the Trump administration, federal officials [replaced exhibits](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-whitewashes-george-washingtons-slavery-history-in-new-display/) describing the history of slavery in the United States at a Pennsylvania historical park. - A newly shared [letter reveals](https://hyperallergic.com/r/1d1d9735?m=2265e2cb-91a3-4b1d-95e8-e0f79ad93e64) that alleged “racist” and “culturally insensitive” behaviors contributed to Yuko Kikuchi’s January resignation from her post as head of academic programs at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. - Tate [names Jessica Morgan](https://hyperallergic.com/tate-names-dia-leader-jessica-morgan-as-next-director/), who led the Dia Art Foundation in New York for over a decade, as its next director. - Two painters [are suing The Hole Gallery](https://hyperallergic.com/artists-sue-nyc-gallery-the-hole-for-nonpayment/), alleging that it owes them a combined sum of about $50,000 in outstanding sales proceeds. - Collectors Anne and Arthur Goldstein [gift over 70 works](https://hyperallergic.com/juliana-huxtable-and-mark-bradford-in-major-gift-to-the-zimmerli-art-museum/) of modern and contemporary art to the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University. - Dmitriy Popov [was handed a 20-year sentence](https://hyperallergic.com/man-sentenced-to-20-years-for-fatally-stabbing-nyc-vogue-dancer/) over the fatal stabbing of Black gay professional dancer O’Shae Sibley. The sentencing comes after Popov was convicted of manslaughter as a hate crime in June. - Just weeks before a historic collection of 20th-century Mexican art is slated to leave the country for an exhibition in Europe, a group of advocates is [suing Mexico’s principal cultural entity](https://hyperallergic.com/activists-sue-to-stop-frida-kahlo-works-from-leaving-mexico/) over allegations regarding the legal basis for exporting the nation’s artistic heritage. - Just a few months after the reopening of the New Museum’s expanded building, a [water leak shut down](https://hyperallergic.com/new-museums-shiny-new-building-leaks-during-flash-floods/) the Manhattan institution for a full weekend. - The New York Foundation for the Arts [awards $903,000 to 132 artists](https://hyperallergic.com/r/63903a42?m=2265e2cb-91a3-4b1d-95e8-e0f79ad93e64) across New York State in its joint fellowship program with the New York State Council on the Arts. - [Art Movements](https://hyperallergic.com/meet-the-curators-of-the-next-made-in-la/): Michael Wellen and José Luis Blondet are the curators of the next *Made in L.A*., Tate names a new director, and the Immigrant Artist Biennial is back for another edition. ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/odyssey.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/a-homerist-reacts-to-christopher-nolans-the-odyssey/) [ A Homerist Reacts to Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-homerist-reacts-to-christopher-nolans-the-odyssey/) “This is a tale of a man affected by trauma, but without any sense that it changed him at all.” | Joel Christensen [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-homerist-reacts-to-christopher-nolans-the-odyssey/) [ You Can Love David Hockney and Still Hate His iPad Paintings ](https://hyperallergic.com/you-can-love-david-hockney-and-still-hate-his-ipad-paintings/) No amount of curatorial artspeak counters the sense that the late artist’s massive digital painting lacks the inventive mark-making and use of color that characterized his life’s work. | Olivia McEwan [Read More ](hhttps://hyperallergic.com/you-can-love-david-hockney-and-still-hate-his-ipad-paintings/) [ The Sunflower Effect of Kyung-Me ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-sunflower-effect-of-kyung-me/) The artist’s current series marks a shift in her practice, evoking the life span of a sunflower — from blooming to dying, from sharply defined forms to rivulets of dissolution. | John Yau [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-sunflower-effect-of-kyung-me/) [ Helen Levitt Captured the Poetry of New York City ](https://hyperallergic.com/helen-levitt-captured-the-poetry-of-new-york-city/) A new survey publication serves as a testament to the photographer’s belief that the city’s working-class communities of color possessed a beauty and drama all their own. | Natalie Weis [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/helen-levitt-captured-the-poetry-of-new-york-city/) [ Trevor Winkfield’s Cheerfully Sinister Worlds ](https://hyperallergic.com/trevor-winkfields-cheerfully-sinister-worlds/) His rejection of certainty is an urgent reminder that imagination should not be neglected in the pursuit of art. | John Yau [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/trevor-winkfields-cheerfully-sinister-worlds/) --- ## Features [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/american-pageant.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/giant-wieners-drag-queens-and-curtis-sliwa-at-the-most-american-pageant-ever/) [ Giant Wieners, Drag Queens, and Curtis Sliwa at “The Most American Pageant Ever!” ](https://hyperallergic.com/giant-wieners-drag-queens-and-curtis-sliwa-at-the-most-american-pageant-ever/) The absurdist performance art event at Times Square felt more like an elegy during this national moment. | Hrag Vartanian [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/giant-wieners-drag-queens-and-curtis-sliwa-at-the-most-american-pageant-ever/) [ How Jimothy the Raccoon Became a Hero of the Misfits ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-jimothy-the-raccoon-became-a-hero-of-the-misfits/) The short-spined Seattle animal with an unfettered spirit has been honored in fan art, tattoos, and murals. | Rhea Nayyar [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-jimothy-the-raccoon-became-a-hero-of-the-misfits/) [ A Living Memorial to Palestinian Activist Alex Odeh Takes Flight ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-living-memorial-to-palestinian-activist-alex-odeh-takes-flight/) “The Stolen Dove” is a participatory project that turns a decades-old monument into an artwork to keep the scholar and civil rights leader’s memory alive. | Matt Stromberg [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-living-memorial-to-palestinian-activist-alex-odeh-takes-flight/) [ Sabri Sundos Faces Catastrophe With Flowers ](https://hyperallergic.com/sabri-sundos-faces-catastrophe-with-flowers/) “I am obsessed with autonomy and movement,” the Palestinian-American artist tells Hyperallergic in an interview. | Samantha Jensen [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/sabri-sundos-faces-catastrophe-with-flowers/) --- ## Community [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/louvre.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/required-reading-794/) - [Required Reading](https://hyperallergic.com/required-reading-794/): The Louvre reopens the room where it happens, a Texas artist’s outdoor collection, Nancy Drew in the public domain, Rachel Cusk and Natalie Portman have beef, and more. - [In Memoriam](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-christine-borland-john-will-and-astrid-furnival/): we honor Christine Borland, an artist who explored human fragility through science; Astrid Furnival, a pioneering British textile artist; Vicente Matallana, a champion of digital art, and more. - [A View From the Easel](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-140/): Patrick Guetta repurposes brand imagery to spread environmentalist messages and approaches the streets of Los Angeles as mini museums in themselves. ### Joyce Kozloff Reveals Herself as Guerrilla Girls Founding Member URL: https://hyperallergic.com/joyce-kozloff-reveals-herself-as-guerrilla-girls-founding-member/ Last updated: 2026-07-27T20:35:54.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/GettyImages-949580188.jpg) Joyce Kozloff attends the opening reception for **Local Editions: Prints by New York Artists* (2018) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (photo Taylor Hill via [Getty Images](https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/joyce-kozloff-attends-the-opening-reception-for-local-news-photo/949580188?adppopup=true&ref=hyperallergic.com)) Artist and activist [Joyce Kozloff](https://hyperallergic.com/joyce-kozloffs-patterns-of-resistance/) has taken off the mask after 41 years, disclosing in a new interview with [*Art Journal Open*](https://artjournal.collegeart.org/?p=19775&ref=hyperallergic.com) that she was among the founding members of the Guerrilla Girls. She also revealed that “Liubov Popova” was her assigned pseudonym within the collective, whose members took the names of late women artists to maintain their own anonymity. In 2016, she published a (sneaky) biographical essay in [*Hyperallergic*](https://hyperallergic.com/liubov-popova-an-homage/) that both examined and lauded the Russian artist's creative evolution and career milestones throughout her unfortunately short life. “No one pressed me into coming out,” Kozloff explained in an email to *Hyperallergic* after the interview had come out. “Over the years, there were many members of the community who knew at least some of our identities. But there was a closing of the ranks to protect us, which always moved me. It never leaked to the press. We used to say, when asked, ‘All women are Guerrilla Girls,’ and I believe that.” The artist added that over 50 women have been inducted into the Guerrilla Girls since 1985, and that “most, but not all, of the women have already come out.” _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Nvidia CEO Pours $75M Into San Francisco Art Campus URL: https://hyperallergic.com/nvidia-ceo-pours-75m-into-san-francisco-art-campus/ Last updated: 2026-08-03T14:36:49.000Z Vanderbilt University's new San Francisco arts and designcampus will bear the name of Nvidia co-founder Jensen (Jen-Hsun) Huang after the billionaire committed millions to the institution. The university announced this week that the AI chipmaker and his wife, Lori Huang, gifted $75 million to establish the Jen-Hsun and Lori Huang College of Art, Architecture and Design. The controversial campus will [replace the nearly 120-year-old California College of the Arts](https://hyperallergic.com/vanderbilt-university-buys-california-college-of-the-arts-raising-questions/) (CCA), San Francisco's last remaining private art school. The beloved nonprofit institution, which grants bachelor's and master's degrees across artistic disciplines, was purchased by Vanderbilt amid financial struggles caused by a decline in enrollment and a growing budget deficit. The Huangs donated a [$22.5 million](https://www.highereddive.com/news/struggling-california-college-of-the-arts-45M-donations-nividia-founder-jen-hsun/740800/?ref=hyperallergic.com) matching gift to CCA in February 2025 to help stabilizethe institution's shaky finances. However, not even a full year later, CCA announced that it would cease operating after the 2026–2027 academic year, and that the Potrero Hill campus would be subsumed by Vanderbilt. Not everyone in the local art community is happy with Huang's donation. "These billionaires would much rather play God and remake our art schools in their own image than support a 120-year-old legacy fine art school," Lindsey White, a San Francisco-based artist, educator, and CCA alum, told *Hyperallergic*. "In both CCA and [SFAI](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-142/) cases, billionaires with zero experience in the arts have taken over major real estate, leaving local artists, educators, and workers in a dystopian nightmare," White continued. "Sadly, it seems our local government didn't see the value in saving the last fine art school in Northern California either." California Governor Gavin Newsom had worked to secure a [$20 million public grant](https://www.cca.edu/newsroom/cca-statement-on-state-of-california-grant/?ref=hyperallergic.com) in 2025 to keep the private institution afloat despite significant opposition from state lawmakers. At the time, the governor [argued](https://sfstandard.com/2026/01/16/newsom-cca-california-college-arts-closure/?ref=hyperallergic.com) that though it was atypical for the government to fund a private college, the state should fund CCA to safeguard its cultural sector amid Trump's attacks on the arts. He later [expressed shock](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-142/) at the school's closure, but critics said he should've seen it coming. Huang co-founded Nvidia, a manufacturer of graphics processing units (GPUs)now widely used to power artificial intelligence programs, in a Denny's restaurant booth in 1993\. In May, the chipmaker reached a valuation of [$5.5 trillion](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nvidia-hits-record-5-5-165655802.html?ref=hyperallergic.com), the highest in the history of publicly traded companies. According to the university's [announcement](https://news.vanderbilt.edu/2026/07/21/vanderbilt-to-establish-the-jen-hsun-and-lori-huang-college-of-art-architecture-and-design-in-san-francisco/?ref=hyperallergic.com), the Huangs donated the large sum out of their belief that "creative practice \[is\] one of innovation’s most essential engines." “Technology expands what we can build," Jensen Huang said in the press release issued earlier this week. "Art and design determine why we build it. Together they shape civilization." In an op-ed about the closure of CCA in the [*San Francisco Chronicle*](https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/cca-vanderbilt-san-francisco-mayor-lurie-art-sfai-21298258.php?ref=hyperallergic.com) earlier this year, local gallerist Griff Williams warned that "corporate interests seem to eclipse all else in San Francisco." "Mayor Lurie, the closure of the California College of the Arts is a tragedy for the city, not a **'**win,**'**" he wrote. "It’s another blow to the legacy of the heroes who made San Francisco unique: Joan Brown, David Ireland, Bruce Conner, Hung Liu, Hank Willis Thomas, Dewey Crumpler, Robert Arneson, Manuel Neri, Harrell Fletcher, Jim Goldberg, Viola Frey, Ted Purves, Dodie Bellamy and Susan O’Malley, to name a few." ### Trump Installs Thomas Jefferson Statue in the Rose Garden URL: https://hyperallergic.com/trump-installs-thomas-jefferson-statue-in-the-rose-garden/ Last updated: 2026-07-24T20:17:33.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/IMG_8870.jpeg) The Thomas Jefferson statue from sculptor George Lundeen's home in Loveland, Colorado. (Courtesy George Lundeen). President Donald Trump continues to furnish the White House Rose Garden with statues of his favorite predecessors, most recently adding a bronze of the third US President, Thomas Jefferson. Made by Colorado-based artist George Lundeen, the statue portrays the founding father seated on a bench with a quill in his hand and the Declaration of Independence on his lap. He looks into the distance, as if he's pausing to ponder while authoring the historical document. The Jefferson piece marks the fifth addition to Trump's Rose Garden, which already contains sculptures of George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, and "Freedom's Charge" — a statue depicting two Revolutionary War soldiers. In a statement to *Hyperallergic*, Lundeen said that he had completed the statue 25 years ago. "Without Thomas Jefferson, you have to wonder whether there would be a United States of America," he said. The artist also collaborated on a [statue](https://www.reporterherald.com/2025/02/04/lundeen-sculpture-in-loveland-creates-bronze-trump-statue/?ref=hyperallergic.com) of the president holding a "Make America Great Again" hat and pumping the air with his fist — a posture meant to capture Trump's reaction immediately after the [2024 assassination attempt](https://hyperallergic.com/sable-elyse-smith-reveals-the-shapes-of-state-violence/)in Butler, Pennsylvania. That piece now resides in Trump's golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida. Implementing the Jefferson statue is one of Trump's latest efforts to reshape the White House Grounds and DC at large. Since [renovations to the Rose Garden](https://hyperallergic.com/melania-trumps-revamped-rose-garden-is-rough-around-the-hedges/) began in 2020, Trump has razed the Kennedy-Era Lawn in favor of a Mar-a-Lago-style patio, and installed a "Presidential Walk of Fame" with portraits of all US presidents except for Joe Biden, who was sarcastically replaced with an autopen device. Trump's aesthetic aims extend to other parts of the capital city. In June, six heritage preservation groups based in Washington, DC, [sued the Trump administration](https://hyperallergic.com/heritage-groups-sue-trump-over-garden-of-american-heroes/) over its plans to create a "Garden of American Heroes" in West Potomac Park. The garden is meant to include 250 American heroes, from Muhammad Ali and Frederick Douglass, to divisive figures like Christopher Columbus, whose likeness made an [earlier appearance](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-erects-contentious-columbus-statue-outside-white-house/) in the White House compound in March. ### Sable Elyse Smith Reveals the Shapes of State Violence URL: https://hyperallergic.com/sable-elyse-smith-reveals-the-shapes-of-state-violence/ Last updated: 2026-07-27T16:22:15.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/2-2.jpg) Sable Elyse Smith, “Coloring Book 111” (2022), screen printing ink, oil stick, and oil pastel on paper (all photos Liz Kim/**Hyperallergic*) AUSTIN — A sustained critique of the United States carceral system runs through Sable Elyse Smith's work. [*Clockwork*](https://thecontemporaryaustin.org/exhibitions/sable-elyse-smith-clockwork/?ref=hyperallergic.com) at the Contemporary Austin, the culmination of her winning the 2026 Suzanne Deal Booth / FLAG Art Foundation Prize, consists mainly of paintings appropriating prison coloring books for visiting children on the first floor, and large-scale sculptures and installations on the second. Seen as a whole, Smith’s work co-opts Minimalism’s repetition and seriality as a metaphor for structural injustice, drawing attention to the rhythmic qualities of technological and administrative tyranny. The coloring books Smith adapts were originally created to help children emotionally absorb the violence of incarceration. Smith’s transformations seem to liquefact their pictures and texts so that they melt the foundations of the institutions they represent. Two works share the same page design, a waiting room of a courthouse filled with families as well as an assortment of creatures, asking — absurdly — “What 10 things don’t belong in this picture?” One version of Smith’s coloring scheme blocks in a select number of the human figures in solid blue, turning them into police officers as omnipotent institutional authority, while the other version places x’s and o’s across figures and faces, referencing the oppressiveness of such spaces. Smith rightly shifts the ludicrous question of belonging into a critique of recurrent power structures. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Emory Douglas’s Lifetime of Revolutionary Art URL: https://hyperallergic.com/emory-douglass-lifetime-of-revolutionary-art/ Last updated: 2026-07-27T16:23:02.000Z SAN FRANCISCO — Emory Douglas honed his craft in the trenches of political artmaking. The artist first learned the basics of commercial printing while serving a 15-month sentence at a juvenile correctional facility at the age of 13; later, he became the minister of culture for the Black Panther Party, where he designed the party’s [newspaper](https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/black-panther/?ref=hyperallergic.com) and shaped the group’s political aesthetic. Douglas’s deep-seated understanding of the strength of printed material and critical eye toward oppressive power structures have remained key features of his work for decades. Now, the 83-year-old artist is the subject of the survey exhibition [*Emory Douglas: In Our Lifetime*](https://aaacc.org/emory-douglas/?ref=hyperallergic.com)at San Francisco’s African American Art and Culture Complex, complete with paintings, prints, and political cartoons spanning decades and issues. It makes the case that to be a contemporary artist, one must remain politically engaged, ever navigating and responding to the times they live in. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### A View From the Easel URL: https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-142/ Last updated: 2026-07-24T15:22:24.000Z Welcome to the 347thinstallment of A View From the Easel, a series in which artists reflect on their workspace. This week, Shahryar Nashat sculpts along to the sounds of Kelis's "Milkshake" and experiments with "a nautical glue the color of honey." Want to take part? Check out our [submission guidelines](https://hyperallergic.com/submit-your-workspace-to-a-view-from-the-easel/) and share a bit about your studio with us through [this form](https://forms.gle/Erq7cyGEmMUxKrLe9?ref=hyperallergic.com)! All mediums and workspaces are welcome, including your home studio. --- ## [Shahryar Nashat](https://www.instagram.com/shahryar.nashat?ref=hyperallergic.com), Asnières-sur-Seine, France ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/SN1---Hannah-Reilly-1.jpg) ***How long have you been working in this space?*** Three years this September. Although the space is similar to my former studio in Glendale, California, the journey couldn’t be different. Before, I drove by car through Laurel Canyon to the 101, then east on the 134 into Glendale. By the time you reached the studio, you’d already passed through a few different versions of Los Angeles. Here in Paris, it’s two wheels from the 11th, heading north through the 18th via République, watching the city thin out until you cross the Seine. Asnières-sur-Seine, just north of Paris, is also home to one of the first pet cemeteries in the world: le Cimetière des Chiens et Autres Animaux Domestiques. ***Describe an average day in your studio.*** Regular hours help structure the days and keep things moving when the direction of the work isn’t set yet. Always in stock: coffee, beer, tequila, and that Swiss chocolate named Ragusa (so close to a palindrome it hurts). Music is almost always on. Badalamenti’s *Twin Peaks* score only plays for difficult mold-making sessions. Lately it’s been ’90s: Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, Aaliyah, or Kelis. “I can teach you, but I have to charge.” ***How does the space affect your work?*** Making changes the work, but the inspiration never starts in the studio. The right tools, a good night’s sleep. That’s where it’s at. Light’s important too. This is what I miss from the West Coast days: the bright sunlight for forensic examinations and the roll-up gate. Scrolling it down was always a ritual, the sound of the day ending, whether it was a good one or if it all went to shite. ***How do you interact with the environment outside your studio?*** There are a handful of other artists in the building. All good people. My good friend Cooper Jacoby has a space here too. We have coffee and exchange notes on silicone cure times. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/SN2---Hannah-Reilly.jpg) ***What do you love about your studio?*** The proximity to Nouilles Fraîches Tibétaines on avenue Laurent Cély. The name speaks for itself. Fresh, homemade, and delicious. The same satisfaction as a burrito from El Sauz Tacos with Gabriel, at the corner of Chevy Chase and San Fernando Road. ***What do you wish were different?*** A little less warm in the summer, a little less cold in the winter. ***What is your favorite local museum?*** The Gustave Moreau Museum. Former studio, now museum, or mausoleum … all in one. This place is absurd. The main gallery is two stories tall with a massive skylight, and the walls are completely covered with paintings and drawings. It’s overwhelming in the best way. André Breton called it the most moving of all museums. ***What is your favorite art material to work with?*** Papier-mâché. A nautical glue the color of honey. More recently, Fabrican: a spray-on fabric that made its way down a bridal runway on Bella Hadid at Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week a couple years ago, and which I used to “dress” the Mothers sculptures currently on show at Gladstone on 64th Street in Manhattan. All are studio regulars. Oh, and anything acrylic by Golden. ### The Biggest American Wiener URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-biggest-american-wiener/ Last updated: 2026-07-24T10:01:00.000Z Picture yourself in front of a giant wiener on a hot summer day right in the heart of Times Square. You watch a talent competition featuring a drag Melania Trump, a UPS worker dropping off boxes full of Epstein files, a "clay woman," and one of the jurors is Curtis Sliwa in his red beret. Am I making this up? No. That's what Editor-at-Large Hrag Vartanian saw at the very real *The Most American Pageant Ever!* and you know what, it's the sanest thing you've seen in a while. Speaking of bizarre things happening on this country's 250th anniversary, the quill of an 1834 statue of Thomas Jefferson broke while it was being moved inside a New York museum. In an opinion piece today, scholar and activist Todd Fine calls on Mayor Mamdani to reclaim the city-owned sculpture and use it as a symbol against "MAGA and Silicon Valley authoritarianism." Enjoy reading and Happy Friday! *—Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/america-pageant.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/giant-wieners-drag-queens-and-curtis-sliwa-at-the-most-american-pageant-ever/) [ Giant Wieners, Drag Queens, and Curtis Sliwa at “The Most American Pageant Ever!” ](https://hyperallergic.com/giant-wieners-drag-queens-and-curtis-sliwa-at-the-most-american-pageant-ever/) Watching Curtis Sliwa watch comedian Spike Einbinder — brother of *Hacks star Hannah Einbinder* and son of *Saturday Night Live* alum Laraine Newman — get shot in a comedic recreation of the former New York City Republican mayoral candidate’s infamous 1992 kidnapping and shooting was the kind of experience I’ll remember for the rest of my life. Thankfully, the other parts of the performance were just as absurd, verging on the erratic, which was pitch-perfect for *The Most American Pageant Ever!*, an event billed as a “renewed portrait of America,” though it often felt more like an elegy during the nation’s semiquincentennial year. | Hrag Vartanian [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/giant-wieners-drag-queens-and-curtis-sliwa-at-the-most-american-pageant-ever/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/grants.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/132-new-york-artists-receive-903-000-in-grants/) - The New York Foundation for the Arts [awards $903,000 to 132 artists](https://hyperallergic.com/132-new-york-artists-receive-903-000-in-grants/) across New York State in its joint fellowship program with the New York State Council on the Arts. - A newly shared [letter reveals](https://hyperallergic.com/former-v-a-academic-programs-head-accuses-museum-of-racist-behavior/) that alleged “racist” and “culturally insensitive” behaviors contributed to Yuko Kikuchi’s January resignation from her post as head of academic programs at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. --- ## Opinions [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/jefferson-statue.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/mayor-mamdani-should-reclaim-the-citys-jefferson-statue/) [ Mayor Mamdani Should Reclaim the City’s Jefferson Statue ](https://hyperallergic.com/mayor-mamdani-should-reclaim-the-citys-jefferson-statue/) The fact that the quill of David d’Angers’s statue of the third US president broke during the nation’s 250th anniversary provides more than an irresistible symbolic trope. | Todd Fine [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/mayor-mamdani-should-reclaim-the-citys-jefferson-statue/) --- ## Community [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/7.23.26-required-reading.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/required-reading-794/) [ Required Reading ](https://hyperallergic.com/required-reading-794/) This week: the Louvre reopens the room where it happens, a Texas artist’s outdoor collection, Nancy Drew in the public domain, Rachel Cusk and Natalie Portman have beef, and more. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/required-reading-794/) [ Meet the Curators of the Next *Made in LA* ](https://hyperallergic.com/meet-the-curators-of-the-next-made-in-la/) Michael Wellen and José Luis Blondet get the nod, Tate names a new director, and the Immigrant Artist Biennial is back for another edition. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/meet-the-curators-of-the-next-made-in-la/) --- ## Member Comment When acrylics became available, initially, oil painters cried, "Foul." Digital comes along as a tool. It looks different, and flower blobs seem to harken back to Impressionism in concept, if not in brushwork. Different tools provide different outcomes. What I appreciate is "knowing" what tools are used although we tend not to expect identifying if an oil painting was applied with brush, palette knife, sponge, body parts or other, unless writing signage or an article where more depth is required. My question is: Mixed Media - should this catchall descriptor now include AI, or in today's Hockney article, iPad? —Ann Grasso on “[You Can Love David Hockney and Still Hate His iPad Paintings](https://hyperallergic.com/you-can-love-david-hockney-and-still-hate-his-ipad-paintings/)” --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/james-baldwin.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/celebrating-the-singular-beauty-of-james-baldwin-god-made-my-face/) [ Celebrating James Baldwin’s Radical Beauty ](https://hyperallergic.com/celebrating-the-singular-beauty-of-james-baldwin-god-made-my-face/) In *God Made My Face*, artists and critics reflect on seeing themselves through the late metamorphic writer’s work. | Jasmine Weber [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/celebrating-the-singular-beauty-of-james-baldwin-god-made-my-face/) ### 132 New York Artists Receive $903,000 in Grants URL: https://hyperallergic.com/132-new-york-artists-receive-903-000-in-grants/ Last updated: 2026-07-27T16:43:42.000Z The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) has awarded $903,000 to 132 artists across New York State in its joint fellowship program with the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA). The program gives unrestricted cash grants of $8,000 to artists working in five disciplines, which rotate every year. This year's recognized disciplines included craft and sculpture; digital and electronic arts; nonfiction literature; poetry; and printmaking, drawing, and book arts. Selected from a pool of 3,985 applicants, the awarded artists are all based in New York and range in age from 25 to 90\. The NYSCA/NYFA program also announced 16 finalists, who will receive NYFA services and unrestricted cash grants of $1,000. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Former V&A Academic Programs Head Accuses Museum of “Racist” Behavior URL: https://hyperallergic.com/former-v-a-academic-programs-head-accuses-museum-of-racist-behavior/ Last updated: 2026-07-24T19:57:15.000Z A newly shared letter reveals that alleged "racist" and "culturally insensitive" behaviors contributed to Yuko Kikuchi's January resignation from her post as head of academic programs at the Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum in London. In a January 26 letter she shared with [*The Art Newspaper*](https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2026/07/20/head-of-victoria-albert-museum-academic-programmes-resigned-citing-racist-and-culturally-insensitive-behaviours-letter-reveals?ref=hyperallergic.com), Kikuchi cited pushback on her proposals, feelings of marginalization among senior staff as the only person of color, and microaggressions—all of which impeded her mental health. Writing directly to V&A Director Tristram Hunt and museum research committeetrustees, she indicated there was "a culture of systemic racism within the organisation that ... needs to be addressed." The Tokyo-born researcher has lived in the UK for over three decades, where she founded a dedicated research hub for transnational arts and continues to teach craft and design history. Upon her appointment to the museum in 2023, however, Kikuchi wrote in her letter that "she felt unwelcome from day one." ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Victoria_and_Albert_Museum-_London-_01.jpg) A gallery displaying some of the 2 million-plus objects in the V&A collection (photo Gualdim G via [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Victoria%5Fand%5FAlbert%5FMuseum,%5FLondon,%5F01.jpg?ref=hyperallergic.com)) Her former position required her to develop the museum's educational content and curricula, which offers undergraduate and postgraduate opportunities. Some programs are institutional collaborations, such as the history of design MA program with the Royal College of Art (RCA), which Kikuchi helped lead. Given her research on East Asian histories in places like Britain, Kikuchi pitched her colleagues about adding decolonization material to the MA program in 2024\. She told *The Art Newspaper* that other V&A tutors pushed backon that material, suggesting it be moved to the second term in favor of a "Eurocentric curriculum" in the first. It was also alleged that a senior colleague asked Kikuchi to refrain from using words like "decolonial" and "post-colonial" when speaking to other museum staff, which the [V&A 2025-2026 annual report](https://vanda-production-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/2026/07/21/10/15/02/11c8136f-5d96-481c-9111-7352af12e3bb/VARPT%202026%20-%20Accessibility%20Passed.pdf?ref=hyperallergic.com) lists as 65% White (among those who chose to declare their racial identity). Included in Kikuchi's letter were the signatures of a dozen academics, and an appendix with student testimonials recounting other alleged instances of cultural insensitivity, racial discrimination, and problematic curricula. In a joint statement shared with *Hyperallergic,* the V&A and RCA expressed their commitment to "stand firmly against unlawful discrimination in all its forms, and take any incidents of discrimination or reporting of unsafe learning environments extremely seriously." The statement also expressed a focus on strengthening the MA program through student engagement, and a joint effort to "support a global and inclusive curriculum." In the closing remarks, the museum insisted that it's "actively interrogating its colonial heritage through its public programmes, education initiatives and collections research." Kikuchi has not yet responded to *Hyperallergic*'s request for comment. According to the letter reviewed by *The Art Newspaper*, one student stated that a museum course omitted the experiences of enslaved people in discussions of 18th-century Jamaica, opting to explore the feelings of the white population instead. Another stated that a lecturer "shut the conversation down" when asked whether the V&A would consider repatriation efforts for the museum's collection of Maqdala objects. During the 1868 expedition toAbyssinia, the British army looted a number of Maqdala objects from Ethiopia, several of which — including a golden crown, precious golden vessels, and cultural garb — have resided within the V&A for over a century. Discussions of repatriation have repeatedly come up in conversations with Hunt, who became director ofthe V&A in 2017\. One year into his tenure, he ruled out a full restitution of the looted Maqdala objects, as he's restricted by the 1983 National Heritage Act, which places severe restrictions on repatriation of cultural objects.Hunt has repeatedly criticized the law, [calling](https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2026/07/20/as-andy-burnham-becomes-the-new-uk-prime-minister-here-are-five-key-challenges-facing-his-culture-ministry?ref=hyperallergic.com) it “both outdated and infantilizing for trustees of the national museums affected by it.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Darwin_Building_Entrance-_Royal_College_of_Art-_Jay_Mews.jpg) The Royal College of Art, which is also located in South Kensington, oversees a joint postgraduate program with the V&A. (photo Shadow Settle via [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Darwin%5FBuilding%5FEntrance,%5FRoyal%5FCollege%5Fof%5FArt,%5FJay%5FMews.jpg?ref=hyperallergic.com)) Just over a year ago, a group of Year 10 schoolchildren from Bristol also alleged inappropriate racial behaviors from V&A staff, with one member of the school staff [setting up a petition](https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/top-london-museum-reviewing-incident-10336775?ref=hyperallergic.com) to boycott and demand an apology from the museum. The museum has made some efforts to combat their allegations of discrimination, including the introduction of inclusivity training for staff members and the launch of an Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion forum. Speaking to *The Art Newspaper*, Kikuchi expressed that, given the alleged stressors of the job and itsimpact on her mental health, from poor sleep to depressive symptoms, she realized she could no longer stay there. "I was very, very excited about this job," she reportedly said. "I really didn't expect to quit after two years." **Editor's Note, 7/24/2026, 3:55 EDT:* This article has been amended to represent a more accurate picture of V&A Director Tristram Hunt's statements about repatriation of cultural objects.* ### Meet the Curators of the Next “Made in LA” URL: https://hyperallergic.com/meet-the-curators-of-the-next-made-in-la/ Last updated: 2026-07-23T20:37:07.000Z [*Art Movements,*](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/art-movements/) *published every Thursday afternoon, is a roundup of must-know news, appointments, awards, and other happenings in today’s chaotic art world.* --- ### Who's Making "Made in L.A."? According to the Hammer Museum, that'll be **Michael Wellen** and **José Luis Blondet**. The *Made in L.A.* biennial at the Hammer Museum — now in its eighth edition, though modeled after the now-defunct biennial *Hammer Invitational —* exhibits new and recent work by artists living or working in Los Angeles, as well as commissions new ones. It's slated to open in fall 2027\. Each edition pairs two curators, usually one from the Hammer and the other from outside. Wellen joined the museum this past April as its chief curator; he was previously senior curator of International Art at Tate Modern. Blondet, meanwhile, is senior curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; before that, he spent 13 years at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Made in LA, indeed. ### Tate Gets a New Director ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/image-11.png) A portrait of Jessica Morgan, incoming director of Tate (photo Gabriela Herman, courtesy Tate) Meanwhile, a stateside curator goes back to Tate. **Jessica Morgan** will direct Tate and its four gallery sites starting in 2027\. She joins the British institution after more than 10 years directing the Dia Art Foundation, overseeing a major renovation of its Chelsea location and expanding its collection of work by women and Black artists during her tenure. Morgan succeeds **Maria Balshaw**, who directed Tate for nine years and stepped down this past spring. [*Read more on Hyperallergic*](https://hyperallergic.com/tate-names-dia-leader-jessica-morgan-as-next-director/) ### What Else Happened? - **Ainsley M. Cameron** was appointed associate director of curatorial affairs at the Block Museum of Art in Evanston, Illinois. - **Yuko Kikuchi**, the former head of academic programs at London's Victoria and Albert Museum, [claims](https://hyperallergic.com/former-v-a-academic-programs-head-accuses-museum-of-racist-behavior/) she resigned this past January due to a "culture of systemic racism." - **Ferran Barenblit** was named chief curator of the 16th Shanghai Biennale in November 2027. - The Immigrant Artist Biennial announced its next edition this fall, titled *Identity Card* after a poem by Palestinian writer Mahmoud Darwish. The exhibition’s 18 artists include **Bahar Behbahani** and **Anh Vo**, with scholar **Judith Butler** and poet **Natalie Diaz** among the catalog contributors. See the [full list](https://www.instagram.com/p/DbEQBu0CYGQ?ref=hyperallergic.com) of participating artists, venues, and more. - **Casey Monroe** was named associate curator at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site in Catskill, New York. - Milwaukee's Central City Plaza, Houston's the Martin Luther King Jr. Humanities Center at Texas Southern University, Nashville's Park-Johnson Hall at Fisk University, Boston's Southwest Corridor, and St. Mark AME Zion Church in East Chicago, Indiana, are the recipients of the Getty Foundation and the National Trust for Historic Preservation's final Conserving Black Modernism grantees. - New York Foundation for the Arts awarded a total of $903,000 to the 132 recipients of the NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship program. [See the full list](https://hyperallergic.com/132-new-york-artists-receive-903-000-in-grants/)*.* - The National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture in Chicago is now accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, making it the fourth Latine institution to receive recognition. ### Talking to Saints ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/image-12.png) Sculptures at the Charles Engelhard Court within the center of the American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (photo Freeholdman12 via [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Charles%5FEngelhard%5FCourt%5F%28American%5FWing%5Fat%5FThe%5FMet%29.jpg?ref=hyperallergic.com), [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=hyperallergic.com)) If you've ever wanted to ask Mary Magdalene or Saint Augustine some questions— like "hey Augustine, who hurt you?" — today's your lucky day. In collaboration with the tech company Ask Mona, the Metropolitan Museum of Art has launched an [initiative](https://ocula.com/magazine/art-news/the-met-museum-launches-ai-driven-talking-statues/?ref=hyperallergic.com) in which visitors can scan QR codes and converse with statues of saints through an AI model trained on conversations with curators, conservators, and more. You can ask them who they are, what they're made of, why they're talking in that accent, and where the bathrooms are. But you can't ask them to wake you up from the surreal technological nightmare that is life in the 21st century. ### Mayor Mamdani Should Reclaim the City’s Jefferson Statue URL: https://hyperallergic.com/mayor-mamdani-should-reclaim-the-citys-jefferson-statue/ Last updated: 2026-07-27T16:23:30.000Z In late May, the quill held by David d’Angers’s 1834 statue of Thomas Jefferson, [exiled from the New York City Hall](https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/24/us/thomas-jefferson-statue-removed?ref=hyperallergic.com) since 2021, [broke](https://gothamist.com/news/jefferson-statues-quill-broke-en-route-to-a-ny-historical-show-on-democracy?ref=hyperallergic.com) while the piece was being moved from the New York Historical’s library into a gallery space for the new exhibition [*Democracy Matters*](https://www.nyhistory.org/exhibitions/democracy-matters?ref=hyperallergic.com). The quill was repaired with [Lascaux 498-X adhesive](https://washingtonstreet.group/assets/jefferson-sculpture/2026-05-29-treatment-proposal.pdf?ref=hyperallergic.com) two weeks later, but the fact that this happened during the nation’s 250th anniversary, with democracy under assault, provides more than an irresistible symbolic trope. Jefferson’s language of equality has long inspired democratic, labor, and socialist movements and given them a basis to expand their demands for justice. In a bold maneuver, Mayor Zohran Mamdani could use this incident to reclaim the city-owned work for public life and place it within New York’s history of social struggle. Jefferson enslaved hundreds of people, exploited children in Monticello’s brutal [nail factory](https://www.monticello.org/encyclopedia/nail-making?ref=hyperallergic.com), and fathered children with Sally Hemings while holding her in slavery. Uncritical celebration is impossible. But confronting this record need not mean abandoning his symbolic force within the American political tradition. The left still wields Jefferson’s rhetorical weapons, but it has weakened its connection to the history of Americans who used his words against oligarchy. If democratic socialists led by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Mamdani are to win national power, they must learn to mobilize democratic symbols capable of reaching Americans still committed to the civil religion of the founding. Reclaiming the city’s Jefferson would be a dramatic gesture toward bending those symbols against MAGA and Silicon Valley authoritarianism. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Giant Wieners, Drag Queens, and Curtis Sliwa at “The Most American Pageant Ever!” URL: https://hyperallergic.com/giant-wieners-drag-queens-and-curtis-sliwa-at-the-most-american-pageant-ever/ Last updated: 2026-07-30T13:40:11.000Z Watching Curtis Sliwa watch comedian Spike Einbinder — brother of [*Hacks*](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11815682/?ref=hyperallergic.com) star Hannah Einbinder and son of *Saturday Night Live* alum Laraine Newman — get shot in a comedic recreation of the former New York City Republican mayoral candidate's infamous [1992 kidnapping and shooting](https://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/21/nyregion/koch-visits-sliwa-as-police-inquiry-fails-to-yield-shooting-suspect.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) was the kind of experience I’ll remember for the rest of my life. Thankfully, the other parts of the performance were just as absurd, verging on the erratic, which was pitch-perfect for *The Most American Pageant Ever!*, an event billed as a “renewed portrait of America,” though it often felt more like an elegy during the nation’s semiquincentennial year. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/DSC02371.jpeg) Former Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa, along with the other performance art event judges, holds his hand to his heart during the singing of the US national anthem during the event Even if you believe that the United States is the “greatest country in the world,” like both the Donald Trump impersonator — who was seemingly everywhere in the show and acted out the President’s infamous [Butler assassination](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/gunman-who-attempted-trump-assassination-saw-butler-rally-as-target-of-opportunity-fbi-says?ref=hyperallergic.com) attempt not once but twice — and the real one, who continues to spew it like a truism even when evidence to the contrary is staring us in the face, you will have to admit that this crassly thrilling celebration in front of a giant wiener cannon was just what we needed at a time of deep sorrow? repose? regret? … However you characterize it, it’s deep, because this is America and we do things in extremes, even when we’re gloriously shallow. *The Most American Pageant Ever!* was organized by artists Jen Catron, Paul Outlaw, and Abby Lloyd (playing Trump), who are wizards of the glittery stars-and-stripes variety of quintessential Americana, and their fete at capitalism’s commercial heart felt as unscripted as reality TV. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/DSC02425.jpeg) Abby Lloyd as Trump standing in front of the contestants, including the hyper-capitalist entrepreneur played by Jordan Cooley, and the other contestants, which included Spike Einbinder, Ellery Neon, Kenneth Youngblood, Kiki Ball-Change, Celine Abdallah, Relish the Entertainer, Peter BD, and Claywoman ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/DSC02434.jpeg) UPS delivery person shows up with the Epstein files as two Revolutionary-era actors linger in the background The contestants ranged from a drag queen as Melania to a voguer named Relish, an alien, a primordial clay woman, a patriotic singer named Kenneth Youngblood, a hyper-capitalist entrepreneur, and a UPS delivery person who dropped off the top secret files from Mar-a-Lago before entering the contest and getting down for the talent competition. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/DSC02344.jpeg) Abby Lloyd as Trump takes to the stage with artists Jen Catron and Paul Outlaw looking on ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/DSC02668.jpeg) Relish the Entertainer wows with his floor performance The mood was jubilant, the music was too loud, the shtick turned the volume to maximum, and even when there were groan-filled lulls, the performers uplifted you into thinking that maybe the best part of this country is that we have no shame, at least not in the pursuit of money, fame, or even art, apparently. There was no land acknowledgment, an absence only made more noticeable by the throngs of tourists who got their crazy New York story to regale those back home. The winner was supposed to be announced first by Trump, who wanted to award it to himself, and then by Outlaw, who grabbed the mic and bestowed the golden crown and flag cape on Spike Einbinder, which was picture-perfect. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/DSC02516-1.jpeg) The alien contestant shines on stage Einbinder was invited to tap a comically oversized button that was supposed to release the unredacted Epstein files and did so with a cannon shot out of the giant hot dog that I assume was supposed to reproduce a cum shot, even if a somewhat anemic one, far short of our expectations of porn. During her opening remarks, Catron explained why the giant hot dog parked in Times Square felt necessary, and she referenced their original performance with the [massive prop](https://hyperallergic.com/jen-catron-paul-outlaw-65-foot-wiener-lands-in-times-square/) in 2024, called “Hot Dog in the City”; this iteration was called “The Second Serving,” because the gluttony of this nation means we’re always returning for more, more, and more. She explained that they created this giant food item because “We were interested in the hot dog as a symbol of spectacle, celebration, contradiction, and excess. It's a surprisingly loaded object, it speaks to class, to capitalism and how it’s made and consumed, and … the enduring myth of the American dream.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/DSC02312.jpeg) The giant Catron/Outlaw hot dog cannon parked in Times Square ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/DSC02793.jpeg) Spike Einbinder being stalked by a taxi assassin on stage In that idol-sized sculpture, the artists see a nation “built on enormous optimism and enormous contradictions,” according to Catron, and the last two years “have felt … more chaotic, more polarized, more surreal, and somehow always a little louder.” She admitted that their taste is over-the-top, but they also see how “reality had outpaced the \[art\]work.” You can’t argue with that. Maybe the way to celebrate the United States of America is by making fun of ourselves, because we’ve become the clowns of the planet while still dominating it through our wealth and power, both hard and soft. A few weeks ago, I attended the Great American State Fair in Washington, DC, and it was as sad as you could imagine, something that would’ve been more appropriate for a regional college or small county fair than a world superpower. At the Catron and Outlaw celebration, I saw something that I didn’t encounter in DC that day, namely a self-consciousness about what we’re facing. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/DSC02870.jpeg) A view of the Times Square audience at the event Sliwa said it best when he witnessed the restaging of his assassination attempt on stage: “Imitation is the highest form of flattery.” And in that regard, the artists flatter the American Republic in a way that perhaps it doesn’t deserve, but feels necessary nonetheless. In *Giovanni’s Room* (1956), James Baldwin writes, “Perhaps, as we say in America, I wanted to find myself. This is an interesting phrase, not current as far as I know in the language of any other people, which certainly does not mean what it says but betrays a nagging suspicion that something has been misplaced.” Something has certainly been misplaced in the United States of America. But the question is really whether what was mislaid can ever be found again, or if this country is always only chasing after the money shot, and what was lost be damned. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/DSC02408.jpeg) The panel of judges, left to right, **Lily Marotta, Curtis Sliwa, Waris Ahluwalia, and Jean Cooney* The Most American Pageant Ever! *was hosted by artists Jen Catron, Paul Outlaw, and Abby Lloyd and featured a panel of judges including Curtis Sliwa, Waris Ahluwalia, Lily Marotta, and Jean Cooney with performances by Spike Einbinder, Ellery Neon, Kenneth Youngblood, Kiki Ball-Change, Celine Abdallah, Relish the Entertainer, Peter BD, Jordan Coley, and Claywoman. The event was presented by Times Square Arts and took place on Wednesday, July 22, 2026, at 7pm EDT.* ### Required Reading URL: https://hyperallergic.com/required-reading-794/ Last updated: 2026-07-23T18:01:20.000Z Michael Agresta reports for [*Texas Monthly*](https://www.texasmonthly.com/culture/outsider-artist-wonderland/?ref=hyperallergic.com)on the curious "wonderland" of 75-year-old artist John Dilandro, whose massive front-yard collection has become a treasure box of creativity despite its dismissal as "folk art": > It’s hard to imagine a more authentic encounter with homemade, self-taught, personal, and profit-eschewing creative expression—“folk art” or “outsider art,” as the art world likes to classify it—than a visit to Dilandro’s farm. During my drop-in, I did not meet with any venomous snakes, but I did contend with mud, merciless late-afternoon mosquitoes, and armies of enormous red ants, whom Dilandro allows to carve busy paths through the grass among his artworks. Out of necessity, I’d shown up unannounced. Dilandro has no website, email, or listed phone number. > > Friendly and still nimble on his feet, Dilandro shows his age mostly through a wheezy voice, his country accent still audible through a sonorous whisper. He says he was not exposed to art while growing up as a farm kid in the 1950s and ’60s and never paid attention to artistic goings-on at Texas State in the 23 years he worked there. When I ask if his mother, a homemaker, filled the house with bric-a-brac like the stuff that decorates his gate and lawn, he laughs. “No. We were poor.” Moira Donegan reflects on a new book about the life and work of artist and activist Celeste Dupuy-Spencer, who tragically passed away earlier this year. For [*Bookforum*](https://www.bookforum.com/print/3301/portrait-of-an-eye-62961?ref=hyperallergic.com), Donegan writes: > Part biography of Dupuy-Spencer, part meditation on her work, and part guide to the painter’s oeuvre, *Burning in the Eyes of the Maker* traces Dupuy-Spencer’s evolving relationship to politics and myth. It is a deeply felt collaboration between MacLaughlin and the painter, with pieces sometimes narrated by the figures on the canvases, exploring the narratives they find themselves in, and sometimes told from MacLaughlin’s point of view, recounting her experience confronting the works. By design, MacLaughlin’s writing is more of an encounter with the paintings than a statement about them. Her great virtue as a writer is a clear-eyed moral realism, a willingness to see her own complicity in the histories of violence and systems of exploitation that Dupuy-Spencer’s work depicts—a challenge inherent in the paintings for which not all viewers are prepared. MacLaughlin and Dupuy-Spencer alike seem alert to the burdens of this kind of knowledge: many people, after all, respond to this analysis of American life by trying to excuse their own role in it. “The great theme of her work,” MacLaughlin writes of the painter, “is denial.” Colombian novelist Ingrid Rojas Contreras writes movingly in [*Time*](https://time.com/article/2026/07/16/i-see-my-father-in-the-fathers-killed-by-ice/?ref=hyperallergic.com) about her father, whom she recognizes in 26-year-old Joan Sebastián Guerrero and other fathers who have been killed by ICE this year: > My family of four lived in Colombia amidst the uncertainty and fear in the 90s. My father was kidnapped by FARC, the violent *Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia*. He was let go in the end. We continued to receive threatening calls to our home. In 1998, we left Bogotá. Since that time, we have dreamt of finding a place to live together in peace. We hoped it would be in the United States. > > Now, I often think about the irony of us escaping Colombia only to be seized by the fear of detention in America. > > In April, my dad returned to the U.S. He was nervous at the airport once again, not knowing what would happen to him. Increasingly in my family, we ask the question of where we will live. It seems altogether out of the question that we will all live together in the United States. Jia Tolentino, whose 2019 "Instagram face" essay gave language to a new era of beauty standards, is back in the [*New Yorker*](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-weekend-essay/our-plastic-surgery-nightmare?ref=hyperallergic.com)to investigate plastic surgery's impact on desirability and self-image: > The vibe, over all, is a kind of internet-invented nonsexuality: putative straightness is only the pretext for various broadcast demonstrations of dominance and submission, in perpetual psychological reference to other putatively straight men. Women are called “foids” in the looksmax lexicon, short for “female humanoids,” and they are sliced and diced, worshipped and denigrated, in the same coldly unfeeling way. One popular post on looksmax.org lists four versions of the “Top 30 Most Beautiful & Attractive Girls On the Planet (Combined Golden Ratio + Sexual Dimorphism & Appeal + Side Profile).” The post displays a bunch of famous models with Instagram Face; an author’s note clarifies that the lists only contain white women and “mixed-race women who are sufficiently white-passing.” It is important, to looksmaxxers, that these women seem to be naturally beautiful: the post imperiously rules out the many Instagram girls who have obviously altered their appearance. The community has invented a way to admire men for beauty work and to hate women for the same. Author Ellen O’Connell Whittet ponders the fate of the Nancy Drew and Miss Marple books for the [*Los Angeles Review of Books*](https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/women-detectives-oconnell-whittet/?ref=hyperallergic.com), considering their evolving role now that they have entered into the public domain: > This year, the first four Nancy Drew books and the first Miss Marple novel entered the US public domain. The cultural response has been overwhelmingly celebratory: there’s a Christie Netflix adaptation, a Christie British Library exhibition, and a forthcoming novel about grown-up Nancy Drew. The implicit message is that these two women detectives, born around the same time (Miss Marple first appeared in a short story in 1927), are finally free. But the word “free” seems wrong because it hints at someone keeping them either safe or hostage, and it glosses over what crime was committed and whose freedom we’re actually talking about. For [*JSTOR Daily*](https://daily.jstor.org/the-cassette-tapes-of-the-great-migration/?ref=hyperallergic.com), April White digs into the archives of Johnetta Brazzell, who recorded firsthand stories of the Great Migration — some of which you can listen to in the article: > Brazzell and several of her colleagues in the Urban Affairs Center at Oakland University, located just outside the Pontiac city limits, were part of a new movement of oral historians documenting the stories of everyday people in their own voices with the use of newly portable and increasingly affordable cassette recorders. “We’re trying to locate people who lived \[in Pontiac\] and get eyewitness accounts of what was going on, how people lived, where they worked and, generally, just what life was like for them,” she told the *Detroit Free Press* in 1975\. There was an urgency to her efforts. “If we don’t get it from those individuals, then we can’t get it from anyone else. Oral history is usually considered a supplement to written history, but here oral history is the only account anyone has.” *Frontline*'s Martin Smith conducted an excellent [interview](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axfPF%5F55J3Q&ref=hyperallergic.com) with Saudi exile Saad Aljabri about Trump's relationship with the nation: Artist Adrianne Wortzel, who has strabismus and cannot see in three dimensions, explains how she renders depth and perception in her [paintings](https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTAYkaUJR/?ref=hyperallergic.com): > [@hellotohera](https://www.tiktok.com/@hellotohera?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "@hellotohera") This exquisite artist can only see in 2D - and uses it to turn her work into an optical delight ♥️ Adrianne Wortzel’s solo show at JDJ Gallery is on view until then end of this month and we highly recommend a visit! [#thingstodonyc](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/thingstodonyc?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "thingstodonyc") [#nyc](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/nyc?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "nyc") [#supportartists](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/supportartists?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "supportartists") [♬ original sound - Hera](https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-7662490470081121054?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "♬ original sound - Hera") Rachel Cusk is apparently writing a book based in part on Natalie Portman, who seems to be less than thrilled with the portrayal — [I'm sat](https://www.tiktok.com/@georgiejxmes/video/7664252947143953686?is%5Ffrom%5Fwebapp=1&sender%5Fdevice=pc&ref=hyperallergic.com): > [@georgiejxmes](https://www.tiktok.com/@georgiejxmes?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "@georgiejxmes") from “a novelist’s dark portrait of natalie portman” by valerie stivers at unherd us [#natalieportman](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/natalieportman?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "natalieportman") [#moviestar](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/moviestar?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "moviestar") [#leontheprofessional](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/leontheprofessional?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "leontheprofessional") [#literary](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/literary?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "literary") [#rachelcusk](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/rachelcusk?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "rachelcusk") [♬ Musical Violino - Marcos Abreu](https://www.tiktok.com/music/Musical-Violino-7358457402561529857?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "♬ Musical Violino - Marcos Abreu") The price we pay for a [hot girl summer](https://www.tiktok.com/@aiden%5Flondon/video/7662444437733149974?ref=hyperallergic.com) … > [@aiden\_london](https://www.tiktok.com/@aiden%5Flondon?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "@aiden_london") > > It was actually a 2 day trop > > [♬ som original - memeSpotn](https://www.tiktok.com/music/som-original-7404967339336551201?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "♬ som original - memeSpotn") [*Required Reading*](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/required-reading/) *is published every Thursday afternoon and comprises a short list of art-related links to long-form articles, videos, blog posts, or photo essays worth a second look*. ### David Hockney’s Endless Scroll URL: https://hyperallergic.com/david-hockneys-endless-scroll/ Last updated: 2026-07-23T10:00:20.000Z “The iPad is a fascistic form of mark-making,” the delectably fiery Olivia McEwan writes. She’s talking about the late works of David Hockney, who passed away last month at 88, specifically a shimmering, digitally stitched scroll encircling the dim walls of the Serpentine Gallery. She prefers his physical paintings, let’s put it that away. Agree or disagree? Let us know. But it raises the question of how we approach a late artist’s work. Two other pieces in today’s issue offer alternatives. We honor them, as in our weekly *In Memoriam* column, put together by yours truly. We plunge into history to salvage a different story, as *Riverlines*, an exhibition at David Nolan Gallery in New York, does in telling an intergenerational story of Brazilian modernist Chico da Silva and Amazonian art. Enjoy today’s issue — no judgment on our end if it happens to be on your “fascistic” iPad. *—Lisa Yin Zhang, associate editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/hockney-ipad-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/you-can-love-david-hockney-and-still-hate-his-ipad-paintings/) [ You Can Love David Hockney and Still Hate His iPad Paintings ](https://hyperallergic.com/you-can-love-david-hockney-and-still-hate-his-ipad-paintings/) The Bayeux Tapestry, an 11th-century, 230-foot (\~70-meter) linen that illustrates the story of the Norman conquest, has just returned to England after nearly a millennium for a forthcoming exhibition at the British Museum. Was David Hockney taking the piss out of this event by presenting an even longer 295-foot (\~90-meter) composite iPad “painting,” titled “A Year in Normandie” (2020–21), at Serpentine Galleries in March? Hockney, who died last month at age 88, argued against the Bayeux Tapestry’s loan from the French government due to the risk to the object, a concern expressed by numerous historians and scholars. Yet his Serpentine show, entitled *A Year in Normandie and Some Other Thoughts About Painting*, cites Hockney’s “endless invention” through more than 100 printed iPad paintings digitally “stitched” together. Encircling the gallery interior, this work is meant to “encourage movement and close looking,” as the opening wall text states. | Olivia McEwan [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/you-can-love-david-hockney-and-still-hate-his-ipad-paintings/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/chinatown-protestors.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/protesters-decry-chinatown-museums-acceptance-of-jail-money-at-town-hall/) - New York Chinatown residents and activists protested outside a town hall event at the Museum of Chinese in America, [condemning the leadership's acceptance of a $35 million grant](https://hyperallergic.com/protesters-decry-chinatown-museums-acceptance-of-jail-money-at-town-hall/) from the city that they believe is tied to the construction of a boroughjail. - Tate [names Jessica Morgan](https://hyperallergic.com/tate-names-dia-leader-jessica-morgan-as-next-director/), who led the Dia Art Foundation in New York for over a decade, as its next director. - Two painters [are suing The Hole Gallery](https://hyperallergic.com/artists-sue-nyc-gallery-the-hole-for-nonpayment/), alleging that it owes them a combined sum of about $50,000 in outstanding sales proceeds. - Collectors Anne and Arthur Goldstein [gift over 70 works](https://hyperallergic.com/juliana-huxtable-and-mark-bradford-in-major-gift-to-the-zimmerli-art-museum/) of modern and contemporary art to the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University. ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/chico-da-silva.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/beyond-the-myth-of-chico-da-silva/) [ Beyond the Myth of Chico da Silva ](https://hyperallergic.com/beyond-the-myth-of-chico-da-silva/) Presenting da Silva with Amazonian artists of different generations undermines the Western notion of the artist as an isolated genius. | John Yau [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/beyond-the-myth-of-chico-da-silva/) --- ## Community [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/In-Memoriam-7.22.26.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-christine-borland-john-will-and-astrid-furnival/) [ Remembering Christine Borland, John Will, and Astrid Furnival ](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-christine-borland-john-will-and-astrid-furnival/) This week, we honor an artist who explored human fragility through science, a pioneering British textile artist, and a champion of digital art. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-christine-borland-john-will-and-astrid-furnival/) featured opportunity ****The Bennett Prize – 2026/2027 Award Cycle** For women figurative realist painters. The grand prize winner receives $75,000 and a solo exhibition. The first runner-up receives $10,000\. A five-person jury will select 10 finalists to be featured in a group exhibition that will travel the US. The application fee is $50\. Read more on [**Hyperallergic*](https://hyperallergic.com/the-bennett-prize-opens-fifth-call-for-entries/). Deadline: September 19, 2026 | [thebennettprize.org](https://www.thebennettprize.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com) ## Member Comment Thank you for this review. I have not yet seen the film - probably will - but know the story pretty well. It is sad Zeus gets reduced to a mono-theistic "proclaimer", as he is so much more complicated than that. Sadder still, it sounds like Athena, (who is more powerful than her father after all) doesn't have a more substantial role. Athena was Odysseus's main protector after all (and sometime-punisher). It strikes me as odd that she would show up to remind Odysseus of the carnage that she condoned: she was on his side. Athena as a young (Pallas) victim? Don't think she would like that portrayal! This is a gal who was born with her armor on! I ain't no Homeric scholar, but I don't recall that scene in any written or BBC version. Maybe I missed it. Appreciate your commentary. —Jo Ford on “[A Homerist Reacts to Christopher Nolan’s **The Odyssey*](https://hyperallergic.com/a-homerist-reacts-to-christopher-nolans-the-odyssey/)” ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/newsletter-romans-british-accents.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/why-do-we-expect-romans-to-have-british-accents-in-movies/) [ Why Do We Expect Ancient Romans to Have British Accents in Movies? ](https://hyperallergic.com/why-do-we-expect-romans-to-have-british-accents-in-movies/) Most of the objectors to Denzel Washington’s accent are men who think too much about the Roman Empire. Here’s how the accent has changed throughout cinema. | Sarah Bond [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/why-do-we-expect-romans-to-have-british-accents-in-movies/) ### Protesters Decry Chinatown Museum’s Acceptance of “Jail Money” at Town Hall URL: https://hyperallergic.com/protesters-decry-chinatown-museums-acceptance-of-jail-money-at-town-hall/ Last updated: 2026-08-08T03:05:42.000Z As New Yorkers braced for a torrential storm on Tuesday evening, July 21, dozens of protesters in rain gear marched in front of a Lower East Side community center carrying signs bearing the messages: “Community united against MOCA’s Racism,” “No Jail,” and “You’re Not Fooling Anyone.” Protesters also sheltered a suited effigy of Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) President Michael Lee from the inclement weather. Inside Manny Cantor Center, a panel of leaders from MOCA heard testimony from Chinatown community members. During a town hall event organized by the museum, Lee attempted to distance the institution from a $35 million capital grant — tied to the construction of a Chinatown jail — that it [accepted from the city in 2019](https://hyperallergic.com/museum-of-chinese-in-america-chinatown-art-brigade/). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/IMG_3366-1.jpeg) An effigy portraying MOCA President Michael Lee during a demonstration on Tuesday, July 21 (photo Anna Lee/**Hyperallergic)* For the protesters outside, the capital grant, which the museum used to purchase the Centre Street space it had previously rented, symbolized the institution’s acceptance of “jail money” and perceived complicity in other issues endemic to a changing Chinatown, including gentrification and displacement. Lee, who took charge in 2024, articulated that the museum emphatically opposes the construction of the jail, but took the city’s money because it risked closure and losing the space it had resided in since 2009\. The 46-year-old museum houses a collection of over 85,000 objects that document the Chinese-American diaspora. However, in the years since it accepted the grant, the museum has become a contentious institution in the neighborhood, prompting protests and exhibition [withdrawals](https://hyperallergic.com/godzilla-withdraws-from-museum-of-chinese-in-america-retrospective/) from artists alleging that the institution benefits from mass incarceration. “MOCA is still supporting the new jail through their actions, despite what they say … they took the money,” Zi Shun Ning, an organizer for Youth Against Displacement (YAD), told *Hyperallergic* outside the event. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/IMG_7208-2.jpg) From left to right: MOCA advisory board member Vic Lee, museum president Michael Lee, trustee June Lee, and chief curator Herb Tam (photo Isa Farfan/**Hyperallergic*) Organizers for advocacy groups including YAD, Planet Over Profit, and East Park River ACTION arrived early to the venue, handing out pamphlets to passersby that billed MOCA's town hall as a "clown hall." While Lee and the museum leadership framed the funding as necessary for the institution’s survival, community members expressed concern that MOCA's funding was inextricably connected to the city’s plan to build the Manhattan Borough-Based Jail. The facility, which would become the [world’s tallest jail](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/21/new-york-jail-chinatown-rikers-island?ref=hyperallergic.com), is expected — with the construction of three other borough-based jails — to [replace Rikers Island prison](https://rikers.cityofnewyork.us/nyc-borough-based-jails/?ref=hyperallergic.com) following a legal order to close the notorious facility over human rights abuses. Other speakers during the town hall called for the protesters to give up their cause, defending the museum as a “vital, necessary home for our history and culture.” During the town hall, *Hyperallergic* asked Lee if he empathized with and planned to address the grievances of the protesters outside. “ We respect everybody's right to protest,” Lee replied. ”They have every right to fight against the jail and to see MOCA as a symbol of the jail; if they feel that's where they should direct their energy towards, then we completely respect that.” He encouraged the protesters to [redirect their advocacy](https://welcometochinatown.com/megajail?ref=hyperallergic.com) toward moving the jail elsewhere. "We chose this venue so that those who felt uncomfortable entering MOCA itself could attend,” Lee added. “I personally invited the Chinese Staff and Workers Association, as well as Youth Against Displacement to participate in today's discussion.” Protester Aaron Yin rejected the museum’s framing of the $35 million grant at the town hall: “Will MOCA ever admit that the $35 million dollars is jail money?” Lee resisted the term “jail money,” reiterating that the museum applied for the grant “solely to purchase the building and make sure it stays here in Chinatown.” The longtime executive lamented that the investment coincided with the city’s announcement of the new jail system. Yin passed out a 2021 printout of a [*New York Magazine*](https://www.curbed.com/2021/12/museum-of-chinese-in-america-protests.html?ref=hyperallergic.com)reportthat contained an admission from the Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) stating that the grant was directly tied to the “city’s broader effort to close Rikers Island.” Civil rights attorney Rocky Chin expressed support of MOCA, stating, “ We need an anchor that preserves our family archives and addresses the urgent issues of our time, from the rise of anti-Asian violence to threats against birthright citizenship.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/IMG_7196-2.jpg) Protesters picket outside of the Education Alliance building, which houses the Mandy Cantor Center where MOCA leaders heard testimony and questions from community members during the Tuesday town hall (photo Anna Lee/**Hyperallergic)* Another commenter, Melinda Chiu, who traces her lineage back generations in Manhattan’s Chinatown, called for the museum and its protesters to resolve their disputes, but reproached the museum for its perceived lack of response for the last five years. “Obviously the jail is terrible for Chinatown,” Chiu said, adding, “I feel that instead of fighting each other, we could also work together because Chinatown is going down because of gentrification.” Outside the event, demonstrators called attention to Lee’s concurrent status as a volunteer board member of the Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC), the nonprofit home care organization which they called the “worst sweatshop in New York City.” The CPC was named in a [lawsuit](https://legalaidnyc.org/court-case/chen-v-reardon/?ref=hyperallergic.com) the Legal Aid Society filed in 2023 against the state for “systemic wage theft” of home care workers assigned to 24-hour shifts. During the town hall, Lee referred the audience to the CPC's official [statements](https://www.cpc-nyc.org/news/4912/cpc-statement-misinformation-circulated-aint-i-woman-campaign?ref=hyperallergic.com) on the case. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/IMG_7205.jpg) Aaron Yin addressing MOCA leaders during the town hall (photo Isa Farfan/**Hyperallergic*) Protesters also chided former MOCA board member Jonathan Chu, a real estate magnate who owned the Elizabeth Street building where the beloved Chinatown restaurant [Jing Fong](https://hyperallergic.com/hundreds-of-arts-and-restaurant-workers-rally-to-save-historic-chinatown-banquet-hall/) shuttered during the pandemic. One protester, Liang Chen, a longtime Lower East Side resident, told *Hyperallergic* he was concerned that a jail in Chinatown would only worsen the neighborhood’s issues. “Chinatown’s economy has gone down, and it’s getting worse,” Chen said. “Fewer people are coming to Chinatown to spend their money.” Pat Arnow, who is affiliated with the East River Park ACTION and part of the Coalition to Protect Chinatown, told *Hyperallergic* during Tuesday’s demonstration that the protestors would love "a good faith gesture to show they really mean it." “If they came out against the jail in a forceful way, that might make a difference," she said. "Because they’re the powers that be, and we are not.” ### Tate Names Dia Leader Jessica Morgan as Next Director URL: https://hyperallergic.com/tate-names-dia-leader-jessica-morgan-as-next-director/ Last updated: 2026-07-22T20:37:35.000Z Tate's board of trustees confirmed today, July 22, that British curator Jessica Morgan has accepted its request to serve as the next director of the institution, starting in 2027\. Morgan, who worked at Tate from 2002 to 2014 and served as Tate Modern's curator of international art from 2010 to 2014, is returning to London from New York after steering the Dia Art Foundation for just over a decade. Before beginning her curatorial career at Tate in 2002, Morgan previously served as the chief curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, and a curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. Morgan's appointment comes at a period of turbulence for Tate. The museum network's former director, Maria Balshaw, ended her nine-year tenure this year after weathering the COVID-19 pandemic and its reverberating impact on attendance and operating budget deficits, a [settled lawsuit](https://hyperallergic.com/tate-modern-six-figure-settlement/) over a dispute regarding a commissioned artist program, [two rounds](https://hyperallergic.com/tate-will-cut-12-of-workforce-eliminating-120-full-time-jobs/) of [major layoffs](https://hyperallergic.com/tate-museums-cut-staff-by-7-citing-post-pandemic-deficit/), and [staff](https://hyperallergic.com/hundreds-of-artists-support-striking-tate-workers/) [strikes](https://hyperallergic.com/tate-museums-workers-set-to-strike-over-insulting-pay-raise/) over low pay and poor job security, among other trials and tribulations. In the months preceding [Balshaw's December 2025 exit announcement](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/dec/12/maria-balshaw-tate-director-art-culture?ref=hyperallergic.com), a report on attendance data from Tate Modern and Tate Britain revealed that both London museums experienced a [27% decline in admissions](https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2025/jul/29/tate-director-blames-brexit-and-covid-for-slump-in-visitors?ref=hyperallergic.com) and a significant downturn in young adult visitors compared to 2019. However, Morgan is set to land at Tate shortly after an upswing in attendance and visibility this year — Tate Modern welcomed a [record-breaking ticket presale figure](https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2026/jun/19/blockbuster-exhibition-tate-modern-frida-kahlo-advance-ticket-record?ref=hyperallergic.com) for the Frida Kahlo exhibition that opened this summer, as well as the overwhelmingly positive reception of the concurrent Ana Mendieta exhibition and Tracey Emin retrospective. Her arrival alsocoincides with the set reopening of Tate Liverpool, which was shuttered for almost four years for a major renovation. “My time as a curator at Tate deeply informed my work in the last eleven years steering Dia Art Foundation, with artists and our public always at the centre of what we do,” Morgan saidin a press statement about her new appointment. As a curator, she was instrumental in the growth of Tate's collection of international art and organized several art commissions for the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern. At Dia, Morgan oversees all of the foundation's locations, site-specific projects, long-term installations, and land art sites located acrossthe United States and Germany. She has been credited with [expanding the foundation's collection](https://thegentlewoman.co.uk/library/jessica-morgan?ref=hyperallergic.com) to include work by over 50 additional artists, echoing her work at Tate by focusing on acquisitions of work by women and people of color. Throughout her tenure, the foundation has developed solo exhibitions for the likes of Agnes Martin, Meg Webster, Hélio Oiticica, Lee Ufan, Roni Horn, Tehching Hsieh, and Senga Nengudi. On the fundraising side of the job, Morgan has increased Dia's endowment by over $100 million by developing and nurturing a robust network of sponsors in her decade of service. She initiated the [major renovation at Dia Chelsea](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/15/arts/design/dia-chelsea-reopens-review.html?ref=hyperallergic.com), which reopened in 2021 as a contiguous throughway of three of the foundation's buildings on West 22nd Street for expanded exhibitions and programming space. Under Morgan's leadership, theDia [staff voted to unionize](https://hyperallergic.com/dia-workers-are-officially-unionized/) in 2022 with recognition from the foundation, citing concerns including low wages and poor job security. The union ratified its [first three-year contract](https://www.2110uaw.org/cbas/DIA%5FCBA%5F2024-2027.pdf?ref=hyperallergic.com) with the museum in 2024, securing higher wage and salary floors, advanced notice for layoffs, recall rights for newly opened positions, and guaranteed pay in the event of emergency closures or inclement weather. Lauding Morgan's “visionary revitalization of the Dia Art Foundation,” Tate's board chairman Roland Rudd described her as the “ideal person to lead Tate into a new era.” ### Beyond the Myth of Chico da Silva URL: https://hyperallergic.com/beyond-the-myth-of-chico-da-silva/ Last updated: 2026-07-24T20:52:48.000Z The rise and fall of Chico da Silva in the global art world is a cautionary tale. He was born in 1910 in the Amazon Rainforest, the son of an Indigenous Peruvian fisherman and a Brazilian woman from Ceará, along the Atlantic Ocean. After his father died from a snakebite, she brought her son to Fortaleza, the capital of the state of Ceará, settling in the impoverished neighborhood of Pirambu. In the 1940s, da Silva, who never learned to read or write, and whose parents’ names remain unknown, began to become locally known for drawing mystical, Amazon-inspired murals with black charcoal, chalk, and natural pigments on the exteriors of fishermen’s houses. This situation changed in 1943 when Jean-Pierre Chabloz, a Swiss critic and artist who had moved to Brazil because of World War II, went to Fortaleza on business and saw da Silva’s murals. Soon after, Chabloz began supplying da Silva with art materials, such as gouache, tempera, and canvas, effectively changing him into a European’s idea of an artist. Here, the story follows a familiar but distressing path. Chabloz successfully introduced da Silva’s art to the rest of Brazil. Eventually, this led to da Silva receiving an honorable mention in the Brazilian pavilion presentation at the 1966 Venice Biennale. In these works, da Silva found a way to transfer his visionary world of spellbound animals, fantastic flora and fauna, magical line and pattern onto canvas and paper with gouache and tempera. However, instead of completing the transformation and becoming an artist (or “inspired genius”) in Western eyes, he remained true to his roots and started the Pirambu School, an informal artist workshop in the community that had sustained him. He taught neighbors how to paint in his style and signed the works as his own, infuriating Chabloz, who judged the work done in the workshop as “fake,” ending the art world’s interest in da Silva. Less than two decades later, he died destitute and forgotten. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Remembering Christine Borland, John Will, and Astrid Furnival URL: https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-christine-borland-john-will-and-astrid-furnival/ Last updated: 2026-07-22T19:22:41.000Z [*In Memoriam*](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/in-memoriam/) *is published every Wednesday afternoon and honors those we recently lost in the art world.* --- **Christine Borland** (1965–2026) *Scottish artist who explored human fragility through science* Across sculpture, photography, printmaking, and works in glass, china, bronze, and more, she [incorporated](https://www.christineborland.com/about?ref=hyperallergic.com) fields like genetics and forensic science into explorations of the fragility of life within systems. One of the Young British Artists, she was nominated for the Turner Prize in 1997 and elected to the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2020\. She was a professor of fine art at Northumbria University in Newcastle upon Tyne. “We were fortunate to work with Christine on a number of projects over the years and to witness her thoughtful, inquisitive and deeply humane approach to making art, not least in her final project this year that centred meditations and visualisations relating to cancer, consciousness and corporeal mapping," Glasgow Print Studio, which collaborated with Borland on a number of projects, told the [*Scotsman*](https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/tributes-for-pioneering-scottish-artist-who-was-nominated-for-turner-prize-8814012?ref=hyperallergic.com). “Christine's work explored profound questions around science, medicine, ethics and humanity with remarkable sensitivity and insight. She will be greatly missed.” --- **John Croft** (1923–2026) *Abstract artist and codebreaker* His minimalist abstract oil paintings were [inspired](https://www.thetimes.com/uk/obituaries/article/john-croft-obituary-artist-and-bletchley-park-codebreaker-jnx7pjbws?ref=hyperallergic.com) by landscape, and he exhibited regularly for decades, notably in the *Survey '67* exhibition at Camden Arts Centre. His work is held in the collections of Oxford University, Cambridge University, the London School of Economics, and more. He was a codebreaker at Bletchley Park during World War II, notably deciphering a personal message from Adolf Hitler. --- **Astrid Furnival** (1940–2026) *Pioneering British textile artist* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Untitled-9.jpg) Astrid Furnival (right) (photo @oopressgregthomas via [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/DaD9SY5DVqu/?img%5Findex=2&ref=hyperallergic.com), screenshot Lisa Yin Zhang/**Hyperallergic*) She worked with dye she grew in her garden and wool she spun herself, [hand-knitting](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2026/jul/13/astrid-furnival-obituary-?ref=hyperallergic.com) concrete poetry-inflected works that were also practical, such as quilts and sweaters. With her husband, late artist John Furnival, and others, she created the group GLOUP and helped establish Nailsworth in Gloucestershire, England, as an important art hub. --- **Mitchell Markovitz** (1950–2026) *Oil and watercolor artist and illustrator* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Untitled-10-1.jpg) Mitchell Markovitz (photo New England Railroad Uniforms via [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=964847773245465&set=pcb.964853936578182), screenshot Lisa Yin Zhang/Hyperallergic) The train conductor-turned vintage-style [oil and watercolor artist](https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/07/17/artist-mitch-markovitz-dies-at-75/?ref=hyperallergic.com) captured the landscapes and destinations of Lake Michigan's South Shore, notably as the lead artist in the 1998 relaunch of the South Shore Line poster series. In 2024, he was awarded the Sagamore of the Wabash, the state of Indiana's highest honor. --- **Vicente Matallana** (1967–2026) *Spanish museum director and champion of digital art* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/image-10.png) Vicente Matallana (photo Ars Electronica via [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/we-were-very-sorry-to-learn-of-the-passing-share-7484895560752250880-oAO2/?utm%5Fsource=share&utm%5Fmedium=member%5Fdesktop&rcm=ACoAACga01AB94oZfro64VQv2YmC3mrqTdvl5zY), screenshot Lisa Yin Zhang/**Hyperallergic*) He was the director of NEWART Center in Reus, Spain, a center for digital art, and one of the most [prominent figures](https://www.bonart.cat/en/n/46942/vicente-matallana-a-key-figure-in-the-preservation-and-dissemination-of-digital-art-dies?ref=hyperallergic.com) in the medium, founding LaAgencia, which promoted the research, making, and dissemination of it. He championed emerging artists in the field and was crucial to digital art's preservation. --- **John Will** (1939–2026) *Artist who plumbed truth and identity through humor* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Untitled-2-3.jpg) John Will (video @Contemporary Calgary via [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=mn%5FS6efhKwA&ra=m&ref=hyperallergic.com), screenshot Lisa Yin Zhang/**Hyperallergic*) He made prints, paintings, photographs, video works, and more across a [60-year career](https://calgaryherald.com/entertainment/local-arts/renowned-visual-artist-john-will-dead-87-challenged-entertained-delighted?ref=hyperallergic.com) marked by humor and explorations of truth and personal identity, and drawn from news, popular media, found photographs, and more. He was a professor at the University of Calgary for more than 25 years, and his work is held at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Vancouver Art Gallery, and more. An exhibition of his work, [*John Will: Born in the U.F.O. (Some Truth, More Lies, All Legend)*](https://www.youraga.ca/whats-on/current-exhibitions/john-will-born-in-the-u-f-o?ref=hyperallergic.com), continues at the Art Gallery of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, through August 9. ### You Can Love David Hockney and Still Hate His iPad Paintings URL: https://hyperallergic.com/you-can-love-david-hockney-and-still-hate-his-ipad-paintings/ Last updated: 2026-07-22T21:45:51.000Z LONDON — The Bayeux Tapestry, an 11th-century, 230-foot (\~70-meter) linen that illustrates the story of the Norman conquest, has just [returned](https://hyperallergic.com/bayeux-tapestry-to-return-to-uk-after-nearly-1000-years/) to England after nearly a millennium for a forthcoming exhibition at the British Museum. Was David Hockney taking the piss out of this event by presenting an even longer 295-foot (\~90-meter) composite iPad “painting," titled “A Year in Normandie” (2020–21), at Serpentine Galleries in March? Hockney, who [died](https://hyperallergic.com/painter-david-hockney-who-made-the-everyday-otherworldly-dies-at-88/) last month at age 88, [argued against](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c89qendv88yo?ref=hyperallergic.com) the Bayeux Tapestry’s loan from the French government due to the risk to the object, a concern expressed by numerous historians and scholars. Yet his Serpentine show, entitled [*A Year in Normandie and Some Other Thoughts About Painting*](https://www.serpentinegalleries.org/whats-on/david-hockney-a-year-in-normandie-and-some-other-thoughts-about-painting-exhibition-serpentine-galleries/?ref=hyperallergic.com), cites Hockney’s “endless invention” through more than 100 printed iPad paintings digitally “stitched” together. Encircling the gallery interior, this work is meant to “encourage movement and close looking,” as the opening wall text states. Furthermore, the exhibition purports to highlight how Hockney’s work “fuses digital tools with ancient traditions,” inspired by 14th-century Chinese scroll paintings and, yes, the Bayeux Tapestry itself. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Serp_Hockney_2026_006.1-1.jpg) Installation view of David Hockney's "A Year in Normandie" (2020–21) at Serpentine North (© David Hockney; photo George Darrell, courtesy Serpentine Galleries) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Artists Sue NYC Gallery The Hole for Nonpayment URL: https://hyperallergic.com/artists-sue-nyc-gallery-the-hole-for-nonpayment/ Last updated: 2026-07-22T16:27:39.000Z Two painters are suing The Hole Gallery in New York City and its owner, Kathy Grayson, alleging that the gallery owes them a combined sum of about $50,000 in outstanding sales proceeds. Brooklyn-based artist Daniel Um and Paris-based painter Nastaran Shahbazi filed a lawsuit against Grayson and her gallery in a Manhattan court last Thursday, June 16, seeking allegedly withheld payments. According to documents filed by Um and Shahbazi's attorney, The Hole is accused of "refus\[ing\]" to pay two artists for artworks the gallery took on consignment, in violation of [state laws](https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/ACA/12.01?ref=hyperallergic.com) governing consignment agreements between artists and dealers. Grayson declined to comment on the lawsuit. So did Jeff Kinkle, the attorney representing Um and Shahbazi. The lawsuit alleges that between 2024 and 2026, The Hole paid Um only $20,207.50 of the $49,182.50 that it owed him under a consignment agreement. The gallery also allegedly only paid Shahbazi $62,234.50 of the $83,235.00 it owed under another consignment agreement. Kinkle argued in the complaint that the gallery "repeatedly acknowledged the debt in writing" while simultaneously using its "available funds to satisfy other obligations." The Hole, the lawsuit alleges, failed to set aside proceeds from the sales of Um and Shahbazi's works to pay them — as is [required](https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/ACA/12.01?ref=hyperallergic.com) — and instead used the funds "to pay the gallery’s rent, operating expenses, \[and\] other creditors." The lawsuit describes that The Hole allegedly paid Um monthly installments from a Citi bank account labeled "payroll," rather than a specific trust account, suggesting the gallery "commingled" the artist's proceeds with its operating funds. The Hole maintains two locations in New York City, one on Bowery and another in Tribeca. Its Los Angeles location shuttered last September. In an [*Art Newspaper*](https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2026/04/06/pressures-squeezing-gallery-sector-the-hole-new-york-los-angeles?ref=hyperallergic.com) report published earlier this year about the closure, workers claimed the gallery delayed paying their wages. Unnamed artists in the article also complained about delayed payment for sold works. According to court records, The Hole's Tribeca landlord filed a petition against the gallery in 2024 for defaulting on over $56,000 in rent payments at its 86 Walker Street location. A year later, in 2025, the building's landlord filed a subsequent complaint alleging that the outstanding amount had climbed to $124,110.17\. It is unclear if or when those disputes were resolved. Grayson and the gallery did not immediately respond to *Hyperallergic*'s request for comment on those previous legal filings. ### Juliana Huxtable and Mark Bradford in Major Gift to the Zimmerli Art Museum URL: https://hyperallergic.com/juliana-huxtable-and-mark-bradford-in-major-gift-to-the-zimmerli-art-museum/ Last updated: 2026-07-22T15:45:23.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Huxtable-2025.005.034-2.jpg) Juliana Huxtable's "Untitled in the Rage (Nibiru Cataclysm)" (2015) is one of the works that Anne and Arthur Goldstein donated to the museum. (image courtesy Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University) Self-portraits by Robert Rauschenberg and Laura Aguilar, a painted skateboard, and a photographic series of hairstyles from Mark Bradford are among the more than 70 artworks bound for the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University in New Jersey. The acquisitions are part of agift from collectors Anne and Arthur Goldstein announced by the museumon Wednesday, July 15\. The gift brings together works by household names, emerging artists, and long-underrecognized painters and photographers. Troy Lamarr Chew II's oil painting "Corrlinks and Jaypay/Free My Dawgs" (2021) features a surrealist scene decorated with a hodgepodge of kites, dogs, rats, and an oversized soup can reminiscent of Andy Warhol's *Campbell's Soup Can* series(1961–2). Juliana Huxtable probes ideological assumptions and representations of gender and sexuality in her hyper-contemporary inkjet print, "Untitled in the Rage (Nibiru Cataclysm)" (2015). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Chew-II-2025.005.072-photograph-----Bruce-M-White-2026.jpg) Troy Lamarr Chew II, "Corrlinks and Jaypay/Free My Dawgs" (2021) (image courtesy Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University) The gifted artworks will be on view alongside a selection of paintings donated by the Alex Katz Foundation in *Mashup: New Acquisitions from the Zimmerli*in February 2027\. In a press release, Chief Curator Jeremiah William McCarthy described the exhibition as an opportunity to identify "unexpected connections" across the different histories, traditions, and vantage points represented within the museum's holdings. Other artists in the gift include Tauba Auerbach, Nicole Eisenman, Kunié Sugiura, and John Waters. "Much of the collection is a record of our travels and our shared commitment to championing undersung artists," Arthur Goldstein, who studied law at Rutgers, said in a statement. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Baldwin--Path-through-trees--after-Maurice-Denis---2021-photograph-----Bruce-M-White-2026-1.jpg) Ever Baldwin, "Path through trees (After Maurice Denis)" (2021) (image courtesy Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Bradford-2025.005.039-photograph-----Bruce-M-White-2026.jpg) Mark Bradford, "Miss China Silk" (2005) (image courtesy Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Mackler-2025.005.009-frontal-photograph-----Bruce-M-White-2026.jpg) Alice Mackler, "Untitled" (2014) (image courtesy Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Bader-TR10755.002-photograph-----Bruce-M-White-2026.jpg) Darren Bader, "AKA Bugmaster AKA Shiningboy & Little Randy AKA Turtles Swim Faster Than Expected" (undated) (image courtesy Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University) ### Jimothy, Meme and Muse URL: https://hyperallergic.com/jimothy-meme-and-muse/ Last updated: 2026-07-22T10:00:59.000Z Palestinian-American artist Sabri Sundos doesn’t paint people — he “finds” them. After rediscovering visual art while creating an album cover for his music in 2018, Sundos embarked on a series of painting and *tatreez* embroidery projects dedicated to Palestinian memory, freedom, and identity. Samantha Jensen speaks with the artist about his practice as a love letter to the diaspora, where sorrow and beauty coexist. Meanwhile, in the news, the Art Institute of Chicago is planning to transfer its entire custodial team to an independent contractor, drawing outcry from union workers. Staff Writer Rhea Nayyar also sifted through a sea of memes and artworks after Seattle’s beloved raccoon, Jimothy; see her curated selection in today’s edition, a welcome bit of levity amid a grim news cycle. More, as always, including a new book on Helen Levitt’s precious photographs of 1940s New York City. *—Lakshmi Rivera Amin, associate editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/sabri.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/sabri-sundos-faces-catastrophe-with-flowers/) [ Sabri Sundos Faces Catastrophe With Flowers ](https://hyperallergic.com/sabri-sundos-faces-catastrophe-with-flowers/) “It’s the one thing in the world that is just there to make things beautiful,” Palestinian-American artist Sabri Sundos says of flowers. The motif appears throughout *Chasing Flowers*, his solo exhibition at Fisk Gallery in Portland, Oregon, where dancing figures and floral forms become vehicles for exploring freedom, longing, and Palestinian diasporic identity. Yet painting is a relatively recent chapter in Sundos’ creative life. Before turning to visual art in 2018, the Brooklyn-based artist spent years making music, touring, and performing, only picking up a paintbrush while designing an album cover. | Samantha Jensen [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/sabri-sundos-faces-catastrophe-with-flowers/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/jentel.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/open-call-2027-jentel-artist-residency/) ****Open Call 2027: Jentel Artist Residency** A Mountain West residency for artists, writers, and composers. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/open-call-2027-jentel-artist-residency/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/ICA.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-art-institute-of-chicago-to-cut-its-entire-custodial-staff/) - The Art Institute of Chicago plans to [transfer its in-house custodial workforce](https://hyperallergic.com/the-art-institute-of-chicago-to-cut-its-entire-custodial-staff/) to a private contractor in August, drawing outcry from unionized workers. ## Features [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/jimothy.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/how-jimothy-the-raccoon-became-a-hero-of-the-misfits/) [ How Jimothy the Raccoon Became a Hero of the Misfits ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-jimothy-the-raccoon-became-a-hero-of-the-misfits/) The short-spined Seattle animal with an unfettered spirit has been honored in fan art, tattoos, and murals. | Rhea Nayyar [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-jimothy-the-raccoon-became-a-hero-of-the-misfits/) --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/helen-levitt.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/helen-levitt-captured-the-poetry-of-new-york-city/) [ Helen Levitt Captured the Poetry of New York City ](https://hyperallergic.com/helen-levitt-captured-the-poetry-of-new-york-city/) A new survey publication serves as a testament to the photographer’s belief that the city’s working-class communities of color possessed a beauty and drama all their own. | Natalie Weis [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/helen-levitt-captured-the-poetry-of-new-york-city/) [ SVA Grads Make Art out of History’s Rubble ](https://hyperallergic.com/sva-grads-make-art-out-of-historys-rubble/) The Art Practice MFA thesis exhibition rewrites what came before, pushing back against harmful systems and inventing better ways of living together. | Julie Schneider [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/sva-grads-make-art-out-of-historys-rubble/) --- ## Member Comment "Forsaking her preoccupation with perfection for improvisation and the loss of control," an oft sought avenue we so wish we could "perfect" giving us that wonderful sense of creative freedom. After all, art is purely a reflection of our search for expression. Butch Murphy on “[The Sunflower Effect of Kyung-Me](https://hyperallergic.com/the-sunflower-effect-of-kyung-me/)” --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/kids-in-the-hall.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-comedians-who-helped-define-generation-x/) [ The Comedians Who Helped Define Generation X ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-comedians-who-helped-define-generation-x/) In the early ’90s, the Kids in the Hall transgressed boundaries of propriety, gender, sexuality, even species as an alternative to binary thinking. | Natalie Haddad [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-comedians-who-helped-define-generation-x/) ### Sabri Sundos Faces Catastrophe With Flowers URL: https://hyperallergic.com/sabri-sundos-faces-catastrophe-with-flowers/ Last updated: 2026-07-23T16:13:30.000Z "It's the one thing in the world that is just there to make things beautiful," Palestinian-American artist Sabri Sundos says of flowers. The motif appears throughout [*Chasing Flowers*](https://fiskprojects.com/events/exhibition/040?ref=hyperallergic.com), his solo exhibition at Fisk Gallery in Portland, Oregon, where dancing figures and floral forms become vehicles for exploring freedom, longing, and Palestinian diasporic identity. Yet painting is a relatively recent chapter in Sundos's creative life. Before turning to visual art in 2018, the Brooklyn-based artist spent years making music, touring, and performing, only picking up a paintbrush while designing an album cover. “The first time I painted, I remember how good it made me feel,” he recalls in an interview with *Hyperallergic*. Unlike in music, where collaboration often mediates the outcome, painting offered him a direct line between his thoughts and the final image. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/data-src-image-80f3c6f1-aaab-43d9-8ab7-e2810b058a47.jpeg) Sabri Sundos, "Today As Tomorrow's Dream" (2025), 48 x 60 inches, oil on canvas (photo courtesy Robert Bredvad) In recent years, Sundos’s understanding of what art is and can do has continued to evolve. In 2024, he and his artist collective, [Unibrow Sun](https://www.unibrowsun.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com), designed the “Somebody I Love is Palestinian” t-shirt as part of a fundraising campaign for Gaza Mutual Aid Solidarity, helping raise money for displaced families in Gaza. The phrase emerged from a simple conviction: If someone you love is Palestinian, how can you remain silent? By grounding the message in love, Sundos hoped to expose the absurdity of the hostility it provoked, while also demonstrating how even a small act of design could build solidarity, foster community, and translate empathy into tangible support. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### How Jimothy the Raccoon Became a Hero of the Misfits URL: https://hyperallergic.com/how-jimothy-the-raccoon-became-a-hero-of-the-misfits/ Last updated: 2026-07-23T16:12:36.000Z In all of its coastal, evergreen, and folkloric beauty, the city of Seattle has surprisingly appointed a common urban raccoon as its unofficial mascot in the last week. Only, the raccoon in question is anything but common — it's ✨*Jimothy*.✨ Jimothy, who recently went viral after he was [filmed](https://edition.cnn.com/2026/07/19/us/video/jimothy-the-raccoon-seattle-short-spine-vrtc-digvid?ref=hyperallergic.com) gallivanting between yards in the Ballard neighborhood, looks more like a pom-pom than a raccoon due to his unnatural physique. The rotund little thing lives with a condition called short spine syndrome — a rare congenital birth defect in which the spinal vertebrae fail to properly separate during fetal development, resulting in a severely compressed spinal column that gives Jimothy a shortened torso and little to no neck. The raccoon also has an unusually short tail that enhances his already spherical stature. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/image0.jpeg) Jimothy the raccoon has been immortalized on a wall outside of Ballard Clay pottery studio, where he was once spotted skulking around the bins. (photo and artwork Andrew Miller) There's actually a handful of [dogs with short spine syndrome](https://www.tiktok.com/@ivyvibing??ref=hyperallergic.com) who have become [popular](https://www.instagram.com/tillythefriendlyloaf/?hl=en&ref=hyperallergic.com) and [beloved](https://www.facebook.com/QuasiTheGreat/) [ambassadors](https://www.facebook.com/CooperShortSpine/) for the condition on social media, but Jimothy stands out as a particularly unique case because he is a wild animal who isn't just surviving, but thriving as is — without direct human intervention. Equal parts ridiculous and sickeningly cute, Jimothy does everything an urban raccoon is supposed to do: climb and descend fences, scamper about, be scruffy and conniving, squeeze between tight gaps, and scavenge for food. Most importantly, Jimothy doesn't appear to be in any pain or distress due to his condition; he's simply Mother Nature's answer to the human preoccupation with Bigfoot and other cryptids. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### SVA Grads Make Art out of History’s Rubble URL: https://hyperallergic.com/sva-grads-make-art-out-of-historys-rubble/ Last updated: 2026-07-22T19:18:44.000Z Grad student thesis shows run the risk of curatorial chaos, given their typical premise. Brought together under the auspices of a degree-granting program, the creative output of an eclectic group of artists with diverging interests, aesthetics, and methods might not naturally gel into a harmonious exhibition. This could have been the case for the nine thesis candidates wrapping up their time in the School of Visual Art’s MFA Art Practice program, particularly given the seismic shifts rocking the institution. The three-year low-residency program is [no longer accepting applications](https://hyperallergic.com/school-of-visual-arts-shutters-its-curatorial-practice-ma-program/) for future classes. In February, the program’s longtime chair resigned after [Epstein revelations](https://hyperallergic.com/david-ross-resigns-from-school-of-visual-arts-after-epstein-revelations/). Then, SVA announced that the Curatorial Practice program will also [shut down](https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/sva-shutting-down-mfa-curatorial-practice-program-1234775014/?ref=hyperallergic.com) in 2027\. Yet, amid this tumult, the members of the MFA Art Practice’s penultimate graduating class honed their thesis projects and managed to locate a throughline — a spirit of scavenging and reimagining across layered terrains of memory and meaning — to cohere their disparate pursuits into a lively exhibition. Titled [*Finding Here*](https://sva.edu/events/2026-mfa-art-practice-thesis-exhibition?ref=hyperallergic.com), the presentation is currently on view at Art Cake in Brooklyn. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Finding-Here_SVA-MFA-Art-Practice-thesis-show_-20.jpg) Installation view of works by Richard Montañez (2026), permanent marker on newspaper The show opens with a series of nearly two dozen “redactions” (2026) — spreads from the *New York Post*’s Page Six gossip column that artist Richard Montañez has taken to with a keen eye and a black permanent marker. He leaves on the page a voicey edit, often stemming from drag culture and queer history, for example, “Girrlll…” and “KIKI! tonight.” _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Helen Levitt Captured the Poetry of New York City URL: https://hyperallergic.com/helen-levitt-captured-the-poetry-of-new-york-city/ Last updated: 2026-07-21T20:21:04.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Helen-Levitt--New-York--1971-1.jpg) Helen Levitt, "New York" (1971), dye transfer (© Film Documents LLC; image courtesy Zander Galerie, Cologne) Photographer Helen Levitt, who was born in Bensonhurst in 1913 and died at the age of 95 in her fifth-floor apartment in Greenwich Village, lived in New York City her entire life (save for a five-month sojourn to Mexico) and [never lost her Flatbush accent](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2001/11/19/improvised-city?ref=hyperallergic.com). She was friends with photographers Henri Cartier-Bresson and Walker Evans, and, like the latter, collaborated with writer James Agee, but she never received the level of attention and acclaim that her male contemporaries did. Though Levitt is perhaps best known for her photographs of children’s chalk drawings in the 1930s, they comprise only a fraction of her six-decade practice, whose emotional complexity and formal innovation continue to captivate. The comprehensive book [*Helen Levitt*](http://bookshop.org/a/539/9780500030974?ref=hyperallergic.com), edited by Joshua Chuang, draws from the breadth of her output with rarely seen images and scholarly essays that focus on her early expeditions with a Leica, 1941 trip to Mexico, experiments with color photography, two series taken in the New York subway, and final photographs from the 1980s. Levitt was an avid reader and movie-goer who dropped out of high school because she was bored with rote memorization, as Chuang, who also organized a [traveling exhibition](https://kbr.fundacionmapfre.org/en/exhibitions/helen-levitt/?ref=hyperallergic.com) of the same name, notes in his introductory essay. After apprenticing in a commercial photography studio, she bought her own camera and in 1934 joined the leftist New York Film and Photo League, where she met and befriended Cartier-Bresson, whom she said “made me ambitious.” In 1937, Levitt started teaching children’s art classes in East Harlem through the Federal Art Project and began photographing her pupils’ sidewalk chalk drawings. It was around this time that she sought out Evans, who took her on as a mentee, assistant, and, briefly, a lover. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/ny-39.jpg) Helen Levitt, "New York" (c. 1939), gelatin silver print (© Film Documents LLC; image courtesy Zander Galerie, Cologne) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### The Art Institute of Chicago to Cut Its Entire Custodial Staff URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-art-institute-of-chicago-to-cut-its-entire-custodial-staff/ Last updated: 2026-07-22T20:13:42.000Z The Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) plans to eliminate its entire in-house custodial workforce in August, according to the institution and the union American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 (AFSCME Council 31). Up to 25 of the museum's custodians — including 23 unionized workers — would lose their current jobs as part of the museum's plan to outsource its custodial work to a private, third-party vendor. The affected workers are responsible for cleaning the institution's galleries and facilities. Some of them have worked at the AIC for decades. The museum told *Hyperallergic* that staff members will be offered new positions by the contractor, contingent upon their completion of a separate application process. The AIC Workers United, the institution's umbrella union organization, called the plan a "devastating and unconscionable injustice" that violated union agreements in a circulating [petition](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdImbkiNjtgAgKV1-25j9Y4hOvcJL9vSKDlf8iSwsF4w5XSRg/viewform?ref=hyperallergic.com). The group said if the plan succeeds, staff who "carry out indispensable, difficult work for the institution" would experience a detrimental loss of essential employee benefits. Union workers are planning an action in support of the custodians on Wednesday, July 22\. The change would take effect on August 14, the union said. A spokesperson for theAIC confirmed to *Hyperallergic* that the museum plans to outsource its custodial workforce to GDI Integrated Facility Services,a private contractor based in [Canada](https://www.forbes.com/companies/gdi-integrated-facility-services/?ref=hyperallergic.com). Each affected custodian, the museum said, would have the opportunity "to join \[its\] custodial partner after completing their employment screening process." "The Art Institute deeply values our employees, and we are grateful for the important work our custodial team does every day," the spokesperson continued. "We made the decision to shift our custodial services to a contractor model to better support daily museum operations, and we prioritized choosing a partner that would commit to offering employment to our custodial staff." The move follows layoffs at the institute's private art school last November,whenthe School of the Art Institute laid off 20 workers and slashed staff at its beloved [Video Data Bank](https://hyperallergic.com/school-of-the-art-institute-of-chicago-lays-off-20-workers/), citing a decline in enrollment. The museum denies that it violated any union contract terms. However, AFSCME Council 31 spokesperson Ben Conboy told *Hyperallergic* that union lawyers have filed a grievance with the museum for allegedly not providing appropriate notice to staff about the decision, and have "demanded to bargain" over the decision. An AIC custodial staff member who spoke to *Hyperallergic* on the condition of anonymity, fearing that speaking to the media could affect their employment status, said they felt "betrayed" by the institution's decision. The staff member said the custodians were first notified of the institution's plan on June 29 in a meeting attended by representatives of GDI. "Going to that museum is my passion," the custodial worker said in a phone call. "And \[then\] just being told that you're no longer gonna be an AIC employee and you'll be transferred to a new company broke my heart." The custodial worker said their current hourly pay is $18, which is $0.95 above Chicago's minimum wage. A spokesperson for the museum said that they could not confirm the final wages that GDI would offer the staff, but stated that it would not be less than their current pay. While the staff member is considering AIC's offer to apply to GDI — mostly out of fear thatit would be difficult for them to find another job in the current economy — they said they would be seriously impacted by losing their AIC-specific benefits. According to Conboy, custodial staff would lose accrued paid time off, tuition remission benefits, and eligibility for Public Service Loan Forgiveness — which is contingent on working for a public institution — as a result of the change. A spokesperson for AIC said that free access to the institute would continue for the workers who decided to join GDI, and that "discussions about extending other additional, Art Institute-specific benefits are underway." The anonymous staff member told *Hyperallergic* that "most" of their coworkers were not considering working for GDI. "Our union's position is that management should abandon this effort," Conboy said. "It is the wrong move for visitors and guests, and it is certainly the wrong move for its custodians who give so much ... whose work contributes so much to making the museum what it is." When asked if the institution would ratify its plan despite recent opposition, an AIC spokesperson affirmed it would move forward. "I also want to speak for my coworkers who've been there for 20-plus years, giving their all to this company," the AIC custodial worker told *Hyperallergic.* "A few of them were supposed to retire within a year or two, and then out of nowhere this happens." **Editor's Note, 7/22/2026, 4:11 EDT:* This article has been updated with new information about the staff action against the museum's decision, plus a more accurate representation of previous staff cuts at Video Data Bank.* ### Hell and High Water URL: https://hyperallergic.com/hell-and-high-water/ Last updated: 2026-07-21T15:55:40.000Z Welcome back from the far side of hell. After a heat advisory, dangerously unhealthy air, and a torrential thunderstorm — and another on the way as we speak? — we hope the plagues will end soon and we can all live in relative peace. Of course, this is New York, and how boring would it be if it were predictable? Case in point (and reason #8,706 to avoid Times Square): A monument to Charlie Kirk might be coming to town. “God gave me permission,” sculptor Sergio Furnari said in defense of his sooty, Elvis-looking memorial statue of the right-wing podcaster he plans to install — sans permit — in September. Reason number infinity to stay: Trevor Winkfield’s artificial, playfully sinister worlds at Tibor de Nagy gallery. Lillian Bassman’s experimental fashion photography at The Met. And a slew of awesome events to hit up once the weather decides to behave, including Chinese Arts Week at Lincoln Center and Uptown Bounce at El Museo del Barrio. New York’s still the place to be — come hell or high water. —*Lisa Yin Zhang, associate editor* --- --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/kirk.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/artists-planned-monument-to-charlie-kirk-gets-trolled-online/) [ Artist’s Planned Monument to Charlie Kirk Gets Trolled Online ](https://hyperallergic.com/artists-planned-monument-to-charlie-kirk-gets-trolled-online/) “God gave me permission,” Sergio Furnari, the NYC sculptor behind the design, told Hyperallergic about his unsanctioned and widely decried work. | Rhea Nayyar [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/artists-planned-monument-to-charlie-kirk-gets-trolled-online/) --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/sunflower-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-sunflower-effect-of-kyung-me/) ### John Yau ***Kyung-Me: I, Sunflower* at Bureau** “Few contemporary artists have undergone the radical changes Kyung-Me has in her work, all while staying true to the desire to evoke autobiography without grounding it in an ‘I.’ She has pursued her trajectory without regard to stylistic consistency. To do so is to be fearless and vulnerable.” [*Read the full review*](https://hyperallergic.com/the-sunflower-effect-of-kyung-me/) ***The Mermaid's Revenge - Paintings 1991-2001* at Tibor de Nagy Gallery** “His rejection of certainty and the comfort it supposedly provides is an urgent reminder that imagination should not be neglected in the pursuit of art, and of the freedom it can give you.” [*Read the full review*](https://hyperallergic.com/trevor-winkfields-cheerfully-sinister-worlds/) [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/fashion-photography-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/contending-with-fashion-photographys-artifice/) ### Imani Williford ***Lillian Bassman: Bazaar and Beyond* at the Metropolitan Museum of Art** “This show demonstrates Bassman’s mastery as an artist deeply versed in all elements of fashion media whose analytical perspective puckers at the medium’s superficiality.” [*Read the full review*](https://hyperallergic.com/contending-with-fashion-photographys-artifice/) --- ## Beer With a Painter [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/keltie-ferris-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/beer-with-a-painter-keltie-ferris/) [ Keltie Ferris ](https://hyperallergic.com/beer-with-a-painter-keltie-ferris/) “I am playing with the building blocks of painting,” the artist told me at his studio in Woodstock, where he experiments with gestural compositions and monumental body prints. | Jennifer Samet [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/beer-with-a-painter-keltie-ferris/) --- ## What Else Is Happening? - A 1,600-year-old sculpture previously held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art is [being repatriated to Mexico](https://hyperallergic.com/manhattan-das-office-returns-three-antiquities-to-mexico/), the Manhattan District Attorney’s office announced. - Dmitriy Popov [was handed a 20-year sentence](https://hyperallergic.com/man-sentenced-to-20-years-for-fatally-stabbing-nyc-vogue-dancer/) over the fatal stabbing of Black gay professional dancer O’Shae Sibley. The sentencing comes after Popov was convicted of manslaughter as a hate crime in June. - As part of its opening day festivities for Chinese Arts Week, Lincoln Center presents a performance of the the millennia-old south China theater procession known as *Xing Shi* or the "Awakening Lion." (Wed July 22) \[[lincolncenter.org](https://lincolncenter.org/series/summer-for-the-city/awakening-lion-yingge-dance-x-892?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Visit the International Center of Photography for the Asian American Arts Alliance July Town Hall welcoming filmmakers, producers, and distributors to share their projects and resources with the AAPI creative community. (Thurs July 23) \[[icp.org](https://www.icp.org/events/icp-x-asian-american-arts-alliance-july-town-hall-film-media?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Join El Museo del Barrio for Uptown Bounce, a free summer block party! Enjoy live music from top DJs, special guests, dance lessons, and after-hours access to their exhibitions. (Thurs July 23) \[[elmuseo.org](https://elmuseo.org/event/uptown-bounce-co-presented-by-the-museum-of-the-city-of-new-york/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - On select days at the Brooklyn Museum, fashion designer Iris van Herpen will be seated within her exhibition, *Sculpting the Senses*, inviting visitors to join her in conversation and meditative, attentive handwork. (Fri July 24) \[[brooklynmuseum.org](https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/programs/sculpting-unspoken-participatory-performance-iris-van-herpen-july-24-2026/07-24-2026?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Join Poster House for an engaging conversation on the style and presentation of Black chorus girls during the early 20th century, as well as their influence on Black women in theater and film. (Sat July 25) \[[posterhouse.org](https://www.posterhouse.org/event/black-chorus-girls-a-panel-conversation/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] ### Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara Is Free URL: https://hyperallergic.com/luis-manuel-otero-alcantara-is-free/ Last updated: 2026-07-21T10:00:38.000Z After five years in a maximum-security prison outside Havana, Cuban artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara is finally free. His whereabouts were unknown for more than a week after his sentence officially ended on July 7 until he emerged in Miami on Saturday. Staff Reporter Rhea Nayyar has the details. In other stories, the Trump administration presents a rosy picture of George Washington's role as an enslaver in a new display in Philadelphia, and the New Museum's recently reopened building leaks amid flash floods. Also today: John Yau is impressed by artist Kyung-Me's sunflower paintings, and what does a Homerist think of Christopher Nolan’s *The Odyssey*? *—Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/odessy-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/a-homerist-reacts-to-christopher-nolans-the-odyssey/) [ A Homerist Reacts to Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-homerist-reacts-to-christopher-nolans-the-odyssey/) This is not Homer’s Odyssey. Let’s get that out of the way. As a Homerist, I had to remind myself of this throughout a film that reduces a narrative of 12,000 lines to just under three hours of airtime. The cuts are significant for someone who knows Homer well: The entire Phaeacian episode is gone; Matt Damon’s Odysseus never meets his father. Where the Homeric epic splits and gives its hero 12 books on Ithaca, the movie is about two-thirds journey and flashback with under an hour once Odysseus returns home. The middle of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey (2026) delivers visceral discomfort. When the witch Circe (Samantha Morton) serves her transformative feast to Odysseus’s companions on the island of Aeaea, the camera tracks their voracious hunger, following their shift from greedily slurping, increasingly frantic men into squealing pigs. Circe physically wrests them out of one shape into another, later commenting that their appetites made them what they truly are. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-homerist-reacts-to-christopher-nolans-the-odyssey/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/mitchell-johnson-ad-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/mitchell-johnson-new-paintings-from-california-new-england-and-europe/) ****Mitchell Johnson: New Paintings from California, New England and Europe** Work by the Bay Area artist is on view in Menlo Park, California, through August 29. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/mitchell-johnson-new-paintings-from-california-new-england-and-europe/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/luis-otero-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/cuban-artist-luis-manuel-otero-alcantara-exiled-to-the-us/) - Cuban dissident performance artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara [arrived in Miami](https://hyperallergic.com/cuban-artist-luis-manuel-otero-alcantara-exiled-to-the-us/) on Saturday, July 18, after over a week of ambiguity surrounding his whereabouts following his scheduled release from a five-year sentence for “contempt, defamation, and public disorder.” - Just weeks before a historic collection of 20th-century Mexican art is slated to leave the country for an exhibition in Europe, a group of advocates is [suing Mexico’s principal cultural entity](https://hyperallergic.com/activists-sue-to-stop-frida-kahlo-works-from-leaving-mexico/) over allegations regarding the legal basis for exporting the nation’s artistic heritage. - Following a legal battle between the city of Philadelphia and the Trump administration, federal officials [replaced exhibits](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-whitewashes-george-washingtons-slavery-history-in-new-display/) describing the history of slavery in the United States at a Pennsylvania historical park. - Just a few months after the reopening of the New Museum’s expanded building, a [water leak shut down](https://hyperallergic.com/new-museums-shiny-new-building-leaks-during-flash-floods/) the Manhattan institution for a full weekend. --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/sunflower.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-sunflower-effect-of-kyung-me/) [ The Sunflower Effect of Kyung-Me ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-sunflower-effect-of-kyung-me/) The artist’s current series marks a shift in her practice, evoking the life span of a sunflower — from blooming to dying, from sharply defined forms to rivulets of dissolution. | John Yau [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-sunflower-effect-of-kyung-me/) --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/roman-baths.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/why-did-roman-baths-disappear/) [ Why Did Roman Baths Disappear? ](https://hyperallergic.com/why-did-roman-baths-disappear/) New research contests the myth that it was Christianity’s opposition to public nudity that led to the decline in large-scale bathing in the late Roman Empire. | Sarah Bond [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/why-did-roman-baths-disappear/) ### A Homerist’s Review of “The Odyssey” URL: https://hyperallergic.com/a-homerists-review-of-the-odyssey/ Last updated: 2026-07-20T22:24:04.000Z We love hating on AI but use it anyway, even if we're not aware of it. A short documentary from the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project asks artists: How do you truly feel about this emerging technology? The film, premiered exclusively on *Hyperallergic*, is based on a survey of 2,000 art graduates. Give it a watch. Read Homerist Joel Christensen’s take on Christopher Nolan’s *The Odyssey*,plus reviews of new films about Caravaggio, Georgia O'Keeffe, and the muse-artist relationship between Kate Moss and Lucian Freud. Finally, brace yourself for a forthcoming adaptation of the Louvre heist. *—Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Upscaled---Play-Button_Cropped-1.png)](https://hyperallergic.com/in-a-new-documentary-artists-get-candid-about-ai/) [ In a New Documentary, Artists Get Candid About AI ](https://hyperallergic.com/in-a-new-documentary-artists-get-candid-about-ai/) In the short film from the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project, artists and creative workers get candid about generative technology, sharing their fears, ethical qualms, and real-life experiences. The 19-minute documentary, premiering exclusively on *Hyperallergic*, is based on the 2025 Pulse Survey on AI and Work, which collected responses from over 2,000 postsecondary arts and design graduates across more than 100 colleges and universities in the United States. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/in-a-new-documentary-artists-get-candid-about-ai/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/BSFF26_Ad_Hyperallergic_2400x1350_West-Side-Familia-2-2.png)](https://hyperallergic.com/indie-film-from-the-global-majority-blackstar-celebrates-15-years-of-cinema-for-liberation/) ****Indie Film From the Global Majority: BlackStar Celebrates 15 Years of Cinema for Liberation** The world’s most significant and groundbreaking filmmakers of color will gather to showcase their work in Philadelphia August 6-9. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/indie-film-from-the-global-majority-blackstar-celebrates-15-years-of-cinema-for-liberation/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/louvre.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-louvre-heist-is-coming-to-a-cinema-near-you/) [ The Louvre Heist Is Coming to a Cinema Near You ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-louvre-heist-is-coming-to-a-cinema-near-you/) The brazen theft at the Paris museum is set for a film adaptation amid an ongoing investigation and the stolen jewels still at large. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-louvre-heist-is-coming-to-a-cinema-near-you/) --- ## Features [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/doyennes-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/meet-the-doyennes-of-ecosexuality/) [ Meet the Doyennes of Ecosexuality ](https://hyperallergic.com/meet-the-doyennes-of-ecosexuality/) In their latest film, Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens advocate replacing an exploitative relationship with the Earth with one based on intimacy, care, and pleasure. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/meet-the-doyennes-of-ecosexuality/) --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/nellie-mae-rowe-newsletter.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/animated-nellie-mae-rowe-biopic-coming-to-youtube/) [ Animated Nellie Mae Rowe Biopic Coming to YouTube ](https://hyperallergic.com/animated-nellie-mae-rowe-biopic-coming-to-youtube/) Streaming of the 2023 film, which lovingly immortalizes the late self-taught Black artist’s life and legacy, starts on July 2\. | Rhea Nayyar [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/animated-nellie-mae-rowe-biopic-coming-to-youtube/) --- ## Recent Reviews [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/odessy.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/a-homerist-reacts-to-christopher-nolans-the-odyssey/) [ A Homerist Reacts to Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-homerist-reacts-to-christopher-nolans-the-odyssey/) “This is a tale of a man affected by trauma, but without any sense that it changed him at all.” | Joel Christensen [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-homerist-reacts-to-christopher-nolans-the-odyssey/) --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/10-Caravaggio-film-still-1-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/four-centuries-later-we-still-dont-get-caravaggio/) [ Four Centuries Later, We Still Don’t Get Caravaggio ](https://hyperallergic.com/) A British docudrama serves as a salutary primer on the Baroque master’s greatest works, but we should be wary of what it tells us about the personality of its subject. | Anthony Majanlahti [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/) --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/georgia-o-keefe-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/georgia-okeeffe-the-wanderer/) [ Georgia O’Keeffe the Wanderer ](https://hyperallergic.com/georgia-okeeffe-the-wanderer/) A new documentary presents the artist as a perpetual voyager, generously highlighting her lesser-known work and combating myths about her relationship with Alfred Stieglitz. | Debra Brehmer [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/georgia-okeeffe-the-wanderer/) --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/moss-and-freud-newsletter.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-best-part-of-moss-and-freud-is-when-its-over/) [ The Best Part of “Moss & Freud” Is When It’s Over ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-best-part-of-moss-and-freud-is-when-its-over/) In the film, Kate Moss is looking for the right man to get her sober, and Lucian Freud is a Great Man who magically sees the “truth” in young women. | Eileen G’Sell [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-best-part-of-moss-and-freud-is-when-its-over/) --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/making-of-a-maintenance-artist.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-making-of-a-maintenance-artist/) [ The Making of a Maintenance Artist ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-making-of-a-maintenance-artist/) A new documentary traces Mierle Laderman Ukeles’s decades-long practice of spotlighting marginal, unpaid, and feminine labor. | Dan Schindel [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-making-of-a-maintenance-artist/) --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/liminalism.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/how-liminalism-became-the-defining-aesthetic-of-our-time/) [ How Liminalism Became the Defining Aesthetic of Our Time ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-liminalism-became-the-defining-aesthetic-of-our-time/) This crowd-curated digital movement is one of the most pertinent and explicit reactions to our particular slice of dystopian late capitalism. | Ed Simon [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-liminalism-became-the-defining-aesthetic-of-our-time/) --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/feminism-film.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/feminism-cinema-experience-lori-jo-marso/) [ The Fraught Rapture of Seeing Other Women Onscreen ](https://hyperallergic.com/feminism-cinema-experience-lori-jo-marso/) Feminist film scholar Lori Jo Marso redresses misconceptions of the gendered gaze, parsing through the lessons we can learn from our exhilaration and unease. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/feminism-cinema-experience-lori-jo-marso/) ### A Homerist Reacts to Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” URL: https://hyperallergic.com/a-homerist-reacts-to-christopher-nolans-the-odyssey/ Last updated: 2026-07-22T14:57:51.000Z This is not Homer’s *Odyssey*. Let’s get that out of the way. As a Homerist, I had to remind myself of this throughout a film that reduces a narrative of 12,000 lines to just under three hours of airtime. The cuts are significant for someone who knows Homer well: The entire Phaeacian episode is gone; Matt Damon’s Odysseus never meets his father. Where the Homeric epic splits and gives its hero 12 books on Ithaca, the movie is about two-thirds journey and flashback with under an hour once Odysseus returns home. The middle of Christopher Nolan’s *The Odyssey* (2026) delivers visceral discomfort. When the witch Circe (Samantha Morton) serves her transformative feast to Odysseus’s companions on the island of Aeaea, the camera tracks their voracious hunger, following their shift from greedily slurping, increasingly frantic men into squealing pigs. Circe physically wrests them out of one shape into another, later commenting that their appetites made them what they truly are. This scene bears the promise of what the magic of modern film can do for ancient myth. It is physically affective, making vivid what could only be imagined before. And it also allows for the adaptation of the story: This Circe has been abused by travelers before. The animals who lurk on her island are the men who have met their comeuppance. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### New Museum's Shiny New Building Leaks During Flash Floods URL: https://hyperallergic.com/new-museums-shiny-new-building-leaks-during-flash-floods/ Last updated: 2026-07-20T20:50:21.000Z Just a few months after the reopening of the New Museum's expanded building, a water leak shut down the Manhattan institution for a full weekend. According to [*Artnews*](https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/new-museum-leaks-closure-flash-floods-wangshui-work-1234792787/?ref=hyperallergic.com), museum workers scrambled to address a "significant" leak during the flash floods of July 18, using buckets to catch water that streamed into a gallery housing artist WangShui's piece "oppose the serpent" (2024). In an email to *Hyperallergic*, the New Museum said that "immediate steps were taken to address the leak," and that no artwork was harmed. In an [Instagram post](https://www.instagram.com/p/Da8TV8Jz-zQ/?ref=hyperallergic.com) on Saturday, the museum announced that it would be closing for the weekend due to "extreme weather in New York City." ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/image-9.png) Fourth-four gallery installation view of **New Humans: Memories of the Future* (photo Valentina Di Liscia/**Hyperallergic*) The Lower Manhattan museum [unveiled](https://hyperallergic.com/what-do-we-really-think-of-the-new-new-museum/) its $82 million OMA-designed expansion in March after two years of closure. The 60,000-square-foot expansion doubled the institution’s exhibition space, adding much-needed breathing space, but as Aaron Short [reported](https://hyperallergic.com/whats-so-new-about-the-new-museum-building/) for *Hyperallergic*, "bits of masking tape were still stuck to the stairway railings, and a handful of missing wall panels revealed internal wires, rebar, and insulation." WangShui's work is included in the inaugural exhibition [*New Humans: Memories of the Future*](https://www.newmuseum.org/exhibition/new-humans-memories-of-the-future/?ref=hyperallergic.com), which explores what it means to be human amid thecataclysmic technological changesofthe 20th and 21st centuries through the work of more than 150 artists. The new building received mixed reviews from *Hyperallergic*'s critics with Editor-at-Large Hrag Vartanian calling it a "mishmash of Obama-era startup culture, dated by the lime green and perforated metal." ### Cuban Artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara Exiled to the US URL: https://hyperallergic.com/cuban-artist-luis-manuel-otero-alcantara-exiled-to-the-us/ Last updated: 2026-07-20T20:30:45.000Z After over a week of [ambiguity surrounding his whereabouts](https://hyperallergic.com/where-is-luis-manuel-otero-alcantara/) following his scheduled release from a five-year sentence for “contempt, defamation, and public disorder,”Cuban dissident performance artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara [arrived in Miami](https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/2026/07/welcoming-artist-who-courageously-stood-against-cuban-regimes-oppression?ref=hyperallergic.com) on Saturday, July 18. A self-taught artist, Otero Alcántara co-founded the San Isidro Movement (SIM) in 2018 alongside other artists and scholars organizing against [Decree 349](https://hyperallergic.com/artists-arrested-in-cuba-for-protesting-decree-censoring-the-arts/), a Cuban law requiring prior state approval for all public and private performances and exhibitions. “As the end of his sentence approached, his support team contacted the US Embassy in Havana to request humanitarian parole for Luis,” said SIM member and Cuban-American artist Coco Fusco, who [liaised](https://hyperallergic.com/cuban-artist-luis-manuel-otero-alcantara-message-of-defiance-from-prison/) [extensively](https://hyperallergic.com/luis-manuel-otero-alcantara-speaks-out-from-prison-ahead-of-trial/) with Otero Alcántara during his incarceration and [advocated](https://hyperallergic.com/coco-fusco-dialogues-with-political-prisoner-luis-manuel-otero-alcantara/) for his unconditional release, in an email to *Hyperallergic*. “We assume that he was taken to what Cubans call a 'protocol house' — an official state residence used for keeping dissidents incommunicado,” Fusco continued, expanding on what may have happened to the artist after the state removed him from prison on July 7\. She added that as soon as the United States State Department approved his humanitarian parole on [July 17](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/17/world/americas/luis-manuel-otero-alcantara-cuba-prison-release-exile.html?ref=hyperallergic.com), the Cuban Foreign Ministry put Otero Alcántara on a flight to Miami the following day. The artist was detained and arrested in [July 2021](https://hyperallergic.com/cuban-artists-detained-anti-government-protests-continue/) while he was on his way to participate in the historic anti-government protests targeting resource shortages and waning civil liberties. Just two months before his arrest, Otero Alcántara, who had been detained [several](https://hyperallergic.com/cuban-police-detain-artist-planning-alternative-havana-biennial/) [times](https://hyperallergic.com/luis-manuel-otero-alcantara/) for his activism and art, was [forcibly hospitalized by the state](https://hyperallergic.com/cuban-artist-luis-manuel-otero-alcantara-forcibly-hospitalized-during-hunger-strike/) after embarking on a hunger and fluid strike to protest the confiscation of multiple artworks during a police raid on his studio. Otero Alcántara was held in custody and moved to the Guanajay maximum-security prison before being handed his [five-year sentence](https://hyperallergic.com/cuba-sentences-artist-luis-manuel-otero-alcantara-to-five-years-in-prison/) for “crimes of insulting the symbols of the homeland, contempt, and public disorder” in June 2022\. In mobilizing against Decree 349, Otero Alcántara personally [invoked the Cuban Flag](https://www.lmoastudio.com/en/series/se-usa?ref=hyperallergic.com) in live and documented performance work, alongside [other symbols](https://www.lmoastudio.com/en/series/kids-were-born-to-be-happy-not-do-die-in-building-collapses?ref=hyperallergic.com) critical of the government. The artist initially declined the government's offer of exile in exchange for release, as he indicated in a [l](https://hyperallergic.com/luis-manuel-otero-alcantara-speaks-out-from-prison-ahead-of-trial/)[etter published by *Hyperallergic*](https://hyperallergic.com/luis-manuel-otero-alcantara-speaks-out-from-prison-ahead-of-trial/)ahead of his sentencing*.* However, Otero Alcántara eventually accepted exile while serving time, telling [*El País*](https://english.elpais.com/international/2024-07-14/luis-manuel-otero-cubas-most-famous-political-prisoner-speaks-from-jail-ill-either-be-a-martyr-or-ill-leave-the-island.html?ref=hyperallergic.com#?rel=mas)*,* “I never thought of leaving, but the regime has insinuated that there’s no option for me to walk through the streets of Cuba, because of the threat they’ve made me believe I am, or that people believe I am.” “I realize that the art I make represents a danger for them,” the artist continued during the 2024 interview with the Spanish newspaper. “The options are between exile, or remaining \[in Cuba\] and always being in trouble.” Fusco pointed to two other prominent political prisoners, Felix Navarro and José Daniel Ferrer, who were arrested in 2021 and paroled in 2025, only to be [arrested again](https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/05/cuba-revocan-libertad-condicional-de-jose-daniel-ferrer-y-felix-navarro/?ref=hyperallergic.com) shortly thereafter, in her email correspondence with *Hyperallergic*. The artist's partner, curator Claudia Genlui Hidalgo, wrote that “Alcántara is treated differently from the rest of the prisoners” in the foreword of an [interview with the artist](https://hyperallergic.com/can-you-buy-the-time-of-a-political-prisoner/) for *Hyperallergic*in 2023, reporting that he was routinely denied his right to personal phone calls and letters, and “subjected to harassment and psychological torture.” Nevertheless, from myriad [hunger](https://havanatimes.org/news/cuban-artist-luis-manuel-otero-begins-a-new-hunger-strike/?ref=hyperallergic.com) [strikes](https://democraticspaces.com/blog/2021/10/6/luis-manuel-otero-alcantara?ref=hyperallergic.com) over the brutality in Guanajay and the detention of political prisoners, to honing in on [drawing](https://www.lmoastudio.com/en/series/clowns?ref=hyperallergic.com) and participatory [conceptual](https://www.lmoastudio.com/en/series/charcoal-portrait-of-schrdingers-cat-i?ref=hyperallergic.com) [art](https://www.lmoastudio.com/en/series/charcoal-portrait-of-schrdingers-cat-i-hyjzh?ref=hyperallergic.com), Otero Alcántara continued his activism and art practice while incarcerated. “I am very glad that Luis does not have to suffer the deprivations he lived with for five long years,” Fusco said, noting that the artist wants to enjoy his new life in the US and continue his art practice. However, she recognized “forced exile is just one more injustice committed against him.” Though Otero Alcántara is no longer incarcerated, other dissident artists, including Grammy-winning rapper and fellow SIM member Maykel “Osorbo” CastilloPérez, remain behind bars as political prisoners. Pérez, whose song “Patria y Vida” (2021) became emblematic of the July 2021 protests, was arrested alongside Otero Alcántara and sentenced to [nine years](https://hyperallergic.com/cuba-sentences-artist-luis-manuel-otero-alcantara-to-five-years-in-prison/) in 2022\. ### The Sunflower Effect of Kyung-Me URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-sunflower-effect-of-kyung-me/ Last updated: 2026-07-21T15:05:29.000Z Kyung-Me has yet to be recognized as one of the most compelling artists of her generation. Now in her mid-30s, she has transformed her process to make at least four distinct bodies of work. First, she published her graphic novel, [*Bad Korean*](https://www.spitandahalf.com/product/bad-korean-by-kyung-me/?ref=hyperallergic.com) (2016), a pictorial diary done in pastel and colored pencil of a gullible young woman in New York, looking for love. Alienated and unhappy, she believes sex, alcohol, food, and dressing hip will help her escape her hyper-awareness of not fitting in. Told in snippets of speech, such as the repeated phrase “I want to be your only friend,” the self-deprecating narrative is an engrossing combination of quiet desperation and blunt humor. It is easy to imagine that Kyung-Me could have authored a series of books about this character, but she didn’t. In [*Copy Kitty*](https://2dcloud.com/products/copy-kitty?ref=hyperallergic.com) (2020), Kyung-Me used graphite to depict an intricate, wordless tale of a cat who keeps changing her identity in the pursuit of love and affection from a young blonde man. While the themes of alienation and trying to fit in — a common trope for those living in the diaspora — convey a narrative ripe for exploration, Kyung-Me shifted everything about her work for her [first solo exhibition](https://hyperallergic.com/expressionism-turned-inside-out/) in 2022 at Bureau, which I reviewed. Working meticulously with pen and pencil, she created eight drawings of elaborately detailed, nested rooms. About this dream house, whose occupant’s face is always hidden, I wrote that it was "as if she drew each line with a razor blade that cuts deep but draws no blood. The effect is mesmerizing and unsettling." _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Activists Sue to Stop Frida Kahlo Works From Leaving Mexico URL: https://hyperallergic.com/activists-sue-to-stop-frida-kahlo-works-from-leaving-mexico/ Last updated: 2026-07-20T20:36:33.000Z Just weeks before a historic collection of 20th-century Mexican art is slated to leave the country for an exhibition in Europe, a group of advocates is suing Mexico’s principal cultural entity over allegations regarding the legal basis for exporting the nation’s artistic heritage. The three lawsuits were filed by the advocacy group Defendamos la Colección Gelman (“Let’s Defend the Gelman Collection”) on June 29 and July 1 against Mexico’s National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (INBAL), the agency responsible for issuing export permits for artworks protected under cultural heritage laws. The legal actions concern the imminent international tour of a private collection that includes works designated as “artistic monuments” and thus subject to strict statutes regarding their circulation. Assembled by Jewish émigré film producer Jacques Gelman and his wife Natasha Zahalka in Mexico City in the 1940s, the recently renamed [Gelman Santander Collection](https://www.fundacionbancosantander.com/en/culture/art/coleccion-gelman-santander?ref=hyperallergic.com) comprises 161 works by artists including Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and María Izquierdo. In January, it was announced that the Gelman Collection would be managed by the Santander Bank Foundation. A three-party, five-year agreement revealed that the collection had been under the partial ownership of the cement billionaire Zambrano family since 2023 and that it will depart Mexico later this year for a two-year tour that begins in northern Spain, where it will be shown as part of the inaugural exhibition program at Faro Santander, the bank’s “[new cultural project](https://www.fundacionbancosantander.com/en/faro-santander?ref=hyperallergic.com)” set to open on September 8\. About 30 works in the grouping are designated as “[artistic monuments](https://inba.gob.mx/transparencia/obras?ref=hyperallergic.com),” meaning they may only leave the country temporarily and with INBAL’s permission. While such works are legally restricted to one-year export and return permits, with the possibility of a two-year extension, the terms of an [original agreement ](https://www.ft.com/content/b5882593-4978-4d93-9600-7c065575bbf9?ref=hyperallergic.com)seemingly licensed their international circulation through 2030, with the possibility of renewal. In March, hundreds of Mexican cultural workers signed an [open letter](https://demuseos.mx/de-museos/f/carta-p%C3%BAblica-desatino-institucional-en-el-caso-colecci%C3%B3n-gelman?fbclid=IwY2xjawQf0NJleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeKyFdVQb3rWvd9QUAwSWzct5cXPDH4wSa8Ywq1u5I4Y8wSME0bRg32TIiXc4%5Faem%5FWLp7DiqXYd1eUEK0TwFHCg&ref=hyperallergic.com) calling for greater transparency surrounding the collection’s travel, particularly with regard to the works of Kahlo. "It's striking to see the disparity between the effort that has gone into repatriating the nation's archaeological heritage, in order to enforce the law, and the lax way in which they are allowing the departure of major works, not only by the most relevant Mexican artist today, but by painters who, together, helped build a significant part of our national artistic identity,” the letter read. Of the 161 works, which include Kahlo’s oil paintings “Self-Portrait with Monkeys” (1943) and “Diego in My Mind” (1943), 68 are currently on view to the Mexican public for the first time in nearly two decades at the Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City. However, upon the closing of *Modern Stories: Emblematic Works from the Gelman Santander Collection* on July 19, they will depart for Spain with the rest of the collection. Upon learning of the change of the collection’s name and its shuffling in ownership and management, art historian Francisco Berzunza and two friends formed Defendamos. They soon began asking questions regarding the duration of the protected works’ export and [speculation that the Zambranos took out a $150 million loan on the collection](https://www.ft.com/content/b5882593-4978-4d93-9600-7c065575bbf9?ref=hyperallergic.com). They also questioned the specifics of the [Zambranos’ purchase of the collection in 2023 from Robert Littman](https://www.e-flux.com/notes/6783468/open-letter-on-the-imminent-departure-of-the-gelman-collection-from-mexico?ref=hyperallergic.com), the executor of Natasha Zahalka’s will, who, [according to Defendamos](https://www.e-flux.com/notes/6783468/open-letter-on-the-imminent-departure-of-the-gelman-collection-from-mexico?ref=hyperallergic.com), “subsequently became not only curator of the collection, but also its owner, for reasons that are still unclear.” In a statement shared with *Hyperallergic*, INBAL said that after leaving Spain, the collection will travel to the Fondation Beyeler in Basel, Switzerland, followed by the National Museum of Norway. In 2028, the works will return to Mexico for an exhibition at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey, INBAL said. “The agreement with Banco Santander Foundation is limited to research, conservation and international cultural programming,” the statement said. “It does not entail the transfer of ownership or the sale of any artwork to foreign institutions. The name Gelman Santander Collection reflects this institutional alliance only.” In April, the Santander Bank Foundation also said that it “will comply at all times with Mexican laws” and that the collection would return to Mexico in two years. The foundation shared another statement with *Hyperallergic* that described its "commitment to Mexico" as "long-standing, substantial and deeply rooted." Even with these assurances, there are a number of requests that Berzanza says still have not been answered. “The government till this day has refused to show the permits, it refused to show the agreement, it refused to explain why Santander said that Mexican law is flexible,” he said to *Hyperallergic*. Berzunza also said that such questions have even been met with hostility. The lead plaintiff in the lawsuits told *Hyperallergic* that members of the activist group have faced political backlash and other pressures in the weeks leading up to and after the filings, alleging that members “have had funding withdrawn” and that their relatives “have had commissions canceled” since the group initiated their public-facing actions in March. “These questions led to us being publicly shamed by the president on national TV, accused of being political adversaries to her regime,” he said, referring to Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s [dismissal of fears](https://www.infobae.com/mexico/2026/04/06/sheinbaum-estalla-contra-quienes-alertaron-en-the-guardian-por-obras-de-frida-kahlo/?ref=hyperallergic.com) over the collection’s fate. The president’s reaction prompted the group to begin a different course of action. “We decided the government would only act if we were to act legally,” Berzunza said. “And we began legal proceedings.” Despite these pressures and others, including “anonymous threats on social media” and their “presence at public events, at public institutions” being called into question, Berzunza and Defendamos remain steadfast in their action. “And if we didn’t raise our voice, this could be lost because the adversary is the global free circulation market,” he said. Amid the last days of the collection’s public display at the Museo de Arte Moderno, the fate of the Gelman Santander Collection remains a hot-button issue regarding the role that governmental agencies, arts institutions, and the public play in protecting national cultural heritage. “No major museum today would knowingly present a collection that was looted or acquired through conflict,” Berzunza said. “Yet Santander has dismissed the legitimate concerns of the people of Mexico and the serious questions surrounding how Mr. Littman acquired the collection. Ethics, it seems, is not part of Santander’s vocabulary.” ### Trump Whitewashes George Washington’s Slavery History in New Display URL: https://hyperallergic.com/trump-whitewashes-george-washingtons-slavery-history-in-new-display/ Last updated: 2026-07-21T20:48:31.000Z Following a legal battle between the city of Philadelphia and the Trump administration, federal officials replaced exhibits describing the history of slavery in the United States at a Pennsylvania historical park. Last Wednesday, July 15, the Trump administration complied with a court order to restore exhibits it had [abruptly removed](https://hyperallergic.com/philadelphia-sues-trump-administration-over-removal-of-slavery-exhibits/) from Independence National Historical Park in January as part of an [order](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-whitewashes-history-in-new-smithsonian-executive-order/) to ensure its exhibits did not “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.” However, federal judges this month allowed the administration to install altered panels that minimize the Founding Fathers' participation in the institution of slavery, according to local activists. The [new texts](https://www.nps.gov/inde/planyourvisit/presidentshousesite.htm?ref=hyperallergic.com) replace the longstanding outdoor exhibition, *Freedom and Slavery in the Making of a New Nation,* co-created bythe city and the federal governmentat the President’s House site in 2010 and removed in January under President Trump’s orders. Michael Coard, a trial attorney and founder of the advocacy group [Avenging The Ancestors Coalition](https://www.avengingtheancestors.com/about?ref=hyperallergic.com) (ATAC), which joined the city’s lawsuit against the Trump administration over the panel removals, described the new exhibits to *Hyperallergic* as “ sanitized, whitewashed, and censored.” Since 2002, ATAC has led a push to compel the National Park Service to create a permanent memorial dedicated to the nine individuals Washington enslaved in his Philadelphia residence. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/IMG_9762.jpeg) A new panel at the site about the Washington family does not mention slavery. (photo courtesy Michael Coard) Coard said the new panels overemphasized George Washington’s role in drafting the Fairfax Resolves, a 1774 document that called for the end of the “[wicked,” “cruel,” and “unnatural” slave trade.](https://www.nps.gov/inde/planyourvisit/presidentshousesite.htm?ref=hyperallergic.com) The new texts also make no mention of the [hundreds](https://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/history/george-washingtons-runaway-slave-harry/?ref=hyperallergic.com) of individuals whom the president enslaved, Coard said. “Privately, George Washington often expressed discomfort with the institution and a desire to see it abolished,” the alternative text reads. “Yet as a Virginia plantation owner, his wealth and livelihood were deeply tied to it.” “ If he had discomfort, what the hell did they have?” Coard said. “Why highlight the discomfort of the victimizer and ignore the hell of the victims?” Another new text reads: “Slaves living in the President’s House experienced a greater modicum of autonomy than elsewhere in the South, such as to explore the city and sometimes even attend the theater, with Washington buying the tickets.” “ It \[is\] outrageous because the definition of slavery is no autonomy,” Coard said. In February, Philadelphia federal judge Cynthia M. Rufe [ordered](https://hyperallergic.com/judge-orders-trump-administration-to-reinstall-exhibit-on-slavery/) the administration to restore the exhibition in a scathing opinion that compared Trump’s tactics to those of George Orwell’s fictional Big Brother character. The Trump administration then tried to install its new versions of the plaques, but was prevented by an appeals court from doing so until this month. “ You can try to tidy up by putting out this information about George Washington, but the bottom line is that you don't like the issue of slavery being taught,” Coard said. In a statement to *Hyperallergic,* the Department of the Interior (DOI) said the agency was “pleased the Courts have sided with the Trump administration on restoring truth and sanity to our country in our nation's 250th.” “\[The exhibits\] acknowledge the evils of slavery, including its injustices and hypocrisies, and, by telling the stories of the nine slaves that Washington kept in the President’s House, remind us of their essential humanity,” the DOI spokesperson continued. “The panels also recall the price our nation paid to finish the work that the Founders had begun and end slavery in the United States once and for all.” Coard said that he and ATAC would pursue “all available legal options” in their fight against the federal government for the new exhibition. “ What this president has done with regard to the President's House lays the foundation for himself or the next right-wing fascist president to get rid of any symbols he doesn't like,” Coard said. ### Open Call 2027: Jentel Artist Residency URL: https://hyperallergic.com/open-call-2027-jentel-artist-residency/ Last updated: 2026-07-20T15:30:45.000Z Located 20 miles southeast of Sheridan, Wyoming, the [UW Neltje Center’s ](https://bit.ly/4elZuYo?ref=hyperallergic.com)[Jentel Artist Residency](https://bit.ly/4elZuYo?ref=hyperallergic.com), now in its 25th year, offers dedicated individuals a supportive environment to further their artistic development. Jentel offers 3-week residencies from mid-January through early December with private studios and access to Wyoming’s natural beauty. We welcome visual artists in all mediums; writers in fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry; and composers in all genres of music. Artistic merit and promise form the basis for selections. Established as well as emerging artists are encouraged to apply. Jentel lies in the Lower Piney Creek Valley with spectacular views over scoria-topped hills to the majestic Bighorn Mountains. Five new and two renovated structures evoke the agricultural and historical setting of the valley and echo the sweeping lines of the foothills and mountains. Accommodations for each resident include a private room, a shared living area and kitchen, and a separate studio space. A $300 stipend helps defray the cost of living and food expenses. Typically, three artists, two writers, and a composer are invited to participate in each of 11 annual 3-week sessions. The application deadline for the Winter/Spring 2027 residencies (January through April) is September 15, 2026\. Applications for Summer/Fall 2027 residencies (May through November) open on October 1, 2026, and close on January 15, 2027. For more information and to apply, visit [jentelarts.org](https://bit.ly/4elZuYo?ref=hyperallergic.com). ### A Stolen Dove Takes Flight Again URL: https://hyperallergic.com/a-stolen-dove-takes-flight-again/ Last updated: 2026-07-27T17:06:05.000Z Outside a public library in Santa Ana, California, sat a bronze statue of a man with a book under one arm, a dove taking flight from the other. Palestinian-American poet, scholar, and civil rights leader Alex Odeh was assassinated in 1985; nine years later, Algerian-American artist Khalil Bendib made the statue in his honor. It was vandalized with red paint in 1996 and then again the year after; in 2020, the dove — a symbol of peace — was stolen, before eventually being recovered. Now, artist Jon Rubin is setting that dove free, sending it on a world tour as a living, participatory artwork that brings renewed attention to Odeh’s life and legacy, a continued history of anti-Arab violence, and efforts to end occupation and genocide in Palestine — a quiet prayer for peace. This past weekend, it flew to Los Angeles for an evening of music, poetry, and food; next, it’ll head to the Bay Area, Pittsburgh, and hopefully, to Jifna, Odeh’s hometown, before returning home to roost. It’s a timely reminder that art is something meant to be shared in community — as Patrick Guetta, the artist featured in this week’s edition of A View From the Easel, puts it, “One of my favorite museums is the street.” Also today, inside the cheerfully sinister worlds of Trevor Winkfield, and Zendaya wearing 3,000-year-old Iranian artifacts to a movie premiere points to bigger problems than out-of-touch celebrities. *—Lisa Yin Zhang, associate editor* **CORRECTION:** Our Daily Newsletter from Friday, July 17, mistakenly stated that three antiquities the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office returned to Mexico were previously held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, when in factonly one of them was. We regret the error. --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/HelenawithDoveDec2025_PhotoPatrickShartzer_CourtesyJonRubinandGCAC-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/a-living-memorial-to-palestinian-activist-alex-odeh-takes-flight/) [ A Living Memorial to Palestinian Activist Alex Odeh Takes Flight ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-living-memorial-to-palestinian-activist-alex-odeh-takes-flight/) “The Stolen Dove” is a participatory project that turns a decades-old monument into an artwork to keep the scholar and civil rights leader’s memory alive. | Matt Stromberg [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-living-memorial-to-palestinian-activist-alex-odeh-takes-flight/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Louisiana-contemporary.jpg)](https://www.thehelisfoundation.org/projects/louisiana-contemporary?ref=hyperallergic.com) ****Artists Announced for Louisiana Contemporary 2026** **Louisiana Contemporary*, presented by The Helis Foundation, celebrates the vitality of artistic practice across Louisiana. Juror Sarah Jones of The Metropolitan Museum of Art selected 50 works by 45 artists for the 2026 exhibition, on view August 1, 2026 - February 14, 2027. [Explore this year's artists ](https://www.thehelisfoundation.org/projects/louisiana-contemporary?ref=hyperallergic.com) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/popov.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/man-sentenced-to-20-years-for-fatally-stabbing-nyc-vogue-dancer/) - Dmitriy Popov [was handed a 20-year sentence](https://hyperallergic.com/man-sentenced-to-20-years-for-fatally-stabbing-nyc-vogue-dancer/) over the fatal stabbing of Black gay professional dancer O’Shae Sibley. The sentencing comes after Popov was convicted of manslaughter as a hate crime in June. --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/trevor-winkfield.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/trevor-winkfields-cheerfully-sinister-worlds/) [ Trevor Winkfield’s Cheerfully Sinister Worlds ](https://hyperallergic.com/trevor-winkfields-cheerfully-sinister-worlds/) His rejection of certainty is an urgent reminder that imagination should not be neglected in the pursuit of art. | John Yau [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/trevor-winkfields-cheerfully-sinister-worlds/) --- ## Opinion [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/zendaya.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/zendayas-earrings-are-part-of-a-much-bigger-problem/) [ Zendaya’s Earrings Are Part of a Much Bigger Problem ](https://hyperallergic.com/zendayas-earrings-are-part-of-a-much-bigger-problem/) The 3,000-year-old Iranian discs turned red-carpet jewelry are emblematic of a market that has spent decades quietly dismantling ancient objects for parts. | Emiline Smith [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/zendayas-earrings-are-part-of-a-much-bigger-problem/) --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/guetta.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-140/) [ A View From the Easel: Patrick Guetta ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-140/) “One of my favorite museums is the street itself.” [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-140/) --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/hildegard.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/hildegard-von-bingen-eternal-garden/) [ Hildegard von Bingen’s Eternal Garden ](https://hyperallergic.com/hildegard-von-bingen-eternal-garden/) The 12th-century mystic continues to attract devotees among both Catholic clergy and New Age gurus, Christian traditionalists and radical feminists. | Ed Simon [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/hildegard-von-bingen-eternal-garden/) ### Edwin Church, Peter Hujar, Looted Art URL: https://hyperallergic.com/edward-church-peter-hujar-looted-art/ Last updated: 2026-07-20T14:19:01.000Z I just came back from a dreamy residency at the Headlands Center for the Arts in Northern California. The place is special not just for the breathtaking views of the Marin Headlands but also for the kind people who run it. I'm grateful to Louisa Gloger, Holly Blake, MJ Brown, and others on Headlands' team. Shoutout also to the amazing Bay Area artists, writers, activists, and other Hyperallergic readers I got to meet in the past few weeks. Meanwhile, our excellent editorial has been holding down the fort, putting out lots of must-reads. Check out Erin L. Thompson's deep dive into the convicted antiquities dealer behind priceless objects held at dozens of museums across the United States, Ben Moser's review of a new Frederic Edwin Church biography, Aaron Short's report on the Aldrich’s inaugural decennial exhibition, Coco Fusco's piece on the unknown fate of imprisoned Cuban artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, and much more. It's good to be back in New York, despite the haze, ticks, and fear of eating a bad salad leaf. And it's also good to be back with all of you. *—Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/antiquity-dealer.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/why-do-so-many-museums-hold-a-convicted-antiquity-dealers-treasures/) [ Why Do So Many Museums Hold a Convicted Antiquity Dealer’s Treasures? ](https://hyperallergic.com/why-do-so-many-museums-hold-a-convicted-antiquity-dealers-treasures/) After The Met returned a Roman bust connected to Phoenix Ancient Art, the question of what will happen to other works sold by the gallery to dozens of US institutions remains open. | Erin L. Thompson [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/why-do-so-many-museums-hold-a-convicted-antiquity-dealers-treasures/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/kylie-ad-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/guerrilla-london-bus-ads-mock-kylie-jenners-meta-glasses-campaign/) - The activism group Everyone Hates Elon [mocked Kylie Jenner’s Meta glasses campaign](https://hyperallergic.com/guerrilla-london-bus-ads-mock-kylie-jenners-meta-glasses-campaign/) with bus ads following a wave of public backlash over unresolved concerns about privacy, consent, and personal safety as surveillance technology rapidly evolves. - Days after police arrested a man who had scaled and tagged a prominent Melbourne bridge with a cartoon bird dubbed “Pam the Bird,” thousands have [called upon the city](https://hyperallergic.com/pam-the-bird-graffiti-stirs-controversy-in-melbourne/) to preserve the graffiti artwork. - [Artists are memorializing](https://hyperallergic.com/artists-memorialize-lorenzo-salgado-araujo-houston-man-killed-by-ice/) Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old man who was fatally shot by ICE on July 7, through portraits, illustrations, cartoons, and signs. - The Harriet Tubman Museum and Educational Center in Cambridge, Maryland, reported a [break-in that resulted in damage](https://hyperallergic.com/mural-damaged-in-break-in-at-harriet-tubman-museum/) to a mural over the weekend. The involved party, which remains at large, broke into the building only a month after it reopened to the public following an extensive renovation. - The High Museum of Art’s former Chief Operating Officer Brady Lum has pleaded guilty to [embezzling more than $600,000](https://hyperallergic.com/former-high-museum-executive-pleads-guilty-to-embezzlement/) from the nonprofit arts institution. - The Manhattan DA said three antiquities are being [repatriated to Mexico](https://hyperallergic.com/manhattan-das-office-returns-three-antiquities-to-mexico/). One of them was previously held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. - The Trump administration hassignificantly [diminished the size of two national monuments](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-shrinks-utah-national-monuments-by-90/) in Utah that hold sacred lands and richarchaeological sites. - A prominent international gallery in Cape Town is [facing allegations](https://hyperallergic.com/cape-town-gallery-accused-of-withholding-pay-and-artworks/) of withholding artworks from and delaying payments to artists. - Manhattan’s High Line Art [is seeking public feedback](https://hyperallergic.com/which-artworks-will-grace-the-high-lines-plinth-next/) on 62 proposals for the public artwork commissions that will grace the park’s plinth in 2029 and 2030. - The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene [discovered Legionella](https://hyperallergic.com/legionella-bacteria-found-in-cooling-tower-at-nyc-guggenheim/), the bacterium that causes Legionnaires’ disease, in the Guggenheim Museum’s cooling tower this week. - After months of near radio silence, two suspects held in pre-trial detention have revealed more information about their role in [facilitating the Louvre Museum jewelry heist](https://hyperallergic.com/suspects-shed-light-on-mastermind-behind-louvre-heist/) that shocked the world last October. --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/frederic-edwin-church-1-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-many-lives-of-frederic-edwin-church/) [ The Many Lives of Frederic Edwin Church ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-many-lives-of-frederic-edwin-church/) Victoria Johnson’s biography is a nuanced portrait of the artist, whose landscapes conveyed the anxieties of a nation struggling over slavery, war, and disunion. | Benjamin Moser [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-many-lives-of-frederic-edwin-church/) [ Should We See Peter Hujar’s Contact Sheets? ](https://hyperallergic.com/should-we-see-peter-hujars-contact-sheets/) Though not made for public consumption, the darkroom work prints reveal his portraits as excerpts of a conversation, rather than memories snatched from the ether. | Julia Curl [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/should-we-see-peter-hujars-contact-sheets/) [ The Album Art Music Left Behind ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-album-art-music-left-behind/) Two projects examine the visual art and design that shape our perception of music, from Raymond Pettibon’s Foo Fighters record covers to the ephemera of bygone bands. | Divya Mehra [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-album-art-music-left-behind/) [ For Michael Asher, the Museum Was the Medium ](https://hyperallergic.com/for-michael-asher-the-museum-was-the-medium/) A survey of the conceptual artist reveals his deep engagement with institutional machinations, though it sometimes feels like inside baseball. | Renée Reizman [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/for-michael-asher-the-museum-was-the-medium/) [ The Story of Printmaking Is the Story of Democracy ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-story-of-printmaking-is-the-story-of-democracy/) Holly EJ Black deftly weaves a narrative that integrates varied geographical and cultural perspectives, centering figures who may not have been artists themselves. | Bridget Quinn [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-story-of-printmaking-is-the-story-of-democracy/) --- ## Features [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/doyennes-2.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/meet-the-doyennes-of-ecosexuality/) [ Meet the Doyennes of Ecosexuality ](https://hyperallergic.com/meet-the-doyennes-of-ecosexuality/) In their latest film, Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens advocate replacing an exploitative relationship with the Earth with one based on intimacy, care, and pleasure. | Tulsa Kinney [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/meet-the-doyennes-of-ecosexuality/) [ Connecticut’s Artists Have Been Hiding in Plain Sight ](https://hyperallergic.com/connecticuts-artists-have-been-hiding-in-plain-sight/) The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum’s inaugural decennial exhibition showcases works by 40 artists in the state, all made in the last decade. | Aaron Short [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/connecticuts-artists-have-been-hiding-in-plain-sight/) [ How the Children’s Art Carnival in Harlem Nurtured Generations ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-the-childrens-art-carnival-in-harlem-nurtured-generations/) Nearly six decades since its founding, the legacy of the beloved program is explored in an exhibition at Columbia University’s Wallach Art Gallery. | Jerry Elengical [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-the-childrens-art-carnival-in-harlem-nurtured-generations/) --- ## Opinions [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/basket-NL.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/how-a-basket-empire-wove-the-myth-of-america/) [ How a Basket Empire Wove the Myth of America ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-a-basket-empire-wove-the-myth-of-america/) As Longaberger’s iconic headquarters sit empty, the baskets survive as artifacts of a national identity that commodified craft and packaged settler colonialism as heritage. | Poppy DeltaDawn [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-a-basket-empire-wove-the-myth-of-america/) [ Where Is Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara? ](https://hyperallergic.com/where-is-luis-manuel-otero-alcantara/) The Cuban artist’s whereabouts remain unknown, as do his fate and that of more than 800 political prisoners on the island. | Coco Fusco [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/where-is-luis-manuel-otero-alcantara/) --- ## Community [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/bwap.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/beer-with-a-painter-keltie-ferris/) [ Beer With a Painter: Keltie Ferris ](https://hyperallergic.com/beer-with-a-painter-keltie-ferris/) “I am playing with the building blocks of painting,” the artist told me at his studio in Woodstock, where he experiments with gestural compositions and monumental body prints. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/beer-with-a-painter-keltie-ferris/) [ Required Reading ](https://hyperallergic.com/required-reading-793/) This week: Chitra Ganesh’s futuristic myths, André Breton and optimism, the mermaids of Florida, a Palestinian digital archive, Argentina and racism, and more. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/required-reading-793/) [ Remembering Bruno Lucchesi, Pat Oliphant, and Edward Lucie-Smith ](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-bruno-lucchesi-pat-oliphant-and-edward-lucie-smith/) This week, we honor a figurative sculptor, a political cartoonist who revolutionized the form, and a prolific poet and writer. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-bruno-lucchesi-pat-oliphant-and-edward-lucie-smith/) [ A View From the Easel: Patrick Guetta ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-140/) “One of my favorite museums is the street itself.” [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-140/) ### A Living Memorial to Palestinian Activist Alex Odeh Takes Flight URL: https://hyperallergic.com/a-living-memorial-to-palestinian-activist-alex-odeh-takes-flight/ Last updated: 2026-07-23T16:14:14.000Z One of the few monuments honoring an Arab-American in the United States is the subject of a new participatory art project that turns the decades-old sculpture of a slain Palestinian-American icon into an expansive, living artwork. Outside the public library in Santa Ana stands a memorial statue to Alex Odeh, a Palestinian-American poet, civil rights leader, and scholar who was assassinated in 1985\. Created by Algerian-American artist Khalil Bendib in 1994, it depicts Odeh holding a book in one hand and a dove in the other, symbolizing his work as a peace activist. The bronze statue has been vandalized several times over the past three decades — it was splashed with red paint in 1996 and [1997](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-02-08-me-26724-story.html?ref=hyperallergic.com), and in 2020, the dove was stolen, though it was soon recovered and reattached. Last December, the dove was removed again, but with the aim of keeping Odeh’s memory and legacy alive. Artist Jon Rubin first encountered the statue of Odeh in the spring of 2023, during his residency at the [Grand Central Art Center](https://www.grandcentralartcenter.com/jon-rubin-the-stolen-dove/?ref=hyperallergic.com) (GCAC) in Santa Ana. It had recently been vandalized, and remnants of a brick lay strewn on and about the sculpture. He was struck by the animosity directed at the memorial, but also by the fact that many people were not familiar with Odeh’s life and work, as a librarian informed him. “That combination stayed with me,” Rubin told *Hyperallergic*. “Here was a monument that was simultaneously being attacked and overlooked: a work that remained politically charged enough to attract repeated acts of vandalism, yet had become somewhat invisible to the public around it.” _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Trevor Winkfield’s Cheerfully Sinister Worlds URL: https://hyperallergic.com/trevor-winkfields-cheerfully-sinister-worlds/ Last updated: 2026-07-20T16:41:37.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/10433-2.jpg) Trevor Winkfield, "Voyage II" (1996), acrylic on linen (all photos courtesy Tibor de Nagy gallery) The English-born Trevor Winkfield has taken a unique path that has yet to be fully recognized for its unlikeliness, depth, and breadth. After attending art school in Leeds and getting his master’s degree from the Royal College of Art in 1967, he moved to New York in 1969, where he continued to publish a poetry magazine, *Juillard* (1968–72), and made a name for himself among a group of writers and artists known as the New York School. He worked for Arthur Cohen, who sold books and ephemera on 20th-century Modern Art movements such as Dada and Surrealism and made entries to Cohen’s encyclopedic catalogs. These were informative, succinct, and witty. He was a polymath whose knowledge of minor artists and writers, such as Gerald Murphy and Ronald Firbank, was unmatched. In 1976, Winkfield began painting again, made book covers, and collaborated with poets such as John Ashbery, Charles North, Ron Padgett, and Harry Matthews. He had his New York debut exhibition in 1977, and published his translation of Raymond Roussel’s [*How I Wrote Certain of My Books*](http://bookshop.org/a/539/9781878972149?ref=hyperallergic.com). Roussel, who is widely considered the most eccentric writer of the 20th century, wrote according to linguistic rules based on homophones, words that sound similar but have different meanings. As one might expect, in the years since, critics have tried to connect Winkfield’s collage-like paintings of artificial worlds with Roussel’s wildly improbable novels, but have never discovered the key, which I feel was never there. As literary as Winkfield is, he is equally a visual person. This complete duality is what makes him inimitable. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Man Sentenced to 20 Years for Fatally Stabbing NYC Vogue Dancer URL: https://hyperallergic.com/man-sentenced-to-20-years-for-fatally-stabbing-nyc-vogue-dancer/ Last updated: 2026-07-17T18:30:53.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/sibley_1.jpg) A photo of late professional dancer O'Shae Sibley attending a class at the Ailey Extension's drop in program (photo Whitney Browne for Ailey Extension, courtesy Ailey Extension) Nearly three years since the attack, Dmitriy Popov was handed a [20-year sentence](https://www.brooklynda.org/2026/07/16/brooklyn-man-sentenced-to-20-years-in-prison-for-killing-oshae-sibley-in-anti-gay-attack-at-midwood-gas-station/?ref=hyperallergic.com) today, July 16, over the fatal stabbing of Black gay professional dancer O'Shae Sibley at a gas station in Midwood, Brooklyn. The sentencing comes after Popov was [convicted of manslaughter](https://abc7ny.com/post/dmitriy-popov-killer-beloved-dancer-oshea-sibley-convicted-manslaughter-hate-crime-new-york-city-stabbing/19263913/?ref=hyperallergic.com) as a hate crime in June, as the [2023 stabbing](https://hyperallergic.com/dancer-oshae-sibley-killed-after-vogueing-at-brooklyn-gas-station/) happened after he and a group of friends confronted Sibley's group with homophobic slurs because the dancer was vogueing to music at a gas pump. “O’Shae Sibley was simply being himself — a Black gay man enjoying a summer evening — but his mere existence caused this defendant to curse, harass and ultimately kill him,” said Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez upon announcing Popov's sentence. Hailing from Philadelphia, 28-year-old Sibley was a performer with the Philadanco professional dance troupe. After moving to Brownsville, Brooklyn in 2020, he became a devoted student at the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater's drop-in classes. Sibley integrated his love of movement with his identity as a proud Black gay man, and in his advocacy for social change and racial justice through [public performances](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQIQcuW9Vqk&ref=hyperallergic.com) and [projects](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YALnu7vM6e4&t=2s&ref=hyperallergic.com) directed by his close friend, choreographer Kemar Jewel. After a day at the beach on July 29, 2023, Sibley and his friends stopped to fill gas at a station on Coney Island Avenue after 11 pm. Still clad in swimming trunks, the group began dancing to a Beyoncé song playing from the car, and Popov's band of friends began taunting Sibley's group with homophobic and racial slurs. The two groups were in a heated argument for a few minutes before ultimately dispersing, but Popov, who was 17 at the time, took out his phone and began filming while reportedly continuing to disparage Sibley and his friends. Sibley turned around and confronted Popov while a witness tried to intervene. He chased Popov to the sidewalk area, where the teenager ultimately pulled out a five-and-a-half-inch blade and stabbed Sibley in the torso. The dancer was pronounced dead after arriving at Maimonides Hospital, and Popov was on the lam for about a week before turning himself in. Popov initially [pled not guilty](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/11/nyregion/oshae-sibley-stabbing-dmitriy-popov-arraignment.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) and [testified](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/27/nyregion/oshae-sibley-brooklyn-murder-trial.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) that he acted in self-defense and not hate after Sibley approached again, but failed to convince the jury that convicted him last month. “I hope today's sentence will bring some closure to O’Shae’s many loved ones and to the entire LGTBQ+ community, which has been shaken by this tragic and deeply upsetting crime,” Gonzalez said. ### Zendaya’s Earrings Are Part of a Much Bigger Problem URL: https://hyperallergic.com/zendayas-earrings-are-part-of-a-much-bigger-problem/ Last updated: 2026-07-30T15:08:00.000Z Zendaya faced backlash for [wearing](https://www.instagram.com/p/Daairi5iNYg/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fweb%5Fcopy%5Flink&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==) a pair of 3,000-year-old Iranian gold discs at a [London photocall](https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/zendaya-channels-goddess-athena-in-custom-gown-at-the-odyssey-photocall/ar-AA27gIzA?gemSnapshotKey=GM04793495-snapshot-3&uxmode=ruby&cvid=6a5842f6f2da454795e05fe3f0d74938&ei=14&ref=hyperallergic.com) for Christopher Nolan's forthcoming adaptation of *The Odyssey* earlier this month. The discs, mounted in 18-karat gold and diamonds, were recently made into earrings by jeweler Glenn Spiro as part of his *Materials of the Old World* collection, and subsequently acquired by London jewelry house Barron London, who [stated](https://www.newarab.com/news/zendayas-odyssey-premiere-earrings-spark-ethics-row?ref=hyperallergic.com) that they are part of the company’s private collection and not for sale. However, they did not belong on the red carpet at all. Described as a “[voracious collector](https://galeriemagazine.com/glenn-spiro-turns-antique-treasures-into-wearable-art/?ref=hyperallergic.com),” mesmerized by special artifacts “regardless of their provenance,” Spiro said in an interview about the collection, “You can wear something around your neck that dates back thousands of years but is still contemporary and cool.” One [online review](https://biancablanari.substack.com/p/materials-of-the-old-world-by-g) of Spiro’s collection perfectly captures the performative exoticism driving this kind of repurposing: “... fragments of forgotten empires are not merely displayed but reborn.” The [backlash](https://images.dawn.com/news/1195544/?utm%5Fsource=www.dawn.com) on [TikTok](https://www.tiktok.com/@shabnamnasimi/video/7662421697148112150?ref=hyperallergic.com) and [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/reels/DavNfSKOESb/?ref=hyperallergic.com) was immediate and, notably, first came from archaeologists rather than fashion critics. They pointed out that presenting the objects as jewelry, rather than as artifacts in a display case, further facilitated their commodification and exotification. The Forensic Archive of Iran quickly launched a [petition](https://www.forensicarchiveofiran.com/petition?ref=hyperallergic.com) requesting transparency around the discs’ provenance. Added to the controversy was Zendaya’s timing, wearing the earrings amid the United States and Israel’s ongoing attacks on Iran, which have resulted in thousands of deaths and widespread [destruction](https://hyperallergic.com/israel-us-strikes-damage-tehrans-historic-golestan-palace/) to invaluable cultural heritage. Critics situated the controversy within a longer pattern of Western indifference to the ethics of trading, handling and displaying West Asian heritage — what London-based writer Zirrar Ali [described](https://www.newarab.com/news/zendayas-odyssey-premiere-earrings-spark-ethics-row?ref=hyperallergic.com) as celebrities, particularly in the Western world, being “largely deaf to questions of ethics and history when it comes to the Global South.” But Zendaya's earrings are a viral instance of something the art market does constantly and almost always unquestioned: It takes archaeological, ethnographic, funerary and other cultural objects and physically alters them into jewelry, furniture, and decorative art, selling the transformation itself as added value. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### A View From the Easel URL: https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-140/ Last updated: 2026-07-17T15:24:43.000Z Welcome to the 346thinstallment of A View From the Easel, a series in which artists reflect on their workspace. This week, Patrick Guetta repurposes brand imagery to spread environmentalist messages and approaches the streets of Los Angeles as mini museums in themselves. Want to take part? Check out our [submission guidelines](https://hyperallergic.com/submit-your-workspace-to-a-view-from-the-easel/) and share a bit about your studio with us through [this form](https://forms.gle/Erq7cyGEmMUxKrLe9?ref=hyperallergic.com)! All mediums and workspaces are welcome, including your home studio. --- ## [Patrick Guetta](https://www.patrickguetta.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com), Los Angeles, California ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/IMG_1655-2---Katelyn-Katz.jpg) ***How long have you been working in this space?*** I’ve been working in this space for two years. First, I had to build the studio itself and give it energy. Little by little, it transformed completely from an empty space into a place filled with ideas, colors, creation, and dreams. ***Describe an average day in your studio.*** I wake up slowly and try not to rush unless I have a meeting. Usually I start around 10 or 11, and I let the day unfold organically. I try not to put boundaries on creativity and let inspiration take over. Sometimes I work late, sometimes I leave and come back, and sometimes answering one email suddenly turns into creating. It’s a very organic process. ***How does the space affect your work?*** The space is very important because it feels like home, so I’m very comfortable in it. It’s sunny, filled with natural light, very private, and peaceful. That atmosphere helps me disconnect from the outside world and immerse myself in the creative process. Sometimes I can completely lose myself in the work for hours. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/IMG_4700---Katelyn-Katz-1.jpeg) ***How do you interact with the environment outside your studio?*** I can walk practically everywhere and rarely use my car. I’m surrounded by Fairfax, Melrose, and Beverly areas filled with graffiti, street art, energy, and creativity. I walk constantly through the neighborhood, to coffee shops, and around the city. It’s a very inspiring place to be in Los Angeles, and I feel lucky to have my studio in the middle of all that energy. ***What do you love about your studio?*** What I love most about my studio is that it’s mine. I designed it around the way I like to work and live creatively. It’s very private, peaceful, and allows me to fully focus without distractions. It feels personal, comfortable, and completely connected to my energy. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/IMG_4822---Katelyn-Katz.jpeg) ***What do you wish were different?*** Honestly, I don’t wish anything were different. I feel very lucky. My studio is an extension of my home, and my home is an extension of my studio. Everything feels connected and comfortable for the way I live and create. I’m not looking to grow into something bigger right now. I just want the freedom to create peacefully and stay inspired. ***What is your favorite local museum?*** I don’t really have one favorite museum because each one has a different creative energy. But honestly, one of my favorite museums is the street itself. I love walking through Los Angeles, looking at billboards, signs, graffiti, and visual culture. My work comes from observing what people create, say, and consume. In a way, I turn those everyday surroundings into art through the way I see them. ***What is your favorite art material to work with?*** I really like working with acrylic paint because of the vivacity and intensity of the colors. It translates the energy of my work very naturally. I also love photography and use it a lot in my creative process. Sculpture interests me too, but it’s a much more complicated process. Acrylic on canvas feels immediate, spontaneous, and connected to the way I like to create. ### Planned Charlie Kirk Statue Gets Trolled URL: https://hyperallergic.com/planned-charlie-kirk-statue-gets-trolled/ Last updated: 2026-07-17T14:53:26.000Z Today in the news, an artist announces his plan to install a monument to Charlie Kirk in Times Square this fall. Let's just say the renderings don't bode well. Meanwhile, the Trump administration cuts the size of two national monuments in Utah — rich with rock art and sacred land — by a staggering 90% while also pushing for "energy development" in the area. Also: A docudrama attempts to shed new light on Caravaggio's life, Required Reading, Art Movements, and lots more. *—Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/kirk-statue-comments-2.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/artists-planned-monument-to-charlie-kirk-gets-trolled-online/) [ Artist’s Planned Monument to Charlie Kirk Gets Trolled Online ](https://hyperallergic.com/artists-planned-monument-to-charlie-kirk-gets-trolled-online/) New York City sculptor Sergio Furnari is being raked over the coals online over his plan to unveil a memorial sculpture of slain right-wing podcaster Charlie Kirk in Times Square. Thousands have flocked to Furnari’s Instagram comments to troll and threaten the forthcoming memorial, which will reportedly be unveiled on September 10 in recognition of the first anniversary of Kirk’s assassination. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/artists-planned-monument-to-charlie-kirk-gets-trolled-online/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/hyperallergic-deovindice-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/ica-brings-immersive-installation-deo-vindice-to-richmond/) ****The ICA at VCU Brings Immersive Installation “Deo Vindice” to Richmond** The gallery-sized installation at the Institute for Contemporary Art combines Greek mythology with Civil War history to examine white supremacy and hegemonic power. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/ica-brings-immersive-installation-deo-vindice-to-richmond/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/national-monuments.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-shrinks-utah-national-monuments-by-90/) - The Trump administration hassignificantly [diminished the size of two national monuments](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-shrinks-utah-national-monuments-by-90/) in Utah that hold sacred lands and richarchaeological sites. - The Manhattan DA said three antiquities are being [repatriated to Mexico](https://hyperallergic.com/manhattan-das-office-returns-three-antiquities-to-mexico/). One of them was previously held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/velvet.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-artists-working-in-velvet-amethyst-and-relics/) [ The Artists Working in Velvet, Amethyst, and Relics ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-artists-working-in-velvet-amethyst-and-relics/) An exhibition showcases works by Sky Hopinka, vanessa german, April Bey, and others that have connections to spiritual practices and rituals. | Claudia Ross [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-artists-working-in-velvet-amethyst-and-relics/) [ Four Centuries Later, We Still Don’t Get Caravaggio ](https://hyperallergic.com/four-centuries-later-we-still-dont-get-caravaggio/) A British docudrama serves as a salutary primer on the Baroque master’s greatest works, but we should be wary of what it tells us about the personality of its subject. | Anthony Majanlahti [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/four-centuries-later-we-still-dont-get-caravaggio/) --- ## Community [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/art-movements-7.16.26.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/art-movements-311/) [ Pat Oleszko Wins $100K Whitney Biennial Prize ](https://hyperallergic.com/art-movements-311/) The artist known for her irreverent inflatables gets the Bucksbaum Award, a new grant for artists living with cancer, and Murmurs Gallery closes. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/art-movements-311/) [ Required Reading ](https://hyperallergic.com/required-reading-793/) This week: Chitra Ganesh’s futuristic myths, André Breton and optimism, the mermaids of Florida, a Palestinian digital archive, Argentina and racism, and more. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/required-reading-793/) --- ## Member Comment Brilliantly insightful and curious article. Fascinating how the real, superreal, and unreal combine in corporate story telling to the opposite end of actual community, culture, or worthwhile tradition. Randy Polumbo on “[How a Basket Empire Wove the Myth of America](https://hyperallergic.com/how-a-basket-empire-wove-the-myth-of-america/)” --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/caravaggio.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/caravaggio-made-darkness-visible/) [ Caravaggio Made Darkness Visible ](https://hyperallergic.com/caravaggio-made-darkness-visible/) In his violent, carnal visions, sparks of divinity may glow even from within the blackest confines of our fallen reality. | Ed Simon [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/caravaggio-made-darkness-visible/) ### Pat Oleszko Wins $100K Whitney Biennial Prize URL: https://hyperallergic.com/art-movements-311/ Last updated: 2026-07-16T22:52:12.000Z [*Art Movements,*](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/art-movements/) *published every Thursday afternoon, is a roundup of must-know news, appointments, awards, and other happenings in today’s chaotic art world.* --- ### Pat Oleszko Gets Whitney Biennial Award Artist Pat Oleszko, whose oversized inflatable sculpture and early film work dazzled visitors at this year's Whitney Biennial, has received the 2026 Bucksbaum Award. The $100,000 prize is awarded by the Whitney Museum of American Art in recognition of a Biennial artist whose work captures “a singular combination of talent and imagination.” Having just closed out a major solo [exhibition](https://www.sculpture-center.org/exhibitions/14655/pat-oleszko-fool-disclosure?ref=hyperallergic.com) at the SculptureCenter in New York City and currently showing works at [The Campus](https://thecampusupstate.com/exhibitions/9-2026-annual-exhibition/?ref=hyperallergic.com) in Upstate New York, the artist is having a well-deserved hell of a year. --- ### Murmurs Gallery to Shutter The Los Angeles gallery Murmurs, which mounted shows by the likes of Sula Bermúdez-Silverman and Alison Nguyen, announced that it is closing its physical space in Downtown LA. “It is no secret that the creative landscape is facing an intense economic squeeze,” its founders [wrote](https://www.instagram.com/p/DayOtrLD71V/?igsh=MWd3c2JqajNnbnZ6cw%3D%3D&ref=hyperallergic.com). “We are letting go of our space not to stop, but to discover more resilient ways to operate.” They added that a closing celebration is planned for the fall. --- ### A New Grant for Artists Living With Cancer ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Jacolby-Satterwhite--courtesy-the-artist.-Photo--Xavier-Scott-Marshall..jpg) Jacolby Satterwhite (photo Xavier Scott Marshall, courtesy the artist) Two-time cancer survivor **Jacolby** **Satterwhite** is the first recipient of the Artists Living with Cancer grant, presented by the Rema Hort Mann Fund and the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation. The uplifting initiative aims to provide much-needed support to visual artists undergoing treatment in the New York metro area. Following this inaugural $25,000 award, the program will dole out one-time grants of up to $10,000. --- ### Acquisitions ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/7_Orlando-Smith_Aging-Is-A-Fact---2025-1.jpg) Orlando Smith, "Aging Is A Fact!" (2025) (image courtesy SFMOMA) The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) has acquired over 90 modern and contemporary works from January to June 2026, the institution announced this week, including pieces by **Rose B. Simpson**, **Ana Mendieta**, **Betye Saar**, and **Kishio Suga**. Among the notable additions to the collection is a watercolor on paper by graphic artist **Orlando Smith,** who is currently incarcerated at San Quentin prison. "Aging Is A Fact!" (2025), pictured above, draws our attention to the risks and struggles of the prison's aging population. --- ### What Else Happened? - James Cohan Gallery will now be known as Norr Cohan following the news that gallery partner **David** **Norr** has assumed sole ownership of the New York City space. - **Jeanette** **Andrews** is now represented by Trotter&Sholer gallery. - **Louis** **Blue** **Newby** is now represented by Ehrlich Steinberg gallery. ### Artist’s Planned Monument to Charlie Kirk Gets Trolled Online URL: https://hyperallergic.com/artists-planned-monument-to-charlie-kirk-gets-trolled-online/ Last updated: 2026-07-17T14:22:00.000Z New York City sculptor Sergio Furnari is being raked over the coals online over his plan to unveil a memorial sculpture of slain right-wing podcaster Charlie Kirk in Times Square. Thousands have flocked to Furnari's [Instagram comments](https://www.instagram.com/p/Dax-Ox%5FiHVW/?hl=en&ref=hyperallergic.com) to troll and threaten the forthcoming memorial, which will reportedly be unveiled on September 10 in recognition of the first anniversary of Kirk's assassination. Flurries of crude jokes and punchlines riffing off Kirk's political beliefs and the manner of his killing have piled up across Furnari's posts, continuing to push the boundaries of what is and isn't protected by free speech. Others have threatened to damage, vandalize, and urinate on the memorial, saying that NYC will show how it really feels about Kirk. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/IMG_20260716_151451.jpg) Sergio Furnari's cast-steel memorial to Charlie Kirk in its final stages (photo courtesy the artist) “ Now what happens is that the more they threaten me, the more I want to make multiple statues,” Furnari said in a phone call with *Hyperallergic*. The artist has also created a [crowdfunding page](https://www.givesendgo.com/charliekirkmonument?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQPOTM2NjE5NzQzMzkyNDU5AAGnHy0kpSS9OzlR7PhNUczym06X8C7Ac7WZudSW-wtquZbm5BUTr4rUbAnNYkg%5Faem%5FhXn8fWqqfldYTlsUABvvlA&utm%5Fsource=ig&utm%5Fmedium=social&utm%5Fcontent=link%5Fin%5Fbio) to help reach a goal of $150,000 for the sculpture's debut and future displays (he has raised \~$3,483 at the time of this article). Regarding the actual unveiling, Furnari is decidedly unconcerned about authorization and other regulations. “Permit from who?” he asked rhetorically. “Who's gotta give me a permit if today I wanna write a song, or sculpt a rose? ... God gave me permission.” Furnari, who moved from Sicily to NYC decades ago, is known for figurative sculptures, including a 2025 monument to Portuguese soccer star [Cristiano Ronaldo](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cristiano-ronaldo-monument-unveiling-by-sculptor-sergio-furnari-302352689.html?ref=hyperallergic.com). Concerning his commemoration of Kirk, the artist specified that he's neither a “MAGA guy,” nor does he agree with all of theTurning Point USA co-founder's views, but he appreciated his commitment to "open dialogue" strongly disagreed with the way his widow, Erika Kirk, has been treated by the media. “You know, when I used to see him before his death, I was like, 'Okay, this guy is crazy,'” Furnari said to *Hyperallergic*. He emphasized that he wished he could have debated Kirk in his life, especially noting that he disagreed with Kirk's stance on immigration. “ But it's all dialogue in that,” Furnari continued. “That's why I loved the guy.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/IMG_20260716_151444.jpg) Sergio Furnari with his sculpture of Charlie Kirk (photo Sergio Furnari) The sculpture of Kirk, who was fatally shot by a rooftop sniper while speaking at a Turning Point debate event at Utah Valley University last year, has him sitting and holding a microphone while wearing a crewneck emblazoned with the word “FREEDOM.” Shortly after Kirk was assassinated, the New College of Florida said it was going to commission a [public sculpture of the right-wing activist](https://hyperallergic.com/new-college-of-florida-to-erect-charlie-kirk-statue/) with a microphone to signify its devotion to “defend and fight for free speech and civil discourse in American life.” Kirk's killing has proven to be polarizing worldwide because of his alignment and [promotion of far-right ideals](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/us/charlie-kirk-views-guns-gender-climate.html?ref=hyperallergic.com), as well as his public speaking appearances, which frequently stirred controversy because of their provocative and offensive content. Commenters on Furnari's posts have been stirring controversy themselves by thanking the artist for creating a new public restroom in Midtown. Others questioned why Kirk was deserving of a memorial as he was “just a podcaster.” Regardless, there are also plenty of fans who have expressed support for the Kirk memorial. “There are some people out there who love to dialogue on anything, and then there are others who think they have to use violence just because other people don't think like them,” Furnari said about the negativity. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-16-at-11.56.01---AM.jpg) Additional comments trolling Furnari's Kirk statue posts on Instagram (screenshot via [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/DarAduwMyVY/?ref=hyperallergic.com)) Kirk's death punctured the façade of the First Amendment as [hundreds of people](https://www.reuters.com/investigations/charlie-kirk-purge-how-600-americans-were-punished-pro-trump-crackdown-2025-11-19/?ref=hyperallergic.com) who celebrated or meme-d the incident, or simply made posts critical of Kirk's ideologies, were censored, doxxed, or professionally penalized. Among them wasKaren Leader, a tenured associate professor of art history at Florida Atlantic University (FAU) whowas [placed on leave last year](https://hyperallergic.com/art-history-professor-placed-on-leave-over-charlie-kirk-posts/) for reposting content criticizing Kirk's views. Whether or not the unveiling will take place on September 10 has yet to be seen, as Furnari has not coordinated with the Times Square Alliance for any type of event or display permit. In 2021, the city removed the [artist's red heart sculpture](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/oct/30/central-park-heart-monument-covid-removal?ref=hyperallergic.com), which was funded by a city-issued grant, from Central Park because he did not have a permit. “I'm not an activist, I'm an artist,” Furnari said. ### Manhattan DA’s Office Returns Three Antiquities to Mexico URL: https://hyperallergic.com/manhattan-das-office-returns-three-antiquities-to-mexico/ Last updated: 2026-07-16T21:55:46.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/2018.443.1--3--1.jpg) Nayarit artist(s) created this standing male figure around 100–400 CE. (image courtesy the [Metropolitan Museum of Art](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/318983?ref=hyperallergic.com)) A 1,600-year-old sculpture previously held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art is being repatriated to Mexico, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office announced on Wednesday, July 15\. The DA'soffice seized three archeological objects, which include a ceramic Nayarit sculpture (c. 100–400 CE) formerly held in The Met's collection, following new information obtained from the Antiquities Trafficking Unit's ongoing investigations. The other repatriated objects are a Xochipala Bowl (c. 1200–900 BCE) seized from New York's Merrin Gallery in 2025 and an obsidian stone core (c. 1000–1500 CE) used to make Aztec blades. The latter was formerly under the possession of trafficker Eugene Alexander, who was convicted in 2025 for his role in New York'sillicit antiquities trade. The three antiquities possess a collective value of more than $160,000, according to the DA's statement, which noted that it has now returned 52 antiquities to Mexico totaling a value of over $13 million. Recent seizures of objects from The Met have brought the total valuation of looted artifacts surrendered by the museum to $95 million, as [reported](https://hyperallergic.com/value-of-looted-objects-at-met-museum-tops-95m-after-new-seizures/) earlier this month. In a [*Hyperallergic* piece](https://hyperallergic.com/why-do-so-many-museums-hold-a-convicted-antiquity-dealers-treasures/) last week, art crime scholar Erin L. Thompson revealed that The Met had repatriated a Roman bust to the Republic of Turkey in February — one of many artifacts in US museums acquired via Phoenix Ancient Art, whose co-founder was convicted on charges related to antiquities trafficking. The repatriation of the three Nayarit objects was marked by a ceremony in which Consul General Marcos Bucio represented the government of Mexico and [emphasized](https://manhattanda.org/d-a-bragg-announces-return-of-three-antiquities-to-the-people-of-mexico?ref=hyperallergic.com) the country's commitment to defending their cultural sovereignty. “This Nayarit figure is far more than an archaeological object: It is a powerful testimony to the creativity, identity, and collective memory of the peoples of ancient Mexico,” Bucio said in a statement. TheMet Director and CEO Max Hollein expressed his gratitude to "the experts and authorities whose work helped clarify the provenance of this object" in a press release. In 2023, The Met instituted their own provenance research [team](https://hyperallergic.com/met-museum-will-hire-team-to-investigate-looted-art/), which has since [doubled in size](https://hyperallergic.com/met-museum-hires-sothebys-staffer-lucian-simmons-to-lead-provenance-research/) and now regularly works withinvestigators from the DA's Antiquities Trafficking Unit. "We believe that the trafficking networks we have identified are responsible for other pieces looted throughout Mexico,"DA Bragg stated in a [separate press release](https://manhattanda.org/d-a-bragg-announces-return-of-three-antiquities-to-the-people-of-mexico/?ref=hyperallergic.com). "And our work continues." ### Required Reading URL: https://hyperallergic.com/required-reading-793/ Last updated: 2026-07-16T20:37:20.000Z Debika Ray writes about the film that beloved Indian author Arundhati Roy made during her time as an architecture student for [*Apollo*](https://apollo-magazine.com/arundhati-roy-architecture-student-in-which-annie-gives-it-those-ones/?ref=hyperallergic.com): > Seen with the hindsight of four decades, the film feels like the Arundhati Roy origin story. It is hard not to read the cynicism of the character she plays – and her uncertainty about what she might do after graduating, if not architecture – as an early articulation of her own disillusionment with the profession’s narrow notions of progress and subsequent discovery of her political voice. But it’s also the origin story of modern India – the accelerating pace of development and the shifting relationship between urban and rural – and a prescient glimpse of some of the social inequalities that the construction and real estate industries would entrench across the world over the coming decades. For the [*Los Angeles Review of Books*](https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/andre-breton-nadja-magic-art-cavalier-perspective-pessimism/?ref=hyperallergic.com), Abigail Susik considers how the Surrealist movement negotiated pessimism and hope in new translations of writing by André Breton: > Even essays in *Cavalier Perspective* that are ostensibly about art or politics contain kernels of what might be called spiritual thinking. For instance, “Link,” which was a preface to the catalog for a surrealist exhibition in 1952, professes that surrealism’s goal is not just to transform the world but also to increasingly liberate the “instinctive impulse,” breaking the imprisoning dominion of the physical world in order “to reach the total psychophysical field (of which the arena of consciousness is only a small part).” One of the final “links” between the surrealist marvelous and the surrealist revolution to erupt in Breton’s life was his awareness of what the late artist Ben Morea—founder of the anarchist collective Up Against the Wall Motherfucker, active in New York in the 1960s, himself substantially influenced by surrealism—recently called “the unified field.” It’s the idea that art is not enough to change life as we know it, and neither is politics, nor radical art and politics hewn together. An animist understanding of the universe as fully alive can unite these aspects of the struggle into a single motivation to resist the death drive’s domination. If humans could perceive what Breton called this “Language of Stones” through art-as-divination and other forms of consciousness-changing activity, we might avoid the world’s extinction. Michelle Myles, who has been a tattoo artist for 35 years, shares a slice of New York City tattoo history with [*G*](https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/tattoo-artists-at-war-how-new-york-city-innovation-and-drama-made-the-modern-tattoo?ref=hyperallergic.com)[*othamist*](https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/tattoo-artists-at-war-how-new-york-city-innovation-and-drama-made-the-modern-tattoo?ref=hyperallergic.com)'s Sonia Rao: > Hildebrandt was a hand-poke tattooer. Then these devices started coming out that used electricity. O’Reilly’s patent specifically was based on Thomas Edison’s \[electric\] pen, which was patented in 1876\. Right after Edison’s patent, there was actually an editorial in a newspaper imploring Edison to invent an electric tattoo machine. > > O’Reilly’s patent from what we can tell is pretty much exactly like the Edison patent, but we don’t even know that it worked very well because he never put it into production. There’s only one that I know to exist. O’Reilly got into a fight over his patent. He worked with another tattooer named “Electric” Elmer Getchell and accused him of infringing on his patent, and the two of them ended up in court. There was a headline in the New York Times that said, “Tattoo Artists at War.” Tamara Davison reports for [*Wired*](https://www.wired.com/story/how-palestinians-are-building-a-digital-archive-that-cant-be-erased/?ref=hyperallergic.com) on a museum in the West Bank that launched a digital archive project, which carefully documents and preserves Palestinian culture: > What began with simple door-knocking—visiting families in the West Bank and asking permission to scan old photographs, letters and documents—has grown into one of the most ambitious digital preservation projects in the region. > > The open-source archive now contains more than 500,000 digitized photographs, identification papers, diaries, maps, films, and letters, many of which were collected directly from Palestinian families and might otherwise have been lost forever. > > The Palestinian Museum’s mission is both preservation and access: to safeguard Palestinian history and make it available to those unable to visit Palestine. Elise Taylor writes in [*Vanity Fair*](https://www.vanityfair.com/story/paul-r-williams?ref=hyperallergic.com) about two shows that highlight Paul R. Williams, a pioneering Black architect who left his mark across Los Angeles: > “I always like to say you could be born in a hospital designed by Williams, get married in a church designed by Williams, live in a home designed by Williams, go to a school designed by Williams, and then when you die, have your funeral in a Williams design funeral home,” says ­Staci Steinberger, a decorative arts and design curator at LACMA. > > It’s a CV that would earn anyone a mention in the annals of history. “Paul Williams is one of the most prolific American architects, period. I would set his body of work alongside Frank Gehry and Thom Mayne,” says Milton S. F. Curry, senior associate dean at Cornell University. But when you factor in that Williams was the first licensed Black architect west of the Mississippi? Then he becomes a great, and unsung, figure of history. “He was an African American and doing such amazing work during the time where African Americans weren’t recognized for their brilliance,” Pauletta Washington says. “I felt special living in that house. I felt that he designed it for us.” For [*Huck*](https://www.huckmag.com/article/real-life-mermaids-florida-weeki-wachee-springs?ref=hyperallergic.com), Jack Burke takes a deep dive (get it?) into the six-decade history of the mermaid show at Weeki Wachee Springs, a relic of mid-century Florida: > It was tough going at first. In those early days, according to Weeki Wachee lore, the women would sit around listening out for the sound of a car rumbling down Route 19, then dash out in their swimsuits to try and flag the driver down. If they snared so much as a single customer, a full show would be put on. By the 1950s, they no longer had to. Word had got out, and the golden age of the American road trip delivered a steady stream of curious travellers. > > By the 1960s, Weeki Wachee had become one of America’s biggest tourist attractions. More people visited it than many newly-minted national parks. As many as nine shows a day were put on at its peak. > > Celebrities started passing through, first Don Knotts, then Elvis – resulting in the predictable scream fest of oestrogenic excitement. The mermaids began travelling, touring the country performing in giant tanks. They appeared on Ed Sullivan. They even represented Florida at world fairs. The [*New Yorker*](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/open-questions/should-you-recline-your-airplane-seat?ref=hyperallergic.com)'s Joshua Rothman asks an age-old ethical question: Should we recline our airplane seats? It's a yes from me. Decide for yourself, dear reader: > Is the pursuit of more legroom a red herring? After all, statistics show that people aren’t getting taller, but wider. Unfortunately, widening seats isn’t easy. As the aviation reporter Michael Boyd has pointed out, the tube-shaped nature of planes gives airlines freedom to change pitch, but not width. (A designer can move rows further apart an inch at a time, but can’t broaden the fuselage of the plane.) All of which suggests that your best bet might be to try to fly on planes with slightly wider seats. Boyd identifies the Airbus A220 and A320, along with the Embraer E175 and E190, as models with economy seats that are eighteen and even nineteen inches across. Perhaps, on such aircraft, we can all be a little more relaxed about reclining. This week in conservation, researchers identify a notably adorable new species of monkey in the Concolese rainforest. Yejin Lhee has the story for [*Science*](https://www.science.org/content/article/mysterious-orange-lipped-monkey-discovered-deep-congo-rainforest-new-species?ref=hyperallergic.com): > The Likweli monkey was first caught on camera in 2008, when a research expedition snapped a blurry photo of a black-pelted primate they didn’t recognize. But it wasn’t spotted again by scientists until a decade later, when the Lukuru Wildlife Research Foundation’s TL2 Project, a conservation initiative focusing on the Tshupa, Lomami, and Lualaba river regions, established a field base in the area. When researchers spotted and photographed the monkeys again, they quickly realized they were dealing with an animal they didn’t know about. With racism in Argentina in the news thanks to the World Cup, [Tess Garcia](https://www.tiktok.com/@hithisistess/video/7652370718310616351?ref=hyperallergic.com) shines a light on the Indigenous and Black communities getting ignored in the discourse: > [@hithisistess](https://www.tiktok.com/@hithisistess?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "@hithisistess") Most successful erasure in history [#argentina](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/argentina?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "argentina") [#worldcup2026](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/worldcup2026?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "worldcup2026") [♬ original sound - Tess Garcia](https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-7652370775395027742?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "♬ original sound - Tess Garcia") Wildlife photographer Thomas Mangelsen to the rescue with [National Park Service pass sleeves](https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTSqBQy8g/?ref=hyperallergic.com): > [@thomas\_d\_mangelsen](https://www.tiktok.com/@thomas%5Fd%5Fmangelsen?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "@thomas_d_mangelsen") Click on “more from this shop” to select the image you like best! Something to cover this year’s pass. Made for our Parks and wildlife. Can be used for licenses, credit cards, permits. Show your support to conservation of our lands. Find them all in my shop. [#wildlifephotography](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/wildlifephotography?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "wildlifephotography") [#nationalparks](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/nationalparks?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "nationalparks") [#nature](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/nature?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "nature") [#nationalpark](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/nationalpark?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "nationalpark") [#conservation](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/conservation?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "conservation") [♬ Take Me Home, Country Roads - Eloise Freud](https://www.tiktok.com/music/Take-Me-Home-Country-Roads-7090710927095367681?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "♬ Take Me Home, Country Roads - Eloise Freud") Maybe we are safe from an AI apocalypse [after all](https://www.tiktok.com/@huskistaken/video/7658429566850960671?ref=hyperallergic.com): > [@huskistaken](https://www.tiktok.com/@huskistaken?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "@huskistaken") > > Maybe a 4th is needed > > [♬ original sound - Husk](https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-7658429567475976990?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "♬ original sound - Husk") [*Required Reading*](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/required-reading/) *is published every Thursday afternoon and comprises a short list of art-related links to long-form articles, videos, blog posts, or photo essays worth a second look*. ### Trump Shrinks Utah National Monuments by 90% URL: https://hyperallergic.com/trump-shrinks-utah-national-monuments-by-90/ Last updated: 2026-07-16T20:03:59.000Z The Trump administration hassignificantly diminished the size of two national monuments in Utah that hold sacred lands and richarchaeological sites. Through a series of executive proclamations issued under the Antiquities Act this week, Trump shrunk the Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears national monuments by approximately [90%](https://apnews.com/article/trump-bears-ears-grand-staircase-escalante-69f14749f13a7ac6fb6ee07ce4cd84bfhttps://apnews.com/article/trump-bears-ears-grand-staircase-escalante-69f14749f13a7ac6fb6ee07ce4cd84bf?ref=hyperallergic.com) each. The announcement, which comes as the president pushes to expand "[energy development](https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2026/07/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-modifies-two-national-monuments-restoring-sensible-land-management/?ref=hyperallergic.com)" on federal lands, prompted outrage from tribal organizations, environmental activists, and cultural preservation groups. As part of the cuts, the president shaved Grand Staircase-Escalante's 1.87 million acres down to a mere 181,500 acres, and similarly cut Bears Ears' 1.36 million acres down to 121,100 acres. The monuments encompass ancestral lands belonging to the Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Ute Mountain Ute Indian Tribe, and several other Native American nations. Bears Ears, according to the Inter-Tribal Coalition that advocates for the protection of the monument's lands, is home to over [100,000](https://www.bearsearscoalition.org/ancestral-and-modern-day-land-users/?ref=hyperallergic.com) Native American archaeological sites, including intricate petroglyphs and cave drawings. According to the [*Salt Lake Tribune*](https://www.sltrib.com/news/environment/2026/07/15/here-are-new-maps-bears-ears-grand/?ref=hyperallergic.com), the cuts includeGrand Staircase-Escalante's namesake rock formation, the "Grand Staircase," and Bears Ears's Valley of the Gods, an area encompassing rock formations [sacred](https://www.bearsearscoalition.org/portfolio-items/valley-of-the-gods/?ref=hyperallergic.com) to the Navajo Nation. Advocacy groups, including the Grand Staircase-Escalante Inter-Tribal Coalition, denounced the reductions as a threat to tribal sovereignty. Utah Republicans and the president [billed](https://governor.utah.gov/press/the-state-of-utah-applauds-national-monuments-modifications/?ref=hyperallergic.com) the change as a way to better care for "specific sites rather than millions of surrounding acres." In a fact sheet produced by the Trump administration, the areas released are described as lacking "objects of historic or scientific interest," and the reshaping is framed as expanding opportunities for "resource development." Autumn Gillard, Grand Staircase-Escalante Inter-Tribal Coalition coordinator and member of the Southern Paiute, said in a [press release](https://grandstaircasecoalition.org/press-releases?ref=hyperallergic.com) that the six tribal nations that comprise the group were not consulted in the administration's decision to reduce the monument. "\[This\] action is a direct strike against the federal government's duty to consult with Tribes," Gillard said. "It also profoundly disrespects our intergenerational Traditional Knowledge by destroying a framework for Tribal co-stewardship over our ancestral land in which we invested years of effort." New Mexico Senate Democrat Martin Heinrich, whose office has adamantly opposed the Trump administration's ongoing attempts to dismantle protections at [Chaco Culture National Historical Park](https://hyperallergic.com/chaco-canyon-in-danger-under-trump-administration/), denounced the president's actions in Utah this week as "ignoring Tribal voices." The environmental advocacy organization Earthjustice has [vowed](https://earthjustice.org/press/2026/trump-administration-illegally-attacks-bears-ears-and-grand-staircase-escalante-national-monuments?ref=hyperallergic.com) to take legal action against the administration over the cuts, arguing the president illegally revoked the status of millions of acres of protected federal land. The recentcuts are the president's most drastic trimmings to the two Southern Utah parks yet. During his first administration, Trump reduced Bears Ears by 85% and Grand Staircase-Escalante by about half. The monuments momentarily returned to their Obama-era sizes after Biden took office in 2021\. Archaeology Southwest, a cultural preservation nonprofit that has oftenopposed [Trump's attacks on the nation's archaeological treasures](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-border-wall-crews-damage-1-000-year-old-native-etching-in-arizona/), denounced the shrinkage of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante in a statement this week. “Any changes to the boundaries of these monuments are a direct attack on these sovereign Tribal Nations and their rights to manage their Ancestral homelands in perpetuity, as well as on our collective heritage as Americans," Archaeology Southwest president and CEO Steve Nash said. "Archaeological resources are fragile — and once they are destroyed, their recovery is next to impossible." ### The Artists Working in Velvet, Amethyst, and Relics URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-artists-working-in-velvet-amethyst-and-relics/ Last updated: 2026-07-16T19:39:08.000Z PASADENA, Calif. — When Marshall McLuhan remarked that “the medium is the message,” he was not referring to tapestries made from crushed velvet or sculptures crafted from wood and amethyst crystals — although [*Material Prophecies: Craft as Divination*](https://www.armoryarts.org/exhibitions/2026/materialprophecies?ref=hyperallergic.com)at Armory Art Centermight suggest otherwise. First uttered in 1958 during a radio broadcast, the phrase addressed the rise of then-new technologies like television and video, which, according to McLuhan, shaped the reception, influence, and even character of their content. A similar idea infuses *Material Prophecies*, which features eight artists working with materials that have deep-seated connections to spiritual practices and religious rituals. To what extent, they seem to ask, does each medium determine the meaning — or “message” — of art itself? The exhibition wavers in its answer. A few works keep close to the theme, foregrounding raw materials in their most bare form. Five wall reliefs from Jackie Amézquita’s 2024 *Earthworks* series use mud, masa, and dried clay to create cracked, rectangular surfaces redolent of painterly canvases. Others stray further. Joel Gaitan’s sculptures use a similarly unvarnished, unglazed clay “associated with devotional objects,” per the wall text. In “No Pidas Agua, Cuando No Hay Sed” (2024), a lounging terracotta figure sports a crown, metallic teeth, and chunky gold jewelry. The figure’s confident pose and lavish adornment assert a contemporary defiance, while its texture and rounded shape recall that of pre-Colombian ceramic vessels. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Jackie-Amezquita.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Joel-Gaitan-Installation-View.jpg) Left: Installation view of works by Jackie Amézquita; right: installation view of works by Joel Gaitan Elsewhere, the exhibition’s focus can feel strained. Calethia DeConto’s “Mapping the Emotional Weather of Memory and the Space Between” (2026) is a sprawling cyanotype installation featuring 25 small, circular blue-and-white “photographs” pinned in a weblike constellation across one wall. Framed as “intimate” and “emotional” in exhibition materials, the prints center female figures posing in seaside landscapes alongside natural ephemera like shells and plants. The medium’s history complicates this more visceral, bodily framing; invented in 1842 by British electrochemist John Herschel, cyanotypes were originally used in scientific expeditions to Antarctica and New Zealand, a practice more rooted in colonization than spirituality. The strongest works fit the exhibition’s brief the least. Emmanuel Louisnord Desir’s standout sculptures use a combination of wood and bronze that reference “African Diasporic traditions of carved and cast figures,” according to the wall text — but what’s on view resists the stricter categorization. “Raging Machine” (2025) assembles industrially manufactured devices and machines — a pencil sharpener, a handaxe — into a bronze hybrid creature halfway between a robot and a person. Another highlight is vanessa german’s “DAMN.” (2024), a portrait bust entirely encrusted with pink rose quartz, its neck draped in a linked chain made from metal bottle caps. The face itself appears superhuman, its translucent, pastel skin entirely singular. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Four Centuries Later, We Still Don't Get Caravaggio URL: https://hyperallergic.com/four-centuries-later-we-still-dont-get-caravaggio/ Last updated: 2026-07-17T18:16:03.000Z The fascination with Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio continues unabated, and for good reason. Not only was Caravaggio the most impressive Italian painter since the death of his namesake, Michelangelo Buonarroti, less than a decade before his birth, but his reputation as the “damned artist” lends itself to questions about his character, sexuality, politics, and professional practice. Today, we have a tendency to see him as a solitary, bellicose figure, and [*Caravaggio*](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt38351366/?ref=hyperallergic.com) (2025), a documentary drama directed by David Bickerstaff and Phil Grabsky, does nothing to dissuade us, even though the story it tells is one of constant collaboration. Among the experts telling Caravaggio’s story are the brilliant art historian Helen Langdon; the head of Christie’s research and expertise department, Letizia Treves; art historian Fabio Scaletti, to give an Italian perspective; and the artist Stephen Nelson. The film serves as a salutary primer, full of long pans up and down his most famous works so we can see up close what is normally kept well away from us in churches and museums, but we should be wary of what it tells us about the personality of its subject. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### The ICA at VCU Brings Immersive Installation "Deo Vindice" to Richmond URL: https://hyperallergic.com/ica-brings-immersive-installation-deo-vindice-to-richmond/ Last updated: 2026-07-16T15:26:37.000Z The Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA) at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) presents the Southeastern debut of Abigail DeVille’s [*Deo Vindice (Orion’s Cabinet)*(2025)](http://icavcu.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com), an immersive, gallery-sized installation that recalls the burning of Richmond in 1865. On view through August 18, *Deo Vindice* is a sweeping assemblage of charred Colonial-style cabinets inspired by photographs of Richmond set ablaze in the last days of the Civil War. The installation was commissioned for the critically acclaimed *MONUMENTS* exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, in collaboration with The Brick. “In the *MONUMENTS* exhibition, *Deo Vindice* was situated among decommissioned Confederate statuary and other artworks that interrogate the unresolved legacies of Lost Cause revisionism and myth-making,” notes exhibition curator Amber Esseiva, Senior Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs at the ICA. “Presenting the work here in Richmond allows us to continue that essential inquiry into power, erasure, and public memory in the historically charged context our location provides.” When it became clear that Union forces would capture Richmond in April 1865, the capital and industrial center of the Confederacy, Southern officials ordered their men to burn the city’s warehouses in order to prevent the munitions and railway foundry Tredegar Iron Works from falling into Union hands. Less than a week later, Robert E. Lee would surrender to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox, marking the end of the war. Curio cabinets have historically served as status symbols, especially in the South, protecting and displaying a family’s heirlooms. In the exhibition, DeVille arranges the cabinets in clusters to mark the primary stars of the constellation Orion, a celestial system named for the hunter from Greek mythology who enraged the Earth goddess Gaia by vowing to kill every animal on earth. In doing so, she draws a comparison between Orion’s will to dominate and that of the Confederacy to maintain white supremacy and hegemonic power, even to the point of destroying their own communities. The ragged cloth-draped scaffolding that connects the cabinets is of the type used in monument restoration, suggesting forms that have sheltered and enshrined distorted versions of historical memory, ensuring their survival despite the decades of scholarship disproving the myths. *Deo Vindice (Orion’s Cabinet)* is curated by Amber Esseiva, Senior Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs at the ICA, with Kennedy Jones, Curatorial Assistant. The installation is on view through August 18, 2026\. For more information, visit [icavcu.org](http://icavcu.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com). ### Frederic Edwin Church’s Sublime URL: https://hyperallergic.com/frederic-edwin-churchs-sublime/ Last updated: 2026-07-16T14:35:31.000Z Between April 29 and May 23, 1859, long before terms like “exclusive pop-up”or “immersive exhibition*”* had entered our lexicon, over 12,000 people lined up outside New York City’s Tenth Street Studio Building to see a single painting: Frederic Edwin Church’s “Heart of the Andes.” What made Church’s pictures, and the Hudson River painter himself, so enthralling to 19th-century viewers? Benjamin Moser reviews a new biography of the artist that situates his legacy in the story of a country desperately trying to cement an identity. In a perfect segue, Poppy DeltaDawn delves into another bastion of our national narrative: the Longaberger Company, whose baskets were once ubiquitous across US households. But this since-fallen empire’s stronghold relied on flattening the history of weaving and craft, replacing it instead with a “mythologized material culture of settlement,” she writes — a classic tale of commodification that’s as American as Wonder Bread. I’ll leave you with a few words of DeltaDawn’s wisdom: “Good craft is antithetical to capitalism. Good craft cannot survive in a system that alienates labor.” —*Valentina Di Liscia, senior editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Frederic-Edwin-Church-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-many-lives-of-frederic-edwin-church/) [ The Many Lives of Frederic Edwin Church ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-many-lives-of-frederic-edwin-church/) Great writers, Susan Sontag once said, are either husbands or lovers: either “reliability, intelligibility, generosity, decency,” she yawns, or lovers — ah, lovers! Then there are artists like Frederic Edwin Church, the 19th-century American painter whose solid, husbandly virtues have none of the tedium Sontag implies — an artist who paid the bills and picked up the kids but never lost the thrill of the sexy swashbuckler. In fact, his wife Isabel might often have wished for a bit less loverliness: for fewer scrambles up the sides of angry Andean volcanoes, for fewer leaky boats teetering on the edge of Arctic icebergs, for fewer near-escapes from armed Bedouin tribes. Church is so splendidly interesting that it is astonishing that he has never, until now, been the subject of a proper biography. Victoria Johnson’s Glorious Country (2026) was worth the wait: a nuanced homage to an inspired and inspiring man. | Benjamin Moser [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-many-lives-of-frederic-edwin-church/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/071626_Hyperallergic_a-1.png)](https://differentleaf.myshopify.com/?utm%5Fmedium=paid&utm%5Fsource=hyperallergic&utm%5Fcampaign=071626) ****Nick Cave, Bob Faust, André De Shields, & Leo Herrera in the new Different Leaf** The cannabis & culture magazine’s first Art Issue is now available at NYC’s legendary magazine shop, Casa Magazines. Guest Edited by artists Nick Cave and Bob Faust, this collectible issue of Different Leaf features a new short story by Jonathan Lethem, a moving tribute to queer nightlife edited by Matthew Placek, and much more. [Learn more ](https://differentleaf.myshopify.com/?utm%5Fmedium=paid&utm%5Fsource=hyperallergic&utm%5Fcampaign=071626) --- ## Opinions [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/basket.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/how-a-basket-empire-wove-the-myth-of-america/) [ How a Basket Empire Wove the Myth of America ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-a-basket-empire-wove-the-myth-of-america/) As Longaberger’s iconic headquarters sit empty, the baskets survive as artifacts of a national identity that commodified craft and packaged settler colonialism as heritage. | Poppy DeltaDawn [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-a-basket-empire-wove-the-myth-of-america/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/kylie-ad.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/guerrilla-london-bus-ads-mock-kylie-jenners-meta-glasses-campaign/) - The activism group Everyone Hates Elon [mocked Kylie Jenner’s Meta glasses campaign](https://hyperallergic.com/guerrilla-london-bus-ads-mock-kylie-jenners-meta-glasses-campaign/) with bus ads following a wave of public backlash over unresolved concerns about privacy, consent, and personal safety as surveillance technology rapidly evolves. - A prominent international gallery in Cape Town is [facing allegations](https://hyperallergic.com/cape-town-gallery-accused-of-withholding-pay-and-artworks/) of withholding artworks from and delaying payments to artists. --- ## Community [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/keltie-ferris.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/beer-with-a-painter-keltie-ferris/) [ Beer With a Painter: Keltie Ferris ](https://hyperallergic.com/beer-with-a-painter-keltie-ferris/) “I am playing with the building blocks of painting,” the artist told me at his studio in Woodstock, where he experiments with gestural compositions and monumental body prints. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/beer-with-a-painter-keltie-ferris/) [ Remembering Bruno Lucchesi, Pat Oliphant, and Edward Lucie-Smith ](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-bruno-lucchesi-pat-oliphant-and-edward-lucie-smith/) This week, we honor a figurative sculptor, a political cartoonist who revolutionized the form, and a prolific poet and writer. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-bruno-lucchesi-pat-oliphant-and-edward-lucie-smith/) --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/monet-smog.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/did-air-pollution-inspire-impressionism/) [ Did Air Pollution Inspire Impressionism? ](https://hyperallergic.com/did-air-pollution-inspire-impressionism/) A study posits that rising smog levels in 19th-century London and Paris likely played a role in blurring the lines of realism. | Elaine Velie [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/did-air-pollution-inspire-impressionism/) ### Cape Town Gallery Accused of Withholding Pay and Artworks URL: https://hyperallergic.com/cape-town-gallery-accused-of-withholding-pay-and-artworks/ Last updated: 2026-07-15T21:18:27.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-15-at-4.41.23---PM.jpeg) Kate Gottgens, “Audible Doom” (2021) (photo courtesy the artist) A prominent international gallery in Cape Town is facing allegations of withholding artworks from and delaying payments to artists. The claims stem from a now-deleted Instagram post by South African artist Kate Gottgens. Earlier this month, Gottgens alleged in the post that her former gallery, SMAC, failed to return her painting “Audible Doom” (2021) for four years after the work did not sell at the Miart fair in Milan in 2022\. After nearly 13 years of working with the gallery, the artist left SMAC late last year and took to social media less than eight months after her departure to inquire about the whereabouts of her work, which she does not believe she will see again. In an email to *Hyperallergic,* Gottgens said SMAC had also engaged in a pattern of withholding agreed-upon payments, and in one instance, issued payment for a sold artwork “years later.” “It would often take many months if not longer to get paid and then only after persistent badgering and reminders,” Gottgens wrote. SMAC Exhibitions Coordinator and Operations Manager Jean Butler rejected the artist’s claims against the gallery, including with regard to “Audible Doom,” and said that Gottgens “was aware of the location of the work” in a statement to *Hyperallergic.* Butler said the delay was caused by import and export issues beyond the gallery’s control. The gallery claims it kept the artist and her husband in the loop about the painting’s whereabouts at all times. According to emails reviewed by *Hyperallergic,* a lawyer for the gallery accused Gottgens of making “defamatory and false posts on social media, clearly insinuating that certain artworks have been misappropriated by SMAC, despite \[her\] having knowledge that this is not the case.” Gottgens claims she requested the return of her unsold painting “Monster Love” (2010) in early 2025\. After some back-and-forth, Gottgens said the gallery gave her the painting, which was scheduled to appear in a show about motherhood at the Iziko South African Museum. However, in February 2025, a collector called the artist, claiming to own the work. The collector had apparently purchased the work in 2024, unbeknownst to Gottgens. When the artist confronted the gallery, she claims they paid her “instantly” and that they described the incident as an “administrative error.” At the time of leaving SMAC last November, Gottgens said the gallery had more than 50 of her artworks in its possession. “Since I left SMAC, I have been in a constant struggle to get the return of my work in their possession, in South Africa and around the world,” Gottgens said. By now, the gallery has accounted for “most of the work” and “all of the money” it owed her, the artist said, but described the process as delayed despite numerous prior commitments to return these items. The artist also alleged that the gallery was unusually withholding information regarding collectors of her work. SMAC’s lawyer contacted Gottgens when she posted about “Audible Doom” on Instagram. She agreed to take the post down “once \[she\] had information or resolution on the work.” After her post, which garnered comments from other artists stating that they shared similar experiences in their interactions with SMAC, Gottgens said she received R297,500 (\~$18,218) in payment for her three paintings the gallery exhibited at Miart in July. *Hyperallergic* has reached out to another artist, Jody Paulsen, who reportedly shared a similar experience, but has not yet heard back. SMAC said in a statementto *Hyperallergic* that following its payment to Gottgens after her Instagram post, the paintings are now its property, and the gallery is “not obligated to return them to Gottgens when they arrive in South Africa on the 20th of August 2026.” In one email reviewed by *Hyperallergic*, Gottgens told her former gallery that she’d rather receive her artworks than payment, but felt she had no choice but to accept payouts. In other communications provided by SMAC, Gottgens told the gallery she would turn to social media if the gallery refused to pay her invoice before June 30. In additional emails provided by the gallery, SMAC provided shipping updates from Rotterdam to Gottgens, but it is unclear what paintings were included in the shipping order. In emails to *Hyperallergic,* SMAC also refuted previous reports of allegations made by two anonymous former employees, who told[*Artnews*](https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/artists-staffers-accuse-cape-town-gallery-smac-nonpayment-1234791540/?ref=hyperallergic.com) that they received emotional calls from artists and exhibition text writers seeking payments they said the gallery owed them. “I still do not know where ‘Audible Doom’ is, when or to whom it was sold or if it was indeed sold,” Gottgens told *Hyperallergic*. “Importantly, I would like to know what has happened to the work.” ### Beer With a Painter: Keltie Ferris URL: https://hyperallergic.com/beer-with-a-painter-keltie-ferris/ Last updated: 2026-07-15T20:33:10.000Z WOODSTOCK, New York — When I arrived at Keltie Ferris’s studio last month, he invited me first to see the home he shares with his wife and their child. “It’s important to situate yourself,” he says, allowing me a glimpse into the domestic side of his life, before we focus on the work. Then we walk back across the field toward the studio, and a loud scratching noise catches his attention. Ferris points toward a massive black bear clambering up the fence and out of his robust vegetable garden. It’s a dramatic, although not uncommon sighting in the Catskills, but it spikes my adrenaline level and reminds us that we are not alone. Ferris tells me, reassuringly, that they are gentle, shy creatures, as the bear disappears back into the woods. Ferris’s abstract paintings are all about these contradictions. They teach us how to ​break down binaries by embody​ing both sides, literally and metaphorically: alone and together, presence and absence, hard and soft, opaque and transparent. Many paintings utilize a combination of multiple painting approaches — spray gun mists, direct brushwork, palette knife-carved hard edges, looping drawings in paint, and erasure with turpentine-soaked rags. They are simultaneously all-over paintings and grid-like, organized structures. The range of marks that Ferris uses, and his robust color, feels both urban and rural, digital and analog; historic and distinctly of our time. In addition to his abstract paintings, Ferris makes prints by covering his clothed body with oil, pressing it against the paper, and then adding dry pigment that binds to the printed surface. These works, which Ferris began in the 2010s, were inspired initially by seeing Jasper Johns’s [body prints](https://www.moma.org/collection/works/70314?ref=hyperallergic.com). As indexical markers of presence, they have now subtly recorded Ferris’s gender transition. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/FEEEEELING-installation.jpg) Installation view of **KELTIE FERRIS: FEEEEELING* at Mitchell-Innes and Nash, New York, in 2021 (photo Mark Woods, courtesy Mitchell-Innes and Nash) During the pandemic, I was struck by Ferris’s 2021 [exhibition](https://www.miandn.com/exhibitions/keltie-ferris5?ref=hyperallergic.com) at Mitchell-Innes and Nash in New York, which included a monumental site-specific wall drawing, on top of which canvases were layered. Graphite drawings on canvas were presented in multi-colored artist frames, dissolving the boundaries between drawing and painting, between intense color and black and white. The exhibition became a singular magnanimous gesture, allowing us entry into the intimacy of his practice: intuitive, direct pencil marks on a large scale. Presented during the pandemic, when we were still wearing masks and socially distancing, it asserted the artist’s presence. Keltie Ferris was born in 1977 in Louisville, Kentucky. He received a bachelor’s degree from Yale University, a BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD) in 2004, and his MFA from the Yale School of Art in 2006\. After several years dividing his time between New York City and the Catskills, he now lives and works full-time in Woodstock, New York. In 2018, he was the subject of a survey exhibition at the Speed Museum of Art in Louisville, Kentucky. --- **Hyperallergic:** *You grew up in Louisville, Kentucky. Can you tell me about your exposure to art and artmaking during your childhood?* **Keltie Ferris:** There was not a ton of art to look at. There is the Speed Museum in Louisville, but mostly we just looked at books. I drew absentmindedly, but it wasn’t a serious thing. My brother and sister are both musicians, which I’ve realized over time has been a big influence. When I was in middle school, my mother began to teach herself to paint. She became a landscape painter and showed her work in local venues. She would find communities of people who shared her interests in California Impressionism and the Canadian Group of Seven. She used “how-to” books, which were very prescriptive, and she would show us the work at dinner so we could critique it. She would ask us questions like whether the horizon line could be positioned at 60% from the bottom edge. There was an idea of formulas to unlock, to get the perfect painting. We would discuss these things. Sometimes we would watch art-making videos together, and I remember thinking, “I could never do this. This is so hard.” _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Remembering Bruno Lucchesi, Pat Oliphant, and Edward Lucie-Smith URL: https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-bruno-lucchesi-pat-oliphant-and-edward-lucie-smith/ Last updated: 2026-07-22T21:03:49.000Z [*In Memoriam*](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/in-memoriam/) *is published every Wednesday afternoon and honors those we recently lost in the art world.* --- **Bruno Lucchesi** (1926–2026) *Figurative sculptor* Across a seven-decade [career](https://www.brunolucchesi.com/introduction?ref=hyperallergic.com), he sculpted the human form in bronze, terracotta, marble, and more. His works are held in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and many more. "His genius is to express a joy of life even when he shows conditions that create misery and suffering," photographer and writer David Finn said in a statement, "for Lucchesi’s subjects seem to feel that being alive is its own reward." --- **Yaacov Agam** (1928–2026) *Israeli kinetic artist* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Untitled-5-1-1.jpg) Yaacov Agam (photo Yaacov Agam via [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=459658769507229&set=pb.100063893282902.-2207520000&type=3), screenshot Lisa Yin Zhang/**Hyperallergic*) His sculptures, paintings, and public artworks — including what's hailed as the [world's largest menorah](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/largest-menorah?ref=hyperallergic.com) and a singing, fire-breathing fountain — have a [mystical strain](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/11/arts/design/yaacov-agam-dead.html?eafs%5Fenabled=false&ref=hyperallergic.com) to them. He was included in the milestone show *The Responsive Eye* at the Museum of Modern Art in1965, and received a retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum in New York in 1980\. --- **Chua Mia Tee** (1931–2026) *Singaporean social realist painter* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Untitled-7.jpg) Chua Mia Tee (photo @chuamiatee via [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/DaozZSEk-LM/?hl=en&img%5Findex=1&ref=hyperallergic.com), screenshot Lisa Yin Zhang/**Hyperallergic*) One of Singapore's most [acclaimed](https://www.artasiapacific.com/news/chua-mia-tee-1931-2026/?ref=hyperallergic.com) artists, he was a founding member of the Equator Art Society, which rejected Western modernism in favor of realism, in 1956\. He won the Cultural Medallion, the nation's highest art prize, in 2015, and held a major retrospective at the National Gallery Singapore in 2021\. --- **Dion E. Clarke** (1954–2026) *Arts advocate and entrepreneur who championed Black artists* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/unnamed--1-.jpg) Dion E. Clarke (photo Sekou Luke, courtesy Harlem Fine Arts Show) He [dedicated](https://www.hfas.org/celebrating-diversity-dion-e-clarke-of-harlem-fine-arts-show-on-how-to-build-inclusive-communities/?ref=hyperallergic.com) his career to expanding opportunities for Black artists and access to collecting. He was the founder and CEO of the Harlem Fine Arts Show, the largest traveling African diasporic art exhibition in the United States, in 2009\. --- **Edward Lucie-Smith** (1933–2026) *British art critic and poet* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Untitled-8-1-1.jpg) Edward Lucie-Smith (photo @edwardluciesmith via [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/72l3DTrb8L/?ref=hyperallergic.com), screenshot Lisa Yin Zhang/**Hyperallergic*) Beginning in the 1970s, he [wrote](https://www.thetimes.com/uk/obituaries/article/edward-lucie-smith-obituary-prolific-art-critic-and-poet-kkkvbqw5j?ref=hyperallergic.com) art reviews and profiles of artists like Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, as well as more than 100 books on subjects ranging from the male nude, sexuality in art, an art dictionary, and children's books. He curated exhibitions that included surveys of British art and retrospectives of Lin Emery and George Dunbar. --- **Rudolph “Rudy” Montanez** (1942–2026) *Artist and educator* His [work](https://www.silive.com/news/2026/07/beloved-staten-island-artist-and-teacher-dies-at-84.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) on paper and sculptures are included in collections such as the Yale University Art Gallery. He showed at the 1975 Whitney Biennial, and multiple exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art. --- **Pat Oliphant** (1935–2026) *Political cartoonist who took on the powerful* His [cartoons](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/13/arts/pat-oliphant-dead.html?eafs%5Fenabled=false&ref=hyperallergic.com) skewering presidents are widely seen to have revolutionized the form, and were syndicated across more than 500 newspapers at the height of his career. He skewered politicians, priests, and others in power, and also exhibited drawings and sculptures. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1967\. ### How a Basket Empire Wove the Myth of America URL: https://hyperallergic.com/how-a-basket-empire-wove-the-myth-of-america/ Last updated: 2026-07-15T20:32:37.000Z The Longaberger Company was once a billion-dollar basket-weaving empire, employing over 8,000 people at its peak. Its headquarters in Newark, Ohio, was built in 1997 in the shape of a giant basket, complete with two enormous handles arching over a glass atrium ceiling. But after declining sales, the company filed for bankruptcy in 2018\. The iconic Basket Building, which has sat empty for years, is now [for sale](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/18/realestate/ohio-basket-building-for-sale.html?ref=hyperallergic.com). Ryan Miller, a photographer who worked at Longaberger in 2014, witnessed the company’s descent into financial instability. “After countless late and missed payments, I learned they were struggling to pay many of their contractors, myself included,” Miller told me. “That glass ceiling? Well, it turns out that the handles would gather moisture and ice pretty frequently in the winter and when it broke free, it had only one place to come crashing down. Eventually, they didn't even bother to get it repaired, and I vaguely remember some tarp and tape holding it together during my final days there.” _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Guerrilla London Bus Ads Mock Kylie Jenner’s Meta Glasses Campaign URL: https://hyperallergic.com/guerrilla-london-bus-ads-mock-kylie-jenners-meta-glasses-campaign/ Last updated: 2026-07-15T18:51:53.000Z The social media giant Meta partnered with controversial TV personality and cosmetics mogul Kylie Jenner for the design and marketing of an “entry-level” line of its [widely criticized](https://futurism.com/future-society/backlash-meta-pervert-glasses-afraid?ref=hyperallergic.com) camera glasses late last month. The collaborative campaign quickly provoked a wave of public backlash over unresolved concerns about privacy, consent, and personal safety as surveillance technology rapidly evolves. Based in the United Kingdom, the class-based activism group Everyone Hates Elon (EHE) visualized those concerns in a lenticular spoof ad that, based on where a viewer is standing, flips between a branded marketing photo of Jenner wearing a pair of Meta glasses and a black-and-white image showing a skeletal, X-ray version of her with the tagline “We're always watching.” The transformation element and the poster design appear to reference the politically charged sci-fi film [*They Live*](https://theofficialjohncarpenter.com/they-live/?ref=hyperallergic.com)(1988), in which the main character encounters a pair of sunglasses that not only expose the extractive messaging of advertisements but reveal that humanity is being controlled, subdued, and exploited by a secret population of aliens masquerading as people. In the film, it's later revealed that some humans have accepted monetary bribes to collaborate with the aliens. Known for its [public](https://hyperallergic.com/met-gala-boycott-message-projected-on-bezoss-manhattan-penthouse/) [interventions](https://hyperallergic.com/activists-hang-prince-andrews-arrest-photo-at-the-louvre/) on [both](https://hyperallergic.com/boycott-the-bezos-met-gala-posters-emerge-across-nyc/) [sides](https://hyperallergic.com/massive-photo-of-trump-and-epstein-unfurled-outside-windsor-castle/) of the Atlantic, EHE had its affiliated activists install the mock advert at a bus stop near Meta's London headquarters as a sardonic confrontation of the company's encroaching surveillance mechanisms. 0:00 /0:17 1× A visual depiction of the ad's transformation from different angles Meta launched its [first Ray-Ban smart glasses line](https://tech.facebook.com/reality-labs/2021/9/ray-ban-and-facebook-introduce-ray-ban-stories-first-generation-smart-glasses/?ref=hyperallergic.com), which allowed for up to 30 seconds (later one minute) of camera recording, in 2021\. Now, the product's [latest generation](https://www.meta.com/ai-glasses/meta-glasses/kylie-jenner/?ref=hyperallergic.com) allows for three minutes of consecutive recording, leaving more people wary about unknowingly being recorded in public, as well as what that footage could be used for. “Meta has spent years tracking us online,” said a spokesperson for EHE in an email to *Hyperallergic*. “Now it wants to track us in the real world too.” In an effort to assuage concerns about the glasses secretly recording people, Meta said it would roll out a software update that would [disable the camera](https://www.theverge.com/gadgets/962514/meta-privacy-light-tampering-smart-glasses-update?view%5Ftoken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpZCI6ImlQYkw5STJSWkwiLCJwIjoiL2dhZGdldHMvOTYyNTE0L21ldGEtcHJpdmFjeS1saWdodC10YW1wZXJpbmctc21hcnQtZ2xhc3Nlcy11cGRhdGUiLCJleHAiOjE3ODM5MDA4NjksImlhdCI6MTc4MzQ2ODg2OX0.4owHsVvu8GGVWuN74ocWjvns9e0E72amZfgxY-ynjPk&utm%5Fmedium=gift-link&ref=hyperallergic.com) if the built-in LED recording light was obscured or damaged. However, the product has already been derided extensively online, especially because of its [recent popularity with “Manosphere” content creators](https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/smart-glasses-are-putting-cameras-on-peoples-faces-heres-how-to-spot-them/?ref=hyperallergic.com) who post point-of-view recordings of them cold approaching (see: sexually harassing) various women in public without their knowledge. “Meta and Ray-Ban’s new AI glasses can be used to secretly record women and young people for sexual reasons,” the EHE spokesperson continued in their statement to *Hyperallergic*. “Simply put, that’s abuse.” The chasm between legality and ethics continues to widen as the use of smart glasses poses additional risks at sites of expected privacy, including hospitals, restrooms, fitness spaces, locker rooms, and private businesses. In 2024, Harvard researchers were able to run [facial recognition software on recorded footage](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/24/technology/facial-recognition-glasses-privacy-harvard.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) from Meta's Ray-Ban glasses to [successfully locate the names](https://lil.law.harvard.edu/events/i-xray-lunch/?ref=hyperallergic.com), addresses, and other personal information of passersby from public databases. Morality aside, [privacy law also hasn't kept up](https://www.ibtimes.com/why-us-privacy-laws-werent-built-ai-smart-glasses-3803770?ref=hyperallergic.com) with the speed at which the smart glasses and other AI technology that processes and learns off of biometric data are evolving, let alone hitting the market. Therefore, EHE poses one simple question: “Billionaires could fund cures for cancer — so why are they funding glasses for perverts instead?" ### The Many Lives of Frederic Edwin Church URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-many-lives-of-frederic-edwin-church/ Last updated: 2026-07-16T19:10:45.000Z Great writers, Susan Sontag once said, are either husbands or lovers: either “reliability, intelligibility, generosity, decency,” she yawns, or lovers — ah, lovers! Then there are artists like Frederic Edwin Church, the 19th-century American painter whose solid, husbandly virtues have none of the tedium Sontag implies — an artist who paid the bills and picked up the kids but never lost the thrill of the sexy swashbuckler. In fact, his wife Isabel might often have wished for a bit less loverliness: for fewer scrambles up the sides of angry Andean volcanoes, for fewer leaky boats teetering on the edge of Arctic icebergs, for fewer near-escapes from armed Bedouin tribes. Church is so splendidly interesting that it is astonishing that he has never, until now, been the subject of a proper biography. Victoria Johnson’s *Glorious Country* (2026) was worth the wait: a nuanced homage to an inspired and inspiring man. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Al-Khazneh--Petra.jpg) Frederic Edwin Church, "Al-Khazneh, Petra" (February–March 1868), oil and graphite on tan paperboard (image public domain CC0 via [Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum](https://www.si.edu/object/al-khazneh-rock-tomb-petra%3Achndm%5F1917-4-485-a?ref=hyperallergic.com)) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Michael Asher Digs Deep URL: https://hyperallergic.com/michael-asher-digs-deep/ Last updated: 2026-07-15T10:00:55.000Z What happens when you collate MoMA’s deaccessioned paintings into one convenient catalog, or shift the wall of a house by about a foot, all in the name of conceptual art? Michael Asher might have some answers for you. The artist’s work is cerebral — sometimes verging on inscrutable — but also politically charged, socially aware, and continually relevant, even more than a decade after his death. Read Renée Reizman’s review of a survey of the father of Institutional Critique — a form we hold dear here at *Hyperallergic.* Also today, you’ll very much want to meet Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens, the godmothers of ecosexuality. What does that mean? “Becoming a lover of Earth, eroticizing it, maybe even marrying it?” Tulsa Kinney writes. Their latest film will be screening at various venues through the end of the year. Plus, the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum’s decennial exhibition of Connecticut artists proves it’s no backwater, a mural was damaged during a break-in of the Harriet Tubman Museum, a former executive at the High Museum pleads guilty to embezzlement, and all the art reading you need to start the day right. *—Lisa Yin Zhang, associate editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/michael-asher.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/for-michael-asher-the-museum-was-the-medium/) [ For Michael Asher, the Museum Was the Medium ](https://hyperallergic.com/for-michael-asher-the-museum-was-the-medium/) Walking through the exhibition *Michael Asher* at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, one may mistake the artist for a donor. The small solo show takes over two galleries, and Asher’s name is most prominently mounted above the opening that separates the rooms, like a deep-pocketed patron who bought their legacy. Asher, who passed away in 2012, was not wealthy like the Annenbergs or the Sacklers, famous benefactors who coaxed museums into naming wings after them. He was a conceptual artist and longtime educator at CalArts, and his reputation endures despite the lack of sellable objects he produced. Asher was more interested in the way museums looked and operated, and his exploration of these behind-the-scenes machinations helped establish “Institutional Critique” as a category of conceptual art. | Renée Reizman [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/for-michael-asher-the-museum-was-the-medium/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/cranbrook-academy.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/cranbrook-academy-of-art-reopens-applications-for-fall-2026/) ****Cranbrook Academy of Art Reopens Applications for Fall 2026** The art institution is accepting applications from June 22 through August 15 for artists and designers considering graduate study. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/cranbrook-academy-of-art-reopens-applications-for-fall-2026/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/harriet-tubman-museum.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/mural-damaged-in-break-in-at-harriet-tubman-museum/) - The Harriet Tubman Museum and Educational Center in Cambridge, Maryland, reported a [break-in that resulted in damage](https://hyperallergic.com/mural-damaged-in-break-in-at-harriet-tubman-museum/) to a mural over the weekend. The involved party, which remains at large, broke into the building only a month after it reopened to the public following an extensive renovation. - The High Museum of Art’s former Chief Operating Officer Brady Lum has pleaded guilty to [embezzling more than $600,000](https://hyperallergic.com/former-high-museum-executive-pleads-guilty-to-embezzlement/) from the nonprofit arts institution. --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/fashion-photography.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/contending-with-fashion-photographys-artifice/) [ Contending With Fashion Photography’s Artifice ](https://hyperallergic.com/contending-with-fashion-photographys-artifice/) Lillian Bassman spent decades crafting commercial images. After leaving the industry, she was finally free to experiment in the darkroom. | Imani Williford [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/contending-with-fashion-photographys-artifice/) --- ## Features [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/doyennes.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/meet-the-doyennes-of-ecosexuality/) [ Meet the Doyennes of Ecosexuality ](https://hyperallergic.com/meet-the-doyennes-of-ecosexuality/) In their latest film, Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens advocate replacing an exploitative relationship with the Earth with one based on intimacy, care, and pleasure. | Tulsa Kinney [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/meet-the-doyennes-of-ecosexuality/) [ Connecticut’s Artists Have Been Hiding in Plain Sight ](https://hyperallergic.com/connecticuts-artists-have-been-hiding-in-plain-sight/) The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum’s inaugural decennial exhibition showcases works by 40 artists in the state, all made in the last decade. | Aaron Short [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/connecticuts-artists-have-been-hiding-in-plain-sight/) --- ## Member Comment Erin, thank you for this article, so painstakingly researched and well written. It’s a clarion call to all museums and collectors who are still holding onto looted material. Nobody can claim that they don’t know, not after you’ve shone a clear, exposing light on all of that lying and deception and greed. Brava, and thank you for uncovering the truth. Doria Hughes on “[Why Do So Many Museums Hold a Convicted Antiquity Dealer’s Treasures?](https://hyperallergic.com/why-do-so-many-museums-hold-a-convicted-antiquity-dealers-treasures/)” --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/barbie-newsletter.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-complicated-legacy-of-barbie-in-art/) [ The Complicated Legacy of Barbie in Art ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-complicated-legacy-of-barbie-in-art/) Long before Greta Gerwig’s movie, artists were critiquing Barbie’s influence on women — and Mattel didn’t always approve. | Elaine Velie [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-complicated-legacy-of-barbie-in-art/) featured opportunity ****Art at a Time Like This — Take One Action** Open call for brave poitical images and ideas of civic actions to save democracy. Selected artists will join a public art campaign this fall and/or be featured in an online exhibition. Honorarium up to $1000. Deadline: August 21, 2026 | [atlt.org](https://bit.ly/4vpgZxx?ref=hyperallergic.com) See more in this month’s [list of opportunities](https://hyperallergic.com/opportunities-in-july-2026/) for artists, writers, and art workers! ### Why Do So Many Museums Hold a Convicted Antiquity Dealer’s Treasures? URL: https://hyperallergic.com/why-do-so-many-museums-hold-a-convicted-antiquity-dealers-treasures/ Last updated: 2026-07-28T20:13:06.000Z The Roman was gone. When I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art a few weeks ago in search of a [marble portrait bust](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/256911?ref=hyperallergic.com) of an imperious-looking Roman man, both the sculpture and its pedestal had vanished. Only the label dating the piece to the 2nd century CE remained, marooned on the gallery wall. The sculpture had been purchased from Phoenix Ancient Art, a gallery purporting to follow “[the antiquities trade’s most vigorous and stringent procedures of due diligence](https://phoenixancientart.com/compliance/?ref=hyperallergic.com).” The gallery touted the effort it put into finding evidence that its artifacts had left their countries of origin long before the enactment of export bans. Equipped with these good provenances, or ownership histories, Phoenix boasted that its antiquities could be “[collected in full compliance with all legal and ethical rules](https://phoenixancientart.com/about/?ref=hyperallergic.com).” The Roman was supposed to be above suspicion. But he was seized by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, which gave me a list showing that they have taken a total of nine Phoenix artifacts from The Met, worth nearly $5 million, since 2021 alone. (Three of these were loans.) A Met Museum spokesperson confirmed that the Roman was repatriated to the Republic of Türkiye this February. The question of what will happen to the other spectacular antiquities the gallery sold, all with equally convincing-seeming provenances and many still sitting in the galleries of a [dozen other American museums](https://phoenixancientart.com/clients/?ref=hyperallergic.com), remains open. Phoenix Ancient Art has not responded to a request for comment for this story. \* \* \* Ali Aboutaam was the key figure in the rise of Phoenix Ancient Art. Born in 1965, Aboutaam began working in his father’s antiquities business in Beirut as a teenager. Business was good in a country whose soil still yielded artifacts from the villas built by Roman merchants who sent ships full of luxuries from the East to Europe. Centuries later, the same Lebanese ports were still the logical launching points for antiquities smuggled in from nearby Syria, Turkey, and Iraq. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### For Michael Asher, the Museum Was the Medium URL: https://hyperallergic.com/for-michael-asher-the-museum-was-the-medium/ Last updated: 2026-07-15T14:47:07.000Z LOS ANGELES — Walking through the exhibition [*Michael Asher*](https://www.moca.org/exhibition/michael-asher?ref=hyperallergic.com) at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, one may mistake the artist for a donor. The small solo show takes over two galleries, and Asher’s name is most prominently mounted above the opening that separates the rooms, like a deep-pocketed patron who bought their legacy. Asher, who passed away in 2012, was not wealthy like the Annenbergs or the [Sacklers](https://hyperallergic.com/guggenheim-finally-drops-sackler-family-name/), famous benefactors who coaxed museums into naming wings after them. He was a conceptual artist and longtime educator at CalArts, and his reputation endures despite the lack of sellable objects he produced. Asher was more interested in the way museums looked and operated, and his exploration of these behind-the-scenes machinations helped establish “Institutional Critique” as a category of conceptual art. Asher could reveal the power, money, and influence an institution had on shaping cultural capital by mimicking its architectural style, signage, or catalogs. Without many traditional art objects to display, like paintings or sculptures, *Michael Asher* relies primarily on archives and ephemera to show how the artist stealthily exhibited in museums, galleries, and kunsthalles. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Asher_001.jpg) Archival photo from Michael Asher, “Painting and Sculpture from the Museum of Modern Art: Catalog of Deaccessions 1929 through 1998” (1999) “Painting and Sculpture from the Museum of Modern Art: Catalog of Deaccessions 1929 through 1998” (1999), an unassuming red book created for an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, is a perfect example. The catalog, which nearly replicated MoMA’s graphic design style, listed 403 paintings and sculptures the museum had quietly offloaded. The public is often made aware of a museum’s splashy new acquisitions — just look at the buzz around LACMA’s [new wing](https://hyperallergic.com/lacmas-new-building-invites-you-to-chart-your-own-path/) and the way they announced Jeff Koons’s “Split-Rocker” (2000) — but rarely does anyone hear about, or even realize, that institutions reduce their collections. Asher’s catalog reveals that MoMA sold canonical paintings, like Cézannes, to raise money for new works. As a product of the '90s, the catalog also sparked a craving for the unseen; there was no way to Google the art and decide for oneself whether or not it should be deemed a lesser work. Asher’s list suddenly made these marginal pieces more intriguing, and curators became anxious that the public would demand the unseen works be returned to MoMA’s collection. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Meet the Doyennes of Ecosexuality URL: https://hyperallergic.com/meet-the-doyennes-of-ecosexuality/ Last updated: 2026-07-19T22:17:18.000Z SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — The rainy season is over, and the verdant hills up the west central coast dazzle our eyes; the blue ocean sparkles in the high sun. It’s a straight shot up the 101 Freeway from my house in Echo Park, with only one turn: Madonna Road, the exit for the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo. The famous kitschy motel with themed rooms, in all its pink glory, is where we’re staying to meet up with filmmaker/artists Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens; they booked the Swiss Chalet Room. I’m traveling with my friend Philo, who used to be their neighbor in San Francisco. Only a few months earlier, Sprinkle and Stephens were back at the Madonna Inn, having a ball, clowning around in the Romance Room while filming for artist Samantha Nye’s video, “Web of Love,” a hilarious lesbian spoof on the 1966 Scopitone film of the same name, included in her titular art installation at the Cuesta College art gallery. Now everyone is back for Sprinkle and Stephens’s film screening/lecture at the campus, which coincides with Nye’s exhibition — a sort of reunion. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Samantha-Nye--Web-Of-Love_-Intsall-shot_-Tub-Scene--photo-by-Timothy-Stark-at-Harold-J.-Miossi-Gallery.jpg) Installation view of Samantha Nye, **Web Of Love* (photo Timothy Stark, courtesy Harold J. Miossi Gallery) This dynamic duo — Sprinkle, a former sex worker who later became a performance artist, and Stephens, an art professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz — are at it again. Their latest film, *Playing with Fire: An Ecosexual Emergency* (2025), is the last in their documentary trilogy that includes *Goodbye Gauley Mountain: An Ecosexual Love Story* (2014) and *Water Makes Us Wet: An Ecosexual Adventure* (2019). All three films deal with environmental assaults such as mountaintop removal, water sustainability, and now fire. We’re here to see a sneak preview before Sprinkle and Stephens go on tour with their film, stopping in Germany at film festivals and premiering this fall at the REDCAT theater in Los Angeles. After we check into our rooms — Philo chose the Swiss Rock Room (one of six cave-themed rooms); me, the Sir Walter Raleigh Room (don’t ask) — we take a quick dip in the fabulous pool, then head over to the campus to see the shows. As we wait in the lobby, suddenly, the bejeweled Sprinkle, a formidable figure with long red hair and a hat that adds at least six inches to her height, walks through the door, draped in layers of black lace, silk, and fringe. Stephens, bespectacled with short-cropped hair**,** is right behind, clad in cowboy shirt and boots. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/photo-by-Philo-Northrup.jpg) Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens at their film screening/lecture at Cuesta College in Los Angeles (2026) (photo by and courtesy Philo Northrup) We all pile into the auditorium, and Sprinkle and Stephens take the stage, starting with their backgrounds. Each had independent careers before they met in 1991 and began collaborating on art projects: Stephens was a grad student making performance art videos, while Sprinkle found an early start in the sex industry. “Annie was such a sexpot!” Stephens exclaimed. They became lovers in 2002 and are now married. Presently, Sprinkle and Stephens’s focus is on ecosexuality, a movement they started in the 2000s combining environmental preservation with sensuality to combat both an extractive relationship with nature and human-caused climate change. We are now down to serious business with their lecture — at one point, I wasn’t sure if we might be quizzed afterwards — and a list of ecosexual properties pops up on a screen: “A person who takes the earth as their lover”; “A person that finds nature sensual, sexy.” Sprinkle coyly asks the audience, “Are you ecosexual?” The audience (mostly students and faculty) practically shrugs in unison. She then guarantees us we will know what being ecosexual means after the film — maybe there *is* a test! ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Sprinkle-Stephens-on-stage--photo-by-Philo-Northrup.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Sprinkle--Stephens-on-stage--photo-by-Tulsa-Kinney_1-1.jpg) Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens at their film screening/lecture at Cuesta College in Los Angeles (2026) (photos by and courtesy Philo Northrup) *Playing with Fire* centers on the [Northern California fires](https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/2020-california-wildfires?ref=hyperallergic.com) in 2020, which forced over 70,000 residents to evacuate. The fires broke out in the Santa Cruz Mountains, affecting nearby communities, one being Boulder Creek, where Sprinkle and Stephens lived. The documentary exposes the devastation and destruction of having to leave one’s homes and communities. But that’s not all. Sprinkle and Stephens turn tragedy into comedy, and sometimes silliness: eco-friendly texting goats munch on hillsides; Albert, a local free-roaming white peacock, sometimes narrates; and the film is spliced with animated montages of Sprinkle and Stephens next to a spewing volcano. There’s even an “ecosex scene” filmed in slo-mo with accompanying porn music. Sprinkle and Stephens visit a fire fetishist who performs her magic by passing fire torches dangerously close to their nude bodies, sometimes touching their skin. (Later, I asked them if that was painful — Stephens replied, “It felt so amazing, but do not try it at home!”) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/PLAYING-WITH-FIRE-Film-Still-2-Guillermo-Go--mez-Pen--a--center--is-the-Hot-Officiant-for-the-Wedding-to-Fire-ritual-and-vows.-Photo-by-Lydia-Danillier.-Courtesy-of-E.A.R.T.H.-Lab-SF.jpg) Film still of **Playing with Fire: An Ecosexual Emergency* (2025), directed by Beth Stephens and Annie Sprinkle, in which Guillermo Gómez-Peña (center) is the Hot Officiant for the Wedding to Fire ritual and vows (photo Lydia Danillier, courtesy E.A.R.T.H. Lab SF) Inserting humor through their singular way of storytelling makes the documentary almost a joy to watch despite its disturbing subject matter. Nothing is sugarcoated, but their humane approach opens a pathway to understanding, acceptance, and hope in the face of calamity rather than simply fear or avoidance. Fire is presented in all its glory — good and bad. Ex-con firefighters are interviewed; a performance artist sets themselves on fire; parades and rituals of fire worshipers appear throughout the film. In a heartfelt scene-stealer, Sprinkle asks her dying mother where she wants her ashes scattered. Her mom’s reply: “Surprise me.” Next, we see a cardboard box of her deceased mother (presumably!) bound for the cremation chamber, all aflame, as the door slowly closes. In the film, Sprinkle and Stephens eventually come to terms with fire — this is how ecosexuality works. It’s about respect for Earth, becoming a lover of Earth, eroticizing it, maybe even marrying it? In ceremony and celebration, Sprinkle and Stephens say “We do” to fire. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/PLAYING-WITH-FIRE-Film-Still-3-Filmmakers-Beth-Stephens--left--and-Annie-Sprinkle-prepare-for-an-ecosex-ritual-in-a-burnt-forest-in-Northern-California.-Photo-by-Lady-Monster-Stephanie-Booher.-Courtesy-of-E.A.R.T.H.-Lab-SF.jpg) Film still of **Playing with Fire: An Ecosexual Emergency* (2025), directed by Beth Stephens and Annie Sprinkle, featuring the filmmakers preparing for an ecosex ritual in a burnt forest in Northern California (photo Lady Monster, courtesy E.A.R.T.H. Lab SF) After the film, we stop by Nye’s *Web of Love* exhibition. The gallery is resplendent with wall-to-wall deep red plush carpet, low lighting, four magenta heart-shaped jacuzzies, and the video featuring Sprinkle and Stephens projected on all three walls with a looping soundtrack. Sprinkle lip-syncs to the song while Stephens plays her sexed-up sidekick. Sprinkle bounces her plentiful bosom upon Stephens’s head, and both spill their glasses of champagne while hamming it up in a sudsy hot tub. It’s clear they’re having an amazing time showing off their humor and playfulness, an important quality in their creative sensibilities. “I made my first porn film at 18 years old. And now, at 71, I’m so proud to be still acting slutty!” Sprinkle tells me. Driving back down the coast to Los Angeles, the verdant hills were still dazzling, but I saw them differently — even the ocean seemed to lose its glisten. It made me realize why films like *Playing with Fire*, and the commitment Sprinkle and Stephens have to their art, is so important. They could be simply painting landscapes, but instead, as they reminded me, “We are activists.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/PLAYING-WITH-FIRE-Film-Still-6-Maid-of-honor-and-artist-Monica-Canilao--left-to-right---with-bride-to-fire-Annie-Sprinkle--and-bridesmaid-Azul-Water-Witch.-Photo-by-Monica-Canilao.-Courtesy-of-E.A.R.T.H.-Lab-SF-.jpg) Maid of honor and artist Monica Canilao (left), with bride to fire Annie Sprinkle (center), and bridesmaid Azul Water Witch (photo Monica Canilao, courtesy E.A.R.T.H. Lab SF) [Playing with Fire: An Ecosexual Emergency](https://sprinklestephens.ucsc.edu/playing-with-fire-2/?ref=hyperallergic.com) *(2025), directed by Beth Stephens and Annie Sprinkle, is* [*screening*](https://sprinklestephens.ucsc.edu/upcoming-events/?ref=hyperallergic.com) *around the world through at least December 21\.* ### Mural Damaged in Break-In at Harriet Tubman Museum URL: https://hyperallergic.com/mural-damaged-in-break-in-at-harriet-tubman-museum/ Last updated: 2026-07-14T20:35:34.000Z The Harriet Tubman Museum and Educational Center in Cambridge, Maryland, reported a break-in that resulted in damage to a mural over the weekend. The involved party, which remains at large, [broke into the building](https://www.wboc.com/news/call-for-help-at-harriet-tubman-museum-after-break-in-over-the-weekend/article%5F999a707c-024c-4c71-a5d5-bc4d3493adc4.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) only a month after it reopened to the public following an extensive renovation. “It really is a violation,” said Linda Harris, the museum's director of events and programming, in a brief call with *Hyperallergic*. Located in the abolitionist's home county, the small, volunteer-run free museum was established in the mid 1980s in an effort to preserve and celebrate her life and legacy through exhibits, events, lectures, and guided tours of the city, which was among the inaugural “stops” along Tubman's Underground Railroad route to Philadelphia. The museum, which has operated out of its current location since 1992, became more widely known in recent years because of local artist Michael Rosato's “Take My Hand” (2019) **—** an outdoor trompe l'oeil mural depicting a larger-than-life Tubman stepping over a broken brick wall and reaching her hand out to take viewers on their journey to freedom. The site was hit with severe flooding last May, forcing the museum to close down and embark on a [yearlong renovation](https://www.wboc.com/news/harriet-tubman-museum-prepares-to-reopen-after-renovations/article%5F99b0696d-77b3-40c8-be3e-c6b5dea59b30.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) to remediate serious water damage. Rosato was invited to turn its interiors into an immersive experience to tell Tubman's story pictorially, from her time of enslavement to her meeting with Frederick Douglas andher guidance throughout the [1863 Combahee Ferry Raid](https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/combahee-ferry-raid?ref=hyperallergic.com), which liberated over 750 enslaved African Americans. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-14-at-3.39.56---PM.png) The museum posted a photo of the damaged doorway, which was part of one of Michael Rosato's murals, on its Facebook account to announce its closure until further notice. (screenshot Rhea Nayyar/**Hyperallergic* via [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/harriettubmanmuseumandeducationcenter/posts/pfbid02EHjQZTf1rvPvnFnVNy4NEqMKK8QniUWbXas1a3gRdoQX6AzkH9cFQsqPCp6LQ6T6l)) The museum welcomed the public to its renovated space on Saturday, June 13, to much fanfare from the local community. However, the celebrations were short-lived as the museum sustained damage from last weekend's break-in. The museum's back door, which was a part of one of Rosato's detailed interior murals, was torn off and damaged during the burglary. Local reports indicate that the perpetrator knew exactly what they were looking for and beelined to the donation box, suggesting that they had familiarized themselves with the museum's layout during a prior visit. Though nothing else was damaged or stolen, the museum is free to the public and relies on donations to function. Harris told local media outlets that the box held around $3,000 when she recently emptied it, but she didn't know how much money was there when it was stolen. "We just raised money to redo our museum,” she lamented to [*WBOC*](https://www.wboc.com/news/call-for-help-at-harriet-tubman-museum-after-break-in-over-the-weekend/article%5F999a707c-024c-4c71-a5d5-bc4d3493adc4.html?ref=hyperallergic.com)*.* “Now we've got to raise more money. So, I'm very sad. This place has been here since 1992\. It's an institution. It conveys the story of a person born here in Cambridge. And for someone to vandalize it, it's pretty sad.” Harris predicts that replacing the door, having the mural fixed, and installing a security system with cameras will cost the museum between $10,000 to $20,000, with a turnaround time of up to two weeks. She and the rest of the volunteer staff underscored that digital donations can be made through the [museum's website](https://www.harriettubmanmuseumcenter.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com) to help facilitate the repairs and reopen again to serve the public. ### Connecticut’s Artists Have Been Hiding in Plain Sight URL: https://hyperallergic.com/connecticuts-artists-have-been-hiding-in-plain-sight/ Last updated: 2026-07-16T01:30:51.000Z RIDGEFIELD, Connecticut — Connecticut has been home to a thriving community of artists, including Sol LeWitt, Louise Bourgeois, Jasper Johns, Barkley Hendricks, Alexander Calder, Yves Tanguy, and Josef and Anni Albers, among many others. But new generations of artists have been making ambitious works in leafy college towns and sleepy suburban enclaves unbeknownst to many of their neighbors. That’s about to change. Over the next six months, the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum is showcasing 40 artists based in the Constitution State in its inaugural survey, [*The Aldrich Decennial: I am what is around me*](https://thealdrich.org/exhibitions/the-aldrich-decennial-new-art-made-in-connecticut?ref=hyperallergic.com). The museum’s mission has supported artists at different stages of their careers, with a particular emphasis on feminism and public artworks — as in its landmark 1971 exhibition, *Twenty Six Contemporary Women Artists*, the [first feminist group show](https://hyperallergic.com/lucy-lippard-feminist-show-got-erased-from-collective-memory/) in the United States, and the more recent [homage](https://hyperallergic.com/52-artists-challenges-the-meaning-of-womens-art/) *52 Artists: A Feminist Milestone,* which included a number of female and nonbinary participants. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/IMG_8391.jpeg) Scott Carrillo Azevedo, "Pink Powder Room" (2026) For its decennial, Chief Curator Amy Smith-Stewart wanted to share the spirit of discovery she experienced working on MoMA PS1’s *Greater New York* in 2005 and observing the Hammer Museum’s *Made in LA* series. An annual or biennial compendium did not seem appropriate for the Aldrich, but Smith-Stewart also wanted to assemble pieces that grappled with a volatile period of United States history. “All artworks were made within the decade, and I liked the idea of exploring how geopolitical events infiltrated the lives of artists and ended up in their work,” she told *Hyperallergic.* Smith-Stewart visited roughly 100 studios across the state before whittling down her cohort to 40 artists. Their works fill every corner of the museum’s early 21st-century exhibition space, required to be set back from Ridgefield’s historic Main Street, not far from a site where British forces broke through a Revolutionary brigade in April 1777. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Former High Museum Executive Pleads Guilty to Embezzlement URL: https://hyperallergic.com/former-high-museum-executive-pleads-guilty-to-embezzlement/ Last updated: 2026-07-14T18:37:39.000Z The High Museum of Art's former Chief Operating Officer Brady Lum has pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $600,000 from the nonprofit arts institution. The 59-year-old executive [resigned](https://hyperallergic.com/high-museum-coo-resigns-after-600k-disappeared/) from the Atlanta museum in December after its parent organization, the Woodruff Arts Center, traced institutional “financial irregularities” back to him. According to court documents filed by federal prosecutors in April, Lum used museum funds to purchase personal items**,** including “luxury guitars” and “woodworking equipment,” over the course of his nearly seven-year tenure at the institution. Lum used his position of power to approve fraudulent reimbursement invoices and took other actions to conceal his personal transactions, according to filings. Prosecutors said Lum secured more than 700 reimbursements from the museum, mostly for purchases under $1,000\. Among his most expensive transactions, Lum allegedly claimed a reimbursement for a $9,147.87 purchase of personal guitar accessories by submitting a doctored invoice in 2024\. In a Georgia federal district court on Monday, July 13, Lum pleaded guilty to theft from “programs receiving federal funds,” a crime that carries a [maximum prison sentence of 10 years](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/666?ref=hyperallergic.com) and a fine of $250,000. During Lum’s tenure, the museum received an [$80,000](https://high.org/press-release/high-museum-of-art-receives-80000-award-from-the-national-endowment-for-the-arts/?ref=hyperallergic.com) grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to support the study of "the social, emotional, intellectual, physical and spiritual effects of art museum visitation on diverse adult populations." As part of Lum’s plea agreement with the federal government, the former COO has agreed to pay full restitution to “all victims of the offense(s).” His sentencing hearing is scheduled for November 2\. The Woodruff Arts Center declined to comment on Lum’s case or how the stolen funds impacted the institution. Lum’s attorney has not yet responded to *Hyperallergic*’srequest for comment. ### Contending With Fashion Photography's Artifice URL: https://hyperallergic.com/contending-with-fashion-photographys-artifice/ Last updated: 2026-07-14T17:43:49.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Bassman_Vocabulary-of-Courage_2025.889.1-2.jpg) Lillian Bassman, photograph by Rouben Samberg, "The Vocabulary of Courage" (1944), collage of gelatin silver prints (© Estate of Lillian Bassman; image courtesy the Metropolitan Museum of Art) Fashion photography is notoriously artificial. Since its [inception](https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/100-years-of-fashion-photography?ref=hyperallergic.com) as a way to document socialites and celebrities in their finery, it has always been used to project a construct of beauty. The Metropolitan Museum of Art contends with this idea in [*Lillian Bassman: Bazaar and Beyond*](https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/lillian-bassman-bazaar-and-beyond?ref=hyperallergic.com), a small survey exhibition of the late photographer’s fashion media practice from the 1940s to the 2000s. Bassman began her career in the early 1940s as an aspiring illustrator, working under the tutelage of legendary *Harper's Bazaar* art director Alexey Brodovitch. By the late 1940s, she was photographing her own covers and editorials for *Bazaar*, taking a distinctive approach to fashion photography that both lifts and embraces the industry’s veil of appearances. This show demonstrates Bassman's mastery as an artist deeply versed in all elements of fashion media whose analytical perspective puckers at the medium’s superficiality. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Bassman_Junior-Bazaar-Dec-1945.jpg) Lillian Bassman and Alexey Brodovitch, featuring photography by Leslie Gill, **Junior Bazaar* (December 1945) (image courtesy Harper’s BAZAAR/Hearst Magazine Media, Inc.) The exhibition begins with Bassman's early career at the magazine and her stint as co-director of *Junior* *Bazaar* with Brodovitch in the 1940s. The work on view is a mix of photo collages, editorials, magazine covers, photographs, and test prints. There are clear early 20th-century modernist influences, including a photo collage called the “Vocabulary of Courage maquette” (1944) in the vein of Dada artist [Hannah Höch](https://hyperallergic.com/the-cutting-satire-of-hannah-hoch-collages/), as well as magazine covers and editorials with Russian Constructivist graphics — an interesting choice for a fashion magazine, given that both movements are rooted in anti-capitalist beliefs. During this time, Bassman adopted a variety of experimental formal techniques. Though far removed from the glossy and glamorous fashion shots for which she is best known, these works provide profound insight into her photographic practice. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Bassman_Solarized-Fashion-Study_2025.889.34.jpg) Lillian Bassman, "Solarized fashion study" (c. 1960), gelatin silver print (© Estate of Lillian Bassman; image courtesy the Metropolitan Museum of Art) A 1949 series of gelatin silver test prints for magazine covers bridges this moment with the following gallery, which highlights Bassman's technical prowess in the darkroom, where she experimented with extreme over- and under-exposure to light and the selective application of bleach. Her darkroom work also mirrors the way in which many women construct their beauty and femininity in their daily lives; Bassman's bleach-drenched paintbrush is not much different from makeup brushes and a bottle of [Clairol](https://www.clairol.com/en-US/clairol-world?ref=hyperallergic.com). Akin to Pop art, these test covers underscore Bassman's contrarian vision within the refined and restrictive world of fashion media. Bassman's fashion photography remains the focus of the rest of the exhibition, including her years at *Bazaar*, photographic studies, freelance work, and later forays into reprinting photographs in the 1990s and 2000s. Many of Bassman's photographs abstract their subject matter through camera angling, posing, and darkroom distortions. Oftentimes, her models do not look directly at the camera or their faces are obscured with smoke, shadows, or a photographic blur. Their bodies and faces contort away from the viewer, distilling them into silhouettes — perfect hangers for clothes. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Bassman_Exercises-for-Skeptics_2025.889.35.jpg) Lillian Bassman, "Exercises for Skeptics" (1952), gelatin silver print (© Estate of Lillian Bassman; image courtesy the Metropolitan Museum of Art) Later in life, Bassman began reprinting her earlier negatives, and I found them to be the most profound part of the exhibition. In these 1990s works, the artist makes substantial darkroom manipulations by experimenting with exposure times, applying chemicals more harshly, and even using an early version of Adobe Photoshop. Two variations of “The Cape Back is Back” from 1949 and 1994 encapsulate Bassman's personal evolution. In the original photograph, the model almost blends in with the scenery, whereas in the 1994 version, Bassman accentuates the contrast between light and dark. The reprint creates a stormy uncertainty, especially in the model’s facial features and elbow. Without having to satisfy her editors, designers, or advertisers, Bassman was liberated from the pressures of crafting the perfect commercial image, and under her creative free will, artifice could breathe and grow. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/The-Cape-Back-is-Back_1949_and_1994.jpg) Lillian Bassman, “Variant of The Cape Back is Back” (1949) on left next to the 1994 reprint on right, both gelatin silver prints (photo Imani Williford/**Hyperallergic*) Bassman's work forces us to contemplate the conceptual side of fashion photography, and these later reprints left me with a range of questions. Are the older images more authentic, because they are truer to Bassman's personal vision, or do they continue to perpetuate fashion’s artificiality? In what ways do authenticity and artifice overlap? This is when I realized the genius of Lillian Bassman. In a way, we are all tasked with editing our lives: Every day, we decide how to present ourselves, Photoshopping and curating what we want people to see. *Bazaar and Beyond* masterfully demonstrates that Bassman's contribution to the fashion photography canon is precisely her embrace of artifice. [Lillian Bassman: Bazaar and Beyond](https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/lillian-bassman-bazaar-and-beyond?ref=hyperallergic.com) *continues at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1000 Fifth Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan) through July 26\. The exhibition was organized by Virginia McBride, assistant curator in the Department of Photographs.* ### Why The Met Returned a Roman Bust URL: https://hyperallergic.com/why-the-met-returned-a-roman-bust/ Last updated: 2026-07-14T16:25:39.000Z To paraphrase an [infamous](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/18/eric-adams-september-11-interview-new-york?ref=hyperallergic.com) quote by former Mayor Eric Adams: New York — this is a place where every day you wake up, you can experience everything from a looted Roman antiquity at The Met to an artist selling the trash outside Taylor Swift's wedding. In fact, The Met recently repatriated said Roman bust, which had been sold to the museum by the notorious gallery Phoenix Ancient Art. You absolutely must read Erin Thompson’s piece following the trail of its co-founder, a convicted antiquities dealer whose artifacts still sit in museums all over the country despite their dubious provenances. Over in Brooklyn, meet Noore Yazigi, an artist lovingly tattooing Arabic calligraphy, ranging from excerpts of the Quran to the lines of late Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer. Randa Jumean has that story. Of course, in New York, you might also wake up to find yourself ensconced in yet another heat wave. Find a [cooling center](https://finder.nyc.gov/coolingcenters/locations?ref=hyperallergic.com) near you — some include cultural institutions, such as the Museum of the City of New York, so you can maybe even see some art while you’re at it. As always, stay cool, NYC. —*Lisa Yin Zhang, associate editor* --- --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/roman-sculptures-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/why-do-so-many-museums-hold-a-convicted-antiquity-dealers-treasures/) [ Why Do So Many Museums Hold a Convicted Antiquity Dealer’s Treasures? ](https://hyperallergic.com/why-do-so-many-museums-hold-a-convicted-antiquity-dealers-treasures/) When I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art a few weeks ago in search of a marble portrait bust of an imperious-looking Roman man, both the sculpture and its pedestal had vanished. Only the label dating the piece to the 2nd century CE remained, marooned on the gallery wall. The sculpture had been purchased from Phoenix Ancient Art, a gallery purporting to follow “the antiquities trade’s most vigorous and stringent procedures of due diligence.” The gallery touted the effort it put into finding evidence that its artifacts had left their countries of origin long before the enactment of export bans. Equipped with these good provenances, or ownership histories, Phoenix boasted that its antiquities could be “collected in full compliance with all legal and ethical rules.” | Erin L. Thompson [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/why-do-so-many-museums-hold-a-convicted-antiquity-dealers-treasures/) --- ## Features [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/arabic-tattoo-2-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-tattoo-artist-inking-arabic-script-on-skin/) [ The Tattoo Artist Inking Arabic Script on Skin ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-tattoo-artist-inking-arabic-script-on-skin/) New York-based artist Noore Yazigi’s designs reference everything from the Quran to the poetry of the late Palestinian writer Refaat Alareer. | Randa Jumean [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-tattoo-artist-inking-arabic-script-on-skin/) [ How the Children’s Art Carnival in Harlem Nurtured Generations ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-the-childrens-art-carnival-in-harlem-nurtured-generations/) Nearly six decades since its founding, the legacy of the beloved program is explored in an exhibition at Columbia University’s Wallach Art Gallery. | Jerry Elengical [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-the-childrens-art-carnival-in-harlem-nurtured-generations/) --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/hujar-contact-sheets-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/should-we-see-peter-hujars-contact-sheets/) #### Julia Curl ***Hujar:Contact* at the Morgan Library & Museum** "The contact sheets reveal that his portraits were the product of ongoing interactions — excerpts of a conversation, rather than memories snatched from the ether." [*Read the full review*](https://hyperallergic.com/should-we-see-peter-hujars-contact-sheets/) #### Gregory Volk ***Kathy Butterly: Assume Yes* at the Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery** "Butterly has a remarkable way of channeling nuanced spirit, keen emotions, and complex psychological states into her innovative and riveting creations .... Wonders abound throughout the exhibition — each sculpture both a beckoning event and a voyage." [*Read the full review*](https://hyperallergic.com/the-unruly-ceramic-beings-of-kathy-butterly/?ref=daily-newsletter) --- ## What Else Is Happening? - Manhattan’s High Line Art [is seeking public feedback](https://hyperallergic.com/which-artworks-will-grace-the-high-lines-plinth-next/) on 62 proposals for the public artwork commissions that will grace the park’s plinth in 2029 and 2030. - Following Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding at Madison Square Garden last week, artist Justin Gignac [collected street trash](https://hyperallergic.com/artist-sells-25-trash-souvenirs-found-outside-taylor-swifts-wedding/) found outside the venue and is selling them in pocket-sized vitrine boxes as souvenirs. - After a 10-month search, the New Museum in Manhattan [announced](https://hyperallergic.com/massimiliano-gioni-named-director-of-new-museum/) that its artistic director of 12 years, Massimiliano Gioni, has been appointed its next director. - Messages condemning Israel’s violence in Gaza [appeared over the advertising screens](https://hyperallergic.com/whitney-museum-screens-taken-over-with-gaza-protest-messages/) outside the Whitney Museum of American Art last week in an action by New York City-based artist Jonathan Allen. - The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene [discovered Legionella](https://hyperallergic.com/legionella-bacteria-found-in-cooling-tower-at-nyc-guggenheim/), the bacterium that causes Legionnaires’ disease, in the Guggenheim Museum’s cooling tower this week, among other sites. - The Brooklyn Public Library's Sips and Scholar's series features free lectures set in bars, cafes, and more. This session, "The Architecture of Red Vienna," will explore the political and architectural ideas that shaped interwar Vienna's building program. (Thurs July 16) \[[bklynlibrary.org](https://www.bklynlibrary.org/calendar/sips-scholars-windsor-terrace-library-20260716-0630pm?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Jazz and Draw at Recess Grove is this Thursday! Explore your creativity and unwind at the happy hour, featuring live jazzwith local musician David Winograd. (Thurs July 16) \[[recessgrove.com](https://www.recessgrove.com/events?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Metrograph is hosting a film series of Yves Saint Laurent’s costume work for cinema in conjunction with the International Center of Photography’s exhibition *Yves Saint Laurent and Photography.* (Fri July 17) \[[icp.org](https://www.icp.org/events/icp-x-metrograph-dressed-yves-saint-laurent-film-series?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - At the Children's Art Carnival in Harlem, families can learn to craft an African doll using fabrics and other materials. While you're there, be sure to visit their current exhibition *Still Here: Harlem Eternal*. (Sat July 18) \[[childrensartcarnival.org](https://childrensartcarnival.org/event/african-doll-making-the-hummingbird-project-doing-art-with-vickie-fremont/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Catch the World Cup final at a free screening or watch party! Choose from a few locations, including [Central Park's Great Lawn](https://www.centralparknyc.org/activities/events/world-cup-final-watch-party-on-the-great-lawn?ref=hyperallergic.com), [Governors Island](https://www.govisland.com/things-to-do/events/the-peoples-final?ref=hyperallergic.com), and [Brooklyn Bridge Park](https://brooklynbridgepark.org/adidas-home-of-soccer/?ref=hyperallergic.com). (Sun July 19) ### Peter Hujar’s Darkroom Floor URL: https://hyperallergic.com/peter-hujars-darkroom-floor/ Last updated: 2026-07-14T10:00:28.000Z Peter Hujar never intended for his contact sheets to go on public view. But at the Morgan Library and Museum in Manhattan, an exhibition compels us to take a closer look at what was left on the photographer’s darkroom floor — magnifying glass included. Julia Curl considers the implications of approaching Hujar’s contact sheets as “excerpts of a conversation,” one that defined his approach to portraiture and photography. Meanwhile, in our opinion section, Coco Fusco sounds the alarm about jailed Cuban performance artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, whose whereabouts are unknown after his unjust five-year sentence ended on Thursday. The Louvre heist returns to the news, how album covers shape the way we experience music, and more in today’s edition. *—Lakshmi Rivera Amin, associate editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/hujar-contact-sheets.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/should-we-see-peter-hujars-contact-sheets/) [ Should We See Peter Hujar’s Contact Sheets? ](https://hyperallergic.com/should-we-see-peter-hujars-contact-sheets/) The Morgan Library & Museum might be milking its Peter Hujar collection, but I’m not complaining. *Hujar:Contact* is the Morgan’s second solo exhibition of the photographer’s work, coming on the heels of its 2013 acquisition of his archive and a sweeping 2018 retrospective, *Peter Hujar: Speed of Life*. That exhibition was always going to be a tough act to follow, given the scale of the show, the impact of its reception, and Hujar’s importance as a key portraitist of New York City’s before-they-were-famous queer art scene. Nevertheless, it’s an unusual choice to mount an exhibition entirely dedicated to a photographer’s contact sheets, which by nature are not made for public consumption. | Julia Curl [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/should-we-see-peter-hujars-contact-sheets/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/black-curators-matter.jpeg)](https://shop.getty.edu/products/black-curators-matter-conversations-on-art-and-change-9798887120140?srsltid=AfmBOopgAyHkPmBo0EqAkA7-6-hRpiPfgadIBKfa1V79ihOQEY5q5ATK&utm%5Fsource=Hyperallergic&utm%5Fmedium=banner&utm%5Fcampaign=PubsAdBlackCuratorsMatterHyperallergic&utm%5Fid=PubsAdBlackCuratorsMatter) Through powerful interviews and archival insight, **Black Curators Matter* chronicles the voices and visionaries who reshaped American museums from the 1970s to today. [Learn more ](https://shop.getty.edu/products/black-curators-matter-conversations-on-art-and-change-9798887120140?srsltid=AfmBOopgAyHkPmBo0EqAkA7-6-hRpiPfgadIBKfa1V79ihOQEY5q5ATK&utm%5Fsource=Hyperallergic&utm%5Fmedium=banner&utm%5Fcampaign=PubsAdBlackCuratorsMatterHyperallergic&utm%5Fid=PubsAdBlackCuratorsMatter) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/louvrecrane-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/suspects-shed-light-on-mastermind-behind-louvre-heist/) - After months of near radio silence, two suspects held in pre-trial detention have revealed more information about their role in [facilitating the Louvre Museum jewelry heist](https://hyperallergic.com/suspects-shed-light-on-mastermind-behind-louvre-heist/) that shocked the world last October. - Days after police arrested a man who had scaled and tagged a prominent Melbourne bridge with a cartoon bird dubbed “Pam the Bird,” thousands have [called upon the city](https://hyperallergic.com/pam-the-bird-graffiti-stirs-controversy-in-melbourne/) to preserve the graffiti artwork. --- ## Features [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/children-s-carnival.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/how-the-childrens-art-carnival-in-harlem-nurtured-generations/) [ How the Children’s Art Carnival in Harlem Nurtured Generations ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-the-childrens-art-carnival-in-harlem-nurtured-generations/) Nearly six decades since its founding, the legacy of the beloved program is explored in an exhibition at Columbia University’s Wallach Art Gallery. | Jerry Elengical [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-the-childrens-art-carnival-in-harlem-nurtured-generations/) --- ## Opinions [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/luis-manuel-otero.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/where-is-luis-manuel-otero-alcantara/) [ Where Is Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara? ](https://hyperallergic.com/where-is-luis-manuel-otero-alcantara/) The Cuban artist’s whereabouts remain unknown, as do his fate and that of more than 800 political prisoners on the island. | Coco Fusco [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/where-is-luis-manuel-otero-alcantara/) --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/joy-division.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-album-art-music-left-behind/) [ The Album Art Music Left Behind ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-album-art-music-left-behind/) Two projects examine the visual art and design that shape our perception of music, from Raymond Pettibon’s Foo Fighters record covers to the ephemera of bygone bands. | Divya Mehra [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-album-art-music-left-behind/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/BSFF26_Ad_Hyperallergic_2400x1350_West-Side-Familia-2-1.png)](https://hyperallergic.com/indie-film-from-the-global-majority-blackstar-celebrates-15-years-of-cinema-for-liberation/) ****Indie Film From the Global Majority: BlackStar Celebrates 15 Years of Cinema for Liberation** The world’s most significant and groundbreaking filmmakers of color will gather to showcase their work in Philadelphia August 6-9. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/indie-film-from-the-global-majority-blackstar-celebrates-15-years-of-cinema-for-liberation/) --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/luis-angeles.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-cuban-artists-who-turned-havana-may-day-parade-into-a-protest/) [ The Cuban Artists Who Turned Havana’s May Day Parade Into a Protest ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-cuban-artists-who-turned-havana-may-day-parade-into-a-protest/) Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Raychel Carrión used state-orchestrated political theater as a backdrop for their critiques of institutional power and mindless consent. | Coco Fusco [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-cuban-artists-who-turned-havana-may-day-parade-into-a-protest/) ### How the Children’s Art Carnival in Harlem Nurtured Generations URL: https://hyperallergic.com/how-the-childrens-art-carnival-in-harlem-nurtured-generations/ Last updated: 2026-07-15T14:50:38.000Z In March 1969, at the first-ever Children’s Art Carnival in Harlem, artist, activist, and educator Betty Blayton-Taylor looked on as groups of children painted at easels and strung objects together to make hanging sculptures. Held in a garage provided by the Harlem School of the Arts, the event engaged artists to conduct workshops for local kids. “Children can just as well use their energy to be creative as destructive,” Blayton-Taylor told the [*New York Times*](https://www.nytimes.com/1969/03/28/archives/in-harlem-museum-carnival-aims-to-spur-children.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) in a 1969 interview. “They’re having fun and that’s what we want.” Nearly six decades later, the legacy forged by Blayton-Taylor as the carnival’s co-founder and executive director is now on view in an exhibition at Columbia University’s Wallach Art Gallery. Organized by independent curator Souleo, [*Children’s Art Carnival in Harlem: The Making of Contemporary Artists*](https://wallach.columbia.edu/content/childrens-art-carnival-harlem-making-contemporary-artists?ref=hyperallergic.com) doubles as the fourth edition of the Uptown Triennial, which showcases the work of artists from Harlem, El Barrio, Washington Heights, and other Upper Manhattan neighborhoods. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Children-and-youth-socialize-on-the-steps-of-the-Children---s-Art-Carnival-in-Harlem-during-an-outdoor-event--c.-late-1970s.-Unidentified-photographer--courtesy-the-Children_s-Art-Carnival-1.jpg) Young participants on the front steps of the Children’s Art Carnival in Harlem (photo unknown, courtesy the Children’s Art Carnival) Blayton-Taylor’s brother, Oscar Blayton, first suggested the idea for an exhibition about the carnival to Souleo [in 2023](https://neighbors.columbia.edu/news/uptown-triennial-celebrates-childrens-art-carnival-harlem-cultural-cornerstone?ref=hyperallergic.com). “Betty \[Blayton-Taylor\] always wanted the art educators and the art students that did well to get recognition,” Blayton said to *Hyperallergic*. While Souleo was already [familiar](https://hyperallergic.com/betty-blayton-taylor-reminiscence/) with Blayton-Taylor’s work and had even [curated](https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/art/betty-blayton?ref=hyperallergic.com) a [show](https://www.columbia.edu/cu/wallach/exhibitions/Uptown%5FElizabethDeeGallery.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) of her art in 2017, he said that he developed a much deeper appreciation for the carnival while conducting research and interviewing artists for the current exhibition. In addition to recounting the carnival’s history, the curator wanted to foreground its impact on generations of artists who participated as instructors, students, or staff. The exhibition is anchored around the idea that art can nurture a child's creativity, and that the teaching artist, in turn, can benefit from engaging with a child’s imagination. On opening night, Donna M. Jones, co-chair of the carnival’s board of trustees, said that whenever children came to the carnival, “they were met with love, they were provided with snacks, and they were told that ‘you matter.’” _This post is for subscribers only._ ### "Pam the Bird" Graffiti Stirs Controversy in Melbourne URL: https://hyperallergic.com/pam-the-bird-graffiti-stirs-controversy-in-melbourne/ Last updated: 2026-07-13T20:54:38.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/shutterstock_2808961073--1-.jpg) Aerial view of bird graffiti painted on Bolte Bridge pillar in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, July 9, 2026 (photo GoAerials via Shutterstock) An enormous graffiti bird in Melbourne, Australia, has stirred considerable controversy as the public and officials contend with the artwork's future. Days after police arrested a man who had scaled and tagged a prominent Melbourne bridge with a cartoon bird dubbed "Pam the Bird," thousands have called upon the city to preserve the graffiti artwork. The Victoria Police have cast 22-year-old graffiti artist Jack Gibson-Burrell as a "[notorious vandal](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-02-27/pam-the-bird-graffiti-artist-bail/104988564?ref=hyperallergic.com)" whose tactics have recently escalated into alleged violence, and charged him with [multiple](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/07/world/australia/pam-bird-graffiti-melbourne-bridge.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) offenses for his most recent stunt. Meanwhile, nearly 9,000 [petitioners](https://petitions.getup.org.au/petitions/petition-to-preserve-pam-the-bird-on-the-bolte-bridge?ref=hyperallergic.com) have defended his "Pam the Bird" display as a work of "spontaneous urban culture" that ought to be preserved. On July 7, Gibson-Burrell surrendered to police following a tense standoff during which the artist sat perched atop a 140-foot tower on Melbourne's Bolte Bridge. The artist allegedly forced a door to a staircase that led to the top of the landmark tower, where he abseiled to tag an enormous upside-down bird and the text "Fuck You." Gibson-Burrell [currently](https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/jul/07/pam-the-bird-graffiti-melbourne-art-or-vandalism-ntwnfb?ref=hyperallergic.com) faces over 200 charges, the majority of which are related to his prolific graffiti work around Melbourne. The artist has allegedly tagged "Pam the Bird" on other major buildings in the city over the past couple of years, including the clock tower of the Flinders Street railway station. He also faces [separate](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-02-27/pam-the-bird-graffiti-artist-bail/104988564?ref=hyperallergic.com)charges related to allegedly assaulting a retail worker. He was reportedly out on bail at the time of the Bolte Bridge incident and living with his grandmother. On the Australian petition-building website GetUp, signatories called upon Melbourne officials to preserve — rather than remove — Bolte Bridge's "Pam the Bird," citing its wide popularity. Removing the tag from the tower would cost the city tens of thousands of Australian dollars, according to [local news outlets](https://www.nine.com.au/australia-news/vic/stand-off-after-daredevil-spray-paints-pam-the-bird-on-major-melbourne-bridge-20260707-p60d4w.html?ref=hyperallergic.com). The petition states that its advocacy for the embattled avian caricature is not intended to encourage similar illegal stunts in the future. "When \[something like this\] happens, perhaps the best response isn't to immediately paint over it," reads the petition, authored by Eric Giordmaina. "But to acknowledge that public art sometimes appears in unexpected ways." Police responded to the incident at Bolte Bridge after 2am on July 7\. In photographs of the scene, Gibson-Burrell can be seen delivering a black-gloved middle finger to the police waiting for him at the bottom of the concrete structure. Around 11 am, he surrendered with his hands up on a nearby embankment. On a now-deleted Instagram account believed to belong to Gibson-Burrell, entitled "[pambirdofficial](https://www.instagram.com/pambirdofficial/?ref=hyperallergic.com)," a masked man says, "I'm not coming down until they lower the taxes. I'm fucking sick of paying that shit." *Hyperallergic* attempted to contact Gibson-Burrell, Giordmaina, and the city of Melbourne for comment. ### Where Is Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara? URL: https://hyperallergic.com/where-is-luis-manuel-otero-alcantara/ Last updated: 2026-08-12T18:25:38.000Z Cuban artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara’s unjust five-year sentence ended on July 9, but he is not yet free. His whereabouts are unknown. State Security agents removed him from Guanajay Prison on Tuesday, July 7, and whisked him off to an undisclosed location. His relatives say they have not been notified. Human Rights organizations have determined his current status to be a forced disappearance. Cuban activist Anamely Ramos received a phone call from an unidentified number on July 9 and heard Otero Alcántara on a speakerphone, presumably surrounded by security agents, inquiring about the status of his request to enter the United States. When she asked where he was, he told her he could not say. The artist was [arrested](https://hyperallergic.com/cuban-artists-detained-anti-government-protests-continue/) in July 2021 on trumped-up charges after joining historic demonstrations across the island. Cuban authorities are under pressure to release [Otero Alcántara](https://hyperallergic.com/coco-fusco-dialogues-with-political-prisoner-luis-manuel-otero-alcantara/), not only from activists but also from US government officials, who regularly invoke his name as evidence of the regime’s human rights violations. On Monday, July 6, US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Walz held up a photo of the artist as he confronted Cuban officials during a debate about the US embargo against Cuba. The island is experiencing its worst humanitarian crisis in decades, due to the Trump Administration’s current “maximum pressure” campaign against the Cuban government and years of economic mismanagement by the regime. Power outages lasting days are common, public transportation is virtually non-existent, mountains of garbage line the streets, hospitals are collapsing, and food prices have skyrocketed. The Cuban government appears to have no intention of allowing Otero Alcántara to remain on the island, likely fearing that he could easily rally supporters to stage more protests against a beleaguered government on the verge of collapse. Since the July 2021 protests, when Otero Alcántara was arrested, the Cuban government has also increased its persecution of influencers who criticize their government on social media. What remains unclear is where Otero Alcántara could be expelled to. The artist has made his [willingness to accept exile](https://hyperallergic.com/can-you-buy-the-time-of-a-political-prisoner/) in the US public since 2024\. An application for humanitarian parole, which I helped prepare, was submitted to the US Embassy several weeks ago. Scores of [articles](https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-07-08/cuban-political-prisoner-luis-manuel-otero-alcantara-released-from-prison.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) about him have appeared in foreign press in the weeks leading up to the end of his sentence. Nonetheless, there is no answer yet from the United States. In the meantime, it seems that Otero Alcántara is going to remain a hostage of the Cuban government. According to former political prisoner Hamlet Lavastida, the regime is employing the same tactic they used on him. He has told me that Otero Alcántara is probably being held in one of State Security’s “protocol houses,” where they prepare political prisoners for departure and escort them to foreign embassies to pick up their visas prior to putting them on planes. Both Lavastida and Cuban activists point to Otero Alcántara’s extreme vulnerability in his current situation, suggesting that he could be subject to psychological manipulation and threats while he remains in captivity. While incarcerated, Otero Alcántara had the support of fellow prisoners. He could make phone calls to family and friends to inform them of happenings inside the prison. He now awaits his release in limbo, cut off from the rest of the world. His many supporters in the US and Europe continue to stage public protests calling for his release, but Otero Alcántara’s fate, and that of Cuba’s more than 800 political prisoners, remain up in the air for the time being. ### Suspects Shed Light on "Mastermind" Behind Louvre Heist URL: https://hyperallergic.com/suspects-shed-light-on-mastermind-behind-louvre-heist/ Last updated: 2026-07-13T20:06:42.000Z After months of near radio silence, two suspects held in pre-trial detention have revealed more information about their role in facilitating the [Louvre Museum jewelry heist](https://hyperallergic.com/louvre-museum-closed-after-dramatic-daylight-heist/) that shocked the world last October. The French newspaper [*Le Monde*](https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2026/07/12/on-devait-prendre-le-plus-de-bijoux-qu-on-pouvait-les-confessions-des-deux-braqueurs-de-la-galerie-d-apollon-du-louvre%5F6722862%5F3224.html?srsltid=AfmBOooFxkQtBzYUvUb6CV9%5FsaClcwdWCL--UytLUmFzAgzDM2vx-kqf&ref=hyperallergic.com) reviewed transcripts of two interview sessions from June amid the ongoing judicial inquiry, during which one of the two men stated that the “mastermind” who allegedly hired them for the job “thought we could have taken more.” The accounts come from two residents of the Parisian suburb of Aubervilliers: Abdoulaye N, a 40-year-old man locally known for his [online presence as a motorcycle stunt enthusiast](https://www.bfmtv.com/police-justice/rodeos-star-d-aubervilliers-braquage-le-profil-deconcertant-d-aboulaye-n-alias-doudou-cross-bitume-suspecte-d-avoir-participe-au-cambriolage-du-louvre%5FAV-202511041012.html?ref=hyperallergic.com), and Ghelamallah A, a 36-year-old Algerian man reportedly suffering from Diogenes syndrome. Both men were [arrested in late October](https://hyperallergic.com/two-suspects-admit-to-louvre-heist-involvement-prosecutor-says/), about a week after the heist, and “[partially admitted](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/paris-prosecutor-says-2-suspects-partially-admitted-participation-in-louvre-jewel-heist?ref=hyperallergic.com)” to their involvement in the scheme. Per *Le Monde's* review of the interviews, Abdoulaye said he was promised €15,000 to €20,000 (\~$17,000–$22,700) as his base for facilitating the heist, and admitted that he knew it would take place at the Louvre. Ghelamallah, who alleged that he was contracted for about €5,000 more than Abdoulaye's rate, said that the opportunity was presented to him as “a jewelry store where they make jewelry in Paris,” adding that “I would never have set foot there if I had known.” Neither of the men would provide any further information about the person or entity that contracted them to carry out the heist, for fear of retaliation against them or their families. Abdoulaye said that while he hasn't been threatened specifically, he has received phone callswarning him to keep quiet while detained. However, both suspects jointly claim that the “mastermind” of the plan was also a direct participant. “The person who ordered the theft wasn’t happy,” Abdoulaye claimed regarding the haul they made off with — seven pieces of jewelry comprising France's crown jewels, valued at approximately €88 million (\~$100.2 million). “He thought we could have taken more. We had wasted time coming back in through the window.” Based on *Le Monde*'s review, both men were instructed to meet with two unnamed accomplices in Aubervilliers on the morning of October 19, equipped with a cherry picker truck and two motorcycles. Abdoulaye explained that he drove the truck to the museum and lined it up with the balcony exterior of the Apollo Gallery, and that he and Ghelamallah ascended via cherry picker and broke into the museum while the other two men remained on the ground. “When we got in, there was no one there, it was dark, only the display case lights were on,” he continued. “In the distance, I could see security moving around, behind a door, or something. (…) Then, using the angle grinder, I smashed the windows, removed what was inside. (…) I’ve done worse than that; all I had to do was make a trapdoor.” Abdoulaye also admitted that he was the one who dropped Empress Eugénie's crown from his bag during their escape. “What we did wasn’t right, it’s very serious,” he said after investigators showed him a photo of the badly damaged crown. “Luckily I’m not suicidal, otherwise I would have killed myself.” The two men said they escaped the grounds using the motorcycles after pouring gasoline on the cherry picker truck, and another relay vehicle was available to collect the group of four. Abdoulaye, who reportedly carried all the jewelry, alleged that he was brought to a garage in Aubervilliers, where he handed off the loot to his client. Neither he nor Ghelamallah has any inkling of the fate of the jewels, which remain at large. “I have admitted my involvement,” Abdoulaye said at the end of one of the questioning sessions. “I accept the consequences and I regret it. The rest (…) is beyond me.” ### Should We See Peter Hujar’s Contact Sheets? URL: https://hyperallergic.com/should-we-see-peter-hujars-contact-sheets/ Last updated: 2026-07-15T14:51:09.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/The-Cockettes-at-10-East-23rd-Street-1971-1.jpg) Peter Hujar, "The Cockettes at 10 East 23rd Street, 1971, job 519" (© The Peter Hujar Archive / Artists Rights Society (ARS); courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco and Ortuzar, New York; all other photos Julia Curl/**Hyperallergic*) The Morgan Library & Museum might be milking its Peter Hujar collection, but I’m not complaining. [*Hujar:Contact*](https://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/hujar-contact?ref=hyperallergic.com) is the Morgan’s second solo exhibition of the photographer’s work, coming on the heels of its 2013 acquisition of his archive and a sweeping 2018 retrospective, [*Peter Hujar: Speed of Life*](https://hyperallergic.com/peter-hujar-speed-of-life-morgan-library-and-museum/). That exhibition was always going to be a tough act to follow, given the scale of the show, the impact of its reception, and Hujar’s importance as a key portraitist of New York City’s before-they-were-famous queer art scene. Nevertheless, it’s an unusual choice to mount an exhibition entirely dedicated to a photographer’s contact sheets, which by nature are not made for public consumption. For those of us more fluent in digital culture, contact sheets are darkroom work prints that allow photographers to see all the images on a roll of film and select which ones are worthy of printing, given the time and expense that full-size printing requires — essentially, it’s the equivalent of showing us screenshots of Hujar’s camera roll. As eager as I am for a nerdy deep dive into his process, which the exhibition undoubtedly is, I’m left wrestling with the vague unease that it might also be an opportunistic mining of the photographer’s archive for all its worth. But I’ll check my paranoia at the door, because either way, the show’s outcome is good. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### The Album Art Music Left Behind URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-album-art-music-left-behind/ Last updated: 2026-07-15T14:51:33.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Art-of-Noise-Installation_02_Thomas-Barratt-1.jpg) Installation view of **Art of Noise* (photo Thomas Barratt, courtesy Cooper Hewitt) It is a cold afternoon in New York when collector and photography critic Vince Aletti says, “I miss all that material. Not that I could house it anymore.” The material in question: album covers, flyers, zines, and posters from the 1970s disco scene he chronicled so meticulously, once held in hands and housed in homes. They float ephemerally on the corner of a screen behind Aletti, who is participating in a panel moderated by Matthew Higgs and hosted at the Cooper Hewitt Museum of Design, where three levels above us is the *Art of Noise* exhibition. An attendee asks the speakers if any album covers have influenced how the corresponding music sounds to their ears. Higgs cites the oft-quoted anecdote that Peter Saville did not listen to Joy Division’s *Unknown Pleasures* (1979) before designing the [iconic cover](https://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/sa-visual/pop-culture-pulsar-origin-story-of-joy-division-s-unknown-pleasures-album-cover-video/?ref=hyperallergic.com). It’s now hard to imagine the music without the artwork, yet they were never truly connected in the first place. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### A People’s History of Mount Rushmore URL: https://hyperallergic.com/a-peoples-history-of-mount-rushmore/ Last updated: 2026-07-13T16:47:07.000Z The phrase “America 250” sends a chill down my spine. But when it comes to confronting the mythology of the United States and narrating its history anew, artists are rising to the challenge, as they always have. With half a year of semiquincentennial fanfare still to come, our editors and critics are turning to books that offer crucial counter-narratives to the nationalism the Trump administration is pushing in arts and culture. Some highlights: the drag queens who descend on New York’s Fire Island every Fourth of July, a Native history of Six Grandfathers (the site also known as Mount Rushmore), and a catalog for the *MONUMENTS* exhibition that made waves in Los Angeles last fall. Read our full list below, and let me know what books are reshaping your understanding of US art history. More today, including the political implications of stock photography and a look at John Constable’s life and art through the seasons. *—Lakshmi Rivera Amin, associate editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/250-art-books-newsletter.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/8-art-books-to-reframe-americas-250th/) [ 8 Art Books to Reframe America’s 250th ](https://hyperallergic.com/8-art-books-to-reframe-americas-250th/) The Fourth of July fireworks and barbecues are behind us, but America 250 — and all its attendant propaganda — is still in full swing. Thankfully, artists, critics, curators, and museum professionals across the nation provide a deep well of books to make sense of this apocalyptic anniversary, using it as an opportunity to uncover ugly truths about United States history that the Trump administration and political right is doing its best to scrub from the record. Artist Keisha Scarville’s series of images meditating on her father’s passport explores the dimensions of the fraught document, while a photographer chronicles the annual tradition in which drag queens flood Fire Island on the Fourth of July to make their presence known and felt. Matthew Davis retells the story of Mount Rushmore through the desecration of the Black Hills, and contributors to the catalog for the blockbuster MONUMENTS exhibition in Los Angeles consider the layered histories of sculptures and statues across the country. In other words, art reveals new ways of seeing — and we can always use more of them. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/8-art-books-to-reframe-americas-250th/) --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/constable-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/john-constables-four-seasons/) [ John Constable’s Four Seasons ](https://hyperallergic.com/john-constables-four-seasons/) Art historian Susan Owens’s exquisitely illustrated new book narrates the painter’s story through his relationship to weather, place, and time. | Lauren Moya Ford [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/john-constables-four-seasons/) [ The Story of Printmaking Is the Story of Democracy ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-story-of-printmaking-is-the-story-of-democracy/) Holly EJ Black deftly weaves a narrative that integrates varied geographical and cultural perspectives, centering figures who may not have been artists themselves. | Bridget Quinn [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-story-of-printmaking-is-the-story-of-democracy/) [ The Hidden History of Stock Photography ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-hidden-history-of-stock-photography/) In her first book, scholar Simona Supekar mines the history of stock imagery as a vessel for racism and sexism and considers its role in the age of AI. | Eileen G’Sell [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-hidden-history-of-stock-photography/) --- ## Features [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/met-book-2.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-met-museums-staff-have-some-thoughts-about-the-art/) [ The Met Museum’s Staff Have Some Thoughts About the Art ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-met-museums-staff-have-some-thoughts-about-the-art/) A new book gathers essays by the museum’s curators, researchers, librarians, and conservators on everything from Renaissance portraiture to the work of Wendy Red Star. | Anna Lee [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-met-museums-staff-have-some-thoughts-about-the-art/) --- ## ICYMI [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/dog-book.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/every-dog-has-its-artist/) [ Every Dog Has Its Artist ](https://hyperallergic.com/every-dog-has-its-artist/) A compassionate new book explores how canine companions across Western art history break down the emotional boundaries between species. | Alisyn Amant [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/every-dog-has-its-artist/) --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/mt-rushmore.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/chipping-away-at-the-facade-of-mount-rushmore/) [ Chipping Away at the Facade of Mount Rushmore ](https://hyperallergic.com/chipping-away-at-the-facade-of-mount-rushmore/) In “Biography of a Mountain,” author Matthew Davis deftly weaves together interviews and stories that reveal so much more than a linear narrative of the monument’s history. | Irvin Weathersby Jr. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/chipping-away-at-the-facade-of-mount-rushmore/) ### Indie Film From the Global Majority: BlackStar Celebrates 15 Years of Cinema for Liberation URL: https://hyperallergic.com/indie-film-from-the-global-majority-blackstar-celebrates-15-years-of-cinema-for-liberation/ Last updated: 2026-07-13T14:15:20.000Z BlackStar Projects has announced the full schedule of events for the 2026 [BlackStar Film Festival](https://bit.ly/45Tn644?ref=hyperallergic.com), taking place August 6–9 in Philadelphia and streaming online around the world. Featuring 91 films from over 40 countries worldwide, the lineup includes the North American premiere of Haile Gerima’s *Black Lions—Roman Wolves* (2026) on closing night and the world premiere of *West Side Familia* (2026), from Taylor Hosking, on opening night. The festival is an annual celebration of independent cinema from the global majority and a one-of-a-kind gathering centered on connection, discussion, and learning. Notable guests and speakers at this year’s festival include Sky Hopinka, Michèle Stephenson, Cybil St. Aude-Tate, Felicia Pride, and Alile Sharon Larkin — who will be [in conversation](https://blackstarprojects.org/festival/2026/events/spotlight-conversation-a-different-image?ref=hyperallergic.com) with Melissa Lyde on August 9, after a retrospective screening of the new 4K restoration of Larkin’s highly acclaimed 1982 film, *A Different Image*. ### Festival Highlights --- ### [***West Side Familia***](https://blackstarprojects.org/festival/2026/events/west-side-familia?ref=hyperallergic.com) — Dir. Taylor Hosking **Opening Night Film** *West Side Familia* follows a legendary Puerto Rican biker crew and community elders on Manhattan’s Upper West Side as they fight to preserve their neighborhood’s culture, history and traditions in the face of gentrification and erasure. | World Premiere --- ### [***Call of My Life***](https://blackstarprojects.org/festival/2026/films/call-of-my-life?ref=hyperallergic.com) — Dir. Dammy Twitch ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/BSFF26_Call-of-My-Life-1.png) Photo courtesy **Call of My Life*, 2025 Soluchi, 31, is a radiant and thoughtful call center agent, still carrying the scars of a long relationship with Kalu, a man whose neglect left her questioning her worth. When loneliness threatens to swallow her, a routine customer call connects her to Eli, a magnetic man whose kindness and attention awaken feelings she has long buried. | U.S. Premiere (Festival) --- ### [***An Incomplete Calendar***](https://blackstarprojects.org/festival/2026/films/an-incomplete-calendar?ref=hyperallergic.com) — Dir. Sanaz Sohrabi Forgotten songs and archives tell a different story of the developing world’s political calendar of liberation movements and the fight for oil sovereignty. | North America Premiere --- ### [***The Store***](https://blackstarprojects.org/festival/2026/films/the-store?ref=hyperallergic.com) — Dir. Fahamu Pecou ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/BSFF26_The-Store-1.png) Photo courtesy **The Store*, 2026 In a forgotten corner of the city, there exists a bodega like no other — a gateway to ancestral wisdom and untold possibilities. When patrons step inside looking for something ordinary, a veil between worlds reveals an alternate reality where Black people thrive. | World Premiere --- ### [***Treasure Island (L'île aux trésors)***](https://blackstarprojects.org/festival/2026/films/treasure-island-lile-aux-tresors?ref=hyperallergic.com) — Dir. Miryam Charles ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/BSFF26_Treasure-Island-1.png) Photo courtesy **Treasure Island*, 2026 Summer 1993\. Marthe, 12, convinces her brother to run away from home and from the Haitian heritage they both reject. Joined by their cousins in a park, they debate what their future might hold. But as the hours pass, the children begin to realize that what they’re trying to escape is also what binds them together most deeply. Charles will also participate in a [panel discussion](https://blackstarprojects.org/festival/2026/events/on-ayiti?ref=hyperallergic.com) on August 7. | World Premiere --- ### [***Black Lions–Roman Wolves***](https://blackstarprojects.org/festival/2026/films/black-lions-roman-wolves?ref=hyperallergic.com) — Dir. Haile Gerima ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/BSFF26_Black-Lions-1.png) Photo courtesy **Black Lions — Roman Wolves*, 2026 **Closing Night Film** Haile Gerima’s *Black Lions — Roman Wolves* is a five-part epic on Ethiopian resistance to Italy’s 1935 invasion, revealing a war fought with arms, memory and culture and honoring a nation that refused to kneel. | North America Premiere --- To learn more, visit [blackstarprojects.org/festival](https://bit.ly/45Tn644?ref=hyperallergic.com). ### A Convicted Antiquities Dealer’s Web URL: https://hyperallergic.com/a-convicted-antiquities-dealers-web/ Last updated: 2026-07-13T10:00:19.000Z In February, the Metropolitan Museum of Art quietly returned a Roman bust to Turkey. It was originally purchased from Phoenix Ancient Art gallery in Geneva, whose founder, Ali Aboutaam, was convicted by a Swiss court of illegally importing antiquities. Why do dozens of other museums still hold the objects they bought from the gallery? Art crime scholar Erin L. Thompson investigates. Also today, artists demand justice for the family of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Houston resident misidentified and murdered by ICE during a traffic stop. Staff Writer Rhea Nayyar writes about the most moving tributes and artworks. *—Lakshmi Rivera Amin, associate editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/roman-sculptures.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/why-do-so-many-museums-hold-a-convicted-antiquity-dealers-treasures/) [ Why Do So Many Museums Hold a Convicted Antiquity Dealer’s Treasures? ](https://hyperallergic.com/why-do-so-many-museums-hold-a-convicted-antiquity-dealers-treasures/) When I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art a few weeks ago in search of a marble portrait bust of an imperious-looking Roman man, both the sculpture and its pedestal had vanished. Only the label dating the piece to the 2nd century CE remained, marooned on the gallery wall. The sculpture had been purchased from Phoenix Ancient Art, a gallery purporting to follow “the antiquities trade’s most vigorous and stringent procedures of due diligence.” The gallery touted the effort it put into finding evidence that its artifacts had left their countries of origin long before the enactment of export bans. Equipped with these good provenances, or ownership histories, Phoenix boasted that its antiquities could be “collected in full compliance with all legal and ethical rules.” | Erin L. Thompson [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/why-do-so-many-museums-hold-a-convicted-antiquity-dealers-treasures/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/bennett-ad.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-bennett-prize-opens-fifth-call-for-entries/) ****The Bennett Prize Opens Fifth Call for Entries** Women figurative realist painters can enter to win $75,000 and a traveling solo exhibition. Applications are open through September 19. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-bennett-prize-opens-fifth-call-for-entries/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/lorenzo.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/artists-memorialize-lorenzo-salgado-araujo-houston-man-killed-by-ice/) - [Artists are memorializing](https://hyperallergic.com/artists-memorialize-lorenzo-salgado-araujo-houston-man-killed-by-ice/) Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old man who was fatally shot by ICE on July 7, through portraits, illustrations, cartoons, and signs. - Manhattan's High Line Art [is seeking public feedback](https://hyperallergic.com/which-artworks-will-grace-the-high-lines-plinth-next/) on 62 proposals for the public artwork commissions that will grace the park’s plinth in 2029 and 2030. - The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene [discovered Legionella](https://hyperallergic.com/legionella-bacteria-found-in-cooling-tower-at-nyc-guggenheim/), the bacterium that causes Legionnaires’ disease, in the Guggenheim Museum’s cooling tower this week. --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/printmaking.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-story-of-printmaking-is-the-story-of-democracy/) [ The Story of Printmaking Is the Story of Democracy ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-story-of-printmaking-is-the-story-of-democracy/) Holly EJ Black deftly weaves a narrative that integrates varied geographical and cultural perspectives, centering figures who may not have been artists themselves. | Bridget Quinn [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-story-of-printmaking-is-the-story-of-democracy/) [ The Unruly Ceramic Beings of Kathy Butterly ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-unruly-ceramic-beings-of-kathy-butterly/) The artist’s quasi-vessels incorporate folds, indentations, apertures, and coverts, which hint at bodily, biomorphic, and natural forms. | Gregory Volk [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-unruly-ceramic-beings-of-kathy-butterly/) --- ## Community [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/view-from-the-easel-7.10.26.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-345/) [ A View From the Easel: Adam de Boer ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-345/) “My batik process is done in stages: from drawing, to waxing, to color staining, to boiling, and finally to oil painting.” [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-345/) --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/peter-paul-rubins.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/art-thief-stephane-breitwieser-tale-of-love-and-seduction-michael-finkel/) [ An Art Thief’s Tale of Love and Seduction ](https://hyperallergic.com/art-thief-stephane-breitwieser-tale-of-love-and-seduction-michael-finkel/) Stéphane Breitwieser stole several billion dollars worth of art from more than 150 museums before he was caught in 2001\. | Erin L. Thompson [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/art-thief-stephane-breitwieser-tale-of-love-and-seduction-michael-finkel/) featured opportunity ****Hyundai Motor Group – The 7th VH Award** A global award for emerging media artists engaging with the context of Asia, featuring grants, a residency with Ars Electronica, and global exhibitions. Read more on [**Hyperallergic*](https://hyperallergic.com/7th-vh-award-for-media-artists-engaged-with-the-context-of-asia/). Deadline: July 21, 2026 | [vhaward.com](https://bit.ly/4wTaAMN?ref=hyperallergic.com) See more in [this month’s list of opportunities](https://hyperallergic.com/opportunities-in-july-2026/) for artists, writers, and art workers! ### Magritte, Constable, Trump's Smithsonian Wrath URL: https://hyperallergic.com/magritte-constable-trumps-smithsonian-wrath/ Last updated: 2026-07-11T10:00:23.000Z If you're wondering what we did this week at *Hyperallergic*, here's an abridged run-down. Critic Michael Glover reviewed a show on Elizabeth I that spoke truth to royal power; Staff Writer Rhea Nayyar decoded the Surrealist references of a World Cup soccer jersey; and Staff Writer Isa Farfan reported on Trump's unhinged new memo against the Smithsonian, calling it what it is: "draconian.” Sofia Thiệu D’Amico profiled painter Akira Ikezoe, whose work seems to be everywhere these days; Nayyar interviewed Justin Gignac, the artist who successfully sold the trash outside Taylor Swift’s wedding. Also this week, one of our beloved contributors, Noah Fischer, received a coveted award from the [Society of Professional Journalists](https://www.spj.org/sdx25/?ref=hyperallergic.com) for [his comic about housing and displacement](https://hyperallergic.com/a-prospect-heights-ghost-story/), co-published with the Economic Hardship Reporting Project. If this mix of the serious and the curious speaks to you, if you also feel seen by our commitment to a brighter, lighter, more ethical art world, I want to gently nudge you in the direction of a Hyperallergic Membership. Just $5.33/month, with our [summer promo](https://hyperallergic.com/p/8b65609b-a1a4-4304-be01-02b54e30fb52/?member%5Fstatus=free), will help sustain the work we do at a time when journalism is under attack and independent art media platforms are increasingly rare. *—Valentina Di Liscia, senior editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/elizabeth-1-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-ruthless-portraits-of-elizabeth-is-reign/) [ The Ruthless Portraits of Elizabeth I’s Reign ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-ruthless-portraits-of-elizabeth-is-reign/) The primary concern of *Elizabeth I: Queen & Court* is the careful crafting of a royal’s image, and how influential the dissemination of that image can be. It takes us from representation on the warts-and-all end of the spectrum to a kind of self-presentation which speaks of elevation, authority, power, wealth, and the right to be regarded as a god in all but name. This was Elizabeth’s journey, and it begins with a sighting of her, newly elevated to the throne, in “The Clopton Portrait” (circa 1558) by an unrecorded artist. | Michael Glover [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-ruthless-portraits-of-elizabeth-is-reign/) ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Cover-Image-FIFA-Margrite.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/belgiums-magritte-inspired-soccer-jersey-mirrors-a-surreal-world-cup/) - The pink-and-blue away jerseys of the Belgian men’s national soccer team [feature one of Magritte’s lesser-known motifs](https://hyperallergic.com/belgiums-magritte-inspired-soccer-jersey-mirrors-a-surreal-world-cup/), along with the phrase “This is not a jersey” in an homage to the artist. - More than a year after President Trump ordered his administration to investigate so-called “race-centered ideology” at the Smithsonian Institution, [the White House has published a new report](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-accuses-smithsonian-of-anti-white-activism-in-draconian-new-report/) accusing museum leadership of promoting “extreme political activism.” - [A jewel heist took place](https://hyperallergic.com/thieves-steal-over-4-5m-in-jewelry-from-french-museum/) early on July 5 at a museum in France. The band of thieves smashed several display cases on the gallery floors and made off with 27 pieces of fine jewelry worth approximately €4 million (**\~**$4.5 million). - Officials in Austin [destroyed a prominent street artwork](https://hyperallergic.com/texas-covers-up-beloved-black-artists-matter-mural-in-austin/) displaying the message “Black Artists Matter” last week following an order from Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott. - Messages condemning Israel’s violence in Gaza [appeared over the advertising screens](https://hyperallergic.com/whitney-museum-screens-taken-over-with-gaza-protest-messages/) outside the Whitney Museum of American Art last week in an action by New York City-based artist Jonathan Allen. - Cultural workers affiliated with the Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA) [plan to protest](https://hyperallergic.com/venice-arts-workers-to-protest-during-us-ambassadors-visit/) during United States Ambassador to Italy Tilman Fertitta’s scheduled visit to Venice on Friday, July 17\. - Following Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding at Madison Square Garden last week, artist Justin Gignac [collected street trash](https://hyperallergic.com/artist-sells-25-trash-souvenirs-found-outside-taylor-swifts-wedding/) found outside the venue and is selling them in pocket-sized vitrine boxes as souvenirs. - Eight years after Aljira abruptly closed, the Newark Museum of Art will present [a group exhibition](https://hyperallergic.com/p/9b42657d-84ab-4850-a6bd-8457312e0e69/)tracing the artist-led space’s 35-year history of showcasing works by underrepresented artists and nurturing the careers of major, globally recognized figures. - [Art Movements](https://hyperallergic.com/warhol-foundation-awards-5-1m-to-78-arts-organizations/): The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts awards $5.1 million to 78 arts organizations, Raphael breaks records at The Met, the Honolulu Museum of Art gets a new director, and more. - After a 10-month search, the New Museum in Manhattan announced today that its artistic director of 12 years, Massimiliano Gioni, [has been appointed as its next director](https://hyperallergic.com/massimiliano-gioni-named-director-of-new-museum/). - A Chicago-based photographer is [suing artist Mickalene Thomas](https://hyperallergic.com/chicago-photographer-accuses-mickalene-thomas-of-copyright-infringement/) for alleged copyright infringement, claiming that Thomas “appropriated more than a dozen” of her images without her consent or proper attribution. --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/4.-John-Wilde---1-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/gertrude-abercrombies-band-of-midwest-magic-realists/) [ Gertrude Abercrombie’s Band of Midwest Magic Realists ](https://hyperallergic.com/gertrude-abercrombies-band-of-midwest-magic-realists/) A pair of exhibitions at the Milwaukee Art Museum underscores the support, comradeship, and spirit of rebellion shared by the Surrealist and her friends. | Debra Brehmer [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/gertrude-abercrombies-band-of-midwest-magic-realists/) [ Charles Seliger Painted Nature’s Invisible Architecture ](https://hyperallergic.com/charles-seliger-painted-natures-invisible-architecture/) One of the youngest Abstract Expressionists, the artist charted an independent path guided by the beauty and intricacy of cellular structures. | John Yau [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/charles-seliger-painted-natures-invisible-architecture/) [ John Constable’s Four Seasons ](https://hyperallergic.com/john-constables-four-seasons/) Art historian Susan Owens’s exquisitely illustrated new book narrates the painter’s story through his relationship to weather, place, and time. | Lauren Moya Ford [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/john-constables-four-seasons/) --- ## Features [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/akira-newsletter-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/akira-ikezoes-frogs-and-bears-have-something-urgent-to-tell-us/) [ Akira Ikezoe’s Frogs and Bears Have Something Urgent to Tell Us ](https://hyperallergic.com/akira-ikezoes-frogs-and-bears-have-something-urgent-to-tell-us/) The cartoonish earnestness of both artist and artwork belies a sharp attentiveness to the catastrophes unfolding around us. | Sofia Thiệu D’Amico [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/akira-ikezoes-frogs-and-bears-have-something-urgent-to-tell-us/) [ The Artist Sculpting World Cup History Out of Gum Wrappers ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-artist-sculpting-world-cup-history-out-of-gum-wrappers/) Lyndon Barrois’s “sportraits” depict political protest, the fight for equal rights, and soccer’s most iconic moments, some of which FIFA would rather forget. | Sigourney Schultz [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-artist-sculpting-world-cup-history-out-of-gum-wrappers/) [ The Met Museum’s Staff Have Some Thoughts About the Art ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-met-museums-staff-have-some-thoughts-about-the-art/) A new book gathers essays by the museum’s curators, researchers, librarians, and conservators on everything from Renaissance portraiture to the work of Wendy Red Star. | Anna Lee [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-met-museums-staff-have-some-thoughts-about-the-art/) [ The Tattoo Artist Inking Arabic Script on Skin ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-tattoo-artist-inking-arabic-script-on-skin/) New York-based artist Noore Yazigi’s designs reference everything from the Quran to the poetry of the late Palestinian writer Refaat Alareer. | Randa Jumean [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-tattoo-artist-inking-arabic-script-on-skin/) --- ## Queer Elders [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/carmelita-tropicana-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/carmelita-tropicana-was-born-out-of-the-closet/) [ Carmelita Tropicana Was Born Out of the Closet ](https://hyperallergic.com/carmelita-tropicana-was-born-out-of-the-closet/) Hyperallergic spoke with artist Alina Troyano about lesbian performance in 1980s Lower East Side, satirizing stereotypes, and embodying her iconic alter ego. | Natalie Haddad [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/carmelita-tropicana-was-born-out-of-the-closet/) --- ## Guides [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/250-art-books-newsletter-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/8-art-books-to-reframe-americas-250th/) [ 8 Art Books to Reframe America’s 250th ](https://hyperallergic.com/8-art-books-to-reframe-americas-250th/) The real story of the Declaration of Independence, the rise and fall of monuments, contemporary Indigenous artists, drag queens on Fire Island, and other titles for the year’s reading list. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/8-art-books-to-reframe-americas-250th/) --- ## Community [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/tehran-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/required-reading-792/) - [Required Reading](https://hyperallergic.com/required-reading-792/): Iranian artists remember the victims of the Minab airstrike, a trip through Alabama’s Barn Quilt Trail, Kansas City’s bygone lesbian haven, Erling Haaland memes, and more. - [A View From the Easel](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-344/): Arghavan Khosravi pulls from Persian miniature traditions to create surreal assemblages of paint, canvas, and wood. - [In Memoriam](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-yervant-gianikian-valerie-brathwaite-and-jerry-moriarty/): Remembering Yervant Gianikian, giant of 20th-century cinema; Valerie Brathwaite, sculptor of the natural world; Jerry Moriarty, self-described “paintoonist," and more. ### Legionella Bacteria Found in Cooling Tower at NYC Guggenheim URL: https://hyperallergic.com/legionella-bacteria-found-in-cooling-tower-at-nyc-guggenheim/ Last updated: 2026-07-10T21:25:05.000Z The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene discovered Legionella, the bacterium that causes Legionnaires’ disease, in the Guggenheim Museum’s cooling tower this week during a series of preliminary tests attempting to identify the origin of a recent cluster of illnesses. A museum spokesperson confirmed the positive result to *Hyperallergic* and said there was no present danger to museum staff or the public inside the museum after it took “remediation” actions requested by the city. [Legionnaires’ disease](https://www.cdc.gov/legionella/about/index.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) is a form of pneumonia that can be contracted by inhaling mist containing the bacteria. It is [not](https://www.nyc.gov/site/doh/business/permits-and-licenses/cooling-towers.page?ref=hyperallergic.com) transmitted between people. The Guggenheim is located in one of three Upper East Side zip codes (10028, 10128, and 10075) where 46 individuals have contracted Legionnaires’ disease, as of July 9\. The Mayor’s Office ordered initial PCR screening tests for more than [180 cooling towers](https://abc7ny.com/post/officials-release-list-buildings-linked-legionnaires-outbreak-upper-east-side/19479586/?ref=hyperallergic.com) in an attempt to identify the source of the “[community cluster](https://www.nyc.gov/site/doh/health/health-topics/legionnaires-disease.page?ref=hyperallergic.com),” which it defines as “three or more cases linked by location and time.” The Guggenheim spokesperson told *Hyperallergic* that the museum conducts regular tests of its cooling towers, per city [regulations](https://www.nyc.gov/site/doh/business/permits-and-licenses/cooling-towers.page?ref=hyperallergic.com). “We understand that the Guggenheim is one of over 150 cooling towers that have been tested in the identified zip codes, and full results of this inquiry are not yet known,” the spokesperson said. “The Department of Health requested that we take remediation steps, which were done immediately. We have been advised that there is no additional action needed at this time, and this poses no risk to anyone inside the building.” Alister Martin, commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, announced in a press conference today that there are 31 cooling towers in the cluster area — which includes parts of Museum Mile — that tested positive for Legionella. Nineteen of those buildings have already taken remedial efforts. The city ordered buildings with cooling towers that tested positive for the bacteria to take immediate action, including by “draining, cleaning and disinfecting the towers.” The PCR tests used by the city do not distinguish between live bacteria, which could infect people, and dead bacteria, which do not cause infection, Martin said. There is no risk to people inside any of the buildings identified by the city, according to the commissioner, because the disease spreads through water droplets and cooling towers are exterior features. Cooling towers, typically located on the rooftops of buildings, are a mechanism of air conditioning and refrigeration systems. The towers contain warm water, where Legionella can thrive and [spread to humans through mist](https://www.nyc.gov/site/doh/business/permits-and-licenses/cooling-towers.page?ref=hyperallergic.com). In a press conference on Friday, city health officials said that anyone who was in the cluster areas beginning July 2 — and through the present — could have been exposed to the bacteria, and urged anyone experiencing [symptoms](https://www.nyc.gov/site/doh/health/health-topics/legionnaires-disease.page?ref=hyperallergic.com) to seek medical care. The Guggenheim spokesperson did not confirm the date that the city identified Legionella in the museum’s cooling tower. However, according to the [*Art Newspaper*](https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2026/07/09/bacteria-that-causes-legionnaires-disease-found-in-guggenheim-museum-cooling-tower?ref=hyperallergic.com)*,* staff were notified of the discovery in an internal email sent on July 8. The city is expected to imminently release a list of the addresses of buildings that initially tested positive for Legionella. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which is also located in the cluster zone, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. ### Artists Memorialize Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, Houston Man Killed by ICE URL: https://hyperallergic.com/artists-memorialize-lorenzo-salgado-araujo-houston-man-killed-by-ice/ Last updated: 2026-07-10T20:49:22.000Z Thousands have mobilized in the Houston area and online this week to protest the killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old man who was fatally shot by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday morning, July 7\. It was later revealed that ICE had mistaken the victim — an undocumented Mexican immigrant and father of three who had resided in the United States for 35 years without a criminal record — for another “target.” With the number of [ICE-induced fatalities soaring to the double digits](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/08/us/immigration-agent-shootings-vehicles.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) this year, the tragic killing of Salgado Araujo has devastated activists, artists, and civilians who see his qualities and vulnerabilities represented in their own circle of loved ones and community members. ICE's violent crackdown on undocumented residents in largely immigrant communities has sown terror, paranoia, and heartbreak across the US. Earlier this year, Mexican-American artist Criselda Vasquez, who reported that her own father had been [arrested and detained by ICE during a traffic stop](https://hyperallergic.com/chicana-painter-criselda-vasquez-says-ice-detained-her-father/) on his way home from work in March, described the experience as her “family's worst fear.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-10-at-2.15.25---PM.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-10-at-2.15.38---PM.jpg) Susana Canales Barron's tribute to Lorenzo Salgado Araujo centering his son Ronaldo's statements (screenshots via [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/DahXkiUlNCg/?ref=hyperallergic.com)) The Harris County Medical Examiner has ruled Salgado Araujo's cause of death [homicide](https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2026/07/09/harris-county-medical-examiner-rules-death-of-lorenzo-salgado-araujo-a-homicide/?ref=hyperallergic.com) by a bullet wound inthe torso. [Surveillance videos](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU4MBywYSUk&ref=hyperallergic.com) and bystander footage indicate that two unmarked SUVs surrounded the victim's white van to initiate a traffic stop, but the [Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said](https://abcnews.com/US/ice-officers-wearing-body-cameras-deadly-houston-ice/story?id=134628571&ref=hyperallergic.com) that the officers involved in the fatal shooting “had not been issued body-worn cameras.” The [DHS also stated](https://x.com/DHSgov/status/2074626271716216846?s=20&ref=hyperallergic.com) that Salgado Araujo “attempted to evade arrest,” and alleged that he “rammed an ICE law enforcement vehicle, refused to follow multiple verbal commands, and weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer,” who fired his weapon in “self-defense.” Salgado Araujo, who worked in construction, had picked up three men, including his brother Victor, in his van to bring to the worksite that morning. Victor and the other two men were detained at the site of the shooting and [remain in ICE custody](https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2026/07/10/migrants-who-saw-man-killed-by-ice-houston-say-he-did-not-ram-officers/?ref=hyperallergic.com). As they face deportation proceedings, the three men disputed ICE's claims that Salgado Araujo rammed his vehicle into the SUVs in statements to their attorney. The victim's eldest son, Ronaldo Salgado, said in an separate interview with the [*Texas Tribune*](https://www.texastribune.org/2026/07/08/texas-houston-ice-shooting-family-response/?ref=hyperallergic.com) that his father was very cautious about protecting his tools because they had been stolen in the past and were "how he made his livelihood." “Had my father seen an emblem of ICE, or an emblem that says anything about law enforcement agency, my father would have complied,” he told the local news outlet. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/PortraitOfLorenzoByadrianaLaartista.jpg) Based in California, Chicana artist and illustrator Adriana Arriaga ([@adrianalaartista](https://www.instagram.com/p/Dak-KXuQXMG/?hl=en&ref=hyperallergic.com)) shared a tribute portrait memorializing Lorenzo Salgado Araujo on Instagram. (image courtesy the artist) Mexican-American multimedia journalist and artist Susana Canales Barron illustrated a tribute to Salgado Araujo centering his life's work and his eldest son Ronaldo's statement in a [press conference](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzekKKyaGvA&ref=hyperallergic.com) this week. Ronaldo described his father as a “family man” who spent decades working hard to give his wife and children the American Dream, and added that his father was close to obtaining his legal status in the country. “We see our fathers in Lorenzo,” wrote California-based Chicanaartist and illustrator Adriana Arriaga — who goes by Adriana la artista on social media — in an Instagram caption for a [memorial portrait she created](https://www.instagram.com/p/Dak-KXuQXMG/?hl=en&ref=hyperallergic.com) in tribute to Salgado Araujo. The post continued:“Please, don’t stop fighting against the injustice our immigrant community is experiencing. The news has showed us that it’s life and death at this point. Our hearts ache but we need to keep fighting.” Salgado Araujo's family has shared a photo of him beaming with a birthday cake on his 52nd birthday, which has since become the reference for several other tribute portraits. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Lorenzo_Salgado_Araujo-Huston.jpg) Italian cartoonist Gianluca Constantini, who goes by [Channel Draw](https://www.channeldraw.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com) online, has made this illustration of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo available to download for free through his [website](https://www.channeldraw.org/2026/07/08/lorenzo-salgado-araujo-killed-during-ice-operation-in-houston-family-demands-truth-and-justice/?ref=hyperallergic.com). (image courtesy the artist) Political cartoonist and activist Gianluca Constantini made his vibrant tribute illustration of Salgado Araujo [available to download](https://www.channeldraw.org/2026/07/08/lorenzo-salgado-araujo-killed-during-ice-operation-in-houston-family-demands-truth-and-justice/?ref=hyperallergic.com) on his website for free, encouraging anyone and everyone to share his face and story wherever they can online and in person. “For his family, Lorenzo was not an immigration case file or a statistic,” Constantini wrote in an accompanying caption. “He was a father, a worker, and a person who had spent most of his life building a future in the United States. They are now demanding answers and ensuring that his death will not be forgotten.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/IMG_7743.jpeg) Popular political cartoonist Jesse Duquette's illustration of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo (image courtesy the artist) As Salgado Araujo's family has called for an [independent investigation](https://apnews.com/article/ice-houston-shooting-lorenzo-salgado-araujo-2d01ba69caf2445f05005096891ba5b2?ref=hyperallergic.com), Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced her intent to [file criminal complaints against the US](https://thehill.com/policy/international/5961787-lorenzo-salgado-araujo-ice-shooting-houston-mexico/?ref=hyperallergic.com) regarding the deaths of Mexican citizens at the hands of the DHS. The agency's allegations of the victim weaponizing his van and the officer acting in self-defense echo those lobbed at late Minneapolis resident [Renee Nicole Macklin Good](https://hyperallergic.com/artists-react-to-the-ice-killing-of-renee-nicole-good/), a US citizen who was shot and killed in her car by an ICE agent in January amid the Trump-ordered immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities area. Similarly, former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said that [ICU nurse Alex Pretti](https://hyperallergic.com/artists-memorialize-alex-pretti-minneapolis-man-killed-by-border-patrol/), who was fatally shot by US Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis less than three weeks after the killing of Macklin Good, had [“attacked” law enforcement](https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2026/01/26/how-trump-officials-noem-miller-patel-portrayed-pretti-as-violent-despite-conflicting-evidence/?ref=hyperallergic.com) during a confrontation on the street. ### The Story of Printmaking Is the Story of Democracy URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-story-of-printmaking-is-the-story-of-democracy/ Last updated: 2026-07-11T15:02:42.000Z In an age of visual overload, it’s easy to forget that endlessly available pictures of people, places, and things were once exceptionally rare. So scarce, in fact, that artistic representations were mostly reserved for religious ritual and sacred spaces, for specialized education, or for the very wealthy. Printmaking was arguably the first, and most lasting, innovation counter to such exclusivity. Holly EJ Black’s *The Story of Printmaking: A Global History of Art* (2026) traces a medium that has too often been under-appreciated. It’s been relegated as secondary to painting or sculpture, for example, even as prints have been essential to the dissemination of religious belief, intellectual history, and artistic understanding, and functioned as engines of propaganda and protest. As prints were the first mass-duplicated and widely distributed art objects, the history of printmaking is fundamentally a history of the democratization of art. And we could all use a little more democracy right now. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### The Unruly Ceramic Beings of Kathy Butterly URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-unruly-ceramic-beings-of-kathy-butterly/ Last updated: 2026-07-11T15:05:04.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/InstallationShot-2.jpg) Installation view of **Kathy Butterly: Assume Yes* (all photos Gregory Volk/**Hyperallergic*) SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — Kathy Butterly’s marvelous retrospective [*Kathy Butterly: Assume Yes*](https://tang.skidmore.edu/exhibitions/715-kathy-butterly-assume-yes?ref=hyperallergic.com) spans 32 years of small-scale ceramic sculptures — and “small-scale” puts it mildly. The first work in the exhibition, “Eddy’s Skirt” (1994), around eight inches tall and three inches wide and deep, is a mesmerizing treasure. It has also rarely been seen by the public since its gallery debut decades ago. “Eddy’s Skirt” is a mostly beige jar- or urn-like object with pink and white stripes curving down its surface, suggestive of a skirt — one of many evocations of female apparel and adornment in her work — set atop an hourglass base. It is a decidedly idiosyncratic version of a utilitarian ceramic vessel, but also hints at the curves and contours of the human, particularly female, body, with suggestions of a midriff, neck, and head, one example of the merging of humans and non-human in Butterly’s work. Nesting in interlacing beige strands at the top — a bit like wickerwork or a rib cage seeded with slight, red splotches — is a cluster of tiny balls, each meticulously handcrafted: seeds in a pod, eggs, pearls, maybe even ideas in a brain. Abstract markings adorn the “skirt.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/EddysSkirt1.jpg) Kathy Butterly, "Eddy’s Skirt" (1994), porcelain, earthenware, and glaze This hybrid vessel/figure is close to the bone. It leans forward, expectantly, as if about to take center stage, but also seems hesitant, even vulnerable — an admixture of avidity and trepidation. Butterly has a remarkable way of channeling nuanced spirit, keen emotions, and complex psychological states into her innovative and riveting creations, a defining feature of her entire body of work. Wonders abound throughout the exhibition — each sculpture both a beckoning event and a voyage. Butterly’s quasi-vessels incorporate folds, indentations, apertures, and coverts, which hint at bodily, biomorphic, and natural forms, including geological structures and such world-shaping processes as gravity, sedimentation, erosion, eruptions, and landslides. They also connect with various art-making procedures, like pours, drips, and spills. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Which Artworks Will Grace the High Line’s Plinth Next? URL: https://hyperallergic.com/which-artworks-will-grace-the-high-lines-plinth-next/ Last updated: 2026-07-10T17:38:16.000Z High Line Art has opened the door to public feedback on [62 proposals](https://www.thehighline.org/plinth-proposals-round-4/?ref=hyperallergic.com) for the public artwork commissions that will grace the park's plinth in 2029 and 2030\. Inaugurated in 2019, the coveted location overlooking 10th Avenue from West 30th Street has exhibited several iconic sculptures, including Iván Argote's giant pigeon titled “[Dinosaur](https://hyperallergic.com/a-giant-pigeon-is-now-perched-on-new-yorks-high-line/)” (2024) and Pamela Rosenkranz's “[Old Tree](https://hyperallergic.com/selfie-season-at-manhattan-high-line-pamela-rosenkranz/)” (2023). Earlier this spring, the park welcomed Tuan Andrew Nguyen’s “The Light That Shines Through the Universe” (2026). Crafted in and shipped from Vietnam, the artist's [massive sandstone Buddha sculpture](https://hyperallergic.com/a-buddha-is-reborn-on-the-high-line/) channels the beloved, millennia-old pair of Bamiyan Buddha reliefs carved into an Afghan cliffside along the Silk Road, which were [sadly demolished](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/mar/03/afghanistan.lukeharding?ref=hyperallergic.com) by the Taliban in 2001. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/image-4.png) During its April 24 premiere, Tuan Andrew Nguyen’s “The Light That Shines Through the Universe” (2026) glimmered warmly on the High Line plinth. (photo Rhea Nayyar/**Hyperallergic*) As evidenced by Nguyen's commission, the exhibition site along the High Line's Spur allows artists to pierce through the visual continuity of the surrounding sky-high buildings and their gridded, sky-blue windows. The High Line has invited public opinion on plinth commission proposals [since 2020](https://hyperallergic.com/the-high-line-wants-you-to-weigh-in-on-its-next-public-sculptures/), considering feedback on dozens of artwork ideas in order to decide on a tightened shortlist of options that ultimately yield two consecutive commissions. The work following Nguyen's Buddha has already been selected and will be announced in 2027\. Among the 62 proposals for the plinth's seventh and eighth commissions are those of Nina Chanel Abney, Kelly Akashi, Seba Calfuqueo, Jonathan Lyndon Chase, Ali Cherri, Cannupa Hanska Luger, Michael Rakowitz, Wendy Red Star, Kathleen Ryan, and Anicka Yi. Equipped with a handful of site-specific renderings and a brief description for each proposal, members of the public have been asked to consider what would be a good fit for the park, city, and current moment. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### A View From the Easel URL: https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-345/ Last updated: 2026-07-10T15:20:13.000Z Welcome to the 345thinstallment of A View From the Easel, a series in which artists reflect on their workspace. This week, Adam de Boer fashions lush scenes on canvas using Indonesian *batik*\-dyed fabric, which he waxes and boils himself. Want to take part? Check out our [submission guidelines](https://hyperallergic.com/submit-your-workspace-to-a-view-from-the-easel/) and share a bit about your studio with us through [this form](https://forms.gle/Erq7cyGEmMUxKrLe9?ref=hyperallergic.com)! All mediums and workspaces are welcome, including your home studio. --- ## [Adam de Boer](https://www.adamdeboer.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com), Los Angeles, California ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/adam-db-2.jpg) ***How long have you been working in this space?*** Five years. ***Describe an average day in your studio.*** I usually arrive by 8:30am and spend the first 30 to 45 minutes catching up on emails and social media correspondence. For the next 10 hours, I work on my batik paintings (but with a short teatime break in the mid-afternoon). Over the past few years, most studio work has been for exhibitions, and to prepare for those, I usually work in groups of four or five paintings at a time. My batik process is done in stages: from drawing, to waxing, to color staining, to boiling, and finally to oil painting, with lots of stretching and unstretching of linen along the way. (Each piece is stretched and unstretched four times throughout its making.) So, I tend to move a manageable batch of pieces along the full production cycle to increase the chances of visual and thematic consistency in a show. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/adam-db-canvas.jpg) ***How does the space affect your work?*** I’d say the space primarily affects my work by its location. Since moving in, I’ve found myself making paintings about the neighborhood. Some paintings have simply been about the view just outside the front door. Viewers of my work often compliment the accuracy of color despite them technically being textiles, comparing the saturation to their own experiences of sunlight in Los Angeles. I think that quality has everything to do with the fact that I paint exclusively in natural light. The works are about direct observation of the city, often very deadpan, so it’s such a benefit that I can make them under the same conditions that inspire them. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/adam-de-boer-1-1.jpg) ***How do you interact with the environment outside your studio?*** Like many people in Los Angeles, I drive myself to work, and there are no businesses (other than a bottleshop down the block) or cafes at which to bump into neighbors or meet new people while walking on the street. However, there are a few contemporary artists in the immediate vicinity that help to make it feel more communal. My friends Antonia Pinter and Chase Biado, who collaborate under the name A History of Frogs, have a home studio up the hill. The painters Spencer Lewis and Caitlin Lonegan live a couple of doors down, and Tala Madani has a building up the road too. But my main community is with my wife, Leah Ring, who owns the furniture and interior design firm, Another Human. We share the studio space and her employees, vendors, and clients always come by to keep the place more social than it would be otherwise. ***What do you love about your studio?*** The studio is a storefront in a fairly quiet neighborhood of northeast Los Angeles, so I appreciate the ample street parking right out front and not having to navigate hallways or stairs (especially on artwork collection days). The excellent daylight from two large north-facing windows is also such a blessing. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Studio-10---Talena-Mascali.jpeg) ***What do you wish were different?*** I wish there were proper traffic signals rather than stop signs along the road to discourage the awful driving habits endemic to this part of town. Practically speaking, I wish I had access to protected outdoor space and an exterior water spigot at this studio. When it comes time to remove the wax from my batiks, I actually have to unstretch my panels, roll up the linens, and do the boiling in my driveway at my home in Altadena. After the boiling and rinsing process, I hang up each painting behind my garage like clean laundry drying on a clothesline. Sometimes an entire solo exhibition is flapping in the wind behind my house. ***What is your favorite local museum?*** The Huntington Library and Art Museum (which is very close to the studio) and the new Geffen Galleries at LACMA. ***What is your favorite art material to work with?*** Drawing with melted beeswax. ### A Sculptor of World Cup History URL: https://hyperallergic.com/a-sculptor-of-world-cup-history/ Last updated: 2026-07-10T10:00:46.000Z American goalie Hope Solo diving for a save. Brazilian soccer superstar Marta, mid-kick, ponytail frozen midair. Joe Gaetjens’s “miraculous” diving header in the 1950 Word Cup — all made with Wrigley’s gum wrappers. Just in time for the World Cup semifinals, check out artist Lyndon J. Barrois, Sr.’s depictions of iconic plays in FIFA history. Crucially, he emphasizes not just soccer’s on-field moments but the politics underlying the sport, staging scenes like women’s rights protests outside a 2022 Iran-Wales match in the wake of the Mahsa Amini’s death in custody of Iranian police. Artist Noore Yazigi also gives form to political convictions in her tattoos incorporating Arabic calligraphy, such as the lines of late Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer’s poem “If I Must Die” (2011) spun into the outline of a watermelon. In the news, a Chicago photographer sues artist Mickalene Thomas for alleged copyright infringement, and the Art Not Genocide Alliance plans another protest in Venice timed with the US ambassador’s visit. Plus, our community columns, Art Movements and Required Reading, in which we catch you up on this week’s art news and internet must-reads — our weekly tonic for doomscrolling. *—Lisa Yin Zhang, associate editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Lyndon-J.-Barrois--Sr.--U.S.-goalkeeper-Hope-Solo-dives-for-a-decisive-save-against-Australia-in-2015--detail-of-Fu--tballet--2018-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-artist-sculpting-world-cup-history-out-of-gum-wrappers/) [ The Artist Sculpting World Cup History Out of Gum Wrappers ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-artist-sculpting-world-cup-history-out-of-gum-wrappers/) Frozen mid-leap, the soccer star Kylian Mbappé is projected onto a massive, larger-than-life screen. Upon closer inspection, the monumental image commanding the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s (LACMA) Resnick Pavilion is a tiny, one-inch (\~2.5 cm) sculpture. Its body, carefully crafted from a Wrigley’s chewing gum wrapper, sits beneath a camera that projects its image in real time onto a screen. This installation is the work of Lyndon J. Barrois, Sr., whose solo exhibition *Fútbol Life: Animated Sportraits* is currently on view. The show arrives in Los Angeles at a pivotal moment, with SoFi Stadium hosting FIFA World Cup matches, including a quarter-final match set to take place today, July 10.| Sigourney Schultz [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-artist-sculpting-world-cup-history-out-of-gum-wrappers/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/mitchell-johnson-ad.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/mitchell-johnson-new-paintings-from-california-new-england-and-europe/) ****Mitchell Johnson: New Paintings from California, New England and Europe** Work by the Bay Area artist is on view in Menlo Park, California, through August 29. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/mitchell-johnson-new-paintings-from-california-new-england-and-europe/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/ANGA-protest.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/venice-arts-workers-to-protest-during-us-ambassadors-visit/) - Cultural workers affiliated with the Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA) [plan to protest](https://hyperallergic.com/venice-arts-workers-to-protest-during-us-ambassadors-visit/) during United States Ambassador to Italy Tilman Fertitta’s scheduled visit to Venice on Friday, July 17\. - A Chicago-based photographer is [suing artist Mickalene Thomas](https://hyperallergic.com/chicago-photographer-accuses-mickalene-thomas-of-copyright-infringement/) for alleged copyright infringement, claiming that Thomas “appropriated more than a dozen” of her images without her consent or proper attribution. --- ## Features [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/arabic-tattoo-2.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-tattoo-artist-inking-arabic-script-on-skin/) [ The Tattoo Artist Inking Arabic Script on Skin ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-tattoo-artist-inking-arabic-script-on-skin/) New York-based artist Noore Yazigi’s designs reference everything from the Quran to the poetry of the late Palestinian writer Refaat Alareer. | Randa Jumean [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-tattoo-artist-inking-arabic-script-on-skin/) --- ## Community [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/required-reading-7.9.26.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/required-reading-792/) [ Required Reading ](https://hyperallergic.com/required-reading-792/) This week: Iranian artists remember the victims of the Minab airstrike, a trip through Alabama’s Barn Quilt Trail, Kansas City’s bygone lesbian haven, Erling Haaland memes, and more. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/required-reading-792/) [ Art Movements ](https://hyperallergic.com/warhol-foundation-awards-5-1m-to-78-arts-organizations/) Warhol Foundation awards $5.1M to 78 arts organizations, Raphael breaks records at The Met, the Honolulu Museum of Art gets a new director, and more. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/warhol-foundation-awards-5-1m-to-78-arts-organizations/) --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/tattoo-artist-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/meet-the-tattoo-artists-who-champion-body-positivity/) [ Meet the Tattoo Artists Who Champion Body Positivity ](https://hyperallergic.com/meet-the-tattoo-artists-who-champion-body-positivity/) Young, queer, and non-White tattoo artists are exploring how the artform can complement the body’s natural curves and colors. | Billie Anania [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/meet-the-tattoo-artists-who-champion-body-positivity/) ### Warhol Foundation Awards $5.1M to 78 Arts Organizations URL: https://hyperallergic.com/warhol-foundation-awards-5-1m-to-78-arts-organizations/ Last updated: 2026-07-09T20:56:36.000Z [*Art Movements,*](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/art-movements/) *published every Thursday afternoon, is a roundup of must-know news, appointments, awards, and other happenings in today’s chaotic art world.* --- ### 78 Organizations Get Warhol Foundation Grants For its spring 2026 grant cycle, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts awarded $5,166,000 to 78 museums, university art galleries, and other institutions across 26 states and abroad. It's also the first time the foundation has a “Project Grants for Small-Scale Organizations” category, which helps fund artists' projects at spaces with annual operating budgets below $200,000\. Recipients include the art and mysticism nonprofit Golden Dome in Los Angeles, which will use the funds to design a garden in harmony with the celestial bodies according to ancient alchemy. --- ### PMA's New Deputy Director of Collections ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Jennifer-Thompson-headshot--1-.jpg) Jennifer Thompson (photo courtesy PMA) The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) has named **Jennifer** **Thompson** as its new deputy director of Collections and Exhibitions, a role that oversees registration, installation, packing, photography, and other critical aspects of exhibiting and collecting art. Thompson launched her career at the PMA in 2001, starting as a research assistant and curatorial fellow before becoming a curator of European art. She's the latest new hire or promotion at the institution, which was recently (and thankfully) [renamed](https://hyperallergic.com/philadelphia-art-museum-says-goodbye-to-pham/) after a controversial, short-lived rebranding. --- ### Acquisitions ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/20260706_matisse_005.JPG) Henri Matisse, "Océanie, le ciel" (1946/48) (© 2026 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York) A rare and monumental work by Henri Matisse has joined the collection of the Colby College Museum of Art in Waterville, Maine. “Océanie, le ciel” (1946/48), one of the modern artist's signature *papier* *découpés* or “cut-outs,” is a mural-scale screenprint on linen scattered with myriad abstracted silhouettes — coral, underwater plants, and animals — that appear to float harmoniously across the composition. --- ### What Else Happened? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/DavidOdo-3-1.jpg) David Odo (photo Jason Thrasher, courtesy Honolulu Museum of Art) - **David** **Odo** was appointed director and CEO of the Honolulu Museum of Art. - **Massimiliano** **Gioni** was named director of the New Museum in Manhattan. Read more at [*Hyperallergic*](https://hyperallergic.com/massimiliano-gioni-named-director-of-new-museum/). - **Jeanette** **Andrews** is now represented by Trotter&Sholer gallery. - **Alexander** **Tovborg** is now represented by Olney Gleason gallery. - The Center for Book Arts announced the winners of its 2026 Chapbook Competition: **Ansel** **Elkins**, **Hajer** **Requiq**, and **Michael** **Prior**. - The Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History awarded its Great Americans Medal to **Melinda French Gates**. --- ### Raphael Breaks Records at The Met ![Inside the Met Museum’s Historic Raphael Exhibition](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/size/w1200/2026/03/DSC09094.jpeg) Detail of Raphael, “Saint Sebastian in Half Length” (c. 1502–3) (photo Hrag Vartanian/**Hyperallergic*) *Raphael: Sublime Poetry* at the Metropolitan Museum of Art saw an average of 6,800 visitors per day, a stunning statistic that makes it the highest-attended show at the institution since 2018\. The exhibition, which closed at the end of last month, drew over 562,000 people in total during a run of just three months. In terms of top exhibitions of the decade, it's only slightly behind The Costume Institute’s *Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination* and, of course, *Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman and Designer* — proving that the legendary rivalry between these two Renaissance masters persists to the present day, to the delight of all us art history nerds. ### Venice Arts Workers to Protest During US Ambassador’s Visit URL: https://hyperallergic.com/venice-arts-workers-to-protest-during-us-ambassadors-visit/ Last updated: 2026-07-09T20:33:17.000Z Cultural workers affiliated with the [Art Not Genocide Alliance](https://hyperallergic.com/the-case-for-boycotting-the-2026-venice-biennale/) (ANGA) plan to protest during United States Ambassador to Italy Tilman Fertitta's scheduled visit to Venice on Friday, July 17. In the wake of its [historic demonstrations](https://hyperallergic.com/historic-strike-disrupts-venice-biennale/) in support ofPalestine on May 8, the last preview day ofthe 61stVenice Biennale, ANGA will mobilize en masse on the day Fertitta — a billionaire [Trump ally](https://www.texastribune.org/2025/04/29/tilman-fertitta-texas-ambassador-italy/?ref=hyperallergic.com) — plans to park his 384-footsuperyacht in the Italian city as part of a [months-long cruise](https://it.usembassy.gov/u-s-ambassador-tilman-j-fertittas-coastal-diplomacy-celebrates-freedom-250-across-italy/?ref=hyperallergic.com) around the country in “celebration of the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Declaration of Independence.” On [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/DagFBoqT91f/?ref=hyperallergic.com), ANGA said it is staging a protest commencingin Venice's Campo San Zaccaria because “the United States continues to arm, finance and politically shield Israel’s genocide in Palestine.” "Today, that same complicity docks in Venice in the form of a Trump ambassador celebrating 'American values' aboard a $450 million superyacht," the post continued, citing the reported [estimated](https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/us-ambassadors-450-million-floating-224800497.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) price of Fertitta's vessel. ANGA has not yet responded to a request for comment. Next Friday's action comes two months after ANGA led the first-ever cultural workers' strike in the Venice Biennale's 131-year history in May. Workers from Venice's cultural sector decried Israeli participation in the international art event amid its crimes in Gaza in a mass mobilization that caused dozens of national pavilions to shutter as protesters marched carrying messages that included "no artwashing genocide." ANGA also participated in a national cultural strike on June 12 that demanded “[fair work and fair pay](https://www.instagram.com/p/DZUo0B3E9%5Fp/?img%5Findex=1&ref=hyperallergic.com)” and condemned Israel's violence in Gaza. This year's Biennale saw ongoing controversy over the inclusion of Israel in the Arsenale, which garnered criticism from [240 biennale artists and arts workers](https://anga.live/?ref=hyperallergic.com) who sought to overturn Israel's participation in an ANGA-led missive. In 2024, during the previous edition, ANGA launched an [open letter](https://hyperallergic.com/4000-art-workers-call-for-israel-exclusion-from-the-venice-biennale/) opposing Israel’s participation that was signed by more than 22,000 people. “We refuse the cultural normalisation of genocide. We refuse the militarisation of our cities. We refuse the capture of Venice by oligarchs, war profiteers and the representatives of imperial power,” ANGA wrote in its recent post. “From the boycott of the Genocide Pavilion to the protest against Fertitta, our message remains the same: no business as usual with genocide,” the group continued. ### Required Reading URL: https://hyperallergic.com/required-reading-792/ Last updated: 2026-07-09T19:40:52.000Z After last year's wildfires devastated Altadena, California, photographer Kevin Cooley set out to document the plants that survived. For the [*Los Angeles Times*](https://www.latimes.com/lifestyle/story/2026-06-24/altadena-kevin-cooley-in-the-gardens-of-eaton-fire-flowers-plants-trees-nature-comeback?ref=hyperallergic.com), Marah Eakin writes: > Driving around town, looking at the lots and the wreckage, Cooley says he started to notice the bits of nature that were trying to persevere. He spotted a begonia poking through a burned fence on his neighbor’s property and snapped a photo, and soon he was accumulating more and more similar images. Cooley says if you’d told him before the fire he’d be taking so many pictures of flowers, he’d have scoffed, but now images like one he captured recently of a group of blooming roses in front of a cluster of dead vines remind him that perseverance is possible no matter the odds. Author Whitney Washington shares dispatches from her trip through the Alabama Barn Quilt Trail for [*Burnaway*](https://burnaway.org/magazine/deciphering-the-alabama-barn-quilt-trail-a-travelogue/?ref=hyperallergic.com): > Legend passed down through oral tradition and popular history says that during slavery, quilting took on a critical role as a communication system, with certain quilt square designs guiding travelers through the Underground Railroad. To many Black Americans, quilting remains an important symbol of family and resilience. My mother has a quilt passed down from her Aunt Mae tucked in a closet away from everyday use. Its origins beyond Aunt Mae are unclear, but it’s precious because it’s been in our family for a while. It survived Jim Crow, the Great Migration, and more. But I am not sure where scholarship shakes out on how true these stories of quilts as maps are. If quilt squares have meaning, it’s unknown to me, but I desperately want to know, to feel a connection to a history that has likely been lost, but like many other Black Americans, all I might have is a quilt. This gap of knowledge turned my barn tour from an exercise in observation to one of deciphering. Last month, the Committee to Protect Journalists removed 20 names from its list of Palestinian members of the press killed by Israel since October 7\. [*New Lines Magazine*](https://newlinesmag.com/spotlight/inside-the-dispute-over-committee-to-protect-journalists-definition-of-a-journalist/?ref=hyperallergic.com)'s Christin El-Kholy has the story: > Walid Batrawi, a Palestinian journalist who worked on Forbidden Stories’ Gaza Project, a collaborative investigative initiative aimed at investigating the targeting and killing of journalists in Gaza and the West Bank and continuing their unfinished reporting, argued that the controversy risks obscuring a larger issue. “It’s not about numbers. It’s about accountability. It’s about documentation,” he told *New Lines*. Even if individual cases are revised, he argued, the central fact remains that Israel is responsible for the killing of Palestinian journalists. > > CPJ’s Gaza data has become the authoritative source for news outlets (including *New Lines*) and governments trying to understand the scale of the violence. Changes to its records don’t just affect their accounting, they shape how the Gaza genocide itself is understood and remembered in the public record. But this is not the first time CPJ has faced criticism for its data around Israel-Palestine. [*Mondoweis*](https://mondoweiss.net/2026/07/a-new-important-book-shows-why-the-adl-has-never-been-a-civil-rights-organization/?ref=hyperallergic.com)[*s*](https://mondoweiss.net/2026/07/a-new-important-book-shows-why-the-adl-has-never-been-a-civil-rights-organization/?ref=hyperallergic.com)'s Michael Arria spoke with author Emmaia Gelman about her new book, which mines the Anti-Defamation League's nefarious history of spying on activists and attacking Palestinian movements: > The ADL used the language of the civil rights movement to explain why people should support its aims. It had to perform liberalism. The ADL, for example, adopted a concern for queer rights on hate crime laws that it was proposing. Only in the 1990s did queer organizations advocate for a full decade for the ADL to do that. The ADL refused and refused and refused, saying that queer rights were not part of an American value system, and it didn’t want to disrupt and distract its work on hate crimes laws by adding it. > > Then it had a sort of revelation: queers had built political power, and talking about queer rights was actually an advantage. And so it’s important to add queer to its work. It wasn’t a pro-queer organization. It was a neoconservative organization led by a homophobe who didn’t even think women should necessarily have equal rights. > > Now it doesn’t need that anymore. The U.S. state is no longer using liberalism as a rationale for its wars and repression at home, and the ADL doesn’t need to do that either. In the 1990s, a group of lesbians transformed a Kansas City neighborhood into a self-sufficient queer utopia dubbed "Womontown." Rebecca Barker reports for [*Rewire News Group*](https://rewirenewsgroup.com/2026/06/29/lesbian-pride-neighborhood-kansas-city-womontown/?ref=hyperallergic.com) on the lesbian haven's origins: > To spread the word, Nedelsky and Hopper published ads in places like *Lesbian Connection*, a magazine founded in 1974 with the mission “quite simply, to connect the lesbian community worldwide,” according to its website. The couple also attended underground music festivals, like the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival and the National Women’s Music Festival, which functioned as women-only spaces for lesbians to connect. Those gatherings offered inspiration for the kind of place Womontown could become. Imogen West-Knights traveled to the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, held at a hotel in Connecticut, for a glimpse into the world of professional puzzlers for [*Slate*](https://slate.com/life/2026/06/games-today-crossword-puzzle-online-history.html?ref=hyperallergic.com): > Out in the corridor, I ask Agard what he thinks of the theme. Puzzle 4, written by a student called Rena Cohen, is titled “Driver’s Aid” and features four answers that contain the name of car brands, followed by an *O* representing a spare tire (AUDIOLOGISTS, for instance). “I didn’t read the title or the blurb, so I’m not 100 percent sure I know what it was,” Agard says. “That would take too much time.” > > And, I have to say, I find myself curiously disillusioned by this brief conversation. It hasn’t occurred to me, although it should have, that to reach the heights of ACPT championship, to get through these puzzles as quickly as the top solvers are able to, means dispensing with the part of the crossword that holds all the pleasure for me. I am not very fast when I solve a crossword, nor do I try to be. I’m doing it to appreciate the “punch line,” as it were, of realizing what a puzzle’s theme is, or to enjoy the aha moments of seeing how the words in the grid lace themselves together. To my mind, solving at speed is to take the joy out of the activity entirely, and that begins to color my perception of the event. Journalist Anna Peele, who just wrote a book about *Love Island*, offers a compelling framework for understanding its allure in [*LitHub*](https://lithub.com/how-the-eternal-pantomime-of-love-island-draws-us-in/?ref=hyperallergic.com): > Pantomime establishes a clear moral universe: some characters are evil, and some are virtuous, and they get what they deserve based on their actions. “It’s drama that engineers transformations, because that’s what we want to see,” Oxford culture theater professor and pantomime expert David Taylor says. Characters evolve, whether they want to or not, through situations they can’t control. The machinations of the play—and its producers—force them to adapt to those situations. “We both anticipate those changes and also are surprised when they happen,” Taylor says. “Pantomime has to tread this quite fine line between something that feels very familiar to us as a formula we immediately recognize and that we can immediately engage with emotionally, quite strategically placed surprise, in order to keep us coming back to it. We’ve seen it all before and we’ve also never seen it before.” Human laughter patterns, it turns out, might be 15 million years old. Jenny Lehmann has the delightful story for [*Discover Magazine*](https://www.discovermagazine.com/giggling-apes-may-help-us-better-understand-the-emergence-of-speech-as-we-laugh-in-a-surprisingly-similar-way-49295?ref=hyperallergic.com): > Looking at the origins of laughter in our relatives, with whom we share a direct ancestor 15 million years ago, this research hints at a gradual shift during the evolution of apes. They may have developed more control over their vocalizations to convey meaning, an important clue to how speech emerged. > > “Speech leaves no fossils, and complex language exists only in our own species. But we've found a 15-million-year-old clue in an unexpected place: our laughter. Unlike speech, laughter is shared by all living great apes,” said De Gregorio. Historian Amanda Timpson sheds light on the double life of [Stonewall Inn's notorious door manager](https://www.instagram.com/reels/DaO-35XCOKs/?ref=hyperallergic.com): > [ View this post on Instagram ](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DaO-35XCOKs/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) > > [A post shared by Amanda W. Timpson (@yesterqueers)](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DaO-35XCOKs/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) [Erling Haaland](https://www.tiktok.com/@evieofficially/video/7659809611242818832?ref=hyperallergic.com) has bewitched us body and soul: > [@evieofficially](https://www.tiktok.com/@evieofficially?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "@evieofficially") Am I too deep into the Haaland rabbit hole?? 🤣🤣 [#haaland](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/haaland?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "haaland") [#haaland🇳🇴](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/haaland%F0%9F%87%B3%F0%9F%87%B4?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "haaland🇳🇴") [#fifa](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/fifa?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "fifa") [#fifaworldcup](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/fifaworldcup?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "fifaworldcup") [♬ Haaland (Ha Ha Ha) - CTID](https://www.tiktok.com/music/Haaland-Ha-Ha-Ha-7128005345142425601?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "♬ Haaland (Ha Ha Ha) - CTID") It's called [PERFORMANCE ART](https://www.instagram.com/reels/Dag03Zruiz1/?ref=hyperallergic.com): > [ View this post on Instagram ](https://www.instagram.com/reel/Dag03Zruiz1/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) > > [A post shared by Scotty Brand (@scotttybrand)](https://www.instagram.com/reel/Dag03Zruiz1/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) [*Required Reading*](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/required-reading/) *is published every Thursday afternoon and comprises a short list of art-related links to long-form articles, videos, blog posts, or photo essays worth a second look*. ### The Artist Sculpting World Cup History Out of Gum Wrappers URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-artist-sculpting-world-cup-history-out-of-gum-wrappers/ Last updated: 2026-07-11T15:06:26.000Z LOS ANGELES — Frozen mid-leap, the soccer star Kylian Mbappé is projected onto a massive, larger-than-life screen. Upon closer inspection, the monumental image commanding the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s (LACMA) Resnick Pavilion is a tiny, one-inch (\~2.5 cm) sculpture. Its body, carefully crafted from a Wrigley’s chewing gum wrapper, sits beneath a camera that projects its image in real time onto a screen. This installation is the work of Lyndon J. Barrois, Sr., whose solo exhibition [*Fútbol Is Life: Animated Sportraits*](https://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/futbol-life-animated-sportraits-lyndon-j-barrois-sr?ref=hyperallergic.com) is currently on view. The show arrives in Los Angeles at a pivotal moment, with SoFi Stadium hosting FIFA World Cup matches, including a quarter-final match set to take place tomorrow, July 10\. For this exhibition, Barrois recreated crucial moments from FIFA history dating back to the 1930s, illustrating events both on and off the pitch. Notably, it does not shy away from addressing the sport’s negotiations with spectacle, politics, and power. Rather than settling for the version of history captured by the camera, Barrois rebuilds it by hand and, in doing so, decides whose stories are memorialized on a monumental scale. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Chicago Photographer Accuses Mickalene Thomas of Copyright Infringement URL: https://hyperallergic.com/chicago-photographer-accuses-mickalene-thomas-of-copyright-infringement/ Last updated: 2026-07-09T19:13:46.000Z A Chicago-based photographer is suing artist Mickalene Thomas for alleged copyright infringement, according to documents filed in federal district court in Illinois on May 26\. Barbara Karant, whose works are held in the photography collections of institutions including the [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artists/35197/barbara-karant?ref=hyperallergic.com), claims that Thomas “appropriated more than a dozen” of her images without her consent or proper attribution. The dispute revolves around Karant’s [*820 Ebony/Jet*](https://www.820ebonyjet.com/floors?ref=hyperallergic.com)(2013–15) series, a collection of 250 photographs taken at the vacant former headquarters of one of the [largest Black-owned media companies](https://libguides.getty.edu/jpcarchive?ref=hyperallergic.com) in the United States, the Johnson Publishing Company. The South Michigan Avenue headquarters was Chicago’s [first high-rise ](https://archive.nytimes.com/lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/12/03/the-modern-spirits-of-ebony-and-jet/?ref=hyperallergic.com)commissioned by a Black-owned corporation. The now-defunct company, which sold its building to Columbia College Chicago in 2010, published *Ebony* and *Jet* — two early magazines dedicated to African-American culture, entertainment, and politics — until its closure in 2016. In the years after the building’s sale, Karant photographed its singular interiors, originally envisioned by Chicago interior designers Arthur Elrod and William Raiser. The lawsuit alleges that an installation in Thomas’s 2024 exhibition [*All About Love*](https://www.thebroad.org/art/special-exhibitions/mickalene-thomas-all-about-love?ref=hyperallergic.com)at The Broad “incorporated her copyrighted photographs,” including one she took in an Ebony Fashion Fair dressing room and two others of [patterned walls](https://www.820ebonyjet.com/floors/2026/7/2/qd41weplx6r99712fojcxr1pfjp6dt?ref=hyperallergic.com) inside the headquarters. “The vibrant, patterned shapes, the ceiling lights, and the patterned wallpaper … were all lifted from Karant’s photographs of the JPC interiors,” the lawsuit reads. Karant also alleged that other works by Thomas included images taken from her work, including “[Nus Exotiques #10](https://www.nathalieobadia.com/fr/artworks/10410-mickalene-thomas-nus-exotiques-10-2025/?ref=hyperallergic.com)” (2025), a collage featuring a nude Black woman and a fragment of a window allegedly appropriated from an [*820 Ebony/Jet* photograph](https://archive.nytimes.com/lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/12/03/the-modern-spirits-of-ebony-and-jet/?ref=hyperallergic.com#slideshow/100000004070956/100000004071004)*.* An attorney listed for Thomas on legal filings and her public relations team have not yet responded to *Hyperallergic*’s requests for comment. Charles Insler, Karant’s attorney, declined to comment. Karant also named several galleries in the suit that had displayed Thomas’s allegedly appropriative work in person and online, including Lévy Gorvy Dayan, Yancey Richardson, Kavi Gupta, and Galerie Nathalie Obadia. They are accused of participating in “willful” copyright infringement. In a statement to *Hyperallergic,* a spokesperson for Lévy Gorvy Dayan said the gallery was “deeply respectful of all artists' rights and creativity” and declined to comment further, citing “active litigation.” A spokesperson for Kavi Gupta told *Hyperallergic* the gallery was "proud of our history supporting \[Thomas's\] work" and would "continue to recognize the importance of her voice and contribution to the field." "To the best of our knowledge, Kavi Gupta Gallery has never dealt with any of the bodies of work mentioned in the suit," the spokesperson continued, declining to comment further. "We are reviewing the matter with counsel." The lawsuit comes months before Karant’s book [*820 Ebony/Jet: Visions of the Johnson Publishing Company, an American Icon*](https://rep.club/products/barbara-karant-820?srsltid=AfmBOope3pUAFlX2iDbwv4SLqCx4p0qTtguN%5FO7h0eHjPEiAjDrvxpSs&ref=hyperallergic.com) is set to be published by MW Editions. The Chicago-based photographer’s attorneys argued in the suit that “Thomas’s copying has damaged Karant’s ability to sell her own photographs” and jeopardizes the market for her forthcoming book. The use and appropriation of other artists' images in original artworks has been legally contested for decades. In 2024, artist Richard Prince was [ordered to pay](https://hyperallergic.com/richard-prince-settles-long-running-copyright-lawsuit/) over half a million dollars in a lawsuit filed by Donald Graham and Eric McNatt, whose photographs Prince had found online and "remixed" in his own works. Thomas is widely known for her elaborate collages, paintings, and installations portraying Black American women, often featuring elements such as rhinestones and glitter. The suit marks the second public legal action against Thomas within the last year. Last August, her former fiancée and business partner, Racquel Chevremont, [accused](https://hyperallergic.com/mickalene-thomas-accused-of-harassment-and-nonpayment-by-ex-fiancee/) the artist of abuse, allegations which Thomas expressly [denied](https://hyperallergic.com/mickalene-thomas-sued-for-14-million-over-abuse-allegations/), in a $14 million lawsuit in the New York State Supreme Court. ### The Tattoo Artist Inking Arabic Script on Skin URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-tattoo-artist-inking-arabic-script-on-skin/ Last updated: 2026-07-11T15:07:23.000Z Noore Yazigi loves tattooing hands. Her own are marked with light scribbles of permanent ink, Arabic letters that twist along her veins. At work, all but one tattoo disappear beneath her black gloves. Flowing in bold script, *فلسطين* (“Palestine”) stretches across her wrist, reminding the world of her roots while reveling in its beauty. Whether she’s on or off duty, the word basks in the sunlight streaming through the windows of Monolith Studio in Brooklyn. The form that Palestine is scripted in on Yazigi’s arm has also become her most sought-after craft. Described by Monolith Studio as “the artist bringing the elegance of Arabic calligraphy to New York City,” she pierces into skin what first filled pages of the Quran and decorated walls of mosques. For some clients, motifs of Arabic calligraphy or iconography reflect their faith; for others, they’re an ode to the homes that raised them. What better way to define *Bilad al-Sham* — the “land of the north,” referring to Syria and the broader Levant region — than to scribe it in a craft built on connection, where every letter must join the next. However Yazigi repurposes calligraphy, the sacred law of connection remains. "I grew up drawing," she told *Hyperallergic.* "My style was a lot more cartoonish, but I always incorporated Arabic script." _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Mitchell Johnson: New Paintings from California, New England and Europe URL: https://hyperallergic.com/mitchell-johnson-new-paintings-from-california-new-england-and-europe/ Last updated: 2026-08-21T17:04:50.000Z From July 8 through August 29, Flea Street Restaurant in Menlo Park, California, is exhibiting the color- and shape-driven work of Bay Area artist Mitchell Johnson. Titled *New Paintings from California, New England and Europe*, the show features small paintings completed in Paris in June as well as recent paintings from Cape Porpoise, Maine and Truro on Cape Cod. The diverse range of compositions showcase the artist’s fundamental concerns with color, perception and scale. Johnson currently works between the San Francisco Bay Area, Paris, and North Truro in order to compare changes in topography, color and light. He uses architecture, landscapes, boats, chimneys, windows, flowers, chairs and figures to make what art historian Peter Selz described in a 2009 Smithsonian Archives of American Art interview as “realist paintings that are basically abstract paintings and abstract paintings that are figurative.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/KalmarVillage18x28.jpeg) Mitchell Johnson, “Kalmar Village (North Truro)” (2026), 18x28 inches (©Mitchell Johnson, 2026) Johnson’s paintings are in 700 private collections and the permanent collections of 40 museums. They have also appeared in numerous feature films, including *The Holiday* (2006), *It’s Complicated* (2009), *Crazy, Stupid, Love* (2011), and *The Family McMullen* (2025). Johnson received his MFA in Painting from Parsons School of Design in 1990, where he studied with many former students of Hans Hofmann including Paul Resika, Robert De Niro, Sr., Jane Freilicher, Nell Blaine, and Leland Bell. September 8-20, he will have a solo exhibition, *Twenty-One Years in Truro* at Truro Center for the Arts on Cape Cod where he teaches a master color class once a year. For more information, visit mitchelljohnson.com and follow him on Instagram @mitchell\_johnson\_artist. Request a digital catalog by emailing: [mitchell.catalog@gmail.com](mailto:mitchell.catalog@gmail.com) --- Flea Street is a long-established farm-to-table restaurant in Menlo Park (Silicon Valley), founded in 1980 by Jesse Cool. It is one of the pioneering restaurants in Northern California emphasizing local and sustainable ingredients, years before that approach became commonplace. It's open for dinner Tuesday-Saturday. Request a digital catalog by emailing: [mitchell.catalog@gmail.com](mailto:mitchell.catalog@gmail.com) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/RueGustaveZede16x24.jpeg) Mitchell Johnson, “Rue Gustave Zede (Paris)” (2026), 16x24 inches (©Mitchell Johnson, 2026) ### With a Little Help From My Art Friends URL: https://hyperallergic.com/with-a-little-help-from-my-art-friends/ Last updated: 2026-07-09T10:00:42.000Z In an art world that often attributes success to individual genius, the story of Gertrude Abercrombie — the Midwestern Surrealist whose intricately rendered, enigmatic canvases have us all transfixed — is anything but that. A pair of exhibitions at the Milwaukee Art Museum shines a light on her motley crew of "Magic Realists,” among them John Wilde, Marshall Glasier, and other artists who imbued mid-20th-century American painting with a sense of the uncanny. In critic Debra Brehmer’s words, they prove that “no art movement and few artists exist without the bonds of friendship.” Plus: An ovulation test kit, a left AirPod, and lots of cigarette butts can all be yours if you purchase one of artist Justin Gignac’s trash souvenirs scavenged from outside Taylor Swift’s wedding at Madison Square Garden. Staff Writer Rhea Nayyar gets an interview with this visionary curator of the discarded. (Maurizio Cattelan, take note.) *—Valentina Di Liscia, senior editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/magic-realists.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/gertrude-abercrombies-band-of-midwest-magic-realists/) [ Gertrude Abercrombie’s Band of Midwest Magic Realists ](https://hyperallergic.com/gertrude-abercrombies-band-of-midwest-magic-realists/) In the 1940s, a small band of Midwest artists dubbed the “Magic Realists” began making work that tapped into the freedoms of Surrealism without being swayed by stylistic tendencies. They took their own path, achieving recognition during their heyday, but drew scant attention from the larger art world in later years. In the last decade, two exhibitions have generated renewed interest: a 2018 show of one of the six primary members, Gertrude Abercrombie, at Karma Gallery in New York, and a recent retrospective of the artist that traveled from the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh to the Colby College Museum of Art in Waterville, Maine, and is currently on view at the Milwaukee Art Museum. The Milwaukee iteration has commendably added a small parallel exhibition, Gertrude and Friends: The Wisconsin Magic Realists. The exhibition underscores the mutual support, comradeship, and spirit of rebellion shared by this cohort and other less-involved colleagues, presenting Abercrombie not as an isolated maker, but as part of a protective and inspirational community. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/gertrude-abercrombies-band-of-midwest-magic-realists/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/gw-corcoran.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/how-the-gw-corcoran-is-rethinking-interaction-design-education/) ****How the GW Corcoran Is Rethinking Interaction Design Education** The Interaction Design program at the George Washington University Corcoran School of Arts and Design is utilizing partnerships across DC to encourage its students to develop more inclusive design practices. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-the-gw-corcoran-is-rethinking-interaction-design-education/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/jonathan-allen.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/whitney-museum-screens-taken-over-with-gaza-protest-messages/) - Messages condemning Israel’s violence in Gaza [appeared over the advertising screens](https://hyperallergic.com/whitney-museum-screens-taken-over-with-gaza-protest-messages/) outside the Whitney Museum of American Art last week in an action by New York City-based artist Jonathan Allen. - Following Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding at Madison Square Garden last week, artist Justin Gignac [collected street trash](https://hyperallergic.com/artist-sells-25-trash-souvenirs-found-outside-taylor-swifts-wedding/) found outside the venue and is selling them in pocket-sized vitrine boxes as souvenirs. --- ## Book Review [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/stock-photography.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-hidden-history-of-stock-photography/) [ The Hidden History of Stock Photography ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-hidden-history-of-stock-photography/) In her first book, scholar Simona Supekar mines the history of stock imagery as a vessel for racism and sexism and considers its role in the age of AI. | Eileen G’Sell [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-hidden-history-of-stock-photography/) --- ## Community [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Yervant-Gianikian.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-yervant-gianikian-valerie-brathwaite-and-jerry-moriarty/) [ Remembering Yervant Gianikian, Valerie Brathwaite, and Jerry Moriarty ](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-yervant-gianikian-valerie-brathwaite-and-jerry-moriarty/) This week, we honor a giant of 20th-century cinema, a sculptor of the natural world, and a self-described “paintoonist.” [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-yervant-gianikian-valerie-brathwaite-and-jerry-moriarty/) --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/eyebrows-in-art.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/a-brief-history-of-womens-eyebrows-in-art/) [ A Brief History of Women’s Eyebrows in Art ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-brief-history-of-womens-eyebrows-in-art/) Since antiquity, women’s eyebrows have been sites of intense scrutiny, constantly shifting between trend cycles. | Isabella Segalovich [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-brief-history-of-womens-eyebrows-in-art/) ### Remembering Yervant Gianikian, Valerie Brathwaite, and Jerry Moriarty URL: https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-yervant-gianikian-valerie-brathwaite-and-jerry-moriarty/ Last updated: 2026-07-16T20:37:27.000Z [*In Memoriam*](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/in-memoriam/) *is published every Wednesday afternoon and honors those we recently lost in the art world.* --- **Yervant Gianikian** (1942–2026) *Armenian-Italian filmmaker, artist, and architect* With his late partner, Angela Ricci Lucchi, he was a [major force](https://www.finestresullarte.info/en/news/farewell-to-yervant-gianikian-master-of-experimental-cinema?ref=hyperallergic.com) in cinema in the second half of the 20th century. Major works include *From the Pole to the Equator* (1986), *Prisoners of War* (1995), and *Angela's Diaries – The Two of Us, Filmmakers* (2018–26), which ranged in subject from European colonialism to personal tribute. His work is held in institutions like the Museum of Modern Art and the Tate Modern, and he helped Armenia win the Golden Lion at the 2015 Venice Biennale. --- **Valerie Brathwaite** (1938–2026) *Abstract sculptor of the natural world* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/image-3.png) Valerie in the Museum of Fine Arts in Caracas in 1975 (photo Vladimir Sersa, courtesy Henrique Faria Fine Art) The Trinidadian-born, Caracas-based artist found inspiration in the geography, vegetation, and wildlife of her two home countries, creating undulating, organic sculptures and drawings. She was also a DJ, developing a rich sonic world that invoked jazz and freestyle. [*Read the obituary*](https://hyperallergic.com/valerie-brathwaite-abstract-sculptor-of-the-natural-world-dies-at-87/) --- **Richard H. Glanton** (1946–2026) *Former president of the Barnes Foundation* In the 1990s, as the president of Philadelphia's Barnes Foundation, he attempted to [elevate](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/06/arts/design/richard-h-glanton-dead.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) the museum's profile by selling certain works against the conditions set by its founder, to controversial effect. --- **Herbert Lust** (1926–2026) *Collector who befriended the giants of Postwar Euroamerican art* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Untitled.jpg) Herbert Lust (photo @jillsarverstudio via Instagram, screenshot Lisa Yin Zhang/**Hyperallergic*) A colorful [character](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/02/arts/design/herbert-c-lust-dead.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) in the postwar New York and Paris art worlds, he befriended artists like Alberto Giacometti, Alexander Calder, Robert Indiana, and more. He donated works from his significant collection to institutions like the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC. --- **Beth McKillop** (1953–2026) *Curator who championed Korean art* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Untitled-1-1.jpg) Beth McKillop (photo The Alasdair Gray Archive via [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/thealasdairgrayarchive/photos/we-are-deeply-saddened-by-the-news-of-the-death-of-beth-mckillop-a-dear-friend-o/1394309619389199/), screenshot Lisa Yin Zhang/**Hyperallergic*) She [transformed](https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2026/jul/05/beth-mckillop-obituary?ref=hyperallergic.com) mainstream understanding of Korean art by helping to establish the field in Britain. She created the United Kingdom's first permanent Korean museum gallery at the Victoria & Albert Museum, and helped expand its collection by more than 100 objects. --- **Jerry Moriarty** (1938–2026) *Painter, cartoonist, and educator* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Untitled-2-1.jpg) Jerry Moriarty (photo @desertislandcomics via [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/DZfydpQkeFg/?hl=en&img%5Findex=7&ref=hyperallergic.com), screenshot Lisa Yin Zhang/**Hyperallergic*) The self-described "Paintoonist" created the iconic comic *Jack Survives* (1980), which debuted at cartoonist Art Spiegelman's insistence in his magazine *Raw* (1980–91). He was also a freelance illustrator who contributed drawings to *Esquire*, *The New Yorker*, *Seventeen*,and more, and he taught at the School of Visual Arts. --- **Sharon Dede Padi** (1976–2026) *Ghanaian artist and poet who held a Guinness World Record* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Untitled-3.jpg) Sharon Dede Padi (photo @padikiartgallery via [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/DYsc7vRMqqm/?hl=en&ref=hyperallergic.com), screenshot Lisa Yin Zhang/**Hyperallergic*) One of Ghana's [leading contemporary artists](https://www.gbcghanaonline.com/entertainment/sharon-dede-padi-dies/2026/2/?ref=hyperallergic.com), she founded Padiki Art Gallery in Accra, displaying her own work and nurturing emerging artists. She also became the official Guinness World Records holder for Largest Leaf Print Painting, measuring more than 584 square feet (\~54.3 sq m), last year. --- **Angela Rosengart** (1932–2026) *Swiss gallerist, collector, and founder of Sammlung Rosengart Museum* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Untitled-4.jpg) Angela Rosengart (photo @geniablum via [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/DaYLyeaDLBw/?img%5Findex=1&ref=hyperallergic.com), screenshot Lisa Yin Zhang/**Hyperallergic*) An [art dealer](https://www.rosengart.ch/en/Museum/Angela-Rosengart-and-the-foundation?ref=hyperallergic.com#:~:text=Born%20in%201932%2C%20she%20has,professional%20career%20in%20Classic%20Modernism.) active since 1948, she focused on Modernism and counted some of its luminaries as close friends, including Picasso, who drew her portrait five times. She founded the Sammlung Rosengart Museum in Lucerne, Switzerland, in 2002\. --- **Margaret Thomas** (1941–2026) *Photojournalist who captured milestones of the 20th century* The first female [photojournalist](https://www.fredericknewspost.com/public/ap/margaret-thomas-first-female-photographer-at-the-post-dies-at-84/article%5Fdba3602c-2175-58e1-a516-19d303deed06.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) at the *Washington Post*, she covered everything from the Watergate hearings to protests after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. She won many awards from the White House News Photographers Association, notably the photographer of the year prize in 1987\. ### Artist Sells $25 Trash Souvenirs Found Outside Taylor Swift's Wedding URL: https://hyperallergic.com/artist-sells-25-trash-souvenirs-found-outside-taylor-swifts-wedding/ Last updated: 2026-07-08T22:04:28.000Z Following Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's wedding at Madison Square Garden last week, one entrepreneur had the foresight to create and market souvenirs before the singer inevitably reveals her next scheme to capitalize on the widely publicized event. Confirming that people will buy anything, New York City artist Justin Gignac has already sold out of an edition of his pocket-sized vitrine boxes filled with street trash found outside of the T&T wedding. “It wasn't as dirty as I was expecting,” Gignac said in a phone call with *Hyperallergic*, describing the experience of suiting up to collect trash with a claw grabber outside of MSG on July 3\. “I found a lot of bottle caps, cigarette butts, and one left AirPod on the crosswalk — that was a first, even though those are probably the easiest things to lose,” he added. > [ View this post on Instagram ](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DaiGFBnxs0m/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) > > [A post shared by NYC Garbage (@newyorkcitygarbage)](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DaiGFBnxs0m/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) Imbued with the wedding's chaotic energy and the hopes and dreams of the Swiftieverse, these bits of day-to-day detritus were stuffed into 50 transparent little boxes marked with the momentous date and [sold online for $25](https://nycgarbage.metalabel.com/garbage-notinvited?variantId=1&ref=hyperallergic.com) a piece. Labeled “NYCPocket Garbage,” the wedding drop is one of several lines from Gignac's [*New York City Garbage*](https://nycgarbage.com/about?ref=hyperallergic.com) (2001–ongoing) project, which is exactly what it sounds like. The artist told *Hyperallergic* that the venture began during a college internship as an effort to dispute a coworker's claim that packaging design doesn't matter. “ If I could package something nobody would ever want to buy and convince people to buy it, then I knew I could prove them wrong,” he explained. He recounted making 10 cubes and hawking them from a cardboard box spray-painted with 'Garbage for sale' in Times Square, where he sold his first one for five dollars. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/NYCGarbageS2_CUBE67.jpg) One of 65 garbage cubes from Gignac's product drop last December Maintaining the bit that NYC's trash is better than that of anywhere else, these scrappy souvenirs went from a joke to a collectible to an artwork as Gignac increased the price. “It totally changes people's perception of its value,” he elaborated, adding that the art is in the sale rather than in the cube. Gignac has sold over 1,700 cubes to born-and-raised New Yorkers, tourists, and people abroad who want to experience the Big Apple but can't yet make their way over. He told *Hyperallergic* that dating and numbering the cubes also adds to their collectability by turning them into little time capsules that are a “snapshot of what's going on culturally.” On that note, Gignac avoids organic material for longevity reasons (and because he has a sensitive gag reflex ... Don't worry, the nickname "Gagnac" was indeed assigned). He also created editions around historically significant events, including Barack Obama's first presidential inauguration, the day gay marriage was legalized in NYC, and the 2009 World Series, before pausing the project for about a decade to start his own company. Nevertheless, he went back to collecting and cubing on the 25th anniversary of the first edition he hawked at Times Square, and recently released an Earth Day series sourced from bodega refuse. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/NYCGarbageS2_Dec2025_WALL_02.jpg) Cubes from Justin Gignac's 2025 holiday drop Gignac took up the T&T wedding because of the ambiguity and speculation leading up to it, the fan fervor, and the cultural polarization it brought on with Swift's billionaire status and the disruption to public transit. Although he didn't come across any beaded friendship bracelets, which are staples in the Swiftie fandom, he did find an ovulation test kit, which he said was “maybe manifesting something for the couple.” The cube containing the test strip is already spoken for, but Gignac said he *might* make some more. Gignac's project evidently engages with the criticism of overconsumption and waste management through an environmentalist lens. But, as the artist recounted to *Hyperallergic*, the takeaway message for many others is that if you can sell people garbage, then it shouldn't be a problem to sell them stuff they actually need. ### Gertrude Abercrombie’s Band of Midwest Magic Realists URL: https://hyperallergic.com/gertrude-abercrombies-band-of-midwest-magic-realists/ Last updated: 2026-07-08T21:07:35.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/4.-John-Wilde--.jpg) John Wilde, “Karl Priebe, Gertrude Abercrombie, Dudley Huppler, Marshall Glasier, Sylvia Fein, a Friend, Arnold Dadian and Myself” (1966) (all photos Debra Brehmer/**Hyperallergic*) MILWAUKEE — In the 1940s, a small band of Midwest artists dubbed the “Magic Realists” began making work that tapped into the freedoms of Surrealism without being swayed by stylistic tendencies. They took their own path, achieving recognition during their heyday, but drew scant attention from the larger art world in later years. In the last decade, two exhibitions have generated renewed interest: a 2018 [show](https://karmakarma.org/exhibitions/gertrude-abercrombie/?ref=hyperallergic.com) of one of the six primary members, Gertrude Abercrombie, at Karma Gallery in New York, and a recent [retrospective](https://hyperallergic.com/gertrude-abercrombie-american-surrealism/) of the artist that traveled from the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh to the Colby College Museum of Art in Waterville, Maine, and is currently on view at the Milwaukee Art Museum. At least, they generated renewed interest in Abercrombie. Auction prices for the late Chicago-based artist’s small-scale paintings have skyrocketed. In November 2025, the painting “Message for Mercy” (1950) [sold](https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2025/modern-day-auction-6/message-for-mercy?ref=hyperallergic.com) for over $1 million at Sotheby’s, surpassing her previous auction record of $864,000\. The touring exhibition focuses solely on Abercrombie, presenting about 80 paintings. The Milwaukee iteration, however, has commendably added a small parallel exhibition, [*Gertrude and Friends: The Wisconsin Magic Realists*](https://mam.org/exhibitions/gertrude-and-friends/?ref=hyperallergic.com), for which curator of American Art Thomas Busciglio-Ritter assembled work from the museum’s permanent collection by the artists closest to Abercrombie: John Wilde, Karl Priebe, Dudley Huppler, and Marshall Glasier, though Sylvia Fein is notably absent. The exhibition underscores the mutual support, comradeship, and spirit of rebellion shared by this cohort and other less-involved colleagues, presenting Abercrombie not as an isolated maker, but as part of a protective and inspirational community. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### The Hidden History of Stock Photography URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-hidden-history-of-stock-photography/ Last updated: 2026-07-08T21:08:15.000Z The term “stock photo” typically conjures a series of pejorative modifiers: “cliché,” “flat,” “mass produced.” A child about to blow on a dandelion. A slice of pie bleeding onto a plate. A happy family that somehow resembles everybody’s family and nobody’s family —especially if that family happens to be White. In the digital age, the stock photo is arguably the Rolodex of the imagination; what we repeatedly see and internalize over thousands of hours of screen time shapes what we expect to see in the real world — which means that racial representation in the most banal “stock” imagery can prove especially insidious. In her first book, *Stock Photo* (2026), Simona Supekar writes, “These sometimes inscrutable photos act as ciphers to clue us in to ourselves even as we are becoming ourselves. They can allow us to see what we value, and what we do not.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/book-cover.jpg) Cover of **Stock Photo* (Bloomsbury, 2026) by Simona Supekar (image courtesy Bloomsbury) The latest in Bloomsbury’s Object Lessons series (of which my book on [lipstick](http://bookshop.org/a/539/9798765135587?ref=hyperallergic.com) is a part), *Stock Photo* explores the disquieting ways in which popular racial hierarchies are often unwittingly perpetuated by stock photography online — images which now inform AI-generated representations of marginalized communities. “A stock search for ‘maternity’ and ‘Indian’ on one site yields a first page of mostly AI-generated results,” Supekar writes, “signifying that these filled a gap for something that did not exist in the first place.” Early digital image banks that reinforce racist and sexist stereotypes have served as the visual backdrop to almost all public discourse online, including memes. Photos of light-skinned Indian people, she writes, are vastly over-represented in Getty’s massive image collection. In another example, she explains that the search for “Black businessman” could, for many years, disturbingly yield “an image of a Black man sitting at a bar next to lines of cocaine.” _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Whitney Museum Screens Taken Over With Gaza Protest Messages URL: https://hyperallergic.com/whitney-museum-screens-taken-over-with-gaza-protest-messages/ Last updated: 2026-07-09T19:22:23.000Z Messages condemning Israel's violence in Gaza appeared over the advertising screens outside the Whitney Museum of American Art last week in an action by New York City-based artist Jonathan Allen. Around 10:30pm on July 2, Allen painted over two screens outside of the Manhattan museum with urgent dispatches in support of Palestine. The temporary installations, created with paint and plastic atop moving digital screens, are the 438th and 439th installments of his series [*Interruptions*](https://www.jonathanallen.org/interruptions?ref=hyperallergic.com)(2017–present). Many of his previous interventions have been placed over New York City subway advertisement displays to address a range of socialcauses, including abortion rights, racial justice, and immigration issues. Allen overlaid one screen with a paraphrased allegation contained in a June 2026 United Nations [report](https://www.un.org/unispal/document/coi-report-23jun26/?ref=hyperallergic.com): "The Israeli forces have deliberately targeted and killed Palestinian children." The report found that the Israeli government's violent actions have irrevocably "destroy\[ed\] the sanctity of childhood, including family ties, identity, innocence, safety and future." The second manipulated screen bore an excerpt from a conversation that took place between activists and authors Angela Davis and Ta-Nehisi Coates at the University of Michigan in 2025\. "If you can't draw the line at genocide, you probably can't draw the line at democracy," the 439th interruption reads, quoting a [remark](https://www.instagram.com/p/DGSNU3HAaC%5F/?ref=hyperallergic.com) Coates made regarding the Democratic Party's failure to consider Gaza during Kamala Harris's failed 2024 presidential campaign. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Interruption_439-1.jpeg) Allen's "Interruption 439" (2026) references a remark made by Ta-Nehisi Coates in conversation with Angela Davis in 2025. This year's Whitney Biennial has garnered criticism for being "[faint-hearted](https://hyperallergic.com/the-whitney-biennial-is-for-the-faint-hearted/)" amid a politically contentious moment in United States history **—** one that has also taken aim at the country's cultural institutions. Last year, the institution [suspended](https://hyperallergic.com/whitney-museum-suspends-independent-study-program/) its Independent Study Program (ISP) after the museum [canceled](https://hyperallergic.com/whitney-museum-cancels-performance-about-palestinian-mourning/) a performance exploring Palestinian mourning. Allen's installation attracted attention from the right-wing doxxing X account Stop Antisemitism, which accused the artist of "villify\[ing\] Jews," a claim he [denies](https://forward.com/news/836522/whitney-vandalized-israel-protest/?ref=hyperallergic.com). Ashley Reese, the Whitney's director of communications, told *Hyperallergic* in a statement that the museum removed the installations in a "timely manner" after learning about "an incident of vandalism on museum property" on July 3\. "The Museum maintains a zero-tolerance policy for vandalism, harassment, discrimination, or bias of any kind,” Reese continued. In an email to *Hyperallergic,* Allen said the purpose of this month's Whitney installation was to "focus attention on the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza." "Contextualizing this message within ... the corporate art complex is part of the point: To break through the niceties and apolitical nature of many contemporary art settings," Allen said. "Intervening in public settings is integral to the project: I want these interventions seen by anyone passing by," Allen continued. ### Looking Up at Constable’s Sky URL: https://hyperallergic.com/looking-up-at-constables-sky/ Last updated: 2026-07-08T10:00:28.000Z The World Cup quarterfinals are upon us, and so is the ultimate crossover. Surrealism meets jersey design in an updated kit for the Belgian team with an homage to René Magritte’s painting “Voice of Space.” The cherry on top is a cheeky “Ceci n'est pas une pipe” reference — gives new meaning to *o jogo bonito*, eh? In New York, the New Museum in Manhattan named Massimiliano Gioni as its next director, succeeding Lisa Phillips. Meanwhile, the state of Texas paved over the massive “Black Artists Matter” street artwork in Austin, just over six years after it was painted, following an order from Republican Governor Greg Abbott. Read on for John Giorno’s fugitive poetry, John Constable’s fascination with the seasons, and eight art books that reframe US history to read during the semiquincentennial. We also remember the life and legacy of Valerie Brathwaite, a Caracas-based artist who embodied the beauty of the natural world. *—Lakshmi Rivera Amin, associate editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/america-250-book-guide.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/8-art-books-to-reframe-americas-250th/) [ 8 Art Books to Reframe America’s 250th ](https://hyperallergic.com/8-art-books-to-reframe-americas-250th/) The Fourth of July fireworks and barbecues are behind us, but America 250 — and all its attendant propaganda — is still in full swing. Thankfully, artists, critics, curators, and museum professionals across the nation provide a deep well of books to make sense of this apocalyptic anniversary, using it as an opportunity to uncover ugly truths about United States history that the Trump administration and political right is doing its best to scrub from the record. Art reveals new ways of seeing — and we can always use more of them. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/8-art-books-to-reframe-americas-250th/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/texas-mural-newsletter.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/texas-covers-up-beloved-black-artists-matter-mural-in-austin/) - Officials in Austin [destroyed a prominent street artwork](https://hyperallergic.com/texas-covers-up-beloved-black-artists-matter-mural-in-austin/) displaying the message “Black Artists Matter” last week following an order from Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott. - The pink-and-blue away jerseys of the Belgian men's national soccer team [feature one of Magritte's lesser-known motifs](https://hyperallergic.com/belgiums-magritte-inspired-soccer-jersey-mirrors-a-surreal-world-cup/), along with the phrase “This is not a jersey” in an homage to the artist. - Valerie Brathwaite, the Trinidadian-born, Caracas-based artist whose undulating, organic sculptural forms reflected her love of the natural world, [has died at age 87](https://hyperallergic.com/valerie-brathwaite-abstract-sculptor-of-the-natural-world-dies-at-87/). - After a 10-month search, the New Museum in Manhattan announced today that its artistic director of 12 years, Massimiliano Gioni, [has been appointed as its next director](https://hyperallergic.com/massimiliano-gioni-named-director-of-new-museum/). --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/constable.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/john-constables-four-seasons/) [ John Constable’s Four Seasons ](https://hyperallergic.com/john-constables-four-seasons/) Art historian Susan Owens’s exquisitely illustrated new book narrates the painter’s story through his relationship to weather, place, and time. | Lauren Moya Ford [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/john-constables-four-seasons/) [ John Giorno Put Poetry on the Line ](https://hyperallergic.com/john-giorno-put-poetry-on-the-line/) In iconic works like his “Dial-a-Poem,” the artist offered a moment of sustained attention, a sense of relation, a novel perspective. | Tara Anne Dalbow [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/john-giorno-put-poetry-on-the-line/) ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/magritte-book.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/magritte-this-is-not-a-biography-zabus-campi-selfmadehero/) [ This Is Not a Review of a Biography of Magritte ](https://hyperallergic.com/magritte-this-is-not-a-biography-zabus-campi-selfmadehero/) In the graphic novel *Magritte: This is Not a Biography*, characters from the Surrealist artist’s paintings come to life. | Christine Ro [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/magritte-this-is-not-a-biography-zabus-campi-selfmadehero/) FEATURED OPPORTUNITY ****Paul & Daisy Soros — Fellowships for New Americans 2027** Up to $90,000 for immigrant & New American visual artists, architects & designers pursuing MFA, MA, PhD & other graduate degrees in any field at any accredited US institution. Read more on [**Hyperallergic*](https://hyperallergic.com/a-90-000-graduate-fellowship-for-immigrants-children-of-immigrants-in-the-visual-arts/). Deadline: October 29, 2026 | [pdsoros.org](http://pdsoros.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com) See more in this [month's list of opportunities](https://hyperallergic.com/opportunities-in-july-2026/) for artists, writers, and art workers! ### Valerie Brathwaite, Abstract Sculptor of the Natural World, Dies at 87 URL: https://hyperallergic.com/valerie-brathwaite-abstract-sculptor-of-the-natural-world-dies-at-87/ Last updated: 2026-07-07T23:36:29.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/PhotoEugeniaSucre_MALBABuenosAires2.jpg) Artist Valerie Brathwaite at her exhibition **A Flowing Path of Her Own* (2025–26) at the Museum of Latin American Art of Buenos Aires. (photo Eugenia Sucre, courtesy MALBA) Valerie Brathwaite, the Trinidadian-born, Caracas-based artist whose undulating, organic sculptural forms reflected her love of the natural world, has died at age 87\. The Museum of Latin American Art of Buenos Aires announced the news of her passing on their [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/DaeYDKQDFot/?img%5Findex=1&ref=hyperallergic.com) page on Monday, July 6\. The museum, which presented a [retrospective](https://malba.org.ar/en/evento/valerie-brathwaite-un-propio-andar-fluyente/?ref=hyperallergic.com) of the artist’s sculptures and drawings less than a year ago, described Brathwaite as an “artist of extraordinary sensitivity, whose work was driven by her admiration for life and nature” in the post. Born in San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago, in 1938, Brathwaite left her home country in the late 1950s for the United Kingdom, where she studied art and design at Hornsey College of Art and the Royal College of Art in London. Her academic training later took her to the École des Beaux-Art in Paris, where she worked with the Russian and French Cubist sculptor Ossip Zadkine. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/MALBAbuenosAiresSantiagoOrti2.jpg) Installation view of Valerie Brathwaite's **A Flowing Path of Her Own* (2025–26) at MALBA (photo Santiago Orti, courtesy MALBA) However, it wasn’t until after a 1969 visit to Caracas that Brathwaite’s practice began to germinate into the intuitive, biomorphic forms for which she is known today. During this trip, the artist befriended sculptor [Gego](https://hyperallergic.com/connecting-the-lines-between-gego-and-sarah-sze/), also known as Gertrud Goldschmidt, who encouraged her to move there. She followed the fellow immigrant artist’s advice and relocated to the Venezuelan capital within the year. In Caracas, she quickly became acquainted with artists, critics, and curators, including Mercedes Pardo, Marta Traba, Lourdes Blanco, and Miguel Arroyo. She began developing a style irreducible to the currents of modernism and conceptual art around her, consisting of polychromatic drawings and sculptures. These works, which attracted early art-world attention, recombined existing organic forms or imagined new ones inspired by the flora, fauna, and geology of her two homes in Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela. “\[Both countries share\] a common history, which is why Venezuela was always a reference for me,” she told [*Contemporary And América Latina*](https://contemporaryand.com/en/america-latina-magazine/texts/caribbean-musicality-in-the-work-of-valerie-brathwaite?ref=hyperallergic.com) in a 2024 interview. “I remember sitting with my parents and siblings during some vacations, watching the lights of Venezuela from Trinidad.” Critics identified this geographical aspect of her work as early as the 1970s. In an exhibition catalog essay for [*Sculptures by Valerie Brathwaite*](https://icaa.mfah.org/s/en/item/1164046?ref=hyperallergic.com#?c=&m=&s=&cv=&xywh=-628%2C0%2C4555%2C2549) — the artist’s first solo museum show, presented at the Museum of Fine Arts in Caracas in 1975 — Juan Calzadilla argues that by focusing on horizontality rather than verticality, Brathwaite “gives sculpture a new ‘aesthetic of the crawling,’ eschewing tradition and placing ‘the terrestrial’ at the core of South American culture.” This sense of horizontality carried through to many elements in her practice. Ranging from acrylic paint, concrete, MDF, plaster, clay, metals, and stuffed fabric beginning in the early 2000s, Brathwaite’s materials of choice often rejected hierarchies of medium in sculpture. Similarly, her tendency to display works either directly on gallery floors or on low, planar platforms reaffirmed the objects’ closeness to the earth rather than adherence to any particular academic or art historical lineage. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/HenriqueFariaGallerybyArturoSanchez1.jpg) Installation view of Valerie Brathwaite's **Where Have All The Flowers Gone?* (2021) at Henrique Faria Fine Art, New York (photo Arturo Sanchez, courtesy Henrique Faria Fine Art) Though her work shares aesthetic similarities with the voluminous forms of [Barbara Hepworth](https://hyperallergic.com/barbara-hepworth-monumental-elegance/), Jean Arp, and [Louise Bourgeois](https://hyperallergic.com/louise-bourgeoiss-life-was-as-monumental-as-her-art/), the artist forged a naturalist sensibility that was entirely her own. In Brathwaite’s own words, she was fascinated with “the overwhelming beauty of mountains, rocks, stones, exotic plants, women’s breasts and legs, male torsos, sunsets, and the marvelous bodies of animals,” and saw sculpture as a way to express the sensuality of the natural world. The fluidity between the artist’s interior desires and the exterior worlds occasionally bled into music, too. A [self-described](https://www.instagram.com/brathwaite.valerie/?ref=hyperallergic.com) “Sculptress & Dj,” Brathwaite began developing what the Museo Reina Sofía [describes](https://www.museoreinasofia.es/en/activity/shore-tide-current-oceanic-caribbean?ref=hyperallergic.com) as “a rich sound world shaped by an experimentation and the use of scratching that invoke the rhythms of jazz and freestyle” in the 1990s. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Valerie-en-el-Museo-de-Bellas-Artes-1975.-Fotografi--a-Vladimir-Sersa.jpg) Valerie in the Museum of Fine Arts in Caracas in 1975 (photo Vladimir Sersa, courtesy Henrique Faria Fine Art) In the same 2024 feature in *Contemporary And*, writer Nohora Arrieta Fernández identified the musical quality that extends across all of Brathwaite’s work, describing its unceasing nature as akin to flowers blooming and volcanoes erupting. “If there were one single word to describe her, it would be truth,” Henrique Faria and Eugenia Sucre of the New York gallery Henrique Faria Fine Art, which represents Brathwaite, told *Hyperallergic*. “Let the music play,” they continued. “Keep dancing, even when there is no music, Valerie Marie.” The artist’s [friends and family](https://www.instagram.com/p/DaeL6eBjh8S/?img%5Findex=1&ref=hyperallergic.com) held a memorial for Brathwaite in the East Cemetery in Caracas this afternoon, July 7. ### Massimiliano Gioni Named Director of New Museum URL: https://hyperallergic.com/massimiliano-gioni-named-director-of-new-museum/ Last updated: 2026-07-07T21:54:23.000Z After a 10-month search, the New Museum in Manhattan announced today that its artistic director of 12 years, Massimiliano Gioni, has been appointed as its next director. Gioni succeeds Lisa Phillips, the institution's second-ever director, who announced her [retirement after 26 years](https://www.newmuseum.org/person/lisa-phillips/?ref=hyperallergic.com) at the museum last September. With 20 years of experience and several title changes, Gioni not only co-established the New Museum Triennial, which launched in 2009, but has curated solo exhibitions for artists including Lynda Benglis, Judy Chicago, Theaster Gates, Hans Haacke, Nicole Eisenman, Faith Ringgold, Kahlil Joseph, Marta Minujin, Chris Ofili, and Raymond Pettibon. In 2021, Gioni helped realize the late Nigerian curator Okwui Enwezor's vision for [*Grief and Grievance: Art and Mourning in America*](https://hyperallergic.com/grief-and-grievance-new-museum/), a pivotal group exhibition centering Black grief and the impacts of white nationalism. Gioni also debuted the New Museum's brand-new (and [polarizing](https://hyperallergic.com/what-do-we-really-think-of-the-new-new-museum/)) OMA-designed expansion this year by curating *New Humans: Memories of the Future,* the gargantuan inaugural group exhibition analyzing the future of humanity as technology advances. He is also co-curating the [largest museum survey](https://hyperallergic.com/largest-ever-arthur-jafa-survey-coming-to-new-museum/) of established video artist Arthur Jafa, which will open in late September. Like his predecessor, Gioni has worked through some tumultuous periods in the New Museum’s history. Under the previous director, Phillips, unionized workers accused management of poor working conditions, [unfair labor practices](https://hyperallergic.com/581922/new-museum-faces-charges-of-unfair-labor-practices-in-a-union-complaint/), and [stalled contract negotiations](https://hyperallergic.com/507015/new-museum-union-rallies-against-stalled-contract-negotiations-during-summer-exhibition-openings/). Hailing from just outside of Milan, Gioni began his career at the Italian contemporary art magazine *Flash Art* in 2000, and was laterdispatched to the United States as an editor. After striking a friendship with Maurizio Cattelan through an interview, Gioni entered the American curatorial sphere alongside the Italian artist and a fellow curator, Ali Subotnick, through the creation of The Wrong Gallery — a cheeky Chelsea doorway that functioned as [New York City's smallest exhibition space](https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2005/dec/21/art?ref=hyperallergic.com) from 2002 to 2005\. He was also appointed as the artistic director of the Nicola Trussardi Foundation in Milan in 2002 — a position he still holds today. In a [*Wall Street Journal*](https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887323375204578271882373148640?ref=hyperallergic.com) feature, Phillips said that she hired Gioni as a curator in 2006 because “he can see the need of an institution from so many different angles, from the position of the artist, of his colleagues, of donors, and the general public.” In addition to his extensive exhibition roster at the New Museum, Gioni has curated several international shows and biennials throughout his career. He was the [youngest-ever curator](https://www.labiennale.org/en/art/2013/curatore?ref=hyperallergic.com) tapped to organize the Venice Biennale in 2013, a milestone that followed his earlier work alongside Marta Kuzma for Manifesta 5 (2004), Cattelan and Subotnick for the fourth Berlin Biennale (2006), and for the eighth Gwangju Biennale (2010). However, while organizing an exhibition at the Nicola Trussardi Foundation for the Triennale di Milano in 2017, Gioni came under fire for the [unauthorized inclusion of several video works](https://hyperallergic.com/syrian-collectives-videos-turn-up-in-triennial-after-they-refused-to-participate/) by the Syrian filmmaker collective Abounaddara, which had rejected his earlier invitation to participate. On top of his work at the Foundation, Gioni has also organized exhibitions at Museo Jumex in Mexico City, the Deste Foundation in Athens, and Qatar Museums in Doha. “I think of this appointment less as a recognition of my work than a vote of confidence in our entire institution and its staff,” Gioni said in a press statement about his new role. “I am grateful to the many artists, colleagues, and supporters who together have built the New Museum into the globally respected and beloved institution that we are so proud to call home.” ### 8 Art Books to Reframe America’s 250th URL: https://hyperallergic.com/8-art-books-to-reframe-americas-250th/ Last updated: 2026-07-08T17:02:16.000Z The Fourth of July fireworks and barbecues are behind us, but America 250 — and all its attendant propaganda — is still in full swing. Thankfully, artists, critics, curators, and museum professionals across the nation provide a deep well of books to make sense of this apocalyptic anniversary, using it as an opportunity to uncover ugly truths about United States history that the Trump administration and political right is doing its best to [scrub](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-accuses-smithsonian-of-anti-white-activism-in-draconian-new-report/) [from](https://hyperallergic.com/how-trump-impacted-arts-and-culture-in-2025/) [the](https://hyperallergic.com/texas-tattoo-artist-gets-30-year-sentence-over-anti-trump-zines/) [record](https://hyperallergic.com/house-proposes-slashing-major-arts-education-grant/). Artist Keisha Scarville's series of images meditating on her father's passport explores the dimensions of the fraught document, while a photographer chronicles the annual tradition in which drag queens flood Fire Island on the Fourth of July to make their presence known and felt. Matthew Davis retells the story of Mount Rushmore through the desecration of the Black Hills, and contributors to the catalog for the blockbuster *MONUMENTS* exhibition in Los Angeles consider the layered histories of sculptures and statues across the country. In other words, art reveals new ways of seeing — and we can always use more of them. —*Lakshmi Rivera Amin, associate editor* --- [***Declaration House***](http://bookshop.org/a/539/9781439927649?ref=hyperallergic.com), edited by Anna Arabindan-Kesson, Paul M. Farber, and Yolanda Wisher | Temple University Press, July 2026 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/book-cover--15-.jpg) When Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence at a rented home in Philadelphia, he was not alone. Robert Hemmings, an enslaved valet and the brother of Sally Hemings, was by his side. The catalog for Sonya Clark and Monument Lab’s installation “The Descendants of Monticello,” previously on view at the home now known as Declaration House, begins with a dedication to Hemmings himself. It expands into a critical retelling of the story of the founding document with enslaved people at its center through essays by scholars like Matthew Jordan-Miller Kenyatta and Salamishah Tillet, as well as a conversation between archivist J. Calvin Jefferson Sr. and his grandson, artist Jabari Jefferson, both Monticello descendants. Together these voices reframe American history around the enslaved Black people who built the nation, offering a clear-eyed vision of a future that hinges on a confrontation with the past. —*Lakshmi Rivera Amin* --- [***MONUMENTS***](http://bookshop.org/a/539/9781636810997?ref=hyperallergic.com), edited by Hannah Burstein and Hamza Walker | Delmonico Books, June 2026 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/book-cover--5-.jpg) Two hundred and fifty years of — what, exactly? When [*MONUMENTS*](https://hyperallergic.com/monuments-collapses-american-history-on-itself/) opened at LA’s Museum of Contemporary Art last year, it asked the same question, probing how the United States has told (and retold) the story of itself through monumental sculpture. This story, as the exhibition and its new catalog demonstrate, is inextricably linked to slavery — not only as a historical institution, but also as an ongoing site of political struggle that reveals the nation’s shifting self-conception. Essays and conversations from exhibition curators Hamza Walker, Kara Walker, and Bennett Simpson, and many others, examine how art has shaped and contested our past, present, and future. Alongside a rich showcase of installation images and individual artworks, *Monuments* explores how one of America’s most violent legacies echoes across contemporary visuality. —*Claudia Ross* --- [***Passports***](https://www.mackbooks.us/products/passports-keisha-scarville?ref=hyperallergic.com)by Keisha Scarville | MACK, May 2026 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/book-cover--9-.jpg) Passport photos are tools — keys to crossing borders, but also governmental weapons of surveillance and classification. Photographer Keisha Scarville makes something else of them in *Passports*, reworking a single such image of her father, Keith Revanol Scarville, a Guyanese immigrant to New York City, hundreds of times. She paints, draws, and collages glitter, beads, bits of hair, and other images onto his passport photo — taken in the mid-1960s, when he was only 16 years old — sowing a thicket of personal history on the surface of what otherwise might be a dehumanizing, bureaucratic object. The book, like these transformations, is densely, hauntingly beautiful, interspersed with archival images and conversations between the artist and her father, plus a moving essay by scholar Tina M. Campt. “Guyana didn’t have anything more for me,” Keith Scarville tells his daughter. “I’ve been in this country for almost fifty-eight years … it’s changed me.” —*Julia Curl* --- [***A Biography of a Mountain: The Making and Meaning of Mount Rushmore***](http://bookshop.org/a/539/9781250285102?ref=hyperallergic.com) by Matthew Davis *|* St. Martin's Press, November 2025 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/book-cover--7-.jpg) Between 2022 and 2024, Matthew Davis traveled to the Black Hills of South Dakota in pursuit of answers. He spoke with Native people and White settlers in the region to capture an expansive portrait of Mount Rushmore and the space it inhabits, for 'it is impossible to separate the land of the Black Hills — and the people who currently live in and have historically claimed the land — from the meanings of the memorial.' This approach offers the primary appeal of the book: Davis reveals that he is uninterested in 'the pinpoint accuracy that Western scholarship demands' as a 'writer and not a trained historian.' Rather, he is after something more humane, something akin to oral histories. What emerges is a series of stories that, when woven together, reveal so much more than facts and figures. —*Irvin Weathersby Jr.* [*Read the review*](https://hyperallergic.com/chipping-away-at-the-facade-of-mount-rushmore/) --- [***Family Amnesia: Chinese American Resilience***](http://bookshop.org/a/539/9781954119444?ref=hyperallergic.com) by Betty Yu | Daylight Books, July 2025 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/book-cover--14-.jpg) We are all patchworks of history, family, and memory, recalled and recombined and come back to haunt. What I love about Betty Yu’s book is that she makes that truth tangible. *Family Amnesia*’s exciting design combines, annotates, and overlays family photos, her own past work, and historical ephemera and documentation. Its content, too, is a pastiche. The book is dedicated to past and future — her late family, her young son. The titular introduction is adapted from a 2021 essay originally published in *e-flux*, and the final pages see her fit herself into the larger trajectory of Chinese-American history via nodes on a timeline. After “Central Pacific recruits Chinese workers to build a transcontinental railroad” in 1865, for example, is a note about her own great-grandfather’s immigration to Reno, Nevada, where he worked on the railroad. Sharon Mizota once meditated in these pages on an [Asian-American tendency toward generational amnesia](https://hyperallergic.com/878698/asian-american-art-is-plagued-by-generational-amnesia/). This book shows that there are many ways to remember. —*Lisa Yin Zhang* --- [***The War of Art: A History of Artists’ Protest in America***](https://bookshop.org/a/539/9781804296332?ref=hyperallergic.com) by Lauren O’Neill-Butler | Verso, June 2025 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/book-cover--12-.jpg) There is no dearth of books about art and activism — in fact, I dare say there have been more titles on this subject in recent years than any of us has the patience to read. But Lauren O’Neill-Butler’s *The War of Art* stands apart for a simple reason: It is engaging, propulsive writing that not only looks back at history, but also reveals timely lessons for the art-as-resistance of today. The artists and collectives discussed in this book have unmasked the Sackler family’s artwashing of the opioid crisis (Nan Goldin’s [PAIN](https://hyperallergic.com/452745/nan-goldin-and-sackler-p-a-i-n-protest-the-opioid-crisis-at-harvards-sackler-museum/)), advocated for Indigenous land rights (Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds), and planted a massive wheatfield in Manhattan’s Battery Park Landfill (Agnes Denes). Their efforts are bound together not by a shared poeticism or political sentimentality, but by effective tactics and actionable impact that may very well be blueprints for confronting the new wave of authoritarianism. —*Valentina Di Liscia* --- [**Fire Island Invasion: Day of Independence**](http://bookshop.org/a/539/9788862088336?ref=hyperallergic.com) by Anderson Zaca| Damiani Books, May 2025 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/book-cover--8-.jpg) Drag queens invade Fire Island, a storied haven of queer and trans community, every Fourth of July weekend. [This tradition](https://www.pineshistory.org/the-archives/the-invasion-est-1976-the-70s?ref=hyperallergic.com) began in 1976 after a local restaurant ignominiously denied service to [Teri Warren](https://www.pineshistory.org/the-archives/the-invasion-est-1976-the-70s?ref=hyperallergic.com), who happened to be dressed to the nines in drag, and Panzi (Thom Hansen) led efforts to organize a group of fellow drag queens to visit Fire Island to prove a point. The spectacle was so well-received that it became an annual tradition. The invasion cemented a paradigm shift of no longercapitulating to straight homophobes and closeted trans and queer people on Fire Island, who soon left or came out publicly. What has been missing for some time is acomprehensive art book that documents this annual festival. Photographer Anderson Zaca fills this gap with his new book. Zaca, who began photographing the invasion in 2007, has honed his approach to juxtapose the art of drag with the island’sbeachy environs. Whereas most photos of drag queens are staged in dark spaces at night, Zaca excels at the challenge of portraying these artists in full sunlight and accentuating the spectacular ironies of drag on the seashore. —*Daniel Larkin* --- [**An Indigenous Present**](http://bookshop.org/a/539/9781636811024?ref=hyperallergic.com), edited by Jeffrey Gibson | Delmonico Books and BIG NDN Press, August 2023 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/book-cover--6--1.jpg) This is a gorgeous coffee table book that offers a visual delight of art by the leading practitioners of contemporary art from the Native American, Alaska Native, Inuit, and First Nations communities. Edited by Jeffrey Gibson, one of the foremost figures of this new contemporary art renaissance, he explains in his introduction that 20 years ago, he was dreaming about a community of other Indigenous makers and the challenges of identifying as an Indigenous or Native artist. Twenty years forward and it’s quite clear he’s been able to help create such a community that can be as diverse and varied as he once dreamed. I’d highly recommend this book, which includes interviews Gibson did with some of the participating artists, for anyone who wants a good overview of Indigenous contemporary artists in the United States and Canada. —*Hrag Vartanian* ### John Giorno Put Poetry on the Line URL: https://hyperallergic.com/john-giorno-put-poetry-on-the-line/ Last updated: 2026-07-07T20:28:39.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/JGF_401-LIFE-IS-A-KILLER-copy-2.jpg) John Giorno, "LIFE IS A KILLER" (2018), acrylic on canvas (photo courtesy Giorno Poetry Systems; all other photos Tara Anne Dalbow/**Hyperallergic*) LOS ANGELES — Through a sleek, ergonomic handset, the voice of poet Diane di Prima recites “Revolutionary Letter #7” (1971), in which she imagines a million earthworms tunneling under society’s oppressive structure until it falls. Press another button on the touch-tone phone resting on the round white table, and you may hear Frank O’Hara promising that “We shall have everything we want and there’ll be no more dying,” or John Giorno observing that “the meeting of the two minds is the awareness of the space they are sharing together.” _This post is for subscribers only._ ### John Constable’s Four Seasons URL: https://hyperallergic.com/john-constables-four-seasons/ Last updated: 2026-07-07T21:11:55.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/constable-clouds-2.jpg) John Constable, "Cloud study" (1830–35), watercolor over graphite (image public domain CC0 via the [Metropolitan Museum of Art](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/727706?ref=hyperallergic.com)) Dozens of books have been written about the British landscape painter John Constable since his death in 1837, including three major biographies published just last year. Yet a new account by art historian Susan Owens, formerly a curator of paintings at the Victoria and Albert Museum, takes a fresh and engaging approach to the renowned 19th-century painter and his work, encouraging us to reconsider his life and landscapes. *Constable’s Year: An Artist in Changing Seasons* (2026) tells his story through his extraordinary relationship to weather, place, and time. Owens’s book bucks the usual chronological format, instead dividing Constable’s experiences and artworks into chapters based on the spring, summer, fall, and winter periods that defined his life. Her exquisitely illustrated book — which features a wealth of the artist’s lush paintings and breathtaking but rarely seen sketches — convincingly argues that Constable’s deep connection to the land doesn’t just set him apart from his peers; it also keeps his work relevant today. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Texas Covers Up Beloved "Black Artists Matter" Mural in Austin URL: https://hyperallergic.com/texas-covers-up-beloved-black-artists-matter-mural-in-austin/ Last updated: 2026-07-07T19:12:45.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/David-Brendan-Hall---BAM-2.jpg) An East Austin street artwork reading "Black Artists Mattered" was covered by the city as part of a statewide order to remove "political ideologies" from Texas roadways. (photo David Brendan Hall, all images courtesy Ishia Adams) Officials in Austin destroyed a prominent street artwork displaying the message "Black Artists Matter" last week following an order from Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott. The mural, which spanned East Austin's 11th Street, was painted by dozens of community members in June 2020 amid a wave of historic [racial justice protests](https://hyperallergic.com/photographs-george-floyd-protests-minneapolis-mourning/) that followed the murder of George Floyd. The [Austin Justice Coalition](https://austinjustice.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com), a local organization, led the [project](https://hyperallergic.com/how-black-artists-in-texas-demonstrate-the-spirit-of-juneteenth/) alongside the art center Capitol View Arts. Last fall, Governor Abbott [directed](https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/governor-greg-abbott-today-directed-the-texas-department-of-transportation-txdot-to-ensure-counties-and-cities-are-in-compliance-with-federal-and-state-guidelines-regarding-roadway-safety-tex?ref=hyperallergic.com) Texas cities to “remove any and all political ideologies” from streets and threatened to withhold roadway funding from municipalities that did not comply. Abbott's government billed the move as a way to reduce distraction on roadways by creating "[uniformity and predictability](https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ref=hyperallergic.com#search/Brad.Cesak%40austintexas.gov/QgrcJHrnwgfWCwLVbRLdBTgSgrRVbpQJjTQ?projector=1&messagePartId=0.1)," but critics have denounced the measure as a [broader attempt](https://hyperallergic.com/after-republican-threats-dc-begins-removal-of-black-lives-matter-mural/) to erase Black and [LGBTQ+ history](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/12/us/san-antonio-texas-rainbow-crosswalks.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) from public visibility. In an email to *Hyperallergic,* Ishia Adams, executive director of the Austin Justice Coalition, recalled watching the artwork's completion in 2020. "I still remember those couple of days," Adams said, "and how much joy it brought to the artists who participated, as well as how seen the Black Austin community felt." Adams said the removal of the community artwork signaled that "erasure of Black folks in Austin is consistent." ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Silguero.Art---BAM.jpg) The mural was created over the course of 72 hours in June 2020 by nearly 70 community members, including local artists and activists. A spokesperson for Austin Transportation and Public Works confirmed to *Hyperallergic* that the "Black Artists Matter" mural was covered on Thursday, July 2. The mural was situated in Austin's Sixth Square District, a neighborhood that was once heavily racially [segregated](https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/black-history/texas-austin-black-history-six-square-segregation/269-d44ca7bf-c03a-4c78-a6de-2d7d6353e54a?ref=hyperallergic.com) and is now known as the city's [Black Cultural District](https://www.austintexas.org/austin-insider-blog/blog/post/six-square-african-american-cultural-heritage-district/?ref=hyperallergic.com). Adams explained that the mural sat in front of the historic [Victory Grill](https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/victory-grill?ref=hyperallergic.com), where Black soldiers returning from World War II had congregated. The mural also punctuated the home of the arts nonprofit Kenny Dorham's Backyard, whichAdams described as "a place where all mediums of Black art are represented to this day." The "Black Artists Matter" display is one of at least 15 street artworks, including LGBTQ+ Pride rainbow crosswalks, that Austin plans to remove through this August in compliance with the order, according to a document by Austin Transportation reviewed by *Hyperallergic.* Abbott's order follows a similar mandate issued in Florida last summer by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, which led to the [arrest of six people](https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/arrests-protests-sidewalk-chalk-floridas-rainbow-crosswalks-became-pol-rcna228646?ref=hyperallergic.com) who attempted to recreate a [removed Pulse Night Club](https://hyperallergic.com/erasure-of-rainbow-memorial-for-pulse-shooting-victims-raises-alarm-in-florida/) shooting memorial crosswalk with chalk. Austin officials had asked the state in November to exempt the sites from destruction, citing crash data that showed the artworks "do not pose a risk to safety." However, Abbott's government rejected that appeal in May. “In a city that has said time and time again that it is a ‘safe haven’ for all, that has never been the truth for Black folks,” Adams told *Hyperallergic*. ### Belgium’s Magritte-Inspired Soccer Jersey Mirrors a Surreal World Cup URL: https://hyperallergic.com/belgiums-magritte-inspired-soccer-jersey-mirrors-a-surreal-world-cup/ Last updated: 2026-07-27T19:33:18.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/715153--1--1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/magritte_voice-of-space-76.2553.101_ph-1.jpg) The Belgian men's national soccer team's Away jersey shows motifs from René Magritte's “Voice of space (la voix des airs)” (1931) (left: photo courtesy Adidas; right: © 2023 C. Herscovici / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; courtesy Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation & Peggy Guggenheim Collection) The Red Devils, the Belgian men's national soccer team, secured their place in the World Cup quarter-finals after annihilating the United States team 4–1 in Seattle last night. One might not have paid any attention to the Belgian team's pink-and-blue jerseys amid the drama of [FIFA's overturned suspension](https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/06/politics/trump-red-card-fifa-world-cup-balogun?ref=hyperallergic.com) of US forward Folarin Balogun and what transpired [throughout the game](https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/soccer/worldcup/2026/07/06/usa-belgium-world-cup-live-score-usmnt-lineups-watch-highlights/90817355007/?ref=hyperallergic.com), but the design's references to Belgian Surrealist painter René Magritte certainly channel the team's lofty performance. Designed by Adidas, Belgium’s away jerseys are speckled with a layered circular motif Magritte used in a handful of paintings early in his career. The pattern and color palette borrow from Magritte’s “Grelots roses, ciels en lambeaux (Pink Bells, Tattered Skies)” (1930), a trompe l’oeil framed diptych held in the [Museo Reina Sofía collection](https://www.museoreinasofia.es/en/collections/artwork/grelots-roses-ciels-en-lambeaux-pink-bells-tattered-skies?ref=hyperallergic.com). The left composition depicts a soft, partly cloudy sky, while that on the right shows spherical jingle bells rendered in salmon pink, which cast shadows over an equally fleshy colored backdrop embellished with patches of sky blue. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### The Hudson River School’s Missive URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-hudson-river-schools-missive/ Last updated: 2026-07-07T18:30:22.000Z Artists have been plumbing New York for political messaging for hundreds of years now. Check out Ed Simon’s piece on the prescient apocalyptic visions of Hudson River School artists like Thomas Cole, whose *Course of Empire* series (1833–36) is on long-term view at the New York Historical. Meanwhile, artist Akira Ikezoe — whose work is currently in both MoMA PS1’s *Greater New York* and the *Whitney Biennial* — is a contemporary messenger: His painted bears and frogs croak out an urgent ecological message for today’s age. I took the ferry home from Jersey amid the heat wave this Independence Day weekend, and saw the Statue of Liberty shimmering in the distance like a mirage. Seemed an apt-enough symbol. Indeed, in a must-read piece this week, Aruna D’Souza rounds up contemporary artists who have appropriated Lady Liberty in their work as the nation convulses under the Trump administration’s crackdowns on basic rights. This week, ton of fun things to do to escape the weather. Top pick: Brooklyn Art Book Fair is at Recess this weekend — fingers crossed its tagline, “hotter than ever,” is just metaphorical. —*Lisa Yin Zhang, associate editor* --- --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/hudson-river-school.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-hudson-river-schools-american-apocalypse/) [ The Hudson River School’s American Apocalypse ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-hudson-river-schools-american-apocalypse/) One of the United States’s first major art movements registered anxieties about industrialization, empire, and environmental ruin. | Ed Simon [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-hudson-river-schools-american-apocalypse/) --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/philip-guston.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/philip-gustons-lines-of-poetry/) ### John Yau ***Life With P. - Philip Guston: Paintings and Drawings 1964–1978* at Hauser and Wirth** "Guston’s things are the opposite of Minimalism’s shiny objects. They are old, used, homely survivors, evidence of a life whose history we will never know — the 'riddle' of things." [*Read the full review*](https://hyperallergic.com/philip-gustons-lines-of-poetry/) ### John Yau ***Charles Seliger: The Structure of Matter, A Centennial Exhibition* at Hollis Taggart** "*Charles Seliger: The Structure of Matter, A Centennial Exhibition* brings overdue attention to this wonderful artist, who saw beauty in the invisible structures and patterns governing the visual world." [*Read the full review*](https://hyperallergic.com/charles-seliger-painted-natures-invisible-architecture/) --- ## Interview [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/andre-clark.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-ballroom-icon-who-paved-a-new-way/) [ The Ballroom Icon Who Paved a New Way ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-ballroom-icon-who-paved-a-new-way/) Amid all of the kitty-kat meow of today’s Vogue Fem performers, Andre Mizrahi Clark has the stern, calm energy of a lion tipping on its toes. | Ridikkuluz [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-ballroom-icon-who-paved-a-new-way/) [ Carmelita Tropicana Was Born Out of the Closet ](https://hyperallergic.com/carmelita-tropicana-was-born-out-of-the-closet/) Hyperallergic spoke with artist Alina Troyano about lesbian performance in 1980s Lower East Side, satirizing stereotypes, and embodying her iconic alter ego. | Natalie Haddad [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/carmelita-tropicana-was-born-out-of-the-closet/) --- ## Feature [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/akira-newsletter.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/akira-ikezoes-frogs-and-bears-have-something-urgent-to-tell-us/) [ Akira Ikezoe’s Frogs and Bears Have Something Urgent to Tell Us ](https://hyperallergic.com/akira-ikezoes-frogs-and-bears-have-something-urgent-to-tell-us/) The cartoonish earnestness of both artist and artwork belies a sharp attentiveness to the catastrophes unfolding around us. | Sofia Thiệu D’Amico [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/akira-ikezoes-frogs-and-bears-have-something-urgent-to-tell-us/) [ What Does the Statue of Liberty Stand For? ](https://hyperallergic.com/what-does-the-statue-of-liberty-stand-for/) As artists like Amy Sherald, Marta Minujín, and Faith Ringgold remind us, the monument is far from a neutral symbol of so-called American values. | Aruna D’Souza [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/what-does-the-statue-of-liberty-stand-for/) --- ## Books [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/met-book-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-met-museums-staff-have-some-thoughts-about-the-art/) [ The Met Museum’s Staff Have Some Thoughts About the Art ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-met-museums-staff-have-some-thoughts-about-the-art/?ref=daily-newsletter) A new book gathers essays by the museum’s curators, researchers, librarians, and conservators on everything from Renaissance portraiture to the work of Wendy Red Star. | Anna Lee [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-met-museums-staff-have-some-thoughts-about-the-art/?ref=daily-newsletter) --- ## What Else Is Happening? - Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the City Council will provide the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) with its [highest-ever yearly appropriation](https://hyperallergic.com/nyc-mayor-mamdani-approves-record-323m-funding-for-culture/) as part of the city’s Fiscal Year 2027 budget. - Union negotiations for a second contract with the Guggenheim Museum are entering their sixth month, with an emphasis on job security after abrupt layoffs last year. Staff across several departments have voted to [authorize a strike](https://hyperallergic.com/guggenheim-museum-union-votes-to-authorize-strike/) if necessary. - Following the recent seizure of several objects from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection in June, the total [valuation of looted artifacts surrendered by the museum](https://hyperallergic.com/value-of-looted-objects-at-met-museum-tops-95m-after-new-seizures/) now stands at a whopping $95 million. - After 11years in business, the contemporary art gallery Lyles & King [announced its closure](https://hyperallergic.com/new-york-gallery-lyles-king-to-close-after-11-years/) in a social media post thanking its artists and supporters. - Visit Wave Hill for their Sunset Wednesdays, this week featuring Jenn Jade 5tet. Pack a picnic and enjoy the live jazz. (Wed July 8) \[[wavehill.org](https://www.wavehill.org/calendar/sunset-wednesdays-jennifer-jade-ledesna?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Join in an evening at the Morgan Library & Museum and hear from poet, art critic, and author [John Yau](https://hyperallergic.com/author/john-yau/) in celebration of an exhibition devoted to poet John Ashbery and his artist friends. (Thurs July 9) \[[themorgan.org](https://www.themorgan.org/programs/evening-john-yau?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Metrograph is collaborating with McNally Editions to celebrate the release of the first English translation of Éric Rohmer's *Élisabeth*. They're screening all of Rohmer's *Six Moral Tales Cycle* for the occasion. (Fri July 10) \[[metrograph.com](https://metrograph.com/rohmers-elisabeth/?utm%5Fsource=email&utm%5Fmedium=campaign&utm%5Fcampaign=Rohmer%27s%20%C3%89lisabeth%20%26%20His%20Six%20Moral%20Tales%20-%20DPB&utm%5Fid=01KWA5D5NH006SEC5DJK322HYT&%5Fkx=a4LIAbF1nr6WqgTMNYINGuj8vMGKM5AryfurbPBba%5FA.Rar8SJ)\] - Join Brooklyn-based print shop The Arm for a poster-making workshop at Poster House, which combines letterpress, block printing, and bold design. (Fri July 10) \[[posterhouse.org](https://posterhouse.org/event/west-side-fest-poster-design-workshop-with-the-arm/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Attend the Opening Reception of *Still Here: Harlem Eternal*, an exhibition presented by Defend Harlem and Children's Art Carnival. The exhibition honors the people, histories, and cultural legacy of Harlem through photography, poetry, visual art, and film. (Fri July 10) \[[childrensartcarnival.org](https://childrensartcarnival.org/event/opening-reception-still-here-harlem-eternal-the-harlem-defender/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - The Brooklyn Art Book Fair, chock full of books by artist-run presses and other independent organizations, is at Recess this weekend! (Fri July 10–Sun July 12) \[[bkabf.info](http://bkabf.info/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] ### Trump’s Unhinged Attacks on the Smithsonian URL: https://hyperallergic.com/trumps-unhinged-attacks-on-the-smithsonian/ Last updated: 2026-07-27T20:04:43.000Z In the Trump administration’s latest attack on the Smithsonian Institution, the White House published a 162-page report on July 4 accusing the organization of “extreme political activism” and “anti-White activism.” The document is a severe escalation of President Trump’s ongoing crackdown on diverse narratives and the telling of United States history. His administration goes after specific museum exhibits in the new report, including something as innocuous and well-meaning as a butterfly-shaped protest prop symbolizing resilience among undocumented immigrants. It seems a fitting time, then, to revisit work that prods, challenges, and even mocks authority from the margins. Don’t miss Natalie Haddad’s interview with the hilarious, irreverent Carmelita Tropicana (aka Alina Troyano), a lesbian performance artist and doyenne of New York’s downtown theater scene who subverts the stereotype of the “Latin spitfire.” *—Valentina Di Liscia, senior editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/smithsonian.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-accuses-smithsonian-of-anti-white-activism-in-draconian-new-report/) [ Trump Accuses Smithsonian of “Anti-White Activism” in Draconian New Report ](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-accuses-smithsonian-of-anti-white-activism-in-draconian-new-report/) More than a year after President Trump ordered his administration to investigate so-called “race-centered ideology” at the Smithsonian Institution, the White House has published a new report accusing museum leadership of promoting “extreme political activism.” Published on July 4, “Saving America’s Story” was authored by the Trump-appointed Domestic Policy Council. Throughout the 162-page document, the council scrutinizes how the institution’s National Museum of American History (NMAH) portrays topics such as race, immigration, and gender. | Isa Farfan [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-accuses-smithsonian-of-anti-white-activism-in-draconian-new-report/) ### Other News - [A jewel heist took place](https://hyperallergic.com/thieves-steal-over-4-5m-in-jewelry-from-french-museum/) early on July 5 at a museum in France. The band of thieves smashed several display cases on the gallery floors and made off with 27 pieces of fine jewelry worth approximately €4 million (**\~**$4.5 million). --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/The2025SFArtBookFair_photobyLizzyMyers.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/san-francisco-art-book-fair-celebrates-10-years/) ****San Francisco Art Book Fair Celebrates 10 Years** Presented by Minnesota Street Project Foundation, SFABF returns this July, welcoming 160 independent publishers from around the world. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/san-francisco-art-book-fair-celebrates-10-years/) --- ## Queer Elders [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/carmelita-tropicana.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/carmelita-tropicana-was-born-out-of-the-closet/) [ Carmelita Tropicana Was Born Out of the Closet ](https://hyperallergic.com/carmelita-tropicana-was-born-out-of-the-closet/) Hyperallergic spoke with artist Alina Troyano about lesbian performance in 1980s Lower East Side, satirizing stereotypes, and embodying her iconic alter ego. | Natalie Haddad [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/carmelita-tropicana-was-born-out-of-the-closet/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/bard-mfa-thesis.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/bard-mfa-presents-2026-thesis-exhibition-in-barrytown-ny/) ****Bard MFA Presents 2026 Thesis Exhibition in Barrytown, NY** “Reassembly: The Class of 2027 Thesis Performances and Exhibition” will be held in the Bard College Massena Exhibition Center from July 11-19, 2026. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/bard-mfa-presents-2026-thesis-exhibition-in-barrytown-ny/) --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/elizabeth-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-ruthless-portraits-of-elizabeth-is-reign/) [ The Ruthless Portraits of Elizabeth I’s Reign ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-ruthless-portraits-of-elizabeth-is-reign/) An exhibition in London traces how depictions of the monarch projected an image of authority, power, wealth, and the right to be regarded as a god in all but name. | Michael Glover [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-ruthless-portraits-of-elizabeth-is-reign/) [ In Two Chicago Exhibitions, Liberation Takes the Floor ](https://hyperallergic.com/in-two-chicago-exhibitions-liberation-takes-the-floor/) Shows at MCA Chicago and Wrightwood 659 chart a path from colonial dispossession to the possibilities of dance, music, and community. | Laura Zornosa [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/in-two-chicago-exhibitions-liberation-takes-the-floor/) --- ## Books [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/met-book.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-met-museums-staff-have-some-thoughts-about-the-art/) [ The Met Museum’s Staff Have Some Thoughts About the Art ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-met-museums-staff-have-some-thoughts-about-the-art/) A new book gathers essays by the museum’s curators, researchers, librarians, and conservators on everything from Renaissance portraiture to the work of Wendy Red Star. | Anna Lee [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-met-museums-staff-have-some-thoughts-about-the-art/) --- ## Member Comment Love this final paragraph! Yep, sadly I believe Damien Davis is spot on with this assessment of the art market. That said, it does appear that many savvy artists are taking charge with new tools to guide their own careers and sales. I admire their dexterity in the world of today. For my practice I find that it is much to much to manage with tools that bring little satisfaction. Just copied this last paragraph to hang in my studio for comfort. Thank you. Nancy Arthur-McGehee on “[Everything Is Not Fine in the Art World](https://hyperallergic.com/everything-is-not-fine-in-the-art-world/)” --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/book-of-saints.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/why-dont-we-talk-about-race-in-fairy-tales/) [ Why Don’t We Talk About Race in Fairy Tales? ](https://hyperallergic.com/why-dont-we-talk-about-race-in-fairy-tales/) Characters in fairy tales “are white not by chance, but by design,” Kimberly J. Lau writes in a new book. | Tamar Boyadjian [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/why-dont-we-talk-about-race-in-fairy-tales/) ### Trump Accuses Smithsonian of “Anti-White Activism” in Draconian New Report URL: https://hyperallergic.com/trump-accuses-smithsonian-of-anti-white-activism-in-draconian-new-report/ Last updated: 2026-07-07T15:42:55.000Z More than a year after President Trump ordered his administration to investigate so-called "[race-centered ideology](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-whitewashes-history-in-new-smithsonian-executive-order/)" at the Smithsonian Institution, the White House has published a new [report](https://www.whitehouse.gov/releases/2026/07/saving-americas-story/?ref=hyperallergic.com) accusing museum leadership of promoting "extreme political activism." Published on July 4, "Saving America's Story" was authored by the Trump-appointed Domestic Policy Council. Throughout the 162-page document, the council scrutinizes how the institution’s National Museum of American History (NMAH) portrays topics such as race, immigration, and gender. Sunday's report follows the administration's March 2025 [executive order](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-whitewashes-history-in-new-smithsonian-executive-order/) demanding an end to "divisive narratives” across the Smithsonian's 21 museums, various education centers, and National Zoo. In the early pages of the report, authors immediately cast NMAH Director Anthea M. Hartig, a decorated public historian and the first woman to lead the museum, as an "activist advancing an ideological agenda" that runs counter to the museum's mandate of "fostering patriotism." Among the administration's boldest claims against the NMAH was an accusation that the museum engaged in "anti-white activism" by allegedly creating "hiring practices and programming" tailored for demographics including non-English speakers and non-United States residents — and not creating such opportunities for "whites, Christians, males, and Americans." The document also accuses the museum of promoting "citizenship for millions of illegal aliens" through its exhibition [*Many Voices, One Nation*](https://americanhistory.si.edu/explore/exhibitions/many-voices?ref=hyperallergic.com) (2017–present)*,* which examines "how the many voices of the American people have contributed to and continue to shape the nation and its communities.” Trump officials also denounced specific museum exhibits, including a protest prop from a 2018 march in Washington, DC, that represented [monarch butterfly wings](https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object/nmah%5F1888672?ref=hyperallergic.com) as a symbol of migration and resilience among undocumented immigrants. The report also included complaints about the museum's perceived lack of July 4 programming this year, display of trans-inclusive language, and portrayals of Christopher Columbus as a "thief." As a partially public institution, the Smithsonian receives over $1 billion in federal appropriations annually, which the administration has [previously threatened](https://hyperallergic.com/white-house-renews-threats-to-smithsonian-institution/) to withhold if the organization doesn’t comply with its content demands. In response to an inquiry from *Hyperallergic* about whether the Trump administration would intervene in any of the Smithsonian’s programming as a result of its findings, the White House sent a statement by Vince Haley, a Republican political strategist and director of the Domestic Policy Council. "It is our hope and expectation that the Smithsonian will eventually rise once again to \[a\] noble obligation — to tell America’s story for our children, the world, and future generations of Americans," Haley said. Since the March 2025 order, the White House has [compelled](https://hyperallergic.com/smithsonian-complies-with-trumps-document-requests/) Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch to turn over numerous internal documents, including information about curatorial processes, for the Trump administration to review. As the president zeroes in on Smithsonian museums and [United States cultural institutions](https://hyperallergic.com/protest-dance-outside-kennedy-center-targets-trumps-attack-on-culture/) as part of his political agenda, [historians](https://hyperallergic.com/documenting-the-history-trump-wants-to-erase/) have called on the public to document exhibits and labels, fearing that they may be altered or removed by the administration. The administration has vowed to issue "content corrections" to the Smithsonian, but has not yet done so publicly. When *Hyperallergic* asked whether the Smithsonian would alter any exhibition after this weekend's report, a spokesperson defended the institution's independence. “For more than 180 years, the Smithsonian has served the American public with nonpartisan and independent scholarship," the spokesperson said. "And we remain committed to doing so." ### The Met Museum's Staff Have Some Thoughts About the Art URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-met-museums-staff-have-some-thoughts-about-the-art/ Last updated: 2026-07-22T14:57:46.000Z “It is that miraculous connection between artist and subject, the self and the world beyond, that is the fever dream of all great art,” Dale Tucker, the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s senior editor, writes in [*Points of View: 100 Connections to Art*](https://www.metmuseum.org/de/met-publications/points-of-view-100-connections-to-art?ref=hyperallergic.com). Composed of short essays written by The Met’s staff, the compendium zeroes in on 100 objects in the museum’s permanent collection, offering new perspectives on artworks through five themes: “Relationships,” “Self,” “Politics,” “Spirituality,” and “Environment.” Edited by The Met’s CEO and director, Max Hollein, and published last month, *Points of View* is the museum’s first publication to encourage dialogue across its various professional departments. Each essay positions one of the 29 contributors — whether a curator, producer, librarian, educator, or conservator — as a guide into the anecdotes, discourses, and histories surrounding particular works. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Met-Book-Riza.jpg) Riza-yi 'Abbasi's “The Lovers” (1630 CE) in **Points of View: 100 Connections to Art* (image courtesy The Met) In the book’s preface, Hollein gestures towards The Met’s larger endeavor to “understand other cultures and other eras” through a collaborative model. The 488-page book aptly begins with “Relationships,” where essayists explore interpersonal human connections in artworks such as Greek funerary vessels, modernist sculptures, and Renaissance portraiture. Laura Corey, an associate research curator and project manager for the director’s office, writes about Joan Mitchell’s abstract painting “[La Vie en Rose](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/485705?ref=hyperallergic.com)” (1979) in connection with Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 song “Silver Springs.” “We chose the theme of ‘connections’ to share both personal and unexpected perspectives on art, and to think about the many roles objects play in our world, past and present,” Corey told *Hyperallergic*. “I never expected to have the opportunity to write about Fleetwood Mac in a Met publication.” In the subsequent four chapters, relationships take on different hues — between people, cultures, governments, the divine, and the natural world. In “Self,” Digital Managing Director and Producer Christopher Alessandrini examines Leonora Carrington’s “[Self-Portrait](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/492697?ref=hyperallergic.com)” (c. 1937–38) through mentions of the British-Mexican artist’s eclectic hobbies and career, writing, “She is regal yet plain, ancient and virginal, stark and auratic like the Oracle of Delphi.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Portrait-of-a-Woman-with-a-Man-at-a-Casement.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Wendy-Red-Star_De--axitchish--Pretty-Eagle-from-1880-Crow-Peace-Delegation--2019.337-.jpg) Left: Fra Filippo Lippi, “Portrait of a Woman with a Man at a Casement” (c. 1440) (image public domain via [The Met](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436896?ref=hyperallergic.com)); right: Wendy Red Star, “Déaxitchish / Pretty Eagle from 1880 Crow Peace Delegation” (2014) (© the artist; image courtesy The Met) Objects in “Politics,” including an Incan tunic and a Sri Lankan casket, show complex expressions of power, diplomacy, and censorship. In the “Spirituality” chapter, writers, including American Decorative Arts Curator and Manager Medill Higgins Harvey, navigate artistic representations of the divine in details like the “striated interlaced scrolls carved into the smooth red surface” of a 14th-century Chinese incense box. And the book’s final chapter, “Environment,” returns readers to Earth through writers’ historical and modern meditations on the natural world, as relayed by their chosen objects of study. To create a broader perspective on the 100 artworks, the book’s contributors often write about objects outside their area of expertise. Thus, a curator of European paintings reflects on an ancient Mesopotamian sculpture; a researcher of Islamic art ponders a bust from a German-Austrian sculptor; and a managing editor is reminded of his own experiences in a municipal office when looking at George Tooker’s “[Government Bureau](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/488943?ref=hyperallergic.com)” (1956). Even within each essay, the writers often navigate multiple fields of study, leveraging interdisciplinary research to generate new perspectives on works both long studied and long overdue for scholarly attention. When writing about Marsden Hartley’s “[Portrait of a German Officer](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/488486?ref=hyperallergic.com)” (1914), for instance, Corey moves away from the decades-long focus on the painting’s abstraction and political undercurrents, and instead revisits the artwork “as a coded message of queer love.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Boris-Mikhailov_-May-Day-Parade--1.jpg) Boris Mikhailov, “\[May Day Parade\]” (1975, printed 1986) (© the artist; image courtesy The Met) The featured objects, which range from the iconic “[Temple of Dendur](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/547802?ref=hyperallergic.com)” (10 BCE) to Isamu Noguchi’s “[Radio Nurse](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/490889?ref=hyperallergic.com)” (1937), also do not adhere to any one medium, style, culture, or era. Nevertheless, each contributor tailors their essays to an artwork’s context, whether that be Ukrainian artist Boris Mikhailov’s print “[\[May Day Parade\]](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/267072?ref=hyperallergic.com)” (1975), Persian artist Riza-yi 'Abbasi’s painting “[The Lovers](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/451023?ref=hyperallergic.com)” (1630 CE), or Apsáalooke artist Wendy Red Star’s ultra-contemporary digital reproductions. When writing about Tavares Strachan’s funerary urn, “[ENOCH](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/856524?ref=hyperallergic.com)” (2015–17), Andrea Myers Achi, curator of Byzantine art at The Met, connects the recent artwork memorializing the life and tragic death of Robert Henry Lawrence Jr., the first African American astronaut to be selected into a US space program, to Ancient Egyptian sculpture. She calls it “a charged commentary on absence, memory, and reclamation.” Since starting at The Met as an intern in 2014, Achi found new perspectives on artworks through interdepartmental discussions and exchanges. In her essay, she aims to replicate that experience for readers. “So many of the ideas in my essays came from spending time in the galleries and from talking with colleagues who work on everything from ancient art to contemporary art,” Achi told *Hyperallergic*. ### Carmelita Tropicana Was Born Out of the Closet URL: https://hyperallergic.com/carmelita-tropicana-was-born-out-of-the-closet/ Last updated: 2026-07-14T20:32:24.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/_P0A1871.best.JPG) Carmelita Tropicana (photo Carlos David, courtesy the artist) *This article is part of* Hyperallergic’*s* [*2026 Pride Month series*](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/2026-pride-month/)*, featuring interviews with queer and trans elder artists throughout June.* When the off-Broadway theater Soho Rep moved from its longtime Tribeca space in 2024, it went out with a bang. The final show at the location, [*Give Me Carmelita Tropicana!*](https://sohorep.org/shows/give-me-carmelita-tropicana/?ref=hyperallergic.com), was a fitting tribute to its history as a downtown theater hub. The titular star, Carmelita Tropicana, has been a fixture of New York’s downtown theater and performance art scene since the 1980s. As the alter ego of Cuban-American writer and performer Alina Troyano, Carmelita Tropicana has confronted stereotypes of Latina and queer women, embodying a variety of genders and personas — including animals — and challenging audiences to reimagine their surrounding worlds. Carmelita had a serendipitous birth in the East Village when a radio performance prompted Troyano to create a pseudonym, while a standup routine for a comedy class she took alongside [Holly Hughes](https://hyperallergic.com/holly-hughes-politics-of-pleasure/) led to a stage persona. What resulted was not just an outré and out lesbian “Latin spitfire,” in her words, but also decades of film and theater work on topics ranging from racism and homelessness to revolution to questions of identity: In *Give Me Carmelita Tropicana!*, cowritten with award-winning playwright, and her former student, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Troyano toys with selling the Carmelita persona to Branden (played by Ugo Chukwu). She was also a central figure in the early years of [WOW Café Theater](https://www.wowcafe.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com), a queer, feminist collective in the East Village where artists including Hughes, Eileen Myles, and the Five Lesbian Brothers performed. Currently, she’s working on a podcast commissioned by Soho Rep, *That’s Not What Happened*, which will lead to a theater work. Directed by her collaborator and sister, filmmaker Ela Troyano, it looks back on her life, family, and friends. *Hyperallergic* spoke with Carmelita about her fast-paced introduction to writing and performing in New York’s 1980s club culture, her collaborators and inspirations, and her queer community. Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/241107_CTropicana_SetUps-428.jpg) Cast members of **Give Me Carmelita Tropicana!*, a play by Carmelita Tropicana and Branden Jacobs Jenkins (photo Julieta Cervantes, courtesy Carmelita Tropicana) --- **Hyperallergic:** *I want to start by congratulating you on your Obie Award for Lifetime Achievement.* **Carmelita Tropicana:** Thank you, thank you, thank you. It was great to receive this honor, and actually it was even more wonderful to have my friends throw me a party. Holly Hughes spoke at it and so did Lois Weaver, and my sister \[Ela Troyano\], of course, because she’s a longtime collaborator. **H:** *This interview series relates to legacy and artistic lineage, and it seems like your most recent play,* Give Me Carmelita Tropicana!*, touches on those subjects in both the content and your collaboration with co-writer Branden Jacobs-Jenkins.* **CT:** Exactly. I met Branden in 2007 at New York University when I was teaching a course. He was a student who had just come out of Princeton and he was brilliant. He wanted to drop the class because he had gotten a job at the *New Yorker*. I said, “No, keep the job, just come to the class because it'll be wonderful to have you.” He ended up staying in class and that's how we became friends. Then it turned into a collaboration. We were respondents to each other’s works for a while. We got a grant in 2016 from Creative Capital \[for the play\]. It was \[originally\] envisioned as a conversation between the two of us, and the juxtaposition of him as a young, hot, Black American playwright and me, an older Latina lesbian. That’s how it began. But then things change and we changed from 2016 to when we showed it in 2024, that’s a long time. He became a father. COVID happened. All these things put it on pause. We did go to London in 2018 and worked on it. It was wonderful that we were doing a collaboration that included his idea of what if he bought the character of Carmelita? What does it mean to buy a persona with a lot of oeuvre attached to it? How does that work? It was great because it began with a scene that he had come up with in a lawyer's office and my character was going to sign. It also takes a turn into a *Freaky Friday* situation where Carmelita gets upset with Alina — me — and goes into the body of the person who’s playing Branden on stage, Ugo Chukwu. But within that mayhem, it’s very autobiographical about when I met him and what it was like when he did this piece that we actually show in *Give Me Carmelita Tropicana!*,when he played with a goldfish. All those things were part of the piece, very much trying to figure out two intergenerational artists that had experienced their coming up in the downtown theater scene very differently. I came from the ’80s. He was in 2009, ’10, ’11\. It was a conversation, not of two people but throughout many characters within the play. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Thieves Steal Over $4.5M in Jewelry From French Museum URL: https://hyperallergic.com/thieves-steal-over-4-5m-in-jewelry-from-french-museum/ Last updated: 2026-07-06T21:05:56.000Z Another day, another brazen museum heist in France. French media outlets reported a jewel heist took place early on Sunday morning, July 5, at a museum in the Bas-Rhin region devoted to glassware designer René Lalique. The band of thieves smashed several display cases on the gallery floors and made off with 27 pieces of fine jewelry worth approximately €4 million \~($4.5 million). The museum did not immediately respond to *Hyperallergic*'s inquiries. The institution will remain closed to the public for the next several days in light of the ongoing criminal investigation. Per [*Le Monde*](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2026/07/06/masked-gang-steal-jewels-worth-millions-in-french-museum-burglary%5F6755182%5F7.html?srsltid=AfmBOoqJ8dAg9idzV4kUSyzdDzwtCrAR0vECwjyvnW%5FCvxzjjQUTy61a&ref=hyperallergic.com), the burglary at Musée Lalique began at around 5:30am and lasted only a few minutes, echoing the eight-minute raid of the [nation's crown jewels from the Louvre](https://hyperallergic.com/louvre-museum-closed-after-dramatic-daylight-heist/) last October. Though they remain at large, the Art Nouveau and Art Deco glass fineries lifted from the museum are said to be crafted from crystal, gold, and semi-precious stones, and cannot be melted down because of their intricacies. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/https___www.khalilicollections.org_wp-content_uploads_2023_09_862_fr919-scaled.jpg) Held in the Khalili Collections, this René Lalique brooch (c. 1903–05) features a mirrored insect and seedpod motifs made from gold, several types of enamel, cabochon rubies, and cabochon peridot. (image public domain via [Khalili Collections](https://www.khalilicollections.org/collections/enamels-of-the-world/khalili-collection-enamels-of-the-world-corsage-ornament-fr919/?ref=hyperallergic.com)) Lalique, who trained as a jeweler and freelanced as a designer for Cartier and Boucheron in the late 19th century, made a name for his own brand by pivoting to molded glassware, which he experimented with alongside ivory, enamel, and semi-precious stones to create finely detailed wearables and decorative sculptures inspired by the natural world. The namesake museum,which opened in 2011 and houses over 650 of the designer's works, is based in the Wingen-sur-Moder commune, where Lalique and several other glassmakers opened production facilities from the 18th through the 20th century. “These are unique pieces that he created while working in jewelry in Paris, pieces that are unsellable,” said Christian Dorschner, the mayor of Wingen-sur-Moder and vice-president of the museum, in a [statement](https://www.ici.fr/grand-est/alsace-cea/wingen-sur-moder/le-musee-lalique-de-wingen-surmoder-cambriole-plusieurs-millions-d-euros-de-prejudice-3773796?ref=hyperallergic.com) to the press. Dorschner expressed his ire at the private, remote security company hired to protect the museum as well. He stated that whilethe alarm system had been properly triggered and the CCTV system was working correctly at the time, “there was a major failure on the security's part: they didn't intervene right away, they didn't inform the gendarmes \[civilian police\].” *Hyperallergic* has reached out to the Bas-Rhin police sector for comment. While the nation remains on edge, the Musée Lalique is not the only institution targeted by burglars since the astonishing heist at the Louvre. In Langres, asmall museum devoted to 19th-century philosopher and art critic Denis Diderot reported that [several gold and silver coins had been stolen](https://hyperallergic.com/french-museum-reports-theft-one-day-after-louvre-heist/) from the premises within a day of the high-profile theft in Paris. ### In Two Chicago Exhibitions, Liberation Takes the Floor URL: https://hyperallergic.com/in-two-chicago-exhibitions-liberation-takes-the-floor/ Last updated: 2026-07-06T21:32:44.000Z CHICAGO — An eerie, operatic, disembodied chorus floats to the front of [*Dispossessions in the Americas: The Extraction of Bodies, Land, and Heritage from La Conquista to the Present*](https://wrightwood659.org/exhibitions/dispossessions-in-the-americas/?ref=hyperallergic.com) at Wrightwood 659\. This is “Coro de plantas extintas” (2020) by the Ecuadorian artist Saskia Calderón, a video performance mourning the loss of endangered and extinct plant species. Ten minutes down the coast of Lake Michigan, another exhibition also opens with sound: A honeyed voice croons a Selena song from somewhere deep inside of [*Dancing the Revolution: From Dancehall to Reggaetón*](https://visit.mcachicago.org/exhibitions/dancing-the-revolution?ref=hyperallergic.com) at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Is this a recording of Selena herself, or someone skilled singing karaoke? It is, as it turns out, “Karaoke El Nuevo Horizonte” (2014/25) by Puerto Rican artist Radamés “Juni” Figueroa; as part of the work, visitors can sing karaoke (dancehall, reggae, reggaetón, salsa, and other Caribbean genres) during the museum’s free hours. The moods here are strikingly different, but the two exhibitions pair artfully, complementing each other’s sensibilities and scope. “Coro de plantas extintas” sets the tone for *Dispossessions in the Americas* as solemn — mourning something taken, in this case, autonomy. “Karaoke El Nuevo Horizonte,” on the other hand, with its glittering disco ball, Miami windows, and flamingo pink paint, celebrates something given — joy and togetherness — as does *Dancing the Revolution* as a whole. *Dispossessions in the Americas* poses a problem: The expansion of European colonialism since the turn of the 16th century catalyzed widespread dispossession in the form of deprivation of land, culture, and language across the Americas. The show's more than 40 works critique and unsettle this problem; they begin to rock at its foundations. *Dancing the Revolution*, meanwhile, keeps rocking the colonial boat until it capsizes. It offers a solution to the problem that the former poses: Dancehall and reggaetón, explored by around 50 contemporary artists, comprise a revolutionary practice for collective liberation. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/6_-Dancing-the-Revolution_-Karaoke-El-Nuevo-Horizonte.jpg) Radamés “Juni” Figueroa, “Karaoke El Nuevo Horizonte” (2014/25), wood, speakers, sound system, disco ball, microphones with stands, TV screen, karaoke system, Miami windows, pink paint, and shirts The works in *Dispossessions in the Americas* range from bearing witness to the deprivations of colonialism to poking holes in the fabric of its consequences. “Burial Pyramid” (1974) by the late Cuban artist Ana Mendieta — known for her singular [“earth-body” sculptures](https://hyperallergic.com/ana-mendieta-injured-earth/) — feels, at first glance, the most passive. It was also, to me, the most moving. For three minutes and 17 seconds, on Super 8 color film, Mendieta lies nude and supine beneath a mound of earth and stones in Oaxaca, Mexico. Look closer, though — she’s not lying still. She’s breathing, deeper and deeper, until the stones roll away and she’s free. The small, intimate photographs of the series *Exilio* (1988–2007) by the Argentinian initiative Archivo de la Memoria Trans, too, may seem like mere documentation. The scenes are simple: tossing bread crumbs to swans, dozing off on the train, blowing a kiss to the camera. But the act of archiving — especially the lives of these trans women who were forced into exile in the ’90s in the [aftermath of the Dirty War](https://wrightwood659.org/resources/educator-insight-danster-on-archivo-de-la-memoria-trans/?ref=hyperallergic.com) — preserves their histories, often excluded from dominant institutional narratives. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### The Ruthless Portraits of Elizabeth I’s Reign URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-ruthless-portraits-of-elizabeth-is-reign/ Last updated: 2026-07-06T21:32:09.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Hampden-Portrait-of-Elizabeth-I-framed-CROP.jpg) Attributed to George Gower (c. 1540–96), "The Hampden Portrait" (c. 1563–7), oil on panel, transferred onto canvas (all images courtesy Philip Mould Gallery) LONDON — I emerge from a cab to a drizzly morning in Pall Mall, London’s elite Clubland. The neoclassical Oxford and Cambridge Club is at my back as I prepare to cross the road to Philip Mould Gallery, dealer in Old Masters (and some younger ones). The generous basement gallery, housing an exhibition of paintings of Elizabeth I and her scheming courtly entourage, is a curious place. Its walls are covered in hessian cloth that looks almost warm, a plum color that one staffer, Libby Mould, tells me suits every kind of painting and spares the gallery from having to repaint the walls after each show. I come face to face with four paintings of Elizabeth I, ranging in age from fairly young to older and attributed to the [English School](https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/visual-arts/english-school-painting?ref=hyperallergic.com). They generally hide away in private collections, so most are not widely seen or known. The primary concern of *Elizabeth I: Queen & Court* is the careful crafting of a royal’s image, and how influential the dissemination of that image can be. It takes us from representation on the warts-and-all end of the spectrum to a kind of self-presentation which speaks of elevation, authority, power, wealth, and the right to be regarded as a god in all but name. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Bard MFA Presents 2026 Thesis Exhibition in Barrytown, NY URL: https://hyperallergic.com/bard-mfa-presents-2026-thesis-exhibition-in-barrytown-ny/ Last updated: 2026-07-06T15:35:06.000Z The Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard College (Bard MFA) presents[***Reassembly*: the Class of 2027 Thesis Exhibition**](https://bit.ly/4y8pYWv?ref=hyperallergic.com), which brings the culminating work of 3rd-year MFA candidates to the Bard College main campus in Annendale-on-Hudson, NY, and the newly-acquired Massena Exhibition Center in Barrytown, NY. *Reassembly* will begin with an evening of performances at Olin Hall on the Bard College campus at 7pm on Friday, July 10th. The exhibition’s opening reception at Massena will take place on Saturday, July 11th. *Reassembly* will remain on view through Sunday, July 20th. “The exhibition demonstrates a wide breadth of contemporary approaches to art-making,” writes Mike Curran, the exhibition coordinator. “But among their common interests are a remaking of seemingly stable artistic conventions, a reimagining of social structures, and a remixing of inherited grammars. Within this framework, the Massena Campus itself has become a site of reassembly.” “In a context where political, social, and ecological crises accelerate at a rapid speed, the demands placed on art to act as an antidote have become increasingly incoherent. Resisting these conditions, the works invite you to move through the exhibition with intention and invest in their provocations.” **Bard MFA Class of 2027:** Ihab S Balla, Nico Cadena, Madeline Casteel, Cydne Jasmin Coleby, Dominic Coles, Michael Dikta, ruby aiyo gerber, Alexis Gideon, Brooke Holm, Joselia Rebekah Hughes, Maite Iribarren Vázquez, Maren Jensen, Kehan Lai, Audrey Landgren, Weihui Lu, Shea Lynch, marlow magdalene, Leila Mesdaghi, Saiya Miller, Ankita Mishra, Sean Morel, Dainesha Nugent-Palache, Marina Papazyan, Río Sofia, Helena Tan, Robbie Wing, JinJin Xu, Syd Yocom ***Reassembly*** July 11–July 19, 2026 Opening reception: Saturday, July 11, 1-4pm The Massena Campus of Bard College 30 Seminary Drive, Barrytown, New York Thesis Performances: Friday, July 10, 7pm Olin Hall, 35 Henderson Cir Dr, Red Hook, NY 12571 --- **Mike R. Curran** is a curator and arts writer originally from Maine who lived in the Twin Cities for the past decade. He is now based in Kingston, New York. He is a 2026 graduate of the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College ([CCS Bard](https://bit.ly/4eTIUiF?ref=hyperallergic.com)). Founded in 1981 as the first of its kind, [**The Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts**](https://bit.ly/4p1nBR7?ref=hyperallergic.com) low-residency MFA brings together students and faculty in 6 disciplines: Moving Image, Music/Sound, Painting, Photography, Sculpture, and Writing for a unique interdisciplinary program. Students are immersed in a diverse community of artists for three 8-week summer sessions on the Bard College campus interspersed with independent study periods. This year marks the 45th anniversary of the program. For more information visit: [bard.edu/mfa](https://bit.ly/4y8pYWv?ref=hyperallergic.com). ### San Francisco Art Book Fair Celebrates 10 Years URL: https://hyperallergic.com/san-francisco-art-book-fair-celebrates-10-years/ Last updated: 2026-07-06T15:25:55.000Z [Minnesota Street Project Foundation](https://bit.ly/4vGYQMH?ref=hyperallergic.com) presents the 2026 [San Francisco Art Book Fair](https://bit.ly/4eXma1z?ref=hyperallergic.com) (SFABF), taking place July 23–26, marking 10 years since the inaugural fair in 2016\. Highly anticipated and one of the largest, free, annual Bay Area arts events, SFABF celebrates art publishing and print culture by bringing together independent publishers, artists, designers, collectors, and enthusiasts from around the world. Since its establishment 10 years prior, SFABF continues to serve as a platform for independent publishing, placing the unique history of the Bay Area in dialogue with national and international communities. SFABF26 features an expansive roster of [160 exhibitors](https://bit.ly/44FoC7U?ref=hyperallergic.com), including 30 international and 48 first-time participants, across three buildings along Minnesota Street in the Dogpatch neighborhood. In The Lounge, visitors can experience a series of special projects and talks, including a timely conversation with the SFABF founders, reflecting on the global phenomenon of book fairs and ten years of this homegrown event. In conjunction with SFABF, Minnesota Street Project Foundation is presenting a debut mural installation, *ART BEFORE DISHES* (2015), by Bay Area artist Susan O’Malley (1976-2015), and *Thru THICK and THIN,* an exhibition surveying the typographic landscape of San Francisco through a layered installation of windows, billboard structures, and reflective paintings by artist Rose D’Amato. SFABF visitors are invited to join an evening of live sound performances co-presented with Cone Shape Top after hours. Expanding family-friendly programming, Minnesota Street Project Foundation is organizing a variety of workshops exploring billboard sign techniques, woodblock and screen printing, modular typography, and more. In addition to the featured exhibitors and programming, SFABF is offering fundraiser editions by Bay Area artists Em Kettner, Lindsey White, and Maryam Yousif. To learn more, visit [sfartbookfair.com](https://bit.ly/4eXma1z?ref=hyperallergic.com). ### Inside Akira Ikezoe’s Studio URL: https://hyperallergic.com/inside-akira-ikezoes-studio/ Last updated: 2026-07-06T10:00:32.000Z Akira Ikezoe’s schematic paintings, on view in the Whitney Biennial and *Greater New York*, are unmistakably his. Teeming with frogs, robots, and bears caught up in flowcharts of labor and industry, their dark humor resonates deeply with our current moment. Curator Sofia Thiệu D'Amico met the artist at his studio to discuss environmental catastrophe, parenthood, his childhood in Japan, and more. More, as always, including John Yau on Charles Seliger’s intricate cellular visions and A View From the Easel with Arghavan Khosravi, whose ethereal shaped paintings alchemize familial memory and art history. —*Lakshmi Rivera Amin, associate editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Nuclear-Power-Plant-and-Star-Formation-1.jpeg)](https://hyperallergic.com/p/9d675d3e-5a85-4732-9e95-0921d1419a6b/) [ Akira Ikezoe’s Frogs and Bears Have Something Urgent to Tell Us ](https://hyperallergic.com/p/9d675d3e-5a85-4732-9e95-0921d1419a6b/) Akira Ikezoe welcomes me into his studio. \[He had previously\] introduced me to his *Baby Recipes* series (2022), in which babies’ body parts become ingredients in illustrated, comic-style cooking guides. In the studio, I ask where the idea came from. “Frustrations around raising my three-year-old son,” he responds. We laugh. It is precisely this dark humor that initially fascinated me, and it continues to suffuse Ikezoe’s work, which deals with energy systems, resource extraction, and the ambiguities of natural and industrial cycles alike. Laughter comes easily with Ikezoe, whose frankness about morbid subjects is immediately disarming. The cartoonish earnestness of both artist and artwork belies a sharp attentiveness to the environmental and human-engineered catastrophes unfolding around us. Humor becomes the concealed vessel for his satire. | Sofia Thiệu D’Amico [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/p/9d675d3e-5a85-4732-9e95-0921d1419a6b/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Quick-to-see-Smith--1--1-1-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/p/9b42657d-84ab-4850-a6bd-8457312e0e69/) - Eight years after Aljira abruptly closed, the Newark Museum of Art will present [a group exhibition](https://hyperallergic.com/p/9b42657d-84ab-4850-a6bd-8457312e0e69/)tracing the artist-led space’s 35-year history of showcasing works by underrepresented artists and nurturing the careers of major, globally recognized figures. --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Wendi-Yan-1.png)](https://hyperallergic.com/7th-vh-award-for-media-artists-engaged-with-the-context-of-asia/) ****Open Call: The 7th VH AWARD for Media Artists Engaged with the Context of Asia** Supporting media artists with production grants, global exhibitions, and an expanded online residency with Ars Electronica. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/7th-vh-award-for-media-artists-engaged-with-the-context-of-asia/) ## Art Review [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Charles-Seliger---HTG21099---original-1-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/p/8fe6c74c-ecd1-424f-81c4-1fcf9952c959/) [ Charles Seliger Painted Nature’s Invisible Architecture ](https://hyperallergic.com/p/8fe6c74c-ecd1-424f-81c4-1fcf9952c959/) At age 19, Charles Seliger received his first solo show at Peggy Guggenheim’s gallery The Art of This Century in 1945, and was one of the youngest artists associated with the emergence of Abstract Expressionism. However, unlike most painters in this nascent movement, he never worked on a large scale, nor did he become a gestural or geometric painter. Devoted to nature and Surrealist automatism, he remained a maverick. That independence explains why he is seldom included in surveys of Abstract Expressionism, especially if they focus on stylistic similarities. In 2010, the year after Seliger died, his then-dealer Michael Rosenfeld presented *Charles Seliger: A Memorial Exhibition*. Since then, his work has largely flown under the radar. *Charles Seliger: The Structure of Matter, A Centennial Exhibition* at Hollis Taggart brings overdue attention to this wonderful artist, who saw beauty in the invisible structures and patterns governing the visual world. | John Yau [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/p/8fe6c74c-ecd1-424f-81c4-1fcf9952c959/) --- ## Community [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/IMG_3345---Arghavan-Khosravi-1-1-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/p/bd07bb3b-ffe4-4426-a2a0-5549af1c1513/) [ A View From the Easel ](https://hyperallergic.com/p/bd07bb3b-ffe4-4426-a2a0-5549af1c1513/) This week, Arghavan Khosravi pulls from Persian miniature traditions to create surreal assemblages of paint, canvas, and wood. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/p/bd07bb3b-ffe4-4426-a2a0-5549af1c1513/) --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/puha_pr_share-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/cara-romero-ndn-radical-imagination-grant/) [ “The World I Wish People Knew”: Photographer Cara Romero on Redefining Contemporary Native Art ](https://hyperallergic.com/cara-romero-ndn-radical-imagination-grant/) Romero’s non-realist photography uses contemporary models and pop culture references to challenge Native stereotypes with complexity, vitality, and often, playfulness. | Anne Wallentine [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/cara-romero-ndn-radical-imagination-grant/) --- **Opportunities This Month** Residencies, fellowships, grants, and open calls from the Paul & Daisy Soros Foundation, Ucross, AICA International, and more in our monthly list of opportunities for artists, writers, and art workers. [Read More](https://hyperallergic.com/opportunities-in-july-2026/) ### Akira Ikezoe’s Frogs and Bears Have Something Urgent to Tell Us URL: https://hyperallergic.com/akira-ikezoes-frogs-and-bears-have-something-urgent-to-tell-us/ Last updated: 2026-07-06T15:35:28.000Z Akira Ikezoe welcomes me into his studio wearing a long-sleeve t-shirt made by the Cevallos Brothers, with whom he was recently featured in the [*Greater New York*](https://hyperallergic.com/what-we-loved-and-didnt-in-greater-new-york/) survey at MoMA PS1\. That is just one of several large-scale exhibitions and international biennials Ikezoe has participated in over the last few years, including the [Sharjah Biennial](https://www.sharjahart.org/en/sharjah-biennial/sb-16/?ref=hyperallergic.com) last year and this year’s [Whitney Biennial](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/whitney-biennial/). As a result, his studio is sparse, save for a few paintings in progress. Ikezoe offers me tea as we recall meeting in 2023 at the [Rehearsal Art Book Fair](https://www.aaartsalliance.org/opportunities/rehearsal-art-book-fair-open-call?ref=hyperallergic.com), co-organized by Bungee Space and Accent Sisters. There, Ikezoe introduced me to his *Baby Recipes* series (2022), in which babies’ body parts become ingredients in illustrated, comic-style cooking guides. In the studio, I ask where the idea came from. “Frustrations around raising my three-year-old son,” he responds. I ask whether his wife was concerned when she first saw the drawings. “No, she was enjoying them. She understood what I was feeling.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/IMG_9036-2-1.jpg) Akira Ikezoe pouring tea in his studio We laugh. It is precisely this dark humor that initially fascinated me, and it continues to suffuse Ikezoe’s work, which deals with energy systems, resource extraction, and the ambiguities of natural and industrial cycles alike. Laughter comes easily with Ikezoe, whose frankness about morbid subjects is immediately disarming. The cartoonish earnestness of both artist and artwork belies a sharp attentiveness to the environmental and human-engineered catastrophes unfolding around us. Humor becomes the concealed vessel for his satire. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Bears-on-the-Diagram-of-Chernobyl-Nuclear-Power-Plant.jpeg) Akira Ikezoe, "Bears on the Diagram of Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant" (2021), oil on canvas (photo courtesy the artist) Ikezoe’s meticulously detailed oil paintings — the works that catapulted him to prominence — depict anthropomorphic frogs, bears, raccoons, and monkeys engaged in industrial workflows, hallucinatory labor systems, and sequential transformations unfolding across flat, diagrammatic backgrounds viewed from above. For years, his compositions drew directly from found flowcharts and blueprints, materials he notes are typically excluded from the realm of art. That’s particularly true for the work he showed at Sharjah, for which he paired diagrams from nuclear power plants that have experienced serious accidents with animals native to those ecosystems. In these paintings, Chornobyl is operated by bears; Three Mile Island teems with raccoons. He explains that his earlier works depicted mostly naked humans, but because nudity could not be shown in Sharjah, he shifted to animals — and the imagery stuck. “I love frogs,” Ikezoe said. “My grandparents were farmers, and when I visited their home, the frogs were so noisy at night. Their rice fields were filled with water — a really nice house for frogs.” _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Charles Seliger Painted Nature’s Invisible Architecture URL: https://hyperallergic.com/charles-seliger-painted-natures-invisible-architecture/ Last updated: 2026-07-04T18:10:19.000Z At age 19, Charles Seliger received his first solo show at Peggy Guggenheim’s gallery The Art of This Century in 1945, and was one of the youngest artists associated with the emergence of Abstract Expressionism. However, unlike most painters in this nascent movement, he never worked on a large scale, nor did he become a gestural or geometric painter. Devoted to nature and Surrealist automatism, he remained a maverick. That independence explains why he is seldom included in surveys of Abstract Expressionism, especially if they focus on stylistic similarities. In 2010, the year after Seliger died, his then-dealer Michael Rosenfeld presented [*Charles Seliger: A Memorial Exhibition*](https://michaelrosenfeld.com/exhibitions/charles-seliger-a-memorial-exhibition?ref=hyperallergic.com)*.* Since then, his work has largely flown under the radar. *Charles Seliger: The Structure of Matter, A Centennial Exhibition* at Hollis Taggart brings overdue attention to this wonderful artist, who saw beauty in the invisible structures and patterns governing the visual world. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### A View From the Easel With Arghavan Khosravi URL: https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-344/ Last updated: 2026-07-06T15:34:35.000Z Welcome to the 344th installment of A View From the Easel, a series in which artists reflect on their workspace. This week, Arghavan Khosravi pulls from Persian miniature traditions to create surreal assemblages of paint, canvas, and wood. Want to take part? Check out our [submission guidelines](https://hyperallergic.com/submit-your-workspace-to-a-view-from-the-easel/) and share a bit about your studio with us through [this form](https://forms.gle/Erq7cyGEmMUxKrLe9?ref=hyperallergic.com)! All mediums and workspaces are welcome, including your home studio. --- ### [Arghavan Khosravi](https://www.arghavankhosravi.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com), Stamford, Connecticut ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/IMG_3345---Arghavan-Khosravi-1.jpg) ***How long have you been working in this space?*** Almost five years. ***Describe an average day in your studio.*** An average studio day usually starts with an espresso shot and a news podcast, often from the *New York Times* or the *Washington Post*. While listening, I review sketches or plans from the day before. If I’m in the fabrication phase, I finalize the panel shapes and take them to the woodshop. If I’m painting, I check on primed panels and begin underpainting. Later, I may switch to music or a dialogue-heavy show while doing repetitive physical work. For sketching and brainstorming, I prefer silence. ***How does the space affect your work?*** _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Revisiting 35 Years of an Iconic Newark Artist-Led Space URL: https://hyperallergic.com/revisiting-35-years-of-an-iconic-newark-artist-led-space/ Last updated: 2026-07-24T20:18:22.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Quick-to-see-Smith--1--1.jpg) Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, "I See Red: Going Forward, Looking Back" (1996) (© Estate of Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, courtesy the estate and Garth Greenan Gallery) In the aftermath of the Newark Rebellion of 1967, which saw [six days of police brutality](https://www.aclu-nj.org/news/newarkers-demanded-police-reform-and-racial-justice-in-1967-decades-later-the-demand-persists/?ref=hyperallergic.com) at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, nontraditional arts spaces began to crop up around the city. Just over a decade after the 1972 opening of Newark's first Black-owned gallery, Aard Studio Gallery, and on the heels of the Blacks Art Movement, Guyanese artists Victor Davson and Carl E. Hazlewood founded their own nonprofit exhibition space, Aljira, in 1983\. Taking its name from the Australian Aboriginal word for “dreamtime,” Aljira championed the work of socially engaged artists who critiqued gentrification in Newark, American imperialism, and racial capitalism. Eight years after Aljira abruptly closed due to financial difficulties, the Newark Museum of Art will present a group exhibitiontracing the artist-led space's 35-year history of showcasing works by underrepresented artists and nurturing the careers of major, globally recognized figures, including Dawoud Bey, Firelei Báez, and Jeffrey Gibson. Opening October 15, *Dreamtime in Newark: Aljira and the Making of Global Contemporary Art* features 66 artworks by 43 artists whose practices were championed by Aljira through exhibitions, collaborations, or curatorial projects. Opening on October 15 and running through June 30, 2027, the exhibition will include works by Amiri Baraka, Frank Bowling, Hew Locke, and [Jaune Quick-to-See Smith](https://hyperallergic.com/artist-jaune-quick-to-see-smith-who-bore-witness-to-native-life-dies-at-85/), among many others, across the museum's 4,500-square-foot space. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Davson-1.jpg) "Bad Cow Comin' (Dear Guyana)" (1998) by Victor Davson, co-founder of Aljira (© Victor Davson, courtesy Newark Museum of Art) In its early years, the nonprofit's exhibitions "were strategic in their resolve to call out inequities and institutional deficiencies," guest curator Alliyah Allen writes in the forthcoming exhibition catalog. The organization's early programming, which included the 1987 exhibition *With and Without Acclaim: International Black and Hispanic Artists,* platformed the work of underrepresented artists at a time when few other institutions did. Just a year after *With and Without*, the nonprofit moved into a smaller space closer to the Newark Museum of Art. There, Davson and Hazlewood began calling attention to displacement and gentrification in their new downtown neighborhood through a series of exhibitions examining "racial capitalism." ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Derrick-Adams.jpg) Derrick Adams, "Crossroads" (2012) (© Derrick Adams Studio, courtesy Newark Museum of Art) In 1994, Davson and Hazlewood brought their curatorial vision to an international audience with the opening of *Current Identities: Recent Painting in the United States,* an exhibitionfeaturing works by seven American artists, including Quick-to-See Smith, at the International Biennial of Painting in Cuenca, Ecuador. Succumbing to significant debt accrued after the 2008 recession, the nonprofit abruptly ceased operations in 2018\. Since then, Davson and artist Cecily Cottingham have formed an archive project to preservethe organization's legacy. "I remember meeting a diverse group of artists from Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens who were all traveling to participate in the program," artist Jeffrey Gibson, who participated in Aljira's Emerge program in the early 2000s, said in a statement to *Hyperallergic.* "I know that starting it in Newark and finding a brick-and-mortar space was not easy," Gibson said. "But I think Aljira has had a huge impact on the greater New York area art scene." ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Cicely-Cottingham--1-.jpg) Cicely Cottingham****,** "Tomorrow will come on its green footsteps (First Mountain) 2" (2020)(© Cicely Cottingham, courtesy the artist) ### Art and Resistance on the Nation’s 250th URL: https://hyperallergic.com/weekly-7-4-26/ Last updated: 2026-07-04T10:00:57.000Z This holiday weekend is a strange one. As heat waves wash over much of the United States, so do mixed feelings toward the nation’s 250th birthday today, punctuated by rays of hope — like the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold birthright citizenship this week. Here at *Hyperallergic*, we’ve been embracing moments of possibility and discovery. John Yau’s review of a group of little-known works by Phillip Guston — influenced in part by his wife, poet Musa McKim, and their larger poetry community — is an example of art history’s ever-yielding worlds. This spirit also resonates in Aruna D’Souza’s feature, examining artists who have upended and subverted the meaning of Lady Liberty. One work she selected moved me deeply: Abigail DeVille’s “Light of Freedom,” created in 2020, a year of Black Lives Matter demonstrations and collective resistance, reimagines the iconic torch as an outsized symbol of protest. It represents “people that hooked each other arm-in-arm,” the artist has said, “to fight for whatever this nation actually pretends that it was founded or based on.” Indeed, many stories this week are a testament to the people’s power, and a love letter to creative communities in the US and beyond. I spoke to the artists leading aid efforts on the ground in Venezuela, nurturing networks of care amid earthquake ruins, and Staff Writer Isa Farfan reported on Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s record budget for the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. And if what you really need is a laugh, just look at the new statue of Messi installed in Argentina. As Staff Writer Rhea Nayyar points out, you won’t be able to unsee it. —*Valentina Di Liscia, senior editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/PG-Cropped-2-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/philip-gustons-lines-of-poetry/) [ Philip Guston’s Lines of Poetry ](https://hyperallergic.com/philip-gustons-lines-of-poetry/) Philip Guston loved poets. In 1968, after he and his wife, the artist and poet Musa McKim, and their teenage daughter moved to Woodstock, New York, he began to radically shift his work from abstraction to a cartoonish world of people and things. This change coincided with his beginning to collaborate with a close circle of poet friends, particularly Clark Coolidge, who lived nearby. *Life With P. - Philip Guston: Paintings and Drawings 1964–1978* at Hauser and Wirth brings together work from this time when he pared down his drawings to a line or two and began again. Drawing, particularly the bare line, was central to Guston’s practice. | John Yau [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/philip-gustons-lines-of-poetry/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-06-30-at-3.49.28---PM-1.png)](https://hyperallergic.com/nyc-mayor-mamdani-approves-record-323m-funding-for-culture/) - Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the City Council will provide the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs with its [highest-ever yearly appropriation](https://hyperallergic.com/nyc-mayor-mamdani-approves-record-323m-funding-for-culture/) as part of the city’s Fiscal Year 2027 budget. - A Texas tattoo artist [has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison](https://hyperallergic.com/texas-tattoo-artist-gets-30-year-sentence-over-anti-trump-zines/) for moving a box of political pamphlets and zines featuring “anti-government and anti-Trump sentiments,” prompting outrage from First Amendment advocates. - A Mohawk artist’s bust of George Washington, a matrilineal home altar, and a Dunkin’ cup are among the [400 objects in a new major reinstallation](https://hyperallergic.com/museum-of-fine-arts-boston-reimagines-america-on-its-250th-birthday/) in the Art of the Americas Wing of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. - The world’s tallest [Lionel Messi statue has caused a stir online](https://hyperallergic.com/the-worlds-tallest-messi-statue-is-also-its-most-salacious/) with its crotch-level and rather phallic World Cup trophy. - Novel research proves that [DNA can survive for millennia within the paint](https://hyperallergic.com/human-dna-in-cave-paintings-can-survive-for-millennia-study-finds/) applied to rock walls, opening a future pathway to recovering the identities of ancient artists from thousands of years ago. - Following the recent seizure of several objects from The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection in June, the total [valuation of looted artifacts](https://hyperallergic.com/value-of-looted-objects-at-met-museum-tops-95m-after-new-seizures/) surrendered by the museum now stands at $95 million. - Union negotiations for a contract with the Guggenheim Museum are entering their sixth month, with an emphasis on job security after abrupt layoffs last year. Workers have also [authorized a strike](https://hyperallergic.com/guggenheim-museum-union-votes-to-authorize-strike/) if necessary. - After 11years in business, the contemporary art gallery [Lyles & King announced its closure](https://hyperallergic.com/new-york-gallery-lyles-king-to-close-after-11-years/) July 2. - Art sales featuring everything from paintings and prints to photographs, artist books, and zines are benefiting [urgently needed aid efforts in Venezuela](https://hyperallergic.com/hopeful-art-fundraisers-for-earthquake-relief-in-venezuela/). - [Art Movements](https://hyperallergic.com/nyc-swiss-institute-heads-to-the-bowery/): NYC's Swiss Institute heads to the Bowery, Raymond Pettibon and Abdelkader Benchamma team up on a massive mural, Seattle Art Museum's new chief curator, and more. --- SPONSORED ****Support Independent Art Reporting** Independent, critical reporting is increasingly hard to come by. But you can ensure it doesn’t disappear. By becoming a paid member of the **Hyperallergic* community, you not only help keep our lights on, but ensure our hands (and pens) remain untied. **Hyperallergic* isn’t beholden to large corporations or billionaires. Instead, our journalism is funded by readers like you: individuals who fight for integrity and justice during increasingly unjust times. With your support (as little as $6.67/month!), you are joining a community of people who value and advocate for independent journalism and greater transparency in the arts. The perks aren’t bad either… We hope you’ll join us. [Sign up today ](https://hyperallergic.com/julie-mehretu-claire-valdez-arthur-jafa/#/portal/account/plans) ## Features [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/amy-sherald-3-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/p/f4e445e6-6611-4fb2-9090-c2825507c722/?member%5Fstatus=free) [ What Does the Statue of Liberty Stand For? ](https://hyperallergic.com/p/f4e445e6-6611-4fb2-9090-c2825507c722/?member%5Fstatus=free) As artists like Sherald, Marta Minujín, and Faith Ringgold remind us, the monument is far from a neutral symbol of so-called American values. | Aruna D'Souza [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/p/f4e445e6-6611-4fb2-9090-c2825507c722/?member%5Fstatus=free) [ The Artists Countermapping the World ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-artists-countermapping-the-world/) Three exhibitions of works by Claudio Perna, Sandy Rodriguez, and Firelei Báez reclaim cartography as a medium for memory, migration, and resistance. | Clara Maria Apostolatos [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-artists-countermapping-the-world/) [ At Upstate Art Weekend, Cars and Barns Are Galleries ](https://hyperallergic.com/at-upstate-art-weekend-cars-and-barns-are-galleries/) During the seventh annual event, hundreds of artists proved that art has never been confined to “white cube” galleries. | Taliesin Thomas [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/at-upstate-art-weekend-cars-and-barns-are-galleries/) [ Nancy Shaver’s Beloved Store in Hudson to Close After 30 Years ](https://hyperallergic.com/nancy-shavers-beloved-store-in-hudson-to-close-after-30-years/) For many, Henry is a lot more than just another Upstate New York antiques shop. | Steel Stillman [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/nancy-shavers-beloved-store-in-hudson-to-close-after-30-years/) --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/GettyImages-2283036279-2-1-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/after-earthquakes-venezuelas-artists-turn-to-each-other/) [ Venezuelan Artists Grieve, Find Community in Aftermath of Earthquakes ](https://hyperallergic.com/after-earthquakes-venezuelas-artists-turn-to-each-other/) Facing a humanitarian crisis, everyday citizens have become rescue workers, and tight-knit art communities are creating networks of support. | Valentina Di Liscia [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/after-earthquakes-venezuelas-artists-turn-to-each-other/) [ Hopeful Art Fundraisers for Earthquake Relief in Venezuela ](https://hyperallergic.com/hopeful-art-fundraisers-for-earthquake-relief-in-venezuela/) Art sales featuring everything from paintings and prints to photographs, artist books, and zines are benefiting urgently needed aid efforts in Venezuela. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/hopeful-art-fundraisers-for-earthquake-relief-in-venezuela/") --- ## Interviews [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Photo-by-Ridikkuluz-Christopher-Street-Piers--2--1.jpeg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-ballroom-icon-who-paved-a-new-way/) [ The Ballroom Icon Who Paved a New Way ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-ballroom-icon-who-paved-a-new-way/) Amid all of the kitty-kat meow of today’s Vogue Fem performers, Andre Mizrahi Clark has the stern, calm energy of a lion tipping on its toes. | Ridikkuluz [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-ballroom-icon-who-paved-a-new-way/) [ Jack Halberstam’s Trans Theory at a Slant ](https://hyperallergic.com/jack-halberstams-trans-theory-at-a-slant/) Hyperallergic spoke with the scholar about transness, architecture, and how we can make a better world by first unmaking it. | Natalie Haddad [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/jack-halberstams-trans-theory-at-a-slant/) --- ## Books [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/caillebotte-dog-2-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/every-dog-has-its-artist/) [ Every Dog Has Its Artist ](https://hyperallergic.com/every-dog-has-its-artist/) A compassionate new book explores how canine companions across Western art history break down the emotional boundaries between species. | Alisyn Amant [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/every-dog-has-its-artist/) --- ## Guide [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/RadicalKinship1-1-1-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/10-art-shows-to-see-in-los-angeles-this-july/) [ 10 Art Shows to See in Los Angeles This July ](https://hyperallergic.com/10-art-shows-to-see-in-los-angeles-this-july/) Marc Kreisel’s secret art practice, Gwyneth Bulawsky’s queer and trans landscapes, Barbara Carrasco’s lifelong muralism, and more.| Matt Stromberg [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/10-art-shows-to-see-in-los-angeles-this-july/) --- ## Community [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/rune-mields-2-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-rune-mields-onai-quinonez-and-song-burnsoo/) - [In Memoriam ](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-rune-mields-onai-quinonez-and-song-burnsoo/)— This week, we honor German artist Rune Mields who plumbed the depths of geometry, Venezuelan painter Onai Quiñonez, and Korean museum director and printmaker Song Burnsoo. - [Required Reading](https://hyperallergic.com/required-reading-791/) — James Turrell in Denmark, a new album by Raven Chacon, a Black radical history of the Declaration of Independence, World Cup songs across time, and more. - [A View From the Easel](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-343/) — Kathleen MacKenzie cherishes the birds of Upstate New York and the freedom of experimental video art. --- ## Opportunities This Month [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/1914.57---The-Fountain--Villa-Torlonia--Frascati--Italy-2-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/opportunities-in-july-2026/) Residencies, fellowships, grants, and open calls from the Paul & Daisy Soros Foundation, Ucross, AICA International, and more in our monthly list of opportunities for artists, writers, and art workers. [Read More](https://hyperallergic.com/opportunities-in-july-2026/) ### Artists Reclaim Lady Liberty URL: https://hyperallergic.com/artists-reclaim-lady-liberty/ Last updated: 2026-07-03T10:00:06.000Z This Fourth of July weekend, we’re sticking to the essentials: water, sunscreen, and art. Amid an avalanche of propaganda on the United States's 250th anniversary, critic Aruna D’Souza offers an illuminating art history of the Statue of Liberty. Artists from Faith Ringgold to Claes Oldenburg, she explains, have long wielded the monument as a tool of protest and creative expression — a particularly potent reminder as Trump strives to stifle them completely. Also today, Ed Simon revisits the mythologies and ideals baked into the work of the Hudson River School painters, regarded as quintessential American artists. Two centuries later, what can we learn from their scenes of both settler colonial fantasies and marvels of the natural world? Plus, a glimpse at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston’s newly reinstalled Art of the Americas galleries,art fundraisers to support Venezuela, and our beloved community columns. *—Lakshmi Rivera Amin, associate editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/amy-sherald-1-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/p/f4e445e6-6611-4fb2-9090-c2825507c722/?member%5Fstatus=free) [ What Does the Statue of Liberty Stand For? ](https://hyperallergic.com/p/f4e445e6-6611-4fb2-9090-c2825507c722/?member%5Fstatus=free) Last July, Amy Sherald announced that she was canceling the National Portrait Gallery stop of her solo exhibition American Sublime because of concerns that the Smithsonian Institution had attempted to censor her painting of a Black trans woman, Arewà Basit, posing as the Statue of Liberty. As artists like Sherald, Marta Minujín, and Faith Ringgold remind us, the monument is far from a neutral symbol of so-called American values. | Aruna D'Souza [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/p/f4e445e6-6611-4fb2-9090-c2825507c722/?member%5Fstatus=free) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/MFA_5_washington2-2-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/museum-of-fine-arts-boston-reimagines-america-on-its-250th-birthday/) - A Mohawk artist’s bust of George Washington, a matrilineal home altar, and a Dunkin’ cup are among the [400 objects in a new major reinstallation](https://hyperallergic.com/museum-of-fine-arts-boston-reimagines-america-on-its-250th-birthday/) in the Art of the Americas Wing of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. - [Art Movements](https://hyperallergic.com/nyc-swiss-institute-heads-to-the-bowery/): NYC's Swiss Institute heads to the Bowery, Raymond Pettibon and Abdelkader Benchamma team up on a massive mural, Seattle Art Museum's new chief curator, and more. - Art sales featuring everything from paintings and prints to photographs, artist books, and zines are benefiting [urgently needed aid efforts in Venezuela](https://hyperallergic.com/hopeful-art-fundraisers-for-earthquake-relief-in-venezuela/). - After 11years in business, the contemporary art gallery [Lyles & King announced its closure](https://hyperallergic.com/new-york-gallery-lyles-king-to-close-after-11-years/). --- SPONSORED ****Support Independent Art Reporting** Independent, critical reporting is increasingly hard to come by. But you can ensure it doesn’t disappear. By becoming a paid member of the **Hyperallergic* community, you not only help keep our lights on, but ensure our hands (and pens) remain untied. With your support (as little as $6.67/month!), you are joining a community of people who value and advocate for independent journalism and greater transparency in the arts. The perks aren’t bad either… We hope you’ll join us. [Sign up today ](https://hyperallergic.com/julie-mehretu-claire-valdez-arthur-jafa/#/portal/account/plans) ## Opinion [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Our_Banner_in_the_Sky_by_Frederic_Edwin_Church-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/p/3f608e54-8126-4022-bf16-1f5ecc244230/?member%5Fstatus=free) [ The Hudson River School’s American Apocalypse ](https://hyperallergic.com/p/3f608e54-8126-4022-bf16-1f5ecc244230/?member%5Fstatus=free) One of the United States’s first major art movements registered anxieties about industrialization, empire, and environmental ruin. | Ed Simon [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/p/3f608e54-8126-4022-bf16-1f5ecc244230/?member%5Fstatus=free) --- ## Community [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/as-seen-below-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/required-reading-791/) - [Required Reading](https://hyperallergic.com/required-reading-791/): James Turrell in Denmark, a new album by Raven Chacon, a Black radical history of the Declaration of Independence, World Cup songs across time, and more. --- ## Member Comment I am new to Steve DiBenedetto’s work and it is very impressive. I like what Mr. Yau says about “indecipherable, mystical diagrams, maps of forgotten kingdoms.” *—Charles Pompilius on “*[*Steve DiBenedetto’s Cosmic Sense of the Absurd*](https://hyperallergic.com/steve-dibenedettos-cosmic-sense-of-the-absurd/)*”* --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/6-Pulling-Down-the-Statue-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/in-2026-democracy-needs-museums/) [ In 2026, Democracy Needs Museums ](https://hyperallergic.com/in-2026-democracy-needs-museums/) As the United States marks its 250th, institutions must resist the pull to simply commemorate and instead communicate the relevance of history. | Ken Weine [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/in-2026-democracy-needs-museums/) --- ## Opportunities This Month [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/1914.57---The-Fountain--Villa-Torlonia--Frascati--Italy-2-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/opportunities-in-july-2026/) Residencies, fellowships, grants, and open calls from the Paul & Daisy Soros Foundation, Ucross, AICA International, and more in our monthly list of opportunities for artists, writers, and art workers. [Read More](https://hyperallergic.com/opportunities-in-july-2026/) ### What Does the Statue of Liberty Stand For? URL: https://hyperallergic.com/what-does-the-statue-of-liberty-stand-for/ Last updated: 2026-07-03T16:10:50.000Z Last July, Amy Sherald announced that she was canceling the [National Portrait Gallery stop of her solo exhibition](https://hyperallergic.com/amy-sherald-cancels-smithsonian-show-citing-censorship-of-trans-artwork/) *American Sublime* because of concerns that the Smithsonian Institution had attempted to censor her painting of a Black trans woman, [Arewà Basit](https://hyperallergic.com/arewa-basit-amy-sherald-portrait-alchemizing-trans-joy/), posing as the Statue of Liberty. Lindsey Halligan, a special assistant to President Donald Trump, [responded to Sherald’s decision with satisfaction.](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/24/arts/design/amy-sherald-smithsonian-censorship.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) “The Statue of Liberty is not an abstract canvas for political expression — it is a revered and solemn symbol of freedom, inspiration, and national unity that defines the American spirit,” she said in a statement at the time. But all national symbols, whether flags, statues, or personifications of founding ideals, are precisely that: “abstract canvases for political expression.” Their entire purpose is to function as a screen onto which political ideals can be projected. And, as the political winds shift, so too do their meanings. Contrary to Halligan’s statement, the Statue of Liberty has never been a stable symbol of “freedom, inspiration, and national unity.” _This post is for subscribers only._ ### The Hudson River School’s American Apocalypse URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-hudson-river-schools-american-apocalypse/ Last updated: 2026-07-14T21:16:07.000Z By the standards of geological epochs, Kaaterskill Falls in Upstate New York is positively youthful. Generated by melting glacial runoff eroding the sandstone and shale at the foot of the Catskills’ South Mountain during the middle Pleistocene — a spritely 130,000 years ago — Kaaterskill is a spectacular two-stage waterfall that seems to almost bounce down its 260-foot (\~79-meter) height. Two centuries ago, that cascading waterfall would inspire a 25-year-old engraver born in Lancashire, England, who wanted to forge a new American aesthetics. Thomas Cole’s “Kaaterskill Falls”of 1826, on view at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut, heralded that new movement. “Kaaterskill Falls” turned the portraiture that had marked late colonial and early Republican American art in the mode of [Gilbert Stuart](https://gilbertstuartmuseum.org/gilbert-stuart/?ref=hyperallergic.com) and [Rembrandt Peale](https://americanart.si.edu/artist/rembrandt-peale-3725?ref=hyperallergic.com) to the wall. Where that work was staid, decorous, classical, and *European*,this adopted American made a declaration of independence from the art academies of London and Paris*.* Seemingly painted from the perspective of the rock-shelter behind the falls itself, the work depicts powerful water flowing into the creek below, framed by autumnal leaves of Eastern Hemlocks, Northern Red Oaks, Sugar Maples, and American Beeches rendered in green, red, orange, and brown. Through the mist and haze of the water droplets, the sun drops into a bleeding dusk, nightfall moving in with the black clouds. “The passion caused by the great and sublime in nature, when those causes operate most powerfully, is astonishment,” wrote the Anglo-Irish philosopher Edmund Burke in [*A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautifu*](http://bookshop.org/a/539/9781420965612?ref=hyperallergic.com)[*l*](http://bookshop.org/a/539/9781420965612?ref=hyperallergic.com)from 1757\. A clarion call to the emerging Romantic movement, Burke’s claims about sublimity were first truly embodied in the American landscape, the only patrimony the young Republic had yet to offer. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### NYC's Swiss Institute Heads to the Bowery URL: https://hyperallergic.com/nyc-swiss-institute-heads-to-the-bowery/ Last updated: 2026-07-02T22:16:35.000Z [*Art Movements*](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/art-movements/)*, published every Thursday afternoon, is a roundup of must-know news, appointments, awards, and other happenings in today’s chaotic art world.* --- ### The Swiss Institute's New Home The Swiss Institute in New York City is acquiring a new permanent home at 250 Bowery, just across the street from the freshly renovated [New Museum](https://hyperallergic.com/what-do-we-really-think-of-the-new-new-museum/). The organization tapped architectural firm Johnston Marklee to renovate the space, which will open next spring with *The Environment*, a group exhibition inspired by a participatory project led by filmmaker Bud Wirtschafter in the 1960s Lower East Side. It's a milestone moment for the Swiss Institute, which will own its location for the first time in its four-decade history. --- ### Seattle Art Museum's New Chief Curator ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Frank-Feltens.jpg) Frank Feltens (photo Alborz Kamalizad, courtesy SAM) **Frank** **Feltens** was named the new chief curator of the Seattle Art Museum (SAM), which includes the Seattle Asian Art Museum and the Olympic Sculpture Park in addition to SAM's downtown headquarters. Feltens previously spent a decade at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art, where he was associate director for curatorial affairs and curator of Japanese Art. His appointment to the Pacific Northwest’s largest cultural institution comes just weeks after workers at the museum [voted to unionize in a landslide election](https://hyperallergic.com/seattle-art-museum-workers-vote-to-unionize-in-landslide-election/) calling for better wages and job protections. --- ### What Else Happened? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/La-Vaughn-Belle_How-to-Survive-Colonial-Nostalgia--infect-memory---36-x-36-x-1.25-inches--digital-collage-printed-on-aluminum--2023.jpeg) La Vaughn Belle, "How to Survive Colonial Nostalgia (infect memory)" (2023) (image courtesy the artist and Pentimenti, Philadelphia) - The African American Museum in Philadelphia acquired four works from **La Vaughn Belle**’s series *How to Survive Colonial Nostalgia*(2023). - The contemporary art gallery Lyles & King in downtown Manhattan is closing after an 11-year run. Read more at [*Hyperallergic*](https://hyperallergic.com/new-york-gallery-lyles-king-to-close-after-11-years/). - Untitled Art released a [list of 95 exhibitors](https://untitledartfairs.com/news/post/untitled-art-houston-announces-2026-exhibitor-list-ahead-of-second-edition-in-october?ref=hyperallergic.com) in its upcoming Houston edition, taking place October 2–4. - **Sara** **O'Keeffe** is joining the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania as its director and curator of Public Engagement and Research. - **Sarah Cain** is now represented by Galerie Lelong in New York. - **Guim Tió** is now represented by François Ghebalygallery. - The Center for Book Arts announced its 2026 Artists-in-Residence: **Tatiana** **Arocha**, **Nneoma** **Njoku**, **Ashton** **Reeder**, **Sok** **Song**, and **kathy** **wu**. - The Studio Museum in Harlem, which [opened its revamped and expanded building](https://hyperallergic.com/a-look-inside-the-studio-museum-harlem-new-home/) last fall, appointed **Sherrese** **Clarke** and **Jamila** **Justine** **Willis** to its board of trustees. **Anita** **Blanchard** — who is also a trustee of the Art Institute of Chicago and a member of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art Advisory Board — was named vice-chair. --- ### Raymond Pettibon and Abdelkader Benchamma Team Up on NYC Mural ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/2---2024-Au-bord-des-mondes-Pompidou-Photo-Tanguy-BEURDELEY-3.jpg) Abdelkader Benchamma, "Au bord des mondes" ("At the Edge of the Worlds") (2024) at the Centre Pompidou, Paris (photo Tanguy Beurdeley, courtesy Villa Albertine) Villa Albertine, the charming bookstore and cultural center run by the French Embassy on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue, is getting a monumental new artwork. The Upper East Side gem, housed in the landmarked Payne Whitney Mansion steps away from The Met, has commissioned artists **Abdelkader** **Benchamma** and **Raymond** **Pettibon** todesign a new ceiling mural for its iconic Ballroom. Benchamma described the forthcoming installation, “Stella Terrea,” as “a vast mural in perpetual motion” that will engage celestial and cosmological motifs. “From this idea emerges the installation: to reintroduce a poetic force into the sky at a time when outer space is increasingly becoming a territory to control, exploit, and colonize,” the French-Algerian artist said in a statement. Pettibon will collaborate on additional figurative elements for the piece, which is slated to be unveiled in September. ### Hopeful Art Fundraisers for Earthquake Relief in Venezuela URL: https://hyperallergic.com/hopeful-art-fundraisers-for-earthquake-relief-in-venezuela/ Last updated: 2026-07-03T15:12:09.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Fig-8---A--vila.jpeg) Lina Ávila, "Abrazo mundi," (2020) (image courtesy TODOS x VENEZUELA) Following the devastating [earthquakes that hit Venezuela](https://hyperallergic.com/after-earthquakes-venezuelas-artists-turn-to-each-other/) on June 24, leaving thousands dead or injured, tens of thousands missing, and countless families displaced, the nation has seen an outpouring of help. On the ground, locals move rubble by hand to find survivors. Abroad, the Venezuelan diaspora, caught between feeling helpless and relentless, turned to networks and contacts, pooling donations to send home. Interdisciplinary artist Cristóbal Ochoa was one of them. He was a political activist in Venezuela before fleeing to France as a political refugee in 2017; he now splits his time between Paris and Madrid. Days after the twin earthquakes, he [postponed](https://www.plataformadeartecontemporaneo.com/pac/la-mayor-tragedia-sismica-de-venezuela-recibe-ayuda-del-mundo-del-arte/?ref=hyperallergic.com) his own solo exhibition, originally set to open July 4 at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Florencio de la Fuente in Cuenca, and instead turned to organizing TODOS X VENEZUELA.Works are offered at a 30% discount to encourage sales, and every dollar from the solidarity art fundraiser goes directly from the buyer to the artist's chosen humanitarian organizations, including [Caritas](https://www.caritas.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com). Pieces include works like "El pasaporte exquisito" (“The exquisite passport”), an original document intervened by Venezuelan artist Flores Solano, who now lives in Santiago de Compostela, and Mexico-based Josune Delgado’s painting “El Apapacho,” depicting a family embrace. Collaborator Beatriz García said that the digital catalog, shared and updated on [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/catalogotodosxvenezuela?igsh=aDF1Ym9xdTk4Y3cz&ref=hyperallergic.com), has so far raised €5,480 (\~$6,265) from 46 artist contributions, and continues to welcome new submissions. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/3293FE22-1EE7-4125-80B1-80238B2AB217-1.jpeg) Josune Delgado, “El apapacho” (2026) (image courtesy TODOS x VENEZUELA) It's a grassroots network, circulated directly through contacts and social media, artist by artist. That spirit runs through many relief efforts right now, defined by direct, personal connections or [trustworthy intermediary institutions](http://www.donarseguro.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com), reflecting both urgency and broader skepticism of traditional aid channels. New York-based artist María Elena Pombo has been running a real-time feed of direct needs on her [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/fragmentario%5F?igsh=MXhwczZmM2Y1MXp1YQ==&ref=hyperallergic.com) stories: people sewing body bags, sourcing tents ahead of the rainy season, feeding rescue teams. "After years of crisis, many Venezuelans have learned to rely on one another," she said, and sending money directly to “trusted personal networks that can adapt quickly as needs on the ground continue to change” is "placing your trust in the kind of future you want to help build." This decentralization has become a defining condition of Venezuelan lives, citizens fending for themselves at home while a scattered diaspora builds its own support infrastructure. "We're not doctors or rescue workers, and we're not the ones on the ground saving lives," said participating artist Valentina Vacó, "but as artists, we can put our work and our community in service of an urgent cause ... We feel a responsibility to help rebuild a place that, however far away we live, will always be home." ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Fig-5---Ferna--ndez.jpeg) Rolo Fernández, “Paisajes para encontrar el Norte” (2024) (image courtesy TODOS x VENEZUELA) Before the earthquakes, the exhibition *Venezuelan Cultural Diplomacy* at Henrique Faria New York was already taking stock of the [strain on Venezuela's art scene](https://www.mimeta.org/mimeta-news-on-censorship-in-art/2025/10/16/alarming-escalation-of-artistic-repression-in-venezuela?ref=hyperallergic.com) in recent years: artists and cultural workers have [crossed borders](https://observer.com/2026/01/venezuela-art-scene-cultural-market-museums-dictatorship/?ref=hyperallergic.com), and Venezuelan art, displaced like its people, has become harder to safeguard. Running concurrently in the gallery is the traveling installation [*KIOSKO*](https://elconsuladonyc.org/kiosko-art/?ref=hyperallergic.com), staged by Eugenia Sucre Projects and the artist-led platform [El Consulado](https://elconsuladonyc.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com). On view through July 6 with online sales continuing through July 10, it gathers more than 200 small-format works — drawings, prints, zines, artist books, vinyl — by Venezuelan artists, all offered for sale with proceeds going to [World Central Kitchen](https://wck.org/relief/?utm%5Fsource=googlesearch&utm%5Fmedium=cpc&utm%5Fcampaign=crisis-crisisevergreen&c%5Fsrc=2026-paidmedia-fundraising-googlesearch-crisis-crisisevergreen&gad%5Fsource=1&gad%5Fcampaignid=23257422162&gbraid=0AAAAApcxQJv3qtgjyuUHYnFZBaiKfGEpb&gclid=CjwKCAjwmJjSBhB-EiwAkZgxi0fuGTJ7t44pRrgmkKgNwT7nFFXSHdpQ1lQH3GtZS5GQX3MlzlTP5RoC1RgQAvD%5FBwE). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Fig-12.jpeg) Installation view of the traveling exhibition **KIOSKO* (photo Marco Antonio Guerrero Robles, courtesy KIOSKO) Many institutions that have spent recent years [building infrastructure](https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2024/10/14/caracas-arts-organisations-venezuela-election-crisis?ref=hyperallergic.com) to support artists in exile are now redirecting that effort toward humanitarian aid. At Sorondo Projects, a Barcelona-based gallery representing Venezuelan artists, founder Juliana Sorondo described her work as “creating spaces for sharing the complexity of the country's reality with international audiences.” Following the back-to-back earthquakes, she said, they “want to go a step further and transform that commitment into concrete aid.” Sorondo Projects is offering a [selection of photographic works](https://sorondoprojects.com/emergency-relief-for-venezuela?ref=hyperallergic.com) — donated by artists including Pombo, Suwon Lee, Angyvir Padilla, Silvana Trevale, and Miguel Braceli — each available for a suggested minimum donation of €150 (\~$171). Proceeds will be sent to [Fundación Sun.Risas](https://www.instagram.com/sun.risas/?ref=hyperallergic.com) and the [We Love Venezuela Foundation](https://www.welove.foundation/?ref=hyperallergic.com). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Fig-18---Ferrero.jpeg) Fabiola Ferrero, “I Can’t Hear the Birds 2017-2023 (Untitled) no kids playing in an abandoned oil structure" (2020) (image courtesy Sorondo Projects) Among the pieces is a photograph by Fabiola Ferrero depicting a woman being carried on a man’s shoulders as they cross by foot the river Táchira, the natural border between Venezuela and Colombia. “This is how we Venezuelans are, holding each other up,” Ferrero said, capturing exactly the sentiment running through this entire wave of mobilization. Venezuelans have long had to ask for visibility, solidarity, and support — organizing and making ourselves seen from a distance because we had no other choice. Here’s what that looks like right now: donate to trusted organizations and amplify the voices leading the response on the ground. These acts keep pressure and attention pointed toward a country before the news cycle moves on. The rebuilding will take longer than this week's headlines. ### Required Reading URL: https://hyperallergic.com/required-reading-791/ Last updated: 2026-07-02T21:31:10.000Z With July 4 and its attendant propaganda on the horizon, I'm turning to essays that offer the critical, hopeful perspectives we need on American art and culture. Musician Nate Wooley takes a deep dive into the ever-evolving practice of Diné artist and composer Raven Chacon for the [*New York Review of Books*](https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/06/26/resistance-choirs-raven-chacon/?ref=hyperallergic.com): > Much of the recent writing about Chacon has rightfully foregrounded his critique of America’s colonial history and its abuses against Indigenous people. This project is central to Chacon’s thinking, but the methods, techniques, and materials he chooses to pursue it connect him with a wider range of American musical mavericks than critics often acknowledge. His oeuvre has echoes of the microtonal hobo ballads of the instrument-builder and theorist Harry Partch, the “Deep Listening” epiphanies that Pauline Oliveros found with her accordion in the bottom of a Houston cistern, and the vibrant painted scores that Wadada Leo Smith uses to entwine the improvisational spirit of jazz with non-Western musical traditions. (Smith’s Ankhrasmationscores were also featured at the academy during Chacon’s run of *Aviary.*) > > All these works, in disparate ways, seem preoccupied with the angst and loneliness that accompany America’s cultural preoccupation with self-determination and individualism. Meanwhile, critic Kate Wagner opines in the [*Nation*](https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/american-architecture-sprawl-suburbs-postmodernism/?ref=hyperallergic.com) about the defining features of American architecture — good, bad, and ugly: > “Form follows function” is itself an Americanism (and a Chicagoism—a maxim of the architect Louis Sullivan). Shortly after it was first uttered in the late 19th century, it became ironic. The function of a building is to regulate the relationship between site and inhabitant. As the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius would have it, a building must serve at the intersection of *firmitas*, *utilitas*, and *venustras*, or firmness, commodity, and delight. (A more contemporary translation of his famous triad might be “durability, utility, and beauty.”) But in America, advances in engineering rendered a building’s site incidental. As anyone who has ever driven through a mountain suburb knows, our architectural ethos treats the land as something meant to be taken from, not worked with. This is what grants American architecture not just its ugliness but its boldness. It is what unifies the bespoke and the ordinary—although it is the ordinary that has always been the true soul (or perhaps the deepest confession) of the American built environment. For [*Hammer & Hope*](https://hammerandhope.org/article/robin-kelley-black-radicals-declaration-independence?ref=hyperallergic.com)'s summer issue, renowned historian Robin D. G. Kelley writes about how Black radical thinkers have read the Declaration of Independence over time: > The Declaration’s significance extends far beyond the aims of the American Revolution or an expression of American nationalism. For Black thinkers, captive and fugitive, it was a referendum on the definition of the human, a rhetorical weapon against America’s conceits of liberty and democracy, and an exhortation on the right to rebel. Black people did not need a document to justify revolt, but it came in handy. It is most powerful when the people it was never meant to represent grab hold of its language and toss it back like an undetonated grenade, whether those hands belong to Denmark Vesey, Nat Turner, Maria Stewart, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., or Ho Chi Minh of Vietnam. For these and other reasons, the Declaration should be read as a core text in Black studies. For the [*Dial*](https://www.thedial.world/articles/news/amish-pennsylvania-dutch?ref=hyperallergic.com), reporter Eythana Miller writes about her quest to preserve Pennsylvania Dutch, the language spoken by her Amish community: > I’ve always assumed that the language’s oral nature has contributed to its concrete, factual diction. There are things you write that you almost never speak aloud. “The earth screams its thirst” might be an evocative way to describe a drought-ridden plain, but in conversation one is much more likely to simply bemoan the lack of rainfall and the dry appearance of the soil. I grieve this, but I also understand it. Language is above all, functional, and what didn’t serve my ancestors they discarded. > > Harder for me to accept is how, today, English words are increasingly entering the language, edging out others. This is true for many traditional Amish communities that frequently interact with the wider world. Some English is present in every interview I conducted. Both Delores and Gabriel used “parents” instead of *Eldre*. Gabriel said “gevisit” and “borroweh” — *Deitsch*\-ified versions of “visited” and “borrow” instead of *bsucht* and *lehne*, respectively. In the interview with my aunt Leona, she speaks almost an entire sentence in English, albeit with a Pennsylvania Dutch accent. I feel awkward about it. I want the interviews to show that the language does stand on its own, that it doesn’t need English to be functional. Sometimes I offer the Pennsylvania Dutch words to my interviewees as a suggestion, but I doubt that this is an advisable habit. No matter how zealous my efforts, I cannot repopulate the lexical landscape on my own. The [*New Yorker*](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/06/22/misery-loves-company-if-there-are-snacks?ref=hyperallergic.com)'s Patricia Marx delves into the curious phenomenon of "admin nights" — gatherings with the sole purpose of forcing friends to complete those pesky life tasks: > These gatherings, like the one in Dumbo, are commonly called Admin Nights, a term coined, in 2019, by the journalist Chris Colin, who began hosting such events for his friends at his house in San Francisco. “We were all lonesome and all overwhelmed, and I saw a connection,” Colin told me. “I realized there’s this new category of busyness. Not work busyness, not domestic-life busyness, but this third thing. This busyness is so dumb and banal that we don’t really talk about it. It’s the way you’ve been meaning to reconnect your Bluetooth speakers for two months, but you can’t figure that out till you conquer higher-tier items—bank stuff, doctor stuff, phone stuff, car stuff, school stuff, D.M.V. stuff, other stuff—and those require insane hold times, or eye-stabbing chatbot conversations. I felt that if we could tackle this deranged administrative sprawl together, we would hang out more.” (If you have time to read this, you probably don’t need an Admin Night.) Colin also had a political agenda. “I wanted to shine my light on what’s happening—that life has become unsustainable,” he said, “and have people talk about why this is happening and who profits.” Sohini Desai brings us back to the days of yore when World Cup songs were bangers (which "Dai Dai" is certifiably not), writing a brief history for [*Defector*](https://defector.com/a-brief-history-of-the-world-cup-song?ref=hyperallergic.com): > The first-ever global World Cup hit was Los Ramblers’ “El Rock Del Mundial,” which is still one of the best-selling records in Chilean history. The rockabilly tune, packed with Chilean chants and pride, is a far way off from "Dai Dai"; Los Ramblers made it out of pure enthusiasm, meaning the song achieves a purity only possible free from FIFA involvement. Unlike its 21st-century counterparts, the lyrics are specific to the host country, and its sound specific to a Chilean *nueva ola* time and place. The UNESCO site of Petra in Jordan is facing damage and destruction at the hand of tourists, [*60 Minutes Australia*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bphm%5F3lPlzU&ref=hyperallergic.com) reports: Inside the astounding art of South Indian [*kol*](https://www.instagram.com/p/DY4eqSBxD9E/?ref=hyperallergic.com)[*am*](https://www.instagram.com/p/DY4eqSBxD9E/?ref=hyperallergic.com): > [ View this post on Instagram ](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DY4eqSBxD9E/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) > > [A post shared by Niveditha Padmanabhan (@niveditha.padmanabhan)](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DY4eqSBxD9E/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) The two daredevils who climbed the Empire State Building have inspired a truly delightful slew of memes, but [these ones](https://www.instagram.com/p/DaSuMGvnNjm?ref=hyperallergic.com) take the cake *fur real*: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Untitled1.png) (screenshot **Hyperallergic* via @[purrfectchanel](https://www.instagram.com/p/DaSuMGvnNjm?ref=hyperallergic.com) on Instagram) Me when a Colombia game [coincides](https://www.instagram.com/reels/DZ-pOMZzMYw/?ref=hyperallergic.com) with *Love Island*: > [ View this post on Instagram ](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DZ-pOMZzMYw/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) > > [A post shared by GABY MEDINA (@gabrielamedinatoledo)](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DZ-pOMZzMYw/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) [*Required Reading*](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/required-reading/) *is published every Thursday afternoon and comprises a short list of art-related links to long-form articles, videos, blog posts, or photo essays worth a second look*. ### New York Gallery Lyles & King to Close After 11 Years URL: https://hyperallergic.com/new-york-gallery-lyles-king-to-close-after-11-years/ Last updated: 2026-07-02T22:12:03.000Z After 11years in business, the contemporary art gallery Lyles & King announced its closure today, July 2, in a [social media post](https://www.instagram.com/p/DaS-ts1HEES/?img%5Findex=1&ref=hyperallergic.com) thanking its artists and supporters. The gallery mounted 118 exhibitions throughout its run, bookending its programming this June with a solo show of gouache and pencil works by Jessie Makinson and a group exhibition of new work by Cato Ouyang, Fernanda Galvão, and Ren Light Pan. “I founded Lyles & King in May 2015, with a belief in the importance of experiencing exhibitions in an all-too-mediated world,” founder Isaac Lyles wrote in his public announcement, adding that he maintained his belief in “art’s capacity to engage us with our humanity: with our bodies, with one another, and with subjectivities outside our own.” Lyles served as the associate director of Derek Eller Gallery prior to developing the independent venture. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Image-from-iOS.jpg) A salon-style display of Mira Schor's work from her 2024 solo exhibition **WET* (photo Valentina Di Liscia/**Hyperallergic*) After debuting at NADA New York's spring fair in 2015, Lyles & King established its first physical location on Forsyth Street, while the city's art scene was moving eastward from Chelsea. In its early years, the gallery became known for championing the careers of Mira Schor, Chris Hood, Philip Birch, Chris Dorland, and Davina Semo through solo and group presentations. Semo told the [*Observer*](https://observer.com/2015/08/artist-leaves-marlborough-chelsea-for-upstart-gallery/?ref=hyperallergic.com) that she decided to move from the established Marlborough Gallery to Lyles & King in its first year because she wanted a “peer group with more common intellectual interests.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Cato-Ouyang-Trick-2024.jpg-copy-1.jpg) An installation view of Cato Ouyang's **Trick* (2024) After expanding its roster with the likes of Makinson, Aneta Grzeszykowska, and Farley Aguilar, the gallery closed its Forsyth Street space in 2020 and reopened on Catherine Street with a [massive group exhibition](https://lylesandking.com/i-want-to-feel-alive-again?ref=hyperallergic.com) for the occasion. The Catherine Street location offered a larger floor plan and also included an outdoor space, which was used to host sculptural and installation exhibitions by Kathy Ruttenberg, Michael DeLucia, and Polly Borland, among others. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/14.-Install---I-want-to-feel-alive-again---LK_FeelAlive_Sept20_126.jpg) An installation view of **I WANT TO FEEL ALIVE AGAIN* (2020), the group exhibition that inaugurated Lyles & King's new Catherine Street location Shortly afterward, the gallery expanded around the corner to Henry Street. By this point, Lyles & King had grown from an emerging gallery into a reputable space that supported unique, dimensional exhibitions, performance work, and multimedia practices by emerging and established artists. Lyles & King celebrated its 10th anniversary last year with another group exhibition that placed work by Schor, Claes Oldenburg, and Judith Bernstein with that of emerging artists, including Ophelia Arc, who was represented by the gallery shortly after earning her Master of Fine Arts in 2025\. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-02-at-11.07.20---AM--1-.png) Cato Ouyang's exhibition **cunt waifu* (2020) included work throughout the gallery and the outdoor sculpture garden. The gallery did not provide a reason for the closure, but the move comes amid a spate of galleries shuttering their physical locations from coast to coast in recent years. In 2023 alone, [New York City lost six galleries](https://hyperallergic.com/behind-the-recent-wave-of-new-york-gallery-closures/) and saw two veteran dealers shift entirely to online operations. By 2025, [Kasmin, Clearing](https://hyperallergic.com/kasmin-and-clearing-galleries-announce-closures/), and [Canal Projects](https://hyperallergic.com/nyc-arts-nonprofit-canal-projects-closing-after-four-years/) had announced their closures, joined by [Altman Siegel](https://hyperallergic.com/altman-siegel-gallery-to-close-next-month/) in San Francisco and [LA Louver](https://hyperallergic.com/la-louver-to-close-gallery-space-and-shift-into-private-model/) in Los Angeles, which downsized massively to focus on private relationships. When asked for any words of support or wisdom for spaces and stewards of emerging talent that are braving the current climate of the contemporary art world (heatwave notwithstanding), Lyles wrote the following in an email to *Hyperallergic*: “Be fearless. Be slow. Be true to yourself. Don't compare. Collaborate. Be patient: you're building a foundation brick by brick. Work ferociously, show great work. Don't frame, don't ship—unless you are beyond obsessed with the work. Only exhibit work you're obsessed with.” ### Museum of Fine Arts Boston Reimagines America on Its 250th Birthday URL: https://hyperallergic.com/museum-of-fine-arts-boston-reimagines-america-on-its-250th-birthday/ Last updated: 2026-07-02T18:39:15.000Z A Native American shrine from 2025, a menagerie of needlework samples from 18th-century New England, and casta paintings from colonial Mexico stand onlypaces away from each other in a new exhibition in the Art of the Americas Wing of the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) in Boston. Unveiled during the museum’s annual Juneteenth open house, [*Art of the Americas: 1700–1800*](https://www.mfa.org/gallery/art-of-the-americas-1700-1800?ref=hyperallergic.com) marks the first reinstallation in the wing’s ground-level galleries. The revamped gallery features over 400 objects sourced from North, Central, and South America, the Caribbean, parts of East Asia, and other global touchpoints for the 18th-century Americas. Divided into eight themed sections, the display brings together newly acquired artworks with some of the most well-known pieces from the MFA’s collection. The day after the unveiling, on June 20**,** the museum hosted an “America at 250” celebration applauding the three-year effort forged by curators, museum staff, community members, scholars, and artists. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/MFA_6_hartmandeetz.JPG) Artist Hartman Deetz illustrates his matrilineal family tree and replicates a home altar that pays homage to his Italian, Irish, Wampanoag, and Californian identity. While the display is housed in and centers around the American wing’s 18th-century galleries, the curators organized it with the Americas of today in mind. “We wanted to tell wider narratives that met our mission for the Art of the Americas, plural, not just the United States,” Erica Hirshler, the Croll Senior Curator of American Paintings, told *Hyperallergic*, adding that the previous iteration of the gallery felt “dated.” The first section of the gallery is themed “Power and Resistance,” prefacing one of the main motivations for the MFA’s latest endeavor. By placing artworks from Native artists beside British-influenced artists, and Paul Revere’s “Sons of Liberty Bowl” (1768) beside a ceramic jar inscribed by enslaved poet and potterDavid Drake, the new arrangement considers artworks in relation to each other both formally and in dialogue with larger dynamics of authority and contested cultural narratives. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/MFA_3_teaexhibition.JPG) A Dunkin’ cup sits alongside 18th-century silverware and tea vessels in the “Something’s Brewing” section of the galleries. The display also emphasizes the inclusion of underrepresented perspectives in the annals of United States history. A few paces ahead of Thomas Sully’s massive, iconic painting of George Washington, “The Passage of the Delaware” (1819), is [Mohawk artist Alan Michelson](https://hyperallergic.com/alan-michelson-knowledge-keepers-mfa-boston/)’s silver bust of the same president, “Hanödaga:yas (Town Destroyer): Reflect” (2024). The title of Michelson’s sculpture alludes to Washington’s role in the destruction of dozens of Haudenosaunee towns, imploring viewers to reflect on the complicated legacies that underpin the construction of the American story. Between critical representations of colonial power and resistance, Hirshler also wanted to highlight some of the more lighthearted parts of the reinstallation. In the “Something’s Brewing” section of the gallery, a single Dunkin’ cup is included as an artwork alongside silver vessels related to Boston’s tea trade. “Boston runs on Dunkin’,” Hirshler laughed. “It’s an important part of history.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/MFA_1_outside.JPG) A line winds around the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, on the morning of Juneteenth. During the planning process for the installation, the MFA made a historicdecision of its own when the curators were offered a $400,000 federal grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Concerned with the strict compliance demands issued by the federal government, which has[terminated hundreds of NEH grants](https://hyperallergic.com/organizations-lose-pivotal-grants-as-doge-takes-axe-to-humanities-agency/) under the Trump administration, the museum turned down the offer and continued the project using other funding sources. “I’m very proud of us for not taking that grant,” Lucía Abramovich Sánchez, the curator of American Decorative Arts and Sculpture, told *Hyperallergic*. “We felt that the risk of having to follow the executive order would impede the work that we wanted to do,” Hirshler added. For both curators, reimagining the Americas is more important now than ever. “I hope that visitors leave with a deeper understanding of what America means,” Sánchez said. “We are and have been interconnected with each other for a very long time.” ### Venezuelan Artists Come Together URL: https://hyperallergic.com/venezuelan-artists-come-together/ Last updated: 2026-07-02T10:00:06.000Z With over 50,000 people still missing in Venezuela after two deadly earthquakes, artists on the ground are mobilizing even as they navigate their own grief. They are aiding in rescue efforts, sourcing food and medical supplies, raising funds for affected loved ones, and providing much-needed emotional support. Senior Editor Valentina Di Liscia spoke with members of Venezuela’s art sector, who share stories of pain and resilience. More below, including Mayor Mamdani’s record budget for the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs and 10 art shows you should see in Los Angeles this month. We also remember Venezuelan painter Onai Quiñonez and others we lost in the art community this week. —*Lakshmi Rivera Amin, associate editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/GettyImages-2283036279-1-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/after-earthquakes-venezuelas-artists-turn-to-each-other/) [ After Earthquakes, Venezuela’s Artists Turn to Each Other ](https://hyperallergic.com/after-earthquakes-venezuelas-artists-turn-to-each-other/) Artist Gloria Blancato was asleep in her bedroom on the early evening of June 24 when she was abruptly awakened by violent tremors. The shaking was so strong that the panes of her windows shattered, exploding into glass shards on her bedspread as the walls collapsed around her. She held on tightly to the doorknob, the ground quivering beneath her, before finding a pair of shoes, slipping them on, and jumping out the window of the two-story building in the port city of Catia La Mar in La Guaira. Her feet are still swollen and her legs bruised from running among the debris, and she and her family have been sleeping outside for the last week. “I send this with my eyes filled with tears,” Blancato said in a text message in Spanish to her friends. “I love you, don’t forget me.” *Hyperallergic* spoke to Blancato and other artists and cultural workers affected by the disaster. | Valentina Di Liscia [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/after-earthquakes-venezuelas-artists-turn-to-each-other/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/met-duck.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/value-of-looted-objects-at-met-museum-tops-95m-after-new-seizures/) - Following the recent seizure of several objects from The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection in June, the total [valuation of looted artifacts](https://hyperallergic.com/value-of-looted-objects-at-met-museum-tops-95m-after-new-seizures/) surrendered by the museum now stands at $95 million. - Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the City Council will provide the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) with its [highest-ever yearly appropriation](https://hyperallergic.com/nyc-mayor-mamdani-approves-record-323m-funding-for-culture/) as part of the city’s Fiscal Year 2027 budget. --- ## LA Art Guide [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/la-art-shows-guide.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/10-art-shows-to-see-in-los-angeles-this-july/) [ 10 Art Shows to See in Los Angeles This July ](https://hyperallergic.com/10-art-shows-to-see-in-los-angeles-this-july/) Marc Kreisel’s secret art practice, Gwyneth Bulawsky’s queer and trans landscapes, Barbara Carrasco’s lifelong muralism, and more. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/10-art-shows-to-see-in-los-angeles-this-july/) ## Community [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/rune-mields-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-rune-mields-onai-quinonez-and-song-burnsoo/) [ Remembering Rune Mields, Onai Quiñonez, and Song Burnsoo ](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-rune-mields-onai-quinonez-and-song-burnsoo/) This week, we honor a German artist who plumbed the depths of geometry, a Venezuelan painter, and a Korean museum director and printmaker. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-rune-mields-onai-quinonez-and-song-burnsoo/) --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/newsletter-embroidery.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/diana-weymar-stitch-artist-helping-combat-media-fatigue/) [ The Stitch Artist Helping Combat Media Fatigue ](https://hyperallergic.com/diana-weymar-stitch-artist-helping-combat-media-fatigue/) Diana Weymar collaborated with the Economic Hardship Reporting Project to center the work of writers tackling economic and racial justice — using embroidery. | Rhea Nayyar [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/diana-weymar-stitch-artist-helping-combat-media-fatigue/) ### After Earthquakes, Venezuela's Artists Turn to Each Other URL: https://hyperallergic.com/after-earthquakes-venezuelas-artists-turn-to-each-other/ Last updated: 2026-07-02T17:46:38.000Z Artist Gloria Blancato was asleep in her bedroom on the early evening of June 24 when she was abruptly awakened by violent tremors. The shaking was so strong that the panes of her windows shattered, exploding into glass shards on her bedspread as the walls collapsed around her. She held on tightly to the doorknob, the ground quivering beneath her, before finding a pair of shoes, slipping them on, and jumping out the window of the two-story building in the port city of Catia La Mar in La Guaira. Her feet are still swollen and her legs bruised from running among the debris, and she and her family have been sleeping outside for the last week. “I send this with my eyes filled with tears,” Blancato said in a text message in Spanish to her friends, which she forwarded to *Hyperallergic*. “I love you, don't forget me.” Blancatois among the tens of thousands of Venezuelans impacted by the 7.5- and 7.2-magnitude “[doublet](https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-earthquakes-doublet-f61cc9b92ba4e0735cfed6391c21e4fd?ref=hyperallergic.com)” earthquakes that struck the nation last week, devastating the northern coast and reverberating across densely populated urban areas. *Hyperallergic* spoke to a dozen artists and cultural workers located in the hard-hit coastal region of La Guaira and in the capital city of Caracas. Many of the quotes in this article have been translated from Spanish, and we have included links to some artists’ social media profiles, where they are posting updates and sharing ways to send help. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/PHOTO-2026-06-29-12-36-56.jpg) Artist Gloria Blancato in front of the ruins of her house in La Guaira (photo courtesy Gloria Blancato) Over the weekend, the official death toll [surpassed 1,700](https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/06/1167837?ref=hyperallergic.com), likely a drastic undercount, as at least [50,000 people](https://www.elnacional.com/2026/06/mas-de-67-000-personas-reportadas-como-desaparecidas-tras-los-terremotos-en-venezuela/?ref=hyperallergic.com) remain unaccounted for. Many more are displaced and unhoused. Facing a narrowing window for finding survivors and a major humanitarian crisis, everyday citizens have become rescue workers, family WhatsApp groups have turned into fundraising operations, and close-knit artistic communities have mobilized ad hoc search groups and mutual aid networks. The day after the earthquakes, friends and relatives of [Onai Quiñonez](https://hyperallergic.com/family-urges-help-for-venezuelan-artist-trapped-under-earthquake-rubble/) marshaled to try to save the beloved painter, who was trapped under the rubble of his residential building. Sources close to Quiñonez told *Hyperallergic* that he did not survive. “It was a beautiful effort, it came from the heart,” said artist [Francisco Schutte](https://www.instagram.com/franciscoschutte?ref=hyperallergic.com), who works with concrete and helped source jackhammers and other tools to cut through slabs and beams. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/PHOTO-2026-07-01-16-07-49-1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/PHOTO-2026-07-01-16-15-21-2.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/PHOTO-2026-07-01-16-15-20.jpg) Left to right: Onai Quiñonez's father holds up one of his son's paintings, Onai Quiñonez's name memorialized on a wall in La Guaira, and a pottery wheel tray belonging to artist Laura Silva (photos by Ricardo Terán and Michael Wong) Many of the most heartbreaking testimonies come from the coastal city, Venezuela's main port, known for its sandy beaches and for artist Carlos Cruz-Diez's [multichromatic public artworks](https://insituartprojects.com/projects/restoration/proyectoderecuperacioncruzdiez/cilindrospuertodelaguaira/?ref=hyperallergic.com) that tower over the glittering Caribbean Sea. But La Guaira also holds the history of another deadly catastrophe — the 1999 Vargas tragedy, a series of [landslides and torrential rains](https://www.bbc.com/mundo/articles/cddlryq3m7vo?ref=hyperallergic.com) in the eponymous state that killed thousands and destroyed entire neighborhoods. For many survivors, the earthquakes have reopened a painful wound. “I was 11 years old at the time, and I lost everything, but I didn’t lose any family members,” said local textile artist [Siul Rasse](https://www.instagram.com/siulrasseart/?ref=hyperallergic.com). “I’ve lost three relatives in the earthquakes, a niece and two cousins. I feel that I am reliving a trauma.” Rasse was working on one of her intricate embroideries in her home and studio in La Guaira when her cell phone lit up with an urgent alert. Puzzled, she walked to her sister’s room, where the pair exchanged just a few words before the first earthquake hit. “The shaking was extremely aggressive,” she told *Hyperallergic* in an audio message. “I ran toward the door and stayed there, waiting for it to pass.” Rasse told *Hyperallergic* that her house in La Guaira is still standing, and she is grateful for the help she has received from friends and acquaintances in recent days — food, water, and some basic supplies. She mentioned that another artist, the photographer [Azalia Licón](https://www.instagram.com/azalia.licon?ref=hyperallergic.com), whose brother was killed in the earthquakes, has also been receiving donations thanks to the organized efforts of people in their community. But Rasse and her sister are so nervous that they are taking turns sleeping, a bag packed with necessities at the ready should they have to run out again. “I have moments when I'm calm, I have moments when I'm crying,” Rasse said. “Any little sound makes us anxious.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/PHOTO-2026-07-01-14-42-20-1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-01-at-4.14.59---PM.jpg) Siul Rasse in her home in La Guaira (left), one of her embroidered artworks (right) (photos courtesy the artist) The back-to-back tremors, the strongest in Venezuela in over a century, struck a nation woefully unprepared for such a disaster. Decades of crippling economic sanctions, hyperinflation, and mismanagement under the state regime have weakened the country's infrastructure and emergency response capabilities. Following the US abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and the installation of Delcy Rodríguez as acting leader, President Donald Trump has leveraged foreign aid [strategically](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/30/us/politics/us-aid-venezuela-earthquake.html?ref=hyperallergic.com), motivated by the nation's oil reserves. The tragedy has been exacerbated by widespread power and internet outages that hamper communication and access to information. [Armando Velutini Suñer](https://www.instagram.com/artmandovs/?ref=hyperallergic.com), a Caracas-based sculptor who runs the technology incubator Artedita Studio, said that in the days sincethe earthquakes, he has pivoted to installing satellite antennas along the coastline. “We’re doing this so that people can be in touch with their loved ones and have some peace,” said Velutini Suñer. “I’ve been very moved by the civic action and how artists have organized to help each other and move forward.” “Us Venezuelans, when we support each other, anything is possible,” he said. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/image.png) The ruins of a collapsed building (photo used with permission) Stories of improvised aid efforts are so common within Venezuela's creative sectors that they appear to be the norm rather than the exception. At the Universidad Nacional Experimental de las Artes in Caracas, a public university with programs in visual and audiovisual arts, theater, and dance, community members have established supply drop-off sites across [several locations](https://www.instagram.com/p/DaNpcnsKpom/?hl=en&ref=hyperallergic.com). Dozens of students enrolled at the school reportedly remain [unaccounted for](https://www.instagram.com/p/DaERtCDGBeR/?ref=hyperallergic.com). Polyriddim, Poliritmo, a Caracas-based cultural collective, had spent the spring running a series of events pairing talks and film screenings on the late philosopher Mark Fisher with DJ sets in the city's unconventional venues. To promote the gatherings, organizers had set up a WhatsApp group that was urgently repurposed last week. After several organizers witnessed a building collapse in the Los Palos Grandes area, the chat became, almost overnight, a lifeline for emotional support and the coordination of medical supplies. “I think we had never experienced an emergency of this magnitude, where the diaspora of more than 9 million Venezuelans and the millions of Venezuelans living there had to collaborate so urgently,” said Berlin-based Venezuelan artist [Ana Alenso](https://www.instagram.com/anaalenso/?ref=hyperallergic.com), who is working with the group from afar. “The frustration of not being there to help directly doesn’t go away, but I want to focus on the fact that there are many ways to support,” she said. “The big challenge now is sustaining these initiatives, because this will take time and there is still much to be done.” In a moving photograph taken by Ricardo Terán and shared by artist [Michael Wong](https://www.instagram.com/burnerwong/?ref=hyperallergic.com), both of whom attendedthe vigil for Onai Quiñonez, the late painter’s father holds up one of his son’s canvases recovered from the wreckage. Another photo shows a broken pottery wheel tray belonging to Quiñonez’s wife, Laura Silva, a ceramicist who survived the earthquake and led the rescue initiative. Wong told *Hyperallergic* that “it is essential not to stop creating.” “Something stuck with me that I heard at an exhibition opening: ‘Artists live to live’ — they never die. And Onai \[Quiñonez\] is proof of that. I never met him in person, but I knew his work, and after getting involved in the rescue effort, I feel him as a close friend and a great loss for art, not just for Venezuela, but for the world,” he said. “I personally don’t like dwelling on the subject of death,” Wong continued, “but I’d like to be remembered the way I remember Onai today.” ### Value of Looted Objects at Met Museum Tops $95M After New Seizures URL: https://hyperallergic.com/value-of-looted-objects-at-met-museum-tops-95m-after-new-seizures/ Last updated: 2026-07-01T21:27:49.000Z Following the recent seizure of several objects from The Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection in June, the total valuation of looted artifacts surrendered by the museum now stands at a whopping $95 million. In addition to hundreds of small-scale items linked to smuggling schemes, investigators have seized 120 objects worth between $20,000 and $26 million from The Met's holdings since 2017. The Met told the [*New York Times*](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/30/arts/design/met-returns-looted-artifacts-95-million.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) that the ongoing object recovery is a mutual effort between the museum's own provenance research team, which was [instituted in 2023](https://hyperallergic.com/met-museum-will-hire-team-to-investigate-looted-art/) and recently expanded to a 12-person operation led by former Sotheby's restitution head [Lucian Simmons](https://hyperallergic.com/met-museum-hires-sothebys-staffer-lucian-simmons-to-lead-provenance-research/), and investigators from the Antiquities Trafficking Unit at the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. Per the *Times*, investigators had subpoenaed object records for museum-acquired pieces [linked to trafficking networks and dealers](https://hyperallergic.com/three-antiquities-traffickers-and-their-fall-from-grace/) suspected of fudging or omitting provenance information altogether. They laterpresented The Met with the evidence and supporting research to facilitate restitution. *Hyperallergic* has contacted the Manhattan DA's Office and The Met for comment. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/turkey-bronze.jpg) Acquired in 1971, this cast bronze statuette depicting the Greco-Roman god Hermes, dated between the 1st century BCE to the 1st century CE, was deaccessioned from The Met's collection and restituted to Turkey in June 2026\. (image via The [Met](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/255323?ref=hyperallergic.com)) Investigators explained that the museum's own curatorial records, includingcondition reports and other notations identifying objects that had arrived at The Met encrusted in dirt, functioned as reliable evidence of illegal digging and trafficking on more than one occasion. With origins across Italy, Greece, Egypt, and Turkey, several ancient sculptures and vessels acquired between 1971 and 2001 were among the objects recently extracted from The Met's collection this June — some of which have already been [recorded](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/545028?ref=hyperallergic.com) as [restituted](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/256203?ref=hyperallergic.com) on the museum's website. The museum clarified that the aforementioned objects weren't literally seized, but instead sent from the museum's holdings to the DA's office after being flagged as improperly acquired. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/DT6549.jpg) An early 1st-century CE marble bust that had been acquired in 1991 was restituted to Greece in June 2026\. (image via [The Met](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/255979?ref=hyperallergic.com)) As investigators continue to identify, inventory, and appraise dozens of trafficked artifacts and antiquities from the museum's collection, The Met also noted to the *Times* that it has independently initiated 18 object restitutions since 2017\. The museum also underscored its role in brokering the restitution of over [150 Cycladic antiquities](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/11/arts/design/stern-cycladic-antiquities-met-museum-greece.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) from billionaire Leonard Stern's private collection to Greece in 2022 — though the Greek government agreed to allow The Met to [continue displaying the sculptures](https://hyperallergic.com/this-is-not-repatriation-stern-cycladic-art-met-greece/) through a 25-year loan. Simmons said in a statement that the in-house assessments for each artifact are neither straightforward nor speedy, while Matthew Bogdanos, who steers the Antiquities Trafficking Unit, told the *Times* that the continued seizures at the museum “spoke for themselves.” ### Remembering Rune Mields, Onai Quiñonez, and Song Burnsoo URL: https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-rune-mields-onai-quinonez-and-song-burnsoo/ Last updated: 2026-07-06T15:26:26.000Z [*In Memoriam*](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/in-memoriam/) *is published every Wednesday afternoon and honors those we recently lost in the art world.* --- **Rune Mields** (1935–2026) *German conceptual artist* Rife with geometric forms, musical notes, and monochromatic grids, Mields's body of work lingers in the space between order and expression. The self-taught artist spent five decades nurturing her interest in mathematics, ornamentation, and symbols across diagrammatic paintings and drawings. Her boundless creative energy even extended to [her own gravestone](https://www.sepulkralmuseum.de/en/museum-for-sepulchral-culture/artists%27-necropolis/?ref=hyperallergic.com) at the Artists' Necropolis in Kassel, which she designed in 1992 and titled "La vita corre, come rivo fluente" (Life flows, like a fluctuating river). --- **Bae Young-whan** (1969–2026) *South Korean contemporary artist* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/byw.jpg) Bae Young-whan with his piece "Like the First Time" (2024) (screenshot **Hyperallergic* via @[gallerybbm](https://www.instagram.com/p/C574KQWJxB3/?ref=hyperallergic.com) on Instagram) Bae, who represented South Korea at the 51st Venice Biennale in 2005, was known for his inventive use of materials,including cotton, glass bottles, turntables, flower petals, and even lyrics from K-Pop songs released during the 1980s pro-democracy movement **—** a major focus of his practice. His work has been exhibited at the New Museum, the Seoul Museum of Art, and the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo, among others. --- **Julia Jones Daniels** (1931–2026) *North Carolina art and museum philanthropist* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/jjd.jpg) Julia Jones Daniels (screenshot **Hyperallergic* via @[conversealumni](https://www.instagram.com/p/DaLcuBQOXuw/?ref=hyperallergic.com) on Instagram) Daniels was a cornerstone figure in the art and culture ecosystem of Raleigh, along with her late husband, the newspaper publisher Frank Daniels Jr. Dubbed a "professional volunteer," she played a key leadership role at institutions such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the North Carolina Museum of Art, where she helped fund the steel tree sculpture that now stands at its entrance. --- **Brian McFeely** (1977–2026) *Scottish street artist* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/brian-m.jpg) Brian McFeely (screenshot **Hyperallergic* via @[mriainlaurie](https://www.instagram.com/p/DYporluOuvY/?ref=hyperallergic.com) on Instagram) The Edinburgh-based street artist and musician left his mark on bars, public spaces, galleries, and other buildings across the world. His first foray into graffiti over three decades ago brought him into an international network of artists. He completed his last mural in April in Næstved, Denmark. --- **Mustafa Monwar** (1935–2026) *Bangladeshi artist and puppeteer* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/mm.jpg) Mustafa Monwar (screenshot **Hyperallergic* via @[zareenellora](https://www.instagram.com/p/DaKM6zUmHBv/?ref=hyperallergic.com) on Instagram) After the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971 displaced millions of people, Monwar brought handmade puppets into refugee camps and staged performances for children. He continued his mission of sparking the imaginations of young people through his 12-year television program, introducing millions of Bangladeshi children to playful puppets who eventually became national symbols of joy and creativity. --- **Song Burnsoo** (1943–2026) *South Korean printmaker and textile artist* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/burnsoo-1-1.jpg) Song Burnsoo (screenshot **Hyperallergic* via @[gallerybaton](https://www.instagram.com/p/DZtqaB7idmh?ref=hyperallergic.com) on Instagram) A luminary mentor and former director of the Daejeon Museum of Art, Song helped build institutional support for future generations of Korean artists while cultivating his own practice across lithography, textile art, and other media. One of his favorite motifs was a rose and thorn and the shadow they cast **—** a vehicle for his explorations of symbolism, spirituality, and the Division of Korea. --- **Clara Straight** (1919–2026) *Missouri art professor and watercolorist* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/IMG_2813.jpeg) Clara Straight (photo courtesy the Kirksville Arts Association) The 106-year-old artist captured the natural beauty of Missouri, where she began making art with shoe polish at [age three](https://missourilife.com/meet-clara-straight-2/?ref=hyperallergic.com). After decades of travel and teaching, including at the University of Colorado at Boulder and Cornell University, she returned to her hometown of Yarrow to continue her daily watercolor practice. --- **Onai Quiñonez** (1993–2026) *Venezuelan painter* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/onai.jpg) Onai Quiñonez (photo used with permission) Known for his gestural paintings and [visceral still lifes](https://resetgallery.com/categoria-producto/artistas/onai-quinonez-tolosa/?srsltid=AfmBOoo%5FuQshxi1Gly-TF75rXEgXQpoZ8UYCf8pDYKnmsx305v1dj-YZ&ref=hyperallergic.com), the Caraballeda-based artist pushed the boundaries of figuration in his work. Inspired by French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Quiñonez explored questions of fragility and empathy in contemporary life by focusing largely on the subject of raw meat. He was killed after two deadly earthquakes hit northern Venezuela on June 24, [collapsing the building where he lived](https://hyperallergic.com/family-urges-help-for-venezuelan-artist-trapped-under-earthquake-rubble/). He is survived by his wife, artist Laura Silva, and their dog, Petra. ### 10 Art Shows to See in Los Angeles This July URL: https://hyperallergic.com/10-art-shows-to-see-in-los-angeles-this-july/ Last updated: 2026-07-01T20:31:35.000Z This July, Los Angeles is rife with exhibitions that confront present-day challenges and conflicts in ways that are both pragmatic and poetic. *Radical Kinship* features eight women artists whose practices highlight informal communal networks, while Eva Aguila looks at the essential but contentious roles played by Mexican workers in the United States, framed by her own familial legacy. A career-spanning show on beloved Angeleno artist Barbara Carrasco at Charlie James Gallery showcases her lifelong synthesis of art and activism. And at Cevera Yoon, Jaime Pattison and Maura Brewer adapt the language and tools of the information economy to create haunting soundscapes and geometric abstractions. --- ### Vincent Ramos: Notice of Demolition or The Horror-Vacui Heavy Haunts House Band for The Haunted House [**as-is**](https://www.as-is.la/exhibitions/vincentramos?ref=hyperallergic.com), 1133 Venice Boulevard, Pico-Union, Los Angeles Through July 18 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Ramos1.jpg) Vincent Ramos, “Pachuco Cadaver: You Can Kill a Revolutionary but You Can’t Kill the Revolution” (2022–26) (photo Yubo Dong, courtesy as-is) By mining popular media and material artifacts, artist Vincent Ramos creates assemblages and collages that examine the affinities and frictions between Mexican-American culture and mainstream American culture as a whole. His evocative patchworks often pay homage to Latine performers or artists who achieved crossover success, such as Anthony Quinn (born Manuel Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca in Chihuahua) and Linda Ronstadt, as well as Herb Albert, a Jewish musician raised in Boyle Heights who helped introduce Latin American music to White audiences. Witty and insightful, Ramos’s poetic pastiches wade through the muddy hinterlands of hybridity, raising questions about which narratives are adopted, or excluded, from the mainstream. --- ### Barbara Carrasco: On The Edge [**Charlie James Gallery**](https://www.cjamesgallery.com/exhibitions/ontheedge?ref=hyperallergic.com),969 Chung King Road, Chinatown, Los Angeles Through July 18 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/05_6KpxLong_260607_Barbara-CJG_016_IE.jpg) Barbara Carrasco, "Detained Child #3" (2026), acrylic on canvas (photo Yubo Dong / ofstudio, courtesy the artist and Charlie James Gallery) Throughout her five-decade career, Barbara Carrasco has been a leading voice in the space between art and activism, from her role as a muralist with the United Farm Workers and her once-censored mural “[L.A. History: A Mexican Perspective](https://hyperallergic.com/chicana-artist-barbara-carrasco-once-censored-mural-finds-a-new-home-in-la/)” (1981), now on view at the city’s Natural History Museum, to bold, graphic portraits of Civil Rights icons such as Martin Luther King Jr. and [Dolores Huerta](https://hyperallergic.com/la-artists-honor-dolores-huertas-defiant-spirit/). *On the Edge* presents new paintings of children detained under the US’s increasingly draconian immigration policies, each pictured with a butterfly, a hopeful symbol of liberation. The exhibition also features a selection of Carrasco’s historical works, highlighting her poignant juxtapositions of the personal and political. --- ### Erotic Terrains [**The Loved One**](https://prforartists.com/erotic-terrains-the-loved-one-wienholt-projects-inaugural-exhibition/?ref=hyperallergic.com),1634 West Temple Street, Historic Filipinotown, Los Angeles Through July 24 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/Wyatt-Mills--Hard-Exterior--2026--Oil-on-canvas--20-x-16-in.--Courtesy-Wienholt-Projects-and-Hat---Beard.jpg) Wyatt Mills, "Hard Exterior" (2026), oil on canvas (image courtesy Wienholt Projects and Hat & Beard) The Loved One is a new art bookshop and gallery co-founded by publisher [Hat & Beard Press](https://hatandbeard.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) and curatorial platform [Wienholt Projects](https://wienholtprojects.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com). (Art-savvy Angelenos may remember the building as the site of the [Enzo Art Fair](https://enzolosangeles.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) earlier this year.) Its inaugural exhibition, *Erotic Terrains*, is a group show primarily featuring LA-based artists who explore liminal spaces and the uncanny through painting, sculpture, photography, and collage. Highlights include Wyatt Mills’s figurative surrealism, Alex McAdoo’s suburban psychedelia, and Francesca Gabbiani’s cut-paper palm tree on fire in “Mutation XLVI” (2023). _This post is for subscribers only._ ### NYC Mayor Mamdani Approves Record $323M Funding for Culture URL: https://hyperallergic.com/nyc-mayor-mamdani-approves-record-323m-funding-for-culture/ Last updated: 2026-07-16T19:12:33.000Z Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the City Council will provide the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) with its highest-ever yearly appropriation as part of the city's Fiscal Year 2027 budget. A spokesperson for the Mayor's Office told *Hyperallergic* that the city government will give $323.8 million to the agency, which administers public funding to arts institutions throughout the city. The appropriation marks a nearly 7% increase from [last year's then-record ](https://www.nyc.gov/mayors-office/news/2025/07/-best-budget-ever-gets-even-better-mayor-adams-dcla-cultural-leaders-celebrate-historic?ref=hyperallergic.com)$299.6 million investment. In the hours before the July 1 official budget deadline, Mamdani struck a [“handshake” deal](https://www.nyc.gov/mayors-office/news/2026/06/mayor-mamdani--speaker-menin-reach-handshake-agreement-on-balanc?ref=hyperallergic.com) with City Council Speaker Julie Menin and other members of the Council on how to distribute $125.8 billion across the city government. The funding package is one of the first tests of Mamdani's progressive campaign promises to make life more affordable for everyday New Yorkers. In a statement to *Hyperallergic,* Mamdani referred to the city's artists and cultural institutions as New York's “beating heart.” "They fill our streets, stages, galleries, and neighborhoods with art and ideas that draw people from around the world," Mamdani continued. "But a crushing affordability crisis has threatened to drive out the very artists who have long defined life in this city." The approved DCLA funding is over $100 million more than the amount City Council had initially proposed in a [preliminary plan](https://council.nyc.gov/budget/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2026/03/Department-of-Cultural-Affairs.pdf?ref=hyperallergic.com) for the 2027 budget. Each year, the budget is shaped during a months-long dialogue between City Council and the Mayor's Office. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/07/DSC_1682--1-.jpg) Mamdani signs a children's book during an Eid celebration at Gracie Mansion in March. (photo Isa Farfan/**Hyperallergic*) Already serving as the [largest municipal funder of culture in the United States](https://www.nyc.gov/site/dcla/index.page?ref=hyperallergic.com), the DCLA distributes hundreds of millions of dollars to New York City arts institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and 38 other members of the [Cultural Institutions Group](https://hyperallergic.com/bric-and-bronx-childrens-museum-join-nyc-cultural-institutions-group/). However, in recent years, arts advocates have [called out](https://hyperallergic.com/dear-zohran-dont-let-art-workers-down/) borough-based inequities among DCLA-funded institutions. "In a statement to *Hyperallergic*, DCLA Commissioner Diya Vij celebrated the historic budget as a statement that "New York believes in the arts and in its artists." "Arts and culture are how we tell our stories, care for one another, and shape the future of this city," Vij continued. "I’m incredibly proud that we’re choosing to stand with the people who make New York the creative capital of the world.” Theagreed-upon budget also establishesa "Cultural Stability Fund"that would make a $10 million pool available to struggling cultural organizations each year through the 2029 fiscal year. According to a press release, the fund, which will be managed by the DCLA, will be available to "assist eligible organizations experiencing emergency circumstances." The fund’s creation comes months after [art leaders urged City Council](https://hyperallergic.com/how-can-nyc-artists-push-back-against-censorship/) to establish an emergency resource for artists whose public arts grants were in jeopardy under the Trump administration. During one hearing last November, local arts leaders, including playwrights Annie Dorsen and Lynn Nottage, expressed concerns that queer artists and artists of color would be erased from cultural life as a result of the Trump administration's erratic and [ideologically fueled](https://hyperallergic.com/national-endowment-for-the-arts-cuts-millions-in-grants/) grant recisions. An emergency fund, Nottage argued, could "serve as a powerful rebuttal to the federal efforts at suppression." "My administration is proud to make a historic, record-level investment in New York City's arts and cultural organizations," Mamdani said. "Because we believe the people who make this city what it is should be able to build their lives here.” ### Opportunities in July 2026 URL: https://hyperallergic.com/opportunities-in-july-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-02T16:01:04.000Z Hyperallergic’s monthly [Opportunities Listings](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/opportunities/) provide a resource to artists and creatives looking for funding and community support to further their work. Subscribe to receive this list of opportunities in your inbox each month. [Sign up here](#/portal/account/newsletters)! If you find this list valuable, consider becoming a [Hyperallergic Member](https://hyperallergic.com/membership/) to help us make it possible every month. --- ## Residencies, Workshops, & Fellowships **Paul & Daisy Soros — Fellowships for New Americans 2027** Up to $90,000 for immigrant & New American visual artists, architects & designers pursuing MFA, MA, PhD & other graduate degrees in any field at any accredited US institution. Read more on [*Hyperallergic*](https://hyperallergic.com/a-90-000-graduate-fellowship-for-immigrants-children-of-immigrants-in-the-visual-arts/). Deadline: October 29, 2026 | [pdsoros.org](https://bit.ly/3T0ySoA?ref=hyperallergic.com) **Ucross – Spring 2027 Artist Fellowships** General Studio Fellows and Native American Fellowship recipients enjoy uninterrupted time and space, private studios, meals, and a $1,500 stipend on a 20,000-acre ranch in Wyoming. The application fee is $40; this is waived for NAF applicants. Deadline: July 15, 2026 | [ucrossfoundation.org](https://bit.ly/3SxtQjr?ref=hyperallergic.com) **Peters Valley School of Craft Residency** This program is open to artists working in blacksmithing, ceramics, fibers, jewelry and fine metals, wood, and printmaking. Residents receive a $600 or $900 stipend to work in fully equipped studios for two or three weeks. Housing is included. There is a $10 application fee. Deadline: July 31, 2026| [petersvalley.org](https://petersvalley.org/opportunities/artist-residencies/?ref=hyperallergic.com) **Wave Hill — 9th Annual AnkhLave Garden Project Fellowship** Now accepting applications from NYC-based, BIPOC artists. Applications are welcome from artists who work across media. Six artists will receive $1,800 stipends for the Winter Fellowship. Deadline: August 10, 2026 | [wavehill.org](https://www.wavehill.org/discover/arts/opportunities/2027-ankhlave-garden-project-fellowship?ref=hyperallergic.com) --- ## Grants & Awards **2026 AICA International Incentive Prize for Art Critics** Critics are invited to submit a 2000–3000 essay on the theme "Art criticism and eco-socially engaged practices: new writing, new challenges?" First place will receive €2000, second place €1000, and third place €500. Deadline:August 6, 2026 | [aica.org](https://bit.ly/4v6n4yO?ref=hyperallergic.com) **The Bennett Prize – 2026/2027 Award Cycle** For women figurative realist painters. The grand prize winner receives $75,000 and a solo exhibition. The first runner-up receives $10,000\. A five-person jury will select 10 finalists to be featured in a group exhibition that will travel the US. The application fee is $50\. Read more on [*Hyperallergic*](https://hyperallergic.com/the-bennett-prize-opens-fifth-call-for-entries/). Deadline: September 19, 2026 | [thebennettprize.org](https://bit.ly/4wUegxY?ref=hyperallergic.com) **Hyundai Motor Group – The 7th VH Award** A global award for emerging media artists engaging with the context of Asia, featuring grants, a residency with Ars Electronica, and global exhibitions. Read more on [*Hyperallergic*](https://hyperallergic.com/7th-vh-award-for-media-artists-engaged-with-the-context-of-asia/). Deadline: July 21, 2026 | [vhaward.com](https://bit.ly/4wTaAMN?ref=hyperallergic.com) **Leeway Foundation – Art and Change Grant** This grant provides up to $5,000 to fund art for social change projects by women, trans, and/or gender nonconforming artists and cultural producers living in Greater Philadelphia. Deadline: August 3, 2026 | [leeway.org](https://www.leeway.org/acg?ref=hyperallergic.com) --- 🎯 Check out more opportunities at [hyperallergic.com/tag/opportunities](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/opportunities/). To feature an opportunity from your organization on *Hyperallergic*, get in touch at [hyperallergic.com/advertise](https://hyperallergic.com/advertise/). ### Phillip Guston, Lush and Forlorn URL: https://hyperallergic.com/phillip-guston-lush-and-forlorn/ Last updated: 2026-07-01T10:00:24.000Z What makes Phillip Guston great? In the words of *Hyperallergic* critic John Yau, it’s his “refusal to separate himself from the crumbling world he dwells in.” The late artist’s current exhibition at Hauser & Wirth in New York, featuring drawings and paintings spanning the mid-’60s and ’70s, brings to light lesser-known sides of his practice, such as the influence of poetry and the immense contributions of his wife, the poet Musa McKim. In news, unionized workers at the Guggenheim Museum in Manhattan have voted to authorize a strike as contract negotiations enter their sixth month, with the shock and pain of last year’s layoffs still fresh. Also today: Scholar Sarah Bond on human DNA in cave art, Natalie Haddad interviews Jack Halberstam, and ballroom Icon Andre Mizrahi Clark’s words of wisdom: “I want people to look at me and say, ‘Well, bitch, if he could do it, I know I still could do it.’” *—Valentina Di Liscia, senior editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/philip-guston.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/philip-gustons-lines-of-poetry/) [ Philip Guston’s Lines of Poetry ](https://hyperallergic.com/philip-gustons-lines-of-poetry/) Philip Guston loved poets. In 1968, after he and his wife, the artist and poet Musa McKim, and their teenage daughter moved to Woodstock, New York, he began to radically shift his work from abstraction to a cartoonish world of people and things. This change coincided with his beginning to collaborate with a close circle of poet friends, particularly Clark Coolidge, who lived nearby. *Life With P. - Philip Guston: Paintings and Drawings 1964–1978* at Hauser and Wirth brings together work from this time when he pared down his drawings to a line or two and began again. Drawing, particularly the bare line, was central to Guston’s practice. This period of questioning resonated with Coolidge, who wanted to move beyond his early poems, which were sonic and decidedly non-descriptive, without giving up his love for sound. While the exhibition focuses on the transformation that Guston’s work underwent, it calls attention to the principal support he got from McKim as his lifelong partner, inspiration, and a poet in her own right. | John Yau [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/philip-gustons-lines-of-poetry/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/nick-cave-bob-faust.jpeg)](https://differentleaf.myshopify.com/?utm%5Fmedium=paid&utm%5Fsource=hyperallergic&utm%5Fcampaign=070126) ****Nick Cave & Bob Faust guest edit the inaugural Art Issue of Different Leaf** The beloved indie cannabis mag is relaunching with an expanded purview—covering the intersecton of art, music, fashion, and the culture of cannabis. Its first-ever Art Issue, guest edited by world-renowned artists and creative partners Cave and Faust, comes in three limited editions and is available for preorder now. [Learn more ](https://differentleaf.myshopify.com/?utm%5Fmedium=paid&utm%5Fsource=hyperallergic&utm%5Fcampaign=070126) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/cave-painting.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/human-dna-in-cave-paintings-can-survive-for-millennia-study-finds/) - Deep in the ancient caves of Spain and Portugal, new research proves for the first time that [DNA can survive for millennia within the paint](https://hyperallergic.com/human-dna-in-cave-paintings-can-survive-for-millennia-study-finds/) applied to rock walls, opening a future pathway to recovering the identities of ancient artists from thousands of years ago. - Negotiations for the second contract with the Guggenheim Museum in New York City are entering their sixth month, with an emphasis on job security after abrupt layoffs last year. Unionized staff across several departments have voted to [authorize a strike](https://hyperallergic.com/guggenheim-museum-union-votes-to-authorize-strike/) if necessary. --- ## Interviews [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/andre-clark.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-ballroom-icon-who-paved-a-new-way/) [ The Ballroom Icon Who Paved a New Way ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-ballroom-icon-who-paved-a-new-way/) Amid all of the kitty-kat meow of today’s Vogue Fem performers, Andre Mizrahi Clark has the stern, calm energy of a lion tipping on its toes. | Ridikkuluz [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-ballroom-icon-who-paved-a-new-way/) --- ## Queer Elders [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/jack-halberstam.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/jack-halberstams-trans-theory-at-a-slant/) [ Jack Halberstam’s Trans Theory at a Slant ](https://hyperallergic.com/jack-halberstams-trans-theory-at-a-slant/) Hyperallergic spoke with the scholar about transness, architecture, and how we can make a better world by first unmaking it. | Natalie Haddad [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/jack-halberstams-trans-theory-at-a-slant/) --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Akiko-Stehrenberger.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/akiko-stehrenbergers-explosive-movie-poster-art/) [ Akiko Stehrenberger’s Explosive Movie Poster Art ](https://hyperallergic.com/akiko-stehrenbergers-explosive-movie-poster-art/) Stehrenberger’s ability to capture the essence of a film in a single image has made her one of the most sought-after poster designers in the industry. | Denise Zubizarreta [Read More ](https://https//hyperallergic.com/akiko-stehrenbergers-explosive-movie-poster-art/?ref=hyperallergic.com) ### Philip Guston’s Lines of Poetry URL: https://hyperallergic.com/philip-gustons-lines-of-poetry/ Last updated: 2026-06-30T21:43:09.000Z Philip Guston loved poets. In 1968, after he and his wife, the artist and poet Musa McKim, and their teenage daughter moved to Woodstock, New York, he began to radically shift his work from abstraction to a cartoonish world of people and things. This change coincided with his beginning to collaborate with a close circle of poet friends, particularly [Clark Coolidge](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/clark-coolidge?ref=hyperallergic.com), who lived nearby. From then until his death in 1980, he did drawings for many poems, including ones by Coolidge, Bill Berkson, and William Corbett, and also gave drawings to illustrate covers of inexpensively printed little magazines and poetry books published on a mimeograph machine. His generosity to poets was unmatched by other artists. With few exceptions, he was scorned by critics, artist friends, and the art world. It was the poets who saw the change, supported, and celebrated it, because they agreed with the sentiment expressed by a line from Robert Kelly’s poem, “Finding the measure” (circa 1968): “Style is death.” *Life With P. - Philip Guston: Paintings and Drawings 1964–1978* at Hauser and Wirth brings together work from this time when he pared down his drawings to a line or two and began again. Drawing, particularly the bare line, was central to Guston’s practice. This period of questioning resonated with Coolidge, who wanted to move beyond his early poems, which were sonic and decidedly non-descriptive, without giving up his love for sound. While the exhibition focuses on the transformation that Guston’s work underwent, it calls attention to the principal support he got from McKim as his lifelong partner, inspiration, and a poet in her own right. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/GUSTO80699-hires.jpg) Philip Guston, "Untitled" (1976), oil on canvas (© The Estate of Philip Guston; photo Sarah Muehlbauer, courtesy the Estate and Hauser & Wirth) Three large easel paintings in one room are about Philip and Musa. In “Untitled” (1976), a large cadmium-red head, set against a dirty grayish-pink ground, is rising from a red horizon, eyes looking up. “Blue Cover” (1977) shows the couple pressed close together in bed, under a plain light blue cover, their heads in the blanket, underscoring their mortality. “Two Hearts” (1978) depicts a black heart pierced by a gray arrow lying on top of a red heart with a row of stitches placed on a low blue pedestal. The black and red hearts are a motif by Guston that I have never seen before; it is heartbreaking, intimate, wounded, and desperate. His use of pinks, blues, and cadmium reds adds a contradictory note of sweetness to his melancholy, desperate subject matter. Lush and forlorn, Guston’s art is full of contradictions. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Human DNA in Cave Paintings Can Survive For Millennia, Study Finds URL: https://hyperallergic.com/human-dna-in-cave-paintings-can-survive-for-millennia-study-finds/ Last updated: 2026-06-30T19:41:17.000Z What can the pigments of Paleolithic cave paintings tell us about the artists who painted them? Deep in the ancient caves of Spain and Portugal, scientists have discovered evidence of ancient human DNA on cave walls. The find proves for the first time that DNA can survive for millennia within the paint applied to rock walls, opening a future pathway to recovering the identities of ancient artists from thousands of years ago. A new study published in the journal [*Nature Communications*](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-74234-2?ref=hyperallergic.com) on June 23 examines ancient DNA preserved within pigment samples extracted from 24 rock art panels within 11 caves across Spain and Portugal. The team, led by [Alba Bossoms Mesa](https://orcid.org/0009-0008-7556-1722?ref=hyperallergic.com), is largely from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, but the research is a part of a much larger, multinational project called [First-Art](https://www.bradshawfoundation.com/first%5Fart%5Fteam/introduction/index.php?ref=hyperallergic.com). The consortium includes a network of archaeologists, geologists, scientists, and cultural heritage specialists in Spain, Portugal, Italy, China, Germany, and the United Kingdom, each working to date and examine the chemical composition of prehistoric rock art. The discovery of DNA in this artwork has created a new window into the past that goes beyond researchers’ previous reliance on human bones, sediment, teeth, and faunal remains to reconstruct Paleolithic communities. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/csm_Balmori1_797dd7d523.jpg) Pigmented cave wall sample from Balmori Cave, Spain (© Kevin Nota, courtesy Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology) The researchers examined simple marks found in nine sites of the eleven total caves, as well as [hand stencils](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352409X24005194?ref=hyperallergic.com) discovered in the [Maltravieso Cave](https://turismo.caceres.es/en/recurso-poi/cueva-de-maltravieso?ref=hyperallergic.com) at Extremadura and figurative paintings at the [Cave of Altamira](https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/310/?ref=hyperallergic.com) in Cantabria. Although only a limited amount of these samples contained human DNA, the scientists note that “given the diversity of rock art techniques and contexts, it remains possible that rock art from other sites, periods, or styles could more consistently yield ancient DNA.” Some of the most spectacular rock art known today is outside of Europe and China, in South America. It is possible that the methods developed in Spain and Portugal may now give us more insight into the artists who painted the [Cueva de las Manos](https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/936/?ref=hyperallergic.com) (Santa Cruz Province, Argentina), which contains hundreds of handprints dating between 13,000 and 9,500 years ago. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/SantaCruz-CuevaManos-P2210651b.jpg) Hands at the Cuevas de las Manos on the Río Pinturas, near the town of Perito Moreno in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina *(*photo public domain via [Wikimedia Commons](https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitxer:SantaCruz-CuevaManos-P2210651b.jpg?lang=ca&ref=hyperallergic.com)) Whether it is the chemistry needed to create synthetic pigments like [Egyptian Blue](https://hyperallergic.com/scientists-recreate-ancient-egypt-prized-blue-pigment/) or the understanding of kiln thermodynamics necessary for ceramicists to fire their pottery, science and visual art have often had a symbiotic relationship. [Monica Green,](https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Monica-H-Green?ref=hyperallergic.com) a specialist in the history of science and ancient DNA (also called “aDNA”), noted the importance of this area of study in comments to *Hyperallergic*: “Retrieving molecular evidence of the past — whether of humans themselves or the lifeforms they interacted with — has been revolutionizing our understanding of everything from mass migrations to pandemics,” Green said. “‘Data’ can come from anywhere: from the plaque on teeth to the floor of a cave.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/KarinaSwabbing.png) Artist Karina Åberg swabs a 14th-century da Vinci family letter from the State Archive in Prato for biological clues, following research initiated by Rossella Lorenzi. (photo Paolo Agazzi via [Archivio di Stato di Prato / Italian Ministry of Culture](https://theleonardodnaproject.org/leonardos-art-carries-biological-record/?ref=hyperallergic.com)) Green and many others [have long contended](https://www.historians.org/perspectives-article/genetics-as-a-historicist-discipline/?ref=hyperallergic.com) that the developing field of archaeogenetics offers more opportunity than ever to recover the histories of [people](https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/jan/03/what-the-ancient-dna-discovery-tells-us-about-native-american-ancestry?ref=hyperallergic.com), [pandemics](https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/id/a6040c40-8087-4295-b030-b0d89f7cb5c8/9781942401018.pdf?ref=hyperallergic.com), and [migration](https://killgrove.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/killgrove2013-pca-biohistoryromanrepublic.pdf?ref=hyperallergic.com). New analyses of everything from the linen strands of the [Shroud of Turin](https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03.19.712852v1?ref=hyperallergic.com) to the [artworks of Leonardo da Vinci](https://theleonardodnaproject.org/leonardos-art-carries-biological-record/?ref=hyperallergic.com) also illustrate the latent potential of aDNA analysis for the field of art history. While there are definite limits to what archaeogenetic data can and cannot reveal, microscopic clues are telling us more than ever about prehistoric, ancient, and medieval artists — and even the [forgeries](https://hyperallergic.com/can-an-artists-dna-help-detect-forgeries/) of yore. As we are only starting to understand, artworks carry much more than a visual message. They are also biological archives that provide access to our past. ### The Ballroom Icon Who Paved a New Way URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-ballroom-icon-who-paved-a-new-way/ Last updated: 2026-06-30T19:10:15.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Photo-by-Ridikkuluz-Christopher-Street-Piers--2-.JPG) Andre Clark performing the New Way vogue style he pioneered at the Christopher Street pier, June 2026 (photo Ridikkuluz/**Hyperallergic*) You might have grown up being told you were doing the most — but on the ballroom floor, that's the point. Posing, strutting, voguing, and flaunting the parts of yourself the world might have shamed are celebrated. If you've ever been to a ball, you know the night always gets initiated with anL.S.S. (Legends, Statements, and Stars), a cocktail hour dedicated to toasting the members of the scene who are paving the way. The commentator, the grand marshal of the night, starts calling out members according to hierarchy. As the commentator calls out each legend, statement, and star to perform, the crowd claps, tilts their heads to one side, and snaps their fingers as a form of respect when the performer lands a dip — the period at the end of every performance sentence. A“Legend” is a master of their category, a “Statement”is cementing their place in the scene by dominating their category, and a “Star”is causing a buzz in their respective category. And if you’re lucky, you might just bear witness to an iconor pioneer — the OG elders who built ballroom into what it is today, many of whom we lost during the HIV/AIDS epidemic. If [Icon Andre Mizrahi Clark](https://www.instagram.com/andremizrahi99?ref=hyperallergic.com) is in attendance, you’re in for a treat. The commentator will cue the DJ to pause the music. In anticipation of what's to come, the DJ hits a double beat crash — *dun-dun*. “When you talk about Ballroom Royalty” — *dun-dun*. “When you talk about an Icon, a Pioneer” — *dun-dun*. “When you talk about a Hall of Famer” — *dun-dun*. The commentator gives us easter eggs, hoping the crowd catches the clues before getting specific … “Seven. Letters.” *Dun-dun-dun-dun.* As the music revs back up, we cheer because we know exactly who they’re referring to. The crowd parts like the Red Sea. Amid all of the kitty-kat meow of today’s Vogue Fem performers emerges the stern, calm energy of a lion tipping on its toes that is Icon Andre, founder of the [House of Mizrahi](https://www.instagram.com/theiconichouseofmizrahi?ref=hyperallergic.com). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Andre-at-the-Prada-Ball-Photo-by-Gerard-Gaskin-HD.jpg) Icon Andre at the Prada Ball in 1999 (photo by and courtesy Gerard Gaskin) In a funky hairdo and eclectic ensemble, the Brooklyn native became the [first performer to vogue at the historic Apollo Theater](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdnaHsF14fM&ref=hyperallergic.com) in Harlem in 1999 and is still breaking the beat decades later. The kids in the scene all gasp as a performance language they may not be familiar with fills the room — a type of language that could only have come from the struggle the elders dealt with decades prior. This [Old Way flare](https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/brief-history-voguing?ref=hyperallergic.com) has hints of karate, b-boy, and popping and locking, and derives from a category called “Pose, Pose, Pose,” which, legend has it, originated with the queer kids incarcerated on Rikers Island recreating poses from magazines. And yet it still carries the spirit of New Way, a category Andre first became a Legend for and best describes his performance style. I sat down with him at the heart of where it all began: the Christopher Street Pier, a historic playground for New York's queer community. Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity. --- **Hyperallergic:** *What is your relationship to the piers?* **Icon Andre Clark:** My mother had 13 kids and I was the youngest boy. People always saw femininity in me 'cause I was always running around with all the girls, jumping rope. My best friend from Brooklyn, Sean Coleman \[founder of [Destination Tomorrow](https://destinationtomorrow.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\], told me that he was gay. And I was like, “Okay, cool. That's you or whatever.” I thought he was setting me up to tell my mom I'm gay. After about a week, I finally said, “Yeah, I think I am.”He took me to the village — where we’re sitting now. It was the place where everybody hung out: gays, trans, drags, butch queens, studs — it was so diverse. I said, “Wow, there is a place for me.” Trust me, it looked nothing like this! It was beat down, dirty, trash everywhere. We used to vogue by the entrance. Nobody would ever be back here unless it was for sex. In the 2000s, they cleaned everything out. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Jack Halberstam’s Trans Theory at a Slant URL: https://hyperallergic.com/jack-halberstams-trans-theory-at-a-slant/ Last updated: 2026-06-30T19:11:40.000Z For the past three decades, pioneering gender and queer theorist Jack Halberstam has redefined his fields of study through unconventional perspectives and cultural forms — as he puts it, “tell\[ing\] stories slightly differently than the way they’ve been told in the past.” In his seminal 1998 book [*Female Masculinity*](http://bookshop.org/a/539/9781478001621?ref=hyperallergic.com), he argued for masculinity in people other than cis men as a category all its own rather than a quality inherent to “maleness.” Since then, he has examined the myriad ways that queerness and gender nonconformity manifest in our surrounding world through subjects as diverse as Lady Gaga and Maurice Sendak’s *Where the Wild Things Are* (1963). For his forthcoming book, [*Anarchitecture After Everything: A Trans Manifesto*](http://bookshop.org/a/539/9780262052429?ref=hyperallergic.com) (MIT Press, 2026), Halberstam shifts his attention to the built environment with a focus on radical architectural and bodily interventions by visual artists, including Gordon Matta-Clark and Cassils. In exploring the concept of anarchitecture — a term Matta-Clark coined to describe the dismantling or deconstruction of structures — in relation to transness, Halberstam asks readers to imagine how we can make a better world by first unmaking it. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. --- **Hyperallergic:** *I should start by asking you about your new book. How did you get to the idea of anarchitecture and its relationship to transness?* **Jack Halberstam:** I came across Gordon Matta-Clark about 10 years ago when there was a big retrospective of his work at the Bronx Museum. I didn't have any particular expectations about this show because I didn't know much about him, and I didn't see how it would relate to my own interests. But I had been given the ARCAS prize to write about sexuality in the built environment, and this seemed like it might help me think about how to approach that topic. I went back several times over the course of the show, and by the time I was finished really sitting with the work, I felt like I had caught a glimpse of a new language, a different language. What stayed with me is that when Gordon Matta-Clark was creating these shapes in abandoned buildings, I felt like he was inscribing some kind of hieroglyphic script across the city, and in that script there's a narrative about transness, that's one way of saying it. The narrative is something like this: If conventionally the house has been cast as a kind of female entity, a body that houses people, and the architect is conventionally — within architecture itself, but also in the works of people like Ayn Rand in *The Fountainhead* — cast as not just a man, but a superman, an übermensch, who knows how to build the world, then this counterintuitive action against the house that Gordon Matta-Clark takes could be read as a kind of sex reassignment surgery, to put it in the most basic terms. I published an article called “Unbuilding Gender” in *Places Journal* as a result of the ARCAS prize. After I finished that article, I realized I was not at all done with this topic and with this gift of anarchitecture. Now I have a whole book exploring the logic of anarchitecture, the relationship between its understanding of the city and the politics of urban gay and lesbian life in the city, and ultimately the rendering of transness that is available to us through anarchitecture, which is radically different from the rendering of transness that we get through the law or through the analysis of medical discourses and so on. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Guggenheim Museum Union Votes to Authorize Strike URL: https://hyperallergic.com/guggenheim-museum-union-votes-to-authorize-strike/ Last updated: 2026-06-30T16:26:44.000Z As negotiations for the second contract with the Guggenheim Museum in New York City enter their sixth month, unionized staff across several departments have voted to authorize a strike if necessary. Organized under UAW Local 2110, the Guggenheim's union has been pushing for increased job protections and higher pay following the [abrupt layoff of 20 employees](https://hyperallergic.com/guggenheim-museum-to-lay-off-20-workers/) in February 2025\. After filing a grievance with the National Labor Relations Board regarding the layoffs, the union is zeroing in on additional jobsecurity measures and improved severance pay. Union chair Drew Reynolds, who works as a museum educator, said in a press statement that the layoffs that affected 14 union positions were implemented “chaotically,” and alleged that the impacted workers were made to leave the museum “with no advance notice and no union representation.” “The cuts to staff created hardships for those of us remaining because we were forced to pick up a lot of extra work,” Reynolds continued. “Workers took the brunt of the cuts while museum leadership did not give up a penny in their salaries.” Reynolds pointed to the Guggenheim Foundation hiring Melissa Chiu as the [museum's incoming director](https://hyperallergic.com/guggenheim-museum-appoints-melissa-chiu-as-next-director/) this September, among other executive-level hires, while entry-level staff continue to make less than $50,000 annually. According to the union, over half of the museum's workforce earns less than $71,000 annually. The minimum amount that a single adult with no children must earn to keep up with the cost-of-living threshold in New York City is $70,334, according to the [Mayor's Office](https://www.nyc.gov/assets/equity/downloads/pdf/2026%20NYC%20TCOL%20Measure%5F4%206%2026.pdf?ref=hyperallergic.com). The Guggenheim is currently offering a four-year contract with a 3% pay increase retroactive to January and scheduled 2.75% increases for the following three years. However, the union's bargaining team says that the proposed increases don't line up with NYC's current [inflation rate of 5.1%](https://www.bls.gov/regions/northeast/news-release/consumerpriceindex%5Fnewyork.htm?ref=hyperallergic.com), and also don't account for skyrocketing healthcare costs. The union is advocating for a three-year agreement with a 5% retroactive increase for 2026, and 4.25% bumps for the following two years. The union is also seeking a “modest reduction” in healthcare costs for employees making less than $75,000, saying that annual coverage for a single adult begins at $1,600 — a figure thatnearly triples for employees with families. Concerns regarding healthcare premiums and financial instability were highlighted at a [union rally outside the museum](https://hyperallergic.com/guggenheim-union-rallies-at-carol-bove-reception/) during the reception for Carol Bove's solo exhibition earlier in March. In a statement to *Hyperallergic*, a spokesperson for the Guggenheim said that the museum is “currently at the bargaining table to negotiate in good faith towards a renewal of the contract” and that the museum and the union bargaining teams have reached an agreement on “a number of issues.” Archivist Anton Sherin emphasized that union members are deeply committed to their work, but they “need management to understand that what they are offering is unsustainable.” ### My Mayor Muslim, My Art Political URL: https://hyperallergic.com/my-mayor-muslim-my-art-political/ Last updated: 2026-06-30T16:24:34.000Z In a world saturated with fake images, documentary photography is more impactful than ever. And what better place for the intrepid street photographer than New York at this very moment, when the city is veritably humming with an auspicious overflow of good vibes? In today’s newsletter, artist Danielle De Jesus captures the euphoria of the Knicks’ historic victory, while photographer Arielle Shannon trains her lens on multigenerational joy at a sweaty NYC Pride March. If you’re too hot to hit the pavement, you can always head Upstate for slightly lower temperatures and no less art to see. Local writer Taliesin Thomas takes us through the coolest and weirdest of this year’s Upstate Art Weekend, and artist Steel Stillman gathers community reflections on Nancy Shaver’s beloved Hudson store, Henry, which is sunsetting in mid-July. Plus, Democratic Socialist Claire Valdez’s big primary win, Mayor Mamdani’s new World Cup initiative with the Whitney Museum, and artists and workers affected by the Pace downsizing speak out. —*Valentina Di Liscia, senior editor* --- --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/pace-feature-newsletter-3.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/pace-gallerys-hall-of-mirrors/) [ Pace Gallery’s Hall of Mirrors ](https://hyperallergic.com/pace-gallerys-hall-of-mirrors/) Despite a tightly controlled narrative, for some workers and artists, the mega-gallery’s downsizing has left more questions than answers. | Valentina Di Liscia and Rebecca Schiffman [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/pace-gallerys-hall-of-mirrors/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/pratt-manhattan-gallery-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/pratt-manhattan-gallery-moves-beyond-digital-in-new-exhibition/) ****Pratt Manhattan Gallery Moves “Beyond Digital” in New Exhibition** Exhibition of Pratt Digital Arts alumni explores technology, ecology, and emerging forms of intelligence. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/pratt-manhattan-gallery-moves-beyond-digital-in-new-exhibition/) --- ## Photographing the City [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/knicks-parade-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/capturing-new-york-pride-at-the-historic-knicks-parade/) [ Capturing New York Pride at the Historic Knicks Parade ](https://hyperallergic.com/capturing-new-york-pride-at-the-historic-knicks-parade/) We ate bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches and got to school by swiping MetroCards. We have our own language, style, and unmatched pride. We call NYC home. | Danielle De Jesus [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/capturing-new-york-pride-at-the-historic-knicks-parade/) [ See Photos From a Sweltering, Joyous NYC Pride March ](https://hyperallergic.com/see-photos-from-a-sweltering-joyous-nyc-pride-march/) I joined more than 75,000 marchers and one million spectators on Sunday, June 28, to document the parade on Stonewall’s 57th anniversary. | Arielle Shannon [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/see-photos-from-a-sweltering-joyous-nyc-pride-march/) --- ## New York's Queer Elders [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/brenda-goodman-newsletter.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/going-deep-with-brenda-goodman/) [ Going Deep With Brenda Goodman ](https://hyperallergic.com/going-deep-with-brenda-goodman/) “I remember taking a plaid dress, tearing it up, and using it as paint rags,” the 83-year-old painter tells me in a knee-to-knee interview at her studio. | Mala Iqbal [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/going-deep-with-brenda-goodman/) [ Richard Tsao’s “Sanuk” Art ](https://hyperallergic.com/richard-tsaos-sanuk-art/) In an interview with Hyperallergic, the artist known for his “Flood Room” paintings compares his decades-long practice to “the need for food.” | AX Mina [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/richard-tsaos-sanuk-art/) [ Ed Woodham in All the Odd Places ](https://hyperallergic.com/ed-woodham-in-all-the-odd-places/) The beloved artist and public art champion discusses his work, activism, and queerness in an interview with Hyperallergic. | Hakim Bishara [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/ed-woodham-in-all-the-odd-places/) [ By the Force of Flavia Rando’s Presence ](https://hyperallergic.com/by-the-force-of-flavia-randos-presence/) Once a member of the Gay Liberation Front and Radicalesbians, the pathbreaking queer artist and educator continues to stir the pot. | Alexis Clements [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/by-the-force-of-flavia-randos-presence/) --- ## Upstate New York [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/upstate-art-weekend-feature-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/at-upstate-art-weekend-cars-and-barns-are-galleries/) [ At Upstate Art Weekend, Cars and Barns Are Galleries ](https://hyperallergic.com/at-upstate-art-weekend-cars-and-barns-are-galleries/) During the seventh annual event, hundreds of artists proved that art has never been confined to “white cube” galleries. | Taliesin Thomas [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/at-upstate-art-weekend-cars-and-barns-are-galleries/) [ Nancy Shaver’s Beloved Store in Hudson to Close After 30 Years ](https://hyperallergic.com/nancy-shavers-beloved-store-in-hudson-to-close-after-30-years/) For many, Henry is a lot more than just another Upstate New York antiques shop. | Steel Stillman [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/nancy-shavers-beloved-store-in-hudson-to-close-after-30-years/) --- ## What Else Is Happening? - Democratic Socialist Claire Valdez, an artist and New York State Assemblywoman, [clinches the Democratic nomination](https://hyperallergic.com/claire-valdez-claims-resounding-win-in-nyc-primary/) to represent New York’s 7th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives in a landslide victory the primary. - Hundreds of New York City artists including Nan Goldin and Molly Crabapple have joined a campaign to urge New York City schools to [implement a two-year “moratorium” on artificial intelligence](https://hyperallergic.com/hundreds-of-artists-ask-nyc-mayor-to-ban-ai-in-schools/) in the classroom. - New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is bringing soccer fever to the Whitney Museum of American Art. Those who complete a poster art activity from artist Rich Tu — [creating a poster inspired by the World Cup](https://hyperallergic.com/mayor-mamdani-and-whitney-museum-launch-world-cup-poster-project/) — will will get into the museum for free. - Join the Bloodlines Interwoven band at National Sawdust for a night of music to celebrate the premiere of the Bloodlines Interwoven documentary, showcasing how the band uses cultural exchange and personal histories as a springboard for making ecstatic new music. (Wed July 1) \[[nationalsawdust.org](https://www.nationalsawdust.org/event/bloodlines-interwoven-documentary-premiere?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Dive deeper into Wave Hill's current exhibitions with a public gallery tour of solo and group shows that explore the relationships between nature, culture, and site. (Thurs July 2) \[[wavehill.org](https://www.wavehill.org/calendar/public-gallery-tour-spring-2026?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Celebrate summer with live jazz on Thursday evenings at Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Bring a blanket to stretch out and enjoy the music, presented in partnership with local arts organizations. (Thurs July 2) \[[bbg.org](https://www.bbg.org/visit/event/jazz%5Fin%5Fjuly?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - The Art Collective Cafe is hosting an opening reception for Helene Ruiz's art show *NYC Then, Now and Always*. The evening features an extensive lineup of live poetry and live music. (Fri July 3) \[[Art Collective Cafe](https://ma.to/event/nyc-then-now-and-always-opening-03-july-2026?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Join in a convening of artists at Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's CATCH Performance Series for an unruly evening of performance that will be a raucous reconsideration of a loaded holiday. (Sunday, July 5). \[[lmcc.net](https://lmcc.net/events/catch-5th-of-july-weekend-spectacular/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Join Long Gallery Harlem for an afternoon of live painting with artist Daniel J. Watts, featuring his signature freestyle dance painting technique. (Sat July 4) \[[Long Gallery Harlem](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/an-afternoon-of-live-painting-with-artist-daniel-j-watts-july-4-lgh-tickets-1991790531096?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Visit the Armory to see artist Céleste Boursier-Mougenot's aquatic and musical installation. (Ongoing) \[[armoryonpark.org](https://www.armoryonpark.org/season-events/2026-season/clinamen/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] ### If Artists Mapped the World URL: https://hyperallergic.com/if-artists-mapped-the-world/ Last updated: 2026-06-30T10:00:05.000Z Can artists counter-map the world? Today, Venezuelan writer Clara Maria Apostolatos explores how artists subvert the fraught practices of cartography from the inside out. As relief efforts following last week’s deadly earthquakes lay bare the politics of intervention in Latin America, Apostolatos draws our attention to the quietly rebellious work of Venezuelan conceptual artist Claudio Perna, Chicano artist Sandy Rodriguez, and Dominican artist Firelei Báez, who embrace maps as a way to destabilize the truths we think we know. Meanwhile, in Upstate New York, artist Steel Stillman and many others mourn the closure of Nancy Shaver’s beloved store, and Taliesin Thomas catches up with the artists who participated in Upstate Art Weekend — from an art show in a stable to a protest exhibition comprised entirely of chairs. Further down the river, New York City showed out for Pride as virulent legislation takes aim at trans and queer communities. Photographer Arielle Shannon captured some of the intimate, joyous moments at the sweltering parade through Manhattan. Finally, a new sculpture of soccer legend Lionel Messi has landed in Argentina. It’s phallic, it’s 85 feet tall, and, as Staff Writer Rhea Nayyar explains, it’s the subject of some truly incredible memes. I’ll let you see them for yourself. *—Lakshmi Rivera Amin, associate editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/maps.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-artists-countermapping-the-world/) [ The Artists Countermapping the World ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-artists-countermapping-the-world/) Maps appear objective, yet they are built from choices that frame a particular view of the world. They are doubly instructional in the knowledge they share and in the ways they orient the viewer, offering a surface on which land appears ordered, bounded, and knowable. A run of recent exhibitions in New York of the works of late Venezuelan conceptual artist Claudio Perna, Chicano artist Sandy Rodriguez, and Dominican artist Firelei Báez brings that charged surface into focus across generations of artists who take up cartography’s capacity for orientation and put it to work otherwise: turning maps from tools of classification into frameworks for examining movement, memory, and power. | Clara Maria Apostolatos [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-artists-countermapping-the-world/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/zane-bennett-ad.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/lucid-perturbations-the-sewn-drawings-and-books-of-china-marks/) ****Lucid Perturbations: The Sewn Drawings and Books of China Marks** This exhibition at Zane Bennett Contemporary Art marks the first major solo exhibition of the artist’s hypnagogic artworks. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/lucid-perturbations-the-sewn-drawings-and-books-of-china-marks/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/lionel-messi-tweet.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-worlds-tallest-messi-statue-is-also-its-most-salacious/) - The world's tallest [Lionel Messi statue was unveiled](https://hyperallergic.com/the-worlds-tallest-messi-statue-is-also-its-most-salacious/) in the Patagonian town of Cutral Có. Featuring a crotch-level and rather phallic World Cup trophy, the sculpture immediately caused a stir online. - A Texas tattoo artist [has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison](https://hyperallergic.com/texas-tattoo-artist-gets-30-year-sentence-over-anti-trump-zines/) for moving a box of political pamphlets and zines featuring “anti-government and anti-Trump sentiments,” prompting outrage from First Amendment advocates. ## Photo Essay [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/pride-parade.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/see-photos-from-a-sweltering-joyous-nyc-pride-march/) [ See Photos From a Sweltering, Joyous NYC Pride March ](https://hyperallergic.com/see-photos-from-a-sweltering-joyous-nyc-pride-march/) I joined more than 75,000 marchers and one million spectators on Sunday, June 28, to document the parade on Stonewall’s 57th anniversary. | Arielle Shannon [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/see-photos-from-a-sweltering-joyous-nyc-pride-march/) --- ## Upstate New York [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/upstate-art-weekend-feature.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/at-upstate-art-weekend-cars-and-barns-are-galleries/) [ At Upstate Art Weekend, Cars and Barns Are Galleries ](https://hyperallergic.com/at-upstate-art-weekend-cars-and-barns-are-galleries/) During the seventh annual event, hundreds of artists proved that art has never been confined to “white cube” galleries. | Taliesin Thomas [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/at-upstate-art-weekend-cars-and-barns-are-galleries/) [ Nancy Shaver’s Beloved Store in Hudson to Close After 30 Years ](https://hyperallergic.com/nancy-shavers-beloved-store-in-hudson-to-close-after-30-years/) For many, Henry is a lot more than just another Upstate New York antiques shop. | Steel Stillman [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/nancy-shavers-beloved-store-in-hudson-to-close-after-30-years/) --- ## Member Comment You inspired me to write my own Congresswoman, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez from Washington's Third, to educate her on this issue and ask her to support it. She's VERY pro-worker, which is how she, a Dem, has twice won in this district with a l-o-o-n-g history of electing Republicans. If you, dear reader, support artist resale royalties, please write your own Representatives and Senators. Our elected officials most easily grasp what matters to us when we tell them. Jozanne Rabyor on “[Who Will Fight for Artists’ Rights in Congress](https://hyperallergic.com/who-will-fight-for-artists-rights-in-congress/)?” --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/rodin.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/did-auguste-rodin-steal-from-camille-claudel/) [ Did Auguste Rodin Steal From Camille Claudel? ](https://hyperallergic.com/did-auguste-rodin-steal-from-camille-claudel/) What went so wrong that the brilliant sculptor’s work became so little known? Simply put, she entered Rodin’s studio. | Mary Sherman [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/did-auguste-rodin-steal-from-camille-claudel/) ### At Upstate Art Weekend, Cars and Barns Are Galleries URL: https://hyperallergic.com/at-upstate-art-weekend-cars-and-barns-are-galleries/ Last updated: 2026-06-30T15:18:08.000Z UPSTATE NEW YORK — At Scenic Hudson’s River Center on Friday, saris hanging from clotheslines billowed gracefully in a serene, tent-like installation. Organized by Eve Morgenstern, founder of the climate and art nonprofit Soon is Now, [*Museum of Fishes & Greens*](https://www.soonisnow.org/exhibitions-programming/museum-of-fishes-greens?ref=hyperallergic.com) was the result of a collaboration between the Food Studio Collective and local artists in the Sundarbans forest in India, who are featured in a short documentary discussing how they navigate ecological precarity while sustaining households, markets, and biodiversity. This conscientious show kicked off my romp through the seventh annual [Upstate Art Weekend](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/upstate-art-weekend/) (UAW), a celebration of art around the Hudson Valley region and beyond held from June 25 to 29\. With exhibitions, site-specific installations, performances, and curated activities offered by over 160 organizations and artists to choose from, my self-designed itinerary brought me through the flourishing art scene that reflects the bounty of the interconnected arts community in New York. If UAW’s unusual format is any indication, many of us in the region embrace an “outside-the-system” approach to presenting and enjoying art. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### See Photos From a Sweltering, Joyous NYC Pride March URL: https://hyperallergic.com/see-photos-from-a-sweltering-joyous-nyc-pride-march/ Last updated: 2026-06-29T21:41:45.000Z As a street photographer, I set out on walks with no destination, only the intent to notice. On these walks, I often take stock of the city's temperature, and during the heat of the 57th New York City Pride March yesterday, June 28, I felt as if I had drifted into an idyllic fever dream. As the march proceeded down Fifth Avenue and looped up and around Seventh Avenue, the parade’s energy dispersed a feeling which I could perhaps only describe as a radiant chaos. During the march, the NYPD functioned more like ornaments, their force relented. With at least the appearance of tension softened, friction took a back seat to the joy emanating from marchers and observers alike. Maybe the heat had softened me, or maybe the city’s recent [string of celebrations](https://hyperallergic.com/capturing-new-york-pride-at-the-historic-knicks-parade/) had eased New Yorkers into this well-deserved moment, but I noticed a significant pause, as if the city stilled itself long enough to indulge in the light. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Arielle_Shannon_Pride-18-1.jpeg) Two of the day's many vibrant paradegoers Of course, stillness will not erase conflict or the struggles that continue to shape queer life in New York and everywhere. The parade, which commemorates the 1969 Stonewall riots for LGBTQ+ visibility, comes just months after the Trump administration [removed the rainbow flag](https://hyperallergic.com/pride-flag-removed-from-stonewall-monument-at-trumps-directive/) from Manhattan’s Stonewall National Monument (and then was forced by a court order to [reinstate it](https://hyperallergic.com/defying-trumps-orders-nyc-re-raises-pride-flag-at-stonewall/)). But the march did leave a mark on the city — just not merely through spectacle. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Arielle_Shannon_Pride-5.jpeg) The crowd at the Stonewall ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Arielle_Shannon_Pride-2.jpeg) A queen waves to her subjects. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Arielle_Shannon_Pride-1.jpeg) Broadway star Jessica Vosk interviews a marcher from percussion band Sonidos De Orgullo for her interview series **Vosk in the City*. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Arielle_Shannon_Pride-3.jpeg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Arielle_Shannon_Pride-3-2.jpeg) A member of Northeast Leather marches alongside their organization. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Arielle_Shannon_Pride-7.jpeg) Queens on the Interfaith Center of New York float ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Arielle_Shannon_Pride-9.jpeg) The march's attendance spanned generations ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Arielle_Shannon_Pride-10-1.jpeg) A flourish of color on Fifth Avenue ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Arielle_Shannon_Pride-12.jpeg) Disco glamour meets grit on Fifth Avenue. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Arielle_Shannon_Pride-13-1.jpeg) An attentive child enjoying the scene ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Arielle_Shannon_Pride-14-2.jpeg) A mom marching with nonprofit PFLAG (Parents, Families & Friends of LGBTQ+ People) warmed the crowd with supportive hugs ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Arielle_Shannon_Pride-21.jpeg) A child marching with their parent for Gotham Cheer ### Texas Tattoo Artist Gets 30-Year Sentence Over “Anti-Trump” Zines URL: https://hyperallergic.com/texas-tattoo-artist-gets-30-year-sentence-over-anti-trump-zines/ Last updated: 2026-07-08T17:41:03.000Z A Texas [tattoo artist](https://www.instagram.com/dani%5Fkitns/?ref=hyperallergic.com) has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for moving a box of political pamphlets and zines featuring “[anti-government and anti-Trump sentiments](https://www.nlg.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Fed-Complaint-Daniel-Sanchez.pdf?ref=hyperallergic.com),” prompting outrage from First Amendment advocates. Thirty-nine-year old Daniel “Des” Sanchez Estrada was one of [eight defendants sentenced to lengthy prison terms](https://www.democracynow.org/2026/6/25/prairieland%5Fnine?ref=hyperallergic.com) by a Texas federal court last week for their alleged roles in a 2025 protest that turned violent. On July 4, 2025, protesters had gathered outside of Prairieland Detention Center, where the federal government holds undocumented immigrants whom it plans to deport. The demonstration, billed by the Trump administration as an orchestration by “Antifa terrorists,” took a turn when a protester shot and wounded a local police officer in the [neck](https://www.keranews.org/criminal-justice/2026-02-24/prairieland-detention-center-shooting-trial-begins-opening-arguments-antifa-mistrial-ice-texas?ref=hyperallergic.com) in front of the facility. While Sanchez Estrada, a green card holder, did not attend the protest, his wife, Maricela Rueda, partook in the demonstration and was sentenced to 70 years in prison this week, though she was not the individual to fire at the police officer. Another protester, 32-year-old Benjamin Hanil Song, was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to 100 years in prison. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-29-at-5.03.22---PM.jpg) A social media post advocating for Daniel "Des" Sanchez Estrada (screenshot **Hyperallergic* via @dani\_kitns and @free.des.revol on [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/dani%5Fkitns/?ref=hyperallergic.com)) Following the arrest of Rueda last summer, federal prosecutors accused Sanchez Estrada of concealing documents in an attempt to diminish the integrity of the government’s case against the Prairieland protesters. According to court documents, agents recorded a phone call made by Rueda in jail, in which she asked her husband to move her car with her phone inside. At some point after the call, Sanchez Estrada was seen in surveillance images dropping off a cardboard box to an address in Denton, Texas. Inside the box, law enforcement officers discovered political zines, including [*It’s Vacant, Take It!*](https://www.sproutdistro.com/catalog/zines/direct-action/its-vacant-take-it/?ref=hyperallergic.com) (2013), a guide to squatting, and [*War in the Streets: Tactical Lessons from the Global Civil War*](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33595116-war-in-the-streets?ref=hyperallergic.com) (2026). According to the [Free Des Support Committee](https://freedes.net/?ref=hyperallergic.com), which advocates publicly on Sanchez Estrada’s behalf, the artist addressed federal judge Reed O’Connor with an emotional plea before his sentencing. “I worked really hard every day in this country, and I believe in human rights and helping others in need. I donate money and art to help animals and other people,” Sanchez Estrada [said](https://freedes.net/jun-23rd-2026-press-release/?ref=hyperallergic.com). “I am a father, I am a husband, I am a teacher, a poet — I am many things, Your Honor, but I am not a terrorist.” Prior to his incarceration, Sanchez Estrada shared images of his tattoo designs of flowers and animals on [social media](https://www.instagram.com/dani%5Fkitns/?ref=hyperallergic.com). Following the sentencing, the Freedom of the Press Foundation vociferously defended the artist, claiming the charges represent the Trump administration’s intent to “criminalize disfavored ideologies.” “Under the First Amendment, possessing literature cannot be criminal, so what legitimate evidence could he possibly have been concealing?” Seth Stern, the Freedom of the Press Foundation’s chief of advocacy, said in a [statement](https://freedom.press/issues/texas-man-sentenced-to-30-years-for-transporting-pamphlets/?ref=hyperallergic.com). “Political zines like those Sanchez possessed are no different from the pro-Revolution pamphlets this country’s founders had in mind when they drafted the First Amendment’s press clause.” Sanchez Estrada’s federal public defender, Christopher Weinbel, told *Hyperallergic* that he was working on a forthcoming appeal and declined to comment further. ### The Artists Countermapping the World URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-artists-countermapping-the-world/ Last updated: 2026-07-09T14:19:39.000Z At the Royal Museum for Central Africa on the outskirts of Brussels are four monumental wall maps from 1910 depicting Belgian colonial interests. They are dense with information: the exchange rates of resources, pricing structures tied to extraction, and, more chillingly, the market value assigned to enslaved people. These were not simply records of an empire, but instruments that diagrammed how land could be occupied and made profitable. It's an image that stuck with me since I first saw them last winter — perhaps because it’s the clearest example I have seen of violence embedded in systems of land measurement, but also because they were originally installed to persuade viewers to invest in the enterprise of Belgium’s colonial expansion. Protected by national heritage laws, they remain fixed to the walls, now serving as the backdrop to displays of objects and resources acquired, in part, through the extractive logic they encode. Maps appear objective, yet they are built from choices that frame a particular view of the world. They are doubly instructional in the knowledge they share and in the ways they orient the viewer, offering a surface on which land appears ordered, bounded, and knowable. A run of recent exhibitions in New York of the works of late Venezuelan conceptual artist Claudio Perna, Chicano artist Sandy Rodriguez, and Dominican artist Firelei Báez brings that charged surface into focus across generations of artists who take up cartography’s capacity for orientation and put it to work otherwise: turning maps from tools of classification into frameworks for examining movement, memory, and power. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### The World’s Tallest Messi Statue Is Also Its Most Salacious URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-worlds-tallest-messi-statue-is-also-its-most-salacious/ Last updated: 2026-06-29T20:25:40.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-29-at-3.58.25---PM.jpg) It is what it is. (all screenshots **Hyperallergic;* image via [X](https://x.com/WorldCup%5F%5F26/status/2071201292995674550?ref=hyperallergic.com)) From Kolkata to Patagonia, the likeness of Argentine soccer star Lionel Messi continues to be bastardized on a monumental scale, as evidenced by the recent unveiling of the [tallest statue](https://www.infobae.com/sociedad/2026/06/19/la-historia-detras-de-la-estatua-de-lionel-messi-mas-alta-del-mundo-inaugurada-en-la-capital-de-los-monumentos/?ref=hyperallergic.com) honoring the decorated athlete in the city of Cutral Có. Valiantly contributing to the global phenomenon of truly unfortunate commemorative statues, the 85-foot-tall (\~26-meter) rendition of the athlete kneeling behind a World Cup trophy went viral for its unintentional lewdness after it was installed earlier this month. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-29-at-1.56.20---PM.jpg) Anyways, happy Pride ... (via [X](https://x.com/St0icro0mate/status/2070399252044402776?s=20&ref=hyperallergic.com)) Self-taught Patagonian sculptor Aldo Beroisa's design placed the somewhat phallic trophy right in front of Messi's crotch, which lent itself to accidentally provocative imagery. Taken from in front of and behind the sculpture, the lascivious photos positioning Messi as both the plunderer and the plundered drew in thousands of commenters who couldn't believe what they saw — and couldn't unsee — in the news and online. Jokes poured in immediately, ranging from “[One Messi One Cup](https://x.com/rinarepulsa/status/2070199852844056835?ref=hyperallergic.com)” to the very earnest “[why he bouncin on it](https://x.com/justalexoki/status/2070054914240242027?ref=hyperallergic.com).” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-29-at-2.43.12---PM.jpg) Tragic. (via [X](https://x.com/JethroGill/status/2070476957683171396?s=20&ref=hyperallergic.com)) Hundreds wondered why the Messi statue couldn't have held up the trophy in his hands, but Beroisa told the [*New York Times*](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/27/world/americas/lionel-messi-argentina-statue.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) that he was concerned about the structural integrity, as the work was comprised of 70 tons of steel and concrete. The statue in Cutral Có was erected (😏) only weeks after an earlier monument to Messi, which was the tallest then at 70 feet (\~21 meters), had to be dismantled after only six months in Kolkata, India, after the [structure was deemed unsafe](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/months-after-lionel-messi-unveiled-it-kolkata-takes-down-his-70-foot-statue-heres-why/articleshow/131439363.cms?ref=hyperallergic.com) due to its swaying in the wind. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-29-at-2.00.51---PM.jpg) The Municipality of Cutral Có's official Instagram account shows the sculpture from a more flattering angle. (via [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/DZ6Wu1jDoAF/?img%5Findex=15&ref=hyperallergic.com)) The Kolkata Messi was [skewered](https://www.reddit.com/r/kolkata/comments/1pm8eqo/the%5Fworlds%5Flargest%5Fstatue%5Fof%5Fmessi%5F70%5Fft%5Ftall%5Fwas/?ref=hyperallergic.com) online for its [awkward proportions and general unlikeness](https://www.indiablooms.com/sports/tribute-turns-into-roast-kolkatas-70-foot-messi-statue-sparks-meme-storm-ahead-of-inauguration/details?ref=hyperallergic.com) to the soccer star after it debuted last December — such complaints apparently haven't been resolved in Cutral Có, either. Portuguese footballer [Cristiano Ronaldo](https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/03/29/521940923/cristiano-ronaldos-new-bronze-bust-is-turning-heads??ref=hyperallergic.com) and Miami Heat's all-star player [Dwyane Wade](https://hyperallergic.com/new-dwyane-wade-statue-looks-like-anyone-except-dwyane-wade/) have also been dinged by unflattering commemorative sculptures and busts in recent years, indicating that this is a widespread issue. Unfortunately, [Martin Luther King Jr.](https://hyperallergic.com/another-awkward-mlk-sculpture-draws-mixed-responses/) and [Tina Turner](https://hyperallergic.com/bizarre-new-tina-turner-statue-gets-roasted-online/) haven't dodged the phenomenon either. As always, fund the arts! ### Nancy Shaver's Beloved Store in Hudson to Close After 30 Years URL: https://hyperallergic.com/nancy-shavers-beloved-store-in-hudson-to-close-after-30-years/ Last updated: 2026-07-20T16:12:06.000Z The artist Nancy Shaver’s store Henry, a beloved fixture of the antique world in Hudson, New York, for the past 25 years, is closing in mid-July. Henry is not just a store but a crucible for Shaver’s art-making. Her husband, the sculptor John Jackson, describes it as “a cornucopia of odd objects, shapes, and colors, a mirror of Nancy’s sculptural practice.” Shaver, who considers Henry “my right arm, my left leg, my eye,” is philosophical about its closing, the result of her landlord’s needing his space back. “Small businesses are flowers of democracy,” she says. “And Henry has been my social life, my connection to the street. But change is part of an artist’s life, and Henry will be reinvented here and there as concise pop-ups, hopefully at art venues to remind the viewer that art is important at all levels.” With its exuberance of objects and textiles, Henry flattens hierarchies between art and retail, and engages its shoppers —whether buyers or not — in demanding visual experiences. The first two pop-ups after the store closes will be at Pidgin in Oak Hill, New York, in October and at Parker Gallery in Los Angeles in November. In what follows, various friends of the store offer reflections on being there. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### The Met and the Art Smuggler URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-met-and-the-art-smuggler/ Last updated: 2026-06-29T17:01:15.000Z The title of *The Man Who Stole the Gods* is far from hyperbolic. Matthew Campbell’s new book follows Douglas Latchford, a British art smuggler, who spent four decades illegally funneling sculptures of Cambodian deities into the halls of Western museums. Art crime scholar Erin L. Thompson has spent years following the looting of Khmer cultural heritage. She sat down with Campbell to discuss the violence inherent to stealing sacred sculptures — and the formidable task of writing about a trafficker who furnished the collections of institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art. More in this edition, from James Cahill’s art-world character study to a must-read excerpt from artist William Kentridge’s new book on his delightfully meandering creative process, where you can expect gems like “the studio is a safe space for stupidity” and “if words are so light, so ephemeral, how does one tie them down, give them a weight, which we know they should have?” *—Lakshmi Rivera Amin, associate editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/william-kentridge-book-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/a-natural-history-of-william-kentridges-studio/) [ A Natural History of William Kentridge’s Studio ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-natural-history-of-william-kentridges-studio/) Some years ago, two friends gave me a block of watercolour, pure lapis lazuli from Afghanistan. Lapis lazuli is a precious pigment used sparingly in Renaissance painting, now more generally replaced by French ultramarine. But there is an intense blueness in lapis, a colour coming off the paper towards you that is unmatched by any synthetic colour. In projections and photography and printing, this blue always loses its power. I don’t use colour in my drawings. But I painted some squares and circles to see the colour I was given. I was caught, wanting to devour the blue and not knowing how to bring it into anything I was drawing. While waiting to solve what I should do with the blue, I started painting texts and phrases with it | William Kentridge [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-natural-history-of-william-kentridges-studio/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/260622_DZB_archive-sale_hyperallergic_digital-ad_vF-1.jpg)](https://www.davidzwirner.com/collect/books-summer-archive-sale?utm%5Fsource=hyperallergic&utm%5Fmedium=display%5Fnewsletter&utm%5Fcampaign=ARCHIVESALE2026) ****Shop the Archive Book Sale** Shop rare finds, out-of-print editions, and recently published titles at special prices, online and in store at David Zwirner Books. [Shop now ](https://www.davidzwirner.com/collect/books-summer-archive-sale?utm%5Fsource=hyperallergic&utm%5Fmedium=display%5Fnewsletter&utm%5Fcampaign=ARCHIVESALE2026) --- ## Interview [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/matthew-campbell-newsletter-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/inside-the-mind-of-an-antiquities-looter/) [ Inside the Mind of an Antiquities Looter ](https://hyperallergic.com/inside-the-mind-of-an-antiquities-looter/) “The Man Who Stole the Gods” author Matthew Campbell discusses Western collectors’ rapacious hunger for ancient Cambodian art and the sheer violence it took to satiate it. | Erin L. Thompson [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/inside-the-mind-of-an-antiquities-looter/) --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/dog-book.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/every-dog-has-its-artist/) [ Every Dog Has Its Artist ](https://hyperallergic.com/every-dog-has-its-artist/) A compassionate new book explores how canine companions across Western art history break down the emotional boundaries between species. | Alisyn Amant [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/every-dog-has-its-artist/) [ James Cahill’s Character Study of the Art World ](https://hyperallergic.com/james-cahills-character-study-of-the-art-world/) “The Violet Hour” is a dreamy chronicle of fame, greed, and ambition, full of cartoonish personalities you’ve likely had the misfortune of encountering firsthand. | Alex Bowditch [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/james-cahills-character-study-of-the-art-world/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Getty_2-1.jpg)](https://shop.getty.edu/products/marching-west-the-los-angeles-civil-rights-movement-in-photographs-9781606069899?%5Fpos=1&%5Fsid=29a5f7d93&%5Fss=r&utm%5Fsource=Hyperallergic&utm%5Fmedium=banner&utm%5Fcampaign=PubsAdMarchingWestHyperallergicBooks&utm%5Fid=PubsAdMarchingWest) Featuring both iconic and never-before-published images, **Marching West*explores how photography captured and propelled the civil rights movement in Los Angeles. [Learn more ](https://shop.getty.edu/products/marching-west-the-los-angeles-civil-rights-movement-in-photographs-9781606069899?%5Fpos=1&%5Fsid=29a5f7d93&%5Fss=r&utm%5Fsource=Hyperallergic&utm%5Fmedium=banner&utm%5Fcampaign=PubsAdMarchingWestHyperallergicBooks&utm%5Fid=PubsAdMarchingWest) --- ## ICYMI [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/pride-books-guide.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/7-art-books-you-should-read-this-pride-month/) [ 7 Art Books You Should Read This Pride Month ](https://hyperallergic.com/7-art-books-you-should-read-this-pride-month/) A joint biography of Peter Hujar and Paul Thek, a catalog on Martin Wong’s Chinatowns, Catherine Opie’s portraiture, queer nightlife through the ages, and more. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/7-art-books-you-should-read-this-pride-month/) [ 12 Art Books to Kick Off Summer ](https://hyperallergic.com/12-art-books-to-kick-off-summer/) A novel lampooning the art world, Megan O’Grady’s meditation on art and living, the man who defined color in the dictionary, Nan Goldin’s tender photo essay, and more. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/12-art-books-to-kick-off-summer/) ### Ed Woodham’s Radical Public Art URL: https://hyperallergic.com/ed-woodhams-radical-public-art/ Last updated: 2026-06-29T10:00:09.000Z As Pride month comes to an end, Ed Woodham is here to remind us that queer and trans artists deserve to be celebrated every day of the year. The artist and founder of Art in Odd Places has spent decades advocating for public art as just what it sounds like — a public good, not a private commodity. Editor-in-Chief Hakim Bishara spoke with Woodham about the costs of art-world success and why he has never sought it out. “What I value about Pride is not the branding,” he says. “It’s the resistance. It’s the refusal to be erased.” Read on for the full interview, a candid and galvanizing testimonial to carry us into the dog days of summer. Speaking of which: Dog people, this one’s for you. *The Dog’s Gaze* is a new book tracing canine companions across art history, including some truly precious paintings of scruffy floofs and dignified pups (their scientific names) by the likes of Renoir and Carpaccio. Alisyn Amant brings us into the pages of this ode to our four-legged friends and the way their presence in art can completely shift our experience of it. Be still, my dog-loving heart. *—Lakshmi Rivera Amin, associate editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/ed-woodham.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/ed-woodham-in-all-the-odd-places/) [ Ed Woodham in All the Odd Places ](https://hyperallergic.com/ed-woodham-in-all-the-odd-places/) Just when you’re about to give up on this power-hungry, money-obsessed, star-fucking art world and its market-driven media, people like Ed Woodham come along and restore your faith in what art can do for society. The decades-long practice of the 69-year-old Atlanta-born artist, curator, and educator is thoroughly rooted in community. He’s most known for leading Art in Odd Places, a public art group he originally co-founded as part of Atlanta’s cultural programming for the 1996 Summer Olympics. In what follows, Woodham and I discuss his youth in Atlanta, his unflinching art activism, and his life as a badass queer elder. | Hakim Bishara [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/ed-woodham-in-all-the-odd-places/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Wendi-Yan-1.png)](https://hyperallergic.com/7th-vh-award-for-media-artists-engaged-with-the-context-of-asia/) ****Open Call: The 7th VH AWARD for Media Artists Engaged with the Context of Asia** Supporting media artists with production grants, global exhibitions, and an expanded online residency with Ars Electronica. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/7th-vh-award-for-media-artists-engaged-with-the-context-of-asia/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/missan-harriman.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/misan-harriman-to-step-down-from-southbank-centre/) - Photographer and activist Misan Harriman said he will [step down from his post](https://hyperallergic.com/misan-harriman-to-step-down-from-southbank-centre/) as chair of London’s Southbank Centre. The announcement comes weeks after a series of right-wing tabloids scrutinized his response to the April 29 attack in north London’s Golders Green. --- ## Art Tarotscope [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/summer-equinox.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/hyperallergics-art-tarotscope-for-the-summer-solstice/) [ Hyperallergic’s Art Tarotscope for the Summer Solstice ](https://hyperallergic.com/hyperallergics-art-tarotscope-for-the-summer-solstice/) Amid global turmoil and rising temperatures, I’ve seen creative friends hitting periods of stagnancy. What will help us return to a flow state? | AX Mina [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/hyperallergics-art-tarotscope-for-the-summer-solstice/) --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/dog-book-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/every-dog-has-its-artist/) [ Every Dog Has Its Artist ](https://hyperallergic.com/every-dog-has-its-artist/) A compassionate new book explores how canine companions across Western art history break down the emotional boundaries between species. | Alisyn Amant [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/every-dog-has-its-artist/) ## Community [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/view-from-the-easel-6.26.26.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-343/) [ A View From the Easel: Kathleen MacKenzie ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-343/) “The privacy and silence reflect the intimacy and meditative spareness of my art.” [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-343/) --- ## Member Comment Holey moley! I appreciate this piece (book excerpt/lecture transcript) at least as much as anything else I've read on this site. Hyperallergic's eclectic arts coverage scores another big win with this member. Thank you so much for doing what you're doing for readers like me who are not artists, gallerists, collectors, curators, or critics but who want to be informed about art, that most vital and life-sustaining enterprise. And of course a big thank you to Mr. Kentridge. Jozanne Rabyor on “[A Natural History of William Kentridge’s Studio](https://hyperallergic.com/a-natural-history-of-william-kentridges-studio/)” --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/neon-shop.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-new-york-neon-shop-that-became-legendary/) [ The New York Neon Shop That Became Legendary ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-new-york-neon-shop-that-became-legendary/) Let There Be Neon in Tribeca made a name for itself as an essential resource for artists, from Keith Haring to Laurie Anderson. | Aaron Short [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-new-york-neon-shop-that-became-legendary/) ### Pace, William Kentridge, “AlgaeBTQ+” URL: https://hyperallergic.com/pace-william-kentridge-algaebtq/ Last updated: 2026-06-27T16:12:59.000Z In the weeks following the news that Pace had laid off dozens of staff and cut as many artists, an insidious narrative began to take hold in some corners of the art world. That narrative went something like this: “The gallery model is broken. This was an inevitable consequence.” The problem with this rhetoric is that it came largely from the same people responsible for advancing the very system they now claim is beyond repair. This week at *Hyperallergic*, we did what independent journalism does best: pull back the curtain on the official messaging and center the people rather than the powerful. In an incisive opinion piece, Barbara Pollack challenges a former art fair leader’s lukewarm *New York Times* take on the cuts. “\[Marc\] Spiegler writes about the current demise of the gallery ecosystem as if he were just an observer, not one of its chief architects,” Pollack argues. And in “Pace Gallery’s Hall of Mirrors,” which I reported with Rebecca Schiffman, we interview gallery workers and artists whose perspectives paint a more complex and personal picture of the downsizing. Finally, our hearts are broken by the horrific scale of loss and suffering in Venezuela. After two back-to-back earthquakes struck the region on Wednesday, thousands of people, including artists and cultural workers, are still searching for their loved ones. Please contact us if you are aware of fundraisers or aid efforts to help artists and creative communities. *—Valentina Di Liscia, senior editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/pace-feature-newsletter-2.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/pace-gallerys-hall-of-mirrors/) [ Pace Gallery’s Hall of Mirrors ](https://hyperallergic.com/pace-gallerys-hall-of-mirrors/) On June 4, when Pace announced that it would cut 50 artists from its roster and lay off 50 employees, CEO Marc Glimcher framed the decision as a response to a larger industry problem and a gallery model he deemed “unfixable.” Later that day, according to staff, Glimcher told employees during a surprise Zoom town hall that he took personal responsibility for the situation and acknowledged that the decisions that led Pace to this point were his own. But workers inside the gallery say the cuts unfolded quickly and without clarity, affecting the most unprotected staff members — and among the impacted artists who knew what was coming, some questioned how the announcement was handled. | Valentina Di Liscia and Rebecca Schiffman [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/pace-gallerys-hall-of-mirrors/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/reflecting-pool-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/happy-algaebtq-month-from-trumps-reflecting-pool-memes/) - The floor of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which President Trump just had painted a color he dubbed “American Flag Blue,” is turning a barf-green. Here are [some of the best memes](https://hyperallergic.com/happy-algaebtq-month-from-trumps-reflecting-pool-memes/) that have come from it. - At least 589 people are dead and tens of thousands are reported missing after [two devastating earthquakes struck Venezuela](https://hyperallergic.com/family-urges-help-for-venezuelan-artist-trapped-under-earthquake-rubble/) on Wednesday, June 24\. Among those impacted are artists and members of the cultural community who have been mobilizing to support recovery efforts and locate loved ones. - Democratic Socialist Claire Valdez, an artist and New York State Assemblywoman, [clinched the Democratic nomination](https://hyperallergic.com/claire-valdez-claims-resounding-win-in-nyc-primary/) to represent New York’s 7th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives in a landslide victory. - New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is bringing soccer fever to the Whitney Museum of American Art. Those who complete a poster art activity from artist Rich Tu — [creating a poster inspired by the World Cup](https://hyperallergic.com/mayor-mamdani-and-whitney-museum-launch-world-cup-poster-project/) — will will get into the museum for free. - Hundreds of artists have joined a campaign to urge New York City schools to implement a [two-year “moratorium” on artificial intelligence in the classroom](https://hyperallergic.com/hundreds-of-artists-ask-nyc-mayor-to-ban-ai-in-schools/). - Brooklyn’s South Bushwick Community Church is seeking to raise $2 million after a [three-alarm blaze](https://hyperallergic.com/historic-brooklyn-church-destroyed-by-devastating-fire/) caused devastating damage on Friday, June 19. - [Art Movements](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-is-coming-for-the-architecture-biennale/?ref=daily-newsletter): Trump is coming for the Architecture Biennale, Modigliani’s “indecent” nude fetches $63.9M, the National Gallery of Art gets a major contemporary art gift, and more industry news. --- ## Queer Elders [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/lari-pittman-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/dont-ask-lari-pittman-what-his-work-is-about/) [ Don’t Ask Lari Pittman What His Work Is “About” ](https://hyperallergic.com/dont-ask-lari-pittman-what-his-work-is-about/) The Colombian-American painter discusses his new body of work, the complexity of queerness, and the reprieve of the analog. | Matt Stromberg [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/dont-ask-lari-pittman-what-his-work-is-about/) [ Going Deep With Brenda Goodman ](https://hyperallergic.com/going-deep-with-brenda-goodman/) “I remember taking a plaid dress, tearing it up, and using it as paint rags,” the 83-year-old painter tells me in a knee-to-knee interview at her studio. | Mala Iqbal [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/going-deep-with-brenda-goodman/) [ By the Force of Flavia Rando’s Presence ](https://hyperallergic.com/by-the-force-of-flavia-randos-presence/) Once a member of the Gay Liberation Front and Radicalesbians, the pathbreaking queer artist and educator continues to stir the pot. | Alexis Clements [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/by-the-force-of-flavia-randos-presence/) [ Rosalie Favell and the Search for Herself ](https://hyperallergic.com/rosalie-favell-and-the-search-for-herself/) “I came out as a lesbian before I came out as an Indigenous woman,” the Métis artist told Hyperallergic. | Rhea Nayyar [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/rosalie-favell-and-the-search-for-herself/) [ Richard Tsao’s “Sanuk” Art ](https://hyperallergic.com/richard-tsaos-sanuk-art/?ref=daily-newsletter) In an interview with Hyperallergic, the artist known for his “Flood Room” paintings compares his decades-long practice to “the need for food.” | AX Mina [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/richard-tsaos-sanuk-art/?ref=daily-newsletter) --- ## Opinions [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/art-basel-opinion-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/marc-spiegler-got-it-all-wrong/) [ Marc Spiegler Got It All Wrong ](https://hyperallergic.com/marc-spiegler-got-it-all-wrong/) In a guest essay for the New York Times, the former Art Basel global director presented a vision of a Brave New Art World that has little to do with art and those who make it. | Barbara Pollack [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/marc-spiegler-got-it-all-wrong/) [ Who Will Fight for Artists’ Rights in Congress? ](https://hyperallergic.com/who-will-fight-for-artists-rights-in-congress/) Democratic Congressman Jerry Nadler has led the fight to bring resale royalties to artists in the US. With his retirement, it could all go away. | Lauren van Haaften-Schick [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/who-will-fight-for-artists-rights-in-congress/) --- ## Film [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Upscaled---Play-Button_Cropped-4.png)](https://hyperallergic.com/in-a-new-documentary-artists-get-candid-about-ai/) [ In a New Documentary, Artists Get Candid About AI ](https://hyperallergic.com/in-a-new-documentary-artists-get-candid-about-ai/) The short film from the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project is based on a survey of over 2,000 postsecondary arts graduates across the US. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/in-a-new-documentary-artists-get-candid-about-ai/) --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/vanessa-german-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/vanessa-germans-shrine-to-forgotten-black-girls/) [ vanessa german’s Shrine to Forgotten Black Girls ](https://hyperallergic.com/vanessa-germans-shrine-to-forgotten-black-girls/) In new sculptures that vibrate with color and movement, the artist vivifies the stories of the girls who attempted to escape from a Louisville detention center in 1913\. | Natalie Weis [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/vanessa-germans-shrine-to-forgotten-black-girls/) [ James Cahill’s Character Study of the Art World ](https://hyperallergic.com/james-cahills-character-study-of-the-art-world/) “The Violet Hour” is a dreamy chronicle of fame, greed, and ambition, full of cartoonish personalities you’ve likely had the misfortune of encountering firsthand. | Alex Bowditch [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/james-cahills-character-study-of-the-art-world/) [ Georgia O’Keeffe the Wanderer ](https://hyperallergic.com/georgia-okeeffe-the-wanderer/) A new documentary presents the artist as a perpetual voyager, generously highlighting her lesser-known work and combating myths about her relationship with Alfred Stieglitz. | Debra Brehmer [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/georgia-okeeffe-the-wanderer/) [ Every Dog Has Its Artist ](https://hyperallergic.com/every-dog-has-its-artist/) A compassionate new book explores how canine companions across Western art history break down the emotional boundaries between species. | Alisyn Amant [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/every-dog-has-its-artist/) --- ## Book Excerpt [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/william-kentridge-book-2.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/a-natural-history-of-william-kentridges-studio/) [ A Natural History of William Kentridge’s Studio ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-natural-history-of-william-kentridges-studio/) Let it be said, the studio is a safe space for stupidity. A space where impulses can be given the benefit of the doubt. | William Kentridge [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-natural-history-of-william-kentridges-studio/) --- ## Guides [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/upstate-art-weekend-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/what-you-cant-miss-at-upstate-art-weekend/) [ What You Can’t Miss at Upstate Art Weekend ](https://hyperallergic.com/what-you-cant-miss-at-upstate-art-weekend/) The art extravaganza in New York’s Hudson Valley and Catskills is back with a retrospective of Betty Parsons, a tailgate-style exhibition, living sculptures, and more. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/what-you-cant-miss-at-upstate-art-weekend/) [ 15 Art Shows to See in Upstate New York This Summer ](https://hyperallergic.com/15-art-shows-to-see-in-upstate-new-york-this-summer/) James Turrell’s luminous visions, Agnes Martin’s nonconformist heroism, Anicka Yi’s micro-organic experiments, and much more. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/15-art-shows-to-see-in-upstate-new-york-this-summer/) [ 10 Art Shows to See in Chicago This Summer ](https://hyperallergic.com/10-art-shows-to-see-in-chicago-this-summer/) Blessedly, despite the corn sweat, the city’s gallery and museum scene is eager to provide fresh work for the Midwestern mind. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/10-art-shows-to-see-in-chicago-this-summer/) --- ## Community [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/james-wagner-newsletter-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/james-wagner-insatiable-art-collector-dies-at-85/) [ James Wagner, Insatiable Art Collector, Dies at 85 ](https://hyperallergic.com/james-wagner-insatiable-art-collector-dies-at-85/) “His pursuit of knowledge knew no bounds, and he represented the very best of what might be considered the true collector’s spirit,” says artist Man Bartlett. | Paddy Johnson [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/james-wagner-insatiable-art-collector-dies-at-85/) - [A View From the Easel](https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-342/): Peek into artist Ashley Chew's workspace, where urtures community and connection in her studio as an antidote to exclusionary spaces in the art world. - [In Memoriam](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-frayda-feldman-james-wagner-and-melodee-strong/): This week, we honor an Frayda Feldman, an Andy Warhol print expert; James Wagner, a tireless art collector; Melodee Strong, a beloved Minneapolis muralist, and others. - [Required Reading](https://hyperallergic.com/required-reading-790/): Scott Burton’s last sculpture, remembering Lebanese environmental activist Mona Khalil, AI slop in art journalism, NYC’s rollerskating queer icon, and more. --- ## ICYMI [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/matthew-campbell-newsletter-2.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/inside-the-mind-of-an-antiquities-looter/) [ Inside the Mind of an Antiquities Looter ](https://hyperallergic.com/inside-the-mind-of-an-antiquities-looter/) “The Man Who Stole the Gods” author Matthew Campbell discusses Western collectors’ rapacious hunger for ancient Cambodian art and the sheer violence it took to satiate it. | Erin L. Thompson [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/inside-the-mind-of-an-antiquities-looter/) ### Ed Woodham in All the Odd Places URL: https://hyperallergic.com/ed-woodham-in-all-the-odd-places/ Last updated: 2026-07-16T19:11:19.000Z Just when you're about to give up on this power-hungry, money-obsessed, star-fucking art world and its market-driven media, people like Ed Woodham come along and restore your faith in what art can do for society. The decades-long practice of the 69-year-old Atlanta-born artist, curator, and educator is thoroughly rooted in community. He's most known for leading [Art in Odd Places](https://hyperallergic.com/art-in-odd-places-revisits-a-decade-of-fleeting-experiences/), a public art group he originally co-founded as part of Atlanta's cultural programming for the 1996 Summer Olympics. After the September 11 attacks, when he was living in New York, Woodham relaunched the group as a response to the dwindling of public space and the quashing of civil liberties under the condemnable PATRIOT Act of 2001\. Since 2005, the group has held carnavalesque, DIY annual street festivals — first in the Lower East Side and East Village, and since 2008, along 14th Street in Manhattan — that have become a New York cultural fixture. For its 20th edition last year, the festival invited artists, collectives, and the general public to participate in the defiant act of "[doing nothing](https://hyperallergic.com/art-in-odd-places-2025-resists-by-doing-nothing/)" as the first step of changing everything. In addition to Art in Odd Places, Woodham leads a workshop titled "[Social Malpractice Art](https://sva.edu/academics/continuing-education/visual-and-critical-studies/studio-courses/social-malpractice-art-26-cs-vsc-2719-ol?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAYnJpZBExbFJ6VFdpUDYzdW55S2tiNHNydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR5rx2O7p-QoSmtge2-QhjbzCfSvWIj6xLEOGyilpIPZuxEqsCMcVpsMtAgeIw%5Faem%5FvH8BWnKCaLxQY6ym7Izs4w&ref=hyperallergic.com)" at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. There, he teaches students how to create "secretly coded work to challenge unchecked power" through off-kilter performances and interventions that call out corporate America's artwashing of its capture of public space. "Artists became cultural placeholders — helping rebrand a neighborhood while the conditions for removing the people who lived there were quietly assembled," he wrote in an opinion for [*Hyperallergic*](https://hyperallergic.com/social-malpractice-in-the-age-of-cultural-compliance/) in March. "Experiences like this forced a difficult question: What happens when the language of social practice becomes a tool of the very systems it once hoped to challenge?" And now you know why most public art sucks. In what follows, Woodham and I discuss his youth in Atlanta, his unflinching art activism, and his life as a badass queer elder. --- **Hyperallergic:** *When and how did you come out?* **Ed Woodham:** I came out quietly, undercover, with my first boyfriend and first sexual experience in 1976, America's Bicentennial year, as a freshman attending Middle Georgia College in Cochran, Georgia. Within a few months, we moved into the same dorm room together. We were both actors in the theater department and cast members in the musical *1776*. I played Thomas Jefferson. He played the dying drummer boy who sang the haunting ballad "Momma Look Sharp." Our relationship was an open secret, very much a "don't ask, don't tell" arrangement before that phrase entered the national vocabulary. We lived in the heart of the Bible Belt. Theater people were generally more accepting than the broader college community, but acceptance had limits. Although we were in love, we lived with the constant danger of being discovered. Fear was simply part of the architecture of daily life. **H:** *Oh, you poor man, why did you play Thomas Jefferson?* **EW:** Because every Southern queer kid should ultimately confront the Thomas Jefferson propagandized hagiography. Honestly, I have no idea. At the time, I was a tall, skinny, nelly queen who could hit the high notes, trying to survive the Bicentennial. In retrospect, it's hilarious. I was daringly in love while portraying a disturbing founding father of American heterosexual mythology. Meanwhile, my boyfriend sang the saddest, most beautiful song in the show and brought down the house every night at the first-act finale. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/2.-Ed-Woodham_blue_photo-by-Paul-Takeuchi_costume-by-Ramona-Ponce.jpg) Ed Woodham, "Queer Maximalist Fairytale" (2026), costume by Ramona Ponce (photo Paul Takeuchi) _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Hyperallergic’s Art Tarotscope for the Summer Solstice URL: https://hyperallergic.com/hyperallergics-art-tarotscope-for-the-summer-solstice/ Last updated: 2026-06-29T16:55:58.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/IMG_1859-1.JPG) The "Keith Herrings" at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade on June 20 (photo AX Mina/**Hyperallergic*; all other images courtesy M Eilo) Hyperallergic*’s tarotscope series is a combination of tarot with astrology, a reading for the collective readership combined with cards for the major astrological signs, grouped by their elemental associations. These are developed by AX Mina, a* Hyperallergic *contributor and producer for* [Five and Nine](https://fiveandnine.substack.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com)*, a podcast about magic, work, and economic justice. These tarotscopes have a special focus on the arts and creative practice, for each solstice and equinox, to mark the turning of the seasons.* I spent my Juneteenth and Summer Solstice weekend at the Mermaid Parade in Coney Island, watching thousands of people gather for the simple purpose of dressing up as mermaids, mermen, merpeople, and other aquatic creatures, both real and imagined. My favorite moment was watching the “Keith Herrings” saunter by, dressed up like fish in the style of the [seminal street artist](https://hyperallergic.com/keith-haring-before-the-end-of-the-world/). This season’s tarotscope is read using the [Mixed Signals Tarot](https://www.blinkpopshift.com/projects/mixed-signals-tarot?ref=hyperallergic.com), designed by artist [M Eilo](https://www.blinkpopshift.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com), on the [tarot platform Moonlight](https://hyperallergic.com/833385/moonlight-tarot-platform-for-the-zoom-era/). The cards were drawn on the longest day of the year, the peak of the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, in this sixth month of the Wheel of Fortune Year (in the tarot system) and the fifth of the Horse Year (in East and Southeast Asian lunar systems). For this solstice, we read with the “Getting Unstuck” spread, one I chose from Moonlight’s selection because I’ve seen a number of creative friends hitting periods of stagnancy. The first card represents a Blocker that we, as a collective *Hyperallergic* readership, have been struggling with and that presents a communal challenge. As with any collective reading, this should be understood metaphorically. Take what works and leave the rest behind. The second card is the Spark, something akin to the moment of joy when I saw the Keith Herrings and remembered all the many ways artists have held us through dark and challenging times, such as the AIDS crisis, which [Haring himself so powerfully addressed](https://hyperallergic.com/keith-haring-saw-the-future-in-his-art-broad-museum/). And we start with an inquiry: What will help us return to a flow state as we enter a season of unseasonable heat and ongoing global turmoil? _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Every Dog Has Its Artist URL: https://hyperallergic.com/every-dog-has-its-artist/ Last updated: 2026-06-28T14:28:42.000Z About two months ago, footage of [trembling beagles](https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000010886317/beagles-research-facility-homes.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) imprisoned at a biomedical research facility in Wisconsin, and of [the tear-gassed activists](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/18/us/beagle-facility-wisconsin-protests-tear-gas.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) who tried to rescue them, went viral. Photojournalists captured the dogs huddled together. They look into the cameras. They look at *us* — the humans who put them there. It feels dreadful to return the gaze, to acknowledge the intense pain one species can cause another. Yet, it is essential to do so, as Thomas W. Laqueurargues in a new book. *The Dog's Gaze: A Visual History* (2026) offers an expansive, accessible survey of canine presence in Western art from the Palaeolithic period onward. Brilliant, full-color reproductions of 250 artworks fill the book's pages as evidence of what Laqueur terms an "aesthetics of sociability." A dog, he contends, is an "animal that, because it sees with us, is uniquely gifted at breaching the bounds of species in art and perhaps also in life." ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/genoa-dog.jpg) Unrecorded artist in Genoa, Italy, "A Dog lying on a Ledge" (c. 1650–80) (image public domain CC0 via [Wikimedia Commons](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Italian%5F%28Genoese%29%5FSchool%5F-%5FA%5FDog%5Flying%5Fon%5Fa%5FLedge%5F-%5FWA1957.59.2%5F-%5FAshmolean%5FMuseum.jpg?ref=hyperallergic.com)) What might have been a straightforward, iconographic survey takes on a second, equally important role: It is a guidebook to understanding dogs as embedded figures in visual culture across time. Laqueur applies his thesis to concerns of both form and content. Dogs across Vittore Carpaccio's oeuvre tend to establish structural axes of vision, as with the adorable, scruffy puppy in “St. Augustine in His Study” (1501–1505). In Edwin Landseer's tender painting “The Old Shepherd's Chief Mourner”(1837) and Antonio da Correggio's depiction of a kidnapping in Greek mythology in “Ganymede Abducted by the Eagle”(1531–32), a dog serves as the sole witness to a human’s suffering. Pierre-Auguste Renoir records a sociological milestone in “Madame Georges Charpentier and Her Children” (1878), with a reluctant but patient Border Collie acting as a chair for one of its human siblings: the moment when dogs became fundamental members of the familial unit, rather than mere pets. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Misan Harriman to Step Down From Southbank Centre URL: https://hyperallergic.com/misan-harriman-to-step-down-from-southbank-centre/ Last updated: 2026-06-26T19:08:47.000Z Photographer and activist Misan Harriman said he will step down from his post as chair of London’s Southbank Centre. Harriman’s announcement comes weeks after a series of right-wing tabloids [scrutinized his response](https://hyperallergic.com/thousands-decry-right-wing-smear-campaign-against-misan-harriman/) to the April 29 attack in north London’s Golders Green. In a video uploaded to [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DZ7euHTsnLz/?igsh=ODg4OXBhZ3kyejZ0&ref=hyperallergic.com), Harriman, who has helmed the arts organization since 2021, said he had decided to depart the leadership position prior to the criticism from British media in May. A photographer of exceptional range, Harriman, born in Nigeria, became the first Black photographer to shoot a *Vogue* cover in September 2020\. “It’s semi-public knowledge that my term is coming to an end anyway, my actual term,” Harriman wrote. “I had decided way before this madness that I was going to do two terms.” A spokesperson for the Southbank Centre confirmed to *Hyperallergic* that Misan would not seek a third term as the institution’s leader and would depart this autumn. “Succession planning is already underway, with further details to be confirmed following our annual general meeting in July,” the Southbank Centre spokesperson told *Hyperallergic*. Over 100,000 people formally complained to the United Kingdom Independent Press Standards Organisation in May over a spate of right-wing media reports characterizing Harriman's social media comments about the Golders Green attack as antisemitic. Essa Suleiman is [accused](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwy2r39dqp7o?ref=hyperallergic.com) of stabbing two Jewish men in the predominantly Jewish neighborhood in an April attack that local police described as a “terrorist” incident. Suleiman is also accused of stabbing his friend Ishmail Hussein, who is reportedly Muslim, hours before stabbing the two men. The violent incident prompted calls from the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, to address antisemitism in the country. Harriman had criticized a perceived lack of media attention to the third victim, Ishmail Hussein, prompting accusations from the *Telegraph* that the arts leader was promoting “conspiracy theories.” The paper also zeroed in on a video Harriman posted reflecting on the right-wing Reform Party’s success in local elections, in which he invoked a quote by Jewish-American critic Susan Sontag, which she had given in the context of the Holocaust. Right-wingers then accused Harriman of comparing the populist party to the Nazis, making for additional headline fodder. On social media this week, Harriman [shared](https://www.instagram.com/reels/DZ9qgBasWNm/?ref=hyperallergic.com) that he received threats to his life following over 20 articles about social media activity. “I’ve organized for Black Lives Matter, championed women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, transgender protections, and for the Ukrainians during the war, and no one has had a problem until I started speaking out against Israel’s genocide in Palestine,” Harriman told *Hyperallergic* in a May interview. In addition to the formal complaints to the Independent Press Standards Organisation, over 33,000 people have signed onto a celebrity-backed [missive](https://goodlawproject.org/petition/misan-harriman-handraiser/?ref=hyperallergic.com) organized by the UK’s Good Law Project condemning Harriman’s treatment. The letter, signed by Greta Thunberg, Brian Eno, and Hozier, rejected the “smear campaign” as an attempt to “traduce and marginalise Misan.” “Truth itself is on the line; just because these right-wing and frankly racist newspapers scream the loudest, it does not mean it is the truth,” Harriman told *Hyperallergic* in May*.* “To have by far the most complaints in British newspaper history means the people have had enough.” ### A View From the Easel URL: https://hyperallergic.com/a-view-from-the-easel-343/ Last updated: 2026-06-26T19:02:49.000Z Welcome to the 343rd installment of A View From the Easel, a series in which artists reflect on their workspace. This week, Kathleen MacKenzie cherishes the birds of Upstate New York and the freedom of experimental video art. Want to take part? Check out our [submission guidelines](https://hyperallergic.com/submit-your-workspace-to-a-view-from-the-easel/) and share a bit about your studio with us through [this form](https://forms.gle/Erq7cyGEmMUxKrLe9?ref=hyperallergic.com)! All mediums and workspaces are welcome, including your home studio. --- ## [Kathleen MacKenzie](https://www.kathleenmackenzie.net/?ref=hyperallergic.com), Rosendale, New York ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Studio-computer---Kathleen-MacKenzie-1.jpeg) ***How long have you been working in this space?*** I moved from my loft in Tribeca, where I had lived for 35 years, to the town of Rosendale, located in the Mid-Hudson Valley, in 2012\. I divided and converted the back end of the garage into a 400-square-foot studio. Hard to believe, but I have been working in my space for 14 years. ***Describe an average day in your studio.*** I go into my studio around 10am and take a break for lunch around noon. By one o’clock, I return to my studio and work until 4pm or 5pm. As a mixed media artist my ideas often intersect, but I prefer to work in one medium and on one project at a time unless I have a deadline. My ritual is simple: a cup of tea and a bottle of water nearby. I prefer silence when I am working on the computer in Photoshop or editing video in Final Cut Pro. Otherwise, I like listening to jazz when I work. ***How does the space affect your work?*** The privacy and silence reflect the intimacy and meditative spareness of my art. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Work-Table---Kathleen-MacKenzie-1.jpeg) ***How do you interact with the environment outside your studio?*** Shortly after I moved upstate, I volunteered at the Rosendale Theatre, became a member of Woodstock Artists Association and Museum (WAAM), and joined a Mid-Hudson Community Buddhist Practice. I exhibit my work in local museums and galleries and have collaborated with a local book artist. I attend library talks and am part of a writing and poetry group and participate in open mic readings. My art community is wonderfully eclectic and inspires my mixed media practice. ***What do you love about your studio?*** I love the light that comes in from the skylights and windows. I treasure the privacy and silence in my studio, and each day seeing the sky above and hearing the beautiful chirping of birds flitting about in spring and summer. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Skylights---Kathleen-MacKenzie-1.jpeg) ***What do you wish were different?*** I would love faster internet speed on my iMac and better cell phone connection in my studio. ***What is your favorite local museum?*** There are some great museums upstate and each has its own uniqueness, but my favorite is WAAM for its generosity in exhibiting local artists and its range of exhibitions. ***What is your favorite art material to work with?*** I love painting, drawing, photography, constructing handmade books, and collages, but my favorite art material is when I am editing my video footage in Final Cut Pro on my iMac and making experimental video art. ### Family Urges Help for Venezuelan Artist Trapped Under Earthquake Rubble URL: https://hyperallergic.com/family-urges-help-for-venezuelan-artist-trapped-under-earthquake-rubble/ Last updated: 2026-06-26T18:43:02.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/PHOTO-2026-06-26-12-07-03-3.jpg) Artist Onai Quiñonez (all photos used with permission) Family members of the Venezuelan artist Onai Quiñonez have issued an urgent call for help as they say the painter remains trapped following the collapse of a residential building in the coastal town of Caraballeda in La Guaira. He is one of the tens of thousands of people [reported missing](https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/rescuers-comb-venezuelan-quake-rubble-thousands-reported-missing-2026-06-26/?ref=hyperallergic.com) after two back-to-back earthquakes devastated the nation on Wednesday, June 24\. Quiñonez’s sister-in-law, Mariela Roa, told *Hyperallergic* via WhatsApp messages in Spanish that he was in the Yurre Beach residence in the hard-hit seaside city when the quake hit, and that official rescue teams have not yet reached the site. “We need to give visibility to Onai’s situation,” Roa said. “He is alive, he is fighting, he's been under the rubble for 41 hours.” *Hyperallergic* could not independently verify Quiñonez’s condition, but [hundreds](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/06/25/world/venezuela-earthquake?ref=hyperallergic.com) are estimated to be trapped beneath the wreckage of collapsed buildings in La Guaira. The two earthquakes hit a minute apart on Wednesday night, with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5, respectively; the second quake was the [strongest recorded in Venezuela](https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c621z18wznet?ref=hyperallergic.com) in over a century, experts say. At least 589 people have been killed in the disaster, according to Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodríguez, and over 3,000 injured. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/PHOTO-2026-06-26-12-07-03-2.jpg) The damage at the Yurre Beach residence in La Guaira, where Quiñonez is believed to be trapped beneath the rubble Quiñonez, originally from Mérida in northwestern Venezuela, is known for his vibrant, expressionistic, and highly dynamic [paintings](https://resetgallery.com/categoria-producto/artistas/onai-quinonez-tolosa/?srsltid=AfmBOoo%5FuQshxi1Gly-TF75rXEgXQpoZ8UYCf8pDYKnmsx305v1dj-YZ&ref=hyperallergic.com). He was in the building with his wife, the artist Laura Silva, who had stepped out to walk their dog, Petra, when the first quake hit. “She saw the building collapse, with my brother in it,” said Quiñonez’s sister, Nahiara, in a Spanish audio message to *Hyperallergic*. Over the last two days, her father and Silva have gathered groups of friends and family at the site to help clear debris, but specialized assistance is needed, Nahiara said. The family has shared Zelle and PayPal accounts for [donations](https://www.instagram.com/stories/nahiaratolosa/3928074232931032606?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fstory%5Fitem%5Fshare). “The infrastructure is very weakened, so they need to work with special machines that are difficult to access right now,” Nahiara continued. “There are also electricity issues and difficulties accessing the area, and telecommunications are failing.” Quiñonez’s circumstances are horrific, yet sadly far from exceptional. Also in La Guaira, textile artist Siul Rasse and photographer Azalia Licón posted on Instagram about their search for missing family members. Creative communities both locally and in the diaspora have mobilized quickly in response to the crisis, with the gallery GBG Arts in Caracas issuing a [public call for artworks](https://www.instagram.com/p/DaDcQvsx8KD/?ref=hyperallergic.com) for a fundraiser. New York-based illustrator Andrea Cáceres has been [sharing](https://www.instagram.com/p/DaDubGqibA4/?igsh=Z2NvcW9mZXhoMXpo&ref=hyperallergic.com) [resources](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GK96lppZM8L3D7an2NhWqLR8eZ91m2w12d53GhNOfrw/edit?usp=drivesdk&ref=hyperallergic.com), including donation pages for direct relief efforts and local drop-off points for supplies. Internationally, organizations such as the [I Love Venezuela Foundation](https://www.gofundme.com/f/emergency-relief-for-venezuela-earthquake-victims?ref=hyperallergic.com) and the [Global Empowerment Mission](https://www.globalempowermentmission.org/mission/venezuela-earthquakes/?ref=hyperallergic.com) are raising funds to deliver food, water, and medical aid to those affected. The earthquakes come in the wake of Trump's dismantlement of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), a decision experts say is significantly [slowing down](https://www.france24.com/en/venezuela-suffers-effects-of-trump-s-aid-foreign-policies-after-deadly-quakes?ref=hyperallergic.com) humanitarian relief efforts in the region. The South American nation was already reeling from state neglect, crippling economic sanctions, and chaos following Trump's abduction and arrest of then-President Nicolás Maduro in a January operation estimated to cost [over $200 million](https://theintercept.com/2026/04/23/costs-war-latin-america-boat-strikes-venezuela/?ref=hyperallergic.com). ### William Kentridge and Lapis Blue URL: https://hyperallergic.com/william-kentridge-and-lapis-blue/ Last updated: 2026-06-26T10:00:55.000Z By his own admission, William Kentridge’s studio is a “safe space for stupidity.” This principle has served the indefatigable South African artist well — over the course of six decades, he has developed a style all his own spanning printmaking, drawing, animation, and sculpture. Now, he’s sharing insights into his dendritic process in a new book based on a 2024 lecture he delivered at Oxford. Read one such chapter on lapis blue and creativity exclusively on *Hyperallergic*. Also today: a guide to Upstate Art Weekend, Trump’s meddling with the Venice Biennale of Architecture, and an interview with painter Richard Tsao. *—Lakshmi Rivera Amin, associate editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/william-kentridge-book.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/a-natural-history-of-william-kentridges-studio/) [ A Natural History of William Kentridge’s Studio ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-natural-history-of-william-kentridges-studio/) Some years ago, two friends gave me a block of watercolour, pure lapis lazuli from Afghanistan. Lapis lazuli is a precious pigment used sparingly in Renaissance painting, now more generally replaced by French ultramarine. But there is an intense blueness in lapis, a colour coming off the paper towards you that is unmatched by any synthetic colour. In projections and photography and printing, this blue always loses its power. I don’t use colour in my drawings. But I painted some squares and circles to see the colour I was given. I was caught, wanting to devour the blue and not knowing how to bring it into anything I was drawing. While waiting to solve what I should do with the blue, I started painting texts and phrases with it | William Kentridge [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-natural-history-of-william-kentridges-studio/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/paul---daisy-soros-ad.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/a-90-000-graduate-fellowship-for-immigrants-children-of-immigrants-in-the-visual-arts/) ****A $90,000 Graduate Fellowship for Immigrants & Children of Immigrants in the Visual Arts** The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans supports immigrants & children of immigrants in MFA, MA, PhD & other graduate programs. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/a-90-000-graduate-fellowship-for-immigrants-children-of-immigrants-in-the-visual-arts/) --- ## Queer Elders [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Richard-Tsao.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/richard-tsaos-sanuk-art/) [ Richard Tsao’s “Sanuk” Art ](https://hyperallergic.com/richard-tsaos-sanuk-art/) In an interview with Hyperallergic, the artist known for his “Flood Room” paintings compares his decades-long practice to “the need for food.” | AX Mina [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/richard-tsaos-sanuk-art/) ## Guide [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/upstate-art-weekend.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/what-you-cant-miss-at-upstate-art-weekend/) [ What You Can’t Miss at Upstate Art Weekend ](https://hyperallergic.com/what-you-cant-miss-at-upstate-art-weekend/) The art extravaganza in New York’s Hudson Valley and Catskills is back with a retrospective of Betty Parsons, a tailgate-style exhibition, living sculptures, and more. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/what-you-cant-miss-at-upstate-art-weekend/) --- ## Community [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/architecture-biennale.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-is-coming-for-the-architecture-biennale/) [ Art Movements ](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-is-coming-for-the-architecture-biennale/) Trump is coming for the Architecture Biennale, Modigliani’s “indecent” nude fetches $63.9M, the National Gallery of Art gets a major contemporary art gift, and more industry news. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-is-coming-for-the-architecture-biennale/) [ Required Reading ](https://hyperallergic.com/required-reading-790/) This week: Scott Burton’s last sculpture, remembering Lebanese environmental activist Mona Khalil, AI slop in art journalism, NYC’s rollerskating queer icon, and more. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/required-reading-790/) --- ## Member Comment I love your article Paddy! You always bring my attention to story lines that I don’t know about and are very enriching. I really appreciate it. I can see how you and James really jelled. You both have so much to share with the world. Laura L Smith on “[James Wagner, Insatiable Art Collector, Dies at 85](https://hyperallergic.com/james-wagner-insatiable-art-collector-dies-at-85/)” --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/william-kentridge-interview.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/william-kentridge-sees-the-universe-in-a-pot-of-coffee/) [ William Kentridge Sees the Universe in a Pot of Coffee ](https://hyperallergic.com/william-kentridge-sees-the-universe-in-a-pot-of-coffee/) The artist tells Hyperallergic about how the isolation of COVID-19 led to a streaming series set wholly within the bounds of his studio. | Debra Brehmer [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/william-kentridge-sees-the-universe-in-a-pot-of-coffee/) ### A Natural History of William Kentridge’s Studio URL: https://hyperallergic.com/a-natural-history-of-william-kentridges-studio/ Last updated: 2026-07-02T04:45:20.000Z **Editor’s Note:* The following text is a chapter titled "Lapis Lazuli" that has been excerpted with permission and adapted from* [A Natural History of the Studio](http://bookshop.org/a/539/9780802167255?ref=hyperallergic.com) *(2026) by William Kentridge, published by Grove Press and available online and in bookstores. The book gathers the* [*Slade Lectures*](https://www.hoa.ox.ac.uk/slade-lecture-series-2024-william-kentridge?ref=hyperallergic.com) *delivered by Kentridge in 2024 at the University of Oxford.* --- Some years ago, two friends gave me a block of watercolour, pure lapis lazuli from Afghanistan. Lapis lazuli is a precious pigment used sparingly in Renaissance painting, now more generally replaced by French ultramarine. But there is an intense blueness in lapis, a colour coming off the paper towards you that is unmatched by any synthetic colour. In projections and photography and printing, this blue always loses its power. I don’t use colour in my drawings. But I painted some squares and circles to see the colour I was given. I was caught, wanting to devour the blue and not knowing how to bring it into anything I was drawing. While waiting to solve what I should do with the blue, I started painting texts and phrases with it. I have a notebook in which I write down phrases or sentences I have come across, which, through their idiosyncrasy, or particularities, feel they need to be held, put into a painting of words to be used later. GOD’S OPINION IS UNKNOWN, a Setswana proverb. WEIGH ALL TEARS, a line from a poem by Czesław Miłosz. YOU WILL BE DREAMT BY A JACKAL. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Lecture_02_Main_v6.00_01_07_00.Still008.jpeg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Lecture_02_Main_v6.00_02_36_10.Still010.jpeg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Lecture_02_Main_v6.00_03_15_22.Still019.jpeg) In the Middle Ages, books of prayer would have both the words of the prayer and instructions on what to do while praying (a kind of stage instruction). These were painted or printed in red ink, in so-called rubrics. I think of my blue texts as rubrics, something at the edge of discursive language. The texts are generally painted on the pages of old books: religious texts from the eighteenth century, or a record of stargazing from Cape Town in the nineteenth century. A half-coherent fragment, a half-coherent thought, on top of a considered older thinking. Phrases like: THE OLD GODS HAVE RETIRED YESTERDAY’S GOOD IDEA STRUGGLE FOR A GOOD HEART A BOX OF SHAME HISTORY ON ONE LEG FIND THE LESS GOOD IDEA RECREATIONAL DANGER A SAFE SPACE FOR STUPIDITY DEFENSIVE SLEEPING THE PLEASURES OF SELF-DECEPTION ENOUGH AND MORE THAN ENOUGH I am interested in coherence and incoherence. The limitations of coherence, and the productive possibilities of incoherence. The irresistible pressure to find coherence and avoid the anxiety of incoherence. I am caught between needing a manageable progression of thought and argument, and a wish to allow the fragments to fall where they may. To demonstrate literally the panic inside our rational movement through the world. ### Circling the studio But I want to retreat, to go backwards. The start of this lecture was written in my flat in London, where my wife and I were isolated in COVID quarantine. The studio in the flat is a small room compared to the garden studio in Johannesburg: forty-two paces to circle the studio if one walks in a figure eight. On my table were my notebooks, waiting for words; a full fountain pen, pregnant with all possibilities. But the chair resisted me. I walked around the studio, gathering the words and thoughts in this walking (2,400 steps, according to my phone) — all the small tasks one undertakes to avoid sitting down. There is a kind of Ur-language. Testing some phrases in my head: “Some years ago, a friend gave me a block of lapis lazuli . . .” “Lapis lazuli is the brightest . . .” “I have never seen a blue as bright as . . .” Phrases or sentences, but more than that, a sensing in the muscles. Somehow in the pectoral muscles, in the tastebuds, a move and a tensing, trying to pull the different thoughts together. Holding on to a thought the way one tries to hold on to a dream as you wake. The thought was there, a clarity. Ah — now it is gone. *Talk about the lapis blue, then about the periaqueductal grey*. As I pace the desk, I write “lapis blue — periaqueductal grey.” One part of my head repeats, *start with the lapis*. The other part is off on its own journey: “Mr. Leopold Bloom ate with relish the inner organs of beasts and fowls.” Where did *Ulysses* come from, out of the blue? A glance at the table, notebook still untouched. My thinking is stopped by watching myself walking, and writing. To will a coherence for thought. The unmoving me at the centre of the room instructs the other self, circling like a circus horse trotting around the ring at the end of a rope. *Talk about the words*, I instruct myself. *Translation. Tell them about translation in the studio, about the Markov blanket, about images, from ink to sound, sound to ink to colour, about Kurt Schwitters’* Ursonate*. Check the date of* Ursonate *and* Ulysses*.* I run out of thought. *Now start.* I don’t. Maresfield Gardens in Hampstead. The great secular rabbi Sigmund Freud. No, no. “You are just avoiding the book and the pen.” Jewishness in Englishness was the previous lecture. ### Did I just say that? I write down “procrastination.” I write down “productive procrastination.” Then it finally begins, the first words on paper addressing, in this case, words. This split of the self, one self walking around the room trying to will a thought or series of thoughts into coherence, whilst another voice, another self, admonishes them for the inadequacy of their efforts, is a common sensation, particularly in the studio. There is the artist as worker, charcoal drawing, close to the paper. And then as the artist steps back a pace or two to see how the drawing looks, a second self emerges, the critic, who sees at once the weaknesses or mistakes of the work on the wall and sends the first self back to the drawing with a series of instructions (move the horizon down, the cloud is too dark) or admonishes, “How can you still get it so wrong after so many years?” Language, or language in the studio, is the subject of this second essay. Language — of course, using language to discuss the studio; but also, the processes of the studio: to think about language, the translation from word to lapis lazuli; about the colour, but the colour also changing one’s sense of the words. The studio is a place of making, but also a place of making meaning. It is a space and a technique of translation. It starts with blankness, with incoherence, the blank sheet of paper, the words on the paper, hoping they will lead to a coherence, or at least to a provocative incoherence. If the drawing is the finished sentence or the paragraph, then the process of making the drawing can reveal the invisible process behind the spoken or written word. The faster-than-one-can-write, or think, following the processes of our unconscious brain, gathering the fragments, then sending them out through the muscles of the chest, the throat, the larynx, the tongue and the lips into the world. The words come before realising what we are going to say. “Did I just say that? Not me. I would never say such foolishness. If I was in charge of my words, they would be so much more persuasive.” ### Periaqueductal grey This is all slowed down in the studio. The drawing is the thinking before the thought is conscious. The walk around the studio is the preamble even to this. There is a dispute in neurology as to where the font of consciousness lies. Conventional wisdom has it proceed from perception outwards, the gathering of information about the world, which transforms eventually into awareness of the self, seeing many birds in order to understand bird-ness. But there is another theory that feels much closer to me. Consciousness, this line of argument goes, starts not from the frontal lobes, the most sophisticated part of our mind, but from the periaqueductal grey, a pea-sized piece of grey matter at the brain stem, the most primitive part of our brain, a highly sensitive piece of the body. One side registers pain; the other pleasure. This is the periaqueductal grey. It moves towards and away from the world; towards warmth if we feel our temperature drop; away from the burning heat, if you’re too close to the fire. This is miles away from rational decision-making. This is the body thinking. There’s an impulse, which will find its meaning later. First, a phrase and later an analysis of what it might mean. Consciousness comes from emotion, desire or repulsion. First, a drawing, and only afterwards a questioning: What does this drawing say? An impulse to make that is prior to the “what” that is made; what the subject is. The pull of the studio is central; the “what” is much less so. It could be a text, a tree, a drawing of a coffeepot. They are all translations of a much more primitive desire to send something out into the world. This is both me and not me. Something I have made, but which is also more than me. I leave, the drawing remains — a shadow one can leave behind, or a snail trail of the passage of one’s life. This is knowing our edge but working to reach through it. We construct a Markov blanket, that membrane that defines where we end and the rest of the world begins, the edge of what we can protect against entropy. It is the job of the artist to resist entropy. This metaphoric blanket is not the outside world, but it is sensible to it, and sensitive to it, a membrane of negotiation between that which comes towards us and how we meet it. This blanket is a borderline for all life, for an amoeba, a jellyfish, a human, each resisting their private entropy. Something between us and the world. In the studio, a drawing will stand in for this membrane; something marking the border between us and the world. This is of course a great simplification of neurology. One must understand the artist as scavenger, half-digesting other people’s thoughts, taking scraps into himself. What is important here is the nourishment provided, the productivity of these metaphors, not their scientific correctness. In this case, I am held by the image of that unreachable centre in our brain, thought circling it. And of the Markov blanket, not as a statistical proposition (which correctly speaking it is), but as a felt blanket draped over our shoulders, under which all these thoughts and impulses can churn unseen. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Lecture_02_Main_v6.00_07_09_15.Still029.jpeg) ### Tummelplatz There is a blindness under the blanket, a stupidity. Let it be said, the studio is a safe space for stupidity. A space where impulses can be given the benefit of the doubt. Freud referred to the psychoanalytic space between the analyst and his patient as a *Tummelplatz* — a place of tumbling or jousting, a terrain for allowing anything to be said, understanding that there may be a sense to unearth in the flow of images and thoughts that emerge in a stream of consciousness, allowing the unconscious to bubble to the surface. The studio is a *Tummelplatz*, the artist both patient and analyst; the sheet of paper the terrain on which this jousting takes place. Follow the line, follow the lie, follow the image, and discover who you are. The translations are numerous — swipe across the paper — a horizon line. This is both an impulse, a sweep of the arm, and the thought dividing the paper, sky and earth, the start of the map. Here is the world, here is the continent, the field in which I place myself (understanding that, in the end, each drawing is a fragment of a self-portrait). So, the translation from impulse to image. This is what it makes me think of: a horizon, so a landscape, the vertical charcoal marks become interventions in the landscape, short lines become the winter stubble of grass after a veld fire to the south of Johannesburg. Looking at the drawing, 10 percent is the optics of seeing the marks, the lines, the grey smudge of the charcoal; 90 percent is predictive, associative, memory. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Lecture_02_Main_v6.00_08_28_18.Still031.jpeg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Lecture_02_Main_v6.00_08_42_03.Still032.jpeg) The drawing touches the original, the veld outside, but only tangentially. The translation always touches its origin, or its source, like a tangent to a circle. ### Moving the saint But even when translation seems closer, more direct, there is a transformation. A mimesis, the most accurate copying of the real original into an artificial form certainly has its pleasures. A trompe l’oeil drawing of an object, painted with such fidelity that your hand reaches out to touch it. A pencil crayon traced onto a drawing so that from a distance you can’t tell which is the pencil and which is its copy. All these have their pleasures — a pleasure of knowing, yet still believing. The transformation is at the heart of it. Knowing the falseness of what you’re seeing but feeling the tug of its physicalness. Finding the pleasure in the self-deception. “Translation” in one of its earliest usages refers to the moving of a saint’s relics, literally moving these relics from a small, unimportant chapel to a grander setting, commensurate with the relics now belonging to a saint who has been canonised, and her or his miracles accepted. I imagine a grand procession with a band playing, religious banners preceding and following the box, which contains the saint’s knuckles or foot. We think of translation as an act of moving something from one language into another. An idea found in one language moves to another — the panther in Rilke’s poem translated from his German cage to an English zoo, knowing that the panther will be transformed by this translation, a single German panther becoming a dozen different translations. The saint’s bones multiply and change. Or, as Walter Benjamin reminds us, English bread is not the same as French pain. Baguette is not the same as German *Schwarzbrot*. I am not so interested in what we lose in translation, but in what we gain in its impossibility, in the gaps between the original and its translation; the gaps between the translated logs that let a fire burn. The fire is always the logs and the space between the logs. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Lecture_02_Main_v6.00_09_09_19.Still033.jpeg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Lecture_02_Main_v6.00_09_10_19.Still034.jpeg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Lecture_02_Main_v6.00_09_14_04.Still035.jpeg) The translation in the studio also includes many migrations, a carrying of an image from one form to another, a relic of a drawing placed on another sheet of paper. A starting point may be an image — Alfred Jarry’s Ubu, a sixteen-year-old’s caricature of his teacher as a self-pitying tyrant. I made several etchings first around the centenary of the first performance of the play *Ubu Roi* in 1896\. Jarry had a clear image for Ubu: a large gown, a peaked hood, a spiral drawn on the considerable belly. I used Jarry’s formulation for Ubu in the different scenes shown in the etchings. Ubu on a bicycle, Ubu showering, the self-flagellation of Ubu (scenes from an imagined other story of Ubu). And then there is a second “Ubu,” a self that I put on top of it. I worked with thumbprints in a soft etching ground to make the fleshier alter ego. The completed suite of etchings suggested a performance with white chalk projections, and an actor or dancer moving in tandem with the projections behind them. These etchings became the basis of a theatre piece, *Ubu and the Truth Commission*. In the performance we kept the white line drawing, like Jarry’s drawing, as projected animation, but substituted a live performer for the thumbprint figure in the etchings. The production used animation and archival film material to look at the human rights abuses during the apartheid era, as revealed in the sittings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. This Commission was established to hear from both victims and perpetrators of state-sanctioned violence under apartheid. Its central premise was that in exchange for full disclosure of crimes, perpetrators could receive amnesty: a kind of pact with the devil in which knowledge was exchanged for justice — the kind of deal that Ubu would have wholeheartedly approved of. The text used a combination of verbatim transcripts from witnesses and a new text close to Jarry’s style and tone. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Lecture_02_Main_v6.00_10_20_07.Still039.jpeg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Lecture_02_Main_v6.00_10_27_05.Still041.jpeg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Lecture_02_Main_v6.00_10_36_08.Still043.jpeg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Lecture_02_Main_v6.00_10_54_14.Still044.jpeg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Lecture_02_Main_v6.00_11_03_12.Still045.jpeg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Lecture_02_Main_v6.00_11_31_23.Still046.jpeg) The etchings were there in the background. The play touched them only tangentially but essentially. The play was indebted to the original images, but then went its own way. The hope was that the rough animation, provoked by Jarry’s image and language, would give a new way of seeing the archival material: film footage of student protests, of police beating students, of police shooting at schoolchildren. Material that we have become blind to, having seen so much on television and in documentary films. In return, the hope was that this archival material would give a greater weight to the comic grotesque of Jarry’s Ubu. Later, elements of the animation used in the production became a film in its own right (*Ubu Tells the Truth*). The animation and archival material coming from the play, but again, given a new form independent of the performance. ### Self-portrait in the third person To complete the circle of migration, there was a further set of drawings that came from the play and the earlier etchings. They were not self-portraits, rather drawings of the self in performance; a self-portrait in the third person. These drawings were a translation in scale — a ten-inch etching becoming a six-foot drawing, thumbprints replaced with footprints, slaps by the hand, a bicycle rolled over the paper, making the drawing a record of the damage done to the paper. I photographed and filmed myself in the studio, lying on a table as an ungainly odalisque, naked riding a bicycle. It was a self in the *Tummelplatz*. It was “he,” not me. *I would never perform, show myself off that way at all. Do not ask me to take responsibility for his actions. But you are here,* says the other self. *Take responsibility for who you are.* There is a connection, faint but there, between this doubling of the self — artist as maker and artist as observer — that feels like the tug between a first language and that which it is translated into. This tug, this unstable connection, is where we find ourselves in the studio; a clash sometimes gentle, sometimes less so, between the rational and the part of us that rejects this way of thinking. So, what is this translation? The work of translation: WK 2: Only when there is a gap can we think — thank heavens for mistranslation. WK 1: A typewriter must remain a typewriter. WK 2: A typewriter is also a bird. WK 1: A tree remains a tree. WK 2: A tree is also a book, a table, a fire, ash. WK 1: We need to keep the meaning. WK 2: We need to remember that a language is as a dialect with an army and navy. WK 1: The poem must stay the poem. WK 2: We need to find an unclarity, to turn things on their heads, to allow a reversal, a somersault, to let a word become a colour, a shadow, a sculpture. This is talking about language. But the studio work jumps from language to non-language, from lapis lazuli to a phrase, from a word to a colour — not to try to find an exact equivalent, but to hunt for the spark that flashes from these connections. A spark that arcs across from the separation, when the vertical marks on the paper are both grass and charcoal, when the green is both oil paint and the leaf. It is always about recognition, rather than knowing. A second degree of knowledge, closer to the periaqueductal grey than to the frontal lobe. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Lecture_02_Main_v6.00_14_44_20.Still059.jpeg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Lecture_02_Main_v6.00_14_51_15.Still060.jpeg) The challenge of these lectures is to try to bring half-coherent ideas to the rational linearity of a lecture. To undo the processes of the studio, knowing that a description of the chaos is always so much clearer than the chaos itself. The order of things: An impulse — a memory of a childhood stick figure in a school textbook; the desire for the engine to pick up speed, for the pages to turn; abandoning the subject of the impulse but following the logic of the machine set in motion; learning the rules of what one is doing. We gather different elements: Pages of a dictionary (not a narrative, but not random: a coherence in the book that the book knows, even if the pages are out of order). The idea of a flipbook. A box of watercolour paints and coloured pencils. A poem, a sonnet to set the pages in motion, to learn the grammar of this undertaking. How to make it work: How intense must the colour be? One or two layers of watercolour? A base watercolour with a coloured crayon on top? Which colours make the transition from paper to photograph or the projection? How many frames for each page? We take the line: “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate.” Then we start the translation, the disintegration in the studio. I read the text. That’s eight seconds, thirty-three words: four words per second. We paint the pages of the dictionary, so the words of the poem become the coloured pages. Four words per second is about six frames per word, or three frames of each page filmed twice. And what for the air between the words, or the breath between the lines? Do we keep these pages unpainted? The specifics of the poem — a sonnet of Shakespeare — dissolve into questions of making. How quickly should the pages turn? Should the twenty-five frames per second of the film be twenty-five pages of each page filmed twice, or thrice? How intense must the colour be, one layer of watercolour or two? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Lecture_02_Sonnet_v1.00_01_23_20.Still006.jpeg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Lecture_02_Sonnet_v1.00_02_30_12.Still007.jpeg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Lecture_02_Sonnet_v1.00_05_27_07.Still008.jpeg) These are the questions in the studio, a learning done by testing and repetition. The meaning of the poem recedes into the corner of the studio. All energy goes into this transformation, into the process of transformation, the pleasure of one thing becoming another. ### But is it necessary? My father has always been sceptical of this kind of work, putting projections inside an opera, doing a Büchner play with puppets, adding colours to a sonnet. “I’m not saying it’s impossible,” he would say, “I’m just wondering why it’s necessary.” A question, which I’m still, at the age of seventy, trying to answer. It is not necessary. The poem on its own is fine, perfect. The best answer I could give was that it was essential because it was not necessary. It was an excess, a drowning excess some would claim, but an excess. There is a split here. On the one hand, I am aware of a rational person talking about an exploration, a justification and interpretation after the event, the chaotic excess rolled up inside coherence. On the other side, the other artist not talking, but reacting to the impulse to make the sonnet film. It’s an infantile, unquestioning urge. Let us leap and then look, a desire for an impurity, an overabundance. ### Holding on to the grain A similar project: twenty-four Schubert songs, the *Winterreise*, and twenty-four films to accompany them. How far could the films stray from the text of the songs and still find a connection to them? In many of the films which are made for the cycle the distance between the image and the words seems so great that they only touch at one point. The film is as a tangent to the circle of the song. I grew up hearing the *Winterreise* sung by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. My father would listen to these recordings lying on the sofa after lunch on the weekends. (My mother would leave the room. She had a precept: after fifty, no German lieder. No Puccini.) Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau accompanied by Gerald Moore, a symbolic postwar rapprochement between Britain and Germany. Even though he enunciates each word of the song perfectly, I had no German. So, the sense of the songs was not in the text. I did not understand the text, but could hear from the impulse, from the emotion, from the volume, from the emphasis, that there was a meaning inside the song. The words were there, but they were not the meaning. There was a quality of a meaning just out of reach. Even later, with many songs sung in English, the effect is the same. I’d either not recognise the words, or I’d hear the words and register them in one part of my brain, and then they would fly off, but the song would remain. Roland Barthes writes of the grain of the song, a vocal quality that contains the essence of a song, rather than just making the words clear. He was a great champion of Panzera, the prewar baritone who sang *Winterreise* on old 78 RPM records, with all their hiss and crackles. Barthes was very critical of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and his clarity (though this may also have been a dislike for the clarity of 33 RPM long-playing records and a nostalgia for the older 78 RPM sound). Some of the twenty-four films of the *Winterreise* are made expressly for the songs, but in many cases, it was a found connection between some of the songs and sections of films I had made many years before. There is something in the rolling rhythm of the songs pushing the walker forward on his winter journey that also propel the animation of the films, that pull the films through the gates of the projector. I’m interested in excess. My father would listen to the *Wintereisse* with his eyes closed, a pure listening. In the recital hall the impurity of the listening is always clear. One watches the pianist’s fingers. How close to the piano will the singer go? It looks as if he might climb right into the piano. What does he do with his hands? Will the page-turner miss his moment? Did I remember to take the fish pie out of the freezer? An excess through which one wades to find the music, or through which the music finds us. But even on the sofa, eyes shut, I’m sure other thoughts would have moved across the music. Memories, anxieties (in a postprandial state, even dreams). Purity is always wishful thinking. Hope to still the chattering in one’s head — impossible. We have to celebrate the anti-Zen in us. In the song, comprehension lies both in the words and beyond them; in the near breath, in posture, in gesture, in emphasis, in volume. And so with speech. Anne, my wife, begs me not to try to speak French. I change, she claims. I swell up. I become grandiose. *Je gonfle*, filled with big French vowels: the *ai*, the *oeu*, the *ou*. In German, she says, I sound like a rabbi. I don’t dislike either of these disguises, but make sure not to parade them before her. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau was one introduction to language beyond the edge of comprehension. I was of course also surrounded by languages heard but not understood. The African languages which enveloped me, not just in childhood, but still today in Johannesburg: the isiZulu, isiXhosa, Sesotho, Sepedi, Setswana of all the Africans, both in the house and around, while I was stuck in an English monolingualism, understanding that translation would always be an essential condition for me. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Lecture_02_Main_v6.00_17_14_10.Still068.jpeg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Lecture_02_Main_v6.00_17_21_02.Still069.jpeg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Lecture_02_Main_v6.00_17_24_09.Still070.jpeg) ### The white spaces On Friday nights I would attend shul services with my grandfather. The incomprehensible patterns of the Hebrew letters in the prayer book, and the opaque Hebrew rattled off at an impossible rate. I would float along with the service, recognising the songs, familiar with the pauses when the congregation would turn towards the ark and mouth the words to themselves. And then, to make the unmoving clock turn, I would read the prayers in English, comprehensible and incomprehensible. One statement of praise after another. How could God ever bear it, my adolescent thoughts would run, this toadying? What universal ego can put up with this nonstop adulation? Such the thoughts that went in parallel to the incantation of the prayers. I now have a sense of the understanding. The words are the logs, but the heart of the prayer is the gap between the logs. Everything, not just the words. And to have the fire, we need both the logs and the gaps between the logs. There is a branch of Hasidic Judaism that claims that the words are there, and God understands them, but devotion comes from the white spaces between the words. And so, one discovers who one is, rather than decides. Goose and the gaps. This is who I am. But if words are so light, so ephemeral, how does one tie them down, give them a weight, which we know they should have? Svetlana Alexievich, the Russian writer who crafts her books from transcripts of interviews, describes an extreme situation where there is nothing to be gained from ambiguity, from sophistry, from rhetoric. This is from her book on the Soviet war in Afghanistan in the 1980s: “The young boy took a long time to die. As he did so his eyes looked around him like a bird. And he said the words of things he could see: sky, mountain, tree . . .” Language at its most essential. The words echo as a chastisement of language that takes off on its own. We want to tie the words to the world, but of course, we cannot. ### The weight of a word How does one give weight to something as light as a word, as a shadow, as a series of signs, of words or phrases? A silhouette or shadow of an object — a phone, a megaphone, an ampersand, becomes a torn paper shape. This can be cut out of cardboard, already some weight gained. Held together with masking tape or glue, the cardboard can thicken, can gain a certain fatness. Then, if it is covered in wax, it can be moulded and cast in bronze, patinated black, and brought back to its original silhouette. These glyphs are hand-sized, the weight of a fist-sized stone. Gravity pulls them down. The glyphs were made to give a substance to the silhouette shapes, to take something essentially two dimensional — a letter, a shadow, the ink drawing or the paper cutout — and give it heft, to give a shadow its due. Put these together, and there emerges almost a phrase or a rubric in bronze, not a clear meaning, but a push towards an illegible comprehensibility. A riddle which has no answer, but which intrigues us precisely because it has no clear solution. If the ink drawing or even the paper has the ephemerality of a digital text, has only the weight of a pulsing cursor, the bronze has the hard-won sense of letterpress, of words put together metal letter by metal letter, or having the heavy thwack of the manual typewriter. If the digital carries the malleability, the fickleness of our scattered thinking, the typewriter is its rebuke. These are your words, you can’t escape them, even if you put a line of X’s through the words you need to change, the first thought is there, and shows its changes. The thinking and the process of thinking is there. There is a commitment to the decisiveness, to the striking of the keys, an ethics of the typewriter. Svetlana Alexievich writes about war and the way the extreme situation reduces language to its most direct, its most indisputable. But war also has the opposite effect, of revealing a language removed from the world. One thinks of the grand words of all the agreements and treaties of the great powers which become the incomprehensible nightmare of mud and death in the First World War. A clear logic, as clear as a train timetable, that leads to such disaster. If this is what a clear logic does, let us find a less clear logic. If this is language, let us find a non-language. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Lecture_02_Main_v6.00_20_28_24.Still077-1.jpeg) This was the fundamental principle of the Dadaists in Zurich in 1916, and their legacy since then. Language was a focus of this demonstration of less good logic. An exuberant absurdity where all was possible, where the rallying cry was, “Let us try, for once, not to be right.” The performances, simultaneous poems, came out of the need to destabilise the word, to operate within a destabilised world. To uncertain the word. To show the uncertainty of the thoughts. To take the uncertainty — inside us all, everyone is fighting a huge battle — and put it onstage. As they wrote, “Even God is depressed and can only pick at his food.” A walk around the studio is the preamble to drawing, a space and time when one is in the chaos of thinking. These lectures are trying to find the point of contact between this invisible origin of image and words, and the words as they are finally put down. The lapis lazuli text —both the words and the colour — and the tang of the riddle that does not have an answer. The writing over the certainty of centuries of letterpress printing, using a charcoal smudge to disturb this clarity. I think of Schwitters’ *Ursonate* as a trompe l’oeil, not of an object, but of the process coming out from the periaqueductal grey, of trying to tie us to the word and the world, of holding tight, knowing we cannot pin down a sense in the world, but living as if we could. --- *Excerpted from* A Natural History of the Studio *© William Kentridge & Cossee Publishers, 2025\. Reprinted with the permission of the publisher, Grove Press, an imprint of Grove Atlantic, Inc. All rights reserved.* ### What You Can’t Miss at Upstate Art Weekend URL: https://hyperallergic.com/what-you-cant-miss-at-upstate-art-weekend/ Last updated: 2026-06-25T21:34:25.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Parsons_Opposition_1962-1.jpg) Betty Parsons, "Opposition" (1962) (© 2025 Betty Parsons and William P. Rayner Foundation, image courtesy Alexander Gray Associates, New York) It is a historic summer for New York. Not only because of the Knicks' electric NBA [championship win](https://hyperallergic.com/capturing-new-york-pride-at-the-historic-knicks-parade/), but also a recent [primary victory](https://hyperallergic.com/claire-valdez-claims-resounding-win-in-nyc-primary/) for three Mamdani-backed candidates — including a [painter](https://hyperallergic.com/claire-valdez-wants-to-be-your-artist-in-congress/) — that has infused New York City and its environs with a sense of hope for a better future. This optimistic sentiment coincides with the start of Upstate Art Weekend, where regional artists reflect their own visions for the world. This year's lineup of 160 artists and organizations includes something for everyone, whether that's art hanging out of cars (college tailgate-style), a rejuvenated abandoned storefront, living sculptures, or more traditional works displayed on gallery walls. For the 2026 edition of Upstate Art Weekend, an annual art festival born in 2020 to highlight the cultural contributions of the Hudson Valley and Catskills, Bloomberg Connects will offer a digital guide that lets visitors create customizable itineraries. Here's our selection of unmissable art, exhibitions, and events. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/UAW26-Map-Illustation-by-Sophia-Kabalan.jpg) A map of this weekend's events (illustration Sophia Kabalan, courtesy Upstate Art Weekend) --- ### Betty Parsons: An Expanded World [CCS Bard Galleries at Bard College](https://ccs.bard.edu/museum/exhibitions/1340-betty-parsons-an-expanded-world?ref=hyperallergic.com), 33 Garden Rd, Annandale-On-Hudson, New YorkJune 27, 2–5pm and through October 18 Curated by two Bard alumnae, Deputy Director of Artists Space Kelly Taxter and painter Amy Sillman, this exhibition is the first major retrospective dedicated to artist and gallerist Betty Parsons. Across around 80 pieces spanning painting, works on paper, and sculpture, the show plumbs Parsons's momentous contributions to the history of 20th-century art in the United States, from launching the careers of major artists across avant-garde movements to creating unique works that expanded the possibilities of those genres. --- ### Loading... Art Invitational Edition No.2 [The Caboose](https://loadinginvitational.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com), 60 South Front Street, Hudson, New York June 25–29 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Glenn-Goldberg_An-Other-Place--105-_2024.jpg) Glenn Goldberg, "An Other Place (105)" (2024) (photo courtesy Post Times) After hopping off the train at the Hudson station, art trekkers can head to the nearby Caboose, where *Loading…* presents works curated by seven New York City galleries, including Post Times and Dutton. Among the works foregrounding the event are Bronx-born painter Glenn Goldberg's small-scale, intricate acrylic-and-pencil pieces. In addition to free public hours throughout the weekend, expect a panel discussion on the Hudson Valley's presence in the global art world, with guests including Jessica Brier, curator of Photography at Vassar College's Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center. (There will also be Vermont-style ice cream on site, but you didn't hear that from me.) --- ### DON'T SIT ON ME [Available Items](https://availableitems.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com), 64 Broadway, Tivoli, New York June 26–29 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Peg-Woodworking_Period-Piece.jpg) Peg Woodworking's "Period Piece" (2026) (photo courtesy Available Items) One should probably not sit down on any of the objects included in *DON'T SIT ON ME,* though it may be tempting to do so in a room full of chairs (including one made of whoopee cushions).Humor aside, the show's 13 ingenious chair designs respond to the 250th anniversary of the United States, coinciding with creeping authoritarianism and one-sided nationalistic fervor. Selected from an open call, the chair designs satirize or comment on aspects of unfolding American history, including by reappropriating conservative slogans, critiquing patriotic hubris, and making private struggles public. --- ### Anne Hall and Mark Delmont at OSMOS Station [OSMOS Station](https://www.instagram.com/p/DZVY288E1qC/?img%5Findex=1&ref=hyperallergic.com), 20 Railroad Avenue, Stamford, New York June 25– 29 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Mark-Delmont_The-nights-we-were-made_2024_Mixed-media-on-wood_96-x-60-in.jpg) Mark Delmont's "The nights we were made" (2024) (photo courtesy OSMOS) In the Catskills, OSMOS, a publishing and curatorial project based in Stamford and New York City, will present solo exhibitions by Mark Delmont, whose tender paintings capture "[often overlooked lives](https://www.markdelmont.com/about?ref=hyperallergic.com)." The space will also feature a show of translucent sculptural works by local multi-media photographer Anne Hall. --- ### The Inaugural Upstate Photography Biennial [The Center for Photography Woodstock](https://cpw.org/exhibition/upstate-photography-biennial/?ref=hyperallergic.com), 25 Dederick St, Kingston, New York June 25–29 and through September 6 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/M-Meisler-01_Six_Legs_on_Bar__Le_Bain_New_York__NY_2025.jpg) Meryl Meisler's "Six Legs on Bar LeBain New York, NY" (2025) (courtesy Center for Photography Woodstock) This year's Upstate Art Weekend coincides with the Center for Photography Woodstock's (CPW) first-ever biennial, which traces the titular art form's regional history through the lenses of 39 artists. The works included, such as Meryl Meisler's black-and-white image of disembodied legs atop a Manhattan bar counter, interrogate the human body, challenge the use of space, and amplify aspects of everyday life in New York. Timed with this weekend's festivities, CPW will host a conversation about queer image-making in Upstate New York. --- ### The Mall [Hudson Valley Mall Food Court](https://www.themallupstate.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com), 1300 Ulster Ave, Kingston, New York June 26–28 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/The-Mall_TL-03.jpg) Works by artists (left to right) Karen Mainenti, Jeffrey Augustine Songco, Deborah Brown (photo courtesy Jasper Richmus). For those who feel nostalgic for the classic, enclosed American mall as a space of congregation (me, I'm nostalgic), *The Mall* at the Hudson Valley Mall offers art-filled "reimagined" storefronts in a creative resurrection of the dying commercial space. Converting vacant stores into displays of regional expression, *The Mall* will host a series of pop-up exhibitions that subvert the logic of consumption while honoring the sense of congregation that these spaces once instilled in public life. --- ### Replica of a Chip: The Weaving Technology of Marilou Schultz [Hessel Museum of Art](https://ccs.bard.edu/museum/exhibitions/1307-replica-of-a-chip-the-weaving-technology-of-marilou-schultz?ref=hyperallergic.com) at Bard College, 33 Garden Rd, Annandale-On-Hudson, New York June 27, 2–5pm and through November 29 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Marilou-Schultz-247-Edit-Alon-Koppel-Photography--2-.jpg) Marilou Schultz's "Untitled" (2008) (photo Alon Koppel, courtesy Hessel Museum of Art) Opening on Saturday, *Replica of a Chip: the Weaving Technology of Marilou Schultz* will present the Diné weaver and mathematics educator's first-ever career survey. The exhibition traces the acclaimed artist's 65-year-long weaving practice, during which she crafted micro-chip patterned textiles that shed light on a contingent of Navajo women workers who manufactured semiconductors in the 1960s and ’70s. --- ### Stay Frosty Kingston [Artport Kingston](https://artportkingston.org/2026-exhibition-01-stayfrosty?ref=hyperallergic.com), 80 Smith Avenue, Kingston, New York June 27, 2–5pm ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/image0.jpeg) Sarah George, "Naughty by Nature" (photo courtesy ArtPort Kingston) More than 50 artists will fill Kingston's ArtPort parking lot this weekend with pop-up installations reminiscent of a chaotic college tailgate *Stay Frosty,* organized by ArtPort Kingston and BravinLee Programs, began in Harlem last year as a site-responsive public art event featuring exhibitions popping out of trunks and decorating asphalt. This year's programming will also include live portrait drawing and performance. --- ### Unison Arts Triennial: Art, Land and Future [Unison Arts](https://www.unisonarts.org/triennial?ref=hyperallergic.com), 9 Paradies Lane, New Paltz, New York June 26–29 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Rosenow_Ground-Current_2026_1.JPEG) Jordan Rosenow, "Ground Current" (2026) (photo courtesy Unison Arts) Unison Arts invited 20 regional artists to interpret the link between ecology and humanity for the organization's triennial, which will unfold over three years beginning this Saturday. On Sunday afternoon, Agustin Diocares will present “Es Difícil Ser Un Santo” (2026)*,* a performance that incorporates oranges in a commentary on the United States's dependence on undocumented labor. In the first stage of the exhibition, Unison Arts will unveil a sculpture garden, including eco-futurist living installations by Jordan Rosenow and Mike Medeiros. --- ### Entung Liu: Broken Breath, Through Our Shiny Skin [N/A Project Space](https://www.naprojectspace.com/exhibitions/entung-liu-broken-breath?ref=hyperallergic.com), 137 Martin Sweedish Rd, New Paltz, New York June 27, 2–5pm ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Entung-Liu--Too-Bright-To-Be-Painful--2022-25.-Image-Hsiao-Chien-Liu.jpg) “Broken Breath, Through Our Shiny Skin**”* durational performance (photo courtesy Immigrant Artist Biennial) In [N/A Project Space](https://www.naprojectspace.com/exhibitions/entung-liu-broken-breath?ref=hyperallergic.com)'s wooded outdoor space on Saturday, Taipei-born artist Entung Liu will facilitate a three-hour participatory durational performance billed as the "soft launch" of the upcoming [Immigrant Artist Biennial](https://www.theimmigrantartistbiennial.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com). During the performance, Liu will offer attendees the opportunity to connect their phones to an app that transmits shared light and sound in a controlled exploration of the relationship between endless digital consumption and bodily presence. --- ### Upstate Art Weekend at Woodstock School of Art [Woodstock School of Art](https://woodstockschoolofart.org/upstate-art-weekend/?ref=hyperallergic.com), 2470 Route 212, Woodstock, New York June 25–29 At Woodstock School of Art, a nonprofit dedicated to fine arts instruction for artists of all skill levels, vendors will sell their own creations in a campus art fair this Saturday and Sunday as part of a free event series. Local teaching artists Tricia Cline and Keith Gunderson will hold live demonstrations, and additional instructors will showcase their works in the ongoing *Instructors Exhibition*. Woodstock School of Art will also present a conversation with Nigerian-born artist Layo Bright as part of its ongoing series *This is America,* which explores artists' cultural lineages. ### ### Trump Is Coming for the Architecture Biennale URL: https://hyperallergic.com/trump-is-coming-for-the-architecture-biennale/ Last updated: 2026-07-01T23:05:35.000Z [*Art Movements*](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/art-movements/)*, published every Thursday afternoon, is a roundup of must-know news, appointments, awards, and other happenings in today’s chaotic art world.* --- ### Here We Go Again The US Department of State this week issued calls for proposals for the 2027 Venice Biennale of Architecture, and — surprise, surprise — said it will look for designs that “exemplify America’s exceptionalism.” The submission guidelines, reviewed by *Hyperallergic*, also require applying entities to certify that they do not operate any programs “promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.” The language reeks of the Trump administration’s jingoistic [rhetoric](https://hyperallergic.com/trump-american-exceptionalism-smithsonian/) and echoes the [application](https://hyperallergic.com/us-government-calls-for-venice-biennale-proposals-focused-on-american-values/) for this year’s Venice Biennale pavilion, which was ultimately [handed](https://hyperallergic.com/artist-alma-allen-to-represent-us-at-2026-venice-biennale/) to artist **Alma** **Allen**, bypassing the traditional process. --- ### National Gallery of Art Gets Major Gift The National Gallery of Art received nearly 50 works from the Berezdivin Collection, spanning painting, photography, and conceptual art by contemporary artists from the United States, the Caribbean, and Latin America. Some of these artists were not previously represented in the Washington, DC, museum's collection, including **Allora & Calzadilla**, **Chemi** **Rosado-Seijo**, **Rafael** **Ferrer**, and **Priscilla** **Monge**. --- ### What Else Happened? _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Required Reading URL: https://hyperallergic.com/required-reading-790/ Last updated: 2026-06-25T17:46:38.000Z As Trump continues to threaten to seize Greenland, historian Andrew Holter considers the political implications of Rockwell Kent's 1930s paintings of the landscape and Indigenous communities of the island for the [*Nation*](https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/rockwell-kent-painting-greenland/?ref=hyperallergic.com): > Kalaallit Nunaat, as the land is called in the Kalaallisut language, was no blank canvas or mere backdrop to exotic adventure. The longer Kent spent there, the more sincerely he sought to understand the place from the perspective of his neighbors. That effort was fraught and maybe futile, but their influence ensured that his paintings would amount to commentaries on the question of Greenland’s future—and that later paintings, like the WPA mural *Mail Service in the Tropics*, would carry more explicit anti-imperialist messages. If Americans didn’t see Kent’s Greenland canvases as such at the time, we’d do well to see them that way now: as late-arriving testimony against the imperial vanity of the United States and Denmark alike. A sculpture of Patrice Lumumba has come to life at the World Cup, thanks to Michel Kuka Mboladinga. The superfan spends DR Congo's matches in statuesque poses to honor the assassinated revolutionary, Hannah Jackson writes for [*Vogue*](https://www.vogue.com/article/democratic-republic-of-congo-world-cup-patrice-lumumba-statue?ref=hyperallergic.com): > Though Lumumba favored traditional dark suits, Mboladinga’s colorful clothing is an intentional diversion from his muse. He often sports the colors of the country’s flag. At the Congo vs. Botswana match at the Africa Cup of Nations in December 2025, Mboladinga wore a spirited yellow striped blazer over a blue-and-white gingham shirt with a vibrant blue satin tie, his pocket square featuring the flag’s sky blue, sunny yellow, and bright red. For a later match against Algeria in January 2026, he paired a more muted blue blazer with a butter yellow shirt and cherry red trousers." > > “I stand motionless because I believe it gives the team emotional stamina,” Mboladinga told the *Wall Street Journal*. “Just as Lumumba sacrificed his life for our country, mine is a small price to pay because of how deeply I care about this team.” > > Amidst an ebola outbreak in the country, all travelers from the Democratic Republic of the Congo are required to quarantine for 21 days before entering the United States. Mboladinga has become so important to the Congolese team that the players lobbied President Félix Tshisekedi to make him a member of their official delegation, allowing him to isolate in Belgium with the team and official memebers of the Fédération Congolaise de Football Association. Dan Friedman and Abby Vesoulis of [*Mother Jones*](https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/06/trump-resurrected-the-statue-of-a-slave-owner-its-pedestal-cost-taxpayers-527k/?ref=hyperallergic.com)discovered that the National Park Service's reinstatement of a statue of a slave owner that was taken down in 2020 cost $527,000 in tax dollars: > The documents also show that the agency initially awarded the contract for refurbishing all of Freedom Plaza last December, then added the Rodney statue in January in a no-bid process. The agency modified the existing contract, conducting nocompetitive bidding, and agreed to the sharply higher price because—as with much of the administration’s “beautification” effort connected to the anniversary—it was in a rush. > > “The work was expedited to ensure it is done before our nation’s 250th,” an Interior Department official told*Mother Jones.* “All of the projects throughout DC are set to be done before the Fourth, so they have to be done on a rolling basis.” Shout-out to Jordan Eddy, Lauren Tresp, and Natalie Hegert of [*Southwest Contemporary*](https://southwestcontemporary.com/artreview-usa/?ref=hyperallergic.com) for calling out a widespread phenomenon: AI slop websites that plagiarize articles from real publications. In case you need another reason to support independent art journalism, they explain: > We swiftly identified a doppelgänger of another *Glasstire* story, a clone of a *Hyperallergic* review, and an ape of a piece from *The Art Newspaper*—each accompanied by an unrepresentative AI image. All of it is under the banner of a three-starred American flag, part of the site’s bizarro patriotic branding. Our investigation was like a special episode of *Black Mirror* for contemporary art nerds. > > Smith and another editor are currently churning out five or six slop articles every day. Our publisher Lauren Tresp puzzled over the fact that the site doesn’t appear to run ads—*What are they even getting out of this?*—and then she found an AI-generated Facebook video that revealed the underlying scam. *ArtReview USA* appears to be tied to a Bulgarian marketing firm that’s asking artists to pay 300 Euros to be profiled on the “prestigious American platform seen by curators and collectors.” The site’s lifted and warped content is meant to lend it art world legitimacy. The Israeli military killed 76-year-old Lebanese turtle conservationist Mona Khalil, whose "Orange House" on the beach stood as a symbol of hope. [*Defector*](https://defector.com/mona-khalil-who-devoted-her-life-to-protecting-turtles-killed-by-israeli-airstrike?ref=hyperallergic.com)'s Sabrina Imbler writes about her legacy of climate activism and refusal to abandon her home: > On the day Khalil died, Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire. But such agreements have never stopped Israel from bombing. Since a ceasefire was declared in the Gaza Strip in October 2025, Israel has violated the agreement at least 3,300 times, per Al Jazeera. It is now turtle nesting season, but it is unclear when the volunteers Khalil trained will be able to return to the beach to keep watch as the turtles enter the world in the most vulnerable stage of their lives. > > Conservation takes many forms. It can involve political advocacy or laboratory research. The conservation work Khalil did might best be described as labor. Each day during sea turtle nesting season, which spans roughly May through October, Khalil woke before dawn to walk the beach. She placed metal grates above any eggs she found to secure them from hungry foxes, dogs, and crabs until they hatched. She watched for the tracks of adult turtles and moved eggs away from the surf in times of high-tide flooding. She was trained by scientists from the Mediterranean Association to Save the Sea Turtles (MEDASSET), presented her data at conferences, and shared it with conservation groups. She held beach cleanups, did television interviews, and wrote monitoring guidelines for future volunteers. She invited families vacationing in the area to join her on her morning patrols and taught them about the turtles, their habitat, and the threats they face. As abusers and war criminals govern the United States, anti-ICE protesters from Texas have been sentenced to between 50 and 100 years in prison in a brazen attempt to silence dissent. Sam Levine has the story for the [*Guardian*](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/23/prairieland-ice-protesters-texas-sentenced?ref=hyperallergic.com): > “Most often, judges will sentence defendants for separate counts concurrently. Here, it appears that the judge stacked the sentences for each count consecutively. I would have expected lengthy sentences here, more in the ballpark at 15 to 25 years, but nothing like 50 to 100 years,” she wrote in an email. > > The Trump administration praised the sentences. > > “The sentences handed down today make clear that Antifa terrorists who attack law enforcement and federal facilities will face swift and uncompromising justice,” Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, said in a statement. “Their violent extremism has no place in our country, and the Department of Justice will continue to aggressively investigate, disrupt, and prosecute those who threaten law enforcement officers or undermine the rule of law.” Writer and historian Kaitlyn Greenidge spoke with the directors of the classic queer film *By Hook or by Crook* about representation and a bygone era of San Francisco for [*Harper's Bazaar*](https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/film-tv/a71536936/by-hook-or-by-crook-rerelease/?ref=hyperallergic.com): > *Harry, you had a quote that I loved where you said, “Representation always fails.” And then you were like, “Well, I don’t know if people are ready for that conversation.” But I want to have that conversation because I think that’s really true. Representation always fails.* > > **HD:** To start, I’d say that I suppose I’m not against explanation in every case. I guess it could happen that a moment of explanation—which is also a kind of reduction—is important and moving. I call it “bridging,” and a few people are great at it, more or less. God bless ’em, really. But having said that, I will also say that the pressure to make oneself legible is heavy. Édouard Glissant refers to it as making yourself “transparent.” Capitalism says, “Help us slot you in, make it easy for us to exploit you. Provide a figure we understand.” And in return, they promise to supply “rights,” privilege, security, which has heretofore been withheld. > > To remain opaque, I mean, to remain irreducibly specific—in other words, to not explain—is to hold on to a kind of power. Especially for artists, but probably just anybody, if you think about it. And that’s what we were doing with *By Hook or by Crook.* For [*JSTOR Daily*](https://daily.jstor.org/rollerena-new-yorks-fairy-godmother/?ref=hyperallergic.com), curator and librarian Emilie Hardman delves into the fabulous archive on Rollerena Fairy Godmother, a rollerskating AIDS activist and queer New York legend: > By 1982, a piece in the *Philadelphia Gay News* assumed that “most New Yorkers, gay and not” already knew “what to say to a man clad in a frilly gown your great-grandmother would have thought chic as he’s whizzing by on roller skates,” and it was: “Hi! Rollerena!” Famously skating through gay neighborhoods and appearing at the city’s early Pride events, then known as Christopher Street Liberation Marches, Rollerena was a familiar figure in queer New York. She also appeared at Easter parades and was waved in past long lines by bouncers at discos, including the incomparable Studio 54\. In a 1981 interview, Rollerena explained that her “purpose in life is to be a good fairy godmother … to bring love, to bring happiness, to unite people in a common cause.” That unifying spirit is one of the archive’s clearest points. Rollerena’s audience was never narrowly defined—her world intentionally included gay men, lesbians, transgender people, drag queens, activists, partygoers, and curious strangers alike. New map of the city just dropped! Partner & Partners design studio [ate](https://www.instagram.com/p/DZ-Ohh4nCC9?ref=hyperallergic.com): [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/nyc.png)](https://www.instagram.com/p/DZ-Ohh4nCC9?ref=hyperallergic.com) (screenshot via [@hellgateny and @partnerandpartners](https://www.instagram.com/p/DZ-Ohh4nCC9?ref=hyperallergic.com)) [It's just a skit it's just a skit](https://www.tiktok.com/@bentonmcclintock/video/7652020639762615565?is%5Ffrom%5Fwebapp=1&sender%5Fdevice=pc&ref=hyperallergic.com) ... > [@bentonmcclintock](https://www.tiktok.com/@bentonmcclintock?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "@bentonmcclintock") This is how I see LA [#JOKE](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/joke?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "joke") [#vogue](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/vogue?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "vogue") [#friends](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/friends?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "friends") [#lacore](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/lacore?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "lacore") [♬ original sound - Benton McClintock](https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-7652020731303217933?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "♬ original sound - Benton McClintock") Beach bod [loading](https://www.tiktok.com/@stellatssssss/video/7652560127970659592?is%5Ffrom%5Fwebapp=1&sender%5Fdevice=pc&ref=hyperallergic.com): > [@stellatssssss](https://www.tiktok.com/@stellatssssss?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "@stellatssssss") > > let’s all take notes 🥹📝 > > [♬ original sound - Alyssa Stellato](https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-7652560176927132432?refer=embed&ref=hyperallergic.com "♬ original sound - Alyssa Stellato") [*Required Reading*](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/required-reading/) *is published every Thursday afternoon and comprises a short list of art-related links to long-form articles, videos, blog posts, or photo essays worth a second look*. ### A $90,000 Graduate Fellowship for Immigrants & Children of Immigrants in the Visual Arts URL: https://hyperallergic.com/a-90-000-graduate-fellowship-for-immigrants-children-of-immigrants-in-the-visual-arts/ Last updated: 2026-06-25T16:21:31.000Z The [Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans](https://bit.ly/3QH8dN0?ref=hyperallergic.com) supports immigrants and children of immigrants pursuing graduate study in the United States — including visual artists, designers, architects, and filmmakers. Each year, 30 Fellows receive up to $90,000 in funding (up to $25,000/year stipend; up to $20,000/year tuition support) for up to two years of full-time study at any accredited institution in the US. The Fellowship community spans every creative discipline — painting, printmaking, sculpture, architecture, design, film, and beyond — alongside scientists, lawyers, physicians, and public policy leaders. Fellows join a lifelong community of nearly 900 New Americans with family origins in over 100 countries. "In the architecture field or as an artist, legitimacy can feel scarce and difficult to come by. The Paul & Daisy Soros \[Fellowships\] provides that," says [Jonathan Herrera Soto](https://bit.ly/4xNS1u3?ref=hyperallergic.com), 2023 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow, MFA in painting & printmaking, Yale School of Art. "Being in proximity and in conversation with other immigrants and children of immigrants has been very nourishing." Selection is merit-based and holistic, emphasizing creativity, originality, initiative, and sustained accomplishment. Eligible applicants include naturalized citizens, green card holders, asylees and refugees, US-born children of two immigrant parents, and those born abroad who graduated from both high school and college in the United States. Applicants must be 30 or younger and planning to enroll full-time in a graduate program in the 2027–2028 academic year. Watch the information session for arts applicants [here](https://bit.ly/4vtujl8?ref=hyperallergic.com). Applications are due October 29, 2026 at 2:00pm ET. **Interested applicants can learn more and apply at** [**pdsoros.org**](https://bit.ly/3QH8dN0?ref=hyperallergic.com)**.** Follow the fellowship on Instagram at [@pdsoros](https://bit.ly/4l6sHZt?ref=hyperallergic.com). ### Richard Tsao's "Sanuk" Art URL: https://hyperallergic.com/richard-tsaos-sanuk-art/ Last updated: 2026-06-25T18:53:04.000Z *This article is part of* Hyperallergic’*s* [*2026 Pride Month series*](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/2026-pride-month/)*, featuring interviews with queer and trans elder artists throughout June.* I first met Richard Tsao roughly 20 years ago when I was just getting started in the New York art world. Born and raised in Bangkok and based in New York for more than five decades, Tsao is best known for his labor-intensive "[Flood Room](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byxgiDrKbBw&ref=hyperallergic.com)" paintings, made through pouring, soaking, and layering of pigments, water, and marble dust into saturated abstractions. A single work can take years to make. I’ve had the privilege of seeing these works in person over the decades — most recently at his solo exhibition [*daydreamin’*](https://www.amelieawallacegallery.org/richard-tsao?ref=hyperallergic.com) at Amelie A. Wallace Gallery at SUNY Old Westbury in New York, curated by Hyewon Yi, and at the group show [*How Asian Is It?*](https://www.resnickpasslof.org/current-exhibitions/how-asian-is-it?ref=hyperallergic.com) at the Milton Resnick and Pat Passlof Foundation, curated by Lily Wei. His works always feel like psychedelic moon landings, as sculptural as they are painterly. I’ve always had trouble photographing them, because photos can’t quite capture their depth of appeal. I visited Taso in his studio in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York, where he also maintains a [fashion design practice](https://wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-features/gallery/richard-tsao-an-accidental-designer-11056951/?ref=hyperallergic.com), producing gorgeous, luminous Thai silk jackets, scarves, and coats. He sat cross-legged on the floor — “like a yogi,” he noted — and joked that I could make anything up to help him sound more interesting. I told him that wasn’t necessary: his confluence of work has always stayed with me. In conversation, Taso describes artmaking as something close to hunger for food, planting a seed in the garden, or *sanuk*, a Thai word for play. We spoke about coming out gradually, becoming an artist, and his next phase of life as he prepares to leave New York City for Washington, DC. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/ax_rt-1.jpg) Artist Richard Tsao and writer A.X. Mina in front of “Splash,” a 2010 water-based mixed media piece on canvas at a group show at Art Projects International (courtesy A.X. Mina) --- **Hyperallergic:** *When did you come out?* **Richard Tsao:** I don't really have a specific date. It was a process. It depended on who, what, where, and in what context. The way I grew up in Asia at that time, we didn't talk about “me." We took our time to talk about me. It wasn't that we were repressed; it just wasn't something we did because it was considered impolite or out of cue. You didn't announce who you were. So it was much more subtle and slow for me. My good friends knew. I fell in love when I was young, in America, and then it was much more natural. It was tougher coming out as an artist. I knew I wanted to be an artist, but I was scared. The big question of how are you going to support yourself? Your heart says you want to make art, so you have to figure out how. This concern troubled me a lot during my formative years and the many years after, and still does. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Victory for Claire Valdez URL: https://hyperallergic.com/victory-for-claire-valdez/ Last updated: 2026-07-27T19:15:59.000Z She did it! Artist, union organizer, and Congressional hopeful Claire Valdez won New York's 7th District Democratic primary by a landslide. She's poised to represent the city’s progressive “Commie Corridor” after November’s midterm election. Valdez, whom I interviewed earlier this month, is part of a slate of Mamdani-endorsed Democratic Socialist candidates who clinched impressive victories on Tuesday. They represent the true face of New York City. Also today: What makes a looter loot? Art crime professor Erin L. Thompson speaks with Matthew Campbell, author of the new book *The Man Who Stole the Gods*, about the obsession that fueled the violent theft of Cambodia's cultural patrimony. Shows to see in Chicago this summer, a World Cup poster project, and more below. *—Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/matthew-campbell-newsletter.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/inside-the-mind-of-an-antiquities-looter/) [ Inside the Mind of an Antiquities Looter ](https://hyperallergic.com/inside-the-mind-of-an-antiquities-looter/) Matthew Campbell, a reporter for Bloomberg Businessweek, spent years digging into sources to write *The Man Who Stole the Gods: A True Story of War, Obsession, and a Global Art Conspiracy*. His book reads like a thriller while laying out the entwined histories of the Cambodian genocide and the rapacious hunger of Western collectors for the images of Hindu and Buddhist deities created by the sculptors of the Khmer Empire during the 9th to 15th centuries CE in what is now Cambodia. As an art crime researcher, I’ve long followed Cambodia’s fight to reclaim its sacred heritage from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the museum’s determined resistance (including kicking out a Cambodian dancer trying to honor her gods.) After I tore through my advance copy of *The Man Who Stole the Gods*, Campbell agreed to an interview via Zoom. | Erin L. Thompson [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/inside-the-mind-of-an-antiquities-looter/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/pratt-manhattan-gallery.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/pratt-manhattan-gallery-moves-beyond-digital-in-new-exhibition/) ****Pratt Manhattan Gallery Moves “Beyond Digital” in New Exhibition** Exhibition of Pratt Digital Arts alumni explores technology, ecology, and emerging forms of intelligence. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/pratt-manhattan-gallery-moves-beyond-digital-in-new-exhibition/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/claire-valdez-newsletter-3.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/claire-valdez-claims-resounding-win-in-nyc-primary/) - Democratic Socialist Claire Valdez, an artist and New York State Assemblywoman, [clinches the Democratic nomination](https://hyperallergic.com/claire-valdez-claims-resounding-win-in-nyc-primary/) to represent New York’s 7th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives in a landslide victory. - New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is bringing soccer fever to the Whitney Museum of American Art. Those who complete a poster art activity from artist Rich Tu — [creating a poster inspired by the World Cup](https://hyperallergic.com/mayor-mamdani-and-whitney-museum-launch-world-cup-poster-project/) — will will get into the museum for free. ## Queer Elders [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/lari-pittman.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/dont-ask-lari-pittman-what-his-work-is-about/) [ Don’t Ask Lari Pittman What His Work Is “About” ](https://hyperallergic.com/dont-ask-lari-pittman-what-his-work-is-about/) The Colombian-American painter discusses his new body of work, the complexity of queerness, and the reprieve of the analog. | Matt Stromberg [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/dont-ask-lari-pittman-what-his-work-is-about/) --- ## Guide [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/chicago-art-guide.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/10-art-shows-to-see-in-chicago-this-summer/) [ 10 Art Shows to See in Chicago This Summer ](https://hyperallergic.com/10-art-shows-to-see-in-chicago-this-summer/) Blessedly, despite the corn sweat, the city’s gallery and museum scene is eager to provide fresh work for the Midwestern mind. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/10-art-shows-to-see-in-chicago-this-summer/) --- ## Community [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/in-memoriam-6.24.26.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-frayda-feldman-james-wagner-and-melodee-strong/) [ Remembering Frayda Feldman, James Wagner, and Melodee Strong ](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-frayda-feldman-james-wagner-and-melodee-strong/) This week, we honor an Andy Warhol print expert, a tireless art collector, and a beloved Minneapolis muralist. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-frayda-feldman-james-wagner-and-melodee-strong/) --- featured opportunity ****The Bennett Prize – 2026/2027 Award Cycle** For women figurative realist painters. The grand prize winner receives $75,000 and a solo exhibition. The first runner-up receives $10,000\. A five-person jury will select 10 finalists to be featured in a group exhibition that will travel the US. The application fee is $50\. Read more on [**Hyperallergic*](https://hyperallergic.com/the-bennett-prize-opens-fifth-call-for-entries/). Deadline: September 19, 2026 | [thebennettprize.org](https://www.thebennettprize.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com) See more in this month’s [list of opportunities](https://hyperallergic.com/opportunities-in-june-2026/) for artists, writers, and art workers! --- ## ICYMI [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/claire-valdez-interview-newsletter.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/claire-valdez-wants-to-be-your-artist-in-congress/) [ Claire Valdez Wants to Be Your Artist in Congress ](https://hyperallergic.com/claire-valdez-wants-to-be-your-artist-in-congress/) The New York State assemblywoman, who is running for a seat in the House of Representatives, spoke with Hyperallergic about her life as a painter, political origin story, and big plans for Washington. | Hakim Bishara [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/claire-valdez-wants-to-be-your-artist-in-congress/) ### Don’t Ask Lari Pittman What His Work Is “About” URL: https://hyperallergic.com/dont-ask-lari-pittman-what-his-work-is-about/ Last updated: 2026-07-02T04:48:34.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/LP-portrait-by-WJL--Feb-2022--02--copy.jpg) Lari Pittman in 2022 (photo William Jess Laird, all images courtesy Lehmann Maupin, New York and Seoul) *This article is part of* Hyperallergic’*s* [*2026 Pride Month series*](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/2026-pride-month/)*, featuring interviews with queer and trans elder artists throughout June.* Lari Pittman’s captivatingly cacophonous paintings juxtapose myriad forms of visual culture, from design, decoration, and typography to cartoons, architecture, and high art. Behind his enthralling, maximalist surfaces, he excavates uncomfortable legacies — specifically those of the Americas — through jumbled jungles of text and image that defy easy resolution. The Colombian-American artist has been routinely mining this vein for more than four decades, from early works such as “Plymouth Rock” (1985) and his subversively carnal *Needy* series of the early 1990s, which confronted the AIDS crisis, to the more recent series [*Sparkling Cities With Egg Monuments*](https://hyperallergic.com/lari-pittman-paints-cities-of-the-future/) (2022–23), ovoid ripostes to civic phallocentrism. In our conversation, Pittman discusses his new body of work, debuting later this year; the complexity of queerness, and the reprieve of the analog. --- **Hyperallergic:** *Can we start with your new work?* **Lari Pittman:** I have a show that opens up \[at Lehmann Maupin gallery\] in New York in October titled *The Remedy of Analog Space and Time*. It's just simply addressing symptoms, but not root causes. It's just a remedy, a topical approach to maybe certain malaises that human beings are suffering for all sorts of reasons. I wouldn't be brave enough to propose a cure. **H:** *What do you mean by “analog space and time”?* **LP:** Endlessly languorous, sequential chunks of time that create boredom. Philosophical complexities of irresolvability. All the things that, let's say, late capitalism doesn't always give space to. I'm not saying that analog space and time is all just about staring at flowers, but it provokes certain things that other ideas of space and time are no longer doing. That type of rumination is still based on privilege, more and more. But even people that might not have that privilege, maybe in those 10 minutes before going to bed exhausted from working at a horrible job, might still be able to accomplish a lot in those 10 minutes as well. **H:** *The analog process is a big part of your work.* **LP:** Yes, and I still completely work alone … even during COVID, I still would come to the studio every day and keep working. So it's really kind of boring, day in and day out, day in and day out. And I don't say “boring” negatively. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/LP-LM39428-The-Remedy-of-Analog-Space-and-Time-01-hr.jpg) Lari Pittman, "The Remedy of Analog Space and Time" (2025) (© Lari Pittman, photo Evan Bedford) **H:** *You've recently been included in two group shows, at* [*Jessica Silverman*](https://jessicasilvermangallery.com/online-shows/beauty-is-the-best-defense-ovr/?ref=hyperallergic.com) *in San Francisco and* [*David Zwirner*](https://www.davidzwirner.com/exhibitions/2026/california-light-and-space-the-21st-century-version?ref=hyperallergic.com) *galleries in Los Angeles. How does your work fit into those very different shows?* **LP:** Since I've been working for such a long time, one of the things that I've been able to deduce from critical analysis and exhibition of the work, is about how, at times, it seems that the work may be hard to contextualize in group situations. It's not ahistorical and it's not outsider art, but it's also not a direct descendant of canonical painting. I'm aware that sometimes the work looks odd in those situations, and maybe conversations do occur if, let's say, the viewer is astute enough and gives it some time … I'm a confident person, but I'm also an insecure person. And so my insecurities come out when it's placed out into the world, simply by repeated examples of how the work performs publicly or critically. **H:** *If you care about something, insecurity is not unusual.* **LP:** And is actually a good thing. Usually, when I meet people, especially artists, if I don't sense some insecurity about their work, it's hard to be their friend. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Remembering Frayda Feldman, James Wagner, and Melodee Strong URL: https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-frayda-feldman-james-wagner-and-melodee-strong/ Last updated: 2026-06-29T16:19:33.000Z [*In Memoriam*](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/in-memoriam/) *is published every Wednesday afternoon and honors those we recently lost in the art world.* --- **Frayda Feldman** (1938–2026) *New York gallerist and Andy Warhol print expert* The longtime gallerist and progressive advocate exhibited work by over 1,000 artists during her directorship of Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, which she co-founded with her husband in 1970\. She mentored countless arts professionals, collectors, and staff and served as an editor of the [*Andy Warhol Prints* catalogue raisonné](http://bookshop.org/a/539/9781891024634?ref=hyperallergic.com), now in its fourth edition. In the 1980s, Warhol collaborated with her and Ronald on publishing multiple print series, including *Ads* (1985) and *Moonwalk* (1987). --- **Inga Brūvere** (1963–2026) *Latvian curator and painter* The artist-turned-curator was one of the leading voices in Latvia's art scene, serving as a member of the State Cultural Capital Foundation council and co-founding the Latvian Association of Contemporary Art Festivals. In 2016, she co-founded the Riga Photography Biennial — whose [latest edition](https://www.instagram.com/p/DWTJNeeiAeL?ref=hyperallergic.com) opened in April, just before her passing. --- **Wulf Herzogenrath** (1944–2026) *German curator* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/GettyImages-53013454.jpg) Wulf Herzogenrath with "Girl and Three Men's Heads" by Edvard Munch in 2005 (photo David Hecker/DDP/AFP via Getty Images) The curator and former Kunsthalle Bremen director was an early, devoted champion of video art. He organized the video art section at [*Documenta 6*](https://documenta.de/en/publications/documenta-6-katalog?ref=hyperallergic.com) in 1977, curated Nam June Paik's first solo exhibition in Europe in 1976 at the Kölnischer Kunstverein, and held roles at the Cologne Art Association and the Nationalgalerie Berlin, among other institutions. --- **Charles Hinman** (1932–2026) *New York painter and sculptor* Best known for his [shaped canvases](https://www.charleshinman.com/Canvas?ref=hyperallergic.com), the abstract artist spent decades pushing the boundaries of Minimalism and perception. He imbued his work with a hard-edge sensibility and geometric style that earned him a spot in the Whitney Museum's watershed exhibition *Young America* in 1965\. His works are held by the Whitney as well as the Museum of Modern Art, the Rockefeller Collection, and the Albright-Knox Gallery. --- **Jane Stephenson** (1936–2026) *Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts co-founder* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Jane-Stephenson.jpeg) Jane Stephenson (image courtesy Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts) The luminary arts leader spent three decades directing the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, a crucial studio, programming, and exhibition space in Manhattan that she founded with her son in 1992\. Before settling in New York City, she ran a summer theater company in Illinois, taught costume design at the University of New Mexico, and founded a clothing design wholesaler in Pakistan. --- **Melodee Strong** (1973–2026) *Minneapolis muralist* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Headshot_72.jpg) Melodee Strong (photo Xavier Tavera, courtesy Serpentina Arts) The beloved Peruvian-American artist and educator left her mark across Minnesota with over 50 [colorful, bold murals](https://www.minneapolisfoundation.org/learning-hub/interview-with-an-artist-melodee-strong/?ref=hyperallergic.com) that celebrate diversity and community, often painted in collaboration with local students. She previously taught at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, her alma mater, and complemented her mural work by working as an illustrator and children's book author. --- **James Wagner** (1940–2026) *New York collector* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/55344396420_2dc8d5dc9e_o--1-.jpg) Diptych of James Wagner in the 1970s, photographer unknown (image courtesy Barry Hoggard) Remembered by friends and loved ones as a committed connoisseur with an infectious curiosity, Wagner was a pillar of the Brooklyn art community. Together with his partner, Barry Hoggard, he spent decades amassing a collection of over 1,500 artworks. He played a crucial role as a supporting member of ACT UP during the HIV/AIDS epidemic, fiercely championed and supported dozens of artists across New York City, and, even into his final days, delighted in the company of others. [*Read the obituary*](https://hyperallergic.com/james-wagner-insatiable-art-collector-dies-at-85/) ### Inside the Mind of an Antiquities Looter URL: https://hyperallergic.com/inside-the-mind-of-an-antiquities-looter/ Last updated: 2026-06-29T15:42:54.000Z Matthew Campbell, a reporter for *Bloomberg Businessweek*, spent years digging into sources to write[ *The Man Who Stole the Gods: A True Story of War, Obsession, and a Global Art Conspiracy*](https://hyperallergic.com/the-looter-who-built-your-favorite-museum/). His book reads like a thriller while laying out the entwined histories of the Cambodian genocide and the rapacious hunger of Western collectors for the images of Hindu and Buddhist deities created by the sculptors of the Khmer Empire during the 9th to 15th centuries CE in what is now Cambodia. Campbell’s book focuses on Douglas Latchford, an Englishman who moved to Bangkok in the late 1950s and became one of the main conduits for looted Khmer antiquities. He directed every aspect of the trade, from telling looters where to dig to placing the finds with wealthy collectors. Sometimes he kept these buyers in the dark about his sources, but Campbell reveals letters and other evidence showing that Latchford often boasted about exactly where he got his treasures. In 2019, the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York [indicted Latchford](https://hyperallergic.com/disgraced-dealers-daughter-to-forfeit-12m-and-allegedly-smuggled-statue/) with wire fraud, smuggling, conspiracy, and other trafficking charges, but he died a year later at age 88 before his trial could begin. As an art crime researcher, I’ve long followed Cambodia’s fight to[ reclaim its sacred heritage](https://hyperallergic.com/cambodias-stolen-treasures-must-be-returned-to-where-they-belong/) from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the museum’s determined resistance (including[ kicking out](https://hyperallergic.com/met-museum-kicked-me-out-for-praying-to-my-ancestral-gods/) a Cambodian dancer trying to honor her gods). After I tore through my advance copy of *The Man Who Stole the Gods*, Campbell agreed to an interview via Zoom. This conversation has been edited and condensed. --- **Hyperallergic:** *How did one of the world’s most significant collections of Cambodian antiquities end up at the Metropolitan Museum?* **Matthew Campbell:** The museum’s legendary director Thomas Hoving, who basically invented the idea of the museum as we know it today, wanted his institution to grow and change with New York City — which meant, in the 1970s, expanding its tiny Southeast Asian art collection. The Hare Krishna movement had originated in Tompkins Square Park. The Beatles’ guru, the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, had come to speak in the city and set off a craze for Transcendental Meditation. The Met needed to stay relevant. Hoving hired a curator named Martin Lerner and told him to use the vast resources of the museum to build a collection. He did it spectacularly, and with a particular emphasis on Cambodia, since that’s where he could get large sculptures — the real stunners for the galleries. In the process, The Met came to acquire a lot of pieces with, I think it’s fair to say, wildly illicit origins. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Claire Valdez Claims Resounding Win in NYC Primary URL: https://hyperallergic.com/claire-valdez-claims-resounding-win-in-nyc-primary/ Last updated: 2026-06-24T20:13:24.000Z Democratic Socialist Claire Valdez, an artist and New York State Assemblywoman, clinched the Democratic nomination to represent New York’s 7th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives in a landslide victory in Tuesday night's primary. Valdez, a Texas-born painter who moved to New York City to work in the arts, had defeated her top competitor, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, a member of the progressive Working Families Party, by about [20%](https://www.politico.com/news/2026/06/23/claire-valdez-wins-brooklyn-queens-primary-00972255?ref=hyperallergic.com) as of Wednesday morning, June 24\. Valdez is now poised to win the seat representing New York's so-called "Commie Corridor" — a district encompassing parts of Brooklyn and Queens, including Ridgewood, Williamsburg, and Bushwick — in November's election. She would succeed retiring Representative Nydia Velázquez, who had [endorsed](https://www.cityandstateny.com/personality/2026/06/endorsement-wars-rep-nydia-velazquez-takes-mamdani-and-dsa/413619/?ref=hyperallergic.com) Reynoso. In an interview with [*Hyperallergic*](https://hyperallergic.com/claire-valdez-wants-to-be-your-artist-in-congress/)'s Editor-in-Chief Hakim Bishara, Valdez, 36, connected her experience as an artist in the city to her platform of affordability and labor rights. “We’re at this terrible crisis moment where bosses and billionaires are crushing working people. They’re making our rents too expensive; they’re cutting our wages; they’re stealing our time,” Valdez said. “As somebody who once aspired to be an artist and came to New York to pursue that dream, the purpose of our movement is to make sure that anyone can be an artist, that everyone has the time off, and the living wages, and the healthcare, and the space to pursue passions, to spend time with family, to live a good life,” she continued. Valdez worked as a program assistant in the visual arts department at Columbia University, where she cultivated a passion for labor organizing as part of UAW Local 2110\. She eventually joined the local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, and in 2024, she won the Assembly District 37 race with a campaign that took aim at corporate donors and centered strong unions and affordability. Valdez was one of three Mamdani-backed congressional candidates to sweep Tuesday's Democratic primaries, including activist Darializa Avila Chevalier and former comptroller Brad Lander. Chevalier, a Democratic Socialist, toppled five-term Democratic congressman Adriano Espaillat for New York's 13th district seat, which encompasses Upper Manhattan and parts of the Bronx. The city's 10th congressional district, including Lower Manhattan and parts of eastern Brooklyn, handed the Democratic nomination to Lander, unseating two-time Congressman Dan Goldman. The trio's victory underscored the city's appetite for policies that affirm immigrants' rights, democratize healthcare and education, and condemn Israel's [genocide](https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/09/israel-has-committed-genocide-gaza-strip-un-commission-finds?ref=hyperallergic.com) in Gaza. “Artists are struggling with the same things as everyone else: housing, healthcare, and time off,” Valdez told *Hyperallergic*. “Art is often treated as a luxury good and as an investment, not as something that is the representation of our collective humanity,” she said. “The people who make art are workers who deserve remuneration, protection, and dignity.” ### 10 Art Shows to See in Chicago This Summer URL: https://hyperallergic.com/10-art-shows-to-see-in-chicago-this-summer/ Last updated: 2026-06-24T21:17:07.000Z For some working artists, summer in Chicago is a time to get into the (stiflingly hot) studio; others might prefer to participate in an idyllic residency in some charmed lakeside Wisconsin or Michigan town. Blessedly, despite the [corn sweat](https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/corn-sweat-what-it-is-and-why-it-will-make-this-weeks-heat-wave-even-hotter/3795008/?ref=hyperallergic.com), Chicago’s gallery and museum scene is eager to provide fresh work for the Midwestern mind. The city’s summertime pride is certainly accompanied by an enthusiasm for the work of local emerging artists, seen in spaces like Prairie and Hans Goodrich. The sweltering heat also brings a simmering interest in local history and political positioning, as is the case at the National Museum of Mexican Art and Logan Center Exhibitions. And on the South Side, the [long-awaited Obama Presidential Center](https://hyperallergic.com/a-first-look-at-the-art-in-the-new-obama-presidential-center/) has finally been unveiled, bringing over 28 newly commissioned works to the public. Maybe Chicago summers are ultimately the season of attention; a time to notice the city while it’s noticing itself. --- ### Joe Feddersen: Urban Drama [Volume Gallery](https://wvvolumes.com/exhibition/joe-feddersen/?ref=hyperallergic.com), 1700 W Hubbard St, Chicago June 13–July 25 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/volume.jpg) Installation view of **Joe Feddersen: Urban Drama* at Volume Gallery (photo Natalie Jenkins/**Hyperallergic*) Combining Indigenous iconography and basketmaking traditions with contemporary scenery, Colville artist Joe Feddersen’s solo show brings a reverence for form within its larger social commentary. Pert linen sally bags — a centuries-old Plateau basket design for gathering roots — are the backbone of the show, adorned with woven linework subjects that reappear in an adjacent wall installation and framed prints. Imagery moves between decidedly modern and timeless, from box trucks to buffalo, coalescing into a sharp observation of the fixtures making up our urban surroundings. Feddersen is also offering a vision of change, as in “Protest Basket No. 2” (2025), which depicts a buzzing crowd of human-animal protestors with empty signs, leaving the viewer to fill in the blank. --- ### Richard Hull: After All, Paintings and Prints [Western Exhibitions](https://westernexhibitions.com/exhibition/19285/?ref=hyperallergic.com), 1709 W Chicago Ave, Chicago June 12–August 15 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/westernexhibitions-1-1.jpg) Richard Hull, “Duet” (2023) (photo Natalie Jenkins/**Hyperallergic*) Off the heels of a vivid exhibition of [100 ink drawings of cats at local watering hole Rainbo Club](https://www.instagram.com/p/DWhO-dmESP0/?img%5Findex=1&ref=hyperallergic.com), Richard Hull’s *After All, Paintings and Prints* is a reminder of the longevity and significance of the Chicago-local artist. Featuring older prints and more recent paintings in a retrospective-adjacent style that some might fear is a career gravestone, the show is actually a celebration of vision. Hull’s ever-evolving ability to see layers, breaks, and movement in seemingly simple subject matter results in a cartoonish expressionism that complicates ways of viewing and opens avenues to pure feeling. “Duet” (2023) pictures two figures of bulging limbs and fleshy parts sitting in quiet company — a delightfully awkward and honest way of showing a deeply human experience. --- ### Nick D’Alessandro: Universal September [Prairie](https://prairie.website/index.html?ref=hyperallergic.com), 2055 W Cermak Ave, Chicago June 20–August 2 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/IMG_9008.jpeg) Detail view of Nick D’Alessandro, **Universal September* (photo courtesy the artist) Nick D’Alessandro’s slender loosely woven textiles flutter softly along the walls of Prairie, surprisingly delicate despite their somewhat grotesque surface treatments. The works, sculptural in their verticality, are fairly consistent across each iteration, due in part to the table loom D’Alessandro uses, which dictates the width of each strip and gestures towards industrial textile production. Each strip of fabric has undergone a process that altered its appearance, from being dyed with cyanotype to being buried outdoors for months. The contrast between commercial production and contamination is sharp, upending the labor-produced commodity through destructive aftercare. _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Mayor Mamdani and Whitney Museum Launch World Cup Poster Project URL: https://hyperallergic.com/mayor-mamdani-and-whitney-museum-launch-world-cup-poster-project/ Last updated: 2026-06-25T16:15:06.000Z Lionel Messi. Cristiano Ronaldo. Contemporary Art? New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is bringing soccer fever to the Whitney Museum of American Art. While nations duke it out for a World Cup title on soccer fields across Mexico and the United States, New Yorkers who participate in an art project announced by the Mayor’s Office today will receive free admission to the Whitney. Through the end of July, anyone who presents a completed World Cup-inspired art poster will get into the museum for free. (Visitors under the age of 25 already get [free admission](https://hyperallergic.com/whitney-museum-to-waive-admissions-fees-for-visitors-25-and-under/).) Rich Tu, the artist who designed FIFA's official poster for the New York and New Jersey portion of the global soccer event, created the poster activity, which is [available](https://www.nyc.gov/assets/worldcup/downloads/260608%5FRichTuXWMAA%5FLetter%5FEN.pdf?ref=hyperallergic.com) for download in English and Spanish for anyone to complete. In a digital leaflet, Tu, who lives in New York City, asks participants to "design a poster that conveys a powerful message“ that responds to the prompt "where the world comes to play." The artist provides a few guidelines, including adding a headline, tagline, and a central visual. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/IMG_1022-1.jpeg) The art poster activity gets visitors into the Whitney for free. The initiative, co-organized by Mamdani, the New York-New Jersey Host Committee, and the Whitney, comes amidst a wave of New York City sports pride from the [Knicks' NBA championship win](https://hyperallergic.com/capturing-new-york-pride-at-the-historic-knicks-parade/) earlier this month. It also follows the Mamdani administration's [introduction](https://hyperallergic.com/met-museum-announces-free-memberships-for-ny-snap-recipients/) of a free Metropolitan Museum of Art membership for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants earlier this month. "This partnership with the Whitney helps ensure that the excitement of the World Cup belongs to all of us, putting art and access at the heart of this historic summer," Mamdani told *Hyperallergic* in a statement. Tu will also headline a special event at the museum on July 12, when admission is free for all as part of West Side Fest. “The World Cup is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to bring New Yorkers together,” Mamdani said in his statement. "We want every New Yorker to be part of this moment — not just in the stadium, but in their neighborhoods, their schools, and the public spaces that make New York the greatest city on earth." ### Pratt Manhattan Gallery Moves “Beyond Digital” in New Exhibition URL: https://hyperallergic.com/pratt-manhattan-gallery-moves-beyond-digital-in-new-exhibition/ Last updated: 2026-06-24T15:15:22.000Z Pratt Manhattan Gallery’s new exhibition, [*Beyond Digital: Living Systems & Distributed Intelligence*](https://bit.ly/4a6AWkQ?ref=hyperallergic.com), is a group show featuring work by seven artists from Pratt Institute’s Digital Arts alumni community. Curated by artist, curator, and co-founder and director of BioBAT Art Space Elena Soterakis, this exhibition brings together artists whose work explores the increasingly blurred boundaries between technology, biology, and the environments we inhabit. At a moment when artificial intelligence, environmental instability, and digital systems are reshaping everyday life, *Beyond Digital* considers how technology is no longer separate from the natural world, but deeply embedded within living systems. Through interactive installations, experimental media, and interdisciplinary practices, the participating artists invite viewers to consider intelligence as something distributed across bodies, machines, and ecosystems. Drawing from fields including engineering, ecology, cosmology, and critical theory, the works on view challenge traditional distinctions between the digital and physical, the natural and artificial. Rather than offering static objects or fixed meanings, many of the works evolve through participation, duration, and changing relationships between viewers and their surroundings. “*Beyond Digital* highlights the innovative and interdisciplinary approaches emerging from Pratt’s Digital Arts alumni community,” said Soterakis. “These artists are asking urgent questions about how we coexist with technologies that increasingly shape the ways we experience the world.” The full list of participating artists includes Tess Adams, Nicolás Cuestas, Nate King, Caroline Voagen Nelson, Taezoo Park, Karolina Rojas, and Ruyin Tsai & Jung-Shang Chang. [*Beyond Digital: Living Systems & Distributed Intelligence*](https://bit.ly/4a6AWkQ?ref=hyperallergic.com)is on view at Pratt Manhattan Gallery from June 26 through September 5, 2026\. There will be a public reception on Thursday, June 25\. Pratt Manhattan Gallery is free and open to the public. Learn more at [Pratt.edu](https://bit.ly/3Q9WRRx?ref=hyperallergic.com). ### Behind the Scenes at Pace URL: https://hyperallergic.com/behind-the-scenes-at-pace/ Last updated: 2026-06-24T10:00:48.000Z Artist Brenda Goodman has always been one of one. Coming up in a scene dominated by men with sexist ideas about what made art worthy, she painted, tore, and sculpted her own creative journey while exploring her queer identity. “I take risks with my work,” Goodman, who turns 83 in July, told artist Mala Iqbal. “I don’t sit still and do the same thing over and over again.” They met at her studio and spoke about six decades of her practice and life, the latest installment of our queer and trans elders series. Meanwhile, News Editor Valentina Di Liscia and reporter Rebecca Schiffman take us inside Pace gallery’s massive cuts to both its roster and staff, announced earlier this month. Artists and employees spoke about what the *New York Times* story left out — including what they describe as an opaque, disorienting process that remains shrouded in confusion. Read the full report below. *—Lakshmi Rivera Amin, associate editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/pace-feature-newsletter.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/pace-gallerys-hall-of-mirrors/) [ Pace Gallery’s Hall of Mirrors ](https://hyperallergic.com/pace-gallerys-hall-of-mirrors/) On June 4, when Pace announced that it would cut 50 artists from its roster and lay off 50 employees, CEO Marc Glimcher framed the decision as a response to a larger industry problem and a gallery model he deemed “unfixable.” Later that day, according to staff, Glimcher told employees during a surprise Zoom town hall that he took personal responsibility for the situation and acknowledged that the decisions that led Pace to this point were his own. But workers inside the gallery say the cuts unfolded quickly and without clarity, affecting the most unprotected staff members — and among the impacted artists who knew what was coming, some questioned how the announcement was handled. | Valentina Di Liscia and Rebecca Schiffman [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/pace-gallerys-hall-of-mirrors/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/cranbrook-academy.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/cranbrook-academy-of-art-reopens-applications-for-fall-2026/) ****Cranbrook Academy of Art Reopens Applications for Fall 2026** The art institution is accepting applications from June 22 through August 15 for artists and designers considering graduate study. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/cranbrook-academy-of-art-reopens-applications-for-fall-2026/) --- ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/AI-moritorium.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/hundreds-of-artists-ask-nyc-mayor-to-ban-ai-in-schools/) - Hundreds of New York City artists have joined a campaign to urge New York City schools to implement a two-year [“moratorium” on artificial intelligence in the classroom](https://hyperallergic.com/hundreds-of-artists-ask-nyc-mayor-to-ban-ai-in-schools/). --- ## Queer Elders [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/brenda-goodman.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/going-deep-with-brenda-goodman/) [ Going Deep With Brenda Goodman ](https://hyperallergic.com/going-deep-with-brenda-goodman/) “I remember taking a plaid dress, tearing it up, and using it as paint rags,” the 83-year-old painter tells me in a knee-to-knee interview at her studio. | Mala Iqbal [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/going-deep-with-brenda-goodman/) --- ## Obituary [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/james-wagner-newsletter.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/james-wagner-insatiable-art-collector-dies-at-85/) [ James Wagner, Insatiable Art Collector, Dies at 85 ](https://hyperallergic.com/james-wagner-insatiable-art-collector-dies-at-85/) James Wagner, beloved New York art collector, died at his home in Manhattan on June 7 at age 85\. Two months earlier, his husband, Barry Hoggard, and I started arranging visitors to keep him company. For me, each visit became one of those crystallized moments, a spark of joy that took a little bit of James with it and lingered somewhere in the ether. The remembrances that follow are how we complete that process for him, reconstructing our favorite memories so we can carry forward the best of him.| Paddy Johnson [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/james-wagner-insatiable-art-collector-dies-at-85/) --- ## Book Review [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/violet-hour.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/james-cahills-character-study-of-the-art-world/) [ James Cahill’s Character Study of the Art World ](https://hyperallergic.com/james-cahills-character-study-of-the-art-world/) “The Violet Hour” is a dreamy chronicle of fame, greed, and ambition, full of cartoonish personalities you’ve likely had the misfortune of encountering firsthand. | Alex Bowditch [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/james-cahills-character-study-of-the-art-world/) --- ## Opinion [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/opinion-6.23.26.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/who-will-fight-for-artists-rights-in-congress/) [ Who Will Fight for Artists’ Rights in Congress? ](https://hyperallergic.com/who-will-fight-for-artists-rights-in-congress/) Democratic Congressman Jerry Nadler has led the fight to bring resale royalties to artists in the US. With his retirement, it could all go away. | Lauren van Haaften-Schick [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/who-will-fight-for-artists-rights-in-congress/) --- ## Member Comment Thank you Barbara for finally decoupling arts’ creative value from its transactional value. So many artists who have contributed to our cultural legacy but lacked financial success - thus have no value - will drop from the historical record. We need a way for future scholarship to access this hugely diverse group now dying off. Valerie Hird on “[Marc Spiegler Got It All Wrong](https://hyperallergic.com/marc-spiegler-got-it-all-wrong/)” --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/technological-surveillance.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/the-unnatural-link-between-mothering-and-technological-surveillance/) [ The Unnatural Link Between Mothering and Technological Surveillance ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-unnatural-link-between-mothering-and-technological-surveillance/) Supervision provided me, as a curator/new mom, an entry point into how the labor that is mothering intersects with technology and surveillance. | Rea McNamara [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/the-unnatural-link-between-mothering-and-technological-surveillance/) ### Pace Gallery’s Hall of Mirrors URL: https://hyperallergic.com/pace-gallerys-hall-of-mirrors/ Last updated: 2026-06-25T15:10:38.000Z On June 4, when Pace [announced](https://hyperallergic.com/pace-cuts-50-workers-and-50-artists-citing-a-broken-gallery-model/) that it would cut 50 artists from its roster and lay off 50 employees, CEO Marc Glimcher framed the decision as a response to a larger industry problem and a gallery model he deemed “unfixable.” Later that day, according to staff, Glimcher told employees during a surprise Zoom town hall that he took personal responsibility for the situation and acknowledged that the decisions that led Pace to this point were his own. But workers inside the gallery say the cuts unfolded quickly and without clarity, affecting the most unprotected staff members — and among the impacted artists who knew what was coming, some questioned how the announcement was handled. After going through rounds of quieter layoffs, three Pace staffers, speaking anonymously to avoid retaliation, described the recent downsizing and town hall as disorienting in interviews with *Hyperallergic*. “Marc was saying that all of this was his fault,” said one current employee. But she wondered why the burden of restructuring appeared to fall primarily on administrative and managerial staff. “To my knowledge, there have been zero executives laid off,” she said. “It’s all smaller roles, the people that actually make stuff happen.” That Friday, people started to disappear, and those who were spared had to figure out how to proceed. “Nobody knew who was laid off, and we had to consult with each other to try to figure out what happened,” she continued. “My colleague over text yesterday said, ‘I can’t believe we’re having to do it this way.’ Why am I texting you? Why am I hearing this from you?” _This post is for subscribers only._ ### Who Will Fight for Artists' Rights in Congress? URL: https://hyperallergic.com/who-will-fight-for-artists-rights-in-congress/ Last updated: 2026-06-23T21:33:33.000Z The American art market runs on a simple premise: artists are paid once, while the value of their work continues to grow — often for the benefit of others. The system works like this: Artists are paid at the point of first sale, while the long-term value they create is captured largely by collectors and intermediaries. That imbalance is not unique to the United States, but it is handled differently elsewhere. In most major art markets around the world, it is addressed through resale royalties. In the United States, it is not. For more than two decades, Representative Jerrold (Jerry) Nadler has been one of the few lawmakers working to change that. Since 1992, he has represented New York’s 12th District and, as Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee[, led two presidential impeachments.](https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-resolution/755/committees?ref=hyperallergic.com) But for artists, his legacy is also defined by a sustained effort to strengthen their rights in the marketplace. Now, as he prepares to leave Congress, that effort and the broader push to bring the United States in line with global standards risk losing one of its most consistent champions. Over the past 25 years, Nadler has sponsored legislation addressing issues such as [copyright protections](https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/5219?hl=art&s=6&r=5&ref=hyperallergic.com) and [equitable estate taxes for artists](https://www.congress.gov/bill/108th-congress/house-bill/147?hl=Artists%27+Estate+Tax+Fairness+Act&s=2&r=1&ref=hyperallergic.com). Most notably, since 2011, he has introduced bills that would allow visual artists to share in the proceeds when their works are resold on the secondary market. Known as resale royalties, these policies exist in more than 100 countries but are absent in the United States, despite the United States' position as the world’s largest art market. Resale royalties[ originated in France](https://www.copyright.gov/docs/resaleroyalty/?ref=hyperallergic.com) in the 1920s as the secondary art market expanded, leaving artists and their heirs without a share of the profits while others benefited. Today, artists across the European Union, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere receive a modest percentage when their work is resold through auction houses or dealers. In the US, the consequences of this gap have been visible for decades. In 1973, following the auction sale of Robert and Ethel Scull’s collection, artist Robert Rauschenberg [confronted the collector](https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-three-ways-single-auction-1973-changed-art-market?ref=hyperallergic.com) after seeing his work sell for far more than he had originally received. His frustration captured a broader reality that persists today: Artists create the value, but rarely participate in its long-term financial returns. Nadler sought to change that. His [2011 Equity for Visual Artists Act](https://www.congress.gov/bill/112th-congress/house-bill/3688/all-info?ref=hyperallergic.com) proposed a 7% royalty on auction sales, split between the artist and a fund supporting museum acquisitions. More recent legislation, including [the American Royalties Too Act of 2025,](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/4017/text?ref=hyperallergic.com) would grant artists or their heirs 5% of resale prices, capped at $50,000, and expand coverage to dealer sales. Critics argue that resale royalties primarily benefit a small number of successful artists and estates and could discourage collectors by adding costs. Others note that only a small percentage of artists profit substantially from their work. But recent data suggests the impact may be broader. A 2023 [report from the UK’s Design and Artists Copyright Society](https://www.dacs.org.uk/news-events/artists-resale-right-royalties-distributed-in-first-quarter-of-2023?ref=hyperallergic.com) found that more than two-thirds of royalty payments were under £500 (\~$662), indicating that artists outside the highest tiers of the market do benefit. The UK has also remained one of the world’s leading art markets, suggesting such policies do not undermine competitiveness. Resale royalties can also play a role in addressing historical injustice — [65% of payments in Australia have gone to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders](https://www.copyright.com.au/2024/08/the-resale-royalty-right-for-visual-artists-2010-to-2024/?ref=hyperallergic.com). As I’ve argued with Cheryl Finley, Christian Reeder, and Amy Whitaker, resale royalties are not merely about profit sharing but[ a matter of equity](https://news.artnet.com/art-world/amy-sheralds-welfare-queen-resale-royalties-economic-equity-artists-2037904?ref=hyperallergic.com). As the art market becomes increasingly global, the absence of US legislation carries additional consequences. In most[ countries](https://www.resale-right.org/countries-with-arr/?ref=hyperallergic.com), resale royalties are reciprocal: Artists can only collect payments abroad if their home country has similar protections. As a result, American artists are often excluded from royalties when their work is resold internationally. This gap matters not only to individual artists but also to the broader cultural economy. [Arts and culture account for 4.2% of US GDP](https://www.bea.gov/news/2025/arts-and-cultural-production-satellite-account-us-and-states-2023?ref=hyperallergic.com), more than sectors such as agriculture, transportation, or construction, and remain one of the nation’s most significant exports. Yet artists face growing pressures, from rising costs in cultural hubs like New York City to declining public support. Despite these high stakes, artists’ rights have been largely absent from the current race to succeed Nadler. Candidates have focused elsewhere, leaving a hole in the conversation. In a moment of political transition, that silence carries consequences. Nadler’s departure creates a void in advocacy on an issue that has struggled for sustained attention in Washington. Artists’ rights may not dominate the national conversation. But for those working in the arts, they shape who can afford to create, who can sustain a career, and who ultimately benefits from the value that art generates. As voters consider who should represent New York’s 12th District in today’s Democratic primary and the midterm election in November, they have an opportunity to ensure that this issue does not disappear. Without that pressure, it likely will. *The author would like to thank Will Whitmire, Sara Clough, and Damien Davis.* ### James Cahill’s Character Study of the Art World URL: https://hyperallergic.com/james-cahills-character-study-of-the-art-world/ Last updated: 2026-06-23T20:58:11.000Z Is there anything the art world loves more than a game of insider baseball? If you read James Cahill’s novel *The Violet Hour* (2025), it would be hard to conclude otherwise. In this dreamy chronicle of fame, greed, and ambition, the stage is set for a glittering cast of characters who come off as cartoonish, even unrealistic — unless you’ve had the misfortune of encountering these types firsthand. The story’s beginning is cinematic. First, we witness the mysterious death of an ingénue gallery assistant. But before we can investigate, Cahill sweeps us away to the penthouse of an ultra-luxury skyscraper abutting Central Park. It’s occupied by elderly real estate tycoon and mega-collector Leo J. Goffman, a cartoon villain who is the most compelling character in the whole book — unequivocally evil, but crafted with care. Nearing the end of his life and alone but for the housekeeper he verbally abuses, he fixates on art and money and schemes to use both to cement his legacy. (To understand just how prevalent this is in the art world, please refer to any of this publication’s [recent reporting](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/news/).) Goffman is particularly invested in the mysterious artist Thomas Haller, an abstract painter hailed as the heir to Mark Rothko. He vanished from the scene after his solo show at the Whitney Museum of American Art, ditching his longtime gallerist and high-tailing it out of New York. When Goffman spies an ad in *Artforum* for Haller’s first exhibition in six years, he is consumed with desire for the painting in the magazine. And off we go, departing from what seemed like a promising thriller into what is ultimately an extended character study. From New York to Europe and back again (and again, and again), *The Violet Hour* takes the reader on a satirical journey that probes art-world archetypes and the vaulted forums in which they play their games. We spend time with Lorna Bedford, Haller’s ex-gallerist and former art school bestie, and her partner, the intolerable Justine, a judgmental millennial pop-academic and vessel for the thoughtcrimes of the “Woke Left.” A description of the cover of Justine’s book, a DSA twist on Confucian philosophy with a sprinkling of girlboss, made me laugh, as did several of the inventions and flourishes Cahill employs to build his universe. As a writer, Cahill nails these acidic little winks but loses steam when plumbing the depths of his characters. Much of the story is told from Haller’s perspective, which is so insular and inscrutable that, despite engaging in some ostensibly exciting behavior, he’s just not that interesting to read about. The muddled commentary about class politics, social media, and representation is similarly unsatisfying. Yet Cahill’s passion for art is endearing as he pumps his pages with generous descriptions of artworks and their histories. At its core, *The Violet Hour* is a wry industry tale about the machinations of the art market and its players that could only have been written by someone who truly loves the scene, warts and all. [The Violet Hour](http://bookshop.org/a/539/9798897100866?ref=hyperallergic.com) *(2025) by James Cahill is published by Pegasus Books and available online and through independent booksellers.* ### Hundreds of Artists Ask NYC Mayor to Ban AI in Schools URL: https://hyperallergic.com/hundreds-of-artists-ask-nyc-mayor-to-ban-ai-in-schools/ Last updated: 2026-06-23T20:05:15.000Z Hundreds of New York City artists have joined a campaign to urge New York City schools to implement a two-year “moratorium” on artificial intelligence in the classroom. In a [letter](https://www.climatefamiliesnyc.org/aim-artists-letter?ref=hyperallergic.com) published yesterday by the AI Moratorium Coalition (AIM), nearly 500 artists, writers, and actors asked Mayor Zohran Mamdani to prohibit the use of AI education technology in public schools. Among the missive’s visual artist signatories issuing a plea to “protect New York City’s creative future” are photographer Nan Goldin, illustrator and author Molly Crabapple, and filmmaker Laurie Simmons. “AI steals the work of artists and writers," Goldin said in an email to *Hyperallergic*, “and if we allow it to be used on our youngest and most vulnerable children, it will steal their attention and future.” Using AI technologies in schools would dampen children’s creativity, the missive argues, and introduce numerous privacy and equity concerns into New York City classrooms. The statement comes ahead of a City Council oversight hearing scheduled for Wednesday that will discuss AI and data privacy in schools. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/IMG_6364--1-.jpg) The majority of City Council backs a moratorium on AI use in New York City public schools. “We’re calling on you to stand up for the children of this city — the natural-born creatives, the innate innovators, tomorrow’s leaders — whose future is being sacrificed only to further enrich the planet’s wealthiest people,” the letter reads, addressing Mayor Mamdani. Monday’s missive is the latest in an ongoing campaign for an AI moratorium, first launched in August 2025 by education advocacy organizations. Earlier this month, the majority of City Council backed the movement, [urging](https://classsizematters.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/AI-Moratorium-Sign-On-Letter-final-dated-6.9.26-1.pdf?ref=hyperallergic.com) Mamdani and New York City Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels in a letter to stop the Department of Education (NYCDOE) from "rushing in and expanding the use of AI for children as young as in PreK." According to the City Councilmembers, NYCDOE has added "dozens of new AI products" to its centralized learning portal in the last few weeks. A spokesperson for New York City Public Schools told *Hyperallergic* in a statement that the system has instituted initial AI "guardrails" as it works to create a "policy to protect our students in partnership with families and communities. More information will be shared at a later date, the spokesperson said. Kelly Clancy, founder of the advocacy organization Parents for AI Caution in Educational Spaces (PACES) and member of AIM, told *Hyperallergic* that the letter was timed to the last week of school before the summer as part of an urgent push for the mayor and chancellor to act during this academic year. Across the country, educators have adopted AI teaching assistants, including the literacy platform MagicSchool and Khan Academy's Khanmigo. While there isn’t a centralized list of AI programs used by New York public schools, Clancy said, Google Gemini is installed on “most computers,” and the widely used reading platform HMH contains AI features. “Using AI inhibits the creative abilities of our kids and their prospects of joining NYC's world-renowned, human-based artistic community,” Clancy told *Hyperallergic* in an email. “AI is trained on the stolen work of artists, and then lies to kids and tells them they are incapable of their own creativity.” Among the concerned parents to sign Monday’s petition is French-Caribbean sonic and performance artist Sylvain Souklaye, whose daughter will enroll in preschool in Brooklyn this September. Souklaye told *Hyperallergic* in an email that he signed the letter for his young daughter. “Creating art in New York while raising my daughter as a foreigner in the capitalist city taught me that there is no learning without failing,” the artist said. “I want my daughter to make mistakes because learning is not about processing data.” Souklaye has explored AI through his artistic work, including a satirical performance that interrogated the link between generative technology and capitalist consumption. However, he finds AI to be “morally corrupted in a school context,” citing the use of artists' labor without consent or compensation, the harvesting of children's data for third-party interests, and “the staggering environmental cost … paid by the most vulnerable communities so that a classroom can run a chatbot.” Souklaye, Goldin, and the other signatories voiced concerns that AI education technologies could store and sell student data to third parties. The letter also cited reports of [racial bias](https://www.chalkbeat.org/2025/08/06/ai-teacher-assistants-promote-racial-bias-study-finds/?ref=hyperallergic.com) in educational artificial intelligence tools used by teachers. "You ran for office on a promise to be the people’s mayor," the artists conclude their letter to Mamdani. “Please protect New York City’s creative future and set an example for school systems across the country.” ### Going Deep With Brenda Goodman URL: https://hyperallergic.com/going-deep-with-brenda-goodman/ Last updated: 2026-06-24T21:19:33.000Z *This article is part of* Hyperallergic’*s* [*2026 Pride Month series*](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/2026-pride-month/)*, featuring interviews with queer and trans elder artists throughout June.* Artist Brenda Goodman was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1943\. She lived in New York City from 1976 to 2009 and now lives and works in Pine Hill, NY, in the Catskill Mountains. She has had about 50 solo exhibitions of her work since 1973, most recently at Sikkema Malloy Jenkins. This fall, her work will be featured in three New York exhibitions. In September, she’ll be in group shows at Marc Straus Gallery and the New York Studio School. In October, she’ll show her collages in a solo exhibition at JJ Murphy Gallery. Painter Angela Dufresne and I first saw Goodman’s show of self-portraits at Sikkema Jenkins in early 2022\. That summer, we introduced ourselves and started spending time with Brenda and her partner, Linda Dunne. Over her long career, Brenda has made paintings that could be called “abstract” and others that could be called “figurative.” She has mixed oil paint with things like pumice, sawdust, sand, and ash. She has cut incisions into the smooth surface of her works on panel and filled the thin grooves with paint. She has used translucent washes over color pencil. Her curiosity and openness come through both in her choice of materials and her fiercely honest approach to her subjects. Brenda and I are about 30 years apart in age, so I had some curiosity about her experiences as a young woman growing up in Detroit in the 1950s and '60s, as well as getting caught up on what she’s been working on most recently. We sat together in her large studio, recording an almost two-hour conversation. This version has been shortened and edited for clarity. --- **Hyperallergic**: *You know, I could be considered a queer elder, too, for someone who was, like…* **Brenda Goodman**: Twelve. **H**: *Ha! So, do you feel like being queer has either hampered or helped your work or your “career”? Has it helped you take risks, or have you felt limited by the label?* **BG**: None of that. Zero. I once, early on, changed my signature from Brenda Goodman to B. Goodman, because I didn't want people to think of me as a male or a female. I wanted the work to speak for itself. But that was something that didn't have to do with being queer. I didn't even know that I was gay until the beginning of art school, in the early sixties. My story is that my life has been my work. WhenI was a junior or senior in high school, I took evening classes at the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts. I applied for a scholarship and got one for four years. When I started art school, I was just totally focused on being an artist. You’d see me and say, oh, she's a cute little butch dyke. But I wasn't associating myself that way then. I just thought that’s how you dress when you're an artist. You wear a white T-shirt, a blue work shirt, Levi’s and a key ring with lots of keys on it. The serious artists were all men and that’s how they dressed. I was also a serious artist. My mother would spend two hours putting her makeup on every morning. She was really into her looks and her makeup and tried to make me be more feminine. She would give me a lacy thing or a pair of red leather gloves, which I totally rebelled against. She made me wear dresses sometimes to art school and I hated that! I remember taking a plaid dress, tearing it up, and using it as paint rags. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/5_Collage-Series-4x6in.-Collage-Mixed-Media-on-Paper-2026-1-1.jpg) Brenda Goodman "Collage" (2026) (photo by and courtesy the artist) **H**: *When I was growing up, there were no gay people that I can remember in my personal social realm. My parents didn’t have any friends who were out or identifiably queer in some way. As a kid, I was certainly aware of characters in fiction and also pop stars who were outside of the norm, like Scout in “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “freaks” like Michael Jackson and David Bowie. Did you know any gay people when you were a kid?* **BG**: No, I didn’t either. What I dealt with from day one was that I came from a really unhappy childhood. I was a sad, lonely, miserable little girl. My mother was not affectionate or warm. We yelled and screamed, it seems like all the time. That's how we communicated. My father was invisible. He worked 24-hours a day because she wanted material things in her life. He had no eye contact with people. I don’t think he ever got past being 15, emotionally, and when she divorced him, he just fell apart. Everything was about my mother. She was extremely demanding. After my mother died in 1972, my brother said he found big bottles of pills in the basement. She was always on diet pills, which makes you very erratic. I never really knew what to expect. I fell in love with my sixth-grade teacher, Betty Bowman. She was warm, sweet, and affectionate. She cared about me — and I felt all the things I didn't feel with my mother. Over the years, Betty came to some of my openings and she fulfilled so much of what I didn't get from my family. In art school, I started to feel some attraction to other female students, which scared me a little. I didn’t understand my feelings and it made me very depressed. Eventually, I developed a relationship with another artist and we lived together for eight years. **H**: *What was your mother’s reaction when you told her you were attracted to women?* **BG**: There were two things my mother was nice about. She was accepting. She never gave me a hard time about being gay, and she wanted a piece of art for every single occasion that existed. Memorial Day, Veterans Day, Flag Day, birthdays, you name it. She had 90 pieces of mine when she died. She was very supportive of me being an artist. **H**: *Did you ever date a man?* **BG**: No. There were a few attempts, like when Janet, a friend in night school, was going to spend the night with her boyfriend, Elliot. He had a heavyset best friend. Janet asked if I wanted to come along — sort of a double date, but I had a feeling it was going to be something more. They went off into a room, and I was left with this big, not-attractive guy. He was ready to do it. But I’m wearing a girdle —my mother made me wear a girdle, and they're hard to get on or off. **H**: *Right. I know there's, like… belts and things with buckles involved.* **BG*:* No! It's elastic. You don't know what a girdle is? Oh my god. Google it. It looks like elastic underpants. My mother used to wear them all the time. Anyway, he was ready to do it, and I said, NO WAY. I'm not going to do this. I was terrified of getting pregnant, so the girdle was a good thing that night. **H**: *What was Detroit like in the 1960s-70s when you were in art school and afterwards? And was anyone buying your paintings during that time?* **BG**: Detroit was a tough town to live in. I lived right near the Detroit riots in 1967\. From about 1970 to 1976, I got a lot of recognition and sales. Gertrude Kasle showed only well-known New York artists, but she also showed me. In one show, my painting was hanging between a Guston and a Tworkov. In the early 1970s, I was part of the Cass Corridor, where many artists had studios. They were almost all men. After my first show in 1973 at the Willis Gallery, I got involved with a well-known poet, Faye Kicknosway, and I made a big drawing, “Things I Love About You.” It was from my heart and one of the guys made fun of it. They were all using barbed wire and industrial Detroit stuff. I didn’t get upset about it. Around that time, I was doing symbols because I wanted to create a more personal voice for myself. Faye was teaching creative writing at Wayne State, and I started creating symbols for everybody in my life. Me, my mother, my friends, people whom I liked and whom I hated. If I hated you, I would put your symbol in a mason jar. I did those symbols for 11 years. They were a visual diary of my life. That's how I dealt with my feelings. The guys were doing what they were doing, but I was on my own journey. I wanted to know more about myself. There were things I liked about myself and things I hated about myself. And by doing these drawings and also being in therapy for a long time, I learned a lot. It was a way to process everything. That's why my work has the kind of strength that it does — because I went inside and then put it out there in my paintings. There are no walls between me and my work. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/2_Self_Portrait---60x50--oil-on-canvas-1974-copy.jpg) Brenda Goodman, "Self Portrait" (1974) (photo Jason Wyche, courtesy the artist) **H**: *What were the things you hated about yourself?* **BG**: Well, when I did that first self-portrait in 1974, I felt like I had a very tough exterior. I can still put on a Detroit face when something threatens me, but by that time, I wanted to feel my softer feelings. So I did that self-portrait painting with the big rainbow tie and the marshmallows coming out of the belly — and that was my way of starting to break down some of those defenses. I’ve struggled with my weight over the years, and in the early 90s,I hated myself when I was 180 pounds. But I also loved painting that. I felt like Rubens — all those beautiful flesh folds. I painted myself nude in all of those paintings in my studio. In real life, I never painted nude in the studio ever, not once. **H**: *What brought you to New York City?* **BG**: I was friends with the painter, Bobbie Oliver. She was my only friend in New York. I would take trips on occasion and stay with her. At some point, she was ready to move on and her place at 94 Bowery was available. I had exhausted the places to show in Detroit. I knew I couldn't move while my mother was alive. I had never lived anywhere else. I went from Detroit to the Bowery. I always wanted to live in New York. That loft, which I was very familiar with because it was the only place I stayed when I would visit, was my home. But the first night there by myself, I just cried and cried. I mean, all of my emotional life was in Detroit, and there I was. **H**: *How did you sustain yourself during those early years in New York City— both emotionally and financially?* **BG**: I would go to Bonnie’s, a gay restaurant. I’d go there practically every night and write in my journal and have my dinner. I wouldn’t go to the bar and chat with anyone or make conversation. I wanted to meet other gay people, but I didn’t know how to do it. I’m not a chatterer. I would do a little better now, I think. I can strike up a conversation. I taught classes in my loft for a few years. I had collectors in Detroit who continued to buy my work. I had my first New York show in 1980 with Pam Adler Gallery. I became friends with Marcia Tucker and met many artists through her. I joined a spiritual community in upstate New York, which became an important part of my inner search. The move was very hard at first, but then I had many friends. You could always find me at Food on Prince Street, drawing away. I met Linda in 1987, on a bus going to a gay rights march in DC. When it seemed like it was going to be a serious relationship, that changed so much in my life. She was a total support system: financially, when I needed it, and emotionally, and for everything that I didn't have. It’s going to be 39 years in October. We’ve made it work pretty wonderfully. **H**: *What are you making in the studio these days?* **BG**: What I'm doing now are these little collages with pencil, watercolor and images from my other paintings that I shrunk in Photoshop and made prints of. There’s about 26 of them. I take risks with my work. I don't sit still and do the same thing over and over again. I have so many series in my 60years of painting, and I just paint what I feel I need to. My work has expanded beyond myself and my personal issues. I had tunnel vision for so long. In the 60s, I didn’t even know what the Beatles or Motown were. I knew nothing about politics. I just painted. So my life and my work have become more expansive — I have plenty to say about politics now. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/4_Gaza-8--11x15in-Mixed-Media-on-Paper-2024.jpg) Brenda Goodman, "Gaza 8" (2024) (photo Pierre Le Hors, courtesy the artist) **H**: *I wanted to talk to you about the drawings you made a few years ago, which I find especially haunting. John Yau wrote about them in* [*Hyperallergic*](https://hyperallergic.com/brenda-goodman-paints-the-pain-of-being-human-pamela-salisbury-gallery/) *in November 2024 after he visited your studio. How did you come to make them?* **BG**: Gaza was on the news constantly. There was a picture of an elderly woman standing on top of rubble, which had been her home. I couldn't get that picture out of my mind. I’d just had my second knee surgery, so I couldn’t move around very well and was making drawings at the dining table. The drawings weren’t all abstract or all figurative, but by being a combination, they conveyed a somber, tragic feeling. When John Yau came by for a studio visit, I didn't say to him: These are my Gaza drawings. And I think I did that deliberately because I didn't want to pinpoint it like that. A curator/artist in London wants to use them in a book called “Drawing the Unspeakable.” She organized a big museum show in the UK of drawings working through grief and pain and other things that can’t be expressed in words. It's really hard not to think of my mortality as I'm approaching 83\. That's on my mind a lot. Even when I was doing the self-portraits, mortality was one of the things I was thinking about. But things change as you get older. Your body is breaking down and that's the thing that really brings it home. It's not a theoretical idea anymore and it has an effect on your work. But I still love painting and though I’ve slowed down some, I’m still experimenting and taking risks and painting my heart out. If I die with a paintbrush in my hand, I’ll be happy. ### VOTE! URL: https://hyperallergic.com/vote/ Last updated: 2026-06-23T18:25:06.000Z Did you know there’s a Democratic primary today? If you happen to live in New York’s 7th Congressional District — Greenpoint, Williamsburg, Bushwick, Long Island City, Ridgewood, Maspeth, and more — then you have an extra reason to go out and vote: There's an artist in the race. Claire Valdez is a current New York State Assembly member, union organizer, Democratic Socialist, and painter who calls for abolishing ICE, taxing the rich, and Medicare for all, among other progressive causes. I got to meet her at Sinkhole gallery in Ridgewood for a conversation about her struggles as an artist in NYC and her ambitious plans for DC, if she makes it there. Two artists who listened in on the interview told her that she won their votes. Will she win yours, too? —*Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief* --- --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/claire-valdez-newsletter-2.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/claire-valdez-wants-to-be-your-artist-in-congress/) [ Claire Valdez Wants to Be Your Artist in Congress ](https://hyperallergic.com/claire-valdez-wants-to-be-your-artist-in-congress/) The New York State assemblywoman, who is running for a seat in the House of Representatives, spoke with Hyperallergic about her life as a painter, political origin story, and big plans for Washington. | Hakim Bishara [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/claire-valdez-wants-to-be-your-artist-in-congress/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/villa-isis.jpeg)](https://www.villaisis.com/uaw?ref=hyperallergic.com) ****Nordic – New York Art Experience + Complimentary Transportation from Manhattan** **Villa Isis* transforms a two-acre Hudson Valley property with sculpture, installations, artist films, Sculpture School workshops, and a Scandinavian lace-making demonstration during Upstate Art Weekend. On Saturday evening, June 27, illuminated installations and artist films are presented with complimentary round-trip transportation from Manhattan. [Learn more ](https://www.villaisis.com/uaw?ref=hyperallergic.com) --- ## Features [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/kim-dacres-2.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/kim-dacres-sculpts-resilience-in-rubber/) [ Kim Dacres Sculpts Resilience in Rubber ](https://hyperallergic.com/kim-dacres-sculpts-resilience-in-rubber/) The artist, who uses scavenged auto parts, is concerned not just with materials but with what they reveal about the worlds they inhabit. | Daria Simone Harper [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/kim-dacres-sculpts-resilience-in-rubber/) [ Kaleidoscopic Subway Mosaics Celebrate Flatbush’s Theater History ](https://hyperallergic.com/kaleidoscopic-subway-mosaics-celebrate-flatbushs-theater-history/) At the Church Avenue station, Christopher Myers’s glass-tiled panels explore the rich legacy of vaudeville and Afro-Caribbean carnival culture. | Aaron Short [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/kaleidoscopic-subway-mosaics-celebrate-flatbushs-theater-history/) --- ## Guides [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/upstate-shows-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/15-art-shows-to-see-in-upstate-new-york-this-summer/) [ 15 Art Shows to See in Upstate New York This Summer ](https://hyperallergic.com/15-art-shows-to-see-in-upstate-new-york-this-summer/) James Turrell’s luminous visions, Agnes Martin’s nonconformist heroism, Anicka Yi’s micro-organic experiments, and much more. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/15-art-shows-to-see-in-upstate-new-york-this-summer/) --- ## Memorable Moment [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/frick-ducks.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/adorable-duck-family-steals-hearts-at-frick-museum/) [ Adorable Duck Family Steals Hearts at Frick Museum ](https://hyperallergic.com/adorable-duck-family-steals-hearts-at-frick-museum/) Knicks in 5? The Frick Collection raises you “Ducklings in 11.” A darling mother duck and her 11 precious ducklings stole hearts at the Upper East Side museum after they were spotted paddling around in the reflective pool at the institution’s 70th Street garden. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/adorable-duck-family-steals-hearts-at-frick-museum/) --- ## What Else Is Happening? - Archipelago Books's annual auction for elsewhere editions is back. Bidding has begun, and ends on July 5\. (Ongoing) \[[auction.archipelagobooks.org](https://auction.archipelagobooks.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Pratt Institute's new public-facing art installations are on view in vacant storefront windows along Manhattan's 14th Street corridor, creating a vibrant street-level gallery. (Ongoing) \[[pratt.edu](https://www.pratt.edu/events/pratt-manhattan-x-the-village-west-window-reveal-and-ongoing-exhibition-on-14th-street/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - In celebration of the landmark exhibition *Marcel Duchamp* at the MoMA and the accompanying publication, McNally Jackson hosts a discussion with the show's curators at its Seaport location. (Wed June 24) \[[mcnallyjackson.com](https://mcnallyjackson.com/event/2026-06-24/duchamp-moma-ann-temkin-michelle-kuo-joseph-logan-josh-kline?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Brooklyn Community Pride Center is hosting a monthly LGBTQ+ Nude Figure Drawing workshop on the fourth Thursday of the month. (Thurs June 25) \[[lgbtbrooklyn.org](https://www.lgbtbrooklyn.org/event-details/nude-figure-drawing-2026-06-25-17-45?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Because Aperture is moving to a permanent home on the Upper West Side, it is saying goodbye to its Chelsea location with a moving sale. Get discounts on books, furniture, back issues of Aperture, and more. (Thurs June 25–Sat June 27) \[[aperture.org](https://aperture.org/events/moving-sale-2026/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Hear from artist Alison Kuo in an artist talk at the New Museum. Kuo is currently in residence there, developing a new performance that draws on traditions of Cantonese Opera and Manhattan's Chinatown. (Thurs June 25) \[[newmuseum.org](https://www.newmuseum.org/event/alison-kuo-in-conversation/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Tiny Arts Supply is hosting a gel plate printing workshop! All materials will be supplied, and no prior experience necessary. (Sat June 27) \[[tinyartssupply.com](https://tinyartssupply.com/collections/event-tickets/products/gel-plate-printing-for-all-with-colleen-lonergan-saturday-6-27-26-1pm-to-3pm?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Join an artist talk with Caitlin Reid at Tempest Gallery in Ridgewood, where she's currently showing a new suite of installations in *Sun-Dried.* (Sun June 28) \[[Tempest Gallery](https://www.instagram.com/p/DZVq4vlmFlJ/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] - Evgenia and Yasha from the podcast Nefarious Russians will be screening different cult Russian films from the late 1980s and 1990s — all set in a decaying or collapsed Soviet society and focused on the plight of young women trying to survive. The series kicks off with Aleksey Balabanov's *Cargo 200* at Film Noir Theater in Brooklyn*.* (Sun June 28) [\[ticketscandy.com](https://ticketscandy.com/ec/nefarious-russians-680?ref=hyperallergic.com)\] --- ## Snapshot ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/RAMA-1.jpg) Artist and NYC First Lady [Rama Duwaji](https://hyperallergic.com/in-the-studio-with-rama-duwaji/) has cast her vote. (via Instagram) ### Cranbrook Academy of Art Reopens Applications for Fall 2026 URL: https://hyperallergic.com/cranbrook-academy-of-art-reopens-applications-for-fall-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-01T15:18:39.000Z At [Cranbrook Academy of Art](https://bit.ly/443dNwn?ref=hyperallergic.com), no two doors are exactly alike. That was by design. Architect Eliel Saarinen believed even the smallest details deserved thoughtful consideration. Each door across Cranbrook's historic campus serves the same purpose, yet each possesses its own distinct character — a reminder that creativity is found not in repetition, but in the possibilities created by difference. With this spirit in mind, Cranbrook Academy of Art is reopening graduate applications for Fall 2026\. Applications will be accepted from June 22 through August 15 for a limited number of available openings in select programs. For artists and designers considering graduate study, this additional application period provides another opportunity to join one of the nation's most distinctive graduate programs. Students are encouraged to apply as early as possible to claim the limited remaining spots and merit-based scholarships. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Cherry-Wood-by-PD-Rearick.jpg) Cherry Wood (MFA Photography 2027) For nearly a century, Cranbrook has offered a graduate experience built around intensive studio practice, critical dialogue, and close mentorship. Every department is led by a single Artist-in-Residence — a practicing artist, designer, or architect — whose primary commitment is to their own work and to the development of their students. Rather than following a standardized curriculum, students engage directly with accomplished practitioners in an environment that encourages experimentation, inquiry, and the pursuit of new ideas. At Cranbrook, the studio is the classroom. The environment is the teacher. Students are immersed in a community that challenges assumptions, expands perspectives, and encourages new ways of thinking. It is a place where conversations become collaborations, disciplines intersect, and ideas are tested through action, and action leads to innovation. Founded in 1932 and located on Cranbrook's historic 320-acre campus in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, just north of Detroit, the Academy remains a place where creative practice and daily life are deeply intertwined. Designed by Saarinen, the campus continues to embody the belief that the built environment can shape how we learn, work, and create. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Pavonis-Giron-by-PD-Rearick.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Library-Doors-Cranbrook-by-PD-Rearick.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Aaron-Thompson-by-PD-Rearick-1.jpg) (L to R): (1) Pavonis Giron (MFA Metalsmithing 2027) (2) Cranbrook Academy of Art Library (3) Aaron Thompson (MFA Graphic Design 2026) Students come to Cranbrook seeking more than a degree. They come for the opportunity to immerse themselves in their practice, challenge assumptions, and develop work that reflects their unique voice and ambitions. Applications open June 22 and close August 15, 2026\. Financial aid is available, and all admitted students are considered for merit-based scholarships. To learn more, visit [cranbrookart.edu.](https://bit.ly/443dNwn?ref=hyperallergic.com) ### James Wagner, Insatiable Art Collector, Dies at 85 URL: https://hyperallergic.com/james-wagner-insatiable-art-collector-dies-at-85/ Last updated: 2026-06-24T22:47:14.000Z James Wagner, beloved New York art collector, died at his home in Manhattan on June 7 at age 85\. Two months earlier, his husband, Barry Hoggard, and I started arranging visitors to keep him company. Both collectors and art aficionados well-known within the New York gallery world, James and Barry built a [collection of over 1,500 works](https://www.hoggardwagner.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com) largely acquired from the Brooklyn art scene via their social circles. They jumped into collecting in earnest in 1998 and 1999, acquiring at least 100 artworks in those two years alone after inheriting money from James’s mother. The mid-2000s marked the peak of their activity, with most of the collection’s catalogued works dating from 1998 to 2012\. Barry continues to collect today. In late March, James was diagnosed with terminal cancer. The couple decided the best way to stay happy was to connect James with what he loved: art and artists. Around 20 years ago, James and Barry gave me my first job in the city: updating Barry’s art world calendar, [ArtCal](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2C6ic3JPzcI&ref=hyperallergic.com). As I began scheduling the visitors in April, Barry and I returned to a rhythm we established decades ago as if no time had passed. At first, I thought of the visits as a common task people do when faced with the imminent passing of someone they love. But nearly every day, I’d hear a touching story about someone I’d scheduled to visit, a reminder of the unusual impact James had on those around him. Barry and I began scheduling overlapping visits so artists could meet one another. I followed James’s lead and started calling them “salons.” Some days, there would be three to four people in the apartment at once, all sharing stories about art and life while James sat in the middle of it, delighted by the minds of others. By the end, I saw James’s death as a model to live by — a celebration of art, the people who make it, and its ability to form bonds and community. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/25966153652_0fb293c46b.jpg) James Wagner and Paddy Johnson in 2016 (photo courtesy Barry Hoggard) James grew up in Detroit, visiting the Wagner family farm in Wisconsin. He graduated from John Carroll University in Cleveland in 1962 and went on to study German history in Madison, Wisconsin, and then at Brown University. A [German Academic Exchange Service](https://www.daad.de/en/?ref=hyperallergic.com) fellowship took him to Germany for a year. James told me he stayed in school to avoid the Vietnam War. In 1985, James moved to New York for the arts, then settled into the Chelsea apartment where he would spend the rest of his life in 1987\. He paid for that life with a nine-to-five insurance job, work that let him do what he wanted outside of it. The [AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/act-up/) (ACT UP) Wall Street action and march of 1987 brought James into the movement by the following year. He was a key member, though he rarely appeared in photographs, careful not to draw his employer’s attention to his involvement. In 1991, he met Barry and wooed him with his cooking. Becoming a couple the next year, the two lived a cultural life immersed in the arts and supporting visual artists, musicians, and smaller theater companies like Target Margin. During these final visits with James, we were, without quite naming it, doing something like what happens in the 1998 film [*After Life*](https://www.criterion.com/films/29081-after-life?srsltid=AfmBOooUIHp1q45jy6ZIVi5NEdQW98DjDRtFiFRK6Nn56SdMFyv1H4vh&ref=hyperallergic.com), directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda. In it, groups of recently deceased people are tasked with reviewing their lives and choosing a single memory to take into the afterlife. They have only a few days to identify their happiest memory, after which, social workers help the dead design, stage, and film them. I’m not sure how James, a steadfast atheist, would react if he knew just how frequently during these times I recalled it. But what I found most striking about the movie was the unspoken thesis that art-making forged a path to eternal happiness. For me, each visit became one of those crystallized moments, a spark of joy that took a little bit of James with it and lingered somewhere in the ether. The remembrances that follow are how we complete that process for him, reconstructing our favorite memories so we can carry forward the best of him. If James could abide an afterlife, and I’m not sure he could, this certainly would be the only one he would have wanted. --- ### Judy Wagner *Judy Wagner is James's sister. These recollections were gathered by Judy's daughter, Jen Reiff, and James's niece, Mary Jo Wagner.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/data-src-image-9583f827-886f-41af-9224-da667e50b1a2.png) Judy (left) and James Wagner (second from right) (image courtesy Judy Wagner and Jen Reiff) James always had an eye for color and style, even as a young boy. Everyone knew that James paid attention to details and possessed a forceful personality. An example: James convinced me to ride my bike across major thoroughfares, then cry on cue for shopkeepers. The tears got us a discount on the larger, more beautiful planted flowers for our mother on Mother’s Day. He took all the pictures of the family on vacations, even as a small kid. He used his father’s Voigtlander camera some of the time and a camera from his mother. As kids, we would go to Detroit Belle Isle Botanical Garden to take pictures of first communions and graduations. He went to society events at the Belle Isle Boat Club. Though he grew up in Detroit, visiting the Wagner family farm in Wisconsin with his 95 cousins, he was fascinated by European royalty and style. He traced the family history back to the Salm family. After studying in Germany for years, he arrived back at an NYC port on a boat with his beloved Porsche. He told me several times: "If you are going to be provincial, you might as well be provincial in New York.” --- ### Magda Sawon *Magda Sawon is a co-founder and director of* [*Postmasters Gallery*](https://www.postmastersart.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com)*, which operated in New York from 1984 to 2024, where she organized over 400 exhibitions. She now lives in Italy near Genova.* The last time I talked with James was on Saturday, probably moments after our friend John Powers took that beautiful picture of him with Barry. A final embrace, a tender image of a life they shared for over 30 years. "I want to say goodbye," James said. I told him about the boats that I can see from my window moving slowly across the Ligurian Sea, like ghost ships in the haze of the sun. He died Sunday night. He lived a big life. People often capture themselves quite well by their social media self-introductions. On Twitter and later on Bluesky, he described himself as “James Wagner, cranky radical, fussy aesthete, humanist, generalist, partner of @bhoggard.” It's the "fussy aesthete" that gets me; his passion, vast knowledge, and endless curiosity applied to art, music, cooking, even. His mind was fresher and hungrier at 85 than the minds of most younger folks. I wish I were a fly on the wall for all the conversations that the two of them had over the years. --- ### Felix Salmon [*Felix Salmon*](https://www.felixsalmon.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) *is an Ideas & Culture writer for* Bloomberg*, host of the podcast* Slate Money, *and author of* The Phoenix Economy*, published by Harper Books in 2023.* James was the Platonic ideal of an aesthete — a word that’s far too often used pejoratively or dismissively, but that in James’s case perfectly describes his astonishing depth of feeling and insight, as well as an even more astonishing range of interests and connoisseurships. This was a man with a nigh encyclopedic knowledge of everything from colonial furniture to vintage cars to new music to, of course, the New York contemporary art scene and the Union Square Farmer’s Market. His thirst for new experiences was matched only by his love of revisiting old ones, always in a fresh light — just as his loyalty to his army of friends was only strengthened by his love of meeting new ones. James was a night owl, and I like to think that’s because of his need to enjoy life every day: Whatever he was doing on any given evening was always more interesting and more important than simply retiring to bed. James managed to duck the death sentence that was meted out to so many of his friends, and he made the most of his gift of life, I’m sure partly for those who weren’t so lucky. Let’s hope they’re all now having a truly fabulous reunion on the other side. --- ### Jennifer and Kevin McCoy [*Jennifer and Kevin McCoy*](https://www.mccoyspace.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) *are media artists whose interdisciplinary practices span moving image, software, drawing, painting, and installation.* One of the things I love most about New York City, and the art world, is the inexplicable ubiquity of some participants. Even if you don’t go to openings for the better part of a year, when you do, you will see people that you know. Sometimes you know them as a familiar presence — you get to know them through 10-minute conversations, 10 times a year, for 25 years. For Kevin and me, in all the years we showed with Postmasters Gallery, seeing James Wagner and his husband Barry Hoggard provided the kind of reassuring consistency that the best part of the art world can provide. Interested, intelligent people who are obsessed with art, ideas, and full of humor and goodwill. It’s not the art world people love to dish about, but it is the very heart of why being an artist in New York continues to work. James was a warm, committed art collector, but no pushover. In five minutes, he could name 10 artists living and dead whose ideas touched upon your own and made your work feel seen and urgent. He and Barry once took us to lunch just to get to know us better, and the resulting wide-ranging three-hour conversation remains among the best moments the city has given us. Kevin and I are so proud to be among the Wagner Hoggard collected artists. James’s presence will be sorely missed. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/55343934526_d2608ee137.jpg) Hoggard and Wagner in front of Alexa Hoyer's “Fallow Frames” (2023) at PS122 Gallery in 2024 (photo Ethan Shoshan, courtesy Barry Hoggard) --- ### Clarina Bezzola [*Clarina Bezzola*](https://clarinabezzola.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) *is a performance artist, sculptor, painter, and trained classical singer.* I remember how in awe I felt. James faced frightening losses — nerve sensitivity, hoarseness in his throat, and the ability to focus, like a fearless soldier. Sitting with everyone and letting our minds wander through memories, insights, and appreciation felt magical. Sometimes these challenging moments of truth reveal real power of character. James was such a force of life, such a towering personality with an insatiable curiosity! I feel so privileged that during this last visit we could all be present to the jewels of friendship, playfulness, and to the sheer wealth of our existence. May he inspire us to share the light of this flaming torch with whomever we come in contact with! --- ### William Powhida [*William Powhida*](https://williampowhida.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) *satirizes notions of individual genius, privilege, and the art world’s extremely fucked-up class relations and dependence on accumulated wealth.* James Wagner wore a stylish black bag\* when I first met him and Barry Hoggard outside of my first solo show in Williamsburg in 2004\. They were the first collectors to buy a work from the exhibition, beginning a long friendship. I know I am not alone in that experience, but that bag is an important detail for me, because it reminds me of the whole world of experience, knowledge, appreciation, curiosity, courage, and love that James carried with him everywhere, from ACT UP protests to visiting Berlin in the summers to attending Momenta Art benefits. He and Barry built a collection of over 1,500 works and a community of artists by tirelessly visiting emerging and experimental venues that crossed disciplinary boundaries. They hosted intimate salons with the fabulous people they met and charmed with their passionate interest in art, theater, music, and, of course, food. Details were very important to James, from the bags he wore to learning people’s names to finding the perfect vase for flowers brought to him after he came home from the ER (and we did find the vase, but then James studied the flowers again and said, “They’re done. Toss them!”). This is only a small part of my story with James and Barry, but it’s all important because at the end of his life, James had an endless stream of visitors returning what he had given so generously to so many of us as a true patron of artists: unconditional support and love — often expressed through an exquisite meal. I love you, James Wagner, and I will miss you. \* The exact bag was a subject of discussion between Barry and me. I found James’ black tausche bag, which was first produced in 2003 by a Berlin-based company, while moving some boxes. Barry thought James might have been wearing a different black leather bag from Camden in London when we met. These details would be very important to James. --- ### Michael Gillespie and John Thomson *Michael Gillespie and John Thomson are the founders of the New York gallery* [*Foxy Production*](https://www.broadsheet.com.au/melbourne/art-and-design/article/dispatch-john-thomson-foxy-production?ref=hyperallergic.com)*, which ran from 2003 to 2023\. Michael now works in the social enterprise sector and John is a writer.* James and Barry were among Foxy Production’s first collectors. James led with his eyes. His brave and open collecting of both known and unknown artists helped the Hoggard Wagner Art Collection become a unique panorama of the New York art landscape. He was radically generous. He was always about ideas and beauty, whether contemplating an artwork, listening to a new opera, or recalling queer life in Europe in the early ’60s. An indelible image of James: When arriving for a dinner at their home, he presented us with a handwritten menu, in Italian, listing multiple Austrian dishes and wine pairings. --- ### Man Bartlett [*Man Bartlett*](https://manbartlett.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) *is a New York-based multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans sound, performance, installation, and web-based projects. He also hosts* First Light Radio*, an intergenerational Ambient, New Age, Spiritual Jazz, and Classical Indian show on East Village Radio.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/data-src-image-bcf21e5f-51a2-4dfc-a44a-2e6ae54c75d2.jpeg) James Wagner and Barry Hoggard at Man Bartlett’s 2012 performance score: “Place your less-dominant hand on the wall for 42 seconds. If possible, make eye contact with someone you love” (photo Miguel Rodriguez, courtesy Man Bartlett) I first met James online, sometime around 2009, during the early days of Art Twitter. He came to a performance of mine in January of 2010, taking one of the only photos of it and writing an incredibly kind blog post. Despite already having lived an expansive existence by that point, he still expressed ecstatic curiosity for a nobody doing a weird thing; James was magnetic and exceptionally rare. His pursuit of knowledge knew no bounds, and he represented the very best of what might be considered the true collector’s spirit. He was intoxicating, and to spend any time with him was to be both charmed and intellectually engaged. It’s one thing for a person to have an impact on your early career; it’s another for that to grow into a lasting kinship. Over time I have come to understand just how rare he was in this world, and especially in this city. James was the real deal, a tireless appreciator of any and all creative and cultural work, no matter how seemingly small or marginal. I loved his eye as a photographer, too. He had an ability to capture mundane and found objects in subversively magical ways, and browsing through his blog over the years while writing this, I became overwhelmed with how much he gave back through his posts. I’ll remember long, meandering, intimate meals. I’ll remember his joy of conversation, his joy of discovery, his joy of accumulating knowledge, not as a tool of power or expression of ego but simply for the sake of making his sense of the world bigger. And the way he and Barry brought together different types of artists, thinkers, and cultural producers was, in itself, an art. To say they don’t make them like James anymore would be an understatement. He was one of one, now and forever. --- ### John Powers [*John Powers*](https://www.johnpowers.us/?ref=hyperallergic.com) *is a sculptor.* I'm not sure how I know James Wagner; he and his husband Barry have been a fixture in my art world for as long as I can remember. Unlike a lot of artists who can point to James and Barry as the first collectors to buy their work, I can't point to any moment of origin — they were just there. We shared a friendship built on dozens of hazy meetings, at openings, at open studios, on the street, over dinners, and shared holidays, and finally, watching James die in his kitchen. My father was a priest. He believed deeply in Christ's promise of eternal life, and while his death was physically difficult, he died knowing he was going to meet his maker: A Just And Loving God. Watching my father pass was profound and beautiful. I found his death inspiring and comforting. James was about the most perfect atheist I've ever met. James died certain of oblivion and with as much grace and courage as my father. I was struck by how true he was to himself. On all my visits, we listened to the stream of a French radio station playing difficult contemporary composition — discordant, atonal, weird fucking stuff. At one point, I worried the music was perhaps confusing James's hearing, but Barry was very clear: This is what he wants to be listening to, he told me. We talked about music, maybe most of all. Gadenstatter, and Lefrançois, and whoever else — seriously cerebral listening — and for hours at a time! If it weren't his wish, I would have rebelled, insisted we listen to something else, or just sit in silence. But instead I indulged him, steeped myself in his truly urbane and unapologetic sophistication. Time well spent. "I want to say goodbye," he told me on that last day together. "To whom?" I asked — we'd just spoken with an old art-world friend in Italy. "Everyone, all of them!" James was full of love for us and wondered at our love for him. "Why?" he asked, happy but mystified by all the attention he was receiving. "You are a charming pig," I told James, which made him laugh. "I don't think I'll be here," he told me as I promised to return. No rancor, anger, fear, or resentment, just the material facts of life. "Then we'll say goodbye," I agreed, and we did, clasping hands one last time. Partings should be sudden, my dad used to tell me. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/John-Powers--James-Wagner--Barry-Hoggard.JPG) Left to right: John Powers, James Wagner, and Barry Hoggard (photo John Powers) --- ### Michelle Vaughan [*Michelle Vaughan*](https://www.michellevaughan.net/?ref=hyperallergic.com) *is a project-based artist who explores art history, politics, and social issues.* James, like several fanatics in my English family, was very particular about how he listened to music. Music was not just something you switched on for background vibes; music was an art that required full attention. Whether I was visiting James and Barry at their home, or whether we attended an opera or orchestral performance, he was particular in where he sat and how the acoustics affected his experience. James respected the composer, and therefore attempted to listen to the work as it was intended. I have always surrounded myself with creators who are specific and purposeful. So with James, it was my absolute pleasure over the last 20 years to appreciate his ability to pay serious attention. Not just to music, but all of art. So when he formed opinions or descriptions about what he experienced, it came from an ideal audience member, a committed connoisseur who cared deeply about beauty, culture, and art. --- ### David Silverman *David Silverman is a neighborhood friend and caregiver.* James’s and my interests overlapped in many spheres for over three decades … but the setting I most associate with him was the Union Square Greenmarket. To run across James in the market was to be ensnared in his sheer delight and voluble enthusiasm for the bounty of produce and seafood available and what he had/will/might cook with it, augmented by his pulling out his phone to show photos of last night’s, or last week’s, dinner (always well plated and garnished). I have a note of sympathy for what must have been Barry’s ongoing patience as James seemingly documented every home-cooked meal before a fork marred the surface. Occasionally, I’d spy James from behind in the midst of a focused consultation with a vendor while inevitably holding aloft images of whatever he had sourced from them recently. He was nothing if not passionate about his pursuits in all arenas. Some years ago, encountering him after an extended interval, James promptly brought up his serious concerns about the political direction of this country, and informed me they were already making contingency plans to relocate if remaining became untenable. In the middle of this somber discussion, we both became distracted by an improbable-looking vegetable neither of us could easily identify. After getting the attention of the farmer and learning what the intriguing thing was, we spent several minutes immersed in speculating about its taste, ways to prepare it, and what it might well accompany … all thoughts of existential crises temporarily remanded to the back burner. --- ### Jim Hubbard [*Jim Hubbard*](https://www.jimhubbardfilms.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) *is a filmmaker and co-director of the ACT UP Oral History Project.* James Wagner always seemed to me to be the least likely person to be in ACT UP. He appeared to be just what he was — a mild-mannered insurance executive who cared deeply, but always expressed himself with such equanimity. Before he became a member, he knew no one in ACT UP. He knew no one who wanted to join the group. He just, in his words, “slipped into a march” one day. He joined the affinity group ActionTours and, as a dedicated Tourist, talked his way into a Bill Clinton fundraiser and quietly and resolutely spoke to Clinton about what was needed to end the AIDS crisis. It was the exact opposite of Bob Rafsky screaming at Clinton, “I’m dying of AIDS while you’re dying of ambition,” but nonetheless an essential part of the same campaign to force the government to deal with the crisis. James was someone who did everything with a steadfast determination. Whether that meant climbing to the top of the Statue of Liberty several times to find the correct wrench to open the windows so that ACT UP and Women's Health Action and Mobilization (WHAM!) could hang a banner across the face of the statue or being the support person when ACT UP members barged their way onto *CBS News*, he was always there to do his part for the cause. --- ### Lucas Ondak *Lucas Ondak is a transsexual* [*curator, writer, and researcher*](https://burnaway.org/contributors/lucas-ondak/?ref=hyperallergic.com) *from Edmond, Oklahoma, the occupied land of the Comanche, Kickapoo, Kiowa, Osage, and Wichita people.* I didn’t know James for long, but it was clear from the moment we met that he had a wealth of knowledge. I remember walking through Wave Hill with James and Barry. We had just spent an afternoon admiring art, and the hot summer sun had depleted my energy. But James was as lively as ever: moseying up to trees, reciting their Latin names, reveling in the shape and color of their leaves. He had such verve. I wish I’d been able to learn more from him, but I’m forever grateful for the time we shared. ### Trump’s Slimy Pool Breeds Memes URL: https://hyperallergic.com/trumps-slimy-pool-breeds-memes/ Last updated: 2026-06-23T10:00:28.000Z Flavia Rando is the New York queer icon you don’t know enough about. She participated in the first art exhibition to include the word "lesbian" in the title. She sat at the “gay table” at the Brooklyn College cafeteria. In 1969, while riding the 14th street crosstown bus, she met the lesbian feminist activist Martha Shelley, who invited her to a Gay Liberation Front meeting. And the rest is history — well, living history, as Rando is nowhere near done. Alexis Clements interviews the artist and educator for Hyperallergic’s [Queer Elders](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/queer-elders/) series. Speaking of New York: Artist Danielle De Jesus shows up at the Knicks parade with a press pass, a film camera, and memories of watching kids playing basketball on public courts in her native Brooklyn. Her photographs, and her reflections on the Knicks’ historic win, capture the totally magical moment we’re living in this city. Regardless of what team you’re on, here’s something we can all delight in: Trump’s Reflecting Pool paint job is a slimy mess, and we’ve got the algae-themed memes to prove it. I just love it when a climate change denier accidentally breeds his own ecosystem. *—Valentina Di Liscia, senior editor* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/flavia-rando.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/by-the-force-of-flavia-randos-presence/) [ By the Force of Flavia Rando’s Presence ](https://hyperallergic.com/by-the-force-of-flavia-randos-presence/) Far too many queer elders are not as widely known as they should be, precisely because their queerness, and often their gender, led others to place barriers in their path. And yet, many have carried right along regardless. Flavia Rando is one such person. A Brooklyn native, a child of immigrants, a lesbian who came out in her late teens in 1961, Rando went on to join the Gay Liberation Front and Radicalesbians, found her own photo research business, participate in the first art exhibition to include the word lesbian in the title, and wheat-paste her work and that of other lesbian artists across Midtown. Later on, she would influence thousands in classrooms throughout the New York City area as a professor teaching women’s and gender studies, as well as art history. We spoke over the phone about her pathway into art-making and politics, her teaching, and some of what she’s learned along the way. | Alexis Clements [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/by-the-force-of-flavia-randos-presence/) --- SPONSORED [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/GW-corcoran-ad.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/how-the-gw-corcoran-is-rethinking-interaction-design-education/) ****How the GW Corcoran Is Rethinking Interaction Design Education** The Interaction Design program at the George Washington University Corcoran School of Arts and Design is utilizing partnerships across DC to encourage its students to develop more inclusive design practices. [Learn more ](https://hyperallergic.com/how-the-gw-corcoran-is-rethinking-interaction-design-education/) ## News [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/reflecting-pool.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/happy-algaebtq-month-from-trumps-reflecting-pool-memes/) - President Trump’s paint on the floor of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, a color he dubbed "American Flag Blue," is turning a barf-green. Here are [some of the best memes](https://hyperallergic.com/happy-algaebtq-month-from-trumps-reflecting-pool-memes/) that have come from it. - Brooklyn’s South Bushwick Community Church is seeking to raise $2 million after a [three-alarm blaze caused devastating damage](https://hyperallergic.com/historic-brooklyn-church-destroyed-by-devastating-fire/). --- ## Photo Essay [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/knicks-parade.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/capturing-new-york-pride-at-the-historic-knicks-parade/) [ Capturing New York Pride at the Historic Knicks Parade ](https://hyperallergic.com/capturing-new-york-pride-at-the-historic-knicks-parade/) We ate bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches and got to school by swiping MetroCards. We have our own language, style, and unmatched pride. We call NYC home. | Danielle De Jesus [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/capturing-new-york-pride-at-the-historic-knicks-parade/) --- ## Film [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/Upscaled---Play-Button_Cropped-3.png)](https://hyperallergic.com/in-a-new-documentary-artists-get-candid-about-ai/) [ In a New Documentary, Artists Get Candid About AI ](https://hyperallergic.com/in-a-new-documentary-artists-get-candid-about-ai/) The short film from the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project is based on a survey of over 2,000 postsecondary arts graduates across the US. [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/in-a-new-documentary-artists-get-candid-about-ai/) --- ## From Our Critics [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/vanessa-german.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/vanessa-germans-shrine-to-forgotten-black-girls/) [ vanessa german’s Shrine to Forgotten Black Girls ](https://hyperallergic.com/vanessa-germans-shrine-to-forgotten-black-girls/) In new sculptures that vibrate with color and movement, the artist vivifies the stories of the girls who attempted to escape from a Louisville detention center in 1913\. | Natalie Weis [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/vanessa-germans-shrine-to-forgotten-black-girls/) --- ## Opinion [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/art-basel-opinion.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/marc-spiegler-got-it-all-wrong/) [ Marc Spiegler Got It All Wrong ](https://hyperallergic.com/marc-spiegler-got-it-all-wrong/) In a guest essay for the New York Times, the former Art Basel global director presented a vision of a Brave New Art World that has little to do with art and those who make it. | Barbara Pollack [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/marc-spiegler-got-it-all-wrong/) --- ## Member Comment Those interested in the role of textiles in the lives of the enslaved should read All that She Carried, which traces the history of Ashley’s sack. The sack was given to Ashley by her mother when the young girl was taken from her and sold to a new owner. The author uses the contents of the sack, and the message embroidered on it, to illuminate slave life in South Carolina, one of the most rigorously oppressive states. Fascinating history, and you won’t be able to avoid a few tears along the way. Mary Boast on “[The Inner Worlds of Black Quilters](https://hyperallergic.com/the-inner-worlds-of-black-quilters/)” --- ## From the Archive [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/joey-terrill.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/joey-terrill-windows-into-queer-chicano-life/) [ Joey Terrill’s Windows Into Queer Chicano Life ](https://hyperallergic.com/joey-terrill-windows-into-queer-chicano-life/) “I want my work to have a confessional nature about my life, my identity, and who I am,” the artist said in an interview with *Hyperallergic*. | Valentina Di Liscia [Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/joey-terrill-windows-into-queer-chicano-life/) _Includes the latest 500 public posts. Use `/sitemap.xml` for the complete archive of public content._