> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://hyperallergic.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Required Reading
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/required-reading-4/
- Published: 2011-02-06T13:35:17.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T15:34:13.000Z
- Description: This week on Required Reading … William Powhida has devised a new power axis of art world affirmation … New York Observer explains the thing called the "professional collector" … at Idiom they ask an important question "Can an art experience be authentic even if the status of the work of art remains
- Author: Hrag Vartanian
- Tags: Opinion, #image-position-hidden, Charlie James Gallery, Ellen Gallagher, Fred Wilson, Iceland, Joe Bradley, Kara Walker, Kerry James Marshall, NEA, Phong Bui, Required Reading, William Powhida, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2025-11-17 09:23 (2009-2011)

[![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2011/02/11_cj_ruscha_600.jpg "11_CJ_ruscha_600")](http://williampowhida.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/11%5FCJ%5Fruscha%5Flarge.jpg?ref=hyperallergic.com)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2010/01/h-12.png)

Artist William Powhida has devised a power grid, *a la New York Magazine*, called, “If These Walls Could Talk – A Conversation” (2011) that will soon be going on display at the Charlie James Gallery in LA (February – April, 2011). It will also be part of the [Marine “art salon](http://www.c-artmarine.com/if-these-walls-could-talk.php?ref=hyperallergic.com)” in Santa Monica, whatever that means. See the whole image much larger so you can read the text [on his blog](http://williampowhida.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/11%5FCJ%5Fruscha%5Flarge.jpg?ref=hyperallergic.com).

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2010/01/h-12.png)

The *New York Observer* has a fascinating [post about the new beast called the “professional collector](http://www.observer.com/2011/culture/rise-art-pros?ref=hyperallergic.com).” Writer Anthony Haden-Guest explains, “collecting right now as having morphed far from its gloriously obsessive origins.”

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2010/01/h-12.png)

“[Good Future, Bad Future: on the Unauthenticated Avant-Garde](http://idiommag.com/2011/01/good-future-bad-future-on-the-unauthenticated-avant-garde/?ref=hyperallergic.com)” over at Idiom is a good read and it tackles the fascinating question, “Can an art experience be authentic even if the status of the work of art remains questionable?” I will say that I do cringe at some of the language, like “advanced capitalism” or “bourgeois,” both of which sound like something more related to the 19th or 20th Centuries rather than today.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2010/01/h-12.png)

NEA head, [Rocco Landesman, is saying something few people in the arts want to hear](http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/landesman-comments-on-theater/?ref=hyperallergic.com), “You can either increase demand or decrease supply,” he said. “Demand is not going to increase, so it is time to think about decreasing supply.” In other words, brace yourselves.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2010/01/h-12.png)

Over at the *Brooklyn Rail*, publisher [Phong Bui interviews the ubiquitous Joe Bradley](http://www.brooklynrail.org/2011/02/art/joe-bradley-with-phong-bui?ref=hyperallergic.com). The interview goes beyond a typical *Rail* interview in that is probes more personal aspects of Bradley’s life, but does it enlighten his work? You be the judge.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2010/01/h-12.png)

And over at Art:21, there are [some meditations on Black History](http://blog.art21.org/2011/02/04/ink-%E2%80%9Cremembering-so-as-not-to-forget-the-past-is-still-not-over%E2%80%9D-selected-meditations-on-black-history/?ref=hyperallergic.com#more-35500), including discussions of the work of Kara Walker, Ellen Gallagher, Fred Wilson, and Kerry James Marshall.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2010/01/h-12.png)

Finally, as a curious aside, which really isn’t *about* art but is worth a look nonetheless, is this post about efforts to [digitize all of Icelandic literature](http://blog.archive.org/2011/01/29/all-icelandic-literature-to-go-online/?ref=hyperallergic.com). The surprising thing is that the post mentions that the total literature of Iceland is under 50,000 books. Who knew. *hat tip Joanne McNeil*