This morning, several outlets published an open letter purportedly written by artist Dana Schutz and demanding that her painting “Open Casket” be removed from the Whitney Biennial.
Dana Schutz
Posted inNews
Protesters Block, Demand Removal of a Painting of Emmett Till at the Whitney Biennial
Artists are calling for the removal of Dana Schutz’s painting “Open Casket” from the 2017 Whitney Biennial, while others want more drastic action.
Posted inArt
The Violence of the 2017 Whitney Biennial
One of the themes of this year’s Whitney Biennial appears to be violence, and not every artist has the ability to transform it into a successful work of art.
Posted inArt
Painting on Message at the 2017 Whitney Biennial
This year, the Whitney Biennial includes plenty of painting. And — for the most part — the painting is on message. It’s eccentric figuration with political content.
Posted inArt
An Omnivorous Tour of the 2017 Whitney Biennial
See highlights from the 2017 Whitney Biennial, which opens to the public later this week.
Posted inArt
No Luxe, Calme, et Volupté for You, Baby
I was unexpectedly reminded of the wonderfully irreverent filmmaker Seijun Suzuki while looking at Dana Schutz’s painting, “Slow Motion Shower” (2015), which is included in her current exhibition, Fight in an Elevator, at Petzel.
Posted inArt
47 Painters Exhibit Symptoms of the Philip Guston Effect
BOSTON — Before 1968, when Philip Guston more or less began working on a new body of work that would define his late career, it could be said of him, as it was of Lord Dartmouth by the poet William Cowper: this was a man “who wears a coronet and prays.”
Posted inPerformance
Enduring Meaning in an Old Medium
Despite cold, rainy weather, a large audience turned out for “… towards meaning in a plural painting world,” a panel discussion moderated by Katy Siegel at Hunter College’s MFA building. The room was filled with young artists and MFA candidates eager to participate, and the place swelled to standing room only. Siegel explained that the modus operandi for the evening was driven by questions from and conversations had with students, and that it was only necessary to cross the hall or walk downstairs to view artwork from the Hunter MFA Thesis Fall 2012 exhibition.
Posted inArt
The Daily Practice of the Impossible
Dana Schutz, who is in her mid-30s, belongs to the generation of artists who grew up in an epoch where painting was routinely thought of as a dead practice. One couldn’t just be a painter, because doing so would be to enter a dusty domain crammed with empty signifiers. It would mean you were doing something that was obsolete (and reviled) — like speaking Latin to the drugstore cashier. The lines were pretty clear: dumb people became painters; smart people became conceptual artists who painted only when and if the subject called for it. This viewpoint might have started out as speculation, but now it’s a stupid and persistent prejudice.
Posted inArt
Photos from William Powhida’s “Surviving the Art World … ”
Over 30 people attended our Friday night performance by artist William Powhida, titled “Surviving the Art World Using the Art of Sorcery.” The first in our monthly lecture/performance/screening/event series, Powhida was able to explain the concept of value in the art world and the role of “magic.” Thankfully, photographer Miss Maro was there to capture the evening in living color.
