Art
How Free Is Free?
Where political repression is not at issue, is it beside the point to talk about artistic freedom?
Essays
Art
Why There Are Great Artists
The current exhibition of paintings, watercolors, and prints by Sylvia Plimack Mangold at Alexander and Bonin (March 16–April 28, 2012) got me thinking once again about the different kinds of spaces she has constructed in her work, beginning with the tilting planes in her early paintings, such as "F
Art
God’s Eye View
Somehow I missed the 16,400 internet posts reporting that the ill-fated luxury liner, Costa Concordia — presumably still on its side in the waters off Tuscany’s Isola del Giglio — was the setting for the first act of Jean-Luc Godard’s latest feature, Film Socialisme (2010).
Art
Everything Is Fine
What does it mean to be “Perfectly Happy, Even Without Happy Endings”? Early this week, The New York Times published an article under that title by longtime Philadelphia Inquirer film critic (and former Village Voice art critic) Carrie Rickey. It told the story of an independent film producer named
Art
Mirror, Mirror
What do we see when we look at art? What do we want to see? Answers come readily and are various: we seek beauty; enlightenment; pleasure; escape from ourselves; insight into those same selves.
Art
Unassimilated and Inadmissible
When Katherine Kuh asked Edwin Dickinson about his painting, "Self-Portrait in Uniform" (1942), where the artist depicts himself in a mirror dressed as a Union soldier, he answered, “I’ve had a number of hobbies; one was the Civil War. For about nine years I was particularly interested in that subje
Art
Adrift in the Cosmos
Any year that begins with the caucusing of Republicans in Iowa and the sacking of Jim Hoberman at the Voice can come to no good. Yet here we are embarking on a new venture, Hyperallergic Weekend, to see what we can make of it.
Art
The Faraway Kingdom of North Korea
The death of Kim Jong Il has reinforced the feeling that North Korea may just be one of the most remote places on earth, yet it is a distance not based on geography but psychology. Looking at the retro-seeming images from this faraway land makes me think its population of 24 million has been trapped
Art
Patti Smith, MoMA and a Revolutionary Year
On December 19th of last year, Patti Smith and Michael Stipe gave a “walk-in performance” in the atrium of the Museum of Modern Art to celebrate the centennial of Jean Genet — poet, playwright, novelist, radical leftist, hustler and thief. It was also the final day of the uprising in Sidi Bouzid, Tu
Art
Art With a Dash of Hospitality But Save Room for Dessert
I'm almost embarrassed to confess I've only just recently made the acquaintance of Wayne Thiebaud's work. The man's been painting upwards of 70 years and spent much of his time in California. I, despite my accumulation of years in New York, also consider California my home. There's really no excuse.
Art
Convulse: Exploring the Healing Powers of Shaking
Perhaps from embarrassment or hitting a deep seated pain. A sensitive nerve that doesn’t like to be touched or exposed. Whatever the particular cause, its effect is a shutter that runs down the spine. A quivering sensation starting at the nape of the neck and rolling like a barbed ball of wire down
Art
What Is So Asian About Asian Art Today?
MÉRIDA, MEXICO — Over the past two years planet art has born witness to a drastic metamorphosis. The mental apparition of “Asian Art,” inhabiting its blanket concept, was once as innocuous as Casper the friendly ghost. Westerners were at leisure to muse and amuse themselves with its mysteries and ex