Feature
Mamdani Memes Remind Us Good Things Can Still Happen
New Yorkers are celebrating the mayoral candidate's establishment defeat and using humor to subvert racist commentary.
New York
Feature
The Enduring Legacy of ’80s Harlem Drag Balls
More than three decades since Paris Is Burning put the underground scene on a world stage, ball culture remains a haven for the queer community.
Art Review
Young Joon Kwak’s Luminescent Bodies
The artist’s magnificent, rhinestone-encrusted cast sculptures tell multiple stories that look at contemporary queer and trans existence.
Sponsored
Announcement
Design Process in Practice at Pratt Manhattan Gallery
A new exhibition unveils the creative journeys of Pratt Institute’s Communications Design alumni. On view June 27–September 6.
Guide
Four New York City Art Shows to See Right Now
From Glenn Ligon’s critique of society’s ills to Diane Arbus’s complicity in them, the solo shows below provide plenty of food for thought.
Art Review
Chloë Bass Eschews the Clichés of Mixed-Race Art
The artist’s Twice Seen explores visibility and perception, challenging us to refuse to turn one another into novelties.
Art Review
A Massive Diane Arbus Exhibition Does So Little
Questionable curatorial choices seem intended to prevent critical discussion in a major survey at Manhattan’s Park Avenue Armory.
Art Review
Love Pulses Through Elle Pérez’s Photography
Pérez’s impulse as a photographer is to hold a feeling still — which is, really, a means of honoring the living, witnessing them.
News
New York’s Elizabeth Street Garden Saved From Demolition
After fighting for years against a proposal to flatten the garden to build affordable housing, advocates welcome a new deal with the city that spares the beloved green space.
Feature
When NYC’s Piers Were a Sanctuary for Gay Gathering
In the 1960s, amid the shipping industry's decline, the empty piers became a site for cruising and creativity for gay men in particular.
Art Review
For Glenn Ligon, Language Is Material
An exhibition of Ligon’s well-known works at the Brant Foundation shows how language fails us and confronts us with silence.
Feature
30 NYC Monuments of Black Americans You Should Know
From Harriet Tubman to Duke Ellington, the city boasts a wealth of public art honoring Black individuals, the subject of a timely new book.