Art
Lucian Freud’s Mountains of Flesh
Freud’s forlorn, isolated figures and grotty interiors resonate appallingly with the steep cultural and social decline fated by Brexit, if it ever takes effect.
Review
Art
How the Curatorial Stereotyping of Chinese Art Essentializes the Work of Zheng Guogu
The juxtaposition of Guogu's concurrent solo shows is a call to substitute a more rigorous and nuanced critical focus for ready-made stereotypical tropes in understanding contemporary Chinese art.
Art
Camp at the Met Museum: A Serious Fail at “Failed Seriousness”
The problem with the exhibition is that it’s simultaneously too self-aware and too clueless to capture the essence of camp.
Film
Christo and Jeanne-Claude's Dream to Walk on Water
A new documentary reveals the passion and labor that went into creating artworks that look too fantastical to be true.
Art
“The AIDS Crisis Is Still Beginning,” Says Artist and Activist Gregg Bordowitz
In a retrospective at the Art Institute of Chicago, Bordowitz reflects on living as a queer Jewish man with HIV and challenges us to understand the AIDS crisis as both historical and contemporary.
Art
Paintings of Friends and Lovers Whose Inner Lives Glow Around Them
Louis Fratino’s characters so fully inhabit their emotional states that the world of thoughtless violence and casual cruelty seems to dissolve around them.
Art
A Fashion Duo Draws Inspiration from Detroit’s Labor History
For Labor of Love, the Toledos created a series of breathtaking garments, sculptures, paintings, and drawings inspired by various works in the Detroit Institute of Arts' world-class collection.
Film
How the First Smartphone Came Out in 1994, But Flopped
A new documentary examines the downfall of the software company General Magic, and raises questions about Silicon Valley's philosophy on failure.
Performance
A Factory that Processes Your Dandelion Wishes
The anonymous art collective simply known as the Art Department transformed a decommissioned building into “a secret wish-processing facility.”
Art
The Apprehensive Politics of a Generation Surface at the 2019 Whitney Biennial
Intellectual dispassion trumps emotional engagement at the latest edition of the Whitney Biennial.
Film
Unearthly Views of the World's Oldest Spaceport
Baikonur, Earth, a documentary premiering at the Panorama Europe Film Festival, surveys the facility that launched Sputnik.
Art
The Potential of Participatory Museum Exhibits
In a colorful group show at CAC Cincinnati, artists Calcagno Cullen, Amanda Curreri, and Lindsey Whittle invite visitors to join in their creative processes.