Art
A San Francisco School with an Artistic Mission
The most telling artifact in Energy That Is All Around is a letter artist Alicia McCathy received from her school, the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI), back in 1992.
Review
Art
Profaning Geometry, Venerating Uncertainty
With much of the art population out of town for the summer, the city’s galleries are understandably disinclined to mount thoughtful shows. Gleanings from the back room will usually suffice for the sparse summer clientele ducking in from overheated sidewalks. But there are always exceptions.
Art
The Durable Modernism of Bridget Riley
LONDON — Riley’s paintings establish a sort of bridge between old inquiries and more recent art: no matter how many years have passed since the inception of Modernism, she seems to suggest its bases are still the fundament of artistic endeavor, and always will be.
Art
Big Bang Vinyl
Using the breaking and reformation of a thousand vinyl records, artists Kevin Cooley and Phillip Andrew Lewis interpret the creation of the cosmos. The relics of the process and the final cacophonous product are on view at Pierogi gallery in Williamsburg.
Art
A Strange Scene of Star Cats and Astronomy
From a new space in Dumbo's 111 Front Street building, Stephen Romano Gallery is offering a unique mix of art that's contemporary, historic, and unapologetically strange. The second exhibition, Mysterium Cosmographicum, takes the cosmos as its theme, from the mysteries of outer space to the divine i
Art
Painting as Super Model
Yve-Alain Bois’s book Painting as Model was written twenty odd years ago and continues to be an important text, providing conceptual fodder for many contemporary art practices.
Art
Jackson Pollock's Renaissance Connection
FLORENCE, Italy — The city of Florence is paying homage to Jackson Pollock, well-known for his all-over syncretistic paintings, by connecting his work to that of Michelangelo’s.
Art
Artistic Revelations from Ancient Southeast Asia
With Lost Kingdoms: Hindu-Buddhist Sculpture of Early Southeast Asia, 5th to 8th Century, the Metropolitan Museum of Art once again proves its stature as a world-class museum — not just because of its collections, size, or location, but because it is one of the few institutions in the world that can
Art
Painting Layered Portraits of Emotion
CHICAGO — Greetings, Margot Bergman's fourth solo exhibition at Corbett vs. Dempsey, feels like a gesture to the gesture in its titular painting.
Art
3D Printing Coney Island's Bygone Electric Eden
Luna Park at Coney Island was an "electric Eden" of spindly towers and ornate architecture laced with some 250,000 lights. The amusement park was closed in 1944 after a catastrophic fire, and mostly photographs remain. To recapture some of the lost wonder, artist Fred Kahl is building a 3D-printed f
Film
China’s Buried Past and Submerged Future: Patty Chang and David Kelley’s 'Flotsam Jetsam'
In the opening moments of the film, Flotsam Jetsam (2007) by Patty Chang and David Kelley, currently playing at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, a bridge-like structure is seen in the distance, partially traversing what seems to be a wide river.
Books
“Reckless sympathy, scorn”: Paul Violi’s Last Poems
Paul Violi’s poetry has rarely been taken as seriously as it should be. Probably that’s because he never took the spirit of seriousness as seriously as many people do, especially when it comes to poetry. His erudition never wears an academic gown.