Books
When Artists Take the Law Into Their Own Hands
Novelist and scholar Yxta Maya Murray elucidates how the most rigorous critiques of the law often emerge from artistic practice.
Reviews
Art
The Artifacts of Austin’s Past Come Tumbling Back
The giant video projection of artifacts in Past Deposits is in constant conversation with the pedestrians, roadways, and architecture that surround it.
Art
Spirit House Manifests the Ghosts of Asian-American History
The artists in this exhibition know that we cannot simply “get over” the history of racialization, as well as the destructive legacy of US imperialism.
Art
The Last Roar of the Lion of Punjab
Rather than his military prowess or finely crafted weapons, it was Sikhism that sustained Ranjit Singh’s empire.
Film
Clarion Calls to Civic Justice at the Venice International Film Festival
Directors Andres Veiel, Petra Costa, and Errol Morris to engage with the contemporary politics of Germany, the United States, and Brazil.
Art
David Hockney Celebrates His Renaissance Inspirations
The core message of visual analysis and close looking in Hockney and Piero: A Longer Look is an apt mantra for the National Gallery's history.
Art
When Hope Is Not Enough for Art
The Harrisons' Survival Piece #5: Portable Orchard at The Whitney is a calm and orderly response to the dystopian possibilities of climate upheaval.
Art
What Are the Politics of Color in Art?
A Treatise on Color: Vols. I–IV examines notions of value and emotional resonance to interrogate the influence of hue in its exploration of color.
Art
Simone Leigh’s Monuments to the Black Femme
Leigh’s survey split between two Los Angeles venues demonstrates the futility in prescribing a definitive role to the Black feminine in a postcolonial world.
Books
Isabella Stewart Gardner’s Never-Ending Quest for Beauty
Natalie Dykstra meticulously combs through archival material to fashion a biography of the inimitable, complex arts patron, who ordered her private letters to be destroyed after her death.
Film
The Slipperiness of COVID-Era Cultural Memory
Director Lou Ye follows a film crew in Wuhan who decides to revive a project abandoned 10 years prior, only to be placed under lockdown during shooting.
Film
The Indie Roots of Confessional Film
In the late 1980s and '90s, a wave of independent directors turned cameras on themselves, utilizing documentary as a mode of confession and self-reflection.