Film
40 Strangers Meet in a Deeply Uncomfortable Documentary
In Leigh Ledare's new film The Task, his subjects are not only aware of their participation in an art project, but openly speak about it.
Reviews
Art
A Symphony of Delicate and Colorful Concrete Forms
Cathy Hsiao's concrete sculptures, currently on view at Chicago gallery Goldfinch, possess a surprising airiness.
Art
The Politics and Repercussions of Color in Two Exhibitions
Edgar Arceneaux complicates the viewer's relationship to the history of blackface, and Yishai Jusidman depicts his particular vision of the Holocaust.
Art
Looking to Cuba's Past to Fabricate Tomorrow's Utopia
Adiós Utopia memorializes the driving utopian conceit of contemporary Cuban art, its galleries a testament to the credulity of this dream.
Art
Alexis Rockman Paints the Past and Possible Futures of the Great Lakes
In an exhibition at the Grand Rapids Art Museum, Rockman portrays the histories and environmental crises of the world's largest freshwater ecosystem.
Books
A Graphic Novel Tells the Story of David Bowie, Orgies and All
With a nod to Heinz Edelmann and Milton Glaser, Néjib illustrates a couple of formative years in the life of David Bowie.
Art
Baltimore's Confederate History Seen Through the Lens of Intersectional Feminism
Lauren Frances Adams offers three bodies of work that celebrate black female exceptionalism and expose the supporting roles of white women in US Confederate history and propaganda, offering a multifaceted site-specific, visual history lesson centered in Baltimore.
Art
Soviet-Era Musical Records Up-Cycled from X-Rays
Rather than etched on vinyl, tiny grooves were cut onto a medical X-ray, tracing shallow circles over the ghostly shapes of bones.
Film
A New Film Charts 150 Years of African-American Art
Black Is the Color, a 50-minute documentary, offers a survey of African-American art from 1867 to today.
Books
Fusing Language and Landscape in Poetry
Lynn Melnick’s poetry — particularly its themes of sexual abuse, rape culture, violence, sex work, and drug use — pushes the boundary between public and private.
Art
When a Painting Becomes an Incantation
Douglas Florian’s choice of words reminds us how much our nation indulges in name-calling and name checks.
Art
Laurel Nakadate’s Diary of Mourning
Nakadate’s The Kingdom is haunted by grief and irrevocable loss.