Art
I don't actively seek out photographs and films documenting Detroit's decay. Detroit ruin porn could be cast as a useful reminder that no city is invincible, but in recent years the sheer quantity of photographs coming out of Detroit hasn't felt remotely empowering. The images of the destruction are
Art
BERKELEY, California — As the grand finale for SFMoMA's exhibition, Stage Presence, which delved into the theatrical of contemporary art, Rashaad Newsome performed "Shade Compositions" (2005) in Haas Atrium, just inside the museum's entrance, on October 4. "Shade Compositions" has been an ongoing pe
Art
BERKELEY, California — Recently I went on my first visit to the Berkeley Art Museum to see their Barry McGee show. To be honest, I was mostly indifferent to McGee walking into the show, and largely skeptical about graffiti or street artists' role in a museum setting. Although the show convinced me o
Art
CHICAGO — Given that most of us labor in virtual space these days and our work requires little more than a desk, a computer, and a keyboard to get done, why do we stick to such outmoded concepts as cubicles and cafeterias? A current exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago, The Outdoor Office: Jon
Books
Like the ever-present junkies on the TV show “The Wire,” fans of the acclaimed HBO series can never seem to get enough. Legions of viewers stayed glued to the tangled plot over five seasons — and their cravings were stoked for five years more through blogs, behind-the-scenes books, essays, college c
Art
I think it's funny that Patricia Albers's recent and authoritative biography on Joan Mitchell was given the subtitle “Lady Painter.” It's my only guess that Mitchell's lifestyle and her painting were so out of character for the time that the term becomes ironic. The artist was known for her camarade
Art
A cloud of criticism, apology and embarrassment hangs over the oeuvre of Ferdinand Hodler, the prodigiously talented Swiss painter who was born the same year as Vincent van Gogh (1853) and died, like Gustav Klimt, in 1918. Hodler’s work bridges the academic neo-classicism of Jean-Auguste-Dominique I
Performance
As a high school kid, I thought Eugène Ionesco was pretty much one of the best writers I had encountered up to that point. He was an entrenched misanthrope with a brutal wit who wasn't afraid to take on politics, philosophy, and the unfortunate realities of human interaction. And, most importantly t
Art
The American Museum of Natural History in New York is legendary for its examples of exquisite taxidermy and assemblages of bones, but these artifacts owe much of their vital aura to the museum’s trompe l’oeil murals, which offer sweeping panoramic visions of a land before time. Despite their flat su
Art
CHICAGO — A few years ago, when I spent most of a summer in Prague (Czech Republic), I visited the lapidarium, the museum where they store all the fragments of old statues. I thought of that museum again when I saw Industry of the Ordinary: Sic Transit Gloria Mundi at the Chicago Cultural Center. In
Art
BERKELEY, California — At Haines Gallery in San Francisco’s Financial District, I finally got to see Ai Weiwei’s notorious “Kui Hua Zi” (Sunflower Seeds). There has been much hype around Ai Weiwei and this particular installation, and seeing it caught me by surprise. The Haines Gallery installation
Art
The Dumbo Arts Festival was pure unadulterated art-as-spectacle this weekend as tens of thousands of art lovers streamed along the waterfront, between streets, into buildings, and under the bridge to inhale an all-encompassing slew of pop-up art pieces strewn about the neighborhood. To consider the