Art
Required Reading
This week, Warhol's first self-portrait goes to auction, Sam Durant speaks about "Scaffold," India's problem with architectural preservation, Zadie Smith on black pain, the six people who created "Silence = Death," and more.
Weekend
Art
Weekend Words: Tape
"Which came first, the intestine or the tapeworm?"
Art
The Homages and Inventions of a Self-Taught Painter
Peter Shear is working through every form of abstraction, figuring out what paint can do.
Art
The Case for Tom Burckhardt
He resists institutional notions of what an abstract painting can be.
Art
Decoding the Trump Regime
What good can political art do?
Art
The Sexual Ambiguity of Henry Darger’s Vivian Girls
An exhibition sheds new light on the Chicago recluse’s most provocative images.
Music
Trapped by Tropes: Spoon, The New Pornographers, Alt-J, Charly Bliss
New albums by four indie-rock bands recycle and repurpose decades-old sounds, sometimes striking out and sometimes succeeding.
Art
The Contested Histories of Water
Two group shows make the case that, even at its most innocuous, water still poses hidden dangers.
Art
The Open-Ended Narratives of a Small Museum
What if Abstract Expressionism never happened?
Art
Required Reading
This week, Koch Brothers and arts funding, touring the National Museum of Taiwan, a monument commemorating the generosity of the Choctaw Nation to the Irish, urbanism and Apple's new HQ, the mysteries of "bog bodies" unveiled, and more.
Art
Weekend Words: Velvet
"I would rather sit on a pumpkin, and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion."
Art
The Startling Abstractions of Arpita Singh
For those who know only Singh’s figurative paintings, this exhibition of 33 abstract works will come as a surprise in the very best sense.