Tom of Finland Foundation Turmoil
Hrag Vartanian on Mala Iqbal's vignettes of the metropolis, museum union updates, and Mamdani doubles art grants.
It’s a lovely day for upholding labor rights. As Whitney Museum of American Art workers celebrate a new contract, Staff Writer Rhea Nayyar brings us a hopeful update from unions at three other institutions: the American Folk Art Museum, Brooklyn Museum, and the Guggenheim.
What better reminder of why we fight for culture than a show of beautiful new paintings? Hyperallergic Editor-at-Large Hrag Vartanian writes movingly about Mala Iqbal's vignettes of the metropolis and its familiar strangers, on view at JJ Murphy in Manhattan.
It’s also Banned Books Week, when we defend freedom of expression even more vociferously than usual. If you’re in NYC, head to the Brooklyn Public Library for a timely talk with artist and author Christopher Myers, film producer Karin Chien, and publisher Namrata Tripathi, moderated by Vartanian.
—Valentina Di Liscia, senior editor
Mala Iqbal Paints the Space We Share With Strangers
Figures jostle the surface of every Mala Iqbal canvas with the energy of a great metropolis. Many are bathed in an orange and yellow glow, a tinge of artifice for people who live under electric light, places where even the sun isn’t enough. Some of the paintings forgo that effect, like “Through the Curtains” (2026). Left to right, we see a scene of collapse, which is obscured by a tulle curtain rendering like a faded negative; a figure reacts, almost numbly; and ultimately another curtain finishes the scene with a pictograph-like pattern — life, transformed by a screen, experienced by someone, and turned into an indecipherable language. I view it as a metaphor for how our screens deliver collapse and violence with every scroll, faster than we can process it. | Hrag Vartanian
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Surveying Hank Willis Thomas's most iconic artworks across a range of media, this exhibition at Zimmerli Art Museum explores how images shape perception, identity, and values. By questioning what feels familiar, the artist connects historical moments of resistance to our lives today and invites us to remain open to change.
News
- After months of collective bargaining and looming strikes, unionized staff at the Brooklyn Museum, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and American Folk Art Museum ratify their contracts.
- NYC artists can now receive up to $10,000 in city-funded grants, double the amount of previous appropriations, Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs announce.
- The British Museum will provide audio tour options for its Bayeux Tapestry exhibition after a blind patron pursued legal action against the London institution last week.
- Francis Lee Rogers, a 63-year-old artist whose neighbors and subjects were the birds of Central Park, is found dead.
Pocket Review
Maia Ruth Lee Invites Us to Embody the Interval
The works draw on motifs of migration, but the motifs themselves migrate across the gallery. | Min Park
Read MoreFeature
Queer Artists Say Tom of Finland Foundation Has Lost Its Way
Former artist residents of the LA nonprofit fear leadership has strayed from the radical, queer energy that Tom and his house embody. | Matt Stromberg
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New Poster Exhibition Showcases the Importance and Impact of Indigenous Designers
“Designed to Be Red: Native American & Indigenous Poster Works” is now on view at Poster House in New York City through February 21, 2027.
Hyper Links
- Dating is hard for everyone, just ask the Very Hungry Caterpillar.
- Nieman Lab reports on Columbia University Journalism School’s decision to pause its MA, a $120,000 nine-month program, to carry out a “critical evaluation” of the curriculum.
- Knickerbocker Avenue in Brooklyn will be temporarily named “Alvarado Ave” in honor of Knicks guard Jose Alvarado, Bushwick Daily reports.
From the Archive
What Makes Twins So Fascinating?
The secret life of doubles is rich fodder for storytelling, as Twinkind thoroughly demonstrates. | Sarah Rose Sharp
Read MoreThe Image Centre — Photography Research Fellowships
In 2027, six fellowships of $4,000–$70,000 CAD will support research projects on The Image Centre’s photography collections. Open to students, scholars, and artists.
Deadline: October 18, 2026 | imagecentre.ca/fellowship
