The contemporary wing of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art greets the visitor with a medley of ubiquitous sights. Unlike the rest of the marble-pillared and gold-leafed building, the room immediately envelopes you into tall bright white walls dashed with stanchionsRead more…
One World at the Shedd Aquarium
Surrounded by tourists and families I embraced myself for the Shedd Aquarium’s aquatic show: One World. The uncomfortable pebbly concrete seating of the theatre stretched itself in a grand semi-circle across the aquatic pool’s length. The stair style seating flowedRead more…
Where Art is Now.
Not what, not who, not how, but where. Where Art is Now. The MCA’s tagline is quick and cheeky—a definition of the contemporary that is comfortable, explicit, accessible, and, well, objectively true. In 2011 the MCA Vision Campaign reformulated theRead more…
How it Feels
We walk by faith, and not by sight, but how do we critique? In Hilton Als’ critique of the seminal film adaptation “Moonlight” by Barry Jenkins and in Peter Schjeldahl’s critique of Kerry James Marshall’s retrospective “Mastry,” readers are offeredRead more…
The Prints of Eric Avery and the Meditation of the Overwhelming
Together. Two prints hang side by side in a small gallery room. They either greet you as you walk in—the first rotation along the wall—or they fall into the blind spot abyss of the doorway. Initially, the prints seem connectedRead more…
Blue is for Jeans
Stanchion-less, frame-less, cover-less, case-less hangs the Traveling Memorial Quilt in the Block Museum’s exhibition “Keep the Shadow Ere the Substance Fade: Mourning During the AIDS Crisis.” The large navy backdrop of canvas is decorated with a full-sized leather pride flagRead more…
No Loitering: Jaar’s Radical Approach to the Museum Photograph & Film
In the MCA’s photography exhibition WITNESS, the museum draws from its permanent collection to depict the photographer as both artist and spectator- an exploration of the finite encounter behind the photograph rather than the infinite interpretations the photograph evokes. TheRead more…
Do Critics Need Stanchions Too?
“…criticism doesn’t mean delivering petty, ill-tempered Simon Cowell-like put-downs. It doesn’t necessarily mean heaping scorn. It means making fine distinctions. It means talking about ideas, aesthetics and morality as if these things matter (and they do). It’s at base anRead more…