I arrived in Venice alone on November 12, 2015. I had been abroad for about two months, and this was the moment I had been waiting for. My scrappy, industrious European adventure would make me feel without a doubt thatRead more…
Protected: Two Vignettes: The Arts Post-Election
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Musings on the Contemporary from the Heart of the Past
I have been thinking a lot about the concept of a “dialectical contemporary” since reading Radical Museology by Claire Bishop. After following her on a flighty journey through three “contemporary” museums and discussing the benefits and drawbacks of their methods,Read more…
Black & White: from Moonlight to Martin
Reviews are the oddest things. It boggles the mind that “Black Power,” a Hilton Als review of the film Moonlight, and “Agnes Martin, a Matter-of-Fact Mystic” by New Yorker art critic Peter Schjeldahl are approximately the same length, in the sameRead more…
NSFW: Not Safe For Women
Trigger warnings: 2016 presidential election, sexual assault, misogyny It seems like the patriarchy has been receiving a lot of airtime lately, not least because of this harrowing election season. It has become truly draining to hear, day in and dayRead more…
A Fragile “Party of Life”
Tseng Kwong Chi’s photographs exude a lust for life. Whether he is pranking Moral Majority politicians, hitting the town in drag with his New York City circle, or traveling the U.S. as a Chairman Mao doppelganger, the complex identity politicsRead more…
The Exquisite Pain of Moving On
No matter how many times I listen to it, hearing the introductory chords to “Tailor” by Anaïs Mitchell is always like biting into oven-warm, homemade chocolate cake. There is decadent richness in the reverb on her acoustic guitar, warmth inRead more…
Tales from the Soapbox
“For all criticism is based on that equation: KNOWLEDGE + TASTE = MEANINGFUL JUDGMENT.” – Daniel Mendelsohn, The New Yorker “The art critic, however, formalizes and deliberately exemplifies the role of the spectator who realizes the artist’s work—not by leavingRead more…