Author: Iris
Jesse Krimes vividly recalls the moment he chose to be an artist. During a year in solitary confinement, while awaiting sentencing on nonviolent drug-related charges, he had a life-defining realization: No matter what, he was going to be an artist. “I decided early on that I was going to make the most of every minute I had [in prison]— whether I get five years, 20 years, or life — to create something positive in the world,” Krimes told me recently art news. “Everything about me can be taken away from me, except my ability to create.” Related articles Prior to…
All great empires rise gradually: brick by brick, wall by wall, fortress by fortress, war by war, plunder by plunder. When they fall, they don’t disappear in a puff of smoke. They dissipate slowly and painfully: year after year, decade after decade, century after century, coup after coup, revolt after revolt. A large grayscale artwork at the entrance to Ai Weiwei’s exhibition reads “The End” What you see is what you see at the Canopy Center for the Arts in New York. it reproduces the end frame great dictator (1940), a film by Charlie Chaplin A parody of Adolf Hitler.…
The Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) in Boston announced in a statement last week that the institution has acquired a total of 38 photographs by Swiss-American photographer Robert Frank (1924-2019). The acquisition includes 34 photographs donated by the June Leaf and Robert Frank Foundations, as well as four works purchased with funds donated by former Citibank CEO John Reed and his wife, Cynthia. These 38 photos were taken by Frank in Paris in 1949. Some of the photos show street scenes, such as children watching a blind street performer and a “circus” tram. Although Frank is primarily known for his…
As the third anniversary of Russia’s war in Ukraine approaches, the United Nations’ cultural arm UNESCO has granted “temporarily enhanced protection” to two Ukrainian heritage sites – the Odessa Literary Museum and the Babin Yar National Historical Monument. One of the cultural properties is the Babin Yar National Historical Memorial Reserve in Kiviv, commemorating the more than 33,000 Jews, as well as Roma and Soviet prisoners, who were murdered by the Nazis in a two-day pogrom in 1941. In March 2022, a Russian projectile struck near the site, killing five people. The Memorial to the Victims of the Holocaust was…
As the year 2024 winds to a close, it’s a fitting moment to reflect on the artists who have shaped its creative landscape. Judy Widener is one such artist whose work continues to captivate and inspire. She began painting at just five years old, wielding her brushes with a vision that seemed beyond her years. Her art is not just about imagery—it’s about breathing life onto the canvas. Widener’s portfolio is as diverse as her experiences, encompassing everything from equine portraits to playful snapshots of childhood, lush tropical scenes, and abstract expressions of emotion. She refuses to be tied down…
The beloved Jack Hanley Gallery in New York will close this month, marking its 37th anniversary, the gallery said late Tuesday. Jack Hanley Gallery, currently located in Tribeca, first opened in Austin, Texas in 1987 as Trans-Avant Garde Gallery. Founding dealer Jack Hanley moved the gallery to San Francisco in 1990 and renamed it the current gallery. Briefly, Hanley was still running a space in Los Angeles during the 2000s. Then, in 2008, the gallery closed its two spaces in California and moved again to New York, where it remained until the end. Related articles “We would like to express…
In 1973, gallerist Tibor de Nagy called Joyce Kozloff. His voice shook as he told her that Clement Greenberg had just left the back room after a fiery review of her latest work. Greenberg mocked the artist’s Three Facades (1973), which was based on the ornate brick and tile tapestry on the facade of a Mexican church, saying that it “looks… Looks like ladies’ embroidery”—as if that’s a bad thing. Kozlov told us that “Tibor was horrified” and asked her to “take it away.”Joyce Kozloff, Striped Cathedral (1977), acrylic on canvas, 72 x 180 inches (~1.8 x 4.6 m) (image…
After 12 years of photographing queer youth in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood, photographer Samantha Box realized around 2018 that this kind of documentation no longer appealed to her. “I don’t believe in documentary photography anymore,” she told art news during a visit to her Bronx studio in October. “I don’t believe in the ability to ask multiple questions or even create space for questions. I don’t think I should necessarily be doing this job.” To create her “Invisible” series, Box spent eight hours each night documenting the lives of queer young people who relied on Sylvia House, the city’s…
A famous story from Ovid’s first century narrative poem Metamorphosis The story goes like this: After the sun god Apollo killed the snake dragon Python, Cupid, the god of love, shot two arrows at Apollo in revenge. The first caused Apollo to fall madly in love with the fairy Daphne, while the second caused Daphne to insult Apollo, forcing her to turn into a laurel tree to escape his advances. This ancient Roman story of unrequited love and conquest was the basis for the world’s first opera daphne The play was written and composed by Ottavio Rinuccini and Jacopo Peri…
Naomi Beckwith, deputy director and chief curator of the Guggenheim Museum, will curate Documenta 2027, a high-profile art exhibition that takes place every five years in Germany Hosted once in Kassel. She is the first black woman to curate the festival in its 69-year history and the first since Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev in 2012. Two American-born curators run the festival. Her appointment comes shortly after the last election in 2022, following a lengthy selection process and facing turmoil in the years that followed. In the process, and against the backdrop of Israel’s war in Gaza, the entire selection committee resigned before…