Author: Iris
Zoé Whitley is to step down as director of Chisenhale Gallery, the London art space that has nurtured adventurous emerging artists into bona fide stars. Whitley’s last day there will be March 1, 2025. Chisenhal Gallery did not specify her next steps when announcing her departure. During her five-year tenure at Chisenhale Gallery, she organized space exhibitions for artists including Lotus L. Kang and Nikita Gale. Both artists appear in this year’s Whitney Biennial after first exhibiting there. Related articles Further signs of Chisenhal Gallery’s influence came at this year’s Venice Biennale, which featured works by Rindon Johnson that were…
As the year 2024 winds down, it’s a perfect time to reflect on the voices shaping the creative world. Among them is Helena Kotnik, whose art has become a beacon for those drawn to the intersection of color, emotion, and psychology. With degrees in Fine Arts from Barcelona University and Akademie der bildenden Künste in Vienna, and a Master’s degree to her name, Helena has built a thoughtful approach to exploring the human condition. Her pieces, which she calls “psychological human landscapes,” offer more than just visual appeal—they serve as a lens through which to view the complexities of modern…
Luigi Mangione is portrayed as the “patron saint of justice in healthcare” (all screenshots Isa Farfan/allergicvia @commiepsychologies1) on ThreadsLast week, I had eye spasms from staring at media coverage of the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Now, with 26-year-old Luigi Mangione identified as an assassination suspect, new developments have slowed, and meme makers on social media platforms have begun glorifying the Gen Z computer science nerd-turned-high-IQ guy. -An overview of killings in the United States. According to police, a call from a McDonald’s employee led to Mangione’s arrest. (Meme from @adoptapet_77 on X) This shooting has been intertwined with…
BERLIN — At the opening reception of her career retrospective This Will Not End Well at Berlin’s Neue Nationalgalerie on November 22, Nan Goldin delivered a speech that reverberated across the world. “Why can’t I speak, Germany?” she asked, denouncing the country’s silencing of criticism against Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza. Goldin began her speech with several minutes of silence in honor of the tens of thousands of civilians killed in Gaza and Lebanon and the 815 Israeli civilians killed on October 7, 2023. Standing next to museum Director Klaus Biesenbach, she emphasized that her art is inseparable from her activism. Two…
Nikki Giovanni, the trailblazing poet, artist, educator and lifelong activist known as the “Princess of Black Poetry,” died Monday, December 9, at a hospital in Blacksburg, Virginia. She was 81 years old. Giovanni’s publicist told local reporters that she died of complications from lung cancer with her wife, Virginia “Ginny” Fowler, by her side.She was born Yolande Cornelia Giovanni Jr. on June 7, 1943, in Knoxville, Tennessee, and grew up between her birthplace and Ohio, where she attended Fisk University, graduated in 1967. The year after her grandmother died and Martin Luther King was assassinated, she began writing poetry to…
On Saturday (December 7), Pope Francis and the Holy See unveiled a nativity scene showing a wooden sculpture of the baby Jesus lying in a hood in a manger, a scene that polarized the world. It was a symbol of solidarity with Palestine that sparked both praise and outrage. As of today (December 11), the statue, which caused an international sensation, has disappeared from the site along with the entire manger and the model of the Baby Jesus.Initially reported by Christian and Italian news media, the manger, baby Jesus and hood were removed during Pope Francis’ general audience in the…
On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the publication of the book Rats (1986), Art Spiegelman’s wife Françoise Mouly told him, “Next Ratsyour greatest achievement may not be making it into a movie. “Today, more than a decade after those words, we have a movie. Directed by Molly Bernstein and Philip Doering, Art Spiegelman: Disaster is my muse (2024) is a biodoc rather than a strict adaptation RatsSpiegelman’s memoir, created a comic based on his father’s experiences at Auschwitz. Not that there’s that big of a difference. “I felt like there was a 5,000-pound rat breathing down my neck,”…
The late artist Richard Mayhew anchored his century-long life where water meets land. He was born in 1924 on the south shore of Long Island and died in September of this year in Soquel, on the north shore of Monterey Bay, California. His bright, color-saturated paintings, which he calls “psychic landscapes,” blend imaginary landscapes and emotional realms. Infused with memory, they are a meditation on his own relationship with the land, as well as that of his Native and African American ancestors. Venus Above Manhattan in New York City Opens a New Gallery Exhibition, Richard Mayhew: Watercolorsa collection of 22…
As the year 2024 draws to a close, it is a great time to review artists who have produced some interesting works this year. Jesse A. Kantu is an artist whose work resonates with the complexities of being human. Based in Houston, Kantu’s art strikes a thoughtful balance between personal reflection and shared experience. His pieces often blur the lines between philosophical inquiry and creative exploration, offering a deeply introspective yet universally relevant perspective on life. Kantu’s journey began with a solid academic foundation. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture with a minor in Art History from…
A selection of oil paintings by Dallas artist Jessica Vollrath. The daughter of an African-American father and a Mexican mother, Walrath discovered her love of painting around the age of 8 and spent her free time exploring various art supplies her mother found at garage sales. At age 15, she met the late Dr. Marilyn Daniels at an art opening. With Daniels’ encouragement, Vollrath earned a bachelor’s degree from Howard University in 2011 and a master’s degree from Texas Woman’s University in 2017. Her work focuses on sacred and familiar narratives of humanity’s search for connection and immortality: “My work…