Artists Talk Midterms

November 8, 2022

Good morning. 🌤️ Election Day is here and there's much at stake. I don't think you can afford to sit this one out if you support reproductive rights, voting rights, sanity, and decency. Please, please vote!

Our news coverage today focuses on the midterm elections, with artists from key battleground states sharing their thoughts and concerns about this fateful day. Among other reports, we also look back at the history of the "I Voted" sticker and ask: Does it have any impact on voter turnout

There's a lot more, including reflections on the history of American landscape painting, photography from the San Francisco of the 1980s and ’90s, Hew Locke in London, and how a children's cartoon show from 1997 already knew that a certain Mondrian painting is hung upside down.

— Hakim Bishara, Senior Editor

Artists in Battleground States Share Their Thoughts on the Midterms

From Georgia to Arizona, from Nevada to New York, we asked artists in nine states to share urgent issues and reflections ahead of Election Day. | Elaine VelieandValentina Di Liscia

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THE LATEST

A still from the 1997 Arthur episode "Binky Barnes, Art Expert" (© 1997 WGBH. Underlying TM/© Marc Brown. All third party trademarks are the property of their respective owners; used with permission.)

A 1997 episode of Arthur shows Binky the “art expert” correcting the orientation of a Piet Mondrian painting. (Sounds familiar 👀?)

Billionaire cosmetics heir and Neue Galerie museum co-founder Ronald Lauder pours over $11 million into Republican Lee Zeldin’s gubernatorial campaign.

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Powerhouse Arts Introduces Wide-Format Latex Printing Services

The Brooklyn art organization’s new digital print format enables the production of images up to 10 feet wide and 100 feet long on a wide variety of media. Learn more.

LATEST REVIEWS

Carnival and Colonialism Converge in Hew Locke's The Procession

Locke’s stunning, sensuous spectacle of pattern and color, just like the grand tradition of Caribbean carnivals, hints at sinister elements that undergird the whole endeavor. | Aditya Iyer

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Join a Dynamic MFA Program in Art and Design at the University of Louisville

Every MFA student receives a generous scholarship, a private studio, and financial support for travel, research, and creative activity. Learn more.

An Artist's Quest to Decolonize Southern California's Water Supply

With The Metabolic Studio, artist Lauren Bon views her work as an act of reparation, an attempt to reverse the colonization of Southern California. | Renée Reizman

The Shadowy Past of San Francisco

Mimi Plumb's photos of 1980s and ’90s San Francisco look at the dissonance between an expanding metropolis and its surrounding environment. | Zach Ritter

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MOZAIK Philanthropy Announces Open Call in Solidarity With the Movement for Freedom in Iran

Artists from around the world who wish to express support for Iran’s protestors through art can submit to the Future Art Awards: WOMAN. LIFE. FREEDOM. Learn more.

MORE ON HYPERALLERGIC

A Brief History of the "I Voted" Sticker

Who designed the first sticker? And does anyone care about it anymore? | Rhea Nayyar

One City Is Making Its Waterfront Interactive

Canal Convergence, 10 years strong, brings large-scale interactive artworks to Scottsdale, Arizona’s waterfront. | Erin Joyce

COMICS

The History of American Landscape Painting Is Not Pretty

The country's most famous landscape painters pushed the idea of Manifest Destiny. Is there a better way to inspire people with landscape painting today? | Steven Weinberg

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