| If you read about art, you’ve probably heard rumblings about the “crisis in art criticism,” but is it legitimate? Hyperallergic’s Managing Editor Hakim Bishara ponders the question in a must-read essay this week. "Art criticism is only in crisis if you stick to old definitions of what it is and who can practice it," he writes, and calls out the parties that have a vested interest in the genre's decline. Another insightful opinion piece this week comes from Damien Davis, who looks at the pernicious phenomenon of “Black fatigue” in the art world, following peaks in the market for Black portraiture. While Davis considers the media backlash against Thomas J. Price’s 12-foot sculpture of a Black woman, “Grounded in the Stars” (2023), in Times Square, Hyperallergic’s Staff Reporter Rhea Nayyar got opinions on the piece from actual people on the street. In other news, we remember Koyo Kouoh, curator of the 2026 Venice Biennale, who passed away on May 10 at the age of 57. Here in New York, a guerrilla ad campaign urging New Yorkers not to vote for Andrew Cuomo and Eric Adams is making its way across Brooklyn bus stops. In addition, make sure to read Sháńdíín Brown’s review of Diné artist Dakota Mace’s first solo museum exhibition, at SITE Santa Fe, and Nereya Otieno’s take on a David Hammons show in LA. And definitely check out our excerpt from The Art Spy: The Extraordinary Untold Tale of WWII Resistance Hero Rose Valland, Michelle Young’s fascinating study of the curator who protected art against Nazi plunder during World War II. As always, wrap up your weekend reading with A View From the Easel and Required Reading. Enjoy! — Natalie Haddad, Reviews Editor | | |
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 | | The genre is more alive than ever, so why are many eager to pronounce it dead? | Hakim Bishara |
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SPONSORED |  | | | | The St. Paul company that gave August Wilson his start has embedded itself into the lives of its community for nearly 50 years. Learn more |
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NEWS THIS WEEK |  | - A guerrilla ad campaign targeting Andrew Cuomo and Eric Adams is sweeping across Brooklyn, one bus stop at a time.
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A criticized plan to “beautify” parts of Chinatown is moving forward as the Department of Cultural Affairs begins to search for artists for the project. -
Cameroonian curator Koyo Kouoh, who was selected to lead the 2026 Venice Biennale, died suddenly at the age of 57 on Saturday, May 10. -
Artists brace for high production costs as Trump’s tariff policies change day by day.
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| VIEWS ON “GROUNDED IN THE STARS” |  | | Behind the declining demand for Black portraiture, and the backlash against Thomas J Price’s Times Square sculpture, lurks a strategic campaign of erasure. | Damien Davis
Hyperallergic set out to hear from people seeing the artwork onsite, and their thoughts were considerably different from the online discourse. | Rhea Nayyar |
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SPONSORED |  | | | | Work by finalists for this year’s cycle of the largest award for women figurative realist painters is on view at the Muskegon Museum of Art. Learn more |
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NYC HIGHLIGHTS |  | | From local concerns in the Bronx to global issues in Queens, plus a trip to see Indigenous art in New Jersey, our favorite art is far-reaching right now. | Natalie Haddad, Lisa Yin Zhang, Julia Curl, Petala Ironcloud, and Alexandra M. Thomas
Mary Ann Unger’s massive biomorphic artworks, now on view in New York City, are shockingly prescient and powerful now more than ever. | Rhea Nayyar
With its signature two-toned design and illustrations, the mock newspaper encouraged polite passenger etiquette and promoted local attractions. | Maya Pontone |
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| FROM OUR CRITICS |  | | Through his art, Yuji Agematsu brings reverence and discipline to this job of living, and acknowledges each human’s durational condition. | Debra Brehmer
The artist’s show at SITE Santa Fe shows how Indigenous thought and contemporary exhibition-making can co-exist without compromise. | Sháńdíín Brown
His elegantly simple exhibition — just darkness and flashlights — prompts a rethinking of what we consider worthy art. | Nereya Otieno |
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SPONSORED |  | | | | Join CPAL for their third annual conference on promoting equity in the stewardship of multiple individual artistic legacies. June 2–4, 2025. Learn more |
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NEW IN BOOKS |  | | His first and last trip to the city in 1940 was not for military purposes — he left that to his generals — but for his one true love: art. | Michelle Young
Like an art history detective, Mei Mei Rado mines textiles and techniques to reveal cross-cultural Chinese-European liaisons driven by nationalism and a keen interest in design. | Nageen Shaikh
Craig Thompson’s rhizomatic new graphic novel about the root’s farming industry exposes the paradoxes of Trump’s America. | Noah Fischer |
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MORE ON HYPERALLERGIC |  | | “There’s a Rauschenberg piece I like to sit with to reconnect with why I make art at all.” | Lakshmi Rivera Amin
This week: Joe Sacco on truth and art, the invention of “close reading,” a century of Mrs. Dalloway, Google gets a makeover, the biggest and smallest dogs meet, and much more. | Lakshmi Rivera Amin
Residencies, fellowships, grants, and open calls from the Vilcek Foundation, the Oak Spring Garden Foundation, and more in our monthly list of opportunities for artists, writers, and art workers. |
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