Where Does Protest Art Fit in the “Canon” of Contemporary Art?

Have you voted yet? If you haven't and are able to, here's some handy information about voting early

Oct 28, 2020 • View in browser

Have you voted yet? If you haven’t and are able to, here’s some handy information about voting early or by mail, which no matter what anyone tells you, is safe and secure. This week, there’s lots of art to dive into. From PS1’s landmark show of art made against the backdrop of mass incarceration, to a protest art show at the Jewish Museum, and our take on the Whitney’s blockbuster Vida Americana, many of our latest reviews illuminate the ways in which artists and curators can challenge narratives of exclusion.Also worth checking out are deep dives into the long slept-on but fascinating work of artists Tishan Hsu, Andrew LaMar Hopkins, Feliciano Centurión, and of course, Amy Sillman.Looking for a way to shake up your routine? Catch this dance workshop focused on Afrolatinx music history.– Dessane Lopez Cassell, Editor, Reviews

Considering the "Carceral Gaze"

Tameca Cole, “Locked in a Dark Calm” (image courtesy MoMA PS1)

Nicole Fleetwood, lead curator of the exhibition Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration, defines “carceral aesthetics” as a visual language situated within circumstances of captivity, where freedom and unfreedom are not to be compared.The exhibition, on view at MoMA PS1 through April 4, displays works by 35 artists “who are or have been incarcerated” and artists “who have not but exposed aspects” of the carceral state, and demonstrates the urgent need for a shift in culture.

Latest Reviews

Where Does Protest Art Fit in the “Canon” of Contemporary Art? We Fight to Build a Free World prompts the question of whether political artworks can truly convey their own radicalism within the halls of an Upper East Side museum. Billy Anania

A Painter’s Visions of Créolité in 19th-century Louisiana A self-taught artist, former antiques dealer, and history buff, Andrew LaMar Hopkins centers the often difficult-to-categorize nature of creole identity. Cassie Packard

Sculptural Paintings That Channel the Static Soup of Television In Tishan Hsu’s work, the canvas becomes a television, a platform of multiple channels, where what channel to tune into is the viewer’s choice. Brock Lownes

SPONSORED SVA MA Curatorial Practice Opens Fall 2021 Applications At the New York-based, globally linked program for professional curatorial training, faculty and international guests provide expertise and a network of connections.

Shifting the Modernist Center of Gravity to Mexican Muralists Proposing an overdue historical corrective, Vida Americana is a reminder that neither the US or European avant-garde maintained a monopoly on Modernism. Leticia Gutiérrez

The Visceral Intimacy of Amy Sillman’s Drawings Messy and tender, like a summer fling, Sillman’s drawings embody both the sense of decay and unyielding hunger for life that marks our current times. Ksenia M. Soboleva

Lisa Corinne Davis Critiques Corporate America Through Abstract Art Davis recognizes that grids, networks, and circuits are not purely a product of the art world, and there are myriad contexts in which the government and corporate America deploy them. John Yau

The Exuberant Softness of Feliciano Centurión’s Textiles Often dismissed during his lifetime for his emphasis on kitsch and craft, it is high time that Centurión gets his due. Cassie Packard

SPONSORED Editions/Artists' Books Fair Launches Its First Online Edition Over 60 contemporary print publishers and galleries gather virtually this year to showcase their latest prints and artists’ books, on view October 14–28.

A Dance Workshop Celebrating Afrolatinx Culture

Dance and Move Your Way Through Afrolatinx Music History As part of Cyber Healing, artist Moréna Espiritual will be leading a dance workshop designed to “combat the erasure of Black history within Latinx culture.” Dessane Lopez Cassell | November 3, 7–8:10pm

Closing Soon

Luchita Hurtado. Together Forever at Hauser & Wirth, through October 31With its emphasis on never-before-seen painting and drawings, Luchita Hurtado. Together Forever. reveals the artist’s progressively sensual and abstract representations of the body, pushing the viewer to look much closer. – Valentina Di Liscia Richard Mayhew: Transcendence at ACA Galleries, through October 31Offering an up-close look at the artist’s brushstrokes, the show is a meditative space awash in incandescent pigment and texture. – Julie Schneider Aubrey Levinthal: Vacancyat Monya Rowe Gallery, through October 31What distinguishes Levinthal from her contemporaries is her ability to evoke a melancholic state that has been heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic. – John Yau Billie Zangewa: Wings of Change at Lehmann Maupin, through November 7Zangewa’s world-building is expansive as much as it is intimate, sharply invoking the material and the political to achieve more than representation. – Danilo Machado Michael Berryhill: Solo Exhibitionat Kate Werble Gallery, through November 12At a time when quirkiness often feels contrived, and a widespread attitude seems to all but insist that art deliver its content front and center, Michael Berryhill has developed a powerful, resistant, and important alternative. – John Yau

SPONSORED Polish Cultural Institute Presents Circula, a Solution for ECO Solidarity Through a combination of sculpture and public furniture, Circula is designed to reduce social isolation and strengthen societal bonds.

A Tribute to NYC's Queer Communities

A Tribute to Sylvia Rivera and the Spirit of NYC’s Old Meatpacking District Hyperallergic has exclusive digital access to This is an Address, Sasha Wortzel’s meditative film on displacement, erasure, and queer communities along the Hudson River piers. Dessane Lopez Cassell

What's Going On?

New York Magazine has commissioned “I Voted” sticker designs from 48 artists, including David Hammons, Amy Sherald, and Barbara Kruger.A dozen activists were detained after they protested against a pro-Trump rally in front of the Museum of the American Indian in Manhattan.Following pressure from the artist-led group P.A.I.N, New York University will remove the Sackler name from its Graduate Biomedical Institute.In a virtual roundtable, New York lawmakers heard bleak reports and urgent pleas for funding from leaders of arts organizations across the state.A Jacob Lawrence painting thought to be missing for decades was found in an Upper West Side apartment.

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