| Welcome to the weekend. In reviews, Hyperallergic’s Editor-in-Chief Hrag Vartanian looks at the relationship between temporality and capitalism in the paintings of Aaron Gilbert, while Associate Editor Lisa Yin Zhang explores what was and could have been in the pioneering Constructivist art of Vladimir Tatlin. I alsopoke around the Bodleian Library’s Franz Kafka archives, on view at the Morgan Library & Museum in Manhattan. I can’t help but wonder what Kafka would think of today’s world. Case in point: Is it just us or are protest signs getting more entertaining? This week, our News Editor Valentina Di Liscia took us on a tour of some of the best protest art at anti-Trump demonstrations across the United States. My favorite slogan is “No Turd Reich!” In a more somberdemonstration, around 17,000 pairs of children’s shoes were placed along Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC, to honor the Palestinian children the Israeli military has killed since October 2023. And Trump strikes again in arts funding: The Institute of Museum and Library Services cuts hundreds of grants this week. Meanwhile, the National Endowment for the Humanities plans to redirect some of its funding to build Trump’s “National Garden of American Heroes.” On a positive note, the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles is taking a stand by announcing its continued support of diversity, equity, and inclusion. And don’t miss the latest episode of the Hyperallergic Podcast, where Hrag leads a riveting discussion on Martin Wong's influence on graffiti art history. In other stories, the Center for Art and Advocacy, founded in 2022 by Jesse Krimes and dedicated to formerly incarcerated artists, settles into a new home in Brooklyn. And check out our list of books to read this April — you’re bound to find a good weekend read. Finally, on April 29, Hyperallergic Members are invited to a virtual conversation about artist studio visits with curators Kimberli Gant, Candice Hopkins, and Caroline Liou, moderated by Hrag Vartanian. Become a member to RSVP. — Natalie Haddad, Reviews Editor | | |
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| | In nationwide demonstrations this weekend, protesters left “Dump Trump” in 2016 and opted for cheekier and artistically inclined messaging. | Valentina Di Liscia |
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SPONSORED | | | | | Based in Houston’s Third Ward neighborhood, the organization makes art that can seem luxurious meet real, lived necessities. Learn more |
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NEWS THIS WEEK | | | Approximately 17,000 pairs of shoes lined Pennsylvania Avenue in a memorial for Palestinian children killed by the Israeli military since October 2023. Over 1,000 grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services were terminated as the Trump administration continues to decimate arts and culture funding. The National Endowment for the Humanities intends to redirect some of its funding to construct Trump’s bizarre “National Garden of American Heroes.” LA’s Japanese American National Museum said it would continue to embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion in the face of government funding cuts and pressures. Activist Timothy Martin could go to prison for smearing black paint on the protective case of Edgar Degas’s “Little Dancer,” which was unharmed, at the National Gallery of Art. |
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HAPPENING THIS MONTH | | | Join us on April 29 for a virtual conversation with Kimberli Gant, Candice Hopkins, and Caroline Liou. |
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SPONSORED | | | | | From its beginning in Wright’s Detroit basement, the museum has cultivated increased visibility for all African Americans by showing other institutions how to build their own storytelling apparatuses. Learn more |
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LATEST PODCAST | | | An artist, a gallerist, and a curator come together to discuss the legacy of Martin Wong, the self-taught painter who amassed one of the world’s most significant street art collections. |
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| FROM OUR CRITICS | | | The late Jaune Quick-to-See Smith’s final curatorial salvo — the largest show of Native American art to date — carries an elegiac weight, but also thrums with life. | Petala Ironcloud
Fresh and challenging, Smith’s art sits on the cusp between eccentric abstraction and automated sci-fi figures, and contributes to Chicago’s dense art history. | John Yau
Aaron Gilbert’s sense of time draws us away from the now to a potential future that we are having trouble envisioning. | Hrag Vartanian |
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| | | The artist’s dreamy paintings and drawings transcend any specific culture, instead drawing on a perennial understanding of the sacred. | Anna Souter
The first North American exhibition of one of Ukraine’s most important artists reclaims his legacy while the country weathers Russia’s war. | Lisa Yin Zhang
By embracing horror through the larger-than-life persona he constructed, the photographer occupies an odd middle ground between the news media and its parody. | Julia Curl |
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ART, LITERATURE & LIBRARIANS | | | Recently discovered paintings, illustrations, and prints by Flannery O’Connor, hidden away for decades, are now on display at the author’s alma mater. | Rhea Nayyar
Known as the “soul of the Morgan,” Belle da Costa Greene established the Morgan Library & Museum’s collection and lived as a “passing” Black woman in the early 20th century. | Alexandra M. Thomas
In this exhibition, we are relying on the information we’re given to try to attain a mythologized goal that is always out of reach. | Natalie Haddad |
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MORE ON HYPERALLERGIC | | | A portrait series of Joseph Roulin and his family, whom the painter befriended during his stay in Arles, is the focus of a show at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. | Maya Pontone
Founded by formerly incarcerated artist Jesse Krimes, the Center for Art and Advocacy will host exhibitions and programs in a 2,600-square-foot space in Bed-Stuy. | Maya Pontone
The role of dreams in Latin American art, Gertrude Abercrombie’s homegrown surrealism, essays on Celia Paul, new catalogs and monographs, and more. | Valentina Di Liscia, Lisa Yin Zhang, Alexandra M. Thomas, Sophia Stewart, Albert Mobilio, and Lauren Moya Ford
“I start at 6am when the light is really beautiful.” | Lakshmi Rivera Amin
This week: photographing auras, The Great Gatsby at 100, a dubious de-extinction project, the “cubs” of the Black Panther Party, art historical Drag Race, and much more. | Lakshmi Rivera Amin |
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THIS MONTH’S CROSSWORD | | | Kick off spring with clues on Simone de Beauvoir’s undersung artist sister, a newly reopened Manhattan museum, dog breeds, fairytale lingo, and much more. | Natan Last |
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| | | | | Flex your art smarts with the wear-everywhere Hyperallergic Tote Bag, now available on our online store. Shop now |
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