| Good morning. Today, we honor the life and immense legacy of Nona Faustine, who passed away on March 20 at the age of 48. “If we want to talk about our present-day heroes, we need to start with her,” said critic Seph Rodney, one of the countless people Faustine inspired and touched through her work. In the news, Keith Sonderling, Trump’s new appointee overseeing the Institute of Museum and Library Services, has pledged to “restore focus on patriotism,” causing alarm among freedom of expression advocacy groups. Also, a sneak peek at the Yale Center for British Art, which is reopening after a two-year, $16.5 million renovation at the end of the month, and a painting found in poor condition at Pompeii was newly re-attributed to the Italian Renaissance master Andrea Mantegna. Our reviews today take you all over the world, from Mary Cassatt’s peregrinations around Paris to legendary late musician Ryuichi Sakamoto’s first comprehensive exhibition in his home country of Japan to an exhibition on queering digital art in Los Angeles. But John Yau reveals the bounty found right at home in his review of Catherine Murphy’s drawings and paintings at Lower East Side gallery Peter Freeman, Inc.: “Her formal mastery is devoted to making the ordinary inexplicable,” he writes, “causing us to look inward and reflect upon what we are seeing.” — Lisa Yin Zhang, Associate Editor |
