Weekend: John Mendelsohn, Ragnar Kjartansson, Victor Burgin, and more

The departure of the former president and his wife to Mar-a-Lago, the recent articles on Jeff Bezos’s

Feb 6, 2021 • View in browser

The departure of the former president and his wife to Mar-a-Lago, the recent articles on Jeff Bezos’s property portfolio, and Alexei Navalny’s exposé of Vladimir Putin’s massive palace reminded me of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem, “Ozymandias,” which contains these lines: My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair! Nothing beside remains. The problem is that Shelley’s poem is predicated on patience, which seems increasingly hard to justify when the signs of change are few and far between. — John Yau, Co-Editor, Hyperallergic Weekend

John Mendelsohn’s Paintings of Radiating and Falling Light The change in hue and density from painting to painting struck me as simultaneously methodical and intuitive. John Yau

Ragnar Kjartansson’s Extravagant, Enthralling "Bliss" It’s hard to imagine how three minutes of Mozart’s “Marriage of Figaro” repeated for 12 hours can be so riveting. Gregory Volk

SPONSORED Stanford Arts Presents a Discussion With Shirin Neshat and Abbas Milani Part of the university’s Artists on the Future series pairing renowned artists with cultural thought leaders, this virtual event is free and open to the public.

Victor Burgin’s Unclassifiable Take on the Passages of Art and Life The artist’s landmark experimental text, “Between,” now reissued, remains one of a kind more than three decades after its publication. Melissa Holbrook Pierson

Two Dramas Plumb the Depths of Women’s Midlife Chaos Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Time and My Little Sister are complicated films about complicated people. Eileen G'Sell

Stephen Pusey’s Remarkable Calligraphic Abstractions Pusey’s cursive marks sit in that zone where writing becomes drawing and vice versa. John Yau

The Last of the Storytellers In his fiction, Nikolai Leskov writes as if he is overhearing the stories being told. Nolan Kelly

Required Reading This week, how to reform political reporting, the most 2021 rejection ever, how gaming informs QAnon, and more. Hrag Vartanian

From the Store

Guerrilla Girls: The Art of Behaving Badly We’re beyond excited to have gotten our paws on the very first book to catalog the entire career of our favorite intersectional feminist-activist group of artists! More than just a monograph, The Art of Behaving Badly is a call to arms.Check out our Guerrilla Girls collection!

Support Hyperallergic As arts communities around the world experience a time of challenge and change, accessible, independent reporting on these developments is more important than ever. Please consider supporting our journalism, and help keep our independent reporting free and accessible to all. Become a Member

Did you enjoy this issue?

Update your email preferences or unsubscribe from this newsletter. If you were forwarded this newsletter and you like it, you can subscribe here. Hyperallergic Media 181 N 11th St., Suite 302, Brooklyn, NY 11211