| Good morning. Conceptual trailblazer Mel Bochner, who died last week at the age of 84, taught us that art, much like people, shouldn’t be afraid to laugh at itself. What better message to glean from his iconic stencil text paintings like the Blah! Blah! Blah! series — at once a deceptively simple rebuke of the dangers of empty words and, I’d like to think, a cheeky dig at the small talk of the art world? In this newsletter, Staff Writer Rhea Nayyar looks back at his life and legacy. Also today, critic Seph Rodney reviews Dawoud Bey’s recent photographs at Sean Kelly gallery, Olivia McEwan dives into the je ne sais quoi of pre-internet art in a Tate Modern exhibition, and Melissa Holbrook Pierson sings the praises of Dona Ann McAdams’s new autobiography. And in the news, the National Park Service scraps references to trans and queer people from its website describing the historic Stonewall Uprising as artists push back against the NEA’s compliance with Trump’s anti-DEI policies. — Valentina Di Liscia, News Editor | | |
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 | | The point is: We remember traumas, and it’s crucial that we do, and not foist off our responsibility onto mute things that do not answer when we call. | Seph Rodney |
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SPONSORED |  | | | | This two-year program provides classical, representational painters with strong technical foundations a stipend, a studio, supplies, mentorship, career support, and more. Learn more |
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IN THE NEWS |  | | |
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LATEST REVIEWS |  | | The American photographer offers a singular fusion of literary and photographic art in her autobiography Black Box. |
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|  | | Electric Dreams at Tate Modern shows the sheer extent to which human imagination and inventiveness harnessed technological progressions in the infancy of computing. | Olivia McEwan |
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 | | Her work integrates contemporary labor strikes into the visual language of social realism, asserting that these efforts are not anomalies but regularities. | Leia Genis |
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| You’re currently a free subscriber to Hyperallergic. To support our independent arts journalism, please consider joining us as a member. | | Become a Member |
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