Dec 16, 2020 • View in browser

Good morning! ❄️ Today, New York City is awarding $47.1 Million in pandemic relief to arts organizations, Ukraine is seeking to make Chernobyl a World Heritage Site, and Chris Kraus writes about the LA photographs of Reynaldo Rivera.

– Hrag Vartanian, editor-in-chief

Enter "Dial World"

Thornton Dial, “Patterns: Road Map of the United States” (image courtesy David Lewis)

Thornton Dial’s new show Dial World, Part I: The Tiger That Flew over New York City offers an exciting, if selective, opportunity to gauge the artist’s formal impact — one long overdue.

Traditional art history often categorizes artists like Dial as self-taught, outsider, folk, and vernacular. These identificatory terms inadequately capture the aesthetic significance of Black artists from the US South.

In Other News

The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs will distribute $47.1 million in funds to more than 1,000 cultural nonprofits — the agency’s largest-ever number of grant recipients for its annual program.
The Ukrainian government is seeking UNESCO World Heritage status for Chernobyl, the site of the worst nuclear disaster in history.

Illustrating Wittgenstein

Picturing Wittgenstein's Children's Dictionary

With Drawings for Word Book, Paul Chan revisits the philosopher’s important text, illustrating its terms with childlike receptiveness.

Cassie Packard

More from Hyperallergic

Reynaldo Rivera's Photographs of a Los Angeles That No Longer Exists

In the 1980s and ’90s, Rivera photographed drag performers in Latinx gay bars, house parties in pre-gentrified Echo Park, and performers like Sade, Vaginal Davis, and Chaka Khan.

Chris Kraus

50 Years of Urgent, Immersive Documentaries

The Maysles Documentary Center’s online series Gimme 50 surveys work by Madeline Anderson, William Greaves, Chris Marker, and more

Dan Schindel

Six Artists on “Making Art During a Year Unlike Any Other”

Peter Williams, Laura Krifka, and others talk about the art they’ve made these past few months, now on view at Luis De Jesus Los Angeles.

Elisa Wouk Almino

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