“Brown could be both luxurious and grotesque, and blue adornment could be garish or gorgeous,” writes scholar Imani Perry. “I suppose that is part of what racism consists of, painstaking yet wild sorting of things into good and bad where they don’t exist naturally.” These lines come partway through a chapter in her palimpsestic new book, Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People, a portion of which we’re proud to publish today. Read her excerpt for a new perspective on the color blue, Manet’s infamous painting of
Jeanne Duval, and the contradictions of racism.
Meanwhile, Matt Stromberg reports on the cancellation of Spring Break LA, artists remember New York Studio School educator Graham Nickson, and, fittingly, artist Ai Weiwei responds to a Chinese-owned bot’s refusal to answer questions about him by turning its own words against it: “Let’s talk about something else.”
There’s more below, as ever, including John Yau on Myron Stout, Dan Schindel on a Leonard Peltier doc that was re-edited after the incarcerated Native activist’s long-awaited clemency, and a moving story on the art center inspiring the next generation of Cambodian artists to see creative expression as a path to freedom.
— Lakshmi Rivera Amin, Associate Editor
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Manet’s portrait of Jeanne Duval reveals how racism trains us to see colors in particular and sometimes contradictory ways. | Imani Perry
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IN THE NEWS
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ART & FILM
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With a new museum slated to open this spring, Svay Sareth and Yim Maline of the Blue Art Center want young Cambodians to experience art as a path to freedom. | M. T. Anderson and Erin L. Thompson
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Stout achieved an ascetic sensuality in his geometric abstractions, a paradoxical synthesis of restraint and hedonism that is unmatched by any of his contemporaries. | John Yau
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The film was made to agitate for the release of the wrongly imprisoned Indigenous activist. Despite last-minute edits after his clemency, it still shows some cracks. | Dan Schindel
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Yaloo’s multimedia work addresses the intersection of human and non-human consciousness, and the gap between technological advancement and spiritual practices. | Sigourney Schultz
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IN MEMORIAM
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Aaron de Groft (1965–2025)
Orlando Museum of Art director during Basquiat forgery controversy | Hyperallergic
Barbara Goodbody (1936–2025)
Photographer and champion of Maine arts community | Hyperallergic
Graham Nickson (1946–2025)
Artist and New York Studio School leader | Hyperallergic
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (1940–2025)
Indigenous visual artist, curator, and activist | Hyperallergic
Lynn Ban (1972–2025)
Jewelry designer | New York Times
Annamaria Edelstein (1935–2024)
British art dealer | Telegraph
Ruth Leavitt Fallon (1944–2025)
Pioneering computer artist | Baltimore Sun
Liz Knox (1945–2024)
Scottish still life painter | Daily Record
Arthur "Art" Nichols (1961–2025)
Comic book artist | CBR
Ginny Ruffner (1952–2025)
Glass artist | Seattle Times
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MEMBER COMMENT
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Jozie Rabyor on “The Artist Who Ushered Us From Medieval to Modern”
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Excellent piece! And such beautiful work! A thought-provoking companion to the work of the National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore, who since 2006 has been attempting to photograph every animal species in zoos and wildlife refuges and such the world over. He too uses a “blank” background, black or white in the work I’ve seen. Methinks such a project as his is also shaped by “the myth of objectivity,” a phrase I hadn’t read before but which instantly and significantly expanded my own understanding of the ways I take in the world. Such a gift. I’ll be sharing this concept widely.
Thank you as well, Hyperallergic, for your terrific writers and the wide scope of ‘art’ endeavors you cover. I’m always proud to be a supporter, especially when I read something like this.
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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. |
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