Weekly
August 20, 2022 • View in browser
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This week, Sarah Bond writes about newly discovered ancient gladiator tombs in present-day Turkey. The find is notable because it is rare to unearth such cemeteries and there were 68 tombs, including one of a woman (did you know women also fought as Roman gladiators?). A fascinating story.
Make sure to check out John Yau's review of Philip Guston, Jane Chin Davidson's close look at the work of Theresa Hak Kyung Cha at the Whitney Biennial, and Nancy Princenthal's review of the paintings of Joan Semmel.
And this weekend, the SWAIA: Native American Art Market is taking place in Santa Fe, New Mexico. We have a number of stories from the last few months about some of the participating artists at the market, including Dallin Maybee, Amber-Dawn Bear Robe, Patricia Michaels, Denise Wallace, and Hollis Chitto. The event is the largest marketplace of American Indian art and crafts. Definitely worth checking out.
— Hrag Vartanian, editor-in-chief
Possible gladiator tombs were found during excavations in the ancient Roman city of Anazarbus (modern Anavarza) in Turkey (photo by Ozan Efeoğlu via Anadolu Images)
Archaeologists Say They Discovered Ancient Gladiator Tombs in Southern Turkey
Sarah E. Bond reports on the possible unearthing of a Roman-era gladiator cemetery in Anazarbus (modern Anavarza).
If positively identified as a gladiator cemetery, Anazarbus would be only the second city in Turkey and one of only a handful of known gladiator burial grounds across the Mediterranean.
ALSO IN THE NEWS
Screenshot of a viral video showing insects inside of a Bernd and Hilla Becher photograph at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (courtesy BBC Persian via Instagram)
Concern grows after a video showing bugs beneath the glass of a work at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art circles the internet.
Three Iraqi artists withdraw from the Berlin Biennale in response to the inclusion of an installation depicting torture committed at Abu Ghraib.
A Yale study examines the impact of disgusting imagery on the willingness to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Museums across New York are now required to very visibly label Nazi-looted art under a new law.
A new study suggests that over 90% of medieval European manuscripts have vanished through history.
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CATALYTIC CAREERS
Philip Guston, “Painter’s Forms II” (1978), oil on canvas. (© The Estate of Philip Guston, courtesy Hauser & Wirth; courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
Philip Guston’s Haunted Testimonies
John Yau on Philip Guston Now at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.
As impressive and engaging as are a number of the paintings from before the late 1960s, I feel that Guston became a truly great painter after he abandoned the hooded figures, and all that haunted him spilled out onto his canvas.
Giving Voice to an Artist Silenced too Soon
Jane Chin Davidson on Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, featured as part of the 2022 Whitney Biennial, Quiet as It’s Kept, at the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Celebrating William Klein’s Long, Multi-Hyphenated Career
Dan Schindel on William Klein: YES at the International Center of Photography.
EXPANDING NARRATIVES
Joan Semmel, “Centered” (2002), oil on canvas (courtesy the Green Family Art Foundation and Adam Green Art Advisory; photo courtesy Alexander Gray Associates, New York)
The Painter Who Directed Her Resolute Gaze at Herself
Nancy Princenthal on Joan Semmel: Skin in the Game at the Johnson Museum of Art.
The exhibition’s emphasis is on the various points of view Semmel has taken on herself — and, briefly, on others too.
Ukrainian Women Artists Upend the Male-Centered War Narrative
Nina Mdivani on Women at War at Fridman Gallery.
Uncovering the Queer Histories of Workers’ Movements
Billy Anania on The Work of Love, the Queer of Labor at Pratt Manhattan Gallery.
SOUTHWESTERN VOICES
Jamie Okuma (photo by Tira Howard Photography for SWAIA)
Indigenous Fashion Takes the Stage in Santa Fe
Jordan Eddy highlights how curator Amber-Dawn Bear Robe brings together historic and contemporary Native clothing designs at Santa Fe Indian Market.
“The one overarching element, the one solid thing across Canada and the United States, is that Native American design is the original design of this land,” said Bear Robe. “Killing a seal, cleaning the intestines, and sewing them together to make a waterproof jacket — you don’t get any more haute couture than that.”
A Navajo Artists Family’s Take on Love, Compassion, and Resistance
Chelsea Weathers on Abeyta | To’Hajiilee K’é at the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian.
Art as the Vehicle of Choice
Lynn Trimble on Desert Rider at Phoenix Art Museum.
FILM & DOCUMENTARY
From The Sandman (courtesy Netflix)
Netflix’s Half-Assed Adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman
Dan Schindel examines how this Netflix carries the ethos of the comic but lacks its original verve.
The show has an uphill fight here; the page is an unlimited canvas for one’s imagination, with a reader’s mind working in tandem with the artist’s pen. On the screen, though, we are inured to spectacle.
The Wrongful Murder Conviction That Ignited a Pan-Asian Activist Movement
Dan Schindel looks at how Julie Ha and Eugene Yi hone in on the personal and social impacts of institutional racism in Free Chol Soo Lee.
In The Territory, Indigenous People Film Themselves
Dan Schindel focuses on how the Uru-eu-wau-wau take an active role in this documentary about them.
MORE FROM HYPERALLERGIC
Collage of Sad Beige posts (courtesy Hayley DeRoche)
Is Bleak the New Look for a TikTok Childhood?
Isabella Segalovich expands a TikTok persona taking on the bleakness of Werner Herzog to address class aesthetics in parenting trends.
Hayley DeRoche’s goal is not to critique parents themselves. “I’m much more interested in the way we market this stuff, and how class aesthetics are so much a part of the marketing. I’m not trying to critique individuals — I’m trying to critique the system.”
Women of Color Who Weave Connections Through Craft
Julie Schneider reviews a new book threading together the collective chronicles of women of color in today’s craft landscape.
Who Gets to Enjoy Green Spaces in NYC?
Jasmine Liu looks are Mona Chalabi’s installation at the Brooklyn Museum foregrounding the importance of urban vegetation and its inequities.
A Santa Fe Indian Market Milestone for Dallin Maybee
Julianne Aguilar talks with the artist and former SWAIA chief operating officer and executive director about how Santa Fe Indian Market has fostered a close-knit community.
Required Reading
This week, award-winning nature photography, reviewing Jared Kushner’s new book, Smithsonian NMAAHC hires a new digital curator, Damien Hirst plans to burn paintings, and more.
IN OUR STORE
Back in Stock: “Late-Night Chat is Filled with Dreams” Mug Set x Yayoi Kusama
Made in collaboration with Yayoi Kusama, these bone china mugs are the perfect vessel for beverages as you and a companion pass the time discussing art, the universe, and everything in between.
