Weekly

September 25, 2021 • View in browser

There’s been a mini-renaissance of public art in New York City and nowhere has that been more visible than the city’s subways, which have been welcoming many accomplished artists to adorn their bleak walls with tile works. Last week we wrote about the new murals by Marcel Dzama and this week we report about the gorgeous works by Katherine Bradford. It’s been wonderful to encounter these new works that speak to the continuing role of the arts in the life of this great city.

Now, in this edition of Hyperallergic Weekly, we asked art critics to write about pandemic TV, a “new” van Gogh has surfaced, and we have reviews of Titian, early American photography, Takuji Hamanaka, Meow Wolf’s new Denver location, the new Bob Ross documentary, and more.

— Hrag Vartanian, editor-in-chief 

Karrie Martin as Anna Morales (left) and Yessika Castillo as Julissa Calderon (right) in Gentefied, featured in Being a Queer WOC in the Art World, as Seen on TV by Alicia Eler

Screens: 🎨 Art Critics on Pandemic TV 📺

In our latest Sunday Edition, John Yau, Seph Rodney, Erin Thompson, Alicia Eler, Dorian Batycka, and Angelica Frey focused their lens on the shows they were watching during the pandemic

The critics take on classic series, "trash" Italian television, and expand on themes of queerness, identity, and decolonization in more recent programming. Get started with the introduction by Hrag Vartanian.

NEWS THIS WEEK

A protester holding a spoon, a new symbol of Palestinian resistance, at a demonstration outside
New York's Museum of Modern Art

• Protesters stormed MoMA with Palestinian flags and spoons during the “Globalize The Intifada” march Friday, September 17.

• Scientists at Purdue University in Indiana have created the whitest acrylic paint ever known.

• Ranging from Egyptian artworks to classical sculptures, Sketchfab holds a vast, user-uploaded resource of renderings for 3D printing.

• A never-before-seen sketch has been newly attributed to van Gogh.

ART

One of Katherine Bradford's five murals at the First Avenue L Station in New York City

Katherine Bradford Mosaic Murals Make a Manhattan Subway Station Shine
Valentina Di Liscia looks at a new permanent installation at the First Avenue L train stop.

[Katherine Bradford's] distinctively whimsical characters give a mirthful welcome to riders at the subway’s entrances, impossible to ignore even during the busiest of rush hours.

Takuji Hamanaka’s Spellbinding Prints
John Yau on Takuji Hamanaka: Future Recollection at Kristen Lorello Gallery.

With a Denver Location, Meow Wolf Expands Its Immersive Schtick
Kealey Boyd on Meow Wolf Denver.

Titian (Italian, about 1488–1576), "The Rape of Europa" (1559–1562), oil on canvas, 178 × 205 cm. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston (© Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston)

The Problematic Allure of Titian’s Poesie Paintings
Natasha Seaman on Titian: Women, Myth & Power at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

Titian’s paintings are masterpieces, with all the complications of the term, and are based on ancient stories whose brilliant poetry is only matched by their cruelty. Loving them is complicated.

Whimsy and Personality in Early American Photography
Anne Wallentine on Acting Out: Cabinet Cards and the Making of Modern Photography, 1870-1900 at LACMA.

When Disney Declared War on Deutschland
Tim Brinkhof on The Walt Disney Studios and World War II at the Walt Disney Family Museum.

ALSO ON HYPERALLERGIC

Lady’s blue right eye with dark brow
(from Lover’s Eyes: Eye Miniatures from the Skier Collection, courtesy D Giles, Limited)

The 18th-century English Craze for One-Eyed Portraits
Lover’s Eyes features a richly illustrated cache of over 130 bejeweled, hand-painted, eye miniatures from the Skier Collection.

Bob Ross the Dreamer Got a Rude Awakening
Hrag Vartanian questions whether Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed digs deep enough into the painter's persona.

The Many Problems with Deana Lawson’s Photographs
Gwendolyn Dubois Shaw addresses the complexities of consent and the persistence of the White male gaze in Lawson's photography.

Can Mummified Cats Help Unravel the Mysteries of Ancient Dyes?
Sarah E. Bond investigates how the mummies of ancient Egyptian cats are helping scientists rewrite the history of color. 

Required Reading
This week, LA's new Academy Museum, the intersections of anti-Blackness and anti-fatness, a largely unknown 19th century Black theater in NYC, sign language interpreters, and more.

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