June 30, 2022 • View in browser

Good morning. 🌤️ Today, our July list of recommended art shows in New York City is here, the Met Museum increases its admission fee (up to $30 per ticket!), artists continue the fight for reproductive rights, Alexandra Grant and Keanu Reeves start a metaverse foundation, and much more.

Also worth your attention today is cultural critic Mark Dery's essay on the life and art career of Jean-Michel Basquiat on the occasion of the exhibition King Pleasure.

— Hakim Bishara, interim editor-in-chief 

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Your Concise New York Art Guide for July 2022

Your list of must-see, fun, insightful, and very New York art events this month, including Lee Lozano, Cindy Sherman, Tokuko Ushioda, Anas Albraehe, and more. | Billy Anania

THE LATEST

Graphic design by Nina Yagual (image courtesy the artist and the Center for Cultural Power)

• Arts workers and reproductive rights organizations collaborate on educational resources for accessing safe abortion procedures.

• The Met Museum is raising its general admission fee to $30 starting this Friday, July 1.

• Keanu Reeves and Alexandra Grant launch the Futureverse Foundation, a grantmaking organization aiming to “help keep the metaverse widely accessible.”

REMEMBERING PIVOTAL ARTISTS

How Jean-Michel Basquiat Rose to Be King of the Art World

The art establishment was never quite sure what to do with a self-taught artist like Basquiat, who owed as much to bebop and William S. Burroughs’s cut-up technique as he did to African influences. | Mark Dery

The Lost New York of Larry Stanton

Stanton, who died of AIDS complications in 1984, left behind an engaging body of work, a moving tribute to a bygone generation of creative minds. | Francesco Dama

Remembering Margaret Rose Vendryes, Creator of the African Diva Project

In every role she held, Vendryes advocated for marginalized people and celebrated the cultural contributions of the Black and queer communities. | Souleo

LATEST REVIEWS

Reuben Kadish's Enduring Portraits of Human Anguish

Kadish’s fossil-like heads, forms, and figures remind us that every civilization, including our own, eventually collapses. | Tim Keane

New Biopics of Elvis and the Sex Pistols Share Weaknesses

Baz Luhrmann’s film Elvis and Danny Boyle’s miniseries Pistol are both overly fixated on the influence their respective musicians’ managers had on them. | Jake Cole

IN MEMORIAM

Sam Gilliam (1933-2022)
Acclaimed abstract artist | Hyperallergic

Margaret Keane (1927-2022)
“Big Eyes” painter | Guardian

Ken Knowlton (1931-2022)
Pioneer of computer art | New York Times

James Rado (1932-2022)
Playwright and co-author of musical Hair | Guardian

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