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New York
June 10, 2020

Letter from the editor:

Across New York City, theaters and a few art institutions are stepping up to support the ongoing Movement for Black Lives by opening their lobbies to demonstrators, offering wifi, bathrooms, water, and a place for momentary rest. Our staff writer Valentina Di Liscia rightly asks, “will the rest of the art world step up?”

Staff writer Hakim Bishara shares news that former Whitney Museum vice chair Warren Kanders has announced plans to divest his company Safariland Group from sales of tear gas, batons, and rubber and sponge bullets. Kanders was ousted from the museum’s board after numerous reports, protests, and coordinated actions revealed Safariland weapons were used to violently quell protests in Puerto Rico and disperse asylum seekers along the US–Mexico border, among other cases.

Billy Anania also writes of Michelangelo Lovelace’s poetic nursing home drawings, currently featured in an online exhibition from Fort Gansevoort. Billy writes of the “tranquility in experiencing these tender, personal works from the comfort of home.”

Also this week, our Pride month series continues with contributions from local, queer art workers like Cheryl R. Riley (Jersey City), choreographer Raja Feather Kelly (Brooklyn), dance curator Eva Yaa Asantewaa (Manhattan), artist and administrator KT Pe Benito, and film programmer Natalie Erazo (both in Brooklyn). With June just beginning, we’re still collecting submissions from queer art workers around the world. Click here to learn more about how to participate.

Stay safe and take care of each other.

Cultural Institutions Heed Calls to #OpenYourLobby to Black Lives Matter Protesters

This week, theaters across the nation began repurposing their spaces in support of protesters fighting anti-Black police violence. A few museums are joining. Will the rest of the art world step up?

Valentina Di Liscia

Williamsburg’s Wave of Gentrification Becomes More Visible During the Pandemic

With his photo book In Time of Plague, Brian Rose documents a previous devastation made more visible by a more present one.

Seph Rodney

News

Hundreds of Cultural Workers Urge NYC to Defund Police and Invest in BIPOC Communities

An open letter by curators Natalia Viera and Patrick Jaojoco outlines a series of demands that would steer the city’s expense budget “away from the NYPD, and towards social and civic services and education programs.”

Warren Kanders, Former Whitney Museum Vice Chair, Vows to Exit Tear Gas Trade

Kanders, who was ousted from the Whitney board last summer after months of protest, says he will sell certain divisions of Safariland.

As Black Lives Matter Protests Continue, Some NYC Art Galleries Board Up Storefronts

Now, some galleries are taking measures to conceal their windows or board up, but others have long used telling architectural markers of exclusion to discourage diverse audiences.

A New iOS Shortcut Blurs Faces and Wipes Metadata for Protest Images

The solution, innovated by software developer Noah Conk and a cohort of anonymous programmers, allows iPhone photographs to be published without revealing information about when and where they were taken.

Tender Pencil and Ink Drawings Pay Tribute to Nursing Home Residents

Michelangelo Lovelace made numerous drawings during his time as a nurse’s aide, now on view in Fort Gansevoort’s online show Nightshift.

Billy Anania

Phillip Allen’s Astonishing Achievement

I have come to think of Phillip Allen as one of the most wonderfully challenging painters around.

John Yau

Queer Art Workers Reflect: Cheryl R. Riley Thinks Queer Artists “Should Not be Ghettoized”

Cheryl R. Riley is a visual artist, furniture designer and art advisor based in Jersey City.

Dessane Lopez Cassell

Queer Art Workers Reflect: Raja Feather Kelly Wants Sustainability to Become “Actual Practice”

Raja Feather Kelly is a choreographer, director, artistic director, dog owner and husband.

Dessane Lopez Cassell

Queer Art Workers Reflect: Eva Yaa Asantewaa Supports Dancers Speaking Out Against a Capitalist System

Eva Yaa Asantewaa is the Senior Director of Artist Development and Curation at Gibney, as well as the Editorial Director.

Dessane Lopez Cassell

Queer Art Workers Reflect: Natalie Erazo Thinks “Art Workers Deserve Increased Transparency”

Natalie Erazo is a brown queer film programmer currently serving as the Coordinator of Repertory & Specialty Film Programs at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Dessane Lopez Cassell

Queer Art Workers Reflect: Tenaya Izu Wants to Prioritize Narratives of Abundance Over Scarcity

Tenaya Izu is an artist who makes sculptures using DIY materials and ceramics as culturally specific signifiers.

Dessane Lopez Cassell

Queer Art Workers Reflect: Jess Saldaña Wants to Decenter the “Genius Artist” Narrative

"The struggle of the queer art worker is inseparable from everyone else’s struggle. Acknowledging that a practice of interdependency is necessary for our communities to thrive is the first step."