December 4, 2021 • View in browser

Yesterday, a Hyperallergic reporter visited the site of the Roosevelt statue in front of the American Museum of Natural History to see the preparations for its removal. Also this week, scholar and Hyperallergic contributor Erin Thompson is in Nepal for the repatriation of religious artworks that were looted from the Himalayan nation.

Both stories demonstrate that change can indeed happen, no matter what the naysayers want you to believe. We’ve long reported about monuments that promote bigoted ideologies and the repatriation of stolen art, and, while at times it can feel frustrating when institutions and governments confront the winds of change with silence, that reluctance changes when faced with mounting pressure. We may not always agree with the way change is enacted but it does indeed happen.

If you want to hear more from Hyperallergic, check us out on Twitter, where we host weekly Twitter Spaces conversations every Thursday at noon NY time. Join us for a casual chat about news, reviews, and opinions from all corners of the art community hosted by yours truly.

Now the stories. This week, Twitter announces a new image policy that bans the sharing of images of people without their consent, and our monthly art guides to New York and Los Angeles are out.

— Hrag Vartanian, editor-in-chief 

Danielle De Jesus, "Loyalty like this doesn't exist anymore" (2021), oil on linen, 67 x 83 inches (all images courtesy Calderón, New York, photos by Dario Lasagni)

Two Latinx Artists Take On Gentrification from the Perspective of Those Displaced
Arlene Dávila on Danielle De Jesus and Shellyne Rodriguez: Siempre en la Calle at Calderón gallery.

Danielle De Jesus and Shellyne Rodriguez use their visual vocabularies to amplify the voices of all communities besieged by speculative capitalism... They inspire a daring call of unity, reminding viewers: aqui estamos y no nos vamos. 

NEWS THIS WEEK

Vermeer's "Girl With a Pear Earring" enforcing Twitter's new policy. (edit by Valentina Di Liscia for Hyperallergic)

• Twitter announced a new policy banning the sharing of private media without the consent of the person depicted.

• Police swarm Xxavier Edward Carter's performance in Miami, threatening the artist with criminal charges and jail time over a public nudity complaint.

• Activists speak out against NYC’s plan to move its controversial Theodore Roosevelt statue to a forthcoming presidential library in North Dakota.

• A 1787 letter from Catherine the Great advocating for smallpox vaccination headed to auction at MacDougall’s in London on Wednesday.

• Launched by the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek, a new portal tracks artifacts in German institutions acquired under conditions of colonialism. 

WHAT TO SEE IN NYC AND LA THIS MONTH

In New York, catch an immersive installation recreating Colette Lumiere’s baroque living quarters, a trio of shows from Columbia University’s rarely seen art collection, and the Guggenheim’s survey of work by Etel Adnan.

The Los Angeles art guide caters to holiday lovers and haters alike, from a “sexy Xmas” show to a bazaar featuring creative zines. LACMA has also mounted a dazzling show on Black American portraiture to go alongside the traveling Obama Portraits on view.

LATEST REVIEWS

Pamela Council, “A Fountain for Survivors” (2021)

Pamela Council’s Sensory Haven in Times Square
Jasmine Weber reviews A FOuntain for Survivors at Duffy Square.

Conceptually, the artwork rockets in the opposite direction of the standard drudgery of public monuments — bronze, monochrome statues heralding figures mostly of the past. But Council’s work operates to celebrate themself, ancestors, their peers, and you — survivors — all at once.

Kidlat Tahimik’s Subversive Retelling of the Philippines’ Colonial History
Sabrina Boutselis on Kidlat Tahimik: Magellan, Marilyn, Mickey & Fr. Dámaso: 500 Years of Conquistador RockStars at the Palacio de Cristal.

Our Wandering, Rootless Nature, Given Shape by a Jewish Tradition
Matt Stromberg on We Are All Guests Here at Bridge Projects.

Wifredo Lam, "Señorita" (1948) (detail) oil on canvas 36-1/4 × 28-3/4 inches (photo by the author for Hyperallergic)

Not Quite the Wifredo Lam Show That’s Needed Now
Seph Rodney on Wifredo Lam: The Imagination at Work at Pace gallery.

It’s all well and good to talk about Black futures and to show work that conveys the spirit of Lam, but it is just as important to represent that actual lived life in all its nuanced complexities… There is much much more to know about Wifredo Lam and this exhibition only whets my appetite without satisfying it.

Getting to Know an Overlooked Pioneer of Bay Area Abstraction
John Yau on Sonia Gechtoff: The 1960s in New York: A Series of Transitions at David Richard Gallery.

The Queer Feminist Agenda of Wilder Alison’s Abstract Wool Paintings
Ksenia M. Soboleva on A Ripe Blackberry Murmurs to the Wall at Fierman gallery.

MORE ON HYPERALLERGIC

From SSHTOORRTY (2005), dir. Michael Snow (image courtesy Anthology Film Archives)

The Complete Works of Influential Experimental Filmmaker Michael Snow Come to New York
Anthology Film Archives showcases some of the influential Canadian filmmaker's rarest titles in a complete retrospective.

Licorice Pizza, Paul Thomas Anderson’s Ode to the San Fernando Valley of the 1970s
"Stoner jokes, unexpected pop culture references, and an unlikely love story jangle against each other like charms on a bracelet." — Mark Asch

Plans for a Billion Dollar College Dormitory Are a Strange Mix of Carceral and Utopian
Luke Studebaker examines the ruthlessly efficient plans for a new dorm at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

The Complicated Legacy of Modernist Minoru Yamasaki, Architect of World Trade Center
Sophia Stewart reviews Justin Beal's latest book, Sandfuture, on the architect's life, work, and legacy. 

Repatriation is a Start, but True Healing for Benin Requires More
Ndubuisi Ezeluomba: “We can begin to right the wrongs of the past by helping ensure that future stewards of these works have the resources to tell the story of Benin for generations to come.”

Required Reading
This week, Hrag Vartanian has included a lot of humor to counter the recent news on the coronavirus variant. We can all use it.

OPPORTUNITIES IN DECEMBER

From residencies at Sculpture Space and Mattress Factory to a number of grants and fellowships, see our full list of opportunities for artists, writers, and art workers this month!

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