Weekly

January 22, 2022 • View in browser

This week, new research suggests humans are older than we believed, a survey of Black American portraiture in LA is getting a lot of attention, and a digital exhibition examines the dark history of the banana.

We’re kicking off our series of events for the Emily H. Tremaine Curatorial Fellowships in Journalism this Tuesday, January 25 at 7 pm. Fellow Tahnee Ahtone will discuss Native American sovereignty’s impact on the curation of Indigenous art.

— Hrag Vartanian, editor-in-chief 

Walking to the Moore’s Ford Bridge, Lynching Reenactment, remembering the 1946 lynching of Dorothy Malcolm, Roger Malcolm, Mae Murray Dorsey, and George Dorsey, Walton County, Georgia, July 2014

Beholding and Curating with Care
Curator La Tanya S. Autry shares a set of crucial questions she considers when curating images of anti-Black violence.

Understanding power relationships, kinship, and vulnerabilities is imperative in the work of beholding one another and curating with care. As anti-Blackness continues, representational strategies remain enmeshed in a fraught nexus of resistance, remembrance, and abuse.

NEWS THIS WEEK

Detail of a print by Lillian Schwartz (photo by the author for Hyperallergic)

• The Henry Ford Museum announced the acquisition of the tech art pioneer Lillian Schwartz’s archive.

• A study that reexamined Homo sapiens fossils found our species to be 30,000 years older than previously believed.

• A group of investors is mocked for assuming they also owned the licensing rights to Jodorowsky's “Dune” storyboard they acquired at auction.

• South Korea’s Kansong Art Museum is auctioning off two of its national treasures to help alleviate financial stress.

• A satisfying new project, "Emoji to Scale," arranges every emoji by their real-world dimensions.

UPCOMING CONVERSATION

LATEST IN ART

Black American Portraits at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, installation view (photo by Caroline Ellen Liou for Hyperallergic)

A Survey of Black American Portraiture Is a Revelation
Caroline Ellen Liou on Black American Portraits at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Black American Portraits pays homage to today’s renaissance of Black figurative art, acknowledging the artistic achievements of Black artists and their contributions in rewriting the art historical canon, with all the celebration and the gravity deserved.

Bronx Calling Recognizes Artists’ Individuality but Neglects Art-World Gentrification
Billy Anania on Bronx Calling: The Fifth AIM Biennial at the Bronx Museum of the Arts.

Saying Maybe to the Yes Men
Seph Rodney on The Yes Men at Carriage Trade gallery.

Brie Ruais, "Exiting Wound, 130 Pounds" (2021) glazed and pigmented stoneware, 65 x 65 x 2 inches (all images by Daniel Larkin for Hyperallergic)

Using Clay to Concretize the Psychological State of Being Wounded
Daniel Larkin on Brie Ruiz: Some Things I Know About Being in a Body at Albertz Benda.

Ruais invites each visitor into a journey of physicality, of pushing and tearing at our own bodies to find a way to feel out and integrate the emotional wounds they might hold.

Tony Fitzpatrick’s Last Museum Show
Elisa Shoenberger on Tony Fitzpatrick: Jesus of Western Avenue at the Cleve Carney Museum of Art.

Something Is Not Right With The World
John Yau on Alexi Worth: Nearness at DC Moore.

Jean-François Boclé, "Tears of Bananaman" (2009-12), 300 kg of bananas carved by the artist on a wood base, 330 x 13 x 25 cm (image courtesy the artist and curators)

Digital Exhibition Examines the Darker Side of Bananas
Lauren Moya Ford takes a closer look at the virtual exhibition La Fiebre del Banano / Banana Craze.

The crop’s dominance and ubiquity has had serious and far-reaching implications for the region, engendering exploitative labor systems, climate change, and migration. [This] is the first major study to examine the banana’s role in shaping culture, nature, and politics in the areas where it’s grown. 

ALSO ON HYPERALLERGIC

Succession's main characters in their fictional gallery. (edit by Valentina Di Liscia for Hyperallergic)

From Cattelan’s Golden Toilet to Bored Apes, We Think This Art Should Be on Succession
Valentina Di Liscia curates a final cut of works that should be in the popular HBO series.

How Does the FBI Art Crime Team Operate?
Cassie Packard shines a light on the inner workings of the FBI's Art Crime Team and how they take on forgeries, fakes, looting, and more. 

The Forgotten Story of Modern Art’s Great Jewish Collectors
Naomi Polonsky reviews Charles Dellheim’s new book, Belonging and Betrayal: How Jews Made the Art World Modern.

Racism Still Influences Cuban Arts and Culture
Juan Pedro Torriente: “The recent movements led by young artists, which have attracted much international media attention, are not immune from the stain of racism.”

Required Reading
This week, Patrisse Cullors speaks, reviewing John Richardson’s final Picasso book, the Met Museum snags a rare oil on copper by Nicolas Poussin, and much more.

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IN OUR STORE

Back in Stock: Persian Garden Scarf

This elegant scarf is inspired by a carpet in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The rug, made in Kurdistan in the late 1700s, bears the traditional “Charbagh” pattern of a four-part garden, representing the architectural layout of Paradise.

Check out more art-inspired scarves!