October 12, 2022 • View in browser

Good morning. ⛅ Long before joining the frontlines of current protests against the draconian “morality police,” Iranian artists have employed inventive tactics to bypass restrictions on their freedom of expression and practice disobedience. Art historian Pamela Karimi, author of Alternative Iran: Contemporary Art and Critical Spatial Practice, wrote an illuminating essay about Iranian protest art in the four decades since the Islamic Revolution. I highly recommend you check it out.

Also today: Duncan Grant’s recently discovered queer, erotic drawings, Silas Inoue’s living “mold paintings,” Colby Deal’s portraits of Houston’s Third Ward, and much more.

Finally, a shoutout to our critic John Yau, who will be giving a lecture today at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. John will discuss how the Catskills influenced 19th-century landscape painter Frederic Edwin Church and 20th-century abstractionist Thomas Nozkowski. The talk will begin at 6:30pm (ET) in person and online. See more details here.

— Hakim Bishara, Senior Editor

The Many Shades of Iran’s Protest Art

In the four decades since the Islamic Revolution, Iranian artists have used clever tactics and unconventional modes of art-making to display disobedience. | Pamela Kamiri

WHAT'S HAPPENING

Activists at the museum yesterday morning (photo courtesy Ron Fassbender)

• Activists crash an opening at the British Museum, calling for the release of the imprisoned Egyptian political critic Alaa Abd El-Fattah.

• Artist Silke Otto-Knapp dies at 52 after battling ovarian cancer for two years.

• Russian missiles killed 19 people and damaged at least seven museums in Kyiv this Monday, October 10.

ART & AGENCY

A Neurodivergent Artist Asserts His Agency

The power of Mike Hack's art lies not just in his slyly irreverent interventions but in the fact that these interventions come from within the autistic community. | Madeleine Seidel

Duncan Grant's Erotic Drawings Explore a Queer Utopia

A new exhibition presents recently discovered works by Grant in conversation with newly commissioned pieces by LGBTQ+ artists of today. | Sarah Rose Sharp

Co-Creating With Fungal Mold

Silas Inoue’s “mold paintings” set a dark, suggestive mood. | Louis Bury

CAPTURING PLACE

Once Upon a Time in Albuquerque

Karsten Creightney’s familiar yet uncanny landscapes transport, disrupt, and open possibilities for new worlds. | Maggie Grimason

The Offhand Beauty of Houston’s Third Ward

Colby Deal’s photographs capture very little on an individual basis, but an entire world when taken in aggregate. | Sarah Rose Sharp

IN OUR STORE

“C’mon, Get Happy” Enamel Pin

It’s hard to argue with the optimistic message on this tiny accessory, which replicates a work created by contemporary artist Deborah Kass for her series Feel Good Paintings For Feel Bad Times.

If you like Deborah Kass, check out this pin inspired by Blue Deb (2012)!

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