January 14, 2023

This week, we witnessed some of the highs and lows of humanity, from the San Francisco gallery owner who hosed down an unhoused woman and the damage wrought by pro-Bolsonaro rioters in the Brazilian capital to the first-ever repatriation of a Palestinian cultural object from the US and wonderful artwork by Guglielmo Castelli, Cara Romero, Shirley Jaffe, Morris Hirshfield, Matthew Wong, and more. We're proud to always bring you an honest look at the world of art.

One story in particular might interest you. Kealey Boyd investigates how the supply chain crisis has impacted artists who work with physical materials. She reports:

"The domino effect of lumber meant steel prices jumped literally overnight. 'Suppliers were quoting prices that would normally be good for 30 days but were suddenly only firm until end-of-day,'” Beloni shared. “'I was quoted $2 a pound, and when I went to buy, it had jumped to $7.' The price movement meant fabricators either had to renegotiate project budgets, or on fixed bids swallow the loss."

The art world, as I always like to say, is simply a microcosm of the bigger world and that's why Hyperallergic is always focused on the bigger picture. If you read us, I assume you know how important that is.

Thank you, as ever, for reading, sharing, commenting on, and supporting our work.

— Hrag Vartanian, editor-in-chief

How Has the Supply Chain Crisis Affected Artists?

Labor shortages, stranded shipping containers, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have forced artists to come up with creative solutions. | Kealey Boyd

WHAT'S HAPPENING 

• Cultural events across NYC celebrate the life and legacy of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. this weekend.

• Your interpretation of “Girl With a Pearl Earring” could be shown in the painting’s place at the Mauritshuis museum while it travels for an exhibition.

• The return of this 3,000-year-old ivory cosmetic spoon marks the US’s first repatriation of a Palestinian cultural object.

• A video of San Francisco gallery owner Collier Gwin spraying down an unhoused woman sparks outrage across social media.

• Pro-Bolsonaro rioters stormed Brasilia’s Praça dos Três Poderes, damaging national treasures by Emiliano Di Cavalcanti, Marianne Peretti, and more.

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INSIDE THE STUDIO

Guglielmo Castelli the Melancholic Painter

The Italian artist speaks with Hyperallergic about his home city of Turin, the loneliness of his characters, and more. | Francesco Dama

The pictorial space of the canvas is nothing but a theater stage: it’s a limit that I voluntarily set myself. It challenges me to create narratives and stories that, while talking about others, in fact speak about ourselves.

— Guglielmo Castelli

BREAKING MOLDS

Cara Romero Stands Defiant Against Institutional Categorization 

The artist’s photographs shine a light on the unseen, resisting colonial categorization and institutional biases around art made by Native artists. | Erin Joyce

Shirley Jaffe’s Outlier Beginnings 

A show of early works by Shirley Jaffe challenges viewers to think about the road Jaffe pursued in her art, and what it means to go your own way. | John Yau

Pussy Riot Rocks Reykjavík

Coursing through Velvet Terrorism is graphic evidence of how these spirited women have been constantly attacked by the patriarchy. | Gregory Volk

REVISITS & RETROSPECTIVES

How Great Was Lucian Freud, Really?

Would it be ridiculous to suggest that Freud lacks nobility or generosity, or even that his pessimism reduces him? | Michael Glover

The Singular Vision of Morris Hirshfield

Morris Hirshfield Rediscovered highlights the need for more research on twentieth-century self-taught American artists, who were marginalized by restrictive art historical narratives. | Bryan Martin

Matthew Wong’s Tenacious Vision

The Dallas Museum of Art’s retrospective of the artist is an opportunity to reframe the conversation about Wong and his work. | Lauren Moya Ford

MORE ON HYPERALLERGIC

Eight New Art Spaces to Visit in Brooklyn

From a Williamsburg basement to a Bed-Stuy living room and a project space in Gowanus, there’s no shortage of art to discover in the borough. | Valentina Di Liscia, Billy Anania, and Elaine Velie 

Is Body Horror the New Intimacy?

While sex is clearly in its cultural flop era, intimacy with ourselves and with others is being deftly portrayed in body horrors. | Billie Walker 

Central Park Architect Frederick Law Olmsted’s Tree Politics

Photographer Stanley Greenberg’s new book takes as its subjects those aspects of Olmsted landscapes that took decades to come into their own — the trees. | Sarah Rose Sharp 

Required Reading

This week, aliens might be closer than we thought, the Orange County Museum of Art is not ok, Harvard is a mess, how casteism is hurting representation in the sciences, and much more. | Hrag Vartanian and Lakshmi Rivera Amin