Writing

Conversation Writing

Me-me-me careerism vs. the new generosity

As the Guest Blogger at ART:21 today, I take a look at a few artists who embody the pragmatism and ingenuity of the new Obama administration. “Artists who garner the most attention in any given time period are those whose work, explicitly or implicitly, reflects the deeper political sensibilities of […]

Conversation Writing

Peter Schjeldahl’s insouciance

In The New York Review of Books, Sanford Schwartz considers Peter Schjeldahl’s unique contribution to art criticism. “Schjeldahl addresses us in a conversational prose that moves from point to point with the speed and ease of some high-tech instrument. He is a writer whose colloquial approach masks both a rather […]

Gallery shows Writing

Laurie Fendrich: Preparing for a retrospective

Last spring Mary MacNaughton invited Laurie Fendrich, a professor of fine arts and the director of the Comparative Arts and Culture Graduate Program at Hofstra University, to mount a retrospective at Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery at Scripps College, in Claremont, CA. In Brainstorm, her weekly blog at The Chronicle Reveiw, […]

Conversation Writing

Micchelli: How art can effect political change

At Art:21 Blog, the Flash Points guest blogger series is focusing on art and politics this month. Today, Brooklyn Rail writer/editor Tom Micchelli, after seeing a performance of The Investigation, a 1966 documentary drama by Peter Weiss (1916-1982), considers how art can effect political change. “The question implies an integral, […]

Conversation Writing

Hello Wikipedia, it’s the blogosphere calling

If you have any experience contributing to Wikipedia, you’ll appreciate “Wikipedia Art,” an online project launched today by artists Scott Kildall and Nathanial Stern. Of course, by the time you read this, the whole project may have been deleted by the anonymous band of pedantic Wikipedia editors (see Update below). […]

Remembrance Writing

Flashback to the 1960s: The Park Place Group

In the February issue of Art in America, Frances Colpitt writes about the Blanton Museum’s show, “Reimagining Space,” which featured abstract paintings and sculptures created by the Park Place Group artists. Intrigued by the article, which featured several artists I’ve never heard of, and drawn to the installation images, particularly […]