Artist Designed Sanctuaries III: Alex Grey
Alex Grey produced his "Chapel of Sacred Mirrors" over the decade of the 1980s, and moving next year to its permanent home in Wappinger, New York. It is one of the pinnacles of visionary art of the late 20th century. More...
Thomas Kinkade, Huckster of Light
The late Thomas Kinkade was the Rodney Dangerfield of the art world. He got no respect — and with good reason. But two very different Kinkade-centric exhibitions have recently revisited the question of whether the self-branded “painter of light” deserved his déclassé reputation. More...
Civics 101
What does the current, wild political season have to do with visual art? Historically art has usually served the wealthy and powerful; even in the present day environment of aesthetic independence, patronage is not limited only to the most elite. Artists are as free as they have ever been to use their art to make a difference. More...
The Collector Couple
One of the most potentially rewarding--or awkward--encounters for an artist is that of the visit of a collector couple. More...
Beth Ames Swartz’ Spiritual Balancing Act
The subject of the recently released film "Reminders of Invisible Light," Beth Ames Swartz aesthetic of spirituality draws on a heady mix of California Light and Space, Jewish and Native America ritual, Hindu cosmology and her own rich imagination. More...
Requiem or Realism?
Reflecting on his recent obituary for artist Marvin Lipofsky, James Yood ponders the appropriate honoring of the subject. More...
Personal Politics
A century ago, early modernists fought against a complacently bourgeois, materialistic worldview. Some of these artists are rightly considered cultural heroes, others not so much. Creatives today, writes DeWitt Cheng, should in any case aspire to more than just good citizenship. More...
“Our Stars, Our Selfies"
Forging a personal relationship with artists and artworks we love, or love to hate, is part of what makes the creative life so rewarding. And this is why Richard Speer finds our current craze for selfies--in particular "art selfies"-- so unnerving. More...
The Studio Visit: Five Helpful Hints
Matthew Kangas loves to see artists do well, and hosting a successful studio visit is one of those tools that can tie an artist up in knots. We some careful planning a potentially nerve-wracking experience can be both enjoyable and productive. More...
Site Specific Sanctuaries
Art as a site of secularized religious experience gains new practitioners in noteworthy recent projects springing up around Texas. More...
Moving Day
For the second time in seven year the Art Institute of Chicago has shuffled the presentation of its permanent collection, and it all works. More...
Superstructure
If we want a better country, a better world, and a better art world, how do we make art with human values in a culture glamorizing vapidity and excess? DeWitt Cheng reflects on how the role of art has evolved. More...
New Year's Resolve
Bill Lasarow has long regarded art's essential element as one's authenticity. But now our domestic politics have turned the content of that great term on its head. More...
Did AIDS Change Art?
"Art AIDS America" is hardly the first or last exhibition about AIDS, but it is expansive, well curated and researched, and may be seen and thought about in a rich variety of ways. More...
New Art Meets Historic Monuments
Site-specific art is being brought to each of San Antonio's five historic missions in the rural terrain of Mission Reach district. The first two completed projects, by Stacy Levy and Arne Quinze successfully wed contemporary art to key historical structures. More...
Lipogram Vanity
Do art critics love to play word games? James Yood reminds us that they are, after all, WRITERS; it's OK to have fun with the raw material. More...
Chintz, Kitsch and Letdown in the Infinity Room
The wait to spend a minute in Yayoi Kusama's immersive "Infinity Mirrored Room" at the new Broad turned out to be an underwhelming art experience, a theme-park-like build-up that lacks sincerity of intent. More...
POLIN and Treblinka
Polish and Jewish history are linked through achievement and tragedy. Matthew Kangas takes us to two museums in Poland that address both sides of this history, The Museum of the History of Polish Jews (POLIN) and The Museum of Struggle and Martyrdom. More...
The Great (Gallery) Migration
This year has been dynamic for the growth of new art spaces. Bill Lasarow notes that his has been marked by new and established galleries heading for districts not previously known as gallery destinations. More...
