Will Santa Monica Destroy Bergamot in Order to Save It?
The new Metro Rail stations on the West Side will impact the Bergamot Station gallery complex. If Santa Monica City's current plan to remake the center is realized, instead of preserving it we may end up with just another shopping mall. More...
A Real Whodunit
For nearly a century "Young Woman at an Open Half-Door" was among the Art Institute of Chicago's most beloved masterworks. Suddenly that all changed. More...
Things People Don’t Talk About At Art Openings
Beyond the expected congratulations to the artist from well-wishers, here's a checklist of topics that tend to get avoided at art openings, courtesy of Richard Speer. More...
The Second Triptych
David S. Rubin continues his tracing the process of museum curating with his "Cruciformed: Images of the Cross since 1980" show. More...
Defining the Critic
In his latest response to Irving Sandler's 14 questions to fellow critics, DeWitt Cheng notes that there is a constant process of adaptation to an art world that is continually changing. More...
Season of the Double Rainbows
May in Seattle is known as the season of the double rainbows that span maybe ten miles within the city. New sources of artistic life are personified by a promising crop of student shows and some newer galleries that are bringing fresh energy to the region. More...
Q and A
For James Yood it remains a nettlesome question whether an artist is less consequential because they do not work out of New York. More...
“The Armory Show”
Santa Fe's Center for Contemporary Art originated as a contemporary alternative to the more commercial offerings of local galleries. The original 1977 took its name from the 1913 New York original, and it continues today as an important showcase. More...
Sam Francis, New York, and Outsiders Looking In
Revisiting the skepticism that West Coast-based Sam Francis provoked with his invigorating brand of Abstract Expressionism among New York critics decades ago serves to remind us why the art world is better off no longer revolving around Manhattan. More...
A Curatorial Triptych
Among curators, David S. Rubin is among those most regarded as devoted to artists. Here he sheds light on how the aesthetic thinking of artists comes to be reflected in his curatorial practice. More...
The Smell of Paint
CalArts was originally Chouinard, and along with Otis College, observes Peter Clothier, these private art schools went through near simultaneous financial crises as the environment for cultural education went from free wheeling to something more corporate. More...
Mother of Northwest Art
The wife of Seattle's then most celebrated artist, art critic and curator, Margaret Bundy Callahan was a top flight writer in her own right--and possibly more. More...
What is an Art Critic?
How we regard the art critic has evolved in recent years such that the notion of an authoritative voice for art has come under fire. More...
A Lad's Disdain
That MCA Chicago is making a big deal of its upcoming "David Bowie Is" show is a misguided effort to broaden their constituency. More...
Why Paint?
OK, we live in a digital world. But I am continually drawn to images that aren't generated on the flickering screen but by a hand of a painter. It communicates in ways that the computer never will. More...
Zoe Dusanne
A new biography restores Seattle dealer Zoe Dusanne as a key player in the Pacific Northwest post-war art scene. She was the first to exhibit Seattle area, New York and international artists under one Seattle roof. More...
Inappropriate Behavior
DeWitt Cheng sees the coverage of the recent smashing of a Han Dynasty vase decorated by Ai Weiwei as signifying the disconnect that has arisen between dollar value and that of the genuinely moving and memorable in art. More...
Does Art Criticism Matter Any More?
DeWitt Cheng regards gradual withdrawal of contemporary art from the intellectual commons in favor of the marketing echo chamber as a trend in need of reversal. More...
Opportunity or Corruption?
There is nothing wrong with self interest and the profit motive existing in the art world. But it's a shame to see talented artists being reduced to advertising hacks in taking advantage of L.A.'s new mural ordinance. More...
“Abstraction and the Once-Silenced Shout”
It is helpful to recall the politically charged history of modern abstract art. The very idea that the political right and left once regarded it as "dangerous" looks quaint now, but one can't help but miss the edge bestowed by suppression. More...
