The Capital of Art
A lot of folks bellyache about Art Basel Miami Beach. Four days loaded with art and art people all over the place? C'mon, says Richard Speer, enjoy! More...
Chihulyland
Dale Chihuly has not been a central figure in the glass art movement forever, but to many it may seem that way. The Chihuly Garden and Glass traces his career and offers his signature immersive visual experience. More...
Requiem by a Teacher's Pet
Already an art world anomaly, Gary Baseman attempts a reverse transmogrification of his whimsical cartoon style to a vehicle honoring resistance, survival and his late parents. More...
To Fee or Not to Fee
James Yood illuminates museum admission rates; even today not all charge. The revenue is well deserved - but it is the right thing? More...
Reflections on Collecting
Some people just cannot help but collect; Matthew Kangas calls it the "collector gene," and it can be wonderfully contagious - even to those who resist it. More...
Danto's Divine Comedy
DeWitt Cheng notes, with the recent passing of philosopher and art critic Arthur Danto, the writer's graceful style that mostly eschewed didacticism and moralizing without sacrificing intellectual cachet. More...
Bicycling Fish
No, Gloria Steinem is not the one said “A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle.” Richard Speer shares how he writes. More...
Wary of the Spiritual
Are we strictly thinking and material beings? Betty Ann Brown revisits the impact of the Cartesian tradition on the spiritual impulse in art. More...
Without Fear or Favor
For 30 years the "New Art Examiner" was the fiercest voice of iconoclastic art journalism outside of New York, notes former editor James Yood on its 40th anniversary. More...
Modernist Siblings
Matthew Kangas profiles the modernist sculptures commissioned over the last 40 years by the Seattle Arts Commission. More...
Reflection on a Glial Cell
Does language place an unwelcome load on art making? Marlena Donohue views this as the wrong question. More...
Book-Bound
The non-visual aspects of art have always been a key to enriching visual experience. But in recent decades has the role of theory drained art of some portion of its substance? More...
Is Zumthor's Austerity Right for LACMA?
George Melrod recognizes the vast ambition of Peter Zumthor's proposed architectural of LACMA's original buildings, but much remains problematic or unresolved. More...
A Tale of 3 and 7
Nothing of importance ever happens in years ending in 3 or 7 says James Yood. So here we are in a '3' year, and sure enough its been one of relative indolence. More...
''Desecration''
It has long been common practice that artists tear down the precedents they are most closely wedded to. How refreshing to encounter some who seek to simply extend it. More...
Revisiting the Ultimate Issue
Death and dying is one of the most deeply historical of artistic themes. Such images can go well beyond asking the mournful "why?" in favor of the purposive "what does the process look like?" More...
Amusant.com
An old critical conversation about art as spectacle re-emerged in recent years in terms of "participatory experience." Is this merely shorthand for art as light entertainment? More...
Deaccession in the Civic Context
James Yood argues for the validity of a major art institution to engage deaccession as contributing to civic good beyond normal AAM criteria. More...
A Mural Ordinance for Los Angeles
For over a decade Los Angeles has exercised a stifling ban on murals on private buildings. But now the likely passage of a new mural ordinance is about to change that. More...
Good Bad and Bad Bad
Reflecting on one exhibition of willfully badly executed art, Richard Speer muses on the inherent enigma of such a posture. More...
