There are no words to describe how much I adored Adrian Piper’s retrospective at MoMA, but not for the reasons that seemed to preoccupy everyone else’s mind. Like with many art shows featuring Black artists at the moment, the white institution obsesses over artists of color who can “teach us” about gender, racism, and xenophobia. … Continue reading
How do we find reprieve within today’s predictable, cyclical nature of outrage, however warranted, and the battle of the wokest? The other day, I encountered a social justice warrior tweet that wondered in all seriousness, “You ever think about how if robots ever rise up the word ‘robot’ itself will be a slur”…and lost it. … Continue reading
Who can evade an inevitable reference to Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror while speaking about technology and dystopic future? It is tempting to compare American Artist’s exhibition Black Gooey Universe at HOUSING gallery to Black Mirror, even though the connection risks limiting the vastness of the former’s critical engagement with technology to a Netflix series. But … Continue reading
Why hello there, dearest Filthy Dreams readers! We made it! To the end of 2017 that is. We know–we didn’t think it would happen either. Since the end of the year pretty much makes wrap-up listicles mandatory, we thought we’d grudgingly accept by counting down our favorite art world social media meltdowns of 2017. 2017 … Continue reading
Juliana Huxtable just gets it. It’s the last day to view Huxtable’s solo exhibition A Split During Laughter at the Rally at Reena Spaulings Fine Art. The utter contemporaneity of the works is owed to how well she captures the humorously chaotic contradictions in today’s political climate, where the urgency to outwardly appear activist has … Continue reading
There is something comforting about seeing proof that someone else feels the same way you do, a tactile representation of emotional exhaustion and bleak pessimism given everything *gestures* going on. Amy Feldman, I feel you. Feldman’s Nerve Reserve at James Cohan Gallery touches upon the artist’s own personal history with anxiety, and the inner turmoil … Continue reading
Betty Tompkins’s solo exhibition Virgins at P.P.O.W. Gallery arrives at an apt time of increasing mainstream attention to whiteness as a distinctive ethnicity. Currently, there lacks critical attention to the whiteness of imagery that Tompkins depicts, instead framing Tompkins’s represented sexual liberation in the context of all women. Continue reading
You know I love dolls. That’s what John Waters snarled at Marion and me when we dragged our favored doll Carol Anne to meet her Uncle John at a book signing at Gagosian’s Upper East Side bookstore. Though I think of John’s demented doll declaration frequently, his words resonated especially deeply as soon as I … Continue reading
The first thing that hits you upon entering the cavernous space of Greene Naftali is the droning white noise of a dozen industrial grade fans — a noise that, while seemingly neutral and indifferent, could just as easily not register as a consequential sound at all. This mechanically hummed nonsense, which blows hot air into … Continue reading
As some of you dearest Filthy Dreams readers may know, Mattel, this week, released its new updated line of Ken Dolls. Besides looking like they all came straight out of The Cock (dirty boys!), these Kens seemed vaguely familiar. Beholden to ill-fated fashion and hairstyle choices (I mean, a man-bun? Really?), we swear we’ve seen these … Continue reading
