Despite being hailed as the most “diverse” Whitney Biennal yet, the most famous works to captivate the nation’s attention managed to continue to be white artists and their struggle. We’re speaking, of course, about Jordan Wolfson’s Real Violence (2017) and Dana Schutz’s Open Casket (2016)–two shocking portrayals of sensationalized violence that centralized white suffering in … Continue reading
Mirroring Hartman’s invocation of the ghosts of slavery to transform the present, Cy Gavin’s current exhibition At Heaven’s Command at Sargent’s Daughters enacts a similar personal and political pilgrimage. Rather than Ghana, Gavin’s vibrantly beautiful yet historically rich exhibition renders the results of tracing his own personal lineage to Bermuda. Continue reading
One of the most subversive public art installations I have ever seen, Walker’s radical artistic creation vibrates with history: the history of race and gender under slavery, the history of the sugar industry, the history of art and the history of New York City. Given the multitude of meanings, Walker’s A Subtlety is certainly anything but subtle. Continue reading