ARTnews

More about the current issue...

This September, our focus is humor. We highlight an international group of artists who are inspired by sketch comedy, creating outrageous, off-the-wall characters to riff on hot-button issues. Also, we profile the hilarious Mike Smith, a video and performance-art antihero.

We visit Carol Bove, who assembles the most unpromising elements—stacks of discarded books, chunks of cement, lumps of wax, and peacock feathers—into repositories of memory and nostalgia.

And in a special report, we look at the explosion of the art market in China, where prices for contemporary art have increased by 2,000 percent or more, fueling the growth of hundreds of new galleries and 1,600 auction houses.

The Chinese Art Explosion

As works by Chinese artists fetch multimillion-dollar prices, the international art world is waking to the power of the Asian market. China has spawned hundreds of new galleries, 1,600 auction houses, art fairs, and growing numbers of contemporary-art collectors, while accusations surface that some are engaging in widespread speculation
Carry a Big Shtick

For artists inspired by sketch comedy, off-the-wall characters who can say and do anything are a way to explore weighty political and social issues

Next month, we talk to architect Renzo Piano, who assesses his past triumphs—among them the Pompidou Center in Paris—and previews his future projects, including museum buildings in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York. We profile David Altmejd, whose sleeping giants, sexy werewolves, and life-size birdmen are rooted in classical sculpture—infused with a horror-film sensibility. We look at a new trend among photojournalists who are not only documenting the consequences of war and disaster, but setting up foundations to help their victims. And we chronicle the career of Aaron Douglas, who forged a bold new vocabulary that helped define a black esthetic in the years before World War II and is now getting his first retrospective.