What’s So Funny About Contemporary Art?
Artists are finding inspiration in gags, slapstick, clowns, comics, and stand-up comedy. The results are sometimes satirical, sometimes ludicrous, and sometimes ‘so funny you could cry’. Read More
Also in this Issue
The Humor Issue
The Elephant in the Room
Taking aim at the art world, these artists mock museums, dealers, collectors, and—mostly—themselves
Barbara Pollack
How Many Buster Keatons Does It Take to Fill an Art Gallery?
Artists are drawn to the silent-film comedian’s inspired physical and visual flair
Marc Spiegler
A Funny Thing Happened to Robert Crumb
At 61 years of age, the underground cartoonist who conceived Fritz the Cat, Mr. Natural, and a host of other satirical antiheroes has himself become an unlikely art hero
Pernilla Holmes
Authenticating Andy
Seventeen years after Andy Warhol’s death, controversies surrounding the Warhol Art Authentication Board and the catalogue raisonné of his work reflect confusion about his intent, his working methods, and his legacy
Kelly Devine Thomas
Departments
Art Talk
Steven Kurtz, Nato Thompson, Fred Tomaselli, Wilco, Rick Moody, Jeff Tweedy, John Stirratt, Glenn Kotche, Tom Forsythe, Tom Otterness, Irving Penn, Arno Lederer, Robert Venturi, Richard Prince, Jean Nathan, Gerd Woll
National News
Buffalo Tempest in a petri dish Spotlight Gary Tinterow: “Back to the 20th century” Washington, D.C. A potomac on the Potomac New York MoMA’s $20 solution; Whitney thefts caught on tape Cleveland How old is young Apollo? Santa Barbara, California Art dealer sued over war loot
International News
Madrid Directors cut Berlin Flick finds a venue; Richter rediscovers Dresden St. Petersburg Rocking the Hermitage Paris The Jeu de Paume reopens, again
Art Market
London and Paris Old Master auctions: “Best in a decade” New York Sherman’s march
City Focus: San Francisco
“Bubbling Over in Talent”: From bioengineered bodies to realist cityscapes, an abundance of new art is complementing the strong modern presence in San Francisco’s galleries and museums
Kenneth Baker
Looking at Art
Waves of the Cosmic Ocean: In a Tibetan painting, a teacher pours wisdom, in the form of water, into the mind of a grateful student
Kay Larson
Books
A Palace for a King: The Buen Retiro and the Court of Philip IV By Jonathan Brown and John H. Elliott • Il Gigante: Michelangelo, Florence, and the David, 1492–1504 By Anton Gill • Turner, Whistler, Monet: Impressionist Visions By Katharine Lochnan • The Flemish Primitives: The Masterpieces By Dirk de Vos
Reviews
New York The Noguchi Museum; “Modigliani: Beyond the Myth”; Ed Ruscha; Anish Kapoor; Gerhard Richter; Red Grooms; Neil Welliver; Benny Andrews; Kojo Griffin; James Barsness; “Constable’s Skies”; Maro Michalakakos; Jeremy Lipking; Tom Birkner; Amy Cutler; Jon Kessler; Andrea Fraser; Los Carpinteros; Victoria Civera San Francisco Kate Eric Los Angeles Jerome Witkin Chicago Mary Abbott Boston Todd Brainard; “Realism Now” Scottsdale Bill Tonnesen and John Romero New Orleans Al Souza Santa Fe “Georgia O’Keeffe and New Mexico: A Sense of Place” St. Augustine, Florida “Reflections from Greece” London Cy Twombly; Sherrie Levine Paris “Miró Oeuvres: 1937–1979” Madrid Francisco Leiro Berlin Eva-Maria Wilde