Feminisms
Radical women and climate change rank high on the list of “what to expect from the U.S. art world in 2018,” according to a preview of exhibitions and happenings in the Guardian. Some of the highlights, as surveyed by Nadja Sayej: “Radical Women: Latin American Art, 1960-1985” at the Brooklyn Museum; “In Her Words: Women’s Duty and Service in World War I” at the National Postal Museum in Washington, D.C.; “Artists on Climate Change” at the Storm King Art Center; and the New Museum Triennial, titled “Songs for Sabotage.” [The Guardian]
For the Los Angeles Times, Christopher Knight reviewed two shows in which “the political is personal for our post-Women’s March country”: first, “One Year: The Art of Politics in Los Angeles” at Glendale’s Brand Library and Art Center, and second, “We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965-85,” at the California African American Museum in Exposition Park. [Los Angeles Times]
For n+1, Andrea Long Chu writes about “the second time in my life—but the first time as a woman—I read Valerie Solanas’s SCUM Manifesto.” Among many observations in a long and ranging essay: “What’s striking here is not Solanas’s revolutionary extremism per se, but the flippancy with which she justifies it. Life under male supremacy isn’t oppressive, exploitative, or unjust: it’s just fucking boring.” [n+1]
Youthquake
In the latest iteration of “Show Us Your Wall,” Tavi Gevinson offers New York Times readers a view into rooms of her own. Among the riches are a portrait gifted to her by Adrian Tomine, a poster by Jenny Holzer, an artifact from the swooning mope-rock band the Smiths, and work with origins in the Teen Art Salon in Long Island City, Queens. [The New York Times]
Who shot the photos used for Justin Timberlake’s new album cover? Why, Ryan McGinley! Because who better embodies the wispy, melancholy strains of delicate and sensitive youth than a dashing, debonair mega pop star of the uppermost echelon? In a separate Instagram post following the unveiling of the cover art, McGinley posted a preview video he made for the album too. [Instagram / Instagram]
Environmental Art
“Is Donald Trump a conceptual artist?” an article in the New York Times asks. “That’s the intriguing possibility put forth in an online petition Tuesday that seeks to have the group of eight prototypes for Mr. Trump’s controversial Mexican border wall designated a national monument.” [The New York Times]
Behold a store of gorgeous pictures of the “strange, minimalist landscape of bamboo poles, fishing nets, and shellfish pens” of Chinese aquaculture, as portrayed in a Guardian gallery feature devoted to a “Coastal Geometries” series by photographer Tugo Cheng. [The Guardian]
News
Five women spoke on the record to the New York Times alleging past instances of sexual misconduct on the part of Thomas Roma, the director of the photography program at Columbia University and a documentary photographer whose work is owned by MoMA, the Art Institute of Chicago, and other museums. Roma’s lawyer denied that one of the incidents was coerced and expressed “shock” over the others. [The New York Times]
After La Salle University announced plans to sell works from its art museum’s collection, in violation of guidelines for institutions of the kind, Caroline P. Wistar, a longtime director of the museum, told the Philadelphia Inquirer, “I feel as though the place has been raped. They’re selling all of the very best things—a Degas drawing, a Vuillard. This is major. I feel like they’ve killed the museum.” [Philadelphia Inquirer]
The Village Voice has an obituary for photographer Robin Holland, who shot a number of stirring pictures for the alternative weekly newspaper. “Whether in color, black and white, large format, or small,” R.C. Baker writes, “Robin got well beyond the facades of this world.” [Village Voice]
More
Andrea Fraser has been named chair of the UCLA Department of Art in the university’s School of the Arts and Architecture, Artforum reports. [Artforum]
For the New York Review of Books, Sarah Boxer goes deep into the bedazzling world of the imposingly great comics artist and illustrator Chris Ware. [The New York Review of Books]
“Art museums are an essential part of a city’s character,” reads a story in the Las Vegas Weekly. “Las Vegas doesn’t have a museum that could stand alongside a MoMA or a Broad, and we need one.” [Las Vegas Weekly]