David Ebony– This year’s Whitney Biennial, on view through June 11, is an extraordinary exhibition for a number of reasons. Widely regarded as the premier museum survey of contemporary art in the U.S., the Biennial, now in its 78th incarnation, is the first to take place in the Whitney’s new
David Ebony– Revolutionary Horizons: Art and Polemics in 1950s Cuba, a new book by University of Maryland professor and Latin American art scholar Abigail McEwen, could hardly have appeared at a more opportune moment. Cuba is everywhere in the news lately. President Barack Obama’s visit to Cuba last March, the
Interview with Terry Eagleton by David Ebony
David Ebony— So much in the news these days refers to culture, culture clashes or culture wars, cultural identity, and cultural purity. The meaning of “culture” seems to be expansive and flexible, applied to just about any and every human gesture, expression, or endeavor. Terry Eagleton, the brilliant and often
David Ebony— When first published in an ArtNews article in 1971, the provocative question proposed by critic and art historian Linda Nochlin, “Why have there been no great women artists?” had the effect of a bombshell. Everyone in the art world realized there was a helluva lot of work to
As we continue to mourn the passing of one of the 20th century’s great visual artists (as many other people are doing, as well — see this recent piece in the Spectator), we revisited this terrific blog post from late summer, 2014. David Ebony— The life and work of Maria
David Ebony— In the mid 1930s, the years leading up to World War II, America’s great socialist moment was underway. New Deal programs like the Works Progress Administration employed thousands in arts, architecture, theater, literature and the media, who transformed the country’s cultural landscape forever. This dynamic spirit carried over
David Ebony— Renowned for his incandescent abstract paintings of ethereal space and light, Mark Rothko is certainly one of the giants of twentieth century art. Along with fellow Abstract Expressionists Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, Rothko made a monumental contribution to American post-war painting. Now occupying a rather mythic
David Ebony— How important is drawing for a sculptor? Among the most subtle of contemporary American abstract sculptors, Martin Puryear has produced elegant and sometimes astonishing drawings and prints over the past fifty years. The two-dimensional works often correspond to his sculptures, but they are not mere studies for 3-D
If you are in or near New York City – or plan to be over the next week – you have the marvelous opportunity to see photographs taken in Calcutta by Laura McPhee at The Benrubi Gallery in Chelsea. And – it gets better – you have two chances to
David Ebony— As Performa 15, the performance art biennial, gets underway this week in New York, on the West Coast, Los Angeles’s Fowler Museum at UCLA hosts “Disguise: Masks and Global African Art,” an extraordinary look at the use of masks in contemporary performance art, sculpture, photography, installation and video.