I viewed a Telegram video on June 22, 2024 that showed militant anti-Israel protesters taking over the Brooklyn Museum in New York City on May 31, 2024. At the actual May demonstration, pro-Palestinian crowds seized the museum lobby and hung a gigantic black banner from the pediment over the entry way that read: “Free Palestine-Divest From Genocide.” The June video…
While watching the televised opening ceremonies for the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics, I was stunned to hear the anchorman casually mention the fact that the stadium had been “built by Benito Mussolini,” a fact to which was attributed no historical context or significance. I found myself wondering if such a nonchalant attitude would have been taken had the stadium been…
On January 29, 2005, I wrote an article titled Body Worlds: The Art of Plastic Corpses?, in which I criticized the popular traveling exhibitions of plasticized human bodies that have garnered so much national attention in the United States. On March 4, 2005, I wrote a follow-up article, Body Worlds Corpse Factory, which took a closer look at Gunther von…
Larry Beinhart, author of Wag the Dog, just published an interesting essay titled, Abdication of the Artists. In his piece Beinhart bemoans the complacency of contemporary artists, using the annual exhibit produced by the Woodstock Guild of Artists as an example of the apathy he detests. Beinhart writes: “This year there were 152 pieces. Some were very clever. Some amusing….
Edward Hopper (1882-1967) is the subject of a major retrospective at the Art Institute of Chicago, the last venue for a traveling exhibition that included stops at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the National Gallery of Art, Washington. Encompassing nearly 100 of the artist’s most notable prints and paintings, the exhibit features some of the artist’s most iconic…
I created this small oil painting of a war wounded child in observance of the March 19th, 2005, second anniversary of the US invasion and occupation of Iraq. People all over the world have shown their opposition to the war in that country, and my painting is just one small contribution to that powerful international voice demanding peace. Children in…
