About the exhibition Patterns are a way to create order from chaos. But patterns can also grow, shrink, move, blend and break. This exhibition brings together works that use pattern and repetition to make sense of the world in ways that do not necessarily show it as organized and regulated. The title for this exhibition is taken from a lyric by Devo, “You can rearrange the patterns so unkind / Don’t bother asking why a pattern never cries.” If patterns are templates through which we experience the world, then the artists in this exhibition share a delight in blurring the Read More …

“…In 1905, Sicilian immigrant Baldassare Forestiere sank his life savings into what he hoped to turn into a fruit orchard, but the trees wouldn’t take root in the hardpan. Devastated, he began working as a laborer in the searing heat of the Central Valley. Then, inspiration struck — he’d go underground to find relief. He’d helped dig subway tunnels in Boston, and he recalled the wine cellars and the catacombs in his homeland — all places cooler than at the surface.” Read the rest.

…In the 1970s, Ringgold became an activist — by desire, but also by necessity. “I remember when I was young,” she said in a recent interview, “and I would go into a gallery to show my work, the gallery dealer would look at my legs, but not my art.” In 1970, Ringgold and some fellow demonstrators placed eggs and tampons around the Whitney in protest against the consistently small percentage of women artists on display in its annual exhibition of contemporary art.” Read the rest.

About the exhibition Score for curating this NIAD show: look at every single piece of art.  let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. choose the pieces that this soft animal in you loves, and hope someone else sees the life you see in each one, and that this unknown person–who you may be–might choose to bring this work out of the internet and into their own life as a cherished object. View it here.

About the exhibition Paying homage to Agnes Varda’s final film, this grouping seeks to interact with the imagined and real figures and landscapes of NIAD’s impressive roster of artists. Creating dynamic and vibrant visions of the world, these artists are exploring what defines faces and places, two very basic genera. Take Erica Martinez’s Wallhanging, which quilts floral patterned fabrics to create an entirely new terrain. Or take Raven Harper’s Untitled, which morphs one of her signature visages onto a ceramic surface. Like Varda, these artists are engaging with persons, places, and things, getting to know them and inventing their own perceptions Read More …

“Earlier this week, while waiting to board an early morning flight from San Francisco to Portland, Oregon, I found myself stranded in Terminal 2, hungry and parched.  My search for sustenance led me to a breakfast bar, where I procured a bagel and a small beverage. The total? $11.50 — more than double the typical street price. It’s a familiar story for any traveler: Held captive with few purchasing options, we’re often made to shell out 2-3x the going rate for a nibble of food, or pay a 100%+ markup for a water bottle. (Heaven forbid you need a neck Read More …

About the exhibition I followed the advice or Sara Malpass’ word poem and gathered all the works that open to me. Please turn up the brightness level on your screens, folks, because this online exhibition is about vibrant, expansive colors that could change your world. I looked through the entire archive (5,360 artworks) and, after being completely humbled, selected 44 pieces that rock my world.  View the exhibition.

“After this discovery, what may have started as the Tear Gas Biennial is now the Sierra Bullet Biennial,” a Forensic Architecture researcher told Hyperallergic. Read the article here.

Eight artists have asked the Whitney Museum of American Art to remove their works from this year’s Biennial, citing what they describe as the museum’s lack of response to calls for the resignation of a board member with ties to the sale of military supplies, including tear gas. Four of the artists withdrew on Friday; the rebellion continued throughout Saturday as four more followed suit. There are 75 artists and collectives in the Whitney Biennial, which closes on Sept. 22. Read the rest.

This week in San Juan, Puerto Rico, police used tear gas against protesters. The identification of the source for this agent might further stoke the flames of a growing crisis at New York’s Whitney Museum…. Read the rest.

About the exhibition As viewers, when we see text in contemporary art, we can breathe a sigh of relief; text feels like an anchor in a sea of not-knowing. Yet the longer we look, the more we come to realize that words are the ultimate abstraction. They stand in for both image and idea, asking us to conjure up pictures in our own imagination. The artworks in this exhibition treat text in a variety of ways, from ordered lists to commanding slogans. Some are dense with repetition while others are bare with just a single word or phrase. All of Read More …

About the exhibition Artworks that build worlds. Whether artifact or key, these 15 works imagine alternative realities, languages and landscapes.  View it here.

It’s gonna be amazing. Kathleen King (yes, we’ve shown her a few times) is at the top of her games. You can thank us later. Details.

From the New York Times: “My son often asks, “What do you have against jokes?” “Nothing,” I reply. “Well, stop killing them,” he says. He’s 18, autistic, and does standup. He has learned the importance of delivery and timing, skills mastered by the best comics. Despite this, many people believe people with autism are humorless. Tell that to Dan Aykroyd, who identifies himself as having autism spectrum disorder, or A.S.D. One of Mr. Aykroyd’s symptoms included an obsession with ghosts and law enforcement. His deep interest in the ghost hunter Hans Holzer inspired him to co-write “Ghostbusters.” “It’s a huge Read More …

About the exhibition Jeremy Burleson, Luis Estrada, and Anne Meade share clear artistic voices and recurring motifs in their artworks. I selected artworks that had salient emotional and psychological resonances for me. Burleson’s ink drawings of balloons suggest hope and joy; yet the untethered strings foreshadow loss. His stacks of turtles are curious; one turtle’s protective shell becomes other turtles’ stepping stones. There are hints of fear, excitement and danger in drawings of an undulating rattlesnake, a human who appears to be a hospital worker, and what might be an illustration of a dream about flying. Just as the tiniest Read More …

Very sad to report that Jon Fukui, one of our beloved artists, died a few days ago after a battle with cancer. Jon was an amazing artist, creating pieces that explored the world — monster moves, the sea and so on — through the lens of young Japanese American. He was always willing to listen to other artists and their idea, while exploring his unique visions in clay or on paper. He will be dearly missed. (You can see some of his work here.)

About the exhibition As the title clearly states, this selection of works from 12 NIAD artists would be what I, Clea, would like to buy on any “fuck it, I want it“ kind of day. As curators, the biased or subjective factor is always present in the composition of an exhibition. Although taste and genre are often present and presented as core aspects of the curation process, the ownership aspirations of the work is not mentioned as nearly as, according to me, it should. Following a conversation with Tim Buckwalter, Director of Exhibitions at NIAD, on successful sales platforms and Read More …

“The artists in the exhibition have built careers that many people with degrees from top art schools would envy. It seems likely that the show will sell out, with works that are priced from a hundred dollars to several thousand. (One) of the artists… Marlon Mullen ha(s) been included in… the Whitney Biennial, the most prestigious group exhibition of contemporary art in the U.S. Mullen was also selected as one of three SECA Art Award recipients for 2019, which includes an exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, which will open in November… Read the rest.

Hey New York, SHRINE has an amazing show of works up right now by Mary T Smith! Trust me, I’ve seen the works. Or if you don’t, read this: “Mary, who was hearing-impaired from an early age, was the third of 13 children; she and her siblings helped their sharecropper father grow, pick, and pack vegetables. Given her hearing disability, she had a hard time in school but still managed to reach the fifth grade; as a child, she often spent time alone, drawing. Smith later worked as a domestic servant for white families and was married twice, but it Read More …

Rock band Umphrey’s McGee (UM) has teamed up with We Are Lions (WAL) to present a new line of merchandise to celebrate the 15th anniversary of UM’s seminal album Anchor Drops. UM selected their favorite designs of the bunch – a Robot World squadron by Saul Alegria, a cheeky pop-art Wife Soup by Mireya Betances, an intricate homage to Chicago by Harold Jeffries, and a surreal 13 Days piece by Phoebe Pitcock. All items are made-to-order and available exclusively at We Are Lions .