On Tuesday morning, April 23, less than a week after more than 100 Columbia University students were suspended and arrested for protesting on university grounds, 11 members of the arts faculty sent their students a letter.  “We, the undersigned Visual Arts and Music faculty, stand for your constitutional rights of assembly and free speech. We ask the University to revoke all suspensions, expunge the disciplinary records of sanctioned students, and immediately allow all students back into their dormitories,” the letter said.  “You are the essence of the University. Your education is ..read more

A protester holds up a print of artist Pilar Veiga’s viral illustration in support of public education at the march on Tuesday, April 23. (all photos © Nahuel Ignacio Sánchez Painequir) Hundreds of thousands of people flooded the streets in Buenos Aires and across major cities in Argentina for the Marcha Universitaria in support of public education yesterday, April 23, marking the largest demonstration against right-wing President Javier Milei’s austerity policies since his election last year.  Milei has taken an axe to government spending on culture, transportation, infrastructure, and ..read more

SAN FRANCISCO — At 10am today, April 24, staff at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) released an open letter signed by nearly 100 current and former workers urging the institution’s leaders to issue a statement on Israel’s war on Palestine, where the death toll has surpassed 34,000. In the six months since fighting erupted in Gaza, SFMOMA has remained publicly silent on the issue, say staffers across multiple departments, who describe a climate of “isolation and fear.”  The letter, signed by over 13% of the museum’s roughly 350 workers and growing, was sent to all ..read more

An almost universal quality across cultures is disdain for the supposed mindlessness of the youth. As I write this, such condescension is amply on display among media outlets and outside commentators condemning college students across the United States who have the temerity to protest genocide. In Nigeria, the term “coconut heads” is in vogue for disparaging young people for shiftlessness. In a move absolutely anyone could have seen coming, the youths rapidly reappropriated the label, ironically self-identifying as the “coconut head generation” in a bit of nose-thumbing at their elders. Congo ..read more

Marie Watt’s current exhibition at Print Center New York requires slowness. Storywork is the first show to focus on Watt’s printmaking practice, though she has been engaged with the medium for over 30 years, with the show’s earliest works dating from 1996. Today, the artist is best known for her textile pieces, for which she cuts up blankets she’s “reclaimed” from secondhand stores and pieces them together into massive, sensual wall hangings.  The relationship between Watt’s textile and printing work is immediately obvious in woodcuts and lithographs like “Mend” (2009) and “Landmark: A T ..read more

Voltaire once quipped that the “ear is the road to the heart.” In this context, Chloe Scout Nix’s candor with ears is refreshing and arresting in “dad ear (waxahachie, tx)” (2023). Through April 30, Nix and fellow Pratt photography MFA Lena Smart are displaying their work in the photography gallery of Pratt’s ARC building. It’s worth a trip to explore body parts like ears, arms, and hands in an unconventional way, but more importantly this exhibition challenges the distorted body images that prevail in mainstream media and can lead to health and self-esteem issues, especially for women. They ..read more

The first posthumous statue of Queen Elizabeth II was unveiled outside the local library in Oakham, England, on Sunday, April 21, to a largely positive public response. The cheerful reactions can be primarily attributed to the sculptor Hywel Pratley’s decision to include three Corgis at the queen’s foot, pointing to the monarch’s storied affection for the breed throughout her lifetime. Though Corgis are somewhat emblematic of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, is this a premium example of art-washing the royal family? Or should I say, grooming the public to have an empathetic view of the late queen? Du ..read more

Los Angeles’s J. Paul Getty Museum has removed an Ancient Roman statuary head from view at the Getty Villa and will return it to Turkey, the institution announced today, April 24. The news follows a years-long pursuit by the country to reclaim its heritage antiquities from United States institutions. Dated between 100 BCE and 100 CE, the fragmentary bronze head was once attached to a figurative sculpture and depicts an idealized portrayal of a youth with short, curly hair and a faint beard. The statue’s eyes are hollowed out, as the original material used to create eyes and lashes has since b ..read more

Rhode Island School of Design’s (RISD) Advanced Program Online is a college-level certificate for art and design students in grades 10–12 or equivalent. This series of intensive online courses calls on creative young people to apply art and design methods to chart new territories of creation and problem-solving. Why Advanced Program Online? A RISD Experience Turn ideas into thought-provoking work with courses that emphasize hands-on learning and experimentation. Peers from Around the World Join a worldwide community of artists to get feedback and gain inspiration for your artmaking. No Previo ..read more

Photographs do not prepare you for an encounter with the work of Toshiko Takaezu. The brushwork is bold and free, and the towering scale mocks the limits of the kiln. Takaezu cracked and cajoled the rules of ceramics, which are tethered to temperature and chemistry. Her work is clay and copper transformed by fire, but it feels decidedly alive. Now three expansive shows celebrating the late Japanese-American artist’s work make this encounter possible in person: Worlds Within at the Noguchi Museum in New York City, Shaping Abstraction at the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) in Boston, and Full Circle ..read more