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Hyperallergic @hyperallergic.com · 12h

Music in the MAGA movement, writers in Gaza on making art under genocide, a feminist spice mill collective, and more in this week’s Required Reading.

Required Reading

McCarthyism 2.0, MAGA hits a wall, feminist spice mill collective, man with a giant vegetable, Tesla douchebags, and more.

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Hyperallergic @hyperallergic.com · 16h

What sculptor Elsie Siegel and painter Abigail Dudley share is “a tenderness and respect towards their subjects, a sense of what remains private.” –John Yau, critic

A Tandem Dance of the Seen and Imagined

Paintings by Abigail Dudley and sculptures by Elise Siegel showcase their absorption with oil paint and clay, respectively.

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Hyperallergic @hyperallergic.com · 1d

In this week’s A View From the Easel, artist Rember Yahuarcani brings natural dyes to life while sculptor Leopold Masterson restores vessels as they sculpt.

A View From the Easel

“When I'm painting, I think of the myths, the characters, the gods. I mentally walk alongside them.”

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Hyperallergic @hyperallergic.com · 1d

Earlier this year, the Manhattan social services nonprofit Henry Street Settlement’s longtime partnership with the Art Dealers Association of America came to an unforeseen end. Now the Independent Art Fair is Henry Street’s newest partner for its annual benefit.

Independent Art Fair Partners With Henry Street Settlement

The new alliance comes after the nonprofit’s former partner, the Art Dealers Association of America, abruptly ended its annual benefit.

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Hyperallergic @hyperallergic.com · 2d

Pepperdine University, a private Christian college in Malibu, closed an exhibition ahead of schedule following withdrawal requests from at least 12 artists after the school removed or altered art it considered “political.”

California School Shutters Exhibition After Altering "Political" Art

Pepperdine University abruptly closed the show as at least a dozen artists asked to withdraw in protest of what they called an act of censorship.

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Hyperallergic @hyperallergic.com · 2d

One early winter day in 1974, writer Linda Rosenkrantz recorded photographer Peter Hujar over a 24-hour period. What was meant to spark a larger creative project never came to fruition, but finds new life some 50 years later in a new film, “Peter Hujar’s Day” (2025), directed by Ira Sachs.

The Slow, Easy Splendor of Peter Hujar’s Day

Taking its script from a 1974 recording of the artist talking to writer Linda Rosenkrantz, a new film offers a tender portrait of Hujar’s life before art-world fame.

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Hyperallergic @hyperallergic.com · 2d

Bob Ross created thousands of paintings on PBS’s ”The Joy of Painting.” Now, 30 of his works are being sold at auction to benefit public broadcasters suffering under President Trump’s federal funding cuts.

30 Bob Ross Paintings Head to Auction to Support Public Media

The happy little fundraiser will benefit broadcasters affected by Trump’s funding cuts.

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Hyperallergic @hyperallergic.com · 2d

As the Smithsonian prepares to run out of federal funding, the National Portrait Gallery has postponed an exhibition celebrating its triennial Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition.

Smithsonian Institution Postpones Prestigious Portrait Exhibition

The National Portrait Gallery said it decided to “proactively postpone” the Outwin Competition show ahead of a prolonged government shutdown.

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Hyperallergic @hyperallergic.com · 2d

The feminist scholar and literary critic Susan Gubar argues in a new book that women artists have historically found tremendous freedom in old age, liberated at last from domestic obligations, sexual objectification, and the dominion of men.

The Women Artists Who Found Freedom in Old Age

The artists profiled in Grand Finales refused to consign themselves to what the author calls “Little-Old-Lady-Land,” and opted to keep searching, pushing, and trying new things.

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Hyperallergic @hyperallergic.com · 2d

In 1920s Hamburg, a dancer couple created wild, Expressionist costumes that looked like retro robots and Bauhaus knights. After nearly a century in obscurity, these costumes were brought to light and restored.

Avant-Garde 1920s Costumes Reemerge, Revealing Their Makers’ Tragic Story

In 1920s Hamburg, a dancer couple created wild, Expressionist costumes that looked like retro robots and Bauhaus knights.

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Hyperallergic @hyperallergic.com · 2d

For the most part, Roma art is not visible in mainstream American or European society. And yet, beneath the surface, there is an expanding Roma art landscape, including artists like Małgorzata Mirga-Tas, Ceijia Stojka, Gabi Jiménez, and more.

10 Contemporary Roma Artists You Should Know

Małgorzata Mirga-Tas’s dignified storytelling, Ceijia Stojka’s triumphant paintings, Gabi Jiménez’s expressive portraits, and so much more.

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Hyperallergic @hyperallergic.com · 2d

A painting of Shakespeare’s Ophelia by John Everett Millais, co-founder of the 19th-century Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, may be the influence behind the cover for Taylor Swift’s latest album, “The Life of A Showgirl.”

Did This 19th-Century Painting Inspire Taylor Swift’s New Album Art?

The dramatic teal green cover for the singer’s forthcoming “The Life of A Showgirl” is an apparent wink to John Everett Millais’s famous “Ophelia.”

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Hyperallergic @hyperallergic.com · 3d

Six visual artists and photographers — Matt Black, Garrett Bradley, Jeremy Frey, Tonika Lewis Johnson, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, and Gala Porras-Kim — are among the 22 recipients of this year’s MacArthur Fellowship.

Six Artists Win MacArthur “Genius” Grants

Jeremy Frey and Gala Porras-Kim are among this year’s fellows, who receive an $800,000 award.

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Hyperallergic @hyperallergic.com · 3d

The clock doesn’t tick the same way for everyone. Until art institutions admit that, we’ll keep mistaking the optics of equity for the real thing.

When Artists Are Too Old to Be “Emerging”

If the art world is serious about equity, it has to stop equating emergence with youth and start building structures that reflect the multiplicity of artistic timelines.

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Hyperallergic @hyperallergic.com · 3d

Calling all ghouls, ghosts, and gallerinas — this Halloween, Hyperallergic is teaming up with our friends at the Francis Kite Club in NYC to host an art-inspired costume party.

Get Artsy With Your Costumes for Hyperallergic’s Halloween Party

Join us for spooky cocktails, a fun costume competition, and more at the Francis Kite Club.

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Hyperallergic @hyperallergic.com · 3d

The photographer behind the tremendously popular photo series “Humans of New York” has spent most of his savings from the last 15 years on his latest project: a monumental installation at Grand Central Terminal.

Humans of New York Takes Over Grand Central

A monumental project by the artist behind the wildly popular series is now on view at the Manhattan train station, both above and below ground.

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Hyperallergic @hyperallergic.com · 3d

The truth about Frederick Baker’s life under enslavement was shrouded in a whitewashed history perpetuated by local historians in Mississippi. New research on a rare pre-Emancipation artwork has unearthed his story, dispelling false narratives that dignified the reputations of his enslavers.

Portrait of Enslaved Man Dispels Years of Falsehoods

The truth of Frederick Baker’s life was long obscured by a whitewashed history perpetuated by the Longwood mansion in Mississippi, new research says.

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Hyperallergic @hyperallergic.com · 3d

George Morrison’s heavily impastoed surfaces set him apart from his New York contemporaries, many of whom were exploring paint as a liquid medium to be poured (Pollock and Helen Frankenthaler) or applied in thin washes so the hand is not evident (Ad Reinhardt and Mark Rothko).

George Morrison Painted a Different Picture of Abstract Expressionism

The Ojibwe artist was active in New York's midcentury art scene and embraced by fellow Abstract Expressionists, yet he’s rarely in canonical histories today.

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Hyperallergic @hyperallergic.com · 3d

A new retrospective captures artist June Leaf’s restless experimentation across media and the carnivalesque playfulness of her works.

The Explosive Ecstasy of June Leaf

A retrospective leaves you feeling as though you have experienced a life as well as a body of work.

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Hyperallergic @hyperallergic.com · 3d

“There was no such thing as a bad painting or drawing. I think that was an incredible gift from both my parents, and gave us a lot of freedom to just develop into the artists that we are.” —Alison Saar

Alison Saar’s Artistic Revolution

The artist talks to Hyperallergic about being raised by strong Black women, creating with abandon, and the full-circle significance of receiving the David C. Driskell Prize.

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Hyperallergic @hyperallergic.com · 3d

The Oregon Republican Party posted (and subsequently deleted) an image that misleadingly depicted South American riot police in a social media post about Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops to Portland.

Oregon Republicans Caught Posting Misleading Protest Image

The group deleted the photo, which depicted South American riot police.

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Hyperallergic @hyperallergic.com · 4d

Nour Jaouda turns a gallery’s entrance into a threshold where history, memory, and landscape are made, mourned, and ever-returning.

Tapestries That Contain the World

Nour Jaouda creates a patchwork space where history, memory, and landscape are made, mourned, and ever-returning.

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Hyperallergic @hyperallergic.com · 4d

Hauser & Wirth and David Zwirner Gallery's UK locations reported a nearly 90% decline in pre-tax profits. The news coincides with a rumored art market downturn marked by a global decline in public auction sales and a slew of US gallery closures.

Hauser and Zwirner’s UK Galleries Report Nearly 90% Drop in Earnings

The news of the dip in profits, reported in public financial filings, comes amid a rumored global art market downturn.

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Hyperallergic @hyperallergic.com · 4d

Ojibwe artist George Morrison brings out another side of Abstract Expressionism at The Met, Susan Rothenberg brings her subjects to the brink of abstraction at Hauser & Wirth, Larry Bell’s minimalist cubes in Madison Square Park, and more to see this week in New York City.

Five New York City Art Shows That We Love Right Now

From George Morrison to June Leaf, the city is alive with wonderful abstract and carnivalesque art.

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Hyperallergic @hyperallergic.com · 4d

Artist Odili Donald Odita is suing Jack Shainman Gallery for wrongfully retaining over $1 million worth of artwork as it “failed to adequately protect and sell” his paintings — a claim that fundamentally challenges the gallery system.

Artist Odili Donald Odita Sues Jack Shainman Gallery

The painter accuses the gallery of retaining over $1M worth of artworks in a claim that challenges models at the heart of the artist-dealer relationship.

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