Beware the “Creative Economy”
One-thousand six-hundred fifty-four. I’m not teaching this semester, but if I were, that is the one number that I would want everyone to remember….
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The Subtle Evolution and Marked Aging of Michael Smith’s “Mike”
Michael Smith belongs to the first wave of artists who made extensive use of mass-media imagery and formats in their work. His conceptually-minded peers…
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Shedding New Light on the Night: Obscurity and Clarity in the American Nocturne
Artists have long exploited the Zoroastrian struggle between light and dark to create images. Although darkness implies mystery and melancholy, in the hands of…
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From This Deep and Powerful Sculpture Emerged This Mask: Reading Haegue Yang Through Victor Hugo
How the disfigured transfigure, how the formless become heavenly […] this strange spectacle had a transparence of an avatar. – Victor Hugo, The Man Who…
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First Nations Art and the Matter of Its Politics
Is contemporary Aboriginal art necessarily political? Does art made by First Nations, Inuit, or Métis artists inevitably engage with such historical events and trauma…
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Successfully Mining Politics for Feeling: Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev’s Istanbul Biennial
Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev’s Istanbul biennial SALTWATER: A Theory of Thought Forms opened with speeches and song as the artworld gathered to see her first major exhibition…
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Momus “Best Of”: Vol. 1
It’s been a good ten months. Since October 2014, Momus has quickly become a trusted reference for those wishing to reflect on contemporary art at…
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A.L. Steiner’s Personal Archive: Underground Heroes, Everyday Lovers, and Global Catastrophe
Underground heroes. I’ve had many. Some of them I stole from the high shelves and long racks of chain bookshops. Novels and art catalogues,…
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The Outsider That Invites Us In: Jordan Maclachlan’s “Ways of Living”
The fantastical meets the hackneyed in Jordan Maclachlan’s expansive Ways of Living, a detailed menagerie of other-worldly creatures, animals, and humans, too. The clay figures that…
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Grey Skies Over Melancholy Bay: Creative Antagonism and Cultural Preservation on the West Coast
A call for action rang out in Vancouver this spring when members of the art community rallied together and voiced opposition to the sited…
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