Matthew Rose reviews Julie J. Thomson’s new book of interviews with late mail artist Ray Johnson. What emerges is an affectionately-rendered composite image of an elusive man whose whimsical patterns of speech and thought closely mirrored his approach to making work.
Read MoreRoberta reports on a book documenting the African and African American art collected by Peggy Cooper Cafritz, who died last February at age 70. The book, with many full-page color plates and an autobiographical section, and short writings by artists in the collection, captures a woman who was as on fire about collecting art as she was about educating museums, curators, other collectors about the excellence of art by contemporary black artists.
Read MoreA new book highlighting the career of performer, artist and experimental musician Laurie Anderson is out now from Rizzoli Publishing. “All the Things I Lost in the Flood: Essays on Pictures, Language and Code” follows in the footsteps of Anderson’s 2015 experimental film “The Heart of a Dog,” drawing inspiration from the great losses of life.
Read MoreThe bibliography of politically-committed art by African American women has gotten considerably richer with the publication of several exhibition catalogs, all of which are essential resources on their subjects. Here, in part 1 of a two-part series, Andrea Kirsh reviews the catalogs for “Howardena Pindell: What Remains to Be Seen” at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and “Joyce J. Scott: Harriet Tubman and Other Truths” at Grounds for Sculpture.
Read More“Philadelphia: Finding the Hidden City” is a dense and fact-filled rumination on the character of the city of Philadelphia as reticent, wallflowerish, and modest — a hidden city. Written by self-titled urban observers Nathaniel Popkin and Peter Woodall, and including over one hundred stunning photographs by Joseph E.B. Elliott, of iconic architectural spaces and places in the city, the book has many charms (including the photos and the beautiful hardback cover). Michael says it’s a difficult read, however, as the narrative about the city’s character, written in densely-packed paragraphs with history references galore, is at times overwhelming.
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