Hrag Vartanian

A blog of art, culture, photography, writing and ideas.

Entries Tagged as 'art criticism'

An Experiment in Twittering a Panel Discussion

September 25th, 2008 · 2 Comments

Ok, I tried it and maybe it wasn’t really successful (not this time around) but it sure beat sitting there and taking notes…oh wait, kind of the same thing.
I attended the Triangle Arts Workshop panel discussion on “Eternity?: Do you imagine your art as lasting into perpetuity or do you make it to exist [...]

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Tags: Brooklyn · New York · art · art criticism · art news

French Kissing Mao: Chinese Art Smackdown

September 17th, 2008 · 1 Comment

Beijing/Bushwick resident (one of the best hybrids I’ve yet encountered) Ellen Pearlman takes on The New Republic’s Jed Perl (”Mao Crazy“) in an article published in the Brooklyn Rail that offers some good insight into new Chinese art.
Best part:
Artists readily acknowledge their superior ability to imitate and appropriate (think well-made Chinese knockoffs or Murakami Vuitton [...]

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Tags: art · art criticism · human rights

Is Contemporary Architecture a PR Panacea for Autocrats? Western Architectural Ethics & Undemocratic Nations

September 14th, 2008 · 2 Comments

The recent Beijing Olympics has highlighted a crisis in contemporary Western architecture and some of us are worried. Earlier this year, Thomas Micchelli penned an insightful essay in the Rail entitled “Monumental Squalor,” which indicted architect Robert A.M. Stern for his complicity in the George W. Bush Presidential Library, a project that is planned to [...]

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Tags: architecture · art · art criticism · design · human rights · pop culture

My New Street Art Column, Re:Public, Launches on ArtCal

August 15th, 2008 · 12 Comments

I have a new column devoted to street art and titled “Re:Public“ that made it’s debut on ArtCal today.
The monthly column plans to explore the fast-evolving street art scene and its obsession with public/private space and breaking rules.
I am very excited for its evolving nature which will–I hope–partake in a conversation with the work itself. [...]

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Tags: American · Brooklyn · New York · art · art criticism · pop culture