Hrag Vartanian

Since Hurricane Katrina, refuse and squalor have inspired a popular aesthetic in the art world. There’s a laissez-faire decadence in a work like Peter Garfied’s “One: Number 31, 1950” (2008) sculpture at Pierogi Brooklyn (below).

These artworks of devastation all seem to reference (even if unwittingly) Jeff Wall’s stunning and prescient photograph from 1978, “The Destroyed [...]

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I published this in AGBU News magazine back in April 1999 but I haven’t looked at it for ages. I came across it earlier this year and decided to post it on my blog for April 24.

Even though I was born in Aleppo, I really grew up in Toronto, which was a vastly less coherent [...]

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During my trip to Toronto last month, I came across a delightful place that I found instantly charming and I would suggest be a must-see during any trip to this Canadian metropolis. Imagine the Chelsea Hotel opened by hipsters in an Canadian industrial park.
Located in the city’s rather secluded art neighborhood (which seems to endless [...]

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Art Fag City already tipped you off to the AA Bronson
show in Chelsea….some of the highlights of the exhibition known as “AA Bronson’s School For Young Shamans”at John Connelly Presents were:

the naked shaman holding a real fish in a lush tent (pictured above),

Bronson’s photos, which were expectedly delightful, and

the glory hole stalls (a collaboration [...]

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Increasingly academics are realizing that the internet is growing in importance and lack of knowledge about the medium could actually hinder their jobs (particularly in the health care profession). Two recent tidbits from the University of Toronto (my alma mater) piqued my interest:

U of T’s Citizen Lab (funded by Soros) develops new guide to bypass [...]

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