raymond saunders carnegie museum retrospective review

Raymond Saunders's first retrospective, a small but potent exhibition at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, surveys 35 of his bewitching paintings. The works, described as elusive and Rauschenbergian, feature messy scrawls, collected trinkets, and media clippings, with pieces like *Passages: East, West 1* (1987) layering chess boards, paint strokes, and appropriated still lifes. Saunders, who joined Andrew Kreps and David Zwirner last year, has never before received a retrospective, despite his influential 1967 essay "Black Is a Color" and steady institutional acquisitions.

what are the 10 best works of art in new york museums let the debate begin

Artnet News critic Christian Viveros-Fauné has published a personal list of the ten best works of art in New York museums, sparking debate among readers. The selection includes iconic pieces such as Giovanni Bellini's *St. Francis in the Desert* at the Frick Collection, Gerhard Richter's *October 18, 1977* at MoMA, Paul Cézanne's *The Card Players* at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, James Rosenquist's *F-111* at MoMA, Diego Velázquez's *Juan de Pareja* at the Met, and Pablo Picasso's *Les Demoiselles d'Avignon* at MoMA, among others.

art los angeles fall openings review

The article is a review of fall art openings in Los Angeles, written by Juliana Halpert for her Critics’ Table debut. Halpert surveys a range of exhibitions, including Calvin Marcus's show at Karma, Stanya Kahn's solo presentation, the Hammer Museum's "Made in L.A." biennial and its scrappier counterpart "Made in HelLA," Josh Smith's grim reaper paintings at David Zwirner, and Adam Alessi's show at Hoffman Donahue. She also recounts attending the Poetic Research Bureau's 25th anniversary party and fundraiser at 2220 Arts + Archives, where musician Jack Skelley performed. The review weaves a thematic thread of mortality and the macabre, noting how many shows this season engage with death, from fake blood and skulls to sinister landscapes.

cindy sherman office killer blu ray review

Vinegar Syndrome has released a new 4K UHD and Blu-ray restoration of 'Office Killer', the only feature film directed by renowned photographer Cindy Sherman. Originally released in 1997 to critical derision and box-office failure, the film follows a meek magazine editor who begins murdering her colleagues during a period of corporate downsizing. The restoration highlights Sherman's transition from her iconic 'Untitled Film Stills' to the more visceral, abject imagery of her 'Disasters' and 'Sex Pictures' series.

critical reduction the 2014 whitney biennial 5409

The 2014 Whitney Biennial has debuted with a controversial three-curator structure, tasking Michelle Grabner, Stuart Comer, and Anthony Elms with organizing separate floors of the museum. This meta-review aggregates the initial critical reception from major publications, noting that the fragmented format has forced critics to evaluate the exhibition as three distinct shows rather than a unified vision.

Salon review – like getting to know fascinating guests at a fabulous party

The article reviews a salon-style exhibition curated by Matthew Higgs, director of New York's White Columns gallery, at an unnamed gallery space. The show features 43 paintings by a diverse group of artists including Denzil Forrester, Andrew Cranston, Kaye Donachie, Merlin James, Margot Bergman, Gillian Carnegie, Bill Lynch, and Adam Keay, arranged around mismatched chairs facing white windows painted on the walls. The reviewer describes moving through the space, engaging with individual works, and highlights the eclectic, unthemed curation that prioritizes personal taste and conversation over academic or political messaging.

Sophia Rivera’s Mythology of Everyday New York

The article reviews "Sophie Rivera: Double Exposures" at El Museo del Barrio, the first survey of the late Nuyorican photographer Sophie Rivera, who died in 2021. The exhibition spans her career, including her feminist conceptual series "Rouge et Noir" and "Bowl Study" (c. 1976–78), which depict intimate bodily waste like used tampons and feces, and her socially engaged "Latino Portraits" series from the late 1970s, which countered negative media stereotypes of Puerto Ricans with affectionate, mythologizing portraits. The review highlights a moment where the critic misidentifies abstract toilet photographs as pinhole or double exposures before learning their true subject.

The Carnegie International Looks Back at Itself

The 58th Carnegie International at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh looks back at its own 130-year history, featuring a gallery dedicated to past iterations. The exhibition includes Chris Ofili's "The Adoration of Captain Shit and the Legend of the Black Stars" (1998), which was originally shown in the 53rd International in 1999, the same year Ofili's more notorious "The Holy Virgin Mary" sparked controversy at the Brooklyn Museum. The article reviews how the current iteration captures the excitement of earlier exhibitions while providing commentary on authoritarianism and militarism.

Haroutiun Galentz: The Form of Colour

Haroutiun Galentz: The Form of Colour

A new English-language monograph, *Haroutiun Galentz: The Form of Colour*, repositions the Armenian-Lebanese painter as a major cosmopolitan modernist. The book assembles his work from international collections, arguing his career—spanning formative years in Beirut's pre-war art scene and a later period in the Soviet Union—must be understood beyond national art historical frameworks.

Post-Mortemism: An Autopsy of “Nigerian Modernism: Art and Independence” at Tate Modern.

A critical essay by Ayọ̀ Akínwándé performs a forensic 'autopsy' of the Tate Modern exhibition 'Nigerian Modernism: Art and Independence.' The review dissects the show's structure, arguing it fails in its curatorial framework by isolating Nigerian artists within a regional category, using ethnographic display methods, relying on incomplete research, and excluding key artists and historical context.

Between Tropes and Treats at NADA New York

The 12th annual New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA) fair opened at the Starrett-Lehigh Building in Manhattan, featuring a wide array of contemporary works. Critic Rhea Nayyar notes that while many booths felt interchangeable due to prevalent trends like zany sculptures, shiny materials, and kitschy vibrancy, several standout pieces offered genuine engagement. Highlights include Elena Roznovan's maternal ephemera embedded in concrete with bondage tape, Kelly Tapia-Chuning's deconstructed serapes addressing colonial violence, and Niniko Morbedadze's folkloric illustrations.

The Unnameable Artists of the Canton Trade System

Art historian Winnie Wong’s new book, *The Many Names of Anonymity: Portraitists of the Canton Trade*, investigates the lives and legacies of 18th and 19th-century Chinese artists who produced works for Western traders under the Canton system. These artists, often dismissed by history as mere copyists or left anonymous in museum "tombstone" labels, created complex works that blended European techniques with Chinese traditions. Wong challenges the reductive category of "Asian export art," proposing instead the term "Canton trade painting" to better reflect the unique atmosphere of cultural exchange in Guangzhou.