Introduction
This issue introduces several changes to our coverage. We are no longer using quarterly themes after having found them too restrictive. Also, we are no longer separating articles from reviews. Our articles are always analyses of art issues or art exhibitions, so the separation was mostly based on article length—an arbitrary and artificial distinction. Less dramatic, we no longer list the name of the artist in the caption in reviews that are only about that artist. If there are more than one artist, then their names will appear in the captions.
About this Issue
This issue starts with a review by Marissa Jezak of MOCAD’s “Free Your Mind: Art and Incarceration in Michigan,” a powerful exhibition that reveals the state of mind of prisoners. This issue’s cover image, Bryan Picken, Confiscated Goods, is from this exhibition. Leandré D’Souza contributes a piece on the Indian social practice artist Khyungwoo Chun, and Diane Thodos reviews “DEGENERATE! Hitler’s War on Modern Art” at the Jewish Museum of Milwaukee, a show devoted to the artists that Hitler deemed undesireable.
On a historical note, Paul Moreno reviews a show devoted to the work of the late Louise Fishman at New York’s Cheim & Reid gallery, and Tom Mullaney reviews the early photography of Gordon Parks at Chicago’s Rhona Hoffman Gallery. Chrysalis Magazine and the New Art Examiner present an obituary of the imprisoned Belarusian performance artist Alieś Puškin.
We also wrote about living artists. Michel Ségard reviewed the summer show at Chicago’s Mickey gallery and the work of Antonius-Tín Bui at Monique Meloche Gallery. K.A. Letts reviewed Jeanne Bieri’s exhibition of quilt-like fabric pieces at Detroit Contemporary. Paul Moreno covered the work of Richard Haines at Daniel Cooney Fine Art in NYC, and D. Dominick Lombardi evaluated “Then Is Now: Contemporary Black Art in America” at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Connecticut. Sean Bieri wrote a piece about biographies of well-known artists that were done as graphic novels. John Thomure reviewed a recent performance series by the group {\}() {\}∆‡!(){\} (No Nation) at Chicago’s Comfort Station, and Annette LePique reviewed the works of Tom Robinson and Lorylyn Kumlin at Chicago’s new gallery SoNa. Finally Sebastian Smee, art critic for The Washington Post, wrote a review of Kehinde Wiley’s show at the de Young Museum in San Francisco that annoyed Michel Ségard so much he wrote a rebuttal as part of our I.D.E.A. series—essays by individuals on any issue dealing with the visual arts.
Happy Reading,
The Editors
