Art Critic
In Athens, Greece, talking to activists in Syntagma Square
Starting with my current gig, I have a regular monthly column in the Leschi Community Council Newsletter which is being posted online on their website under “articles” “art.” Early articles were about the exhibition “Elles” at the Seattle Art Museum, and a comparison of two Iranian artists, Negar Farajiani who lives in Tehran and visited Seattle, and Shirin Neshat, who has lived in the US since 1977. I have also written about Tanis S’eiltin, a contemporary Tlingit artist, Tatiana Garmendia, commenting on violence against women, Carletta Carrington Wilson on the slave trade in her exquisite “book of the bound”, and “War is Trauma.” Iraq veterans against the war collaborating with Just Seeds Collective. It appears that not all the articles have been archived, so I will put two of them here. The rest are on the tab “Reviews of Exhibitions since 1982”
Art and Politics: The Continuing Theme
Here is the first article I wrote on Art and Activism for an art magazine. Thanks to Art Papers! I also list a second longer article that I wrote there.In this first article, based on my book Art and Politics in the 1930s, I look at the major developments of that decade, particularly the censureship of Diego Rivera’s murals.
Art and Activism A Brief History 1997
In this second overview article two years later, I wrote about Ingo Gunther, Cindy Sherman, Sue Coe, Claudia Bernardi, Selma Waldman, Deborah Lawrence, Dan Corson, and Allen Sekula. At that time Art Papers had a huge format, so copying the article had to be done in half pages. Also, the illustrations did not come through very well.
Politically Indirect Outing the Activist Artist 1999
The theme of activist women artists and feminism is an ongoing focus of my writing. Here are two examples, more posted under the “exhibitions since 1982 tab.
Women are Coming see also my blog about this exhibition
Tanis Seiltin see also my blog about her show ( second half of post)
Global Art
My interest has long extended to global art. Here is one rare article on contemporary art in Africa. Although I was there in 1967, very few opportunities to review African art have come my way. I wrote on the Dandies of Brazzaville for Ultra Extra, an online publication that no longer exists. Here is the article
Baudouin Mouanda Sapeurs of Brazzaville
I wrote occasionally for a literary journal Ravens Chronicle
Here is one example on a genre I rarely address, theater.
Here is a review of a play called “Something I Can Do: Voices from Occupy Seattle.”
Occupy Seattle Comes to my Living Room
For some reason I didn’t take pictures at the event. But here are images from Occupy Seattle.
Background
I have been writing art criticism since the late 1970s. My first articles appeared in Artforum, reviews of exhibitions in various galleries in Houston, Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio.
I subsequently moved to California and wrote for
Art week for several years, then the New Art Examiner while I was based in DC for a year in 1987. When I returned to Texas in 1989 I began to write for the Dallas Morning News as well as Art Papers, an affiliation that continued for almost ten years. When I moved to Seattle Washington I became a contributing editor of Art Papers and recruited other writers, particularly writers of color. That relationship continued until 2003.
Recently I have been writing for Sculpture, local publications, (see above my monthly column) as well as focusing on my blog. The articles listed below have not been digitized. At the time that I wrote them the artists were frequently much less well known than they are now. Websites did not yet exist.
I will be scanning some of these older articles gradually, adding them to the articles already on the site. What gave me great pleasure was that frequently artists would write to me and thank me for my review, so I think they are worth putting back in circulation.
In addition, I have this strange profile of starting at the top with Artforum and gradually writing for increasingly obscure publications like the local paper I write for today. The editor who most promoted my work was Michael Pittari at Art Papers. Glenn Harper at Sculpture is also a wonderful editor. Because of my current geographical location and the state of the publishing industry, as well of art coverage in general, I am thankful for my blog. I am free to express opinions that would never be published in reviews.
Early Writing
Texas
“Fort Worth,”(Roy Fridge) Artforum, September, 1980
“Dan Flavin’s Factual Fantasies,” Artweek, January, 1980
“Dallas,”(Robert Tiemann) Artforum, April, 1980
“VernonFisher.”Arts Magazine February,1980
“Earl Staley, New Work,” Artweek, March, 1980
“The Aesthetic Side of Christo,” Artweek, 1979 September,
“Women in Sight: Issues of Quality, Quantity, Politics,” Artweek, November,1979
“Houston/Austin,” (Sam Gummelt, Michael Tracy) Artforum, October, 1979
“Dallas/Houston,” (James Surls, Tom Sayre) Artforum, June, 1979
California
“Art for the New Apocalypse,” Artweek, February, 1985
“The Responsive Machine,” Artweek, March,1985 (Jack Dollhausen)
“Book Review: Modern Art and Modernism,” Artweek, November, 1983
“Connecting with the Primal,” Artweek, November, 1983 ( Review of Lucy Lippard’s book)
“Helen Mayer Harrison and Newton Harrison: An Urban Discourse,” Artweek, May,1983 ( based on a project in San Jose)
“Artists Who Draw,” Artweek, January, 1983
“Hudson’s World,”Artweek, December 1982
“San FranciscoInternational Video Festival,”Artweek, December 1982
“Franz Kline,” Artweek, October, 1982
“Testing the Studies: Eve Hesse,”Artweek, October 1982
“Vito Acconci: The Sheltering City,” Artweek, September, 1982
“Personal, Modern Eccentric,”(Surls, Burton, Shapiro) Artweek, August, 1982
Washington, D.C.
“Sculpture for Walls,” New Art Examiner, May 1987
“Luis Cruz Azaceta,”New Art Examiner, September 1987
“Notes on New Talent,” New Art Examiner, October 1987
“Feminism, Politics and Social Commentary,” New Art Examiner, November 1987
See tabs under art critic for later writing.
