Posted on June 10, 2026, 5:20 PM, by jfriedman, under
art history.
In this response to artist Josh Kline’s essay on the state of American art, I take a closer look at the idea that the art world has recently fallen into crisis. Kline argues that today’s system is no longer able to support artists in meaningful ways. I question that view by looking at the history of modern art and its institutions. From Soviet Constructivism and the WPA to the rise of Abstract Expressionism during the Cold War, art has always depended on political, economic, and institutional support. Rather than seeing current tensions as evidence of a broken system, I argue that they are a longstanding feature of cultural life. The essay challenges common assumptions about artistic independence and asks whether the art world was ever as autonomous as many people imagine.
In this essay, I look beyond the familiar arguments for preservation or removal to ask what these objects actually do in civic life. Monuments compress history into visible form, but they also expose the tensions between reverence and critique. At a moment when public memory is deeply contested, monuments become mirrors, reflecting contemporary values as much as the past they claim to represent.
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Confederate Monuments,
Contemporary Art,
exhibition,
Julia Friedman,
Kara Walker,
Los Angeles,
MoCA,
Monuments,
Social Justice,
The Brick,
The Spectator Comments Off on Monuments we deserve |
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On the recent spat between the critic Jerry Saltz & the artist Refik Anadol.
About four years ago, Wayne Thiebaud, the nonagenarian painter best known for his still lifes and landscapes, began to depict what he calls “clown memories.” These works in progress presently include approximately fifty paintings, twenty drawings, and six etchings. They are a response to the outside world, as well as another new segment in Thiebaud’s decades-long […]
LG Williams, Salaryman/Superman, 2011, installation view Tana’s director Tamura Williams’s Kyoto Gallery dealer Baron Osuna of Super Window Project (right) and Williams’s Tokyo Gallery dealer Tamura (left) Still independent curator Shai Ohayon and Beatriz Inglessis The SHIBUHOUSE gang from left to right: Nakajima-san (aka DOPE MAN), Toshikuni-san and TAIKI-SAN (the 3rd house leader) Tana’s latest […]
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303 Gallery,
Andy Kaufman,
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artfair,
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Banksy Punked,
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Bruce Nauman,
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Liste Art Fair,
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Poetry,
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Super Window Project,
Tana Bookshelf Gallery,
Telephonebooth Gallery,
The Anonymous Auto Requiem Collective,
The Big Lebowski,
Theory of Art,
Thomas Paine,
Tokyo Weekender Magazine,
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Ubu,
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Whitechapel Gallery,
Whitney Museum,
www.lgwilliams.com,
Yves Klein 1 Comment |
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