It’s October, folks, so we’re officially in spooky season, the denouement of the year. Today, AX Mina shares their seasonal tarotscope, a collective reading for the fall art world. By the end of the year, they predict, many of the world’s conflicts will have played out. (Note: Hyperallergic is not legally liable for any failure of the universe to deliver.)
Cycles and ends are certainly on the collective mind. Today, Senior Editor Valentina Di Liscia finds herself moved by Derriann Pharr’s multimedia works at the Studio Museum. “These variegated passages unfurl in sweeping motions, as in a flashback or a vision,” she writes, “rendering the cycles of trauma, metamorphosis, and rebirth as both transient and everlasting.” And Johanna Hedva’s exhibition at the Center for Art, Research and Alliances announces its end at the very beginning: A giant vial drips viscous, ink-black liquid onto the gallery carpet, a dark hourglass that marks the span of the show.
What will carry us through the dark nights of the world and the soul? I know watching John Yau expertly trace the strange threads of an exhibition — as he does today in a review of a show of Brenda Goodman, Steve DiBenedetto, and Bendix Harms at the New York Studio School — always helps me.
—Lisa Yin Zhang, associate editor
Hyperallergic’s Art Tarotscope for the Fall Equinox
What must we embrace as the autumn leaves change color and the nights get a little crisper, a little darker?
At the twilight of New York City’s characteristically soupy summer, I had a chance to visit the Morgan Library’s amazing tarot show, which offers 500 years of perspective on a deck system that still feels so contemporary in its relevance for both artists and tarot practitioners alike.
As the long nights of fall begin, I can sense that major waves of change on the political front are on the horizon. By December, many of the conflicts and uncertainties we see today will have had a chance to play out on the world stage. | AX Mina
Aicon Art Becomes AINA Gallery: A New Chapter in Chelsea Begins October 1
AINA Gallery’s inaugural exhibition, “Other Stories — A Genealogy for the Present,” celebrates modern and contemporary non-Western art.
News
- The Milwaukee Art Museum has returned two 19th-century stoneware vessels by Dave (David) Drake to the descendants of the African-American ceramicist.
- Philadelphia’s Academy of Natural Sciences, a 189-year-old museum run by Drexel University, is closing as a result of financial difficulties. [NPR]
- The Dolly Parton Museum has opened its doors in Nashville, a month after the beloved singer’s passing at the age of 80. [Vogue]
Preview
A New Exhibition Explores Edmonia Lewis’s Montana Connection
The two-part show at Bozeman’s Tinworks Art is part of a citywide homage to the late Black and Indigenous sculptor and her ties to the area. | Phillip Pyle
Lead, Create, & Innovate: University of Michigan’s Master of Design Program
The Stamps MDes program builds curious designers interested in interdisciplinary problem-solving, community engagement, and critical making.
From Our Critics
A Vision of Rebirth, Raw and Sumptuous
Derriann Pharr, an artist-in-residence at the Studio Museum, draws from girlhood and womanhood in works that metamorphose before our eyes. | Valentina Di Liscia
Paint Isn’t Just Paint at the New York Studio School
This exhibition of painters Brenda Goodman, Steve DiBenedetto, and Bendix Harms pushed me out of my comfort zone. | John Yau
The Agony and Ecstasy of Johanna Hedva
The artist’s first institutional solo in New York grapples with the idea of surrendering to the cosmos, but isn’t always convincing. | Madeleine Seidel
Manuel Álvarez Bravo’s Solitary Gaze
The Mexican photographer’s most recognizable work echoes a dreamy vision of solitude. | Julia Curl
This October, Experience Refract: The Seattle Glass ExperienceSeattle’s glass festival returns with milestone anniversaries, fresh art, parties, demos, exhibits, and open studios with the vibrant theme Year of Celebration.
In Memoriam
Remembering Rafael Ferrer, Aracy Amaral, and Liang Shaoji
This week, we honor an arist and musician, one of Brazil’s first women museum directors, and a Chinese conceptualist.
Comic
How to Write About an Indian Artist for Western Readers
Pick a dead woman artist, find an old photo of her looking wise and non-threatening, and don’t forget to quote the European man who discovered her. | Gautami Reddy
Hyper Links
- The real history of abstract art in song form.
- John Wilson’s first feature-length documentary, The History of Concrete, is part of a lineage of unrealized documentary art, Clara Cuccaro argues in The Baffler.
- We wish Kylie Cheung’s 2024 Jezebel article about campus sexual assailants going unpunished — or even receiving special treatment — weren’t still relevant.
From the Archive
Book Explores M.C. Escher’s Lesser-Known Works
Previously unpublished pieces from the artist’s oeuvre trace the origins of his unique perspective. | Sarah Rose Sharp
