Colored Criticism

A fresh take on art.

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This Is Nothing New

We stand in active support of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities as we finish May. Our network is full of artists, activists, and advocates working in the anti-racist tradition. Artist Betty Yu and her Chinatown Arts Brigade collaborators were recently featured in the New York Times arts section. (Although the title is misleading – this work is not new for them!) You can learn more about CAB in this PBS segment, or revisit our ArtOffPause conversation last year. And there are so many AAPI stories still to be told and celebrated – I always enjoy the latest offerings from Asian American Writers Workshop. Their Black and Asian Feminist Solidarities project feels super comforting right now, and they have more upcoming events on deck.

This month is designated to celebrate AAPI culture, but is overshadowed by an increase in hate crimes. These communities deserve safety and respect, as all of our nation does. In particular, we recognize the still-fresh trauma of those who have lost their elders to violence in Atlanta, Indianapolis, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Extra credit: work on equity with donation-based training tools for your community or organization via educator Jaime Jin Lewis.

Yours in spring celebration, 

Tiffany.

Image Credit: Sue Jeong Ka used “ID Shop, 2014-2018” as an intervention for immigrant youth without identification. Via the artist: “ID Shop operated as an artist liaison between queer homeless immigrant youths and art institutions to help them apply for IDs issued by the state government.” Being without papers is precarious in a world where documentation means access to services, education, and financial resources. Sue worked both conceptually and practically with this mobile citizenship pathway. Artists are often intervening between their people and the state.

Coming Soon!

Our #ArtOffPause artists, activists, and curators have been busy! Here are some things to look forward to:

  • Kevin Seaman is offering queer arts community and workshops through Diamond Wave. More on their Summer series here!
  • Tammy Johnson launched Creatives in Place, a listening project on 22 artists rooted in the Bay Area. There’s plenty of great art, work. and insights online.
  • Smith Museum College of Art (SCMA) unveils “Amanda Williams: An Imposing Number of Times” across campus through 2022.

Imagination and Insurrection

Nobody wanted this. I was hoping for a bright start to this year. I was all ready to write an essay of optimism and cheer. On this Inauguration Eve, there should be promise coming – a new slate of vaccines, a change in leadership, an economic restart for the country. Instead, we’re watching a quickly unfolding story of security failures, political violence, and social polarization. 2021 could have been a fresh start, but it’s already a cautionary tale of how we’ve failed as a civil society.

Our country isn’t inviolable. It never has been. The failed Capitol coup isn’t a break in our reality, it’s a continuation of our history. But a revisionist approach to art history makes the sight of white violence unbelievable even in real time. Somehow the imagery of a white mob, attempting to destroy a government through brute force, still seems unimaginable to many Americans. That amazes me. White bodies dominate our national culture, whether in art, journalism, politics, finance, or other spheres. Our arts institutions cling to the cultural patrimony of European art, even while people of color have called to #DecolonizetheCanon for decades.

So if that’s our legacy, let’s get real about it. Our reflections of whiteness in art seem limited to heroic sculpture or gauzy pastoral landscapes. When our arts institutions curate or call in loans from European collections, it’s rarely about the failure of white nationalism or racism. The violent extremists that besieged our entire legislature took inspiration from the fascist movements of the last century – their appalling insignia, merch, and slogans make that clear. When arts institutions fail to wrestle with that legacy, it creates a predictable failure of imagination. The real trauma of the past is disappeared from our visual memory. We can’t reproduce or imagine how white nationalism creates a society shredding itself, patriotism lashing back against the people it pretends to protect. That’s our cultural heritage as well. For people of color, our survival depends on recognizing and deflecting white violence. But we aren’t the only Americans affected.

By forgetting the white artists who showed the cost of political violence, we do ourselves a disservice. German artist Käthe Kollwitz lost a son during the First World War, was harassed by the Nazi regime throughout the Third Reich, and died shortly before the end of the Second World War. Through it all, she testified to the pain of her times. She created work that showed European nationalism setting the world aflame, destroying families and drawing countries and continents into armed conflict. She shows white people suffering the effects of white nationalism. And we rarely see work like hers today. Poking around the internet, I found an article on Artnet about current opinions of her work. The TL:DR version is “she’s too emotional, too hard, and too intense.” True story – so is life.

The most surprising thing about the insurrection for me isn’t that is happened, it’s how quickly Americans are willing to turn away and move on. If there’s anything we can learn from Europe, through art history or otherwise, it’s that the fires of white nationalism don’t die out on their own. I’ll let Käthe close out the beginning of this month, and hope for better soon.

“They all devoted their lives to the idea of patriotism.

The young men in England, Russia and France did the same.

The result was […] an impoverished Europe robbed it of its most beautiful people. Was the youth in all these countries deceived?”

Käthe Kollwitz, Diaries, 11 October 1917

Image Credit: The Volunteers, sheet 2 of the series “War.” Woodcut, 1921/1922, courtesy of Käthe Kollwitz Museum Köln. The museum calls this a “Danses Macabres” lead by a figure Death. Dancing to one’s death – a fitting image for a post-riot and mid-pandemic time. Let’s do better.

Spelling error updated August 3, 2021.

Local Westchester Leaders Reflect on Race

Local Westchester Leaders Reflect on Race

I look for a living.

As an art critic, I’ve spent over a decade discussing visual culture. Perception is a tricky thing. What seems reasonable or fashionable one minute can appear out-of-touch the next. I’ve watched with amazement and a fair amount of skepticism as our country’s perceptions changed over the summer. The murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor galvanized my generation in the way that the murder of Emmett Till mobilized generations past. The power of a magazine photograph or cellphone video still surprises. Read more at Westchester Magazine.

September Style Guides

We wrestle with language on the daily. The struggle to make ourselves understood is a constant – whether through a dashed-off text, hours of online coronavirus-lockdown meetings, or work emails. Sometimes we get it right, and sometimes we make a mess of communication.

That’s why I love a good style guide. There’s a precision to feeling like there’s a “right” way to use language. In this moment, every form of communication feels more fraught. We’re displaced from our “normal” lives, and the context of our communities change rapidly. I’ve heard some version of “I don’t want to sound insensitive/ignorant/uncaring, but I’m honestly not sure what to call people.” I’ve also said some version of this. The way we were taught the English language simply doesn’t hold up right now, and that’s okay.

Naming is a way to define an experience, but our lives are more complex than any words. Luckily, we have our entire lives to keep learning from each other! Below are some style guides and resources to keep the conversation flowing…

Image credit: My first impulse was to pick some Mel Bochner, but there are so many goodies in digital collections. I found this Willie Cole blackboard via The Studio Museum in Harlem. A.R.T. (in the new world order), 1994. Museum purchase made possible by a gift from E.T. Williams and Auldlyn Higgins Williams.

Learning It up!

Read In, Speak Out!

I’m an art critic, so I get a lot of press releases. Over the first five years of Colored Criticism, my inbox has been flooded with messages about acquisitions, initiatives, and programs aimed at “diversity” in the arts. As our country burns with righteous anger, I received nothing. The deafening silence of the art world reverberates. The only acknowledgement of the national crisis and emotional trauma has come from organizations run by people of color. (And for reference, 88% of museum executive staff are White-non Hispanic by race/ethnicity.) Despite the rising financial value of Black art, there’s scarce support for Black lives. Silence = death, as the impassioned elders of ACT-UP taught us.

Image credit: Betye Saar always brings the heat. “Liberation of Aunt Jemima: Cocktail, 1973.” Mixed Media assemblage. Brooklyn Museum permanent collection.

Required Reading
Independent Study for times of turmoil

Coronavirus Cancels Everything

Hi friends,

I’m writing from my home, surrounded by the fallout of coronavirus. Our county is referred to as the “Westchester cluster,” which sounds vaguely like an old-timey candy instead of an outbreak. The National Guard is helping out the good people of New Rochelle, schools are closed next to my writing spot in Scarsdale, and our streets get quieter as the diagnosed cases tick up. We’re already community distancing as our schools, cultural institutions, and houses of worship try to contain the damage.

Museums are a great place to spend ideas, culture, and germs. I’ve been watching closely as #CancelEverything becomes real – every hour brings a cancellation or postponement. I’m not saying you have to stay home, but you can’t go to a museum or theater in NYC. Of course, we can still love up on art in the time of coronavirus. I’m clearly not a doctor, so I can’t help you with testing or public policy. But I can suggest how to make the best of a (mandatory? requested?) Covid-19 staycation:

  • Read a book: This is the time for independent study – your public library is full of arts expertise. Librarians are like a search engine or the internet, without conspiracy theories and #sponcon. I’m selecting my books online so that I can hit the circulation desk, wash my hands, and be back home.
  • Take a hike: Lace up your boots and see some outdoor art. We can definitely maintain a healthy distance from each other in a sculpture park like Socrates or Storm King. And let’s be honest, you’re going to be spending even more time sitting if you’re working from home. Get some fresh air!
  • Give generously: If you can’t buy a ticket at the door, make a donation. Smaller organizations are going to be hard hit by any reduction in visitors. The mandatory closures mean a significant drop in attendance for cultural institutions. That money isn’t coming back when the situation improves.

It’s no secret that there are plenty of low-wage and contingent workers in the arts. Teaching artists, security guards, cleaning staff, and art handlers tend to be under or uninsured. They also deal the most with the public. Boards and executives, this is the time to be creative in your duty of care. The Rauschenberg Emergency Grants program is a great start, but it won’t be enough. Supporting our most vulnerable colleagues will have a huge impact on our communities. Remember, Typhoid Mary was a service worker. She infected others because she couldn’t afford to stay at home.