Art History’s ‘Look, I Found Her!’ Trend

Digital Benin; the death of 'social media'; John Currin's disgusting paintings |

View this email in your browser Value Systems Women artists are trendy, writes Eliza Goodpasture – from the art market and Instagram posts to Frida Kahlo dolls and covetable coffee-table books. Yet, needless to say, little of this moment offers us 'anything truly original, or truly feminist'. Within academia and the artworld, there has been a lack of recent critical engagement that offers anything beyond the 'Look, I found her!' trend in writing art history, Goodpasture argues. 'To treat artists who are women as separate, as unable to withstand real criticism, or as props to a larger narrative, perpetuates the divide between them and the artists who do not need a gender qualifier in front of the word.' Elsewhere: Rob Horning considers Twitter's theory of power and how the function of social media is being redrawn; Barnaby Phillips reports on the new Digital Benin database; Gaby Cepeda reviews a show of Ana Prata's delightfully stubborn – and cunning – paintings, and Claire Cao reflects on documentarians' turn to animation. En Liang Khong, Director of Digital Moving Past 'Discovery' Would it not be more interesting, Eliza Goodpasture asks, to 'raise old feminist questions about the canon itself?' To ask what work we, the people who care about art, 'consider impressive or important, and why, and whether those value systems still serve us?' read now Is 'Social Media' Dead? At a time of prosperity for TikTok and seemingly-existential turbulence for Twitter, Rob Horning explains how the function, modality and power of social media is being redrawn – and why Twitter's disappearance won't necessarily change much. read now Who Is Telling the Story? The new Digital Benin database is not a pro-restitution platform ­– and some unresolved quandaries remain – but, to Barnaby Phillips's mind, the process of return will surely accelerate. Can it reconnect future Nigerians with their history? read now Disgusting, Life-Affirming The three paintings that make up John Currin's show New Paintings at London's Sadie Coles are disgusting and amoral. And that, Rosanna McLaughlin explains, is why they are so good, willing as they are to 'look libido in the eye'. read now Sketchy Memories How do you capture something as slippery as memory? And especially memory that is affected by trauma, which obliterates the mind, scrambling the order of events and incurring crucial lapses? Claire Cao turns to Jason Loftus's Eternal Spring. read now Tiny Phenomena Ana Prata's Em volta desta mesa at Travesía Cuatro CDMX, Mexico City showcases works that may appear naïf, but, for Gaby Cepeda, in their unironic love of painting and their sly use of texture, they are always cunning. read now Jia Zhangke, Dong (2006) The new edition of Art Lovers Movie Club follows artist Liu Xiaodong as he paints a group of labourers near the Three Gorges Dam on the banks of Fengjie, a city slowly being swallowed by the Yangtze River – deconstructing an area under deconstruction. stream now Pop Music of the Future The latest episode of Subject, Object, Verb is a conversation between Ross Simonini and writer Matt Marble on the composer Arthur Russell, unpacking Russell's philosophical perspectives on non-dualism, Buddhism and disco music. listen now Staking a Claim In partnership with Asymmetry Art Foundation, Erin Li explores how street dance can inspire art museums, dismantling the glass walls separating the institution on one side and disengaged communities on the other. read now Not subscribed yet? Sign up to ArtReview's newsletters © 2022 ArtReview Ltd. All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in at www.artreview.com or the previous digital magazine website Our mailing address is: ArtReview Ltd. 1 Honduras Street London, England EC1Y 0TH United Kingdom Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.