Category Archives: ART

Mapplethorpe’s Other Man: On Philip Gefter’s Wagstaff: Before and After Mapplethorpe, for Hyperallergic

Posted on February 25, 2015 by Larissa Archer

In Wagstaff: Before and After Mapplethorpe, Philip Gefter’s new biography of collector, curator, and market force Sam Wagstaff, the author argues that it was not only his subject’s life that was transformed by his relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe. Before Mapplethorpe, Gefter writes, photography … Continue reading →

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Arnold Newman: Masterclass at the Contemporary Jewish Museum

Posted on January 3, 2015 by Larissa Archer

One of my favorite photography exhibits in San Francisco last year was the Contemporary Jewish Museum’s “Arnold Newman: Masterclass.” While some of the artist’s portraits have achieved iconic status (think of the composer Igor Stravinsky. The image you have in … Continue reading →

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Tripping the Ballz Fantastic

Posted on September 29, 2014 by Larissa Archer

In case you’re wondering what I’ve been up to, amongst other things, I went to Burning Man again, and wrote about it for Art Practical: There’s something disheartening about returning from Burning Man to resume your practice as an art … Continue reading →

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Public Intimacy: Art and Other Ordinary Acts in South Africa, Ponte City, for Art Practical

Posted on September 12, 2014 by Larissa Archer

“It was a place where the wave crashed inwards upon itself, with the seething violence of delayed hope. It was Africa coming back, but with nowhere yet to go…. It was 54 floors of people in between other places.”—Denis Hirson, … Continue reading →

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Sarah Christianson’s “When the Landscape Is Quiet Again: North Dakota’s Oil Boom,” Art Practical

Posted on March 30, 2014 by Larissa Archer

“We all wanted this oil development. We just didn’t know what we were in for. Even half of what we got would’ve been too much.”—Carole Freed, fourth-generation rancher, Watford City, ND, May 2013 No single photograph in Sarah Christianson’s When … Continue reading →

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Alonzo King Lines Ballet Moves from Stage to Page

Posted on February 23, 2014 by Larissa Archer

The cliché about ballet dancers is that they are “light on their feet,” that they “float” and “soar” across the stage. I’ve always felt the opposite to be more interesting: nobody reveals a more solid connection to the ground. Even … Continue reading →

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The Embarrassment of Riches: Bulgari at the De Young, Huffington Post

Posted on February 13, 2014 by Larissa Archer

In case you were wondering, the technological highlight of the De Young Museum’s “Bulgari: La Dolce Vita and Beyond,” is a clever interactive portfolio devoted to the Italian house’s queen collector, Liz Taylor. Upon turning each page, a digital image … Continue reading →

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Nan Still Stands: “Nan Goldin: Nine Self-Portraits” at Fraenkel Gallery

Posted on February 12, 2014 by Larissa Archer

“Herr God, Herr Lucifer, Beware  Beware.  Out of the ash I rise with my red hair and I eat men like air.”  Sylvia Plath, Lady Lazarus Though the collection is small — only 9 photographs — “Nan Goldin: Nine Self-Portraits” … Continue reading →

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Curation as a New Translation: Diane Arbus at Fraenkel Gallery, Huffington Post

Posted on February 5, 2014 by Larissa Archer

I am not cruel, only truthful— The eye of a little god, four-cornered. Mirror, Sylvia Plath Diane Arbus famously brought a dispassionate but probing voyeurism to the marginalized and pariah of our society. Her treatments of the denizens of the mainstream … Continue reading →

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“The Outside World,” Richard Learoyd at Fraenkel Gallery, Art Practical

Posted on December 17, 2013 by Larissa Archer

“For I have learned To look on nature, not as in the hour Of thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimes The still, sad music of humanity, Nor harsh nor grating, though of ample power To chasten and subdue.” ―William Wordsworth, Tintern Abbey, 1798 … Continue reading →

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