The Easel

11th June 2019

Why is African American art having a moment? The reasons are as varied as the art itself

The art world, it seems, is getting woke. There has always been a market for the work of African American artists. It’s just that the leading museums are now involved, with changed curatorial appointments and museum acquisitions. Conspicuously, auction room results have also upshifted. Says one curator “there has been a whole parallel universe … that people had not tapped into”

4th June 2019

Political art in China 30 years after the Tiananmen Square protests

China-based artists face significant headwinds. The government is not anti-art per se – it sees art as an important “business sector”. Limited self-expression is the issue. State surveillance (and self-censorship) have stopped explicit social criticism, particularly in genres like painting. Without liberalization, self expression will need to find different form – “something new has to start.”