Articles
Art Writer/Author Frances Colpitt Dies (1952–2022)
Frances Colpitt, renowned art historian, author, curator, feature writer and contributing editor for Art in America for over 20 years; teacher and mentor, died in her Fort Worth, TX, home September 12, 2022. Colpitt, who recently retired from her position as the Deedie Potter Rose Chair of Art History, Texan Christian University School of Art was working on a third book about minimalism and formalist perspectives—the subject of her expertise. In addition to her MA in Humanities from the University of Tulsa (TU) and a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California (where she taught for many years), Colpitt had also earned a BFA from TU...
Publication in the Age of Negation, Part IV Wasted Words
One sends out this precious, all too precious, closely guarded work to complete strangers: they might initially take an interest, but after being presented with the entire manuscript, they can’t be bothered to get back to you at all, not even with a brief cordial rejection note. It makes one doubt the quality of the work. I started to re-read the work that has been the cause of all this unpleasantness again, and after a few pages began to see it in a harsher light: It was too repetitive, too relentless, too tight. Since I officially finished the novel, over a year ago, I had spent a lot of time tinkering with it. Every time I opened the...
Beautyful Migrations The Diaspora According to Njideka Akunyili Crosby
Njideka Akunyili Crosby is having quite the year. Her figurative paintings are on the walls of esteemed museums and institutions across the country, often featuring portraits of herself, friends and family. Akunyili Crosby’s unique style consists of painted, drawn and collaged elements that she blends with a distinctive photo-transfer technique. She uses imagery sourced from magazines, catalogs and her own photographs. Born in Enugu, Nigeria in 1983, Akunyili Crosby grew up between Enugu and Lagos, and moved to the US when she was 16. Now living in Los Angeles, she brings together these varied influences, seeking spaces where they diverge...
Racial Reckoning Mark Steven Greenfield Illuminates the Black Experience
In 2020, Mark Steven Greenfield unveiled a new body of work, “Black Madonna,” followed by “HALO” in 2022, both at the William Turner Gallery in Santa Monica. Gallery owner William Turner told me in an email that the “Black Madonna” show was a natural progression of Greenfield’s career of investigations into race and racial identity. “It was a sensation when we opened it in the fall of 2020,” Turner says. “It was purely coincidental, but after the summer of George Floyd and Black Lives Matter, our show became a catalyst for people discussing these issues.” Turner witnessed viewers staying nearly an hour in the gallery studying Greenfield’s...
Let There Be Light Daniel Hawkins’ Desert Lighthouse Turns Five
“It looks like the unlicensed pot farms have ceased operations.” Daniel Hawkins is surveying the Mojave Desert landscape surrounding the hill on which he built a fully functioning 50-foot solar-powered lighthouse in 2017. Below us, an elaborate compound of white tents has begun to disintegrate. “There’s another over that hill, but it’s gone too. Maybe the sheriff came by.” It’s a relief on several counts—for one thing, the pictorial aspect of Hawkins’ Land Art installation will return to its Minimalist default—with the remains of the town of Hinkley (think Erin Brokovich) the only filigree on the horizon. Secondly, reports of ominous...