Brian Kelly

New York

Associate Editor at The Wall Street Journal

art, culture, crab rangoon, things of that nature // pitches: [email protected]

Articles

David Altmejd and Kennedy Yanko: Sculpting the Future

1 week ago | wsj.com | Brian Kelly

David Altmejd offers unsettling sci-fi visions at White Cube while Kennedy Yanko bends the harshness of metal with the flexibility of paint at Salon 94 and James Cohan. Sculpture is taking over New York. At the Met, Lee Bul has deconstructed classical forms with works installed along the museum’s facade. Jack Whitten’s three-dimensional creations and sculptural paintings at MoMA are a must-see on any current arts itinerary.
‘On Education’ Review: An Alternative Curriculum at Amant

2 weeks ago | wsj.com | Brian Kelly

In Brooklyn, a contemporary-art exhibition takes an unconventional look at schooling and the way education shapes us. When it comes to timeliness, you’d be hard pressed to find an exhibition more aptly programmed than “On Education.” The show at Amant opened on March 20—the same day that President Trump signed an executive order directing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to dismantle the Education Department.
‘Breaking the Mold: Brooklyn Museum at 200’ Review: Telling Its Own Story

1 month ago | wsj.com | Brian Kelly

Brooklyn, N.Y.Museums are storytellers. Among them, the grand encyclopedic institutions are masters of the craft, distilling the roiling history of human creativity and civilization into approachable narratives. But how do they approach telling their own stories? Autobiography is a tricky genre, as any memoirist will tell you.
‘Joseph Beuys: In Defense of Nature’ Review: Overgrown Overview

1 month ago | wsj.com | Brian Kelly

March 14, 2025 5:20 pm ETLos AngelesGetting a clear picture of Joseph Beuys (1921-1986) can feel impossible—the German artist was a perennial shapeshifter whose omnivorous interests and radical approaches make him impossible to neatly categorize. Copyright ©2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Creative Perseverance at Frieze Los Angeles and Other L.A. Art Fairs

2 months ago | wsj.com | Brian Kelly

Los AngelesThe modern art fair represents one of those great flattenings that are possible only through globalization, for all its goods and ills. On the one hand, it offers the unique opportunity to take in art from all corners of the world in a single day—a whirlwind gallery crawl where visitors travel to Paris, São Paulo, Tokyo and beyond by simply strolling the fair grounds.
‘Christine Sun Kim: All Day All Night’ Review: Lines of Communication at the Whitney

2 months ago | wsj.com | Brian Kelly

New YorkDelivering a talk at the Collège de France in December 1970, Michel Foucault began with a complaint. “I would really like to have slipped imperceptibly into this lecture. . . . I would have preferred to be enveloped in words, borne way beyond all possible beginnings.” His “Discourse on Language” would expound on the ways communication is mediated and stymied by rules and power structures, considering the limitations not just inherent in language itself but also external to it.
‘Edyta Hul: Density of the Spell’ Review: A Mini Vacation in Chelsea

2 months ago | wsj.com | Brian Kelly

New YorkIt’s that time of year when the short days and icy temperatures make it seem like winter will never release us from her rimy grasp. For a respite, some flee to equatorial outposts where sun, sand and umbrella drinks are plentiful. For those of us with less money and fewer vacation days, a trip to Chelsea might do the trick. There you’ll find Edyta Hul’s fecund, flora-rich paintings.
‘Somewhere to Roost’ Review: Domestic Bliss With a Feathered Twist

Jan 17, 2025 | wsj.com | Brian Kelly

New YorkWhat makes a house a home? For T.S. Eliot, home is simply where one starts from. For singers from Elvis Presley to Bobby Womack to Taylor Swift, it’s the platitudinous location of the heart. And for “Somewhere to Roost,” currently on view at the American Folk Art Museum, it can be an oddly avian nest.
Kenny Scharf’s Dim Galaxy at the Brant Foundation

Jan 10, 2025 | wsj.com | Brian Kelly

New York The downtown arts scene of 1980s New York was fertile ground for a new crop of creative minds separating themselves from the hard-nosed artists who had made the city a creative capital in the postwar years.
‘Sean Scully: Duane Street, 1981-1983’ Review: Painting Outside the Lines

Jan 3, 2025 | wsj.com | Brian Kelly

New YorkSean Scully is one of those artists who suffers from the good-new-bad-news situation of having an “iconic style.” The upside: His work is instantly identifiable (not to mention highly sought-after). The downside: When his paintings are exhibited, they’re usually drawn from his most recognizable periods, memory-holing important parts of his oeuvre in favor of more popular styles.