Hrag Vartanian

4 weeks ago | hyperallergic.com | Hrag Vartanian

PHILADELPHIA — In a bucolic corner of the Schuylkill River in southwest Philadelphia sits the oldest continuously operating botanical garden in North America. Bartram’s Garden, named after its founder, botanist John Bartram (1699–1777), is the site of many continental firsts, including being home to the oldest ginkgo tree in North America. But its history, as part of the larger project of the colonization of the Americas, is never far from the surface.

1 month ago | hyperallergic.com | Hrag Vartanian

‣ Plagiarizing independent media is part of corporate media’s business model. Jacob Weindling, writing for Splinter, explains:Plagiarism is shockingly common in mainstream media, especially at the New York Times. In 2019 Vice wrote a whole article just about the New York Times taking other people’s reporting, making it their own and then not linking to the original report, and even that extensive article wasn’t uncovering a new dynamic.

1 month ago | hyperallergic.com | Hrag Vartanian

MONTCLAIR, New Jersey — A famous line from Chinua Achebe’s 1958 novel Things Fall Apart is, “If you don’t like my story, write your own.” That sentiment is particularly poignant for artist Nanette Carter, who used the book’s title for one of her earliest works, which she created while attending graduate school at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. The piece is currently on display in her retrospective at the Montclair Art Museum in New Jersey.

1 month ago | hyperallergic.com | Hrag Vartanian |Hakim Bishara |Valentina Di Liscia |Natalie Haddad |Lakshmi Rivera Amin |Lisa Zhang | +4 more

Flipping through a volume with a bit of sand in its spine, basking in sun, and in no rush — this is how we were meant to read art books. With summer around the corner and visions of balmy parks swimming in our heads, we decided to compile a non-exhaustive list of summer art reads. Reviews Editor Natalie Haddad takes a look at a new biography of Yoko Ono, while Editor-in-Chief Hrag Vartanian uncovers nuggets of wisdom in a reissue of Jack Whitten’s studio notebook.

2 months ago | hyperallergic.com | Hrag Vartanian |Natalie Haddad |Faye Hirsch |Julia Curl

We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. If you value our coverage and want to support more of it, please join us as a member. If art both reflects and critique the world around us, there’s more than enough to say at the moment — and plenty of art that can provide some insight.