(Volume 107/Number 8)

ARTnews  |  September 2008

Read Online Now

The Chinese Art Explosion Barbara Pollack

As works by Chinese artists fetch multimillion-dollar prices, the international art world is waking to the power of the Asian market. China has spawned hundreds of new galleries, 1,600 auction houses, art fairs, and growing numbers of contemporary-art collectors, while accusations surface that some are engaging in widespread speculation

Carry a Big Shtick Rachel Wolff

For artists inspired by sketch comedy, off-the-wall characters who can say and do anything are a way to explore weighty political and social issues

Also in this Issue

Antihero in Boxers Lamar Clarkson

In 30 years of performances and videos, Michael Smith’s alter ego has grown up, gotten dressed, and skewered the worlds of business and art. But he still likes to relax in his underwear

The Personality of Peacock Feathers Ann Landi

Carol Bove assembles the most unpromising elements—stacks of discarded books, chunks of cement, old office furniture, lumps of wax, and peacock feathers—into repositories of memory and nostalgia

 

Departments

Art Talk
Alan Licht, Marc Nasdor, Yoko Ono, Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander, Vito Acconci, Valie Export, Tracey Emin, Janet Malcolm, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, George H. W. Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Barack Obama, Jon Stewart, Michael Moore, Karl Rove, James Carville, Ben Bradlee, Lance Armstrong, Barry McGee, Angus Trumble

National News
SPOTLIGHT Melissa Chiu: A bet pays off NEW YORK Wally still stuck in court; Gotham revival WASHINGTON, D.C. A leader, not a dictator ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN A campus cultural hub CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA Sherman Lee: “A legendary director”

International News
MOSCOW Russia’s censorship controversy ATHENS Pressure for frieze heats up LONDON The emperor’s new clothes

Living With Art
Sentimental Education: Walter Evans began buying art by Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, and Elizabeth Catlett to support his friends and help his daughters understand their heritage. Now his comprehensive collection fills in a neglected chapter of American art
Elisa Turner

Books
Hidden in the Shadow of the Master : The Model-Wives of Cézanne, Monet, and Rodin By Ruth Butler

Critic's Pick
Ken Solomon: Wigged Out
Peter Plagens

 

Reviews

NEW YORK Louise Bourgeois; Paul McCarthy; “Masters of Abstraction”; "Who’s Afraid of Jasper Johns?”; Jake and Dinos Chapman; Catherine Murphy; Kerry James Marshall; Dennis Oppenheim; Jane and Louise Wilson; Rudolf de Crignis; “Picasso Printmaker”; “Urban Landscapes”; Carmelle Safdie; Thomas Burleson; Marc de Montebello; Ugo Nespolo; Ekatherina S.; Judith Belzer; Lucrecia Troncoso; “Suitcase Paintings”

NATIONAL Chicago Jeff Koons Washington, D.C. Amy Sillman Santa Fe Robert Stivers San Francisco Fred Dalkey Los Angeles Amy Stein Youngstown, Ohio Eric Forstmann Houston Christopher French Portland, Oregon Roger Ballen; Megan Murphy; “Zeitgeist”; “Flux”; Joe Feddersen; Margot Voorhies Thompson

INTERNATIONAL London Xu Bing; Mie Olise Kjaergaard; “Blood on Paper” Paris Xavier Veilhan Geneva Henri Barande