Paintings on book covers are arguably more popular than ever, but not for the reasons you might think. Tara Anne Dalbow delves into several recent books that feature cropped, smeared, and distorted paintings on their jackets, asking designers and publishers about the appeal behind the trend.
Don’t miss Daria Simone Harper’s review of a show on the Black American artists who sought refuge and creative freedom in Paris. Also, Nicole Kidman and Jackson Pollock both appear in the same story about a $1 billion sale at Christie’s earlier this week. Ah, the art market — ever curiouser and curiouser.
—Lakshmi Rivera Amin, associate editor
The Painted Book Cover Is Back
In a market flooded with design templates and AI-generated imagery, the painted cover stands out as distinctly human.
“The recent shift from color fields and geometric abstraction to gestural figuration on book covers may reflect a broader craving for embodiment and physical presence — proof, in other words, of the artist’s hand and subjectivity in the era of the internet. Just as painting implies time, so does the novel, demanding sustained attention to both write and to read. It’s a tension that undermines the forces driving creation and consumption in the service of ever-increasing profit margins, both in the art market and the publishing industry.”
Read the article by Tara Anne Dalbow
News
In Kyoung Chun: Make Room
Transparent houses, suspended structures, and intimate paintings serve as metaphors for belonging in this exhibition at the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art at the College of Charleston.
The Black American Artists Who Dazzled Paris
An exhibition in Chicago celebrates the painters, writers, and performers who sought freedom in the city of light and left an indelible mark on its history.
“When I first learned of the exhibition Paris in Black: Internationalism and the Black Renaissance at the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center, my initial reaction was, “What a dream come true!” As much as I’d like to reflect on my favorite Black artists and writers expatriating to Paris and living their best lives, though, their efforts to escape racism in America were not without troubling experiences, too. I wondered how the show would deal with this tension.”
Read the full review by Daria Simone Harper
A Persian Garden Blooms on Governors Island
Bahar Behbahani convened artists and cultural practitioners for a four-hour event, blending performance and dialogue with rest and community.
“On the unseasonably warm afternoon, three shallow fountains on Governors Island were transformed by handwoven, antique carpets and pink, red, and purple crocheted canopies, setting the stage for Bahar Behbahani’s Damask Rose: A Gathering. As part of Governors Island Arts’s annual Interventions series, Behbahani worked with the organization’s associate curator and producer to convene over two dozen community practitioners and cultural groups for a four-hour event blending storytelling, communion, and rest.”
Read the full report by Diba Mohtasham
Maria Britton: Second Sleep
Discarded bedsheets shape portals of reflection, obscuring the past or inviting to imagine what lies beyond in this exhibition at the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art at the College of Charleston.
So many artists struggle to pay their apartment rent so spending an extra five figures for a few days in a largely vapid meat market is not manageable. All of these prices are absurd, ensuring that most of the art is quite commercial and that wealthy investors are the primary target audience. I guess as long as there is demand for these things, whatever. But let’s not pretend there is any direct correlation between them and the contemporary artists who are most inspiring and needed.
Christopher Pelham on “What Does a Booth Cost at a New York Art Fair?“
From the Archive
Art’s Greatest Gift of Death
Memento moris remind us that death is inevitable, nothing afterward is assured, and what we do in that crack of light between oblivions is our responsibility. | Ed Simon
