"El Museo Fue Del Barrio" Flow States – LA TRIENAL 2024

 I do not particularly like El Museo del Barrio. Last year I wrote a paper where I critiqued theI do not particularly like El Museo del Barrio. Last year I wrote a paper where I critiqued the institution, and this most recent exhibition makes me sure of my critique. 

In my paper I examined how the museum was moving away from its original artistic purpose, for the aim to become a national institution. El Museo was created to give voices to the Nuyorican community of Spanish Harlem, to see themselves reflected in the artwork presented, and to give opportunities for the artists of said communities to have their work exhibited. As of recently, El Museo has paid less and less attention to the neighborhood it resides in, in favor of receiving international acclaim like its many museum counterparts. Through their exhibits, they chose to highlight artists that already have a space for themselves, making it so that their own minority of artists aren’t even shown in the museum created for them. This move has been met with protests from members of the community asking whether the museum should continue with its broadening efforts or solely focus on the hyper specific Latino New York experience in their exhibitions. 

Alina Perez, Family Romance, 2024, charcoal on paper

Their most recent exhibition, Flow States, showcases their desire to further themselves from the Nuyorican community. The exhibition focuses on the diasporic flow of Latino artists based in the Americas, the Caribbean, Europe, and Asia. Of the artist’s featured, very few were based in New York or even from El Barrio. Why should the museum continue to call itself El Museo del Barrio, if the artists highlighted are not from El Barrio and the museum no longer reflects the Latino community in New York?

~Jay Vargas-Garcia *

“The Brooklyn Artists Exhibition” at The Brooklyn Museum

 The Brooklyn Artists Exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum of Art was an invigorating display of over 200 artists who have lived in Brooklyn the past five years. Walking through the space, an array of ideas is presented through painting, sculpture, video-installation, drawing, and textile. The description of the show leaves much to the viewer's discretion, which ties together the exhibited pieces through guiding themes such as migration, memory, identity, history, uncertainty, turbulence, healing and joy. While it was remarkable to see such a wide range of ideas being explored, it would have been nice to see more accompanying material to explain the context for some of these pieces. Walking through the exhibition with no prior knowledge of the artists or their work made it challenging to get to know the very artists that made up the show. 

The Book Club, Bergdorf Goodman "Destination Extraordinary", Holiday 2016

Context plays a big part with Johanna Burke’s Green Monkeys. Upon first glance the bright green embroidery beaded monkey grasped my attention. The manipulation of material was exceptional, as it read as natural organic material at a distance. However, after further research I realized that this piece had been commissioned by the designer luxury department Bergdorf Goodman as a holiday display in their storefront. Because this work is essentially an ad for a high-end fashion store, the potency of the piece was extinguished. Looking back, it feels like a big jump between that piece and other works which shared the same room, such as Qualeasha Wood’s woven tapestry which explores personal identity against the technological gaze. This show made me wonder about the process used to choose the artworks. Why were these pieces chosen as Brooklyn's best, out of the 4,000 applications? That being said, this exhibition made me excited for what's to come in the art world. 

Alejandro Garcia Contreras: ¿Quien no ha intentado convertir una piedra en un recuerdo?

     Upon entering the exhibition space, you are met with mountains of concrete casts, sand scattered around the floor, and a framed screen centering it all. The room's gray walls and spotlights almost cage you in, combined with a closer examination of the cement shapes revealing faces and skeletal shapes all work in giving the exhibit an inherently uneasy atmosphere. 

  Mexican artist Alejandro Garcia Contreras’s ¿Quien no ha intentado convertir una piedra en un recuerdo?(2024) at Pioneer Works immerses you into its themes from the second you enter the exhibition. Centered around ideas of personhood and self-identity, Conteras has a variety of recognizable imagery that resonates with the viewer and serves as not only a means for Conteras to reflect on himself but for the viewer as well.  By looking closer at these first unrecognizable concrete forms you start to pick out familiar faces like Mickey Mouse or Sailor Moon. This choice by Contreras helps the viewer find themselves within the work and allows them to reflect on why the images are recognizable to them. Contreras is pointing at media's influence on our identity and personhood and how these mas symbols of popular culture act as a way for people to relate to and resonate with the works, making them feel included as they can think, “I know that character!”

Conteras further solidifies these ideas of self-reflection through the specific choice of making the space feel like an active archeological site.  The sand across the ground crunches under your feet as you traverse the space making you feel as though you are entering a space belonging to the works rather than the works simply occupying the space. This archeological motif is further successfully driven home with the center work of the gallery being a floral porcelain skeleton centered on a thick layer of sand. Meant to represent Contreras himself, the work acts as a literal representation of self-discovery and exploration.

"Floridas"-Anastasia Samoylova And Walker Evans

The exhibition, situated within The Met and surrounded by traditional 1800s paintings, sets itself apart by invoking a distinctly modern and somewhat ironic atmosphere. The show begins in a narrow corridor displaying newspapers, magazines, and postcards, all centered around the theme of “Florida.” They guide visitors away from the classical art they’ve just encountered and into a carefully curated narrative of place and perception.

The artworks come from two artists: Walker Evans, a documentary-style photographer, and Anastasia Samoylova, a photographer and mixed-media artist. Together, they craft a portrait of Florida, forming a contradictory dialogue between fantasy and harsh reality. Florida emerges not only as a travel destination with postcard-perfect beaches and tourist havens, but also as a site where hurricanes, sea-level rise, and ecological fragility happen. The artists employ a variety of techniques to expose the underlying tensions, such as photography, collaging, and the application of acrylic paint overprints

The walls are painted in vibrant, chromatic hues of green and pink, serving as an unconventional prelude. The bubblegum pink and lush green hues evoke the vibrant kitsch often associated with Florida’s tropical allure. However, the deeper pink wall tone does not match the shade featured in the title text, thus the earthy carpet sets a sense of underlying unease.

Among the various sections, the opening corridor emerges as the most successful space. It offers a broader vantage point and frames the subsequent experience with context and complexity. This corridor allows viewers to move into the show with an informed understanding of Florida’s layered identity with the textual information, archival materials, and thematic orientation. In comparison, the inner spaces felt disappointing, with not strong enough work.

Jessy Hu #

Is Biobank a Home? by Heather Dewey-Hagborg at the Cooper Hewitt

Is Biobank a Home? by Heather Dewey-Hagborg is an immersive installation that reflects on the agency of human DNA as it circulates through facilities called “biobanks”, which house the genetic information of millions of citizens, without their consent or knowledge. 

The exhibit is situated within Andrew Carnegie’s former nursery at the Cooper Hewitt, adding another layer of meaning to the work. From the stained glass collage of Dewey-Hagborg’s biopsied tissue to the brightly illuminated light of the “biobank” shelves, the installation is a carefully considered sensory experience. The piece is complete with a spoken word audio of the artist's exchanges with medical institutions. The sterility of its representation makes the viewer feel uneasy upon entry. The vials of red substance decorate the shelves of a labyrinth-like space, contrasting with the sterility of starch-white walls of the room. The architectural consideration of space within the installation creates a claustrophobic feeling of enclosure, reflecting the limits of agency imposed on data that we have no choice but to share with medical institutions.

The exhibit challenges the notion of what we call home and points out the inevitable intersection between our bodies, ubiquitous surveillance and data collection. Bringing to light an issue of personal agency, Dewey-Hagborg recreates a restricted space and peels back a layer of privacy. 

- Ekaterina Maisheva #

Jewish Museum's "Draw Them In, Paint Them Out: Trenton Doyle Hancock Confronts Philip Guston"

 An exhibit titled “Draw Them In, Paint Them Out,” focuses on examining Philip Guston’s influence on Trenton Doyle Hancock and how their work aims to comment on White Supremacy in the history of the U.S. It is important to note that Guston is a white Jewish man while Hancock is a black man, yet, they both use symbols of white supremacy to understand their own role in complicity and suppression is the system.

To continue, both artists utilize satire to comment on structures of white supremacy, weaponizing art to combat social justice issues. The main focus of the show is to understand how Hancock used Goston as an inspiration for his own work. Interestingly, they both seem to include alter personas in which they can creatively express themselves and how they view the system, in this case white supremacy and all it has been fundamentally ingrained in society. For example, Guston’s piece “The Studio” (1969) features a KKK member painting a self-portrait, in which Guston sees himself as this KKK member. In much of the content at the exhibit, there were many KKK members present in the works, but, Guston makes the distinction that he recognizes his own complicity in white supremacy. In contrast, we see Hancock taking a similar approach, inserting himself in the works to understand how he battles white supremacy.

Finally, both are successful in capturing the severity of the effects of white supremacy. The satirical style in which they create aims to create a less intimidating atmosphere in which they manage to exaggerate shapes to signify the severity of the crimes committed in the name of white supremacy. WC 273

Eva Goldstock Vazquez *

The Studio (1969) by Philip Guston

"Dream House" at the Mela Foundation

     Upon entering Dream House, the viewer is immediately bathed in bright pink LED lighting. The air is thick with the scent of incense and the carpet feels soft and inviting. The sound, a cacophony of droning, vibrating tones, is intense, bordering on overwhelming. The volume is so high that it becomes difficult to concentrate on anything beyond the immediate sensation of noise. The vibrations in the air, coupled with the scent of incense, create a meditative atmosphere that is encouraged by hallucinatory artwork and cushions on the floor. The space embodies a tension between chaos and clarity where the focus is on the neurological effect of the space—how it feels to be immersed in a sensory world.

    Given its historical context, Dream House is more than just a display of sound and light. Created by minimalist composer La Monte Young and his partner, artist Marian Zazeela, Dream Hous has been an ongoing work since the late 1960s, rooted in the countercultural ethos of the time. The installation draws from the exploration of spatial and sensory boundaries, with an intention to transcend the normal experience of reality and tap into a heightened state of perception. In that sense, the Dream House is not just an artwork but a living, evolving environment—a physical manifestation of their artistic and philosophical vision.

   The Mela Foundation’s Dream House is a disorienting experience that pushes the boundaries of what art can be. It’s not a space to simply "see," but to feel and to be felt by. Whether it provides clarity or overwhelms the senses, it demands full commitment, making it an unforgettable experience for anyone willing to engage with it.

-Jessica Chadwick#

"Shifting Shorelines" at Columbia's Wallach Gallery

     

It could be argued that the central artist in this show at Columbia's Wallach Gallery is the Hudson River itself. The exhibition brings together works of art, cultural objects, and science to demonstrate the cycle of devastation and reclamation seen across the shores of the Hudson. This show came at a time when ecological disasters rear their ugly heads across the country - wildfires in New York and New Jersey and back-to-back hurricanes in Florida.

The layout takes viewers through this cycle, constantly offering juxtapositions - like a before and after the influence of human industry and exploitation. In this fashion, visitors are first met with a comparison of Thomas Cole’s 1838 oil painting “North Mountain and Catskill Creek” and the 1880 oil painting “Lower Manhattan from Communipaw New Jersey” by Thomas Moran. These two works offer separate perspectives of idealization and reality, which set the tone for the remainder of the show.

"North Mountain and Catskill Creek" by Thomas Cole, 1838, Oil on Canvas 

&

"Lower Manhattan from Communipaw New Jersey" by Thomas Moran, 1880, Oil on Canvas

Historical lessons about the Hudson are woven into the viewer experience through eye-level plaques and informative wall text for each piece. As enjoyable as the overall art historical experience was, the space felt over-curated. There is a lack of breathing room between the works, leading to an almost overstimulating sensory experience. There is an immense amount of material to see, but is all of it entirely necessary? It is difficult to fully digest the comparisons offered up by the exhibition when it is difficult to separate the elements from one another. However, the show remains one of the least tone-deaf I have seen; everything speaks to something and the acknowledgement of first-nation contributions are prevalent. It is relevant, useful, and has the capacity to inspire as art should.

- Alex Lopez-Martinson*

 

Baby Blue Benzo by Sara Cwynar,  52 Walker St. Library

Baby Blue Benzo by Sara Cwynar opens up in a large, carpeted space with a smaller room in the middle, a hidden entrance on one side. Walking around the venue, you almost feel exposed, the surprisingly tall walls for a SoHo gallery are adorned with printed images rising up the ceiling. Inside the seemingly little room, a massive horizontal screen stretched wall to wall, projecting a sort of video collage shot on film. The visual centerpiece of the work, and the show itself,  is a cardboard model of the 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR, one of the most expensive cars ever sold to date. The screen is adorned with photos and video of models, beauty products, medication and countless other objects. The video almost gives one a feeling of discontent, as you sit watching an assault of a cycle of endless consumerism and consumption. The show drew more connections than just a take on consumerism and value, however. I later learned more on the reason behind her inclusion of images of Benzodiazepines, not only shown because they share a similar name with the Benz car, but also because they were a crutch once used by the artist herself during difficult times. A visit to the space could not be regretted as the show is limited, in both time and access.

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KADER KAYSER class 2

The Brooklyn Artists Exhibition- Brooklyn Museum

The Brooklyn Artists Exhibition is showing on the first floor of the Brooklyn Museum and features over two hundred artists from the borough. The show is made up of an exterior hallway surrounding a central room. The middle room is painted a bright yellow, while some walls on the exterior are a more subtle coral. As for the artwork, there are many textile and fiber based works, which is refreshing to see so abundantly in a fine arts space, and especially in a museum. The arrangement of the works is much more compact than a typical museum arrangement, the sculptures are placed together on platforms instead of separated, and the two dimensional work is hung close and saloon style in the central room. 

While it is nice to see so much local work and as the museum puts it “artists at all stages”, the tight formatting seems to undercut the mission of uplifting the featured artists. Surrounded by floors of white walls and paintings five feet apart, I wish they gave the same care to the work in the show. The museum does have another room with similarly hung artwork, and others with colorful walls, however having both together painted a more elementary vision of the show. 

This is further exemplified by the lack of a specific theme throughout the show, yes the work is related, but maybe too much so. With that many similar works in a small colorful space, it begins to feel like a showcase for an art class rather than an exhibition, and demeans otherwise beautiful works. 

-Alexa Toews #

The Bronx Museum – Futura 2000: Breaking Out

     The exhibition Futura 2000: Breaking Out presents an impressive range of works, from collaborations with major fashion brands to individual pieces of fine art. The initial display features partnerships with brands like Nike, Off-White, and Murakami, emphasizing the artist's strong presence in commercial art. However, as the exhibition unfolds, it shows a deeper and more personal aspect.

    A striking element of the exhibition is the way Futura integrates street art techniques into fine art, exploring different mediums while challenging traditional boundaries. This effort reflects a conscious move to break away from the limitations and stigma often associated with graffiti, creating work that resonates on multiple levels.

    For example, the piece Under Metropolis (1983) demonstrates a unique use of aerosol spray directly on unprimed canvas, allowing the surface to absorb the paint and develop a distinctive texture. Another standout, Invasion From Blue City, features intricate linework and layered techniques. Through the deliberate removal of paint layers to reveal the black undercoat, the artwork achieves a depth and complexity that feels both tactile and dynamic. He allows forms to float freely across the surface, suggesting the expansiveness of outer space. 

    One particularly fascinating aspect of the exhibition is the inclusion of Futura’s FL-001 Pointman. The display features both a painting, Untitled CIRCA 2000s, and a sculpture of FL-001 Pointman crafted from aluminum. The painting appears as a conceptual draft of the signature Pointman figure, which evokes an otherworldly, alien presence. Additionally, the way the aluminum sculpture interacts with the surrounding white space adds an intriguing dimensionality, drawing attention to its form and presence within the exhibit.

    This exhibition not only highlights Futura2000's evolution as an artist but also showcases his ability to transcend genres, redefining the boundaries between street art and contemporary fine art.

Eleanor Ray at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery

 

Installation view, Eleanor Ray, 2024

Photo Courtesy of Nicelle Beauchene Gallery

As one enters the large gallery space with miniature paintings confined to the gallery walls, one is irresistibly drawn to them. They immediately communicate - to consider them slowly. Eleanor Ray's paintings on view at Nicelle Beauchene gallery are deceptively expansive. The long discourse about size bias is radically challenged through Ray's small paintings. All the paintings are around 6 x 9 inches. Tight cropping is the cornerstone of the compositions. Ray's pedantic eye for cropping the paintings create for an expansive, brilliant experience while paradoxically being tiny pieces. Ray's process involves drawing and painting extensively plein-air and carrying the paintings back to her studio to work on them further, where they continue to evolve. 

Ray appears to be in the lineage of the much loved tonalist painter Albert Pinkham Ryder. The moody landscapes of Ray and Ryder seem to have a deeper quality rather than being only pictorial wonders, evoking sensorial realities. Both Ray and Ryder seem to share a poetic genius. 

Albert Pinkham Ryder, Gay Head, (not dated), 7 1/2 x 12 1/2 inches, oil on canvas

Photo Courtesy of The Phillips Collection

In Ray's ‘Afternoon, Hellnar,’ 2024, the viewer chances upon the vastness of a waterbody with a mountain range in far sight. The beautiful, cool blue hues of the water and the mountain range in the backdrop are in perfect harmony with the marshy greenscape on the banks of the waterbody. 'Cloud Forest door,’ 2024 is one of the few pieces in the show that situate the viewers in an indoor space. The painting depicts a door opening to a wide expanse of a greenscape and speculatively a mountain, portraying a yearning of the outside. The paintings are a journal of her trips to various places. In a way, these paintings can be thought of as memorabilia.

Eleanor Ray, Afternoon, Hellnar, 2024, 6 1/2 x 8 inches, oil on panel  

Photo courtesy of Nicelle Beauchene Gallery

Eleanor Ray, Cloud Forest door, 2024, 8 1/2 x 7 inches, Oil on panel 

Photo Courtesy of Nicelle Beauchene Gallery

- Priyanka Dey (#)

Aviary | Raven Chacon

Raven Chacon’s Aviary, exhibited at the American Academy of Arts and Letters, is a powerful sonic exploration that immerses visitors in a world of bird calls. Transforming the skylit North Gallery into an expansive auditory environment, the installation fills the space with the layered sounds of various bird species. Upon entering, visitors are immediately enveloped by the soothing yet haunting calls, creating an atmosphere that both calms and unsettles. The exhibit invites guests to lie down on wedge-shaped platforms, designed to deepen their connection with the surrounding environment. This act of reclining allows participants to fully immerse themselves in the evolving soundscape, amplifying the meditative and introspective nature of the piece.

Aviary, 2024

Chacon’s work operates on multiple levels, combining both the familiar and the unknown. The bird calls are rich in symbolism, evoking themes of migration, home, and ecological awareness. The variety of species represented, from familiar to rare, invites reflection on the vastness of the natural world and the fragility of its ecosystems. By filling the gallery with these sounds, Chacon blurs the line between artificial and natural environments, offering a fresh perspective on how we perceive the spaces we occupy.

The installation’s interaction with the architecture enhances its emotional and intellectual impact. The sounds move through the space, mirroring the natural flight patterns of birds and turning the gallery into a living, breathing entity. Aviary stands as both a tribute to nature’s complexities and a call to reconsider our relationship with the world around us. It challenges visitors to engage with sound, space, and their own sense of place in a deeply personal and profound way.

Adam Salem (Group B)

Thomas Schutte: "Mein Grab (My Grave)"

 Thomas Schutte: Mein Grab (My Grave)

Tucked away in a corner of Thomas Schutte’s exhibition at the MOMA lies a small red house and a painting to match. It’s hard to miss, but what it represents may seem unclear until closer inspection. The installation, simply titled Mein Grab (My Grave), reads; “Thomas Schutte: 16.11.1954 - 25.3.1996.” As of December 2024, the artist is still alive. 

In 1981 at just 26 years of age, Schutte tested the fates by making the bold choice to predict the date of his own death and design his own gravestone, akin to what closely resembles a bright red cartoon dog house. The simple yet recognizable “house” shape and striking crimson hue of the work read as both juvenile and confrontational, serving as a clear memento mori to anyone who may take a closer look, regardless of the viewer’s age. In other words, the ground will one day be our home.

Schutte’s piece is notably both grim and comical, a macabre display of irony over the inevitable end we will all one day meet. Memento mori (reminder of death) has been a part of human fascination since antiquity, repeatedly resurging in popular culture from medieval times to the Victorian period. After a century ravaged by brutal wars, human mortality was once again called into question in the mid-1900s, which may have had an influence on Schutte’s grave model. However, Schutte’s take on death as something to be humored and even challenged through prediction provides unique commentary on a topic that is typically sensitive/taboo. Even after Thomas Schutte has passed, his playful wit will live on in the small red house - but the date may need an edit.

A Response to Wonder: Charles Jones, Karl Blossfeldt, and Edward Weston

A Response to Wonder at the Howard Greenberg Gallery surveys the nature-focused works of Charles Jones, Karl Blossfeldt, and Edward Weston. Through a series of photographs, this exhibition conveys how 3 different artists perceive and represent elements of the natural world. 

Charles Jones, though unrecognized as an artist in his lifetime, was celebrated for his agricultural skills as a gardener. His golden-toned silver gelatin prints capture his intimate perspective of the world. In one striking image, a flower is shown isolated from its surroundings against a plain background, capturing the detail of its delicate petals. 

Karl Blossfeldt’s images take a similar creative approach, as he documents botanical specimens through a close up technique. Using lenses he crafted himself, he magnified plants to reveal their structure. His portrait of a Soft Acanthus plant leaves little to the imagination, creating a scientific yet artistic view of the plant's symmetry and texture.

Edward Weston’s work approaches photography with focus, as he was a part of the f/64 art group, working alongside artists like Ansel Adams and Imogen Cunningham. His image of a red cabbage sliced in half, exudes intensity through its careful focus and composure. Viewers can see every vein-like crevice of the living surface, just as the modernist group advocated. 

This exhibition surprisingly reveals that Jones's images predate the works of Blossfeldt and Weston by several years. Being able to experience the work together in one space feels increasingly significant with this information. Not only does A Response to Wonder captures the timelessness of the works but it also responds to my curiosity about the private lives of artists, as their contributions are continually reworked into photographic history. 

- Kaitlyn Eoff*

The 'Brooklyn Artists Exhibition' and the 'Salon des Refusés 2024-2'

     If you are looking to see an array of fresh work from artists living in your zip code, The Brooklyn Artists Exhibition is a great place to start. Located on the first floor of the Brooklyn Museum, the show features work from over 200 artists working in Brooklyn in a multitude of media, including painting, cut wood, ceramics, sculptures, video installation, and multimedia installation. The square space is divided into two parts, the outer perimeter and the inner square. There is so much to look at in either space and your curiosity is left free to roam in any direction as there is no true start and end. One giant painting of a typewriter by Sam Messer has paint globed on so thick it borders on being a sculpture. Another painting by Tabitha Whitley features two youths lounging in the grass on a blanket. The prosaic scene feels like it is pulled straight from one of Brooklyn’s parks, but the exaggerated use of a saturated red hue creates a peculiar tone that subverts the tradition of portraiture and genre painting.

    If the Brooklyn Museum is not enough for you, head over to the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition in Red Hook for their Salon des Refusés 2024-2. This one-room exhibition, featuring artists who did not make it into the Brooklyn Artists Exhibition, is every part as diverse as its parent show. One piece by Marlene Weisman titled, Super Deep: Portrait of The Artist is an icy blue holographic painting with nine shape-shifting images that tell an indecipherable story. The unconventional medium and the use of historic photographs engage with the history of portraits in both painting and photography, offering an entirely new take on the form. The combination of both these shows will leave you stunned at the breadth of talent and emotion that can be packed into one single borough.

Harrison Kutner

Draw Them In, Paint Them Out: Trenton Doyle Hancock Confronts Philip Guston

Trenton Doyle Hancock, The Former and the Ladder or Ascension and a Cinchin', 2012

    The Jewish Museum's latest exhibition, "Draw Them In, Paint Them Out: Trenton Doyle Hancock Confronts Philip Guston," offers a profound exploration of the works of two artists—20th-century Jewish painter Philip Guston and contemporary Black artist Trenton Doyle Hancock. Despite their temporal and cultural differences, the exhibition reveals their shared commitment to investigating the legacy of white supremacism in the United States through irony and humor.

    Guston’s iconic series of satirical Klansmen from the Ku Klux Klan serves as a focal point. In these works, Guston’s hooded figures, with their unsettlingly banal activities, encapsulate the absurdity and horror of racist ideology. Hancock, inspired by Guston, introduces his Black superhero, Torpedoboy, from the series "Epidemic! Presents: Step and Screw!" Through this character, Hancock directly engages with Guston’s hooded alter-ego, creating a dialogue that examines racism and white supremacy.

    One standout piece by Hancock, "The Former and the Ladder or Ascension and a Cinchin'," juxtaposes the heroic figure of Torpedoboy with grotesque, caricatured depictions of white supremacy. The work confronts the viewer with the ongoing struggle against racial injustice and highlights Hancock's unique visual language. Guston’s "The Studio," depicting a hooded figure painting a self-portrait, is another powerful piece. This self-reflective work delves into Guston’s introspection and complicity within systems of power, prompting viewers to question their roles in perpetuating these systems.

    By foregrounding works that depict the Klan, the exhibition effectively shows how both Guston and Hancock use their art to critique and satirize institutionalized power. This dialogical approach not only highlights their thematic similarities but also emphasizes their distinct artistic voices. "Draw Them In, Paint Them Out" is an inspiring exhibition, offering a nuanced perspective on the intersection of art, identity, and activism. Through the lens of these two artists, the Jewish Museum has created a space for reflection and dialogue on some of the most pressing issues of our time.

Polina Ostrovskaya