What is Art

THE HERSHEY FELDER PRESENTS ARTS PRIZE COMPETITIONAfter the wild success of his groundbreaking IRVING BERLIN Livestream last month, which benefited over a dozen theaters around the country, Hershey Felder returns on July 12th with a brand new livestream, celebrating the 250th birthday of Ludwig Van Beethoven!Fans of Hershey's performances know that he typically concludes every performance with an extended audience engagement, talk-back. (Last month Hershey answered over 600 viewers' letters after his performance!) Next month he is trying something truly unique. To support fellow artists struggling during the pandemic, he is creating a contest to benefit artists and to allow them to continue to practice their craft, with a $25,000 cast prize as the incentive! Here are the details:ELIGIBILITYThe Hershey Felder Presents Arts Prize Competition*, in honor of Beethoven's 250th Birthday year, is an artistic competition with a cash award of $25,000 (twenty-five thousand U.S. Dolla…

“Who takes the eye takes all,” said Mary Lowndes of the Artists’ Suffrage League in the early 1900s, neatly summarizing the need for striking graphics on the banners that suffragists were making for their marches. Lowndes’ statement could serve as the motto for all those who attempt to persuade by visual means, be they propagandists for political parties or advertisers selling soap. “The Poster,” edited by Gill Saunders and Margaret Timmers of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, is a beautiful and entertaining account of the history of the medium, illustrated with examples drawn from the museum’s extensive collection.While handbill-sized fliers affixed to surfaces had long been in existence, it was the development of the large-scale color lithographic technique, with images composed of several pieces that could be pasted together into one picture, that made possible the explosion of graphic media campaigns in the 19th century. The first-rate artists who turned th…

Artist Chase DuBose (all images courtesy Chase DuBose) The month of June is a time to celebrate LGBTQ communities. It's a moment to reflect on the rich history and culture of the queer community, as well as more recent advances made in the realm of civil liberties. This year, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, many queer individuals are navigating greater risks to their health, safety, and livelihoods.Cognizant of the need to stay connected and elevate queer voices amid uncertainty, Hyperallergic is commemorating Pride Month by featuring one queer art worker per day on our website and asking them to reflect on what this time means to them. If you identify as a queer art worker, we'd love to hear from you. Click here to learn more about how to participate. * * *What's your name?Chase DuBoseWhere are you based currently? Minnesota Chase DuBose, "Crider 1.0" Describe who you are and what you do.I am currently a student, but mainly an audio sculpture artist, ho…

The DC Extended Universe is constantly growing, and there are a few very exciting projects coming down the pipeline. While fans are eager to see Justice League's Snyder Cut hit HBO Max, a new version of Bruce Wayne will be born with Matt Reeves' The Batman. The blockbuster will soon kick production back up, and we've already gotten our first look at Robert Pattinson in full Batman regalia. But moviegoers are eager to see what the rest of the cast will look like, with new The Batman fan art imagining Catwoman and James Gordon in comic book accurate appearances.Matt Reeves assembled a stellar cast of actors to bring The Batman to life, chief among them being Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman and Jeffrey Wright as Commissioner Gordon. While both actors have teased small tidbits about the movie, their characterization and appearance as a mystery. One fan imagined that they might look like in Gotham City, and the appearance is striking. Check it out below.Sign. Me. Up. Jeffrey Wright and…

It's clear that the art world will be drastically altered by this year of upheaval. But in addition to great loss, this disruption may also result in some welcome changes. Many of us hope for new paradigms and approaches on the other side: more inclusion, innovation, collegiality, and fair-mindedness, for starters. What exactly our new environment will look like depends on each of us stepping up now and defending what matters. For my part—and from a self-serving perspective at the helm of a New York art and design PR firm—I am feeling a new urgency to roll back the retrenchment of the independent art media sector, before its march toward extinction is accelerated by current business instability. In recent years, I have read too many analyses of media malaise in the art world and beyond, offering a diagnosis of numerous contributing causes. But this moment demands we face the obvious: Art and culture media need advertising dollars and more paid content partnerships to survive, even…

The art world may be on lockdown, but it certainly doesn't stop. During this unprecedented time, we're checking in with art-world professionals, collectors, and artists to get a glimpse into how they're working from home.We recently caught up with artist and photographer William Wegman, who's taken refuge in Columbia County with his family and two Weimaraners, Flo and Topper. In his sunlit studio in the Hudson Valley, he's been painting up a storm and recently debuted a virtual show of new work at Sperone Westwater.Read on to learn about how corona times have shaped Wegman's recent work, how he's spending his spare time upstate, and how his famous dogs are holding up with everybody at home.Where is your new "office"?We're upstate in Columbia County near the apple orchards, where I have a home and studio. We had a good reason to leave town anyway since our residence in New York City is being renovated and they had to stop construction there abr…

An off-duty police officer has repeatedly washed away Black Lives Matter messages written in chalk at Hillcrest Elementary School in Catonsville, the 11 News I-Team has learned.Students who wrote the messages said they want black students to feel welcome when they return to school.A man caught in a photo, who was identified by Baltimore County police as an off-duty police officer from another jurisdiction, has been washing away students' Black Lives Matter messages."I don't understand why they are washing it away. It's just a silent protest kind of," said Stanley Simonsen, a student."Somebody erasing it hurts because I have lots of black friends, and when someone thinks they don't have the same chances as someone else, it just makes me feel really sad," said William Fox, a neighbor of the school.After schools closed in March, students started drawing chalk messages on the building about how much they loved school and supported their teachers.Followi…