One-on-one with Alfredo Jaar, Damien Hirst’s secret life, Anish Kapoor's optical trickery, and another BS "most influential" list.
At a cafe named Anti Cafe — though it looks like any other cafe — a man is writing dozens of cards by hand, sealing them inside pretty little envelopes, and stacking them in a pile on the table.
After half an hour of observing him from the next table, I finally ask, “Are those wedding invitations?”
“Nope,” he replies.
“Birthday party invitations?”
“Nope.”
“So what are they for, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Just letters to my friends to show them how much I appreciate them,” he discloses with an air of self-satisfaction.
“Oh, that’s so beautiful,” I say with my hand on my heart, feeling sincerely touched. But as I leave the cafe, I begin wondering if that guy is okay.
Down in the subway station, I see another young man using a Sharpie pen to make meticulous drawings of the Manhattan grid on a large piece of cardboard. Avenue by avenue, street by street, the lines in his map are perfectly straight without the use of a ruler. I see him doing the same thing on the same subway bench the next day and admire his dedication. On the third day, it dawns on me that this young artist lives in the subway.
At night, I see a group of grinning people walking around with grabbers, searching for litter on the sidewalk. “We’re just helping clean up the neighborhood,” one of them tells me. “Oh, that’s so nice of you,” I say, feeling genuinely impressed. But then I notice that everyone is suspiciously good-looking and that there’s barely any litter to pick up. It appears that the members of this “trash club” are here to pick up more than just trash.
A flock of birds in the sky makes the shape of a middle finger, reminding me it’s migration season. At the pierogi place, not a single soul is Polish. Global Wealth Clothing sells garments to the poor. The Cathedral of Joy is in a miserable spot. A place called The Community is empty of people. And on one of the windows of a shiny new building, a sign reads in big letters: "Warning: rat infestation. Tenants on rent strike."
—Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief
PS—If you’re in New York on September 30, come meet me at the International Studio & Curatorial Program, where we’ll talk to resident artists and enjoy some refreshments.
Alfredo Jaar Is Still Trying to Change the World
In April of 1987, when Reaganism was running amok and Henry Kissinger was fiddling with world affairs like a puppet master from hell, a relatively unknown 31-year-old Chilean artist named Alfredo Jaar staged his billboard installation A Logo for America smack dab in the heart of Times Square. It instantly became one of the most discussed works of political art in the contemporary canon.
Appearing between ads for tomato sauce and a Mexican restaurant, the 42-second LED animation bewildered New Yorkers with the message “This Is Not America” superimposed on a map of the United States, followed by an image of the US flag with the text, “This Is Not America’s Flag.” Next, the “R” in America shifted into a dancing map of South, Central, and North America. | Hakim Bishara
Read MoreApply for a 2027–2028 Fellowship at the Smithsonian American Art Museum
Fellowships at SAAM and its Renwick Gallery provide scholars with access to collections, community, and professional advancement.
News
- Unionized workers at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Brooklyn Museum, and the American Folk Art Museum vote to authorize a strike action if they don’t receive fair offers for union contracts with their respective institutions.
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art officially breaks ground on its forthcoming Tang Wing for modern and contemporary art, designed by Frida Escobedo.
- The School of Visual Arts will be ending its graduate Photography, Video, and Related Media program in light of the institution’s mounting deficit.
- The Brooklyn Public Library officially launches its first-ever lending program for craft supplies.
- Pro-Palestine activists protest Igor Tulchinsky’s financial backing of the new Bayeux Tapestry exhibit at the British Museum, following reports that Tulchinsky financed a community center in an illegal Israeli settlement in the Occupied West Bank.
- An inflatable cavatappi-shaped artwork inspired by fashion house Bulgari’s serpent motif appears on the High Line and will remain on view through New York Fashion Week.
- Donald Trump wants to replace José de Rivera’s “Infinity” (1967) outside the National Museum of American History with a statue of George Washington.
- A Florida family was sold over 200 forged Andy Warhol artworks by an international network of suppliers, authenticators, dealers, and distributors, a lawsuit alleges.
From Our Critics
The Titillating Tale of Damien Hirst’s Gay Hole
An infectious play by Sleth explores infatuation and fame through an imagined relationship between Hirst and his gay lover, a younger artist whose paintings consist of holes on the ground. | Hrag Vartanian
Read MoreVisions of Johanna Unzueta
The Chilean artist’s drawings on hand-dyed paper and homespun fabric are like natural pills against language. | Hakim Bishara
Read MoreJoel-Peter Witkin’s God-Loving, Gender-Bending Art
His elaborate tableaux vivants blend elements of mythology, the Bible, and art history to express compassion for the marginalized. | David S. Rubin
Read MoreAnish Kapoor Is a One-Trick Illusionist
What does the British artist have to offer beyond monumental scale and costly optical illusions? | Olivia McEwan
Read MorePope.L Invites Us to Think Through the American Dream
A collection of his works on paper at the Drawing Center typifies his frantic and sometimes opaque renderings of thought. | Channelle Chevelle Russell
Read MoreThe Many Islands of “America”
A show on art from Cuba, Guam, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and their diasporas touches on themes of colonization, enslavement, migration, and more. | Aruna D’Souza
Read MoreThe Counterpublic Triennial Pollinates a Budding St. Louis
The sweeping third iteration of this exhibition of public art is well-suited for a city both frozen in time and ripe for a wildly revitalized future. | Eileen G’Sell
Read MoreJames McNeill Whistler’s Music for the Eyes
A long-awaited Whistler retrospective at Tate Britain makes the case that every brushstroke, color, and omission serves the pursuit of harmony. | Olivia McEwan
Read MoreMildred Howard Enters History Through the Everyday
In her first museum survey, the Bay Area artist’s vibrant, musical, and poetic world is on display, reflecting her own memory with collective histories in America. | Max Blue
Read MoreAnnouncing the 2026 Rabkin Prize Winners
The Rabkin Foundation celebrates the creative and intellectual contributions of today’s art writers, with eight unrestricted awards of $50,000 each.
Features
Keith Haring Mural May Decide the Fate of Public Art in Philly
“We The Youth” (1987), painted on a wall co-owned by a real-estate developer, could become the city’s first outdoor mural on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places. | Isabella Segalovich
Read MoreEurope’s Art Theft Problem Is Much Bigger Than the Louvre
A wave of museum thefts is exposing the vulnerabilities of institutions struggling to protect irreplaceable collections after years of underfunding. | Emiline Smith
Read MoreAfrican-American Blacksmiths Forge a Lineage of Sankofa
Blacksmiths in the South have long embedded West African symbolism into gates, rails, and window bars, proof that the craft evolved with every hand that held the hammer. | Trelani Michelle
Read MoreA Tiny Hot Dog Art Show and Other Treasures at Affordable Art Fair
Dylan Martinez’s glass-blown water balloons, Deanna Billy Projects’ mini wiener paintings, and Abu Oluwaseyi’s abstract portraits all caught my eye at this year’s NYC edition. | Anna Lee
Read MoreGuides
Your Cheat Sheet to NYC’s Fall Art Fairs
From the classic Armory Show to Spring Break to an emerging art fair held in an Italian design showroom. | Anna Lee and Rhea Nayyar
Read MoreFive Shows to See in Tribeca Right Now
Caroll Dunham’s purple people, Mia Goldstein’s packaged art, and ethereal paintings by Giuseppe Francalanza and Christine Safa. | Rebecca Schiffman
Read More15 Fall Art -Ennials, From St. Louis to Dakar
A photography show dedicated to NYC in the nighttime, an Indigenous-led arts festival honoring the Mississippi River, the first-ever Bienal de Yucatán, and more biennials and triennials to visit across the world. | Phillip Pyle, Anna Lee, and Rhea Nayyar
Read More10 Art Shows to See in Chicago This Fall
Jill Mulleady’s uncannily familiar scenes, Kate Hefferan’s secret magic, the critical role of printed matter in prisons, a moving photographic tribute to Emmett Till, and more. | Natalie Jenkins
Read More10 Art Shows to See in DC This Fall
Carlotta Corpron photographs light, Ahn Chang-Hong unmasks Korean history, Black women reimagine Shakespeare, three mid-century New York artists paint by the sea, and more. | Emma Cieslik
Read MoreOpinion
Standing in the Shadow of No Towers
The struggle for immigrant rights and lives after 9/11 defined a generation of South Asian art and activism, even if it felt at times like we were trying to empty the ocean with a teaspoon. | Naeem Mohaiemen
Read MoreMember Event: ISCP Ground Floor Studio Visits
Join Hyperallergic on September 30 for an evening of studio visits and conversations with the NYC-based artists selected for the International Studio & Curatorial Program’s Ground Floor Residency.
Memes
Why Would the Art World Deceive You?
We took the viral Elizabeth Holmes-Nathan Fielder meme and gave it the ol’ Hyperallergic spin. | Valentina Di Liscia
Read MoreArtists and Illustrators Throw Ed Sheeran for a Loop
Protest artworks and memes scrutinize Sheeran’s inability to speak out against the genocide after he axed Macklemore from his Loop Tour over pro-Palestine comments. | Anna Lee
Read MoreCommunity
- Art Movements: The best and absolute worst of the TIME 100 Art list, Amy Sherald shines on the magazine’s uneven list, Artadia names a new director, Johnny Depp’s awfulness, and more.
- A View From the Easel: printmaker and photographer Oswaldo García dances to cumbias while accordion-folding, book-binding, and watching the magical process of a printer churning out risographs.
- In Memoriam: This week, we honor Cat Frazier, a designer who changed the internet; Susan Michod, a Pattern and Decoration painter; Joel Snyder, one of the first photography professors in the US, and others.
Facts Only
* A man writes letters by hand in a cafe.
* A young man draws the Manhattan grid on cardboard in the subway station.
* A group of people search for litter on the sidewalk.
* A sign in a building reads: "Warning: rat infestation. Tenants on rent strike."
* Alfredo Jaar staged a billboard installation in Times Square in April 1987.
* The artwork involved text stating "This Is Not America" and images related to the US flag.
* Quotes are provided regarding artists like Damien Hirst, Anish Kapoor, and Alfredo Jaar.
* Various news items mention museum strikes, building projects, and legal/social protests.
* Specific art exhibition pieces are mentioned, such as an inflatable artwork inspired by Bulgari's motif appearing on the High Line.
Executive Summary
Full Take
The narrative operates by weaving disparate observations—personal reflection, social commentary on class and environment, and high-level art history—into a singular, fragmented experience. The pattern suggests an exploration of the gap between privileged perception and lived reality, particularly concerning public space, labor, and global systems. The juxtaposition of Jaar's critical political art with tangible scenes of urban decay and social action implies that systemic critique is often visible only in marginalized or overlooked contexts. The attention to detail, such as the subway map drawing, mirrors a desire for structured understanding against chaotic or oppressive external forces. The underlying pattern is the search for meaning (as embodied by the letters) amidst observed material conditions (the 'Cathedral of Joy' contrasting with the rat infestation). This suggests an inquiry into how aesthetic representation intersects with socioeconomic disparity and the mechanisms of societal control, forcing a confrontation between what is presented publicly and what is experienced privately.
Bridge Questions: What structures govern the visibility of public decay versus curated artistic presentation? How does the act of personal documentation—like the drawings or letters—function as a form of resistance against dominant narratives? Where do the lines blur between aesthetic appreciation and necessary social accountability in contemporary urban life?
Sentinel — Human
This text reads like a highly opinionated, curated editorial piece blending personal observation with art history and social commentary, strongly indicating human authorship.