Peter Walsh

Film Review: “Wojnarowicz: F**K YOU F*GGOT F**KER” — Homage to a Perpetual Rebel

November 12, 2020
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The documentary covers a lot of dark and tragic territory, but it remains entertaining throughout, no doubt more than anything else from its skill in capturing the fierce, tender, acidic, brilliant, and ultimately inextinguishable energy of its subject, artist David Wojnarowicz.

Visual Arts/Film Review: “Elliott Erwitt — Silence Sounds Good” — Far From Dull

September 2, 2020
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Aside from making generalities about “making good photographs” and “earning a living,” celebrated photographer Elliott Erwitt steadfastly refuses to be drawn out.

Book Review: “Great Demon Kings” — A Comet Circling Gas Giants

July 30, 2020
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John Giorno was in the vanguard of what later became the herd: Ginsberg, Kerouac, Warhol, Buddhism, Burroughs, enlightenment, spiritual quests to India, unfettered sex, wild poetry, new technology, experimental forms of expression, queer politics, pot, speed, LSD —  all the household bric-a-brac of the counterculture.

Visual Arts Review: The Art of Kara Walker — A Mix of Cozy Charm and Historic Horror

March 30, 2020
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How, as an African-American visual artist, do you represent something that no one wants to think about, much less look at? Kara Walker’s solution is ultimately an aesthetic one.

Visual Arts Review: The National Academy of Design — Another New Chapter?

January 3, 2020
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This fascinating exhibition surveys the entire history of the National Academy membership and, almost incidentally, provides a potent cross-section of the history of American art and its discontents.

Book Review: A Concise, Conscientious Guide to the Life and Work of Alfred Stieglitz

June 17, 2019
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The book will stand as a good first stop for anyone interested in Alfred Stieglitz, 20th-century photography, or American modern art.

Book Review: “Exposed” — Between Two Incompatible Worlds

June 5, 2019
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Jean-Philppe Blondel’s books are especially praised by critics for their charm and smoothly-shaped prose.

Book Review: “Little Dancer Aged Fourteen” — A Kind of Apotheosis

March 22, 2019
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In more pedantic hands, Little Dancer Aged Fourteen could easily have been a tedious and frustrating read. Instead, despite the dense and ultimately inconclusive source material, the book is continuously fascinating.

Visual Arts Review: Surrealism — One of America’s Favorite Art “isms”

December 15, 2018
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Despite its serious treatment of surreal art, Monsters & Myths is a real delight.

Visual Arts Review: “Life, Death & Revelry” at the Gardner Museum

August 8, 2018
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Life, Death & Revelry explores the aura of the Farnese Sarcophagus from several points of view, including those of the conservators who recently cleaned it of decades of accumulated grime.

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