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Art In Conversation

ZENG FANZHI with Phong Bui

For me, one of the most rewarding experiences in working with the legendary Alanna Heiss was putting together the massive survey of contemporary art in Asia, Spectacle, for which she enlisted me and the late Wonil Rhee as co-curators. It was intended to be Alanna’s farewell exhibition before retiring from her post as founder and director of MoMA PS1 from 1971 to 2008.

Art In Conversation

YOKO ONO with Laila Pedro

Over the course of a prolific and inventive career, Yoko Ono has continually challenged the meaning, structure, and limits of art. Since the 1950s, she has been a pioneer of avant-garde and experimental culture, with a multimedia practice that encompasses music, performance, instructions, writing, and film. By turns playful and visceral, violent and witty, Ono’s highly conceptual works are also informed by a profound commitment to peace activism.

Year in Review

To mark the end of the year, the Rail’s Art Books editors, Ben Gottlieb, Maya Harakawa, and Greg Lindquist, each selected three notable books from the past year to share with our readers.

THE CLAMOR OF REASON
Frank Stella: A Retrospective

By Tom McGlynn

Frank Stella’s famous aphorism, “What you see is what you see,” seems most likely to have been followed in his mind by an urgent, “Don’t just stand there looking, do something!”

WINTER’S PICKS
Books on The Craft of Writing

By Catherine LaSota

Go into almost any bookstore, and you’ll likely see an entire section dedicated to books about writing. These self-help—or “reference”— guides for writers, though not a new phenomenon, have become an increasingly popular genre (just count the number of shelves dedicated to these books, or do a Google search for “craft of writing,” and you’ll see what I mean).

RAY JOHNSON
Nothing in Print

Widely lauded as the father of the mail art, Ray Johnson’s deadpan irreverence is celebrated in a January, 1968 letter to Grace Glueck of The New York Times.

All Music Fans Everywhere

By Marshall Yarbrough

When the news broke in October that Condé Nast had bought Pitchfork, I was out of the country. If there were think pieces, I missed them.

BALLETCOLLECTIVE
The Group as Power Source

By Susan Yung

In this era of crowd-sourcing, a sharing economy, and a Socialist garnering widespread support as a presidential candidate, BalletCollective makes sense. This ballet troupe is not leaderless—Troy Schumacher is the director and choreographer, and Ellis Ludwig-Leone is composer and music director.

InTranslation

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From the Publisher & Artistic Director

Dear Friends and Readers,

By Phong Bui

What a privilege it is to live in a city where every subway ride is filled with people from every ethnic and cultural background! This is especially true during rush hours, when civic manners are critically important in the sardine-packed cars.

Editor's Message Guest Critic

David Salle

The topic of Art School Education, which, one way or another, affects all of us, is once again in the air. People have some pretty strong opinions about it, with good reason.

Critics Page

ArtSeen

Table of Contents

Editor's Message

Publisher's Message

Art

ArtSeen

Critics Page

Books

Music

Dance

Film

Theater

Fiction

Poetry

Verbatim

Art Books

Field Notes

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The Brooklyn Rail

DEC 15-JAN 16

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