Graham W. Bell

Graham W. Bell is an arts writer based in Brooklyn, NY by way of Portland, OR. He is a professor of art history and contributor to the Brooklyn Rail.

Hidden in a riot of pattern, color, and spatial uncertainty, David Alekhuogie’s inaugural exhibition at Yancey Richardson is a biting treatise on the prescribed views of African art in the Western mind and the power of photography to influence an entire generation’s cultural ideas.
David Alekhuogie, WE 410/2 “A Reprise” , 2020. Courtesy Yancey Richardson, New York.
The latest iteration of MoMA’s New Photography exhibition cycle comprises works from eight artists and takes place entirely online. Companion Pieces asks the viewer to look beyond initial reactions and delve deeper into our reading of images.
Sohrab Hura, Untitled from the series "The Song of Sparrows in a Hundred Days of Summer," 2013–ongoing. Pigmented inkjet print, 5 1/2 x 7 inches. Courtesy the artist and Experimenter, Kolkata. © Sohrab Hura.
Silent figures and charged landscapes abound, but true to form, this is an exhibition of singular works, not a thematic outing. Connections can be drawn, but ultimately it is each image which begs to be considered intimately.
Jeff Wall, I giardini / The Gardens (left) Appunto / Complaint; (centre) Disappunto / Denial; (right) Diffilda / Expulsion order, 2017. 3 inkjet prints. © Jeff Wall. Courtesy Gagosian.
Todd Gray’s new body of work, at David Lewis Gallery, may look aesthetically pleasing, with its rich images of beautiful gardens and interior architecture layered in conjoined frames, but under the deceptively sleek exterior is a nuanced observation of the continued fallout of European colonialism in Africa.
Todd Gray, Onisimo / Leopold, 2019. Three archival pigment prints in artist's frames and found frames, UV laminate, 39 1/4 x 56 x 3 inches. Courtesy the artist and David Lewis, New York.
Like the tattered cover of a 1980s science fiction novel, thrown into a particle accelerator with the catalogue raisonnés of Neo Rauch and Hans Holbein
Jia Aili, Untitled, 2016, Oil on canvas, 39 3/8 x 31 1/2 in. © Jia Aili Studio. Courtesy Gagosian.
Yasumasa Morimura’s practice is about blurring boundaries. His intricate tableaus hover in the interstitial space between painting and photography and are admired for their inquiry into the construction of gender and identity.
Yasumasa Morimura, Self-Portraits through Art History (Van Gogh’s Room), 2016. Color photograph, 57 x 86 inches. © Yasumasa Morimura; Courtesy the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York.
Where does the virtual world of Instagram enter the physical art space? What does this convergence look like? Social Photography VI at Carriage Trade in Manhattan’s Chinatown looks to answer these questions with its sixth iteration of an annual exhibition.
Social Photography VI, Carriage Trade, 2018. Installation View (Detail). Left to right, top row: James Barondess, John Oakes, Dennis Adams; bottom row: Satoru Eguchi, Dan Graham, Olivia Gilmore.
As part of the Museum of Modern Art’s recurring program of new photography, Being makes good on the museum’s pledge to showcase new pieces by artists working in photography and various photo-based practices.
Aïda Muluneh, All in One, 2016. Pigmented inkjet print, 31 1/2 x 31 1/2 inches. Courtesy the artist and David Krut Projects. © 2018 Aïda Muluneh.

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