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John Yau on the Whitney’s retrospective of the Pop titan, an interview on Indigenous perseverance with Congress hopeful Jonathan Nez, and art films to see at DOC NYC.
Roy Lichtenstein's hand-painted Ben-Day dots, among his other cheeky twists on mass-produced gestures, were once "satirical and ironic commentaries on American consumerism," reflects critic John Yau. But what can they do for us in 2026? That’s the inquiry at the heart of Yau’s review of the new Lichtenstein retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art, an exhibition that, he argues, fails to reckon with the Pop titan’s anachronism and stylistic limitations.
With just three weeks to go before the critical midterm elections in the United States, Congress hopeful Jonathan Nez, former president of the Navajo Nation, is hoping to turn a red district blue in Arizona. On the heels of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, I spoke to him about how his Diné upbringing influenced his political thinking and Trump’s threats to sacred Native sites.
Our conversation comes right as advocacy groups sue the federal government to protect Utah’s Nine Mile Canyon from oil tanker truck transit that could threaten ancient petroglyphs — Staff Writer Rhea Nayyar has that story.
This November, Jonathan Nez could become the first Native American to represent Arizona in Congress. Nez, who served as president of the Navajo Nation from 2019 to 2023, is running to flip the state’s largest congressional district by area, a seat currently held by Republican Eli Crane. His “Warrior Up” platform is structured into four pillars, a tribute to the number’s significance to Diné people, for whom the world is bound by four sacred mountains, one in each cardinal direction. | Valentina Di Liscia
Columbia University MFA in Visual Arts + Sound Art
Applications are due January 20, 2027 for Columbia University's Visual Arts + Sound Art Program. Start your application today and join us for an info session on November 15.
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A Nationwide Day of Action on October 8 gathered artists, activists, and survivors in a collective call for institutions to hold abusers accountable. | Emma Cieslik
Bridge to an Unseen Shore: New Age Music as Visionary Art
A cultural history of New Age music, from its countercultural origins in the ‘70s to its lasting influence today — with interviews from the artists who defined the genre.
He went from being a satirist of America’s ideals to a parody of himself, an artist content with other artists’ masterpieces. | John Yau
“Every opportunity to show my work is a platform to raise attention on the struggle for self-determination and cultural resistance of the Shipibo people,” the artist told Hyperallergic. | Eileen G’Sell
“Doyle Lane: Master of Clay” Now on View at The Huntington
Discover the first major museum retrospective devoted to the influential Los Angeles ceramic artist.
Documentaries on a giant pencil that became a local watering hole, the afterlife of Frida Kahlo through her image, and collagist Romare Bearden are among the festival’s most enticing offerings. | Anna Lee
No Man’s Land, Pakistani artist Amin Gulgee’s first comprehensive monograph, maps his interest in exploring ritual, science, grief, and healing in a visual language all his own. | Nageen Shaikh