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Plus, two Asian-American powerhouses on the afterlives of Asian-American violence, the worldbuilder that was Betsy James Wyeth, and Paddy Johnson tells you whether you need an MFA
Smart, powerful, thoughtful women are at the center of today’s issue. First, two absolute giants in the form of race and aesthetics scholar Anne Anlin Cheng and artist and director Patty Chang join forces for a conversation about the latter’s show at Stanford, the afterlives of Asian-American violence, and so much more. It’s a rare treat to peek into the machinations of two great minds — not least to see them deepen each other’s thinking, as happens here. “I definitely tend to think about beauty as a kind of covering up, you know, like hiding blemishes or imperfections,” Chang says at one point. “But I like this idea about the relationship, the closeness between beauty and violence. I’d like to think about it more …” Read, please. It’s like watching two blades hone each other to an even finer edge.
Also today: They say that behind every great man is a great woman. And behind Andrew Wyeth is Betsy James Wyeth, his wife, and also the architect-in-chief of the Wyeth brand — the reason you know his name today. Christina’s world? Julie Schneider’s feature opens the door to Betsy’s world, and what a charmingly quixotic, romantic, and rarefied world that is. I mean, the woman literally built a fantasy island off the coast of Maine, shipping in whole buildings. Be warned, though: Sometimes the woman behind the man is a Chinese spy, which is what might’ve happened to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang — though we argue that that affair spawned greatness in the form of the many memes we round out for you below.
Finally, our inveterate columnist Paddy Johnson — who I’d like to conscript as my personal life coach, but who’s too busy writing columns for you all — waxes on that eternal question of art: Should I get an MFA? And Senior Editor Valentina Di Liscia unloads on the partnership between Artnet and Kalshi, which feels as inevitable as the next public CEO humiliation.
When I first saw Patty Chang’s short film “Melons (At a Loss)” (1988), I was stunned by its cheeky and chilling meditation on the female Asian-American body and how it carries the weight of historic inheritance, both within the family and the nation.
The stationary camera shows Chang herself, waist up, dressed in nothing but a 1940s-ish cone-shaped “bullet bra.” (Already, femininity flirts with aggression.) Chang places on the top of her head a ceramic plate that she tells us she inherited from a dead aunt. As she balances the plate, she verbally narrates the history behind this commemorative (that is, unusable) porcelain plate, with its poisonous dye. With this object, Chang references not only a familial and feminized legacy, but also a much larger and longer heritage of porcelain as a historically transglobal commodity of Euro-American desire, and how that material desire has shaped Western conceptualization of Asiatic persons and things from the 18th century to this day. | Anne Cheng
“Free Lyric” Tells the Story of a Young Black Female Rapper Cancelled for Her “Provocative” Lyrics
Watch the new documentary by BAFTA award-winning filmmaker Cherish ‘Chez’ Oteka on Field of Vision.
Under new private equity ownership, Artnet will “curate” art-market wagers for the controversial prediction platform. What could go right? | Valentina Di Liscia
Contemporary Beadworker Ken Williams Jr Awarded Rakow Commission by Corning Museum of Glass
Marking the prize’s 40th year, “I Am the Hungry Cat” is the first Rakow Commission awarded for beadwork.
A wide-ranging book and exhibition reveal the ways the multi-hyphenate’s architectural-environmental projects shaped her husband Andrew Wyeth’s celebrated painting career. | Julie Schneider
The internet is having a field day after the tech mogul confessed to having an affair with a suspected Chinese intelligence spy. | Anna Lee
The best part of the new documentary about the famed artist is watching people interact with his work. | Dan Schindel
Paddy Johnson breaks down the factors to consider when applying for your master’s, from loans and salaries to professional development. | Paddy Johnson
Yuntao Xu’s art show in a gas station, LA’s first gallery run for and by Black artists, iris yirei hu’s reliquaries for a dream, and April Bey’s alien tapestries of human life. | Matt Stromberg