Ed Woodham’s Radical Public Art

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=””]

Daily Newsletter

Ed Woodham’s Radical Public Art

The artist and educator on queer creativity in the margins, dogs across art history, and a collective tarot-horoscope for Hyperallergic readers.

As Pride month comes to an end, Ed Woodham is here to remind us that queer and trans artists deserve to be celebrated every day of the year. The artist and founder of Art in Odd Places has spent decades advocating for public art as just what it sounds like — a public good, not a private commodity.

Editor-in-Chief Hakim Bishara spoke with Woodham about the costs of art-world success and why he has never sought it out. “What I value about Pride is not the branding,” he says. “It’s the resistance. It’s the refusal to be erased.” Read on for the full interview, a candid and galvanizing testimonial to carry us into the dog days of summer.

Speaking of which: Dog people, this one’s for you. The Dog’s Gaze is a new book tracing canine companions across art history, including some truly precious paintings of scruffy floofs and dignified pups (their scientific names) by the likes of Renoir and Carpaccio. Alisyn Amant brings us into the pages of this ode to our four-legged friends and the way their presence in art can completely shift our experience of it. Be still, my dog-loving heart.

—Lakshmi Rivera Amin, associate editor


Ed Woodham in All the Odd Places

Just when you’re about to give up on this power-hungry, money-obsessed, star-fucking art world and its market-driven media, people like Ed Woodham come along and restore your faith in what art can do for society.

The decades-long practice of the 69-year-old Atlanta-born artist, curator, and educator is thoroughly rooted in community. He’s most known for leading Art in Odd Places, a public art group he originally co-founded as part of Atlanta’s cultural programming for the 1996 Summer Olympics. In what follows, Woodham and I discuss his youth in Atlanta, his unflinching art activism, and his life as a badass queer elder. | Hakim Bishara

Read More


SPONSORED
CTA Image

Open Call: The 7th VH AWARD for Media Artists Engaged with the Context of Asia

Supporting media artists with production grants, global exhibitions, and an expanded online residency with Ars Electronica.

Learn more


News

  • Photographer and activist Misan Harriman said he will step down from his post as chair of London’s Southbank Centre. The announcement comes weeks after a series of right-wing tabloids scrutinized his response to the April 29 attack in north London’s Golders Green.

Art Tarotscope

Hyperallergic’s Art Tarotscope for the Summer Solstice

Amid global turmoil and rising temperatures, I’ve seen creative friends hitting periods of stagnancy. What will help us return to a flow state? | AX Mina

Read More


From Our Critics

Every Dog Has Its Artist

A compassionate new book explores how canine companions across Western art history break down the emotional boundaries between species. | Alisyn Amant

Read More

Community

A View From the Easel: Kathleen MacKenzie

“The privacy and silence reflect the intimacy and meditative spareness of my art.”

Read More


Member Comment

Holey moley! I appreciate this piece (book excerpt/lecture transcript) at least as much as anything else I’ve read on this site. Hyperallergic’s eclectic arts coverage scores another big win with this member. Thank you so much for doing what you’re doing for readers like me who are not artists, gallerists, collectors, curators, or critics but who want to be informed about art, that most vital and life-sustaining enterprise. And of course a big thank you to Mr. Kentridge.

Jozanne Rabyor on “A Natural History of William Kentridge’s Studio”


From the Archive

The New York Neon Shop That Became Legendary

Let There Be Neon in Tribeca made a name for itself as an essential resource for artists, from Keith Haring to Laurie Anderson. | Aaron Short

Read More

Daily Newsletter

Ed Woodham’s Radical Public Art

The artist and educator on queer creativity in the margins, dogs across art history, and a collective tarot-horoscope for Hyperallergic readers.

As Pride month comes to an end, Ed Woodham is here to remind us that queer and trans artists deserve to be celebrated every day of the year. The artist and founder of Art in Odd Places has spent decades advocating for public art as just what it sounds like — a public good, not a private commodity.

Editor-in-Chief Hakim Bishara spoke with Woodham about the costs of art-world success and why he has never sought it out. “What I value about Pride is not the branding,” he says. “It’s the resistance. It’s the refusal to be erased.” Read on for the full interview, a candid and galvanizing testimonial to carry us into the dog days of summer.

Speaking of which: Dog people, this one’s for you. The Dog’s Gaze is a new book tracing canine companions across art history, including some truly precious paintings of scruffy floofs and dignified pups (their scientific names) by the likes of Renoir and Carpaccio. Alisyn Amant brings us into the pages of this ode to our four-legged friends and the way their presence in art can completely shift our experience of it. Be still, my dog-loving heart.

—Lakshmi Rivera Amin, associate editor


Ed Woodham in All the Odd Places

Just when you’re about to give up on this power-hungry, money-obsessed, star-fucking art world and its market-driven media, people like Ed Woodham come along and restore your faith in what art can do for society.

The decades-long practice of the 69-year-old Atlanta-born artist, curator, and educator is thoroughly rooted in community. He’s most known for leading Art in Odd Places, a public art group he originally co-founded as part of Atlanta’s cultural programming for the 1996 Summer Olympics. In what follows, Woodham and I discuss his youth in Atlanta, his unflinching art activism, and his life as a badass queer elder. | Hakim Bishara

Read More


SPONSORED
CTA Image

Open Call: The 7th VH AWARD for Media Artists Engaged with the Context of Asia

Supporting media artists with production grants, global exhibitions, and an expanded online residency with Ars Electronica.

Learn more


News

  • Photographer and activist Misan Harriman said he will step down from his post as chair of London’s Southbank Centre. The announcement comes weeks after a series of right-wing tabloids scrutinized his response to the April 29 attack in north London’s Golders Green.

Art Tarotscope

Hyperallergic’s Art Tarotscope for the Summer Solstice

Amid global turmoil and rising temperatures, I’ve seen creative friends hitting periods of stagnancy. What will help us return to a flow state? | AX Mina

Read More


From Our Critics

Every Dog Has Its Artist

A compassionate new book explores how canine companions across Western art history break down the emotional boundaries between species. | Alisyn Amant

Read More

Community

A View From the Easel: Kathleen MacKenzie

“The privacy and silence reflect the intimacy and meditative spareness of my art.”

Read More


Member Comment

Holey moley! I appreciate this piece (book excerpt/lecture transcript) at least as much as anything else I’ve read on this site. Hyperallergic’s eclectic arts coverage scores another big win with this member. Thank you so much for doing what you’re doing for readers like me who are not artists, gallerists, collectors, curators, or critics but who want to be informed about art, that most vital and life-sustaining enterprise. And of course a big thank you to Mr. Kentridge.

Jozanne Rabyor on “A Natural History of William Kentridge’s Studio”


From the Archive

The New York Neon Shop That Became Legendary

Let There Be Neon in Tribeca made a name for itself as an essential resource for artists, from Keith Haring to Laurie Anderson. | Aaron Short

Read More

As Pride month comes to an end, Ed Woodham is here to remind us that queer and trans artists deserve to be celebrated every day of the year. The artist and founder of Art in Odd Places has spent decades advocating for public art as just what it sounds like — a public good, not a private commodity.

Editor-in-Chief Hakim Bishara spoke with Woodham about the costs of art-world success and why he has never sought it out. “What I value about Pride is not the branding,” he says. “It’s the resistance. It’s the refusal to be erased.” Read on for the full interview, a candid and galvanizing testimonial to carry us into the dog days of summer.

Speaking of which: Dog people, this one’s for you. The Dog’s Gaze is a new book tracing canine companions across art history, including some truly precious paintings of scruffy floofs and dignified pups (their scientific names) by the likes of Renoir and Carpaccio. Alisyn Amant brings us into the pages of this ode to our four-legged friends and the way their presence in art can completely shift our experience of it. Be still, my dog-loving heart.

—Lakshmi Rivera Amin, associate editor


Ed Woodham in All the Odd Places

Just when you’re about to give up on this power-hungry, money-obsessed, star-fucking art world and its market-driven media, people like Ed Woodham come along and restore your faith in what art can do for society.

The decades-long practice of the 69-year-old Atlanta-born artist, curator, and educator is thoroughly rooted in community. He’s most known for leading Art in Odd Places, a public art group he originally co-founded as part of Atlanta’s cultural programming for the 1996 Summer Olympics. In what follows, Woodham and I discuss his youth in Atlanta, his unflinching art activism, and his life as a badass queer elder. | Hakim Bishara

Read More


SPONSORED
CTA Image

Open Call: The 7th VH AWARD for Media Artists Engaged with the Context of Asia

Supporting media artists with production grants, global exhibitions, and an expanded online residency with Ars Electronica.

Learn more


News

  • Photographer and activist Misan Harriman said he will step down from his post as chair of London’s Southbank Centre. The announcement comes weeks after a series of right-wing tabloids scrutinized his response to the April 29 attack in north London’s Golders Green.

Art Tarotscope

Hyperallergic’s Art Tarotscope for the Summer Solstice

Amid global turmoil and rising temperatures, I’ve seen creative friends hitting periods of stagnancy. What will help us return to a flow state? | AX Mina

Read More


From Our Critics

Every Dog Has Its Artist

A compassionate new book explores how canine companions across Western art history break down the emotional boundaries between species. | Alisyn Amant

Read More

Community

A View From the Easel: Kathleen MacKenzie

“The privacy and silence reflect the intimacy and meditative spareness of my art.”

Read More


Member Comment

Holey moley! I appreciate this piece (book excerpt/lecture transcript) at least as much as anything else I’ve read on this site. Hyperallergic’s eclectic arts coverage scores another big win with this member. Thank you so much for doing what you’re doing for readers like me who are not artists, gallerists, collectors, curators, or critics but who want to be informed about art, that most vital and life-sustaining enterprise. And of course a big thank you to Mr. Kentridge.

Jozanne Rabyor on “A Natural History of William Kentridge’s Studio”


From the Archive

The New York Neon Shop That Became Legendary

Let There Be Neon in Tribeca made a name for itself as an essential resource for artists, from Keith Haring to Laurie Anderson. | Aaron Short

Read More

A $90,000 Graduate Fellowship for Immigrants & Children of Immigrants in the Visual Arts

A $90,000 Graduate Fellowship for Immigrants & Children of Immigrants in the Visual Arts

The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans supports immigrants & children of immigrants in MFA, MA, PhD & other graduate programs.

Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans
Pratt Manhattan Gallery Moves “Beyond Digital” in New Exhibition

Pratt Manhattan Gallery Moves “Beyond Digital” in New Exhibition

Exhibition of Pratt Digital Arts alumni explores technology, ecology, and emerging forms of intelligence.

Pratt Manhattan Gallery
Cranbrook Academy of Art Reopens Applications for Fall 2026

Cranbrook Academy of Art Reopens Applications for Fall 2026

The art institution is accepting applications from June 22 through August 15 for artists and designers considering graduate study.

Cranbrook Academy of Art
How the GW Corcoran Is Rethinking Interaction Design Education

How the GW Corcoran Is Rethinking Interaction Design Education

The Interaction Design program at the George Washington University Corcoran School of Arts and Design is utilizing partnerships across DC to encourage its students to develop more inclusive design practices.

George Washington University

[analyse_source url=”https://hyperallergic.com/ed-woodhams-radical-public-art/”]


Analyse


Post not analysed yet. Do the magic.