{"id":2122385,"date":"2026-09-01T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2122385"},"modified":"2026-09-01T09:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T06:00:00","slug":"art-in-americas-fall-issue-features-icons-cringe-culture-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2122385","title":{"rendered":"Art in America\u2019s Fall Issue Features \u201cIcons,\u201d Cringe Culture, and More"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Icons-cover.png?w=1024″]<\/p>\n

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\n\tCritic Bob Nickas, in a recent essay on the musician Steven Stapleton, took the temperature of contemporary art and found it tepid. \u201cIncreasingly, since the pandemic and the rightward (wrongward) tilt in global politics,\u201d he wrote, \u201cwe have witnessed an unfortunate shift in art\u2014from works with more seriousness of purpose to works of palliative escapism, art in which there is scant danger of disturbance.\u201d Those words came back to me as this issue was going to press. At Art in America<\/em>, we pick our annual list of Icon artists because they speak to the times. The five artists profiled in these pages offer the opposite of palliative escapism\u2014and there is much danger of disturbance.<\/p>\n

\n\tEach of these artists disturbs in their own special way, but Exhibit A is the cover of the issue: Janine Antoni\u2019s long-echo allusion to a famous scene in Luis Bu\u00f1uel and Salvador Dal\u00ed\u2019s 1929 film Un Chien Andalou<\/em> tells us to keep our eyes open, no matter what accosts them. Walid Raad\u2019s recent installation project (in collaboration with graphic designer Pierre Huyghebaert) initially looks like festive ribbons of paper affixed to the wall, until you get closer and see that they are statements associated with exhibitions canceled due to their affiliation with Palestine. William T. Williams\u2019s bold approach to abstraction in the 1970s helped carve out a space for Black artists to develop individual approaches that were viewed as innovative within the wider context of avant-garde art. Mary Miss has taken public art into unexplored territory with her unapologetic interventions into urban settings. Finally, don\u2019t look for anything remotely palliative in Jutta Koether\u2019s paintings\u2014they are storms of images that refuse to cohere.<\/p>\n

\n\tTo come back to Nickas, I believe our challenging times demand works with \u201cseriousness of purpose\u201d\u2014and it is artists like these Icons who can show the way.<\/p>\n

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\n
\"A<\/div>\n<\/div>
Mary Miss in her Tribeca
studio.<\/span>Photo Christopher Garcia Valle<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

FEATURES<\/strong><\/p>\n

Stranger Than Fiction<\/strong>
Walid Raad turns history\u2019s absences into artworks.
by Emily Watlington<\/em>
\u00a0
Heady Hand<\/strong>
Jutta Koether\u2019s big ideas grace the canvas with a light touch.
by Barry Schwabsky<\/em>
\u00a0<\/em>
Material World<\/strong>
William T. Williams has stayed curious on the canvas for six decades.
by Maximil\u00edano Dur\u00f3n<\/em>
\u00a0
Sensual Surrogates<\/strong>
Janine Antoni solidifies the history of feminist performance art.
by Nicole Kaack
<\/em>
Negative Space<\/strong>
For Mary Miss, whose public art has changed with the times, resourcefulness is resilience.
by Eleanor Heartney<\/em><\/p>\n

Cringe Culture<\/strong>
You know \u201ccringe\u201d when you see\u2014but what exactly does it look like?
by Eugenie Brinkema<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\"A<\/div>\n<\/div>
Lucy Sante: Radioactive<\/i>, 2025.<\/span>Courtesy Picture Theory, New York<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

DEPARTMENTS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Datebook<\/strong>
A highly discerning list of things to experience this fall.
by the Editors of A.i.A.<\/em><\/p>\n

Hard Truths<\/strong>
An artist anguishes over the prospect of grants, and an art handler ponders a dropped painting. Plus, an interactive quiz.
by Chen & Lampert<\/em><\/p>\n

Sightlines<\/strong>
Curator Jordan Carter tells us what he likes.<\/p>\n

Battle Royale<\/strong>
Frieze London vs. Art Basel Paris\u2014two fall art fairs go head-to-head.
by the Editors of A.i.A.<\/em><\/p>\n

Inquiry<\/strong>
Lucy Sante talks about what collages enables that writing can\u2019t.
by Andy Battaglia<\/em><\/p>\n

Revelations
<\/strong>A writer singles out John Frederick Kensett\u2019s Mount Chocorua.
by Benjamin Moser<\/em><\/p>\n

Syllabus<\/strong>
A reading list for a crash course on Pop art.<\/em>
by Kelly Montana<\/em><\/p>\n

Appreciation<\/strong>
A tribute to VALIE EXPORT, who was ahead of her time and as subtle as she was provocative.
by Nathan Stobaugh<\/em><\/p>\n

Issues & Commentary<\/strong>
The world\u2019s first AI art museum has a strange way of honoring the rainforest.
by Louis Bury<\/em><\/p>\n

Spotlight<\/strong>
Leonor Fini provoked Surrealism\u2019s fascination with youthful femininity.
by Eliza Goodpasture<\/em><\/p>\n

Book Review<\/strong>
A reading of What Was America?: Art, Culture, and Politics in the Bicentennial Era.<\/em>
by Anna Kornbluh<\/em><\/p>\n

New Talent<\/strong>
Abi Palmer takes play seriously.
by Emily Watlington<\/em><\/p>\n

Cover Artist<\/strong>
Janine Antoni talks about her artwork on the cover of A.i.A<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>
Betty Parsons: Moon<\/i>, 1982.<\/span>Courtesy Alexander Gray Associates, New York\/\u00a9Betty Parsons<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

REVIEWS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Venice<\/strong>
Venice Diary
by Joseph L. Underwood<\/em><\/p>\n

Annandale-on-Hudson<\/strong>
Betty Parsons
by John Yau<\/em><\/p>\n

London<\/strong>
Ana Mendieta
by Eliza Goodpasture<\/em><\/p>\n

New York<\/strong>
\u201cDemocracy Matters\u201d
by Cat Dawson<\/em><\/p>\n

\n\tMarcel Duchamp
by Ara H. Merjian<\/em><\/p>\n

Reykjav\u00edk<\/strong>
Bj\u00f6rk
by Andy Battaglia<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Icons-cover.png?w=1024″] Critic Bob Nickas, in a recent essay on the musician Steven Stapleton, took the temperature of contemporary art and found it tepid. \u201cIncreasingly, since the pandemic and the rightward (wrongward) tilt in global politics,\u201d he wrote, \u201cwe have witnessed an unfortunate shift in art\u2014from works with more seriousness of purpose to works […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-2122385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2122385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2122385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2122385\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2122385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2122385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2122385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}