REVISIONIST HISTORY 2.0, fully dialed up over the past few decades, is once again on a mission to rediscover the many significant artists who were marginalized and never given their due. Patriarchal bias led the charge in discounting certain artists because of their gender, skin color, sexuality, or cultural identity, as straight white men ruled the canon and owned virtually every piece of modernist art real estate in the twentieth century. Clearing away the muck of misinformation, waking up to forms of serial discrimination perpetrated by all our reputable institutions, retrofitting the historical record to reflect the diversity that flourished beneath the story of art’s “official” veneer indeed, the amount of excavation and correction required is exhausting and seemingly endless.
Smoky Artwork by Judy Chicago at Desert Zoo Is Canceled
“Living Smoke” was scheduled for April but the California venue withdrew after an activist said the colorful smoke display could harm the environment.
Judy Chicago’s plan to create an atmospheric artwork at the 1,200-acre Living Desert Zoo and Gardens was scrapped after an environmental activist raised questions about its effect on sheep and other animals.Credit.Donald Woodman/Artist Rights Society
Published Feb. 27, 2021Updated March 12, 2021
Two years ago, the arts organization Desert X in Palm Springs, Calif., canceled a Jenny Holzer light projection to be shown on a local mountainside during its biennial exhibition for fear of endangering bighorn sheep that roamed there.