Read All About It
For a 'Citizen Artist,' Creativity Is a Matter of Survival
When I sat down to interview the artist vanessa german in her bright, airy temporary studio at the University of Chicago, she was the one who asked the first question. And the second, and the third. She wanted to know who I was and what motivated me in my work and life. She listened to my answers so intently that I was momentarily unnerved.
When I finally asked her how she became an artist, she said, “I might cry, but I’ll just keep going.”
The exchange with german (who styles her full name in lowercase letters) distilled much about her self-taught approach. Her beaded totemic sculptures, some modeled on African power figures, along with an installation on the National Mall, her community-based activism and her collaborative performances have lately been garnering art world attention and major awards.
Prof. Shadi Bartsch-Zimmer Elected to the British Academy
Prof. Shadi Bartsch-Zimmer would like to abolish the siloed nature of knowledge and embrace the interdisciplinarity of the humanities and sciences. For the broad scope of her scholarship and innovative ideas, the University of Chicago classics scholar was elected on July 18 as a fellow to the British Academy.
Bartsch-Zimmer is well known for her books and articles on ancient Rome, on rhetoric and philosophy, and on the reception of the western classical tradition in contemporary China. Her book "Persius: A Study in Food, Philosophy, and the Figural" received the 2016 Goodwin Award of Merit, and her translation of the “Aeneid” was one of The Guardian’s best books of the year.
Lewis 'Alan' Longino, UChicago graduate student and scholar of postwar Japanese art, 1987‒2024
Lewis “Alan” Longino, a University of Chicago graduate student who studied and curated contemporary art around the globe, passed away on July 8 in Biloxi, Miss., after a lengthy battle with cancer. He was 36.
A Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Art History, Longino focused his research on postwar Japanese conceptual art and global contemporary art. In particular, he examined the Japanese artist Yutaka Matsuzawa’s approach to a dematerialized practice, which was based upon a system of quantum physics, non-Zen Buddhism and parapsychology. In 1988, Matsuzawa (1922‒2006) published his “Quantum Art Manifesto,” which set out directions, instructions, kōan and other meditations for readers to consider their connection to art on a quantum level.
Vanessa German brings open mind and Sun Ra to Exhibition at Chicago's Logan Center for the Arts
vanessa german knows how it sounds. Her metaphysical manner of speaking. Talking about magic. She feels eyes rolling.
“One of the things that people would say to me is they're not going to take you seriously; Black artists can't talk this way,” german (b. 1976, Milwaukee, WI), who spells her name in all lowercase letters, told Forbes.com. “They can't talk about love and their spirit because quote-unquote, they–the all-present, all-powerful ‘they’–will not take me seriously.”
