ROUND-UP JULY 17-24, 2017

I wrote my first piece for The Awl this week, and reviewed a show in Los Angeles for Whitehot.

• "Why Do Remakes Have To Be 'Darker' and 'Grittier'?" The Awl, July 24, 2017.

"One remaining question is, who are these reboots for? Are they doing so to attract that elusive, all-important Millennial viewer, capable of blowing up a show’s popularity with a single tweet? Or are they hoping to capitalize on the nostalgia of Generations X and Baby Boomer, in order to create a wider audience — and make these childhood properties seem more “adult” oriented? What underlying assumptions are the creators making about their intended audiences?"

• "Marisa Merz Takes the Spotlight at Los Angeles' Hammer Museum." Whitehot Magazine of Contemporary Art, July 2017.

"Marisa Merz’s The Sky is a Great Space at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles is a thoughtful and in-depth look at an artist who, as the exhibition rightfully argues, has yet to receive her proper due. One of the leaders of the Arte Povera movement in Italy, she never received the same attention as her colleagues Michelangelo Pistoletto and Enrico Castellani. The Sky is a Great Space, then, has the tricky task of presenting Merz’s work to the mostly-fresh eyes of the viewing public in a compelling way, while also not drowning said public in too much new information and material, while at the same time still creating an exhibition that works on its own terms in a curatorial and thematic way. Fortunately, The Sky is a Great Space manages to walk this tightrope quite well."