Art, Truth, and the Work Ahead
This moment marks new beginnings — grounded in the past and prepared for a world we can imagine and build anew.
This moment marks new beginnings — grounded in the past and prepared for a world we can imagine and build anew.
Zohran Mamdani supporter Una Osato spreads her wings in front of the Brooklyn Public Library on Election Day, November 4, 2025. (photo Lakshmi Amin/Hyperallergic)
It’s a glorious New Year’s Day in New York, and today Zohran Mamdani will be sworn in as mayor of our fair city. This moment marks new beginnings — grounded in the past and prepared for a world we can imagine and build anew.
We’re reminded, too, that none of what we do is guaranteed. Everything we create requires hard work and collective effort to ensure that justice, truth, and peace prevail. Each of us contributes in our own way. At Hyperallergic, we know that every story, every reporter, and every investigation depends on the generosity and trust of our community — your community.
Yesterday, we surpassed our 8,000 paying member goal, and provided more proof that people are willing to support art news, reviews, and cultural criticism that challenge art lovers and refuse to bow to billionaires and their tacky minions.
In this edition of the newsletter, we bring you news of works entering the public domain, including José Clemente Orozco’s “Prometheus” at Pomona College, Piet Mondrian’s “Composition with Red, Blue, and Yellow,” and the Surrealist classic “L’Âge d’Or,” directed by Luis Buñuel and co-written with Salvador Dalí.
Chenoa Baker considers Fred Wilson’s exhibition in the Boston area, writing: “What lingers is the idea of reflection. We are confronted with a colonial shadow of real and manufactured images that mirror our current world and the distortions we’ve created.”
After hearing of the recent passing of the wonderfully rebellious Cecilia Giménez— the octogenarian art restorer who brought us all so much joy — I wanted to invite you to revisit Sabine Heinlein’s firsthand report from her pilgrimage to “Beast Jesus.” In addition to photographs from the site, which has since become a tourist destination, she noted that the artistic foible that transformed the historical church painting into a meme had brought the small parish “more money than it ever had before.” God, apparently, works in mysterious ways — and the same, it seems, is true for art.
I hope you, dear reader, spend today surrounded by love and contemplation —reflecting on how we might mend the ruptures that divide us.
As the poet, novelist, and art critic Rainer Maria Rilke wrote to his wife, sculptor Clara Rilke, on January 1, 1907:
“And now let us believe in a long year that is given to us, new, untouched, full of things that have never been, full of work that has never been done, full of tasks, claims, and demands; and let us see that we learn to take it without letting fall too much of what it has to bestow upon those who demand of it necessary, serious, and great things.”
This sentiment is often paraphrased as: “And now we welcome the new year, full of things that have never been.”
May we start this year overflowing with the dreams we helped make real.
— Hrag Vartanian, editor-at-large
Coming Soon: Njideka Akunyili Crosby PrintRegister your interest for early access to a new print by Njideka Akunyili Crosby from David Zwirner, presented alongside the artist’s first monograph.
Happy Public Domain Day!
Detail of José Clemente Orozco's “Prometheus” (1930) mural at Pomona College (via Wikimedia Commons)
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Celebrate Public Domain Day with Betty Boop and Piet Mondrian
Works including The Little Engine That Could and a Salvador Dalí and Luis Buñuel collaboration are now free to use and reuse. | Rhea Nayyar
From Our Critics
Installation view of Fred Wilson: Reflections at the Rose Art Museum (courtesy Rose Art Museum)
Fred Wilson Reflects Our World in Black and White
The artist confronts us with a colonial shadow of real and manufactured images that reflect our current existence and its distortions. | Chenoa Baker
MFA, MA, and PhD Programs to Apply for by Early 2026
A list of arts-related graduate programs to explore and apply to before deadlines close.
ICYMI
The New York Arabic Chorus and Toshi Reagon performing at Flushing Town Hall as part of the Songs of the Living series, October 30, 2025
Dear Zohran, Don’t Let Art Workers Down
Those of us in the cultural sector need you to enact a bold vision for the role of city government in fostering the arts and helping our communities thrive. | Sami Abu Shumays