Ben Davis, Author at artnet News |

Exhibitions

Here’s How the Hilma af Klint Show Played Perfectly Into the Current Zeitgeist to Become the Guggenheim’s Most-Visited Exhibition Ever

The show made history with more than 600,000 visitors.

By Ben Davis, Apr 19, 2019

Opinion

Why the Cultural Battle Over the Meaning of the Notre Dame Fire Is Playing Into the Hands of the Far-Right

There is a battle for the meaning of the terrible fire's symbolism.

By Ben Davis, Apr 18, 2019

People

‘It Is a Culture of Fear’: Formerly Imprisoned Photographer Shahidul Alam on Art, Protest, and the Political Climate in Bangladesh

In November, after an international outcry, Alam was released from a Bangladeshi prison, but the case is still ongoing.

By Ben Davis, Apr 9, 2019

Opinion

The Shed Is a Shiny Billionaire’s Box of Dreams. Can It Be an Important Cultural Center Too?

What the flashy new institution's merger of high-tech and social justice rhetoric means about culture now.

By Ben Davis, Apr 4, 2019

Opinion

How Three Experimental Van Gogh Biopics Painted Startlingly Different Portraits of the Artist

A History of Artist Biopics, Part IV: The obsession with bringing Vincent van Gogh to life in the late 1980s and early '90s.

By Ben Davis, Mar 26, 2019

Opinion

Hudson Yards Has Thrown Everything at Making Itself Into a Cultural Destination. Does It Succeed?

From the colossal 'Vessel' to custom works by a host of hot artists, it's got it all. Is it enough?

By Ben Davis, Mar 19, 2019

Reviews

Artist Ian Cheng Has Created an AI Creature Named ‘BOB.’ Now, It’s Up to Viewers to Decide His Fate

Cheng is feeling out the potentials of Artificial Intelligence for art.

By Ben Davis, Mar 18, 2019

Opinion

From Donald Sutherland’s Sleazy Gauguin to a Classic Caravaggio, How 3 Biopics Romanticize Artists’ (Often Unforgivable) Dark Sides

Part 3 of A History of Artist Biopics, on the '70s and '80s.

By Ben Davis, Mar 13, 2019

Opinion

The Agony and the Ecstasy: Why Two ’60s Art Biopics Are Epic Clunkers, and One Is an All-Time Classic

Hollywood puts its stamp on the tales of Michelangelo and El Greco, but a medieval Russian icon-maker is the greatest star of all.

By Ben Davis, Feb 25, 2019

Reviews

What Ghosts Haunt Jasper Johns’s New Skeleton Paintings? We May Never Know (and That’s the Point)

Reassembling the broken symbolism of the venerable American painter's 2018 works.

By Ben Davis, Feb 21, 2019

Opinion

5 Classic Hollywood Movies That Sculpted Our Image of Artists as Tragic, Irrepressible, Erotic Heroes

Filmmakers were enamored with artists long before Leonardo DiCaprio was set to star as Leonardo da Vinci.

By Ben Davis, Feb 20, 2019

Opinion

How Did the Heart Become a Symbol of Love? The Clues Lie in This Medieval French Illustration

The 13th-century French manuscript "Romance of the Pear" contains an early depiction of the heart as a symbol of love.

By Ben Davis, Feb 14, 2019

Reviews

Review: ‘Velvet Buzzsaw’ Probably Won’t Scare the Horror Fans, But It May Terrify the Art World

The art-world ghost story, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, is about to launch on Netflix.

By Ben Davis, Jan 31, 2019

Politics

Bruno Latour, the Philosopher of Science Who Changed Art Theory, Explains His New Book on Climate Change

The author of 'Down to Earth: Politics in the New Climatic Regime' on the Yellow Vest movement and his manifesto for the EU.

By Ben Davis, Jan 30, 2019

Opinion

What Is Democracy? An Experimental New Documentary Looks at the History of an Idea—and Offers a Ray of Hope

Astra Taylor's new film surveys contemporary political breakdown through the lens of philosophy.

By Ben Davis, Jan 28, 2019

Ben Davis

National Art Critic

Here’s How the Hilma af Klint Show Played Perfectly Into the Current Zeitgeist to Become the Guggenheim’s Most-Visited Exhibition Ever

Why the Cultural Battle Over the Meaning of the Notre Dame Fire Is Playing Into the Hands of the Far-Right

‘It Is a Culture of Fear’: Formerly Imprisoned Photographer Shahidul Alam on Art, Protest, and the Political Climate in Bangladesh

The Shed Is a Shiny Billionaire’s Box of Dreams. Can It Be an Important Cultural Center Too?

How Three Experimental Van Gogh Biopics Painted Startlingly Different Portraits of the Artist

Hudson Yards Has Thrown Everything at Making Itself Into a Cultural Destination. Does It Succeed?

Artist Ian Cheng Has Created an AI Creature Named ‘BOB.’ Now, It’s Up to Viewers to Decide His Fate

From Donald Sutherland’s Sleazy Gauguin to a Classic Caravaggio, How 3 Biopics Romanticize Artists’ (Often Unforgivable) Dark Sides

The Agony and the Ecstasy: Why Two ’60s Art Biopics Are Epic Clunkers, and One Is an All-Time Classic

What Ghosts Haunt Jasper Johns’s New Skeleton Paintings? We May Never Know (and That’s the Point)

5 Classic Hollywood Movies That Sculpted Our Image of Artists as Tragic, Irrepressible, Erotic Heroes

How Did the Heart Become a Symbol of Love? The Clues Lie in This Medieval French Illustration

Review: ‘Velvet Buzzsaw’ Probably Won’t Scare the Horror Fans, But It May Terrify the Art World

Bruno Latour, the Philosopher of Science Who Changed Art Theory, Explains His New Book on Climate Change

What Is Democracy? An Experimental New Documentary Looks at the History of an Idea—and Offers a Ray of Hope

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