While reflecting on the many essays, exhibition reviews, conversations, and artist projects published by Burnaway in 2019, we compiled this selection of ten of our favorite online stories from the past year.
Lemon Boy: Richard Gallo in Louisville by Paul Michael Brown, February 22
In an exhibition in Louisville, Kentucky-born artist and curator Scott Rollins explored the archive of pioneering New York performance artist Richard Gallo. Paul Michael Brown—who contributed this feature, which was republished by Momus—was recently named a 2019/2020 Arts Writing Grant recipient by the Andy Warhol Foundation and Creative Capital.
No Outsiders: The 2019 Atlanta Biennial at Atlanta Contemporary by Maura Callahan, March 15
The 2019 Atlanta Biennial collapsed distinctions between “folk” and mainstream, past and future, making a case for art “inside and beside” the art world. This in-depth review by award-winning, Baltimore-based critic was co-commissioned and co-published by Burnaway and Momus.
As Far As We Can Go, Happiness Is Always Just Over That Horizon by Yoon Nam, June 13
In this brief, lyrical essay, artist Yoon Nam considers I-85, the American Dream, and Alex Ito’s solo exhibition God Has No Fingernails at the artist-run space Good Enough in the Duluth, Georgia.
Residual Delicacy: Krista Clark in Atlanta by Claire E. Dempster, July 25
In her exhibition Base Line of Appraisal, Atlanta-based artist Krista Clark translated two-dimensional compositions into architectural installations drawing on the city’s rapidly developing landscape. Claire E. Dempster profiled the artist on the occasion of her Working Artist Project exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Georgia.
Mood Ring: GIFs by Saige Rowe, August 1
For our new artist column Mood Ring, video artist Saige Rowe created a series of GIFs, “us on grass on real grass.”
Sweet, Tender Hooligan: The Utopian Aesthetics of Skateboarding by Jasmine Amussen, August 7
Assistant editor Jasmine Amussen reminisces about skateboarding and uncovers tender moments in Tyler Mitchell’s early photos of young suburban skaters.
There Are No Shadows Here: The Perfect Moment at 30 by Ade J. Omotosho, August 26
Ade J. Omotosho, Burnaway’s Miami editor-at-large, reflects on the history of the Black male nude, tracing the fraught influence of Robert Mapplethorpe on generations of queer photographers.
“A Very Unusual School”: Bauhaus, Black Mountain College, and Today by Diana C. Stoll, September 26
As institutions around the world mark the centenary anniversary of the founding of the Bauhaus, Asheville-based contributor Diana C. Stoll reconsiders the school’s legacy in Appalachia.
Promised Land: Saving Margaret’s Grocery in Mississippi by Annie Moye, October 8
Annie Moye tells the love story behind a colorful artist environment in Mississippi and reports on efforts to preserve it following the artist’s death.
Documenting Environmental Racism in Flint and New Orleans by Ann Hackett, November 22
Contributor Ann Hackett reviews two exhibitions at Tulane’s Newcomb Art Museum that draw connections between the adverse effects of environmental racism in Flint, Michigan, and Gordon Plaza in New Orleans.
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