April 2025

 

Dear Readers,

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In this issue of The Art Section I am delighted to present three new articles. Art Historian Michaël Amy delves into the complex conceptual work of artist, writer, and filmmaker Jill Magid through an interview. I first learned of Magid’s work when I read about her exhibition Homage CMYK at Dia Bridgehampton, which opened on July 25, 2020 in the midst of the pandemic. Magid’s work in this series began with two unlicensed screenprints on linen derived from Josef Albers’s iconic series of paintings Homage to the Square (1950–75). These copies hang in the architect Luis Barragán’s Mexico City home and have been reproduced in photographs that show the play of light for which the house is famous on them. Magid, in turn, reproduced and modified these photographs to create new work. Her works poked at me by reproducing reproductions of reproductions, an idea I find intriguing.  And ironically, I only know Magid’s work from seeing it in reproduction on the web. Her public work Tender is equally provocative, as Magid engraved the phrase, “THE BODY WAS ALREADY SO FRAGILE,” on the edges of pennies. Magid disseminated the pennies into the US economy by purchasing items at New York City bodegas. My study of Magid’s work led me to many questions, and I am so pleased that Dr. Amy has undertaken a dialogue with this artist.

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Although I have lived in Georgia for several decades, I still have the urge to understand the layers and complexities of the South that might be revealed to me by those whose history is linked to this place. Author and photographer Andrew Feiler is a fifth generation Georgian. I asked Feiler to write about his book, A Better Life for Their Children: Julius Rosenwald, Booker T. Washington, and the 4,978 Schools that Changed America and his documentary photography of the schools. The program was created by Tuskegee Institute principal Booker T. Washington and Sears, Roebuck & Company president Julius Rosenwald. From 1912 to 1937, the project built 4,978 schools for African American children across 15 southern and border states. Seeing this work through Feiler’s lens provides a roadmap for understanding the South, and the bittersweet time of the early twentieth century.

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In thinking about the richness and provocation of artworks composed solely in black and white, The Art Section asked Georgia Artists to create new works for an online exhibition, Black & White with Considerations of Grey. This exhibition presents the work of twenty artists who have delved into the tonal range with humor, tenacity, and experimental energies. It turns out it is not so easy to abandon color, but I think the outcome reveals many aspects of these artists and their work.

 

All my best,
Deanna

Deanna Sirlin

Editor-in-Chief

The Art Section