Art in America’s “Wellness” Issue Surveys Art’s Turn Toward Health

First, a word of caution: Wellness, as we use the term in this issue, does not mean the lotions, potions, and crystals of the Goop world. Instead, it points to the means by which artists are engaging with ideas about how we humans attend to the health of our bodies and minds in an age when the world around us has all but ensured our disability. As we completed these pages, wildfire raged in Los Angeles, lacing the air with toxins, and stresses abounded all across a globe enmeshed in violence and decay of countless varieties.

Jenny Odell, in her 2019 book, How to Do Nothing, points to the words of Audre Lorde, who in the 1980s said that “caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” Community preservation can also be an act of political warfare, as Art in America senior editor Emily Watlington explores in her essay on climate change and disability, writing about such matters as LaToya Ruby Frazier’s efforts to restore clean water to Flint, Michigan. Artists like Frazier and Sunaura Taylor are at the forefront of addressing what Taylor calls our “Age of Disability.”

Putting aside the threats of climate change and environmental degradation, art and self-care have much in common. Take it from an artist who became a therapist. In an article on several such artists in this issue, painter and ceramicist Max Maslansky observes that “art-making is self-care … [I]ts practice can bring you in better contact with yourself. Art is a healing dialectic with the self.” In a darker vein is Emily McDermott’s profile of Johanna Hedva, whose work incorporates hooks, chains, and hourglasses dripping with thick black goo, and addresses care and healing in the face of deterioration and death.

Then again, perhaps the world of Goop is not so far away after all: In these pages, Marisa Meltzer looks at the longevity practices of Marina Abramović, who, with her workshops and serums, may well be giving Gwyneth Paltrow a run for her money.

FEATURES

The Writing Is on the Wall
With texts like “Sick Woman Theory” and How to Tell When We Will Die, Johanna Hedva expands what it means to be alive.
by Emily McDermott

The Artist Will See You Now
A coterie of artists-turned-therapists discuss how their two practices converge.
as told to Emily Watlington

The FGT Effect
Artists weigh in on the enduring influence of Felix Gonzalez-Torres.
as told to Maximilíano Durón

Infinite Energy
Is Marina Abramović’s Longevity Method a business or a performance?
by Marisa Meltzer

Representing Roe
Abortion art is trendy, but can it be transformative?
by Aliza Shvarts

Something in the Water
Climate change is ushering in an “Age of Disability.”
by Emily Watlington

Well Wishes
In the studio with Shana Moulton.
by Zsofi Valyi-Nagy

DEPARTMENTS

Datebook
A highly discerning list of things to experience over the next three months.
by the Editors of A.i.A.

Hard Truths
A collector’s politics prove problematic, and a dubious dealer asks for a kidney. Plus, a wellness-themed quiz.
by Chen & Lampert

Sightlines
Hawai‘i Triennial curator Noelle M.K.Y. Kahanu tells us what she likes.
by Francesca Aton

Inquiry
A Q&A with Harmony Hammond about material metaphors and political purpose.
by Nicole Kaack

Appreciation
A tribute to Lorraine O’Grady, who mentored a fellow artist on the importance of generosity and thought.
by Chloë Bass

Battle Royale
Photography vs. AI—two modes of producing pictures go head-to-head.
by the Editors of A.i.A.

New Talent
Minne Atairu uses AI to remedy historical erasures.
by Shameekia Shantel Johnson

Syllabus
A reading list for a crash course on the legacy of October.
by Walker Downey

Issues & Commentary
Is art criticism getting more conservative, or more burnt out?
by Louis Bury

Object Lesson
An annotation of Kent Monkman’s Protecting the Medicines.
by Francesca Aton

Spotlight
British Surrealist Ithell Colquhoun sought enlightenment from beyond the mortal realm.
by Eliza Goodpasture

Book Review
A reading of Blake Gopnik’s The Maverick’s Museum: Albert Barnes and His American Dream.
by Kelly Presutti

Cover Artist
An interpretation of Jana Euler’s artwork on the cover of A.i.A.

REVIEWS

Asheville
Asheville Diary
by Robert Alan Grand

Cape Town
“Nolan Oswald Dennis: Understudies”
by Nkgopoleng Moloi

Los Angeles
“Ordinary People: Photorealism and the Work of Art since 1968”
by Carolina A. Miranda

Luxembourg
“Radical Software: Women, Art & Computing 1960–1991”
by Lua Vollaard

New York
“Harmony & Dissonance: Orphism in Paris, 1910–1930”
by Ara H. Merjian

San Francisco
Tamara de Lempicka
by Kelly Presutti