Press Contents | by others
{catalogue essays & book discussions} | journal articles | handouts | solo reviews | group show reviews
Author
Judith Wilson, 1991
Lorraine O’Grady: Critical Interventions
Catalogue essay written for O’Grady’s first gallery solo exhibition, “Lorraine O’Grady,” INTAR Gallery, 420 W 42nd Street, New York City, January 21 – February 22, 1991. more
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Andrea Miller-Keller, 1995
Lorraine O’Grady: The Space Between
Brochure article written for the one-person exhibit “Lorraine O’Grady / MATRIX 127,” The Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT, May 21 – Aug 20, 1995. more
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Anne Higonnet, 1996
Hypocrite Lecteur, Mon Semblable, Mon Frère! Hybrid Viewer, My Difference, Lorraine O’Grady!
Catalogue essay for the group exhibit New Histories, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA. 1996. Lia Gangitano and Steven Nelson, eds. more
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Johanna Drucker, 2005
Sweet Dreams: Lorraine O’Grady’s Art Is. . .
Discussion of O’Grady’s performance ART IS. . . in a book examining “complicit art.” Johanna Drucker, Sweet Dreams, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005. pp. 82-84, 87-88. more
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Linda Theung, 2007
WACK! catalogue essay, 2007
Catalogue essay by Linda Theung for WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution, which opened at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, then traveled to the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC; MOMA/PS1, Long Island City, NY; and the Vancouver Art Gallery, British Columbia. more
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Carolyn Tennant, 2010
Carolyn Tennant, 2010
Catalogue essay for the Buffalo biennial on O’Grady’s two-part exhibit: The Clearing: or Cortez and La Malinche, Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, N. and Me, photomontage diptych, 1991; and her new complement to it: Landscape (Western Hemisphere) more
{journal articles} | catalogue essays & book discussions | handouts | solo reviews | group show reviews
Author
Calvin Reid, 1993
A West Indian Yankee in Queen Nefertiti’s Court
Article in New Observations #97: COLOR. September/October 1993, pp. 5-9. Special issue, edited by ADRIAN PIPER. more
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Michele Wallace, 1994
Black Female Spectatorship and the Dilemma of Tokenism
An article in dialogue with O’Grady’s “Olympia’s Maid: Reclaiming Black Female Subjectivity.” In Generations: Academic Feminists in Dialogue, Devoney Looser and E. Ann Kaplan, eds. University of Minnesota Press, 1997. more
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Courtney R. Baker, 2000
The Art of Reading: Postcolonial Bodies and Strategic Illegibility
Analytic reading of two “works” — Gayatri Spivak’s description of her clothing, and Lorraine O’Grady’s Flowers of Evil and Good. Unpublished paper read to a symposium at Louisiana State University, March 2000. more
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Kymberly N. Pinder, 2000
Biraciality and Nationhood in Contemporary Art
An article on work by artists responding to racial hybridity that features a discussion of O’Grady’s diptych, The Clearing. Published in Third Text: Critical Perspectives on Art and Culture 53, Winter 2000-01, pp 43–54. more
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Thomas Feucht-Haviar, 2005
Lorraine O’Grady’s “Olympia’s Maid: Reclaiming Black Female Subjectivity”
Seminar paper on a need for subjectivity and agency to restore critical judgement in the face of knowledge acquisition and production that are compromised forms of power relations. Studio Art, UC Irvine, 2005. more
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African American Review, 2005
William Gleason. Book review.
Review by Princeton University professor of 2002 anthology edited by Kimberly Wallace-Sanders. Citing quotes from "Olympia's Maid" by two different authors, calls O'Grady's article a "critical frame for the volume's main goals." more
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gawker.com, 2007
The Only Black Model in Italian 'Vogue'? Actually A Maid
Serendipitous post on absence of black models in fashion magazines, plus comments section — one of which quotes O’Grady’s “Olympia’s Maid” — show the article’s concerns remain alive and well today. more
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Nick Mauss in Artforum, 2009
The Poem Will Resemble You
Mauss’s article for Artforum is, with Wilson’s INTAR catalogue essay, one of the most extended and authoritative pieces on O’Grady’s oeuvre to date. It was one-half of a two-article feature that also included O’Grady’s artist portfolio for The Black and White Show. more
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Ancient Art Podcast, 2009
Episode 22: Nefertiti, Devonia, Michael
Complete transcript of podcast by Lucas Livingston, an Egyptologist associated with the Art Institute of Chicago, that discusses Nefertiti/Devonia Evangeline and Miscegenated Family Album in detail. Also a YouTube video with high-quality images. more
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Aimee Walleston, 2010
Five from the Whitney Biennial: Lorraine O’Grady
Walleston’s Art in America interview-feature, published on the day of the first of several 2010 Whitney Biennial openings, provided a brief but effective look at the artist’s work and career. more
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Wellesley Magazine, 2010
Lorraine O’Grady ’55: Portrait of An Artist
An “insert article” in the Wellesley College alumnae magazine, incisively written by associate editor Francie Latour, grants distinction to O’Grady’s career as an alum. more
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Andil Gosine for ARC, 2011
Lorraine O’Grady’s Landscape
In a new magazine devoted to artists from the Caribbean and its diaspora, a young Trinidadian-Canadian professor at Toronto’s York University sheds light on the role of hybridity in Landscape (Western Hemisphere) and its complementary work The Clearing more
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Judith Wilson, 1992
A Postmortem On Postmodernism?
Wilson’s slide lecture, delivered just prior to O’Grady’s publication of “Olympia’s Maid,” tellingly inflects T. Feucht-Haviar’s later discussion of subjectivity as a critical category needed to oppose regimes of knowledge acquisition and production based in compromised forms of power relations. more
{handouts} | catalogue essays & book discussions | journal articles | solo reviews | group show reviews
Author
Carol Dougherty, 1994
The Object of History and the History of Objects
Handout written by a professor of Greek and Latin for the premiere of O’Grady’s installation Miscegenated Family Album in Body As Measure, The Davis Museum and Cultural Center, Wellesley, MA, Oct-Nov 1994. more
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Arati Rao, 1994
Remarks on Miscegenated Family Album
Excerpts from paper for “Diaspora and Hybridism: Paradigms for a Global 21st Century,” a faculty symposium on issues emerging from viewing Miscegenated Family Album in Body As Measure, Davis Museum, Wellesley, MA, Oct 1994. more
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Courtney Baker, 1996
A Legacy of Silence
Handout on the historical and critical treatment of Jeanne Duval, accompanying “Studies for Flower of Evil and Good” in New Histories, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA. Oct 23, 1996–Jan 5, 1997. Curator: Milena Kalinovska. more
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Irene Cheng, 1996
“White Skin, Black Masks”: Fetishism and Les Demoiselles d’Avignon
Handout on O’Grady’s “unmasking” as a response to the critical
tradition of fetishizing the fetish. Written to accompany “Studies for Flower of Evil and Good” in New Histories, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA. Oct 23,1996–Jan 5, 1997.
more
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Jay Lopez, 2007
DJ JJ Lopez’s email invite to the Persistent opening at Artpace, San Antonio, TX
The founder of the “diggindeepquartet” DJ collective and lead DJ of the closed Davenport Lounge in San Antonio — and O’Grady’s collaborator on the installation — emails a description of Persistent to his list. more
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Art Institute of Chicago, 2008
MISCEGENATED FAMILY ALBUM
In 2008, the AIC became the first museum to purchase the full Miscegenated Family Album installation. The initial exhibit was that summer, in a Permanent Collection gallery shared with the work of Felix Gonzalez-Torres. more
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carveher on tumblr., 2010
carveher on tumblr., 2010
This Tumblr blog post by a Berkeley undergrad reflecting on her Race and Gender class in Feminist Studies is an example of the use and effect of O’Grady’s article “Olympia’s Maid: Reclaiming Black Female Subjectivity” two decades later. more
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yayayanonono, 2010
Lorraine O’Grady meet Martin Margiela
Fashion blogger locates an amusing connection between Mlle Bourgeoise Noire and Maison Martin Margiela. more
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Brooklyn Museum, 2010
Object of the Month, August 2010: Miscegenated Family Album
Patrick Amsellem, Associate Curator of Photography, blogs a tribute to Miscegenated Family Album. In an analysis of the work’s intellectual and emotional success at the museum, Amsellem writes that MFA “immediately became a favorite." more
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Beyond/In Western New York, 2010
Wall Text by Carolyn Tennant, 2010
Two complementary pieces, The Clearing, 1991, and Landscape (Western Hemisphere), 2010, were connected via the concept of the bridge, both in music and in O’Grady’s phrase, “Wherever I stand, I find I have to build a bridge to some other place. more
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Dorothée Dupuis, Triangle France, 2010
Invitation to exhibit in K. Acker: The Office
For a show on experimental writer, radical feminist and punk culture icon Kathy Acker, the curator’s emailed request to O’Grady to exhibit Rivers, First Draft, the first such invitation the piece had received, contained a one-paragraph summary of the 1982 performance and its relevance to Acker. more
{solo reviews} | catalogue essays & book discussions | journal articles | handouts | group show reviews
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Lucy Lippard, 1988
Art Is . . .
Highlighted box review, taking a retrospective look at O’Grady’s 1983 performance Art Is . . .. In “Sniper’s Nest,” Z Magazine, July-August 1988, p 102 more
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ARTS Magazine, 1991
New York in Review
A review of O’Grady’s first solo exhibit at INTAR Gallery, NYC, that focuses on her work in performance. Selected from Gretchen Faust’s column, "New York in Review," ARTS Magazine, vol 65, no 8, April 1991, p 98. more
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The Hartford Advocate, 1995
Shadow Boxing with the Status Quo
“Lorraine O’Grady, The Space Between, MATRIX/127,” The Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT, May 21 – Aug 20, 1995. Review discusses this two-part installation exhibit: Miscegenated Family Album and Mlle Bourgeoise Noire. more
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Dominique Nahas, 1998
Studies for Flowers of Evil and Good
Reviews O’Grady’s first NYC show of digital cibachrome studies for this work, in Review, vol 4, no 3, October 15, 1998, pp 6-7. more
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ArtNet.com Magazine, 1998
Les Fleurs Duval by Franklin Sirmans
Lorraine O'Grady, "Studies: For a Work-in-Progress on Charles Baudelaire, the first Modernist Poet, and his Haitian-born wife Jeanne Duval," Sep 12 - Oct 31, 1998, at Thomas Erben Gallery, NYC. Review published on the internet. more
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San Antonio Express-News, 2007
Exhibit reflects downtown dance club
Daily newspaper review of O’Grady’s video installation Persistent, at Artpace, San Antonio, TX, July 2007. A work on dance, music, economics, and race that recalls O’Grady’s own past as a club dancer and rock critic. more
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Diva Dee, 2007
The Juice Online, Stories of Hip-Hop: Lorraine O'Grady
A review of the Persistent installation at Artpace by a former patron of the Davenport Lounge, the subject of O’Grady’s piece. Posted by “Diva Dee,” variously described as a DJ, college student, and blogger, on an entertainment news blog geared to black San Antonio. more
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Holland Cotter, 2008
Miscegenated Family Album, at Alexander Gray Associates, NYC
The first New York Times review of a solo show by O’Grady. Lead review in the Friday “Art in Review” section, with a photo of “Sisters I.” more
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Modern Painters, 2008
Miscegenated Family Album, at Alexander Gray Associates, NYC
Discussion of framing as a technique of meaning in O’Grady’s conceptual photo-installation. more
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Johanna Burton, 2008
Artforum, Miscegenated Family Album, Alexander Gray Associates
Artforum’s first review of a solo exhibit by O’Grady. Discusses the first New York showing of the full Miscegenated Family Album installation, at Alexander Gray Associates, NYC, September 10 – October 11, 2008 more
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New York Times, 2009
Miami Fair: Big Pieces, Smaller Prices and Relief
Karen Rosenberg’s review singles out O’Grady’s one-person at Alexander Gray Associates in Art Nova as a “bright spot." The mention fights to be heard, but the article is the best on the fair in itself. more
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Monocle, 2009
All the fun of the art fair
Rob Bound’s column on Art Basel Miami Beach features a review of O’Grady’s show and quotes by the artist, called by the British author a rara avis, by whom he is disconcerted. more
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The Art Newspaper, 2009
Massimiliano Gioni picks... Lorraine O’Grady, Art Is...
A one-paragraph notice with photo, in the publication that carries the most clout at the fair. Points to ways in which O’Grady’s piece questions market values. more
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Shelly Silver, 2010
The Moment of Encounter
A film director and Columbia University professor describes her experience seeing Art Is... at Basel Miami, then attending O’Grady’s public conversation with Roselee Goldberg and Sanford Biggers at MOMA three months later. Meditates on O’Grady’s career trajectory. more
{group show reviews} | catalogue essays & book discussions | journal articles | handouts | solo reviews
Author
LIVE performance 5, 1980/81
“Dialogues,” Just Above Midtown Gallery
Patricia S. Jones discusses a downtown gallery performance series at Just Above Midtown, NYC, Oct 1980 in a late 70s-early 80s annual journal. Article makes special note of O’Grady’s first performance of Nefertiti/Devonia Evangeline more
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Boston Globe, 1994
Welleley’s ‘Body’ also has a brain
Review of The Body As Measure, The Davis Museum and Cultural Center, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA, Sep 23 – Dec 18, 1994. Refers to O’Grady’s first exhibition of Miscegenated Family Album as “the most extraordinary work in the show.” more
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The New York Times, 2006
Art In Review, by Holland Cotter
A review of three simultaneous shows presented by the Daniel Reich Gallery, NYC, which singles out O’Grady for special mention in the third. more
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The New York Times, 2007
‘Wack!’ The Art of Feminism as It First Took Shape
Opening of the first-ever museum show of feminist art at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Holland Cotter’s feature-length review was illustrated by four works, including Mlle Bourgeoise Noire. more
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whitehot magazine, 2007
Role Play: Feminist Art Revisited 1960–1980, at Galerie Lelong
Review of a group show in which O’Grady’s interventions in the guise of Mlle Bourgeoise Noire are described as a precursor to the work of the Guerrilla Girls and others. more
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Holland Cotter feature, 2008
The New York Times, "The Topic Is Race; the Art Is Fearless"
A dicussion of black avant-garde art in the context of Barack Obama’s campaign for the presidency of the United States. more
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Vancouver Sun, 2008
WACK! Feminist Art Strikes Back
Feature article with photo describes O’Grady presenting her work on the artist gallery tour during the opening of WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution at the Vancouver Art Gallery on October 5. more
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art Das Kunstmagazin, Berlin, 2008(9)
On Re.act.feminism @ Akademie der Künste, Berlin
Review of feminist art show with 25 artists in exhibition, plus 80 in video archive, makes special mention of O’Grady and three other artists, including Valie Export, Yoko Ono, and Gabrielle Stötzer. more
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The New York Times, 2008
Year-in-art review: "Out With the Fat, in With the Hungry"
The Times 2008 year-in-art review featured O’Grady as one of the artists proving that feminist art is still “the source.” Photos of the Miscegenated Family Album installation and the “Sisters I” diptych, in the companion online slideshow, were two of the 20-image total. more
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Art in America, 2010
What’s Out There? A Whitney Biennial Preview
Kari Rittenbach singles out O'Grady as a "notable without-type inclusion" and the article's online slideshow consists solely of O'Grady's past work. more
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Francesco Bonami, 2010
Francesco Bonami, 2010
Transcript excerpt of a two-minute section from the 8-minute interview in which Francesco Bonami, chief curator of the 2010 Whitney Biennial, speaks about O’Grady’s piece and the room it shared with Bruce High Quality Foundation. more
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El País, Madrid, 2010
A More Female and More Discreet Whitney Biennial. . .
Original Spanish, plus English translation, of article in Spain’s equivalent to the New York Times. The review contains a fuller-than-usual discussion of the significance of O’Grady’s installation. more
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Malik Gaines, 2011
Malik Gaines—in frieze, “Looking Forward, Looking Back”
Gaines’s end-of-year review looks at Los Angeles and examines the blurring boundaries between art and entertainment. Its pointed commentary on The First and the Last of the Modernists’ image strategies was the most perceptive on the piece to date. more
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18 Whitney Mentions, 2010
Selected press on O’Grady in the Biennial
A compilation of 18 selected and conflicting mentions of Lorraine O’Grady’s piece in the 2010 Whitney Biennial press provides an opportunity to compare responses to The First and the Last of the Modernists and parse their differences. more
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DLK Collection, 2010
The Original Copy: Photography of Sculpture, 1839 to Today @MoMA
“Sisters IV” from Miscegenated Family Album (Lorraine, with Nefertiti’s sister Mutnedjmet) looked stunning here. And Roxanna Marcocci’s brilliant, transformative exhibit was one of the decade’s best. DLK’s review provides a summary of record. more
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artinfo.com, 2010
11 Hopped-Up Art World Anecdotes from “Max’s Kansas City” Book
When her rejected 1973 review of the night Bob Marley led in for Bruce Springsteen at Max’s was finally published, in an art book, it was a rare chance for two of O’Grady careers---rock critic and conceptual artist-- to meet, as in this artinfo.com piece. more
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Manifesta 8 press, 2010
Three articles on Manifesta 8
At the close of 2010, O’Grady was in Manifesta 8, the roving European Biennial of Contemporary Art, in Murcia, Spain. In a show whose failures raised more interesting questions than its successes, the location of her piece may have interrogated the curators’ intentions. more
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