Julie Mehretu’s new paintings feel looser, more intricate and riskier than any she has done before. Influenced by the events of the Arab Spring, the artist, who was born in 1970 in Addis-Ababa and works in New York, has again filled huge canvases with skeins upon skeins of architectural plans, city maps, darting lines and free-flowing, undulating attacks of ink that are more powerful than ever, abstractly suggesting wild rivers, treacherous mountains and bombed-out landscapes. Marks sprawl across these 13 canvases in unexpected ways, stopping far from the edge, or spilling over into unseen territory. Critics could once accuse her masterful works of looking mannered or overthought; here they’re just masterful. Read More

“Artist and human rights activist Ai Weiwei has released a heavy-metal single called “Dumbass’”—meant to reconstruct his 81-day detention in 2011, which was part of an overall crackdown on dissent by the Chinese government.” With video! [The Telegraph]

And Jonathan Jones argues that Mr. Ai is a “modern master in his moment.” He writes, “It’s like being the contemporaries of Beuys in the 1970s or Marcel Duchamp when he was calling that urinal art.” [The Guardian] Read More

For the past few months, the Lyon Biennale has been releasing the names of artists that will have work in its 12th edition, which runs Sept. 12, 2013, through Jan. 5, 2014. Now the full list is out, and it is a handsome one, ranging from established stars like Jeff Koons, Tom Sachs and Yoko Ono to exciting younger artists like Trisha Baga, Helen Marten and Anicka Yi. Some 80 percent of the works are being specially made for the biennale, according to organizers. Other items of note: there will be a Performance Weekend Oct. 19–20, a Video Weekend Nov. 30–Dec. 1 and a Robotics Weekend (“It will be a discussion between artists, researchers and… robots,” says a news release). Roe Ethridge shot promotional photos of attractive young people (see the image at left) and a pig. Read More

Felix Salmon on “Cooper Union’s shameless trustees.” [Reuters]

Twenty Frank Lloyd Wright homes are on the market. Living in one may sound glamorous, but it is may be a lot of work. [WSJ]

Here is a profile of the artist Jeffrey Gibson. [NYT] Read More