Awol Erizku has achieved some notoriety as the photographer of the pregnant Beyonce. Now he is producing an anti-Trump exhibit at Ben Brown Fine Arts in London, with another called Purple Reign in Brussels. The artist was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and grew up the Bronx in New York City. He attributes his interest in becoming an artist to realizing that figures in paintings were primarily caucasian.

Anicka Yi , winner of the 2016 Hugo Boss prize, is exhibiting at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City through July 5 and in the 2017 Whitney Biennial. Her Whitney piece, a 3D film called "The Flavor Genome", combines myth and science described as "brainy and delirious".

The Trajkovic Collection features Serbian art from the mid-20th century forward. The entire collection includes more than 1,000 works, some of which are now showing on the web for the first time.

If you are not planning to fly to Amsterdam in the near future, here is an excellent opportunity to see some examples of 17th century masterworks from the Rijksmuseum. Included are Vermeer, Hals, and Rembrandt, some of the greatest painters in European Art History. Be sure to click on each thumbnail to see more of the artist's works.

This same site offers some marvelous examples of Georgia O'Keeffe's lush canvases, as well as those of a Russian-Swiss expressionist, Marianne von Werefkin whose works you may not know.

A more thorough review of Georgia O'Keeffe's strength of character is offered in this New York Times article, reviewing a book called O'Keeefe: A Life", and an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum called "Georgia O'Keeffe: Living Modern".

Perhaps you would like to know more about American painter Edward Hopper, who died in New York City in 1967. Hopper's laconic views of urban living work on suggestion rather than elaboration, leaving ample room for the viewer to complete the scene. The people he portrays are detached and remote, their living spaces somewhat clautrophobic and ambiguous.

The New Yorker magazine brings us an article about Mohamad Hafez, titled "An Artist's Obsession with the Ruins of his Homeland". Born in Syria and trained as an architect, Hafez, now 32 years old, works in Connecticut for the firm of Pickard Chilton, volunteers to help refugees at night, and creates miniature replicas of burned-out structures in his native city.

Ai Wei Wei has once again created controversy with his installation in Prague called "Law of the Journey". Although it has received mixed reviews, I found it to be a powerful reminder of the blackness and desperation of life as a refugee.

Two sites draw our attntion to the art of Marcel Duchamp. The first, beginning with Duchamp's "Art of the Broken Arm", presents a slide show and curatorial interview on Dada and art as concept. The second, also from the Khan Academy, looks at "The Large Glass", better known as "The Bride Stripped Bare By Her Bachelors, Even".

The Guardian reviews the life of the late James Rosenquist, who died recently at age 83. Born in North Dakota in 1933, Rosenquist shared a studio in New York with Ellsworth Kelly and Agnes Martin. In his 2009 autobiography, "Painting Below Zero: Notes on a Life in Art", Rosenquist makes reference to his work as a billboard painter. He once painted a portrait of President-Elect John F. Kennedy, shown with a yellow chevrolet and a piece of cake. Rosenquist commented, "The face was from Kennedy's campaign poster. I was very interested at that time in people who advertised themselves. Why did they put up an advertisement of themselves? So that was his face. And his promise was half a chevrolet and a piece of stale cake".

Another recent loss to the art world was the painter Howard Hodgkin, considered one of the U.K's greatest painters. Hodgkin's canvases were replete with lush colors and thick brushstrokes, frequently assumed to be totally abstract but in fact filled with a human identity. The National Portrait Gallery is presenting the first exhibit of Hodgkin's portraits, which they call "Absent Friends".

I consider myself fairly versed in music, but did not know the music of Iannis Xenakis. This YouTube presentation of "Eonta" will give you a good introduction. (Eonta was composed in honor of the ancient Greek poet Parmenides). It may not be the easiest music to listen to, either in 1964 or now, but then neither was Bartok or Schoenberg. At the Guardian you can learn more about the composer. They describe his works as possessing "shasttering visceral power". Here are several other examples of his sweeping musical vision: first, "Jonchaies", meant to be performed by 109 musicians; next, "Metastasis (Spectral View),; and finally "Mists", for solo piano.

There is one more collection that I would like to show you. It comes from the Castello di Ama winery that sits snugly in the town of Gaiole in Italy. The collection consists mainly of site-specific works, but if nothing else be sure to see Michelangelo Pistoletto's tree trunk as well as the stunning Topiary done in 2009 by Louise Bourgeois.

c. Corinne Whitaker 2017