Last week, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) dashed off a note to the National Portrait Gallery to raise an objection about the new presidential portrait of George W. Bush, contesting the way that a museum historian had framed the Bush presidency (figuratively speaking). Sen. Sanders objected to a phrase in the...

Did Holy Fuck just cost Stephen Harper a majority government?

When a senior government official leaked in August that the Conservatives were slashing $45 million from the budget for arts funding, that official made explicit reference to the Canadian electronic-rock band. In a literal sense, you can only mention...

If you want your wheatpasted poster to last in Berlin, you have to come correct. In a city whose name is synonymous with design at the bleeding edge, an ad campaign needs to show both political and artistic acumen to stand tall. Barack Obama knows that, if the...

In 1989, the Corcoran Gallery of Art sensed a crisis in the making. "The Perfect Moment" -- a retrospective of the figure-study, still-life, and sadomasochistic photography of Robert Mapplethorpe -- was rapidly turning into the perfect storm. The show's runs in Philadelphia and Chicago had drawn the ire of Republican...