Articles by Jennifer Doyle

Hair & Nails, Talk & Touch: 4 Encounters with Women Artists in Mumbai

Hair & Nails, Talk & Touch: 4 Encounters with Women Artists in Mumbai

Over the past few weeks, Jennifer Doyle has been reporting from her travels in India. Following is her final dispatch. — Ed. Masooma Syed makes small things, sometimes from materials …

Political Football

Political Football

Flash Points contributor and University of Riverside professor Jennifer Doyle is currently spending 2 weeks in India, traveling with the Indian artist Riyas Komu. Following is the third in a …

Players Painting: Yolanda Sousa Kammermeier

Players Painting: Yolanda Sousa Kammermeier

Chilavert is sitting on my hotel bed. The 6’4″ Paraguyan keeper cuts an imposing figure, even on canvas: his magnificent shaved head, thick neck and muscular shoulders rest on the …

Flash Points

Athletes & Artists: Riyas Komu’s “Mark Him”

Flash Points

Athletes & Artists: Riyas Komu’s “Mark Him”

Flash Points contributor and University of Riverside professor Jennifer Doyle is currently spending 2 weeks in India, traveling with the Indian artist Riyas Komu. Following is the first in a …

Flash Points

Difficulty, Part 2: Bad Feelings

Flash Points

Difficulty, Part 2: Bad Feelings

Chris Ofili, Holy Virgin Mary (1996) I started thinking about the word “difficulty” in relation to controversial art because the things in art which grab me, even shock me, rarely …

Flash Points

Difficulty, Part 1: Deceptive Forms of Simplicity

Flash Points

Difficulty, Part 1: Deceptive Forms of Simplicity

What if, instead of talking about what makes an artwork controversial, we focused on what makes an artwork difficult? Difficulty has long functioned as a keyword in poetics and music …

Flash Points

Blood Work & ‘Art Criminals’

Flash Points

Blood Work & ‘Art Criminals’

I am not sure I would call artists like Jeff Koons, Vanessa Beecroft, Santiago Sierra, or even Kara Walker all that “controversial.” These artists are actually quite popular with curators. …