ArtReview May 2023 Issue Explores Artists Intervening in History and Market Shifts

The May 2023 issue of ArtReview, now in its eighth decade, focuses on artists who reinterpret the past to understand the present. Cover artist Frida Orupabo creates collages using images from colonial archives, film, fashion, and family albums, referencing figures like Nina Simone and Billie Holiday and artists Carrie Mae Weems and Kara Walker to reclaim representations of Black female sexuality. Prince Shakur discusses Isaac Julien's work, which breaks boundaries in depicting Black experiences and queer desire through transgressive historical reworkings. Sarah Pierce's retrospective at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin encourages questioning artworld behaviors. Kahlil Robert Irving reflects on ambivalence and loss ahead of his exhibition Archaeology of the Present at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. Christina Quarles discusses figurative painting limits in her solo show Collapsed Time at Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin. The issue includes columns on faltering art markets, with J.J. Charlesworth analyzing the latest Art Market Report by Art Basel and UBS, and Uli Sigg pondering what societies want from art. Other features cover video-art at MoMA, a London survey on racial politics of milk, Candice Breitz's exhibition in Cape Town with lip-synced race statements, David Hockney's immersive presentation in King's Cross, and Australia's biennial National exhibition. Fi Churchman and Judith Wilkinson contribute writings, emphasizing themes of empowerment and critique.