April was the month of Ai Weiwei. The infamous Chinese artist opened an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum and voiced his unfair treatment at the hands of his home government. The world responded with protests and homages. We celebrated his opening with his best selfies.
Another selfie king, James Franco, opened an exhibition at Pace Gallery that was quickly panned by the art world. Truly month of highs and lows, we also saw incredible boundary-pushing images on view at Paris Photo LA and 2014 FotoFestin April. From our videos withJeffrey Deitch, eL Seed, and FUZI, to the best art writing around the Web, we've got you covered with everything you missed in our Monthly Review: April 2014 on Art+Design.
Complex Art+Design News:
April 1: Watch FUZI Tattoo Someone at Muddguts in Brooklyn for Complex TV
April 11: Ai Weiwei Supporters Gathered in Brooklyn and Rallied for Free Expression Last Night
April 15: Capturing Nations in Transition: Photographs From the Middle East and North Africa Go on View at the 2014 FotoFest
April 17: "Ai Weiwei: According to What?" Opens at the Brooklyn Museum With New Works
April 18: Celebrate Ai Weiwei's Exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum With His Best Selfies on Instagram
April 28: Paris Photo LA Returns With a Strong Sequel
Complex Art+Design Interviews and Portfolio Reviews:
April 6: SFV Acid Shares His Chaotic Illustrations of Everyday Life
April 9: Swoon Talks Her New Installation "Submerged Motherlands" at the Brooklyn Museum
April 16: Olivia Odiwe Shares Her Colorful Portraits of Jay Z, Kanye West, Pharrell, and Others
April 17: Complex TV Captures Street Artist eL Seed and Jeffrey Deitch In Conversation
April 22: Filmmaker Tomas Koolhaas Talks His Forthcoming Architecture Documentary "REM"
April 23: Jim Goldblum and Adam Weber Discuss Their Movie "Tomorrow We Disappear" for the Tribeca Film Festival
April 24: Artist Bryant Place Speaks About His Kinetic Light Installation at Coachella and the Future of Music Visuals
April 27: Cam Kirk Captures Images of the Rap World
April 28: "The Rap Quotes" Artist Jay Shells Discusses His Work and New Exhibition in LA
April 28: Kate Bonner Shares Her Photographic Sculptures at Luis De Jesus Gallery
Complex Art+Design Lists:
April 1: 20 Emerging Graphic Designers You Should Know
April 5: 20 Mindblowing Facts About George W. Bush's Painting Career
April 8: A Recent History of Banksy Hoaxes
April 11: Global Track: A Guide to the Most Dangerous Places Artists Have Gone to Paint
April 12: 5 Photographers Talk Shooting the First Five Years of Coachella
April 18: 20 Artists You Might Like If You Like Basquiat
April 20: Aiming High: 15 Art Pieces Made From Bongs
April 24: The Worst Things Critics Have Said About James Franco's Art in GIFs
April 29: 10 Basic Things You Need to Know About Your DSLR To Take Better Pictures
April 30: 7 Graphic Designers Share What They Think Is the Worst Font Ever
Links Around the Web:
April 3: A Gallery Guide By the Art Critics of The New York Times in The New York Times
April 6: The Art of the Bush School on greg.org
April 10: Who's Looking Out For Jasper Johns? in The Awl
April 14: A Statistical Analysis of the Work of Bob Ross in FiveThirtyEight
April 15: Julian Schnabel: In The Course of Seven Days in Nowness
April 16: The importance of being a director-curator in The Art Newspaper
April 16: Conversation With Theaster Gates: On Finding the Sweetest Fodder for His Imagination in The Huffington Post
April 17: 25 Art World Women at the Top, From Sheikha Al-Mayassa to Yoko Ono in artnet
April 18: David Hockney's Yorkshire spring drawings in The Guardian
April 20: Can an Economist’s Theory Apply to Art? in The New York Times
April 21: The Rebirth of Brussels: Is the Belgian Capital the New Berlin? in Artsy
April 22: "Taste is not what a museum is about" in Dezeen
April 24: Charles James A to Z in Style.com
RELATED: Monthly Review: March 2014 on Art+Design
RELATED: Monthly Review: February 2014 on Complex Art+Design
