Joe Biden

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Frieze, 2021

Malik Gaines talks with O’Grady about the meaning behind her retrospective title, Both/And, through which she signifies an affront to Western binarist thinking. Unlike writing, which O’Grady has foreseeably mastered, she keeps returning to art because there is no correct way to do it – her struggle is a source of joy and motivation.

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Artnet, 2021

At 86, Lorraine O’Grady is experiencing what she calls her “first big break” with the Brooklyn Museum’s retrospective Both/And. For more than four decades, O’Grady has forged a singular path in performance, collage, and critical writing—work that probes identity, inclusion, and the limits of art history. In conversation with Ben Davis, she reflects on her Boston upbringing, her influence on younger artists, and the unexpected moment when a Biden administration post-election ad brought her work into viral circulation.

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Artforum, 2021

Risk Everything—Ahead of the “Both/And” retrospective at the Brooklyn Museum, Catherinne Damman writes an insightful essay on the varied art and career of O’Grady. Of her many practices, Damman sees “risk as [O’Grady’s] primary medium,” foregoing easy stratifications in favor of deep inquiry and interrogation of the structures that bind.

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The New York Times Style Magazine, 2021

Kate Guadagnino sits down with O’Grady to learn about her day-to-day as a concept-based artist. She speaks honestly about her process of making art by returning to old projects with fresh eyes, sometimes years later, while also including more personal details like her favorite films and her life at Westbeth. The artist notes that “having come to art later in life, [...] I’m out there to make the best possible work and as close to a masterpiece as I can. [...] What I’m trying to do is get as much of myself expressed as possible because there is so little out there that allows for an understanding of the fullness of the Black mind or soul.”

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The Philadelphia Tribune, 2021

In a review of the retrospective Both/And, Siddhartha Mitter sings the praises of O’Grady’s deft political critique. Having developed a rapport with the artist through his repeated reviews of her work, he quotes the artist in conversation: “I am making incisions on the skin of culture” […] “it is work I’ll be doing for the rest of my life.”

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New York Times, 2021

Holland Cotter, a chronic reviewer of O’Grady’s work, calls attention to the exhibition design of her retrospective, Both/And. She remarks on how the artist’s pervasive installation, which weaves throughout the museum, encourages viewers to reconsider the institution’s permanent collection through a critical lens.

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Boston Globe, 2021

In light of O’Grady’s retrospective at the Brooklyn Museum, Murray Whyte argues for the artist’s embrace of cultural hybridity through an in-depth analysis of her art practice. Specifically, she considers how O’Grady’s insistence to be “both/and” – to contain multiple backgrounds at the same time, refusing a singular identity – could usher in the next generation of interdisciplinary, multicultural artists.

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New York Times, 2020

Zachary Small reports on President Biden’s homage to “Art Is…” in his 2020 presidential campaign advertisement. The article places O’Grady amongst other artists similarly addressing the political climate of 2020. While Alexander Gray warns that “a piece like this is so easy for advertisers to appropriate,” the article makes clear that O’Grady gave her blessing on the campaign’s concept. “Biden is saying the same thing to the country that I was saying to the art world.”

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