Photo by Jackson Krule
Some treasured news moments from the past:
March-May 2009: Made in collaboration with Erik Olsen of the New York Times, this video about Maya Lin's “Wave Field” was produced to accompany an Arts & Leisure story, “Once Inspired by a War, Now by the Land,” and republished later to coincide with the official launch of Lin's project at Storm King Art Center. It also appeared on Jet Blue's inflight programming in spring 2009—as I learned when I encountered it on a flight.
July 2010: I was interviewed by Clyde Haberman (what a thrill!) for NY1 about my USMC combat art story ("With Sketchpads and Guns, Semper Fi") which ran on the cover of the NYT's A&L section. The interview aired as part of "The New York Times Close Up," which covered the top stories in each Sunday's paper.
May 2012: I made many multimedia projects and videos with the New York Times. This is the one I'm proudest of, created with the photographer Marcus Yam, who now has a Pulitzer for his combat coverage. It was made on a visit to Walter Reed hospital with the illustrators of the Joe Bonham Project, who were drawing our wounded service members for posterity, and it ran with my 2012 A&L Memorial Day cover story, “Portraits of War.”
I started out in the early 1990s, writing a column on New York for Modern Painters, then based in London. Although I'd spent countless happy hours in museums since childhood, I knew almost nothing about the contemporary art world, so it was a trial by fire. Happily, I proved to have the proverbial "eye," as well as the ability to write about what I saw for a general-interest audience – a rare combination at the time.
Soon I was also writing for The Atlantic Monthly, where my subjects usually had a political or pop-cultural angle, then for the brand-new Time Out New York. To make sure I was up to speed on the art side of things, I began contributing to art magazines, including Artnews, Art in America, and Art + Auction – then known as the "art world bible" – where I was named a Contributing Editor in 2001.
Some of the places I'm proud to have written for since then include Slate, where I created the first slide show (on Surrealism); the "Review" section of the National, an English-language newspaper in Abu Dhabi, which began publishing great cultural journalism just as opportunities elsewhere dried up; and the New York Times Arts & Leisure section, to which I contributed regularly for over a decade.
Today, I'm probably best known for my writing in WSJ. magazine. My work has appeared in many other places, too, including 1stdibs Introspective, Town & Country, and many more that you can find in the “Archive” section. I've been a two-time USC Annenberg / Getty Arts Journalism Fellow, in 2007 and 2011. Most recently I won a New York Public Library Cullman fellowship for my first book, Double Click: Twin Photographers in the Golden Age of Magazines, which Scribner published in March 5.
Early on, I prided myself on being an "outsider" art critic. These days I can't claim that status, but I still try to retain that perspective.
A dozen of my favorite stories:
Trading Places: Cultural property disputes are reshaping the art world – but how? • Slate, July 28, 2003
Everything you ever wanted to know about the laws pertaining to the repatriation of cultural property, in 1200 words with sidebars. I heard that museum directors passed this one around for years (including one who ended up in a notorious lawsuit).
Trendy Artists Pick Up an Old-Fashioned Habit • NYT, April 17, 2005, A&L cover story
This story about weekly life drawing sessions held in Will Cotton's studio boasted such a captivating combination – hot artists and nude models – that it made the most emailed list, sparked copycat stories, and won the group so much attention that it was forced underground for years.
Real Women Have Curves • NYT, Nov. 20, 2005
A heartbreaking conversation with two of Giacometti's models, a housewife who later became a Lacanian psychoanalyst, and the notorious demimondaine Caroline.
A Grandson Paints a Portrait of a Portraitist • NYT A&L, April 22, 2007
Family members were often Alice Neel's subjects, but in a new documentary, the tables are turned–with a visit to Neel’s apartment (before everyone else did it).
Hockney's Long Road Home • NYT, Oct. 18, 2009, A&L cover story
I spent two enchanted days with Hockney, visiting the subject of his latest paintings – the Yorkshire hills, dales and forests he roamed as a child.
With Sketchpads and Guns, Semper Fi • NYT, July 18, 2010, A&L cover story
Who knew the Marine Corps had such terrific combat artists, or that they'd be so fond of Gerhard Richter and Jean-Michel Basquiat?
Saving Modernism in Cape Cod • WSJ., May 31, 2014
Tromping around Cape Cod to see modernist vacation homes built by architects like Marcel Breuer, Gyorky Kepes, and Serge Chermayeff – and doing it all in February in 18 inches of snow–was a fabulous adventure.
A Local International Art Scene • T magazine, Feb. 15, 2015
Sharjah has never been as flashy as Dubai or Qatar — but the emirate has become an important creative hub, thanks to a ruler who put his emirate’s money into culture and his daughter, Hoor Al Qasimi, whose talent lies in gentle transgression.
Gerhard Richter’s Brush With Greatness • WSJ., June 25, 2016
A rare interview with Gerhard Richter--aka, the world's greatest--and priciest--living painter. I believe this is Richter’s last English-language profile and also his most extensive interview with a woman.
How Instagram Became the Art World’s Obsession • WSJ., July 28, 2018
How did Mike Krieger and Kevin Systrom get the art world hooked on their app? As deliberately as they did everything else.
Feeding the Coyotes: Lyn Kienholz’s crusade for California art • Ursula, Summer 2019
A memoir of the undersung heroine behind the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time project. Lyn championed Southern California art and artists for decades, and took very little credit for what she achieved. "
Outside the Lines • WSJ., March 11, 2023
Cecily Brown’s first U.S. retrospective at the Met, plus commentary on life, death, Covid, Brexit, New York, Europe, and painting from one of the world’s most successful living female painters (who also happens to be a dual U.S.-U.K. citizen, like me).
Talk of the Town: Lee Miller’s Surrealist Lunch • The New Yorker, November 13, 2023
The photographer liked to serve gold-covered chicken on Picasso plates and drinks on a platter that she stole from Hitler. For a show opening, Gagosian is planning a meal in homage.
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@therealcarolkino
I love taking pictures (and having pictures taken of me), so I love Instagram. As well as art, you'll see a lot of the other things that interest me, like food, my apartment, and my friends. (If you were my Facebook friend you'd probably see a lot about politics, as well as all these Instagram pictures.)
