John Yau takes on the art world giant, the man behind an archive of censored mass media, Wifredo Lam in New York, and more Epstein art world ties.
Hyperallergic
April 9, 2026
— 4 min read
John Yau once remarked to Jasper Johns that the materials he uses — newsprint, hot wax, bedsheets — must be a conservator’s nightmare. “Yes,” Johns responded. “It’s falling apart, just like me.”
Timed to an exhibition at Gagosian focusing on his work from the 1970s, Yau meditates on the ironic, decisive, and groundbreaking work of this giant of American art in a must-read piece today. For all that Johns accomplished, Yau writes — and that’s a lot — his love for art and other artists remains. Nothing stays in time, his work acknowledges, but what a gorgeous meantime.
Also today, Naib Mian tells us about the man behind Khajistan — an Instagram compendium of cheeky visuals and found photos, including feet, showgirls, film posters, and much, much more, that’s actually an expansive archive of censored and overlooked media from South Asia to North Africa.
In the news, the Hispanic Society in New York just acquired a rare Wifredo Lam painting that “fell through the cracks of scholarship,” the museum director said. In news that might not be news, the trustees of a renowned West Coast artist residency — including the nephew of Ghislaine Maxwell — visited Epstein’s Island. And in old news, did you know dice might be 6,000 years older than we previously thought? All the above, and more, below.
—Lisa Yin Zhang, associate editor
Saad Khan at home in Queens (photo Omar El Keys, all images courtesy Saad Khan)Saad Khan Archives the Detritus of Censored Culture
Since 2019, the New York-based archivist has cultivated a digital and physical menagerie of censored mass media spanning South Asia to the Maghreb known as Khajistan. | Naib Mian
SPONSORED
Mondays at Pratt Institute: Weekly Openings of Work by Graduating Artists
Free and open to the public, Pratt Shows celebrate the school’s graduating students. MFA and BFA work is on view this spring in Brooklyn, New York.
Learn moreNews
Wifredo Lam, “Portrait of a Boy” (1927) (image courtesy the Hispanic Society Museum and Library)- A rarely seen portrait from Wifredo Lam’s early career has landed in the Hispanic Society Museum and Library’s collection.
- New research published in American Antiquity posits that the first dice appeared more than 12,000 years ago, much earlier than previously believed.
- Two board members of the esteemed Djerassi Resident Artists Program in California visited Jeffrey Epstein’s Little Saint James in 2011.
- Catch Albrecht Dürer’s “Triumphal Arch,” one of the largest prints ever produced, at the New York Public Library before it goes into storage this fall.
From Our Critics
Jasper Johns in his studio (c. 1976–80) (© 1991 Hans Namuth Estate; photo Hans Namuth, courtesy Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona)Jasper Johns Keeps Looking
He has never lost his love for art and artists, while recognizing that nothing stays in time. | John Yau
In Memoriam
Matthias Oppersdorff photo of Nathan Farb standing in a river beside a large-format camera on a tripod in Keene, New York (photo courtesy the Adirondack Experience: The Museum on Blue Mountain Lake)Remembering Nathan Farb, Thomas Zipp, and Christine Ruiz-Picasso
This week, we honor an intrepid photographer, a punk German artist, and the founder of the Museo Picasso Málaga.
Member Comment
Vicki Meek on Aruna D’Souza’s “Unlike Josh Kline, I Choose New York”
As always, Aruna D’Souza writes with clarity and specificity about the housing crisis artists in NYC face. It’s a problem that exists for artists living in most urban cities in this country. Real estate developers have monopolized the housing market for decades, but today we are finally seeing gentrification affect communities other than low income communities so maybe now we’ll see some serious conversation about this problem.ICYMI
Wifredo Lam, “La Jungla” (1942–43), oil and charcoal on paper mounted on canvas (photo Clara Maria Apostolatos/Hyperallergic)Wifredo Lam No Longer Waits by the Coatroom
An overdue MoMA show reminds us that Lam pursued his own dialogue with African and Afro-diasporic visual cultures, even as the Parisian avant-garde exoticized his heritage. | Clara Maria Apostolatos
