The Art Section

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Deanna Sirlin is an artist and writer from Brooklyn, New York currently living and working in Georgia. She received an MFA from Queens College, CUNY where she studied with Robert Pincus-Witten, Charles Cajori and Benny Andrews. She has received numerous honors, including a Rothko Foundation Symposium Residency, a grant from the United States State Department, a Yaddo Foundation Residency and a Creative Capital Warhol Foundation Award for its Art Writing Mentorship Program.

The weather project also resonates as an ambitious, yet necessary statement. Eliasson touches on the classical iconography of the Sun—the sacred and mythological incarnation of a supernatural deity for most global countries since antiquity—by rethinking it both symbolically and sustainably as an urgent meteorological phenomenon in reason of its impact on Earth for the 21st century, leaving us with a series of contrasting feelings and positions in relation to climate change.

June 2026 Dear Readers, ​ The three essays in this issue of The Art Section focus on living artists — Olafur Eliasson, Amy Sherald, and Michael David — whose work centers on perception, color, and emotional experience as core elements of their artistic practice. ​ Carol Senf has written about Amy Sherald’s exhibition American Sublime, currently on view at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta.

Introduction to the Issue Amy Sherald Olifar Elliason Michael David Photo: Astrid Dick The Matter of Painting A conversation with Michael David by Michaël Amy ​ Michael David, The Bride Stripped Bare, 2015-2025 mirrored glass, silicone, wax, acrylic, and resin on wooden panels, 93 x 70 x 5 inches, Private Collection Encaustic, like oil painting, was invented in antiquity.

The color pink isn't even real––it has to be mixed with another color to be seen. Its erratic history varies wildly within cultures––from symbolic of wealth and masculinity, including men who die on the battlefield in "the bloom of youth," to a feminine marker due to heavy commercial marketing of clothing. Now, it seems to be emancipated from labels of cuteness, sweetness and innocence and active in powerful roles, including politics.

The color pink isn't even real––it has to be mixed with another color to be seen. Its erratic history varies wildly within cultures––from symbolic of wealth and masculinity, including men who die on the battlefield in "the bloom of youth," to a feminine marker due to heavy commercial marketing of clothing. Now, it seems to be emancipated from labels of cuteness, sweetness and innocence and active in powerful roles, including politics.

theartsection: An Online Journal of Art and Cultural Commentary is published six times a year by The Art Section, Inc., a tax-exempt organization. Our first issue appeared in May of 2007. For nineteen years, we have presented thought-provoking writing on the arts and culture, including the visual arts and design, music, performance, film, poetry and literature. We regularly present creative projects in online formats and publish poetry, fiction, and non-fiction.

Deanna Sirlin is an artist and writer from Brooklyn, New York currently living and working in Georgia. She received an MFA from Queens College, CUNY where she studied with Robert Pincus-Witten, Charles Cajori and Benny Andrews. She has received numerous honors, including a Rothko Foundation Symposium Residency, a grant from the United States State Department, a Yaddo Foundation Residency and a Creative Capital Warhol Foundation Award for its Art Writing Mentorship Program.

Rothko a Firenze, exhibition views, Palazzo Strozzi, Museo di San Marco, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Firenze, 2026. Photo Ela Bialkowska, OKNO Studio After All, the Truth in Painting: Mark Rothko in Florence ​ by Sara Buoso Rothko a Firenze, exhibition views, Palazzo Strozzi, Museo di San Marco, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Firenze, 2026. Photo Ela Bialkowska, OKNO Studio Mark Rothko 1952-1953 circa.