Art Writer Robin Cembalest
has produced investigative journalism, profiles, trend stories, hard news, reviews, blog posts,and more.She has been published in the the Village Voice, New York Observer, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, El País, the major art magazines, design publications, and many other places.
Working at ARTnews, Robin covered the cultural events and controversies of the 1990s and 2000s— government funding and the Mapplethorpe obscenity trial, the ecological art boom, the growth of the Guggenheim, censorship cases, multiculturalism, diversity, Native American art, the rise of social practice, and the transformation of the art museum, among other topics. She has also written extensively on Spanish art and culture for publications in Spain and the U.S.
Following is a non-chronological sampling from Robin’s hundreds of publications.
‘Change the Board and Get Rid of the Director’
An award-winning investigation into the Hispanic Society of America that resulted in real change
Things Fall Apartheid
Robin spoke with curator Okwui Enwezor about his ambitious, devastating, revelatory survey at the ICP exploring how South African photography evolved from a document into a blunt instrument
Between a Cross and a Hard Place
The controversy over the removal of a four-minute David Wojnarowicz video from the “Hide/Seek” exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery had observers wondering whether the culture wars were back—and whether anything could be done to stop them
The Obscenity Trial: How They Voted to Acquit
Why did eight jurors in Cincinnati trial decide that the Mapplethorpe photographs they considered "gross and lewd" are not obscene? "We felt that we had no choice, one juror told Robin. "We learned that art doesn't have to be pretty”
The Colonial-Art Revolution
In the United States, the art made in Spain’s Latin American colonies used to be considered artistically minor and politically incorrect. Now, as intellectual trends coincide with demographic realities, it’s on the cutting edge of art history—and the wish lists of top museums
Plains Indian Artists, Drawing From Tradition
At the National Museum of American Indian, the storytelling power of warrior chiefs
How Kongo Art Became a Call to Action
Robin interviewed Metropolitan Museum of Art curator Alisa LaGamma on her new exhibition exploring the ways Kongo artworks responded (sometimes subversively) to political and religious changes
150 Years of the Yale School of Art
On its 150th birthday, the Yale School of Art maintains its standing and mystique as incubator and launchpad for innovators and thought leaders, honoring its legacy by continually evolving with the times
The Military Is Present
Using outreach, performance, video, photography, and therapy, artists and museums are devising new ways to connect with veterans—and to bring their stories to a wider audience
The Guggenheim’s High-Stakes Gamble
Thomas Krens' vision of the Guggenheim's international empire is so ambitious that
even he doesn't expect all o f his projects to come to fruition. The museum's critics are skeptical, calling it misguided. Its supporters say it is merely misunderstood
Native American Art: Pride and Prejudice
Outdated images of Indians abound in museums and the art market. As the Native American community fights to transcend those stereotypes, museum policy, scholarship, and Indian art itself are changing radically
The Restoration
The rebooted Yale Center for British Art reflects decades of work to honor the legacy and vision of the towering figures who created it while continuing its full identity as a university art museum, teaching and research center, and cultural resource in New Haven
Goodbye, Columbus?
As multiculturalism becomes a catchphrase of the '90s, art institutions are doing a lot of soul searching—about their audiences, their staffs, their exhibitions, and their perspective.
Havana’s Hidden Monuments
Cuba’s revolutionary Escuelas Nacionales de Arte are being threatened by the jungle
Chatting With MacArthur Winner Carrie Mae Weems
The artist, activist, and educator on winning the 'genius grant,' bringing color to the Guggenheim, and changing the world one flower at a time.
Tradition, a Curse: Inventing Punk in a Small Spanish Town
Reporting on post-Franco cultural shifts in the Andalusian town Priego de Córdoba.
Museums Open Up to Power of Wiki
MoMA now hosts monthly edit-a-thons to help improve the quality of Wikipedia pages
Ten Tough Women Artists Who Stand Up to the Bad Boys
In the male-dominated art season of fall 2013, Robin revealed where to find female artists who change the rules, explore new horizons, and do it gangsta-style.
101 Women Artists Who Got Wikipedia Pages This Week
The Art+Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-thon was an international initiative to bring women's voices to the online encyclopedia--as editors and as subjects