M recently asked me about good sources for art news. It’s a great question because I wouldn’t think to answer it. But actually, more art news sources have sprouted up the past few years, so it might be well worth an overview now.

Email lists

First off, to hear about artists you’re interested in, sign up for museum and gallery email lists. Many artists also have websites and mailing lists of their own. College and university art programs will inform you of visiting artists’ lectures.

If you’re already struggling to slay the email dragon, set up a separate email address for newsletters. This is especially useful for heavy, but informative, mailers such as the largely international e-flux, Art Agenda and Art & Education.

I am most excited about…

Art Practical
A bi-weekly online critical journal with features, critical reviews, and 250-word Shotgun reviews based in San Francisco, CA, with contributors in far-flung cities. Their news section, updated a few times a week, is nicely well-curated. Art Practical cultivates emerging critics while maintaining high editorial standards. [Disclosure: I am a contributor.]

Open Space
The blog of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, with invited contributors selected from distinguished curators, poets, writers, and artists. The writings can be very speculative and interdisciplinary. I think it’s one of SFMOMA’s most promising ventures. [Disclosure: I will be a contributor March through June this year.]

Frieze Magazine
UK monthly magazine. Rigorous, critical, yet not too obscure, and beautifully designed to boot. A nice view into UK and European art scenes.

Artcards.cc
A great way to get weekly round-ups of openings.

For criticism, I also try to check out…

NY Times
I find Holland Cotter’s critical writing astute.

LA Times’ Culture Monster
Reviews of exhibitions around LA, with the occasional amazing essay or op-ed.

Art Papers
An Atlanta-based print magazine with sound writing and design.

Artforum
The phone book-sized monthly glossy behemoth everyone loves to hate. Not sure why the gossip column, Scene & Herd, always leads the website, while the print issue is anchored by weighty essays and critical reviews from around the world. Yet, it’s one of the main sources for a reason.

New York Magazine
The populist critic Jerry Saltz is straightforward and often enthusiastic. Some people have a problem with that, but I don’t.

From the source…

Frieze Foundation podcast talks
Listen to well-produced lectures and panels from artists, writers and curators. I appreciate the high level of dialogue at the Frieze talks.

Bad at Sports
A deliberately informal, low-tech, interview-based podcast. The interviews are most compelling when guests bring a lot of energy and focus to the mic.

Most recently, my curiosity has been piqued by:

Fillip
A newish magazine/website/podcast out of Vancouver, BC.

Art 21 Blog
The blog of the fantastic PBS contemporary art TV series. In the coming months, VG will be a contributor; (I designed her column mark), and I’m looking forward to her thought-provoking posts.

When visiting different cities, I usually try to find…

Art Info’s Gallery Guide maps.

There’s lots more:

Art in America, the typographically-challenged Art News, Brooklyn Rail, the art internet “channel” Art Babble, Happenstand, Art Rabbit, Art Review, Bomb, the super-brains’ journal October, Cabinet, and SB’s Artopic.

Apologies for the many others that I’ve missed. It’s not for want of interest, merely, for want of time and energy after the end of a long week making, installing, photographing, re-touching, writing about, looking at, planning, and collaborating on art. And anyway, I think this answer’s Ms question.