By Chau Nguyen & Eric Orts

In the United States, the First Amendment is often invoked as a major safeguard of artistic expression. Still, as Serra’s unsuccessful bid to save Tilted Arc, it provides uneven protection in practice, especially when an individual artist confronts powerful corporations or governments that might employ top lawyers to draft sophisticated contracts and engage in litigation. Legal outcomes in this field are rarely predictable and often asymmetrical.

By Chau Nguyen & Eric Orts

Overall, the exhibition reads as a lukewarm induction of Henri Rousseau into the proverbial boys club, a belated embrace of an artist whose market value and critical esteem escalated only posthumously. His work nonetheless asserts itself with striking clarity.