weekend links: Hong Kong protest art, flesh work, deconstructing the MFA

Derek Paul Jack Boyle, Pond [detail]. Image courtesy It’s Nice That.

Meet Derek Paul Jack Boyle, a man with as many talents as names. A prolific painter, Boyle has taken to painting on everything from canvas to tin cans. This profile and photo essay will give you a glimpse at his unconventional work and ethos. [It's Nice That]

Though the extradition bill has been shelved for now, the protests in Hong Kong are still raging. The city, which at one point saw 25% of its population protesting, is reconciling with the looming threat of total Chinese control. Being the only region in China to have free speech laws, Hong Kong’s art scene is recoiling as it attempts to continue producing art knowing that the consequences could be deadly. [Artsy]

David Crow’s life was seemingly normal, until he released his memoir and his story of childhood abuse became public knowledge. Katie Way sits down with the author of The Pale Faced Lie to talk about his childhood, coping with trauma, and redemption. [Mel Magazine]

When Lijia Zhang’s grandmother was on her deathbed, her mother told her a fact about her grandmother that had been kept secret: at one point, she was a sex worker. Zhang’s interest in the “flesh work” sprung from this moment, and she began researching and writing about sex workers in China. In this piece, she discusses the various kinds of sex workers in China, the conditions under which they labor, and the workers themselves. [The Millions]

While The New York Times’ co-chief art critic would have you believe that art can be separated from money, Barbara Bourland knows that this is not only false—it’s downright classist. Separating art from the material conditions that produce it is a game for the wealthy who view art as untaxed assets. Bourland goes over the various ways in which art is tied up to money, and how the idea that they could ever be separated does not exist in any artists’ mind. [Lit Hub]

The role of MFA programs has been widely debated, and turning that debate inward has produced Loudermilk and Bunnies. These two works seek to deconstruct the MFA program as a sort of club for fakes, while also both being the product of MFA graduates. Hermione Hoby breaks down these two books, MFA programs in general, and the cult-like rituals that pervade them. [The New Yorker]

—Nicolas Perez