Christine Sun Kim

NighthawkNYC.com Is 11 !!!

This site is Free & Ad-Free! If you find this piece worthwhile, please donate via PayPal to support it & independent Art writing!
You can also support it by buying Art & books. Details at the end. Thank you! 

Written & Photographed by Kenn Sava. (*- Unless otherwise credited)

Banner 89, July 15, 2026. Eddie’s Cafe is engulfed by the throngs of people celebrating the Knicks Championship, June 13th,  less than an hour after they won on the corner of West 28th Street & 7th Avenue, 4 short blocks from Madison Square Garden, as close as I could get. What better way to honor Year 11 of NighthawkNYC.com than by honoring the most joyous moment I’ve experienced in all my years in NYC.

Another challenging year is in the books, but I’m still here! A torn meniscus in October and then Baastrup’s disease (in May) left me with very limited mobility and debilitating pain for a few weeks each. A concussion in February brought post-concussion syndrome that went on for 2 months in between. My thanks to Dr. Kavita Sharma, who somehow got me back to being able to walk, Dr. Kimberly Peters, and Dr. Robert Kaufman for his ongoing treatment. Without them, I wouldn’t have been able to see the shows I did manage to see  in 2026 (let alone get to the food store). Most importantly, I was able to see the once-in-a-lifetime, 8 years in-the-making, Raphael: Sublime Poetry at The Metropolitan Museum of Art six times (normally, I would have made twice or three times as many visits). I’m very grateful to have been able to see as much as I did in Year 11, and I’m looking forward to sharing it with you. 

Was it you? If you blinked, you missed it! June 8, 2026. I took it down a few days later.

Meanwhile, during Year 11, NHNYC welcomed its 200,000 visitor on June 8th, a number that has now reached 218,000, as readership continues to climb for the 11th straight year. Also I was, and am, very pleased to have introduced the first-ever guest writer, Lana Hattan, to the site she pushed me to start in 2014!

Meeting Bella. May 15, 2015.

Her interview with Marc Chagall’s granddaughter, the renowned Floral Artist Bella Meyer, is part of her ongoing research into the life & work of Mark Chagall, and has never previously been published. I’m thrilled to have “Marc Chagall’s Granddaughter: An Artist In Her Own Right” here. The response to it has been very gratifying for both of us.

Roses by CJ Hendry at her Flower Market 2.0 Rockefeller Center, September, 2025.

Without a doubt, my most popular piece of Year 11 is “CJ Hendry: Color Pencil Mastery to Art SuperStar,” which has quickly risen to being one of my top 5 most-read pieces ever! I chalk it up to the fact that there hasn’t really been much written about her to date, in spite of her achieving “super star” status. (I believe I was the first one to say she has!)

Christine Sun-Kim: All Day All Night, Whitney Museum, 2025

With limited mobility, I spent much of the year trying to catch up on the 4 great blockbuster shows from Summer, 2025, which kept me busy for most of the rest of 2025 and in to 2026. Important shows by Amy Sherald, Christine Sun-Kim, Hilma af Klint and Jack Whitten were all featured in Year 11. 

Sharing a street with the immortal Jimi Hendrix mere steps from his Electric Lady Studios, OG Anunoby is now a legend in NYC. July 12, 2026.

Then, what took place in NYC late on June 13th was something the likes of which I’ve never seen or experienced here. Ever! Having lived through prior championships by the Yankees, the Giants, the Cosmos(!), the Rangers, and the Knicks (in 1973), including being at the Championship winning games for the Yankees in 1999 and the Rangers in 1994, and seeing the Champion Knicks in the 1973 playoffs, NONE of that, or even NYC on 9/11 (in a completely different way, of course) prepared me for what I experienced that night and in the 2 months preceding June 13th. It left me wondering why so many people had such a huge reaction to it and related to it so intensely. Part of my series of pieces on extraordinary events in NYC, my take is “Living the Dream: The Knicks & New York City.”

A highlight from Year 11. Carmen Bambach at her show, Raphael: Sublime Poetry, Metropolitan Museum, April 14, 2026.

Knee deep in the depths of Raphael: Sublime Poetry on April 14th, I was shocked to realize the curator, Met Museum legend Carmen Bambach, was standing next to me! The curator of three of the greatest shows I’ve ever seen (having seen all three multiple times, to my mind Raphael may be her ultimate achievement), I swallowed hard and summoned the courage to speak with her. That story, and much more, in the piece (possibly another of my series of pieces on one show, which I’ve never seen anyone else do) that I’m hoping to write with your support. Here, in a Drawing that Raphael gifted to the great Albrecht Durer(!), Ms Bambach points out a Sonnet Raphael wrote on the lower right section of the piece, which circles back to the title she chose for the show, “Raphael: Sublime Poetry” in more ways than one!

Oh! I’m pleased to announce that there’s a new edition of my ever-popular NHNYC Banner Retrospective now titled “11 Years of NighthawkNYC.com Banners,” which includes the latest one you see up top.

For an even further look back at NighthawkNYC.com see my 10th Anniversary piece, for a Retrospective of the first 10 years of Nighthawknyc.com!

As always, Thank You for reading my pieces, and Thanks especially to those of you who have donated or purchased items from my collections to enable me to continue. Last week, your donations enabled me to renew the web hosting for NighthawkNYC.com for the next four years! Everyone reading this owes you their thanks.

I am extremely proud & pleased to say NighthawkNYC.com made it to Year 11 being 100% FREE & AD-FREE! How rare is that today?  I now need your help to continue to add to the site and cover 2026 shows including the aforementioned Raphael: Sublime Poetry, which closed and became part of history on June 28th. More on the various ways you can help at the end, with my Thanks in advance. 

So, The Universe willing- ONWARD to Year 12!
Kenn. 

For Lana, my rock, who told me repeatedly that I would get through it all this year. 

*-Soundtrack for this piece is “Two of Us,” by Lennon & McCartney as recorded by The Beatles on Let It Be, a song Sir Paul says he wrote about himself and soon-to-be-wife, Linda Eastman. It’s seen & heard here in their Official Video, with appearances by Linda & Yoko Ono)-

NighthawkNYC.com is ENTIRELY donation & self funded. It has been FREE & AD-FREE,  for 11 years, during which over 360 full-length pieces have been published! If you’ve found it worthwhile, PLEASE donate securely by PayPal below to allow me to continue. Thank you, Kenn.

You can also support it by buying Art, Art & Photography books, and Music from my collection! Art & Books may be found here. Music here and here.

To send comments, thoughts, feedback or propositions click here. Click the white box on the upper right for the archives or to search them. Subscribe to be notified of new Posts below. Your information will be used for no other purpose.

Christine Sun Kim: All Day Every Day

This site is Free & Ad-Free! If you find this piece worthwhile, please donate via PayPal to support it & independent Art writing!
You can also support it by buying Art & books. Details at the end. Thank you! 

Written & Photographed by Kenn Sava (^- Unless otherwise credited).

Show Seen: Christine Sun Kim: All Day All Night, Whitney Museum, February 8 to September 28, 2025.

My look at the 4 summer blockbusters mounted here in 2025 continues with the second of two must-see shows at The Whitney: Christine Sun Kim’s landmark All Day All Night was up concurrently with Amy Sherald; American Sublime. I began this series with a look at Hilma af Klint: What Stands Behind the Flowers at MoMA, where Jack Whitten: The Messenger was installed on 6 (with links to my piece on each).

Degrees of My Deaf Rage in the Art World, 2018 Charcoal and oil pastel on paper

Detail.

“Landmark?” All Day All Night is the first major museum Retrospective devoted to the work of a younger Disabled Artist in NYC in my memory. Christine Sun Kim is deaf.

As I’ve said more than once, Disabled Artists continue to be THE most overlooked Artists in the world. Why? I can’t figure it out. “Inclusion” has been the headline in the Art world since 1989, yet, the Disabled continue to be left behind. The Whitney has a long-standing relationship with Christine Sun Kim (B.1980) going back to 2007, when she worked there fresh out of grad school as an educator. During her tenure, she began giving tours in ASL (American Sign Language) for the deaf. In 2025, the Whitney & the Walker Arts Center (who also have a long-standing relationship with Ms. Kim) mounted the early mid-career Retrospective Christine Sun Kim: All Day All Night, featuring works “full of sharp wit and incisive commentary,” per the press release. Indeed.

Gallery Cards include Braille. I can count on one hand how often I’ve seen this in every other show I’ve ever visited.

Come to think of it, I can’t even recall an NYC museum Retrospective of one of the more established Disabled Contemporary Artists like Chuck Close, Frida Kahlo, or Yayoi Kusama this century1. I’ve been scouring my records and racking my brain to come up with one. If you know of one, please let me know. Among other younger Artists, I think the Japanese Artist Mari Katayama may well be the next Disabled Artist to receive NYC museum attention.

Christine Sun Kim and Thomas Mader, ATTENTION, 2022, Kinetic Sculpture, Nylon, locally sourced rock, two blowers, and control board. From the Audio Guide- “This large, moving sculpture includes two inflatable bright-red nylon arms extending from opposite gallery walls toward a jagged rock on the floor between them. One nylon arm has been sewn such that it is reaching its pointer finger out toward the rock, its four other fingers pulled into its palm. The other reaches with an entirely outstretched hand, its palm toward the floor. Both are larger-than-life and are propelled into an intermittent flapping movement by air-blowers mounted high on the walls of the gallery space. When the blowers are off, the arms drift down onto the floor. When the blowers are on, the hands repeatedly dance and brush the rough surface of the locally-sourced rock on the floor of the gallery.” Continued.

ATTENTION Audio Guide continues- “In ASL, one common method of getting someone’s attention involves waving with your palm downward in another person’s field of vision.”

ATTENTION. Audio Guide continues, “Alternatively deaf people often tap each other on the shoulder to get their attention. In this kinetic sculpture, by Christine Sun Kim and Thomas Mader, the stone is shaped so as to suggest being eroded by the fingers’ touch, alluding to the process of “trying to get one’s attention or bring attention to something forever.”

The 6 works in the Rage series. Seen at the 2019 Whitney Biennial returned to the Whitney in All Day All Night as seen below.

Another example of the Whitney’s long-standing relationship with Christine Sun Kim, I discovered Ms. Kim at the 2019 Whitney Biennial where I found her work a showstopper. Raymond Pettibon came to mind, as another Artist who works with words and images on paper, but her Rage series is much more personal (as she explains in the video below). It stood out as completely from somewhere else in the show and it stayed with me to this day.

The same series seen in All Day All Night in 2025.

The Rage series hadn’t lost any of its power when it was included in All Day All Night six years later.

Christine Sun Kim, circled in the sliver dress, lower left & below, Signing at the 2020 Super Bowl.

Ms. Kim is, perhaps, most well-known to the general public for her appearance at the 2020 Super Bowl where she Signed the “America the Beautiful” and the National Anthem, though her performance was cut on TV leaving her frustrated. She spoke out about it in a subsequent Op-Ed in The New York Times.

Degrees of Deaf Rage in Everyday Situations, 2018 Charcoal and oil pastel on paper

Detail.

Let’s hope that All Day All Night will be the beginning of increased attention for Disabled Artists, and not an isolated event.

My look is only a sample of the show. Here’s Christine Sun Kim to give you a personally guided tour of All Day All Night  full of additional insights I didn’t get the benefit of during my visits-

*- Soundtrack for this piece is “No Words” by Denny Laine (who was born mostly deaf and relied on hearing aids when he performed) & Sir Paul McCartney, and included on the Wings alum Band on the Run-

NighthawkNYC.com has been entirely self-funded & ad-free for 10 1/2 years, during which over 350 full-length pieces have been published! If you’ve found it worthwhile, PLEASE donate securely by PayPal below to allow me to continue. Thank you, Kenn.

You can also support it by buying Art, Art & Photography books, and Music from my collection! Art & Books may be found here. Music here and here.

To send comments, thoughts, feedback or propositions click here. Click the white box on the upper right for the archives or to search them. Subscribe to be notified of new Posts below. Your information will be used for no other purpose.

  1. The Met did host Chuck Close Prints: Process and Collaboration, a Retrospective of his graphics back in 2004. ↩