Pac Pobric is a writer, editor, and publicist.
From 2017–2018, he was an editor at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and oversaw its marquee digital publication, the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, a general-audience encyclopedia of the Met's collection. During his tenure, he worked with curators and researchers to publish essays on the museum's extensive collection of baseball cards; the life and work of Joan Miró; and the art of the Sufis, among many other subjects.
A former contributor to the Village Voice, Pobric is also a longtime critic for the Brooklyn Rail and former journalist for The Art Newspaper, where he was previously the Exhibitions editor. From 2018–2022, he was the managing editor at Artnet News.
He was also the editor of Matteau! Matteau!, an editorial project about the New York Rangers and the world of hockey.
Pobric has written catalogue essays on Minimalism and its legacy for the Mnuchin gallery; Sean Scully’s recent work for Cheim & Read; and the many grand promises of New York City for Miles McEnery.
He has an M.A. in Art History from Hunter College, where he studied with William C. Agee and wrote about Ellsworth Kelly’s years in New York. He lives in Spuyten Duyvil and works at Polskin Arts.
Contact: pac [at] pacpobric [dot] com
Selected articles:
Interviews:
- Why Rona Pondick kept journalists away from her private life for decades
- Artist Liz Larner on why photography does injustice to sculpture
- Sarah Schulman on how ACT UP New York changed the world
- Teju Cole on depicting the pain of others
- Geoff Dyer on treating philosophical problems 'like a cold bath—in and out quickly'
- Activist Gregg Bordowitz on what exists between the lines of poetry
- Rob Storr on making enemies
- Artist Alex Hay on why he spent two years making one pair of shoes
- Pankaj Mishra on the abject failures of liberalism
- Karl Ove Knausgaard on the shame of overspending on a Munch work at auction
- Jonas Wood on why artists shouldn't take advances from dealers
- ‘I don’t mind being repulsive’: Swiss painter Louise Bonnet on the lure of horror films
- Charles Gaines on arbitrariness and meaning
- Ellsworth Kelly: Looking backwards, moving forwards
Polemics:
- The revolution is the trial: on the storming of the U.S. Capitol
- Loosely hanging appendages: on Rachel Harrison
- Sturtevant's provincialism
- Inside an unquiet mind: on Lawrence Alloway’s failure
- Against allegory: on Benjamin Buchloh and Danh Vo
- The false Gods of Dada: on the perils of eclecticism
- Loose language: on Liam Gillick’s Industry and Intelligence
Sports writing:
- London baseball diary: the New York Yankees versus the Boston Red Sox
- In praise of Mats Zuccarello
- The elusive charm of the greatest New York Rangers
- A goaltender’s madness
Profiles and obituaries:
- ‘Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong': a profile of George Condo
- Irving Sandler: an obituary
- Why the process of painting never ends: on Brice Marden
- A cerebral matter: a profile of Eric Kandel
- Ellsworth Kelly: an obituary
- Sean Scully: the wanderer
- When history repeats: a profile of Glenn Ligon
Histories of violence:
- When mourning becomes its own reward: on Doris Salcedo
- Beautiful brutality: the splendors of violence at the Venice Biennale
- John Akomfrah and the dark side of history
Old Masters:
- Zurbarán, Jacob, and the Twelve Tribes of Israel at the Frick Collection
- How New York made Mondrian truly Modern
- On David Smith at Storm King
- On Keith Sonnier's impudent sculptures
- On the Ellsworth Kelly catalogue raisonné
Young Masters:
- Decadent decay: on Cyprien Gaillard
- Time to look: on Laura Owens at the Whitney
- On Danh Vo at the Guggenheim
- Small wonders: on Victoria Gitman
- Strangely unfamiliar: on Katharina Fritsch
Group exhibitions:
- Why people like to look at people
- On the 2018 Carnegie International
- On Outliers and American Vanguard Art at the National Gallery
- Art, rebuttal, and the Black Emergency Cultural Coalition
Solo exhibitions:
- Is Matthew Barney becoming conventional?
- On Rona Pondick and ambiguity
- On Kiki Smith and the Jewish tradition
- Review: Robert Gober at Matthew Marks
- Subtle disorientations: on Peter Campus
- Straining for laughter: on Nathaniel Mellors
- What Gordon Matta-Clark learned in the Bronx
- On Walter Swennen at Gladstone Gallery
- Smoke on the water: on Andreas Schulze
- That poor sap dog: on William Wegman
- The way she was: on Jo Spence
- On Frank Stella’s decline
- Review: Julian Pretto Gallery
Book reviews:
- The persistent disbeliever: on Donald Judd’s writings
- 'Art too is just a way of living': on Rilke and Rodin
- On artificial darkness in art and theater
Writings for the Metropolitan Museum of Art:
- Unearthing Hatshepsut, Egypt's most powerful female pharaoh
- A poet's journey through Chinese autumn mountains
Two brief histories:
- A brief history of Constructivism
- A brief history of artists as curators