The act of protesting defies epoch, race, or gender – it's the tool which enables humanity to propel itself forward, identifying the parts of our existence that prevent progression and endeavouring to admonish and oblitherate those parts. It's also an emotional contradiction, in that it empowers individuals and groups to act with tenacious conviction whilst at the same time unveiling their most naked vulnerabilities. So when art is created as protest it has the ability to cap

If ever there was a time for artists to draw inspiration from the blurred lines between reality and artifice in everyday settings – it's now. Mary Henderson's new show, Public Views, at the Lyons Wier Gallery in New York does just that, addressing themes of group identity and the contrast between the public and private self. It shows large collections of people in a variety of settings – exhibitions, political rallies, festivals, sporting events, protests, etc. – but without

Edward Hopper is one of the most celebrated modern American painters to date. His paintings are instantly recognisable for their inimitable sense of style, their ability to transform a transient moment into an eternal one, and of course – for being able to distill the feeling of loneliness into one graceful stretch of canvas. Hopper was a born-and-bred New Yorker. He studied art at the New York School of Art and Design, which would eventually become the famous Parsons New Sch