There’s never been much of a unified scene when it comes to capturing landscapes in art, but maybe more even than before artists are very experimental with how to show a stretch of space.
Books
The Collagist’s Hand: Afton Wilky’s “Textureechoes”
To immediately grasp the innovative nature of Afton Wilky’s debut volume Clarity Speaks of a Crystal Sea and to begin to appreciate its exploration of language’s materialities and its playful stretching of the conventions of the codex form, one need only consider its front cover.
Curious Visual Guides to Victorian Pseudoscience
What if all your woes could be healed by some good thinking? Back in the 19th century, mesmerism was all the rage, merging nicely with the DIY Victorian parlor entertainment and hefty dose of quack medicine making the rounds — from questionable experiments in electricity to phrenology.
The Sacrificial Glory of the Soviet Space Dogs
As companions in our centuries of wandering and settling, dogs have given their loyalty blindly, in both good and bad, as sacrifices to animal testing, as scouts to survivors on battlefields, as guardians to sleep by the door at night.
A Desk That’s Your Future Coffin, GPS Shoes, and More Oddly Practical Inventions
London-based artist Dominic Wilcox sees potential for improvement in all aspects of life, whether it’s a GPS for remembering names in social situations or a work desk that could be a future coffin for “those who work hard all their lives and then die.”
Calling the New York Underground Your Playground
Many of us probably remember our formative years sitting in class, taking the SATs and trying to lose our virginity. Few of us probably spent that time hanging out with Debbie Harry, playing Max’s Kansas City, or finding success in an underground band.
How Not to Write About Women Artists
Gertrude Käsbeir and Rinko Kawauchi have two things in common: they’re women and they’re photographers.
Let Brooklyn Public Librarians Recommend Your Reading List
This month, the Brooklyn Public Library launched a free service for personalized recommendations from the people who know their books best — the librarians.
Haida Master Carver Charles Edenshaw Finally Gets His Due
With incredible precision through a diversity of materials, Charles Edenshaw evoked the beauty of traditional Haida art at a time when this First Nations culture was on the precipice of disappearing.
A Comics Artist Tackles the White Cube
Making comics about the art world is an excellent idea. And so, the premise of Brecht Vandenbroucke’s White Cube is full of promise.
A Chaotic Compendium of the World’s Depravity
No matter where French photographer Antoine d’Agata travels, he finds the same festering vein of marginalized depravity.
Architecture That Doesn’t Only Live in Nature But Is Made of It
Inspired by bird nests or vanishing building techniques, architecture based on natural materials is an expanding focus in both sculpture garden and urban landscape.