Art
Weekend Words: Soil
"A soiled baby, with a neglected nose, cannot be conscientiously regarded as a thing of beauty."
Latest
Books
A Painter Speaks, so that His Paintings Can Remain Silent
When René Magritte wrote “This is not a pipe,” he wasn’t negating the pipe so much as he was negating the language with which we attempt to grasp it.
Art
Nancy Haynes Invites Us to Look Closely
For those who have followed Haynes’ work, her open-ended, experimental approach is not surprising. She is both rigorous and adventuresome without ever claiming these qualities for herself.
Art
Shawn Thornton’s Intricate Cosmos
Thornton’s art is the result of his research into the ways different religious traditions convey the underlying nature of mystical and occult experiences.
Art
A Fog of Now
In its attempts to aestheticize mass destruction and memorialize the aftermath, Central Command delivers a clunky outtake of our near-nuclear demise.
Books
Marsden Hartley's Maine: His Own Private Germany
Besides examining in-depth both the early and late Maine periods, Marsden Hartley’s Maine includes a fine essay on materials and techniques, based on careful examination of a dozen works, which shows a surprising continuity in composition and methods across Hartley’s career.
Books
A Poem of Shame: In the Words of China’s Workers
Iron Moon: An Anthology of Chinese Worker Poetry, edited by Qin Xiaoyu and translated by Eleanor Goodman, collects work by Xu Lizhi and 30 other worker poets.
Music
Drake Improves Despite Himself
Moody guys excel at mood music.
Art
The More Things Change
Marianne Bernstein, an artist and curator of this exhibition, told me that part of her interest in assembling this exhibition was to chronicle the changing storyline of Sicily and to encourage non-binary thinking.
Art
Life After Art: William Powhida’s Futures Market
A meta-besotted, multilayered, impudent, lacerating exhibition that pricks pretense and self-delusion on every level.
Art
Reframing the American West Through Latinx Eyes
An exhibit at the Denver Art Museum conceives of the American West according to art history, but also through the lens of our current cultural climate.
Film
The Rise and Fall of a 1980s Street Art Star
Artist Richard Hambleton's career took off in the 1980s, but the following decade he was wracked by addiction and destitute. A new documentary tracks his dramatic trajectory.