Art

Illuminating the History of West African Portrait Photography

Discussions of West African portrait photography tend to gravitate towards the 1960s and 1970s, the era of such well-known artists as Seydou Keïta, Malick Sidibé, and Samuel Fosso.

Art

The Victorian Christmas Card as Aesthetic Object

Christmas card imagery today ranges from the classic depictions of elves and reindeer to the more comical and topical, but every picture is assuredly holiday-themed: you wouldn't be able to unironically give someone a Christmas card on their birthday.

Art

Diaper Cakes, Rotten Candy Vases, and the Artistry of Upcycling Detritus

HAMTRAMCK, Mich. — One can detect a sense of barely contained glee underlying Dylan Spaksky's effort to include everyone in his fun.

Art

In the South Bronx, Locals Respond to an Anti-Gentrification Mural

The vivid, comic book–like mural depicts bees being driven from their hives by "evil crops developer Dr. Dor," a white hipster type with skinny black trousers and square-frame eyeglasses.

Art

An Oblivious but Ambitious Artistic Intervention in White

LONDON — white, Edmund de Waal’s intervention at the Royal Academy (RA) library, is a wonder.

Art

An Arrow-Shooting Goddess from a Time When Clocks Were Entertainment

From the 16th to 19th century, clockmaking in Europe saw increasingly elaborate marriages of interior mechanics and exterior design.

In Brief

A Century-Old Spanish Church Transforms into an Art-Filled Skate Park

In 1912, when Asturian architect Manuel del Busto designed Church of Santa Barbera, in the Spanish town of Llanera, the skateboard hadn't yet been invented.

Art

Negotiating Copyright and Copy-wrong in Architecture

There is no shortage of literature on copying in architecture.

Comics

Things I Didn't Do This Year

I didn't forget my parents' birthdays.

Art

Have a Creepy Little Christmas with These Unsettling Victorian Cards

Anthropomorphic cats, murderous frogs, and insects dancing by the moonlight aren't exactly part of our Christmas card tradition today.

Art

Preserving the Little-Known Works of a Groundbreaking Guatemalan Sound Artist

For the past five decades, in a Guatemala City studio, 85-year-old sound artist Joaquín Orellana has been building unusual, sculptural útiles sonoros, or “sound utensils.”

Art

In Middle America, a Survey of Art from Latin America

DETROIT — The central piece, and the one that immediately draws the eye when entering the main gallery of United States of Latin America at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, is a full wall mural by Minerva Cuevas entitled “America.”