Opinion
Weekend Words: Birds
In its previous installment, Weekend Words had bees on its mind; now the birds have asked for equal time.
Latest
Books
A German Expressionist Space Fantasy: Scheerbart’s "Lesabéndio: An Asteroid Novel"
The German fantasist Paul Scheerbart's greatest novel, Lesabéndio, was first published in 1913, the year that Expressionism began to flower in Berlin. The novel, both deriving from and contributing to this Zeitgeist, opens with a highly Expressionist scene: "The sky was violet, and the stars were gr
Art
Philip Guston’s Line
There is still a story to be told about Philip Guston (1913–1980) and Jackson Pollock (1912–1956), who met at Manual Arts High School in Los Angeles in 1929, and were expelled the following year for handing out a broadside that ridiculed the English faculty for their conservatism. Pollock was later
Music
Bubble Bath: Deconstructing Pazz & Jop
Every year, the Village Voice holds an annual poll, inviting nearly every critic in the biz to vote on the best albums and singles of the given year. Because of its size, it’s generally the best way to measure yearly progress in pop music: the numbers actually mean something. The thing is huge; 493
Art
In the Schnabel Chapel, Part 4
The final installment of Julian Schnabel 1978–1981, the rotating exhibition of four of the artist’s early works, has arrived with "Abstract Painting on Blue Velvet" (1980). If you’re seeking closure, however, I doubt that you will find it here.
Interview
Speaking in Tongues: Art in Moods, Tenses, and Translations
It’s safe to say that Twilit Ensembles, Paul D’Agostino’s solo show at Pocket Utopia, is one of the more disorienting, even vertiginous exhibitions around. There are pairs of process-driven, not-quite-identical abstract paintings; mixed-media collages that evoke the Art informel and Affichiste strai
Art
When the Joker Was a Contemporary Artist
Today is a very important day in contemporary art history. Yes, today is in fact the 47th anniversary of “Pop Goes the Joker,” a very amusing and at times slightly disturbing two-part episode of the original Batman television series starring Adam West. The episode depicts Gotham’s “art world” and op
Interview
The Portrait of a Family in Human Ash and Meth
A big part of Zefrey Throwell's current exhibition at Gasser & Grunert Gallery in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood is the story of a family split apart by drug addiction, then brought closer by a memorial for a dead father. It is also a story of overcoming hardship brought on by Hurricane Sandy, not
Art
The Lonely Books That No One Borrows
What is the fate of a library book that never gets checked out? Does it stay in the library anyway, holding fast in its place, waiting for someone to borrow it? Or does it eventually get cast off, donated to a thrift or used bookstore or incorporated into the collection of a place like Brooklyn's Re
News
BIG Architects to Design LEGO Museum and Smithsonian Master Plan
Bjarke Ingels Group (or BIG), the Danish architecture firm helmed by its namesake, is getting even bigger. New plans to create a LEGO museum and develop the master plan for the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., signal that the buzzed-about firm is on the cusp of becoming the world’s next bi
Music
From Park Avenue to the Moon
One person's final frontier is another's impersonal void, or at least those are the two experiences of space you're likely to have at Oktophonie at the Park Avenue Armory. On the first of its performance run that started this week, the crowd, some grudgingly, took off their shoes and put on white "c
Interview
What It's Like in Heaven? Christo's New Ethereal German Installation
Recently installed in the Gasometer in Germany, Christo's "Big Air Package" is an ethereal inflatable sculpture. Longtime collaborate and photographer Wolfgang Volz conveyed the experience of being inside: "It is very difficult to describe. I am not a religious person, but should I ever make it to h