Books
A Graphic Novel that Basks in the Aura of Film
Herman by Trade reads just like a storyboard for a film — perfectly fitting for a tale of a humble street cleaner caught up in the frustrating process of open auditions for a movie.
Review
Film
Style Transcends Story in Winter Brothers, a Film Set in a Limestone Mine
Hlynur Pálmason’s movie injects some fresh blood into the sometimes moribund state of cinema.
Books
How David Lynch's Mulholland Drive Has Influenced Contemporary Art
The authors of a book about Lynch's influence on art try too hard to crack the mystery of his film Mulholland Drive.
Film
Wes Anderson's Isle of Dogs Has Bark But Lacks Bite
In a film set in futuristic Japan, Wes Anderson and his collaborators try to achieve more than cultural appropriation, with mixed results.
Books
How the Evolution of Graphic Design Lines Up with Historical Events
Covering the span of 1890 to 1959, A Visual History of Graphic Design illustrates design advancements alongside historical events, from the founding of Pepsi-Cola to the stock market crash.
Art
Mark Bradford Appropriates Comic Books and Delves Into the Sublime
Bradford's new paintings tell us how much we don’t know.
Art
The Unwanted Guest at Modernism’s Table
Martin Barré’s work refutes the American view that painting is something that could be used up — as if it came in a pail rather than a well.
Art
Cy Twombly’s Extravagant Synesthesia
Rosalind Krauss misreads Twombly in more ways than I can enumerate.
Books
The Impossible Beauty of New York's 1980s Ballroom Scene
Joseph Cassara depicts the harrowing effects of AIDS on a community that was systematically dismissed and under-served by the city of New York.
Music
A K-Pop Flash in the Darkness
As with any deceased musician, there’s the temptation to speculate how much Jonghyun’s real-life suffering informed the music.
Art
How Pre-Columbian Art Influenced Josef Albers
The Josef Albers in Mexico exhibition is a necessary corrective to Albers’s reputation as more pedagogue than painter and the misconception that abstraction can ever be free of outside influence.
Film
Marion Cotillard and Charlotte Gainsbourg Spar in a Haunting Love Triangle
French filmmaker Arnaud Desplechin's latest, Ismael's Ghosts, offers a nuanced look at how women in mid-life grapple with fear and loneliness.