Art
An Artist Shifts the Focus of a Folktale from Guilt to Liberation
Azzah Sultan acknowledges the power of stories we tell ourselves and each other, and our power to change their meanings.
Reviews
Books
When the Ancient Greeks Go Rogue
David Hadbawnik and Anne Carson aren’t aiming to produce new schoolroom translations of the classics; they’ve reimagined these ancient texts in the light of our violent and chaotic contemporaneity.
Art
David Diao's Long Search for Painting's Many Identities
One key to understanding Diao’s art is that he has long worked with a reductive geometric vocabulary, while always pushing back against any of postmodernism’s reductive narratives.
Art
Life, Death, and the Cosmos Come Together in Sharon Lockhart's Art
Lockhart's latest exhibition offers a near-spiritual glimpse at the enormity of our planet, encompassing life, death, and the cosmos.
Film
Playground Looks at the Psychological and Physical Carnage of Childhood
Laura Wandel’s debut film examines the psychological — and physical — carnage wrought between children when grown-ups look the other way.
Art
Francesca Fuchs Tenderly Renders the Small and Private
Fuchs’s quiet paintings and ceramics pay tribute to the small, private objects that accompany us through life and ultimately anchor us in time.
Film
Jeen-Yuhs Knows That Kanye West Isn’t a Riddle That Can be Solved
The gargantuan three-part documentary follows the famous, controversial rapper for 20 years, capturing his brilliance and contradictions.
Books
Searching for a More Inclusive History of Ornament
While the ancient art form of ornament often contains deep meaning, European modernist theory attempted to erase ornament from the design world.
Art
Connection, Contemplation, and Contested Histories in Contemporary Native American and Indigenous Art
Snake whisky still life and other stories tackles the stereotyping, misrepresentation, and appropriation of Indigenous cultures.
Art
Byron Kim Plumbs the Depths of Nature and the Imagination
Despite all we know about the environment and what we are doing to it, Kim arrives at another, less palatable realization: As much as we call the Earth our home, we are strangers here.
Art
The Figural Ghosts of Oliver Lee Jackson's Expressive Abstraction
Jackson's two-dimensional surfaces lead us into a maze of shapes and visual gestures, yet tease us into recognizing the figures hidden within.
Books
Caio Fernando Abreu's Short Stories Charm with Questions of Life and Love
Moldy Strawberries is as hilarious as it is heartbreaking, vaulting existential questions across the page while poking fun at the urge to ask them in the first place.