Books
How Landscape Became Doctrine in American Art
In his new book, Tyler Green argues that landscape was Emerson’s method of glorifying territories shaped and bordered by White men.
Reviews
Film
The Loneliest Whale Tries to Find the Internet’s Favorite Whale
“The 52-hertz Whale,” which sings a song at a frequency no other whale uses, is a social media phenomenon. But this film shows that the phenomenon says more about us than whales.
Art
The Sounds That Get Lost in the Shuffle
We are waiting for spectacle and when the quotidian, yet incongruous actions occur I wonder whether there is any real payoff coming.
Art
Internal and External Worlds Collide in Norma Tanega's Psychologically Charged Art
Tanega’s approach to mark-making comes across as stream of consciousness, as if she’s engaged in a conversation with herself.
Art
The Inexorable Pull of Lisa Yuskavage’s Paintings
This is Yuskavage's great gift, turning upside down our settled ways of thinking and seeing and, with ease, transforming the vulgar and ridiculous into the sublime.
Art
The Profound Soul of Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller
While hardly about the pandemic, or any of the other crises so afflicting us, all are invoked in this exhibition, which is also often tender and profoundly soulful.
Art
The Ever-Changing Dialogue Between Paint and Body
Through the medium of paint, Nowinski seeks to connect the inner and outer states of her subjects.
Art
The Politics of Desire and Oppression in Anita Steckel's Art
Steckel compelled audiences to acknowledge uncomfortable realities about systemic sexism that persist decades later.
Art
Jill Freedman’s Close-Up View of New York City Police
Did Jill Freedman, a leftist activist, create a pro-law enforcement series of images?
Film
The Velvet Underground Brings the New York of the ’60s Back to Life
With dense split-screen use of period artifacts and a killer Velvets soundtrack, Todd Haynes’s documentary is a loving tribute to his favorite band.
Books
Sexism and Colonialism Intertwine in the Story of a Toxic Relationship
In Paul, Daisy Lafarge delicately unpacks the power plays and mind games of a toxic relationship, with an emphasis on society’s — and art’s — silencing of women.
Art
The Fascinating Contradictions of Paul Thek
Thek rebelled against his early virtuosity, and chafed against the aspects of religion that rejected his gayness, while remaining a devout Catholic.