Art
Weekend Words: Gift
"Conceit is God's gift to little men."
Weekend
Books
Reader’s Diary: ‘Bresson on Bresson’
Before starting to make films, Robert Bresson had been a painter. Or rather, he remained one, since according to him, “It’s not possible to have been a painter and to no longer be one.”
Art
Betsy Kaufman Takes the Grid to Task
Betsy Kaufman works out on paper what she is going to do in the painting — a series of distinct steps, each requiring complete control.
Music
It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year: She & Him, Kacey Musgraves, Amy Grant, The Killers
Just like intimacy, holiday spirit exists simply because you believe it does. That’s why Christmas is so eternally rock & roll.
Art
It’s What You Make, Not What You Get
Color is the organizing principle of Jane Piper’s work, which builds upon the tradition of early Modernist painting.
Art
Shari Mendelson: Message in a Bottle
Shari Mendelson's artifacts emerge from her subconscious as much as from her enthusiasm for her subject matter. In turn, they appeal to something preconscious in the viewer.
Art
Aesthetic Interference: On Those Photos from Ankara
I don’t just see the images as documents of atrocity. I also see them as aesthetic, and that doesn’t sit easily. Indeed, it feels immoral. It feels wrong.
Art
Required Reading
This week, bad but effective design, Time magazine's "subversive" cover, a good bad review of the Trump Grill, the alt-right targeting of left-wing art spaces, and more.
Art
Weekend Words: Oil
"Formula for success: rise early, work hard, strike oil."
Books
Reader’s Diary: Caetano Veloso’s ‘Tropical Truth’
Caetano Veloso is an aesthete, not a man of politics, but the times and his conscience lent a political valence to his aesthetic choices.
Art
With an Eye to Our Common Future
Some painters — following in the footsteps of Arthur Dove — offer us received images of transcendence. John Dilg isn’t one of them.
Art
Why Give a Name to It?
I liked Outside In because I found out what five artists whose works I have followed are doing these days.