Opinion
Required Reading
This week, the Oxford comma debate, artists and being liked, science and bisexuality, longform on Twitter, best pizza in New York, and much much more.
Weekend
Opinion
Weekend Words: Woo
On Thursday, the New York Times published a large pull-out section, Museums, which included an article on the attempts various institutions have made at "Wooing a New Generation of Museum Patrons."
Music
Fagen's Critical Catalogue (March 2014, Part 1)
In part 1 of this month, reviews of Beck, 2NE1, Eric Church, and St Vincent.
Art
Jasper Johns’s Reinvention of an Old and Familiar Subject
Regrets — the collective title of Jasper Johns’s most recent series of paintings, drawings, and prints — is currently on display at the Museum of Modern Art, New York (March 15–September 1, 2014). The inspiration for the series was a ripped, crumpled and stained photograph of Lucian Freud perched on
Interview
Beer with a Painter: Chris Martin
A couple of years ago, I heard Chris Martin give a talk to Columbia MFA students. Rather than the standard artist’s slide lecture, Martin brought along his conga drums and a small band, a girl wearing a metallic dress and carrying a boom box, and a couple of people who tore sheets from a book of Ita
Books
Art of Darkness: Matt Kish Illustrates Conrad's Classic
What’s stunning about Matt Kish’s illustrations for Heart of Darkness — one for every page of Joseph Conrad’s text — is how sunny they are. His modest palette comprises yellow, green, black, and white, with the occasional hit of red, orange, or blue. The novel, on the other hand, is tonally dark: se
Art
Fresh from the Cosmic Junk Heap: The Sculpture of Peter Buggenhout
Peter Buggenhout’s massive stacks of debris hang off the wall or sprawl across the floor in a state of dereliction and collapse, monumental castoffs from a world spinning out of control.
Opinion
Required Reading
This week, the web turned 25, the art world is infatuated with a new person, photographers in Hungary are concerned, Sylvain Chomet does The Simpsons, writing tips, the economics of the sex trade, and more.
Opinion
Weekend Words: Wage
The only bright spot in the news this week was President Obama's executive action on Thursday, ordering the U.S. Department of Labor to revise federal rules on overtime wages, qualifying millions of Americans to receive extra pay if they work more than 40 hours a week.
Music
Yeezus Christ Superstar
When Kanye West first released My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in 2010, his celebrity had reached its peak, or so we all thought. No album that year dominated as absolutely — critically, commercially, artistically, musically, culturally. Not only did it go platinum, but hip-hop intellectuals loved
Art
Kathy Butterly and the Aesthetic Challenge of “No Two Alike”
I don’t think it is an exaggeration to say that ceramics are finally beginning to get some serious attention in New York. There is still a very long way to go, but the city does seem to be waking up to ceramics as an art form.
Art
Norio Imai and Tsuyoshi Maekawa’s New York Debuts: Outside Japan, the Enduring Lure of Gutai
In recent years, both within and outside Japan, interest in the post-World War II Gutai art movement has increased considerably, with major museum exhibitions appearing at such venues as the Museo Cantonale d'Arte in Lugano, Switzerland, the National Art Center in Tokyo, and the Guggenheim Museum i