“Once the queen’s head is severe, he walks away. A sharp pang of appetite reminds him that it is time for a second breakfast, or perhaps an early dinner.” These are the first two sentences of The Mirror and the Light, the third volume of Hilary Mantel’s trilogy about the life of Thomas Cromwell and … Read more
HASta time when the art world is attempting to rewrite a history that has largely benefited male artists, Tate Modern is staging a show of work by Slovak sculptor Maria Bartuszová (1936–1996). Her unique biomorphic casts touch on big themes such as belonging, growth and infinity. Bartuszová worked outside the traditional centers of contemporary art, … Read more
NOTow 86, Renato Casaro is one of the world’s most influential poster designers, best known for his classical, windswept, airbrushed canvases: heady reminders of the pre-digital era. His style turns matinee idols into Michelangelos, from Stallone to Schwarzenegger, Costner to DiCaprio. His posters are unabashed theatrics, stuffed with sweaty biceps and heaving bosoms, which transport … Read more
A bulbous sculpture by architects Bjarke Ingels and Jakob Lange, an ornate temple and a walkway made of recycled ocean plastic were featured at the annual Burning Man festival in the Black Rock Desert of western Nevada. Taking place on-site for the first time since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, during which it occurred … Read more
When Greta Thunberg delivered her “Our house is on fire” speech at Davos in 2019, she galvanized millions of thousands of school students to strike for the climate. The address was unique and potent in its urgency, but what did it look like in color? What hues, textures and shapes could be ascribed to her … Read more
A new open source AI image generator capable of producing realistic pictures from any prompt text has seen stunningly swift uptake in its first week. Stability AI’s Stable Diffusion, high fidelity but capable of being run on off-the-shelf consumer hardware, is now in use by art generator services like Artbreeder, Pixelz.ai and more. But the … Read more
Heist films need a shot in the arm. For too long, heist/thief movies have relied on the performances of a talented ensemble cast to compensate for the weak and convoluted scripts that typically power the genre. To be fair, it can’t be easy to write a clever heist film for a litany of reasons. For … Read more
It’s the 60th year for Jerusalem’s iconic Israel Festival, and as befitting such a milestone event, this year’s celebration will look, sound and appear different from all previous iterations. For starters, it will take place in September rather than its perennial June date, and over the course of 10 days, September 15-22, instead of the … Read more
Three artists who sued the Tate for victimization, alleging breach of contract and race discrimination, have told of their experiences after it agreed to pay them a six-figure settlement. The action was taken after the institution told one of the women, who had been commissioned to lead a major year-long program, that she could not … Read more
Edinburgh’s Collective is the most beautifully situated gallery in Britain, perched on top of Calton Hill with glorious views of Arthur’s Seat and the sea beyond Leith. Unfortunately every time I go there, the art is rubbish. Ruth Ewan’s Marxist cartoon The Beast lives down to this gallery’s sloppy standards. Andrew Carnegie, the Scottish-born industrialist … Read more
