A profile of punk poet Eileen Myles, who has a new memoir out, Afterglow, and whose first autobiographical novel, Cool for You, has recently been re-released with an introduction by I Love Dick author Chris Kraus. Myles (who prefers gender-neutral pronouns) has been publishing since the 70s, but has lately been experiencing a new wave […]
art
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Cherokee Artist Jimmie Durham: Not Cherokee
The work of artist Jimmie Durham relies heavily on Native American themes. Durham is not Native American.
Posted inNonfiction, Quote Posts, Quotes
‘Oakland Used to Be More Funky’: Where Have All the Artists Gone?
The staff at Laney Tower take a close look at the past, present, and future of Oakland’s artistic community.
Posted inArts & Culture, Quotes, Unapologetic Women
Nina Simone’s Three Years of Freedom
At Guernica, Katherina Grace Thomas turns a lens on the years Nina Simone spent in Liberia in the mid-1970s.
Posted inCurrent Events
Zadie Smith Takes on Black Pain With a Light Touch
At Harper’s, Smith doesn’t really feel like she is engaging in her subject matter with much care or heart.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Getting In and Out: Who Owns Black Pain?
“Their grandmother is as black as the ace of spades, as the British used to say; their mother is what the French still call café au lait. They themselves are sort of yellowy. When exactly does black suffering cease to be their concern?”
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Philippe Petit Reflects on a Lifetime of Fear
For the high-wire artist, living in fear is the definition of death.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Diane Arbus: Describing the Loneliness that Shames Us
Hilton Als on photographer Diane Arbus’ uncanny ability to capture the humanity of her marginalized subjects.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
The Portrait of an Artist Who Flattered Donald Trump
Visiting Mar-a-Lago with Ralph Wolfe Cowan, who has painted celebrities like Elvis Presley, Elizabeth Taylor, and Donald Trump.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Palm Beach Van Dyck
A “willingness to flout the laws of space and time” help painter Ralph Cowan form relationships with the kind of people who will pay for a portrait of themselves with a lion, at the mast of a ship, or gliding through a Venetian dreamscape.