Last year, I went through a phase of reading early aviation memoirs. The book that started me on this kick was Beryl Markham’s West with the Night, in which the British-Kenyan aviatrix writes about flying over the Sahara in the early 1900s, delivering supplies between remote desert outposts. What interested me about Markham’s adventures wasn’t the records she set (she completed the first...
Dear Dr. Trainwreck, I've been relatively successful as an artist, but still, I often feel less than. In a world that is becoming more inclusive and understanding of diversity, economic diversity is still somehow frowned upon. I grew up pretty poor in LA. I've had several friends decide not to introduce me to their higher-net-worth friends or collectors. They say that explicitly. I hate to make...
Artillery recently sat down with art collector and philanthropist Jordan D. Schnitzer during the opening of The Schnitzer Family Foundation’s “The Art of Food” exhibition currently on view at the Long Beach Museum of Art. Why Art? How do we deal in a world where we are constantly being told where to go, what to buy, and who to listen to, and then plied with misinformation? How do we maintain our...
Adopt a Highway Old world sadness meets modern shame on a melancholy walk along a dirty shore, where the beachfront properties are indistinguishable from public restrooms. As we step around fly-strewn masses of rotting seaweed and stare at the sun as it sinks behind the town’s famous rock, we fear that the seasons may have given up— but there is joy in forgetting the things we promised ourselves...
Top three dead artists? Fernando Botero, Wayne Thiebaud, and Henri Matisse. This article is available in print and in our digital edition. To read the full article, please subscribe.
I have a notebook from this obnoxious British heritage brand called Smythson, and on the front cover it says, in gold leaf, “Charming in Character and Appearance.” The only thing in this particular notebook is pages upon pages of what I call “unforgivable things”: confusing Frankenstein and Frankenstein’s monster; referring to anything as “edgy"; when a bartender asks me, “Vodka or gin?” when I...
On the top floor of The Gaylord Apartments, a spare selection of seven new paintings by Magnus Peterson Horner tingles the optic and haptic senses, even when they’re barely paintings, even when they’re barely there at all. Horner paints people as if sensed through...
The delicate line-work in these semi-abstract sea/land/sky-scapes is incredibly controlled, almost to a fault. It doesn’t leave much room for the unexpected. This might be okay except that the overall vocabulary of forms is a bit too constrained. For instance, the...
Friday night director/choreographer Mamie Green (collaborating with writers Stephanie Wambugu, Lily Lady, and Sammy Loren) presented 𝑳𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝑻𝒓𝒊𝒑𝒕𝒚𝒄𝒉, a 30-minute dance/spoken word performance in three consecutive parts, each performed in one of Jeffrey Deitch...
The title “positioner” refers to the photographer’s inclusion of himself in several of these photos as he positions his models, most of which are queer men and women. These are a reflection on studio portraiture as a specific social context. They explore the...
The centerpiece of this show is a carpeted wooden platform, covered with white on blue stars like an American flag. Various Small Fires’ owner, Esther Kim Varet, is running for Congress, and this mini-stage is meant for use by her campaign. What Varet and artist...
Two big rooms of Mary Weatherford’s prodigious wall works still aren’t enough space to contain the mesmerizing views the artist generously presents in “The Surrealist” exhibition, which is a bold, seductive reminder of painting’s emotional power and material...
Self-taught photographer Luis Garza began his career as a photojournalist documenting the turbulent social events of the 60s for La Raza magazine, which was a counter-balance to the prevailing conservative and often racist media narratives. His latest exhibit of 63...
To get to Tony Cokes' "All About Evil" at Hannah Hoffman, a show displaying 12 selected works from a period of nearly two decades (2006-2022), one must pass a sidewalk sign for the neighboring jewelry boutique Spinelli Kilcollin. Cokes' HD videos feature large white...
Dario Argento’s 1977 film Suspiria left a lasting impression on me. It’s moments of indiscernibility, of looming disquiet, of eyes flashing against a blackened screen have stuck with me long since first watch. It’s an exhilarating study of the ominous, of unease, of...
“Kairos” by Seline Burn at Baert Gallery features 10 large oil paintings on canvas and linen, all completed this year. Blues, yellows, and greens render female figures across landscapes and interior settings that blur the boundaries between inner and outer, self and...