What a cruel hoax: the middle class suburban lifestyle, a proud achievement of postwar America and the envy of peoples throughout the world (in no small part due to Mad Men glamorization), contains the very seeds of our demise. If demise is where this is heading.
Commentary
Visual Arts Remembrance: Pop Art Icon Claes Oldenburg Dead at 93
Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen’s work can be found in the collections of major modern art museums throughout the United States and Europe.
Arts Appreciation: Long Overdue — Homage to Julius Eastman, Fierce Black Queen Iconoclast
Scorned and consigned to oblivion in his day, Julius Eastman is finally being celebrated for his unabashed talent and the sheer audacity of his inimitable genius. Brava diva!
Book Review: A Well-Written Biography of Stewart Brand — The Man Who Popularized Planetary Consciousness
Stewart Brand’s greatest achievement, by far, was the simple act of putting the photograph of the earth as seen from space on the Whole Earth Catalog’s cover.
A Remembrance of Theater Artist Paul Dervis: Embracing The Incomprehensible
Personal salutes to theater director, playwright, and critic Paul Dervis, who died at the age of 67 on June 13.
Book Appreciation: A.B. Yehoshua’s “Mr. Mani” — A Great Work of Fiction
A.B. Yehoshua was anything but a provincial Israeli writer. He was literary giant whose imaginative gift was so striking and diverse that you never knew what he would do next.
Theater Commentary: What’s a Fringe Theater in Boston to Do Today?
My point is obvious: real estate is key to the survival of the small theater scene.
Dance Commentary: Contract Dispute Between Union Artists and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater — ‘Buked and Scorned?
The Ailey dancers’ demands around salaries and the length of their contracts reflect the resurgent strength of organized labor in the cultural sector.
Visual Arts Commentary: Dishing It Out — Boston’s Arts and Crafts Movement Ceramic Leadership
Believe it or not, Boston — the home of stick in the mud, architectural and decorative conservatism — was the initial epicenter of the Arts and Crafts Movement in America.
Theater Commentary: “1776” — American Theater Jigs as Democracy Dies?
Maybe I am an alarmist and the rich and powerful know something the rest of us don’t. Perhaps the midterms will not put another nail in the coffin of democracy. Apparently, it will be business as usual for the A.R.T. and other American theaters — until it can’t be.