Good essays about art help us learn to see. Wonderful essays about the artists in our lives — which means all the artists through history, because, as Peter Schjeldahl so eloquently puts it, “all art is contemporary” —- help us learn how to live.
Visual Arts
Visual Arts Commentary: Life After Lockdown — Designs for Future Living After COVID-19
These products are imaginative clues to what our ‘new normal’ future will be like.
Visual Arts Feature: Memories of a Veteran Boston Gallerist — Mario Diacono
Mario Diacono’s Boston shows were legendary.
Visual Arts Feature: Artists Respond to the COVID-19 Crisis in Prisons
Much of what artists and educators who enter prisons typically aim to do is help foster human connections with those on the inside.
Visual Arts Feature: A Walk in the City — Seeing Architectural Details and History in a Time of Covid-19
Ironically, sheltering at home reminds us that walking through some neighborhoods in Boston is an aesthetically enriching experience.
Visual Arts Commentary: The Shock of the Cute — Too Much of a Cute Thing?
What gives with the overbearing presence of cuteness throughout the world of contemporary visual art?
Book Review: “The Art of Classic Planning” — How to Build Beautiful and Enduring Communities
By so memorably reestablishing the fundamentals of urban design and planning, The Art of Classic Planning will be a strategic addition to any architecture or urban planning library.
Visual Arts Feature: Go Out There and Shred the Vote!
Andrew Child pictures the candidates riding a skateboard, each in a slightly different pose and dressed in slightly different cool gear.
Visual Arts Review: The Art of Kara Walker — A Mix of Cozy Charm and Historic Horror
How, as an African-American visual artist, do you represent something that no one wants to think about, much less look at? Kara Walker’s solution is ultimately an aesthetic one.
Visual Arts Review: “Landmarks” at Williams College Museum of Art — Losing Your Way
The Ruskinian mantra of “truth to nature” was eventually upended by the development of digital imagery and the agile manipulations of Photoshop.