Play It Loud is porn for musicians and fans who fetishize the tools of the trade.
Visual Arts
Visual Arts Review: Yin Yu Tang — The Architecture of Daily Life at the Peabody Essex Museum
Yin Yu Yang is a brilliant example of architectural and cultural collaboration that allows visitors to experience and learn about Chinese art, architecture, and culture.
Visual Arts Review: Two Fabulous Female Painters — Isabel Bishop and Emily Mae Smith
These exhibitions present two very different ways of engaging with gender, both raising the question of gaze.
Visual Arts Review: “Toulouse Lautrec and the Stars of Paris”
This crowd-pleaser of an exhibition, dedicated to an accessible, beloved artist, is a gift to the citizens of Boston and Everett, as well as to the general public.
Visual Arts Review: The Happy Place? More Like The Sad Place
Of course, there can be no happiness in America without lots of corporate support.
Visual Arts Review: “Huma Bhabha — They Live” and “The Beyond — Georgia O’Keeffe and Contemporary Art”
Pakistani-born artist Huma Bhabha is still very much at the edge of edgy; Georgia O’Keeffe much less so.
Book Review: “Little Dancer Aged Fourteen” — A Kind of Apotheosis
In more pedantic hands, Little Dancer Aged Fourteen could easily have been a tedious and frustrating read. Instead, despite the dense and ultimately inconclusive source material, the book is continuously fascinating.
Visual Arts Review: “Tolkien: Maker of Middle-Earth” — Treasures of an Imaginary World
This is the most extensive public display of original J.R.R. Tolkien material for several generations.
Visual Arts Review: A Creative Camelot — The Bauhaus and Harvard University
This inspiring show celebrates the 100th anniversary of the founding of The Bauhaus.
Book Reviews: A Provocative Trio of Volumes on Architecture and Landscape Architecture
In very different ways and on very different topics, three recent books assuage notions that architecture/design books are formidable reads.