A sculptor of wind explains how to make fiber dance far above city streets
Artist Janet Echelman explains how she collaborates with engineers to create massive sculptures that have changed city landscapes and inspired people around the world.
The folly of making art with text-to-image generative AI
Visual artists draw from visual references, not words, as they imagine their work. So when language is in the driver’s seat of making art, it erects a barrier between the artist and the canvas.
Generative AI is a minefield for copyright law
Intellectual property law wasn’t written with AI in mind, so it isn’t clear who owns the images that emerge from prompts – or if the artists whose work was scraped to train AI models should be paid.
Solo exhibition of abstract photographs by renowned Croatian street photographer
With Reflections, Olga Karlovac presents a visual journal of her inner worlds as a series of experimental self-portraits alongside timeless and nameless landscapes.
What is vernacular art? A visual artist explains
The genre – also known as ‘folk art’ or ‘outsider art’ – serves as a reminder that art is a universal human pursuit.
Where Did They Go?: Four Artists Who Disappeared
We all know the experience. You’re sitting around wondering whatever happened to so-and-so, your true love from 8th grade, or whatever, so you pick up your iPhone and google, only to discover that an entire human being has vanished into thin air. We have all had the same fantasy: to disappear and take on a […]
Two Cheers for Obscurity and Oblivion: What is Wrong With a Legacy-less Life?
A friend of mine told me recently that he wants to write a book, so that he will be remembered after he is gone. “If I believe that my name will be carried forward somehow,” he said, “that is probably the most important thing.” Why did he care? I wondered. “Because I just do,” he […]
Sivvy Once Unthought Humanity: A Poem by Coby Hobbs
(Caused by Sylvia Plath’s “Fever 103°”) Pulse, Plurality, Precarious spleen Rupture with gentility. Hell is here now, Licking at the future, dull, intricate, Wheezing about every unthought. The computers. The computers. So clean The indelible brain. Stop moving under carbon. The high smoke tolls. Almost familiar?— from Nietzche’s tongue The […]
Steven S. Drachman remembers Ryuichi Sakamoto
Many, many people will write astute and intelligent appreciations of Ryuichi Sakamoto, the eclectic and influential songwriter, composer, performer and actor who died recently at the age of 71. For example, Kevin Nguyen argues in MSN.com that “there are very few forms of modern music that don’t reflect the influence of Sakamoto’s expansive, ever-changing four-decade […]
Art of the Day: An Old Automat Photo from 1927?
There is a massive backlash against AI art these days, and it’s justified! Illustrators who have spent their lives learning a craft see their livelihoods at risk, as media now has the option to turn to artificially generated images that cost next to nothing. To add insult to injury, these images are artificial “mashups” of […]
When Life Imitates Art in Ukraine
Photographs from Russia’s war on Ukraine dissolve an archaeologist’s fondness for a Soviet-era sculpture. ON FEBRUARY 24, 2022, the Russian Federation invaded Ukraine. Counter to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s apparent intentions, the Russian army did not achieve quick victory. Ukrainian wherewithal, fortitude, and bravery, and a great deal of outside support, have instead ushered a […]
Is OpenAI Biased? We Checked so You Won’t Have to.
Both of the popular new tech launches of the OpenAI project, ChatGPT and DALL-E2, have provoked much attention from the media and social media users. Discussions about what can be achieved with these technologies, what jobs might be replaced, how to deal with copyright issues, and how these technologies might amplify existing bias are ongoing in digital rights, tech, and journalistic spheres.
“I So Liked the Spring”: A Poem by Charlotte Mew
I so liked Spring last year Because you were here; – The thrushes too – Because it was these you so liked to hear – I so liked you. This year’s a different thing, – I’ll not think of you. But I’ll like the Spring because it is simply Spring As the thrushes do. ^^^ […]
What Is Anthropological Poetry?
“For me, poetry is the music of being human.” —Carol Ann Duffy ✽ SCRIBBLING IN YOUR field journal, you can feel the sentence snap in two like a branch stepped on—the meaning broken by the grammatical demands of prose. You suddenly find your pen working down the page in a rhythmic fashion, the writing at once […]
Your Sunday Funnies: The Death of Preiss (Part 3)
In the latest chapter of Alon Preiss’s serialized comic strip, two bereaved daughters meet over Sunday brunch to discuss their father’s ghost.
Your Sunday Funnies: The Death of Preiss (Part 2)
In the new chapter of a serialized comic strip, a look back at the life Alon Preiss lived, before his strange message from beyond the grave.
Your Sunday Funnies: The Death of Preiss (Part 1)
Their father was dead. The email couldn’t be from him. It was a prankster, a hacker, some kind of glitch. But what if it were a ghost?
Your Sunday Funnies, from 1926: There’s a Reason Everyone is Being So Darn Nice!
Why is your steno girl suddenly smiling all day and looking at you as if you were Rudolph Valentino…?
Your Sunday Funnies: A Very Amusing Cartoon
At this point, we’re letting the computer write and draw whatever it wants. Doing it ourselves takes effort. And we are all old and tired.
Your Sunday Funnies: Remember Last Summer?
A restored and reimagined version of “Boots and Her Buddies,” that 1920s flapper, who loved summertime
Fingers of Fear: The Final Episode!
The final episode of Ed. Wheelan’s rare silent film thriller, in which 1920’s detective Hazel Knutt struggles to escape from a gang of kidnappers!
AI Art: What Does It Really Think?
Give the robot a choice of what to draw. Anyone who’s ever spoken to a language model program knows that AI can think for itself.
Fingers of Fear, Episodes 19 and 20!
Detective Straight has the feeling that Hazel Knutt might be in grave danger, in the latest episode of Ed Wheelan’s classic comic strip!
Fingers of Fear: Episodes 17 and 18
In Ed Wheelan’s rare, classic comic strip, detective Hazel Knutt hatches a plot, and Rose Pung plots revenge!
Fingers of Fear: Episodes 15 and 16!
Famous detective Hazel Knutt goes undercover in 1920s Chinatown, in the next installment of this silent film serial that never was!
Fingers of Fear, Episodes 13 and 14!
Silent film detective Hazel Knutt faces a gunfight in Chinatown, as the plot thickens, in Ed Wheelan’s classic comic strip!
Fingers of Fear, Episodes 11 and 12!
The latest episodes of Ed. Wheelan’s rare silent film thriller, in which detective Hazel Knutt ventures into 1920s Chinatown!
Photo of the Day: The Light at the End of the Tunnel
“There comes a point where you no longer care if there’s a light at the end of the tunnel or not. You’re just sick of the tunnel.”
― Ranata Suzuki
Your Sunday Funnies: Fingers of Fear, Episodes 5 and 6!
Hazel Knutt, the famous detective, has traveled to California, following an ever expanding trail of mystery, in this silent film thriller from Ed. Wheelan.
Your Sunday Funnies: Ed. Wheelan’s “Fingers of Fear”
In this latest installment of the rare, faux silent film thriller from 1927, Hazel Knutt, the famous detective, follows a tangled web to a California honey magnate!
Happy Pride Month (in Words and Pictures)
The world has changed. The days of casual, socially acceptable homophobia are long gone. Pride celebrations are filled with a universal, accessible and inclusive joy.
Your Sunday Funnies: Ed. Wheelan’s “Fingers of Fear”
Ed. Wheelan’s faux silent film thriller begins with mysterious break-in, a jilted lover and a tough female private detective!
Your Sunday Funnies Presents “Fingers of Fear”!
In 1928, Ed. Whelan presented this faux silent film thriller through his faux motion picture production company.Whelan’s work is hard to find these days, but we think he is due for rediscovery.
Your Sunday Funnies, from 1927: Introducing Our Film Stars!
In the late 1920s, cartoonist Ed. Wheelan came up with an amazing conceit: create his own fictional silent screen motion picture studio, with a galaxy of fictional film stars, and present his own made-up movies in comic form.
Art for Mother’s Day: Mother and Child
The long-dead subjects in a long-ago photograph capture something essential about the spirit of the day, and about motherhood itself.
Jake Upfront on Recreating Iconic Nightclubs in Virtual Reality
VR technology is going to shake the world in a similar way the internet did. It is the natural next frontier. And we can now get a glimpse of what is to come.
Your Sunday Funnies: “Boots and Her Buddies,” from 1927
A newly enhanced and reimagined comic strip featuring Edgar Martin’s sexy Jazz-Age flapper, from 1927, getting ready for summer.
Photos of the Day: Smoking
In real life, smokers are unattractive. They smell bad. They have smoker’s face, yellow teeth. Even their hair, it’s smoker’s hair. But in photographs and and films, smoking is photogenic. Smoking looks good in movies and photos. The hand holding the match, cupped against the wind, as the tobacco ignites; the cigarette between two beauteous lips; a lovely face, engulfed in a cloud of smoke.
Photo of the Day: Rainy New York
Sometimes, New York City, seen through a rainy car window, looks like an Impressionist painting.