United States
Writer, reporter and copy editor from New York City
"In the year of '39 assembled here the volunteers," opens "'39," an obscure Queen song, and what follows is a tale of love, loss and modernity, alternately hopeful and despairing, that strikes an unexpected chord in 2019.
And since so much professional art can seem baffling to the average viewer - white-on-white paintings, minimalism, cubism - the Museum of Bad Art provides an accessible entry point to viewers. It also underscores the subjectiveness of art, and how a piece's worth fluctuates depending on who's looking at it.
Since falling in love with the birds, she's dedicated her life to being their ally. At any given time she'll have treats in her pockets for the avian friends she encounters; she estimates she goes through about 100 pounds of birdseed a week.
"We didn't come prepared because we didn't really expect to find anything that first time," Kruse told OK Whatever, explaining why they hadn't thought to bring tools, such as casting material and a tape measure. But they did find something. While hiking, they discovered a series of huge footprints in the gravel.
Though such items may be unconventional, Lindberg believes anything that helps people process their grief is a good thing. "The more that you can capture someone about your loved one in the memorial, the more meaningful it is," Lindberg told OK Whatever.
The experience of a Virginia couple, Andrell and Aaron Laniewicz, mirrors mine. They knew they didn't want children, and even if they had, Ms. Laniewicz has medical conditions that would make it dangerous for her to carry a pregnancy to term. At 27, she decided to be sterilized through a tubal ligation.
When American consumers shop for leather goods, it probably doesn't enter their minds that their new belts, bags or shoes could be made not from cows or pigs but from cats and dogs. But not only is it a possibility, it's hard for consumers to know what they have been sold.
Bs have heard of subscription boxes, even if we haven't tried them ourselves. We can now get monthly mailings containing any products our hearts desire, from makeup to snacks to wine. Even our pets can get their very own subscriptions.
It's the wall that started it all: a layered amalgamation of multicolored, spray-painted hearts at Mott and Kenmare Streets in New York City. In an earlier time, a viewer might have simply stopped to marvel. But today, the impulse is different: "Let me take a selfie."
Surprisingly tall, with features softened by age, a calm, understated demeanor and that smooth, English-accented baritone for which he is famous, the award-winning 69-year-old actor is kingly in real life as well as onscreen.
Freelance book critic Laura Miller didn't get her first full-time journalism job until she was 35, but it turned out to be a major one: In 1995, she was the fifth employee hired at Salon. Miller worked at various alt-weeklies and before that, for a small local press and a mail-order company, while doing freelance criticism.
by Alanna Weissman Graphic to live-action adaptations are nothing new; every year brings a new crop of film and television adaptations of comic books. But one production takes things a bit further: "Fun Home," which opened April 19 on Broadway at the Circle in the Square Theater, not only tackles live musical theater, but retains many of the visual touches that define the source material's medium.
by Alanna Weissman Jean-Michel Basquiat experienced one of the art world's more untimely deaths, of a drug overdose at age 27. Now, nearly 30 years later, an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum helps illuminate his life and creative process by allowing the late graffiti artist and street poet to speak for himself.
by Alanna Weissman At eight feet high and six feet wide, it is impossible to miss: "The Holy Virgin Mary," a 1996 painting by Chris Ofili, featuring the black Virgin Mary on a canvas accented by elephant dung and collaged derrieres excised from the glossy pages of pornographic magazines.
BY Alanna Weissman Expensive high-rises and street art may seem like an unlikely combination, but in Chelsea, the two are experiencing a symbiotic relationship as legal, commissioned murals contribute to a rise in property values.
BY Alanna Weissman With cold weather rapidly approaching, many public musicians find themselves seeking a performance space sheltered from the elements through the city's Music Under New York program, which provides artists with permits to perform in subway stations and other public spaces. The process of obtaining a permit can be arduous, some performers say.