ROUND-UP August 15-18, 2019

Hello all! Here's a new batch of recent writing. To see what I've been up to elsewhere (aka my trip to Japan!), feel free to check out my Instagram here.

• "“The Art Of Self-Defense” Wants You To Think About Toxic Masculinity." BUST Magazine, August 15, 2019.

"Most importantly, as we see played out literally in The Art of Self-Defense, this rigid and destructive interpretation of masculinity must be perpetuated through ritual violence in order to survive [...] The coldly vicious type of masculinity that restricts what kind of music you can listen to is so soul-killing that it must be actively codified, practiced, and passed on in order to exist at all."

• "A New Exhibition Elevates Vision-Board Kitsch into Futuristic Prophecy." Humble Arts Foundation, August 15, 2019.

"Arnold Hauser wrote in The Sociology of Art: “great art gives us an interpretation of life which enables us to cope more successfully with the chaotic state of things and to wring from life a better, that is, a more convincing and more reliable, meaning.” The Vision Board stands as a testament to the importance of the existence of artists, especially in times of turmoil. Whether it’s helping us to make sense of our present moment, understanding the lingering implications of the past, or conjuring a new future before our eyes, artists continue to have a critical role to play in how we live and take in our world."

• "Narrative paintings at Craig Krull Gallery accentuate Los Angeles’s complicated history." Artblog, August 18, 2019.

"Perhaps in response to Los Angeles’s lack of specific painting tradition, Narrative Painting in Los Angeles, currently on view in Santa Monica’s Craig Krull Gallery, aims to shine a light on local contemporary artists whose work chronicles the particularities and peculiarities of the city I still call home. Narrative Painting in Los Angeles could be categorized as a show of history, allegory, and personal mythos, although many works fit into more than one of those categories. While the compositions are largely grounded in reality, there are welcome deviations from the purely literal as well."