Matt Kalasky’s scroll-like graphic essay imagines a brainstorming session about cosplay by people outside of the roles who image (wrongly) how to cosplay.
Read MoreIn this graphic essay, Matt Kalasky asks us to consider the ego involved in making art and to be accepting of it.
Read MoreThis graphic essay by Matt Kalasky tells the story of a disease passed on by a father to a son and from the son to his son. The allegorical story takes place nowhere in particular and has implications everywhere.
Read MoreMatt’s graphic tells the story of a gate, and of two who were separated because of it, and of what the two discovered when the gate went away.
Read MoreMatt tries an alternative method of constructing an essay, a playful and visual approach that encourages us to just keep swimming.
Read MoreLet’s take a step back from our national political nightmare and talk about local Philly politics. Today’s Reader Advisor touches on everything from Boyz II Men to the victory of Larry Krasner in last week’s primary.
Read MoreIn advance of the Philadelphia Art Book Fair coming up on May 5 and 6, we present a think-piece by Vox Populi member Matt Kalasky, who asks, is arts advocacy the same thing as artist advocacy? He argues that the creation of empathy is one of the artist’s most important productions, and that artists’ labor should be oriented more towards people than products.
Read MoreGary Johnson is the performance artist candidate we’ve been waiting for. Or, more specifically, he sometimes utilizes performance to communicate his ideas. Often, it is read as “class-clown” humor (which is a fair observation) but there is a part of me that respects his acknowledgment of non-traditional forms of communication. Unfortunately for Johnson, however, when you are running for president these performances are only effective when they articulate a nuanced understanding of complex issues rather than deflect or derail the conversation at hand.
Read MoreIf you haven’t done so you should read Hammam’s essay, Cultivating Competition: A Small Note on the Art Writing Challenge. After reading Hammam’s essay, I wanted to pull out a few points and add a few comments of my own.
Read MoreBut when an art piece grabs your attention it’s hard to ignore because it disrupts the languid comfortable homogeneity of my world and shows me something that doesn’t fit in; more specifically it actively refuses to fit in my world. That is how you know other worlds exist. This is how you get to those worlds. That is art at work.
Read MoreArt criticism should feel free to miss the point completely and wander off somewhere it doesn’t belong and sleep there on the couch for a couple of days promising it’s leaving this weekend but then why did it leave its toothbrush and bag here? How else is the conversation expanded?
Read MoreI asked my partner, Olivia, what I should read about during New York Fashion Week. She pointed out this evolving story of Alicia Keys and quitting makeup.
Read MoreAre artists special? This seems like one of those big bloated questions that avoids consideration mostly because talking about it would take too long. (Sometimes I feel every artist talk or discussion should begin by asking, What is art?) In one sense, it is a fairly straightforward question–yay, artist are special or neah, artist are not special. Of course, like most seemingly straightforward questions, there is a long and complicated path to the answer–e.g., Are you hungry? It depends. To address this question I want to examine a few of the underlying terms and, perhaps more importantly, explore how this discussion is shaped by tired tropes that are perpetuated by artists and non-artists alike.
Read More
Support for Artblog has been provided by The Philadelphia Cultural Fund.