Dall∙E and the Creation of Art
My early years at high school were marked by a protracted disagreement with my art teacher. Given the evidence of several years of atrocious drawings, I had concluded that I…
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Posts by tag
Art
19 posts
Why Art Is Not Just a Vehicle for Meaning
People have always used art to understand aspects of the past and present and conceive visions of possible futures that remain unattainable by other means. Despite this, nowadays, outside of…
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In Defense of Beauty
The famous column overlooking the town of Astoria, Oregon has had a long and chequered history. Immense human capital has been expended on the construction of this tourist attraction on…
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The Work of Art in the Age of the Subscription Economy
Walter Benjamin’s The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (1935) is highly relevant to our current cultural and political situation, since aspects of fascist era history are…
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In Defense of “Hamilton”
This isn’t really about Hamilton. This is about the ideas espoused by left-wing postmodernists and how they lead to the misery of American audiences everywhere for no good reason. The…
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Statue Switcheroo: Monumental Figures, Radical Politics and History
Call me a squishy centrist, but, while I think monuments to Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis and King Leopold don’t deserve to stand in perpetuity, I sympathize with arguments that…
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Yes, We Should Fund the Arts During a Pandemic
Photo by Igor Miske Artistic experience often necessitates the gathering of crowds in museums, galleries and theaters. During the coronavirus pandemic, this has obviously posed a unique challenge to artistic institutions…
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Saving Socialist Realist Art in San Francisco
(A Self-Portrait by the Artist) In 2018, San Francisco removed the 124-year-old Early Days sculpture from Civic Center Plaza because it showed a Plains Indian sitting at the feet…
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Politics vs. Aesthetics: Why Great Art Cannot Conform to Our Political Views
Percy Bysshe Shelley proclaimed poets “the unacknowledged legislators of the world.” Today, that distinction belongs to Twitter mobs. Dispensing mob justice in brief and brutal 280-character decrees, these sneering Solons…
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The Strangest Fandom on the Internet
Christian Weston Chandler is a celebrity, though why may not immediately be clear. He’s never written a bestseller, recorded a platinum album, invented or discovered anything of note, or committed…
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Documentary Photography: A Long-Form Art Form Amid the Culture Wars
The intensive use of photographs by mass media lays ever fresh responsibilities upon the photographer. We have to acknowledge the existence of a chasm between the economic needs of our…
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Why Reality Is Stranger Than Fiction
Critics and philosophers often argue that art estranges reality, thereby drawing attention to the way we organize our lives and perceive things. Reality, however, frequently outsmarts fiction because the human…
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Supposed Former Appropriation Junkie: Reinterpreting Alanis Morissette
Recently, while doing the dishes, I gazed upon a ratty, exhausted old sponge caked with debris—and was instantly reminded of those who have soaked up every bad idea that has…
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Separating Art from Propaganda
Fair warning: this article is propaganda. It was written to change your mind. I have a point to make and an argument to support this point, with the intended result…
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Let’s Make Tomatoes Great Again
As we’re all aware, there’s some pretty heavy shit going on in the world. I’m pretty sure you’re all as exhausted with current events as I am, so let’s whisk…
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In Defense of HBO’s Counterfactual ‘Confederate’
In late July, HBO announced its forthcoming alternate history series Confederate, a show that will take place in a world in which the South successfully seceded from the Union and…
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The Gospel of Jon Snow: Christ Allegory in ‘Game of Thrones’
— Spoilers for Game of Thrones up to Season 7, Episode 3 — When a writer is trying to convey that a character is some kind of hero or redeemer, that…
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Taking out a Patent on Culture
Calls to destroy a painting by a white artist, Dana Schutz, of a black victim of a lynch mob hanging in the Whitney Museum illustrates that for many, even artistic…
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