Michael Williams‘ Does It Hurt to Be Crazy? (2014) is a wildly inventive painting that invites the viewer to find order in apparent visual chaos. Just want are we looking at here? A cheerful pink ice cream mascot stands before an American flag while a giant yin-yang symbol floats nearby. A cartoonish figure leaps through the scene as fragments of suburban houses, parking lots, and abstract brushstrokes collide in a dizzying visual mash-up.
Before his passing in 2025, Joel Shapiro spent decades redefining what abstract sculpture could be. His monumental work Ark stands as a powerful example of that vision. At first glance, the sculpture appears to have been frozen in the middle of an explosion. Bold planes of red, blue, and yellow thrust outward at unexpected angles, balancing in a way that seems to defy gravity. Installed directly on the floor rather than elevated on a pedestal, the work encourages viewers to circle it and experience its constantly shifting presence. Depending on where you stand, it can suggest a vessel in motion, a collapsing structure, a child’s stack of oversized blocks, or even a figure striding through space. Continue reading Modern Art Monday Presents: Joel Shapiro, Ark→
During World War II, after the imprisonment of then partner, Max Ernst, Leonora Carrington fled France and sought asylum in Spain. There, she experienced a series of psychological crises. Her family placed her in a sanatorium against her will, where she was subjected to severe treatments. Carrington eventually moved to New York, where Andre Breton encouraged you to write about her experiences in the Surrealist journal VVV. Continue reading Modern Art Monday Presents: Leonora Carrington, Green Tea→
Some symbols can move the whole world. The Rainbow Flag, first unfurled at the San Francisco Gay and Lesbian Freedom Day Parade on June 25,1978, is a gleaming example. Led by Gilbert Baker (1951 – 2017), a political activist and designer, 30 volunteers hand-dyed and stitched rainbow flags for the event.
This week’s Pink Thing of the Day comes from an exhibit I saw way back in 2017 by photographer Stephen Shore and his quietly captivating image Room 509, Dnipro Hotel, Kiev, Ukraine, July 18, 2012. The photograph seems almost disarmingly simple: a hotel room washed in soft pink tones, a bed neatly made, and a doorway that reveals a second room beyond. But the longer you look, the more the image unfolds. The composition layers space through that open doorway, creating a subtle narrative — two rooms, two viewpoints, and the quiet suggestion of someone just out of frame. Continue reading Pink Thing of the Day: Room 509, Dnipro Hotel By Stephen Shore→
