Art Viewer

Installation view of Jackson’s hanging acrylic paintings embedded with quilt pieces

Suzanne Jackson’s retrospective at SFMOMA is a forest of paintings. Got to love those hanging acrylics

www.kqed.org/arts/1398221...

California School Shutters Exhibition After Altering "Political" Art Pepperdine University abruptly closed the show as at least a dozen artists asked to withdraw in protest of what they called an act of censorship.

"the school removed or altered art it considered “political.”"

oh no. no, no, no. that's not what we do.

What the World Needs Now Is Love — and Suzanne Jackson at SFMOMA The artist’s six decades of prolific, exploratory work shine in her first major museum retrospective.

Letha Ch'ien on Suzanne Jackson (excellence on both counts):

"SFMOMA has dedicated a generous amount of gallery space to more of these floating unmounted paintings than I’d dared hope to see in one place. ... Standing next to them lifts gravity; one’s body lightens."

www.kqed.org/arts/1398221...

Please acknowledge what is happening to American professors right now.

We do not deserve this.

SHAPIRO: OK, so you've spent your career creating television without Al, and I could imagine today you thinking, boy, I wish I had had that tool to solve those thorny problems... SIMON: What? SHAPIRO: ...Or saying... SIMON: You imagine that? SHAPIRO: ...Boy, if that had existed, it would have screwed me over. SIMON: I don't think Al can remotely challenge what writers do at a fundamentally creative level. SHAPIRO: But if you're trying to transition from scene five to scene six, and you're stuck with that transition, you could imagine plugging that portion of the script into an Al and say, give me 10 ideas for how to transition this. SIMON: I'd rather put a gun in my mouth.

David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)

He Wrote a Book About Antifa. Death Threats Are Driving Him Out of the US Rutgers historian Mark Bray is trying to flee to Spain after after an online campaign from far-right influencers was followed by death threats. He was turned back at the airport on his first attempt.

Mark Bray, a historian at Rutgers who specializes in Spanish history and radicalism, was turned back at the airport on his first attempt.

Bray has been a far-right target ever since he published 'Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook' in 2017.

painting: Reclining male figure with exuberant blond curls reading a manuscript on a stand in the curve around a lunette window in the chapel. The color change modeling goes from blue to red in dramatic shifts. Bold florid paint handling. Extraordinary posing as we expect from Michelangelo.

That blue to red color change modeling! The boisterous curls! Curling the figure around the lunette window so perfectly! Could only be Michelangelo.

One of Christ's ancestors on the Sistine ceiling. Michelangelo, 1508-12, fresco.

Trans Studies as Book Historical Method J. D. Sargan considers generative modes of reading through the premodern archive to seek out trans lives beyond the ephemeral glimpses that have gone unnoticed in the historical record.

I'm giving several talks about the books in the next couple of months, if you want to hear more (before you buy?). The first, linked below, is online via. UPenn @sims-mss.bsky.social on October 17th at 12 midday EDT.

Who Has a Say In the Flood of Public Art Coming to San Francisco? The Sijbrandij Foundation’s plan to install 100 pieces of large-scale art around the city needs public oversight.

Here's my commentary piece on the Big Art Loop, and what it means to hand our public space over to a billionaire and his choice of 100 pieces of existing, large-scale art.

And for god's sake: Send your opinions to the agencies/nonprofit/org involved, not to me!

www.kqed.org/arts/1398217...

YouTube video by gionmusic Audra McDonald: "There Won't Be Trumpets" (Anyone Can Whistle)

Remember Cuomo-sexual? People are so desperate for a man who blusters bravado. Too many trumpets around Newsom.

Looking ahead: Valentine's Day, President's Day, Lunar New Year, Ash Wednesday, and the First Night of Ramadan are all happening in a five day span next February 2026. Plan accordingly!

Photo of hand holding a split gluten free bao. White fluffy crumb

Gluten free Bao filled w hoisin sauce, duck, scallions and not struggling at all to hold the weight

Y’all, I’ve done it. After years of disintegrating crumb pouf bombs. I have a reliable gluten free bao recipe. DM me if you want it. Buns are soft, sweet, have great crumb structure, and hold together! Hope you had a good mid autumn moon festival.

Yes! Go and check out the show; it's really cool

The Museum of the African Diaspora is back — and aiming for the cosmos MoAD reopens during NEXUS: SF/Bay Area Black Art Week with two exhibitions — “UNBOUND” and “Continuum” — marking 20 years of Black art and vision.

The Museum of the African Diaspora is finally, finally reopen in SF and Key Jo Lee crushed it again [gift link]

A special good morning to anyone making gluten free bao, dumplings, and/or moon cakes.

I feel you! Footnotes take so much time. And it’s another conversation, but I think the humanities, in an effort to justify our existence, have made the practice of humanities far too difficult. My spouse’s non humanities dissertation required far fewer tears.

Do you have the fantasy of writing like a Renaissance dude too? All assertions, no evidence, just “of course I’m right!”

I'd take Carrie Bradshaw's apartment and shoe collection too.

I don't want sex like the movies; I want writing like the movies. I want to pick up a pen (quill or otherwise) in the middle of the night and write finished copy all perfectly organized and divinely inspired in one energizing frenzy before sending it off with zero editing because it needs none.

Jesus. You think it can’t get any worse, then you read these stories. US citizens and legal residents illegally arrested and held for days. **Native Americans** getting detained and held for days because ICE agents are too stupid/racist to know about tribal IDs.

Blocks of Le Lingot cheese with textured surfaces kind of looking like hieroglyphics

Two pyramids of Pouligny-Saint-Pierre goat cheese with textured surfaces looking a bit like wrinkled fingers after a bath. They sit on a table with grapes, a glass of wine, and walnuts

Naw, that's just what some cheese looks like.

Photo of black cat’s face emerging from pile of fur on a chair. Head big; body liquid

Happy #Caturday

Fund education.

You know how Alice Waters goes around telling people food should be expensive because it's worth a lot? We should say the same thing about education. (And then make sure there's access)

Deadlines.

Happy weekend to everyone else 👋✍️

Well I've got thoughts about business degrees too. Senior business majors in my classes couldn't make a pdf, rotate an image, basic skills. And all but one business major I had plagiarized.

I can't fathom what person would think a university would be the place to learn how to optimize for views. Learn TikTok at a college... like really.

"no people of color remain on the council. All women members, including four appointed by Trump during his first administration, were also terminated"

I propose we refashion a government made entirely of people fired in 2025.

Betting on the Creator Economy, Syracuse University Opens Academic Center for Podcasters and Influencers The shift in course offerings follows a recent decision to pause admission for 20 undergraduate majors, including fine arts and digital humanities.

Admission "paused" for 20 undergraduate majors including fine arts and digital humanities while Syracuse University opens a content creator center. To bring back a millennialism, I can't even.

USC to keep legacy status in admissions, violating California law Interim President Beong-Soo Kim explained why the school will continue considering if family members attended in its admissions process, and shared that the fall 2025 class saw the highest number of f...

“In order to get into USC, you absolutely have to be extremely well-qualified." Bwhahahahaha! Olivia Jade.

As I've said before, every diploma from a school with "legacy" admits needs to come with an asterisk. 14.5% nepo baby 2025 admissions!