Helen Frankenthaler was adept in the art of getting noticed. On May 19, 1950, she donned a costume meant to transform her into a Picasso painting and made her grand entrance into the Astor Ball flanked by an actress friend, Gaby Rodgers. Fresh from college and largely unknown, Life magazine found her eye-catching enough to […]
Aya Kusch
AYA KUSCH is an editor, artist, and freelancer based in San Francisco. She grew up playing with mud, which eventually led to a love of clay and a subsequent BFA in sculpture. She is fourth generation Japanese and a third generation potter, a Bay Area native, and a former bookseller who still obsesses over the best way to organize a bookshelf. She loves good design, contemporary art that will worry your mom and confuse your dad, and sculptures that make you look up. She is currently working on a book about art from Edo Japan.
Review of Fierce Poise: Helen Frankenthaler and 1950s New York by Alexander Nemerov
Eight Contemporary Female Irish Artists to Fall In Love With Immediately
by Aya Kusch
Ireland is a lush island full of the kind of creativity that verges on magic. Instantly you may think of its entrancing folklore, its grand literary tradition, and even contemporary authors such as Sally Rooney (endorsed by Taylor Swift) and Anna Burns (winner of the 2019 Man Booker Prize). Now I introduce you to your […]
How Justine by Forsyth Harmon Taught Me How to Feel
by Aya Kusch
A few days ago, I was talking with a friend, and I told her that teenage girls must have superpowers that temporarily bestow them with emotional endurance beyond what anyone else in any other demographic could hope for or imagine, and it’s amazing that anyone survives girlhood without needing tons of therapy afterwards. Her […]
Painting to Empower: An Interview with Artist Harmonia Rosales
by Aya Kusch
Ever since she began her art career, Rosales’s main artistic concern has been focused on black female empowerment in western culture. Her paintings depict and honor the African diaspora. The artist is entirely open to the ebb and flow of contemporary society which she seeks to reimagine in new forms of aesthetic beauty, snuggled somewhere […]
Taking on the Environmental Crisis, One Painting At a Time: An Interview with Lauren Matsumoto
by Aya Kusch
Lauren Matsumoto is a Brooklyn-based artist whose work touches on one of the most urgent crises facing humanity today: environmental degradation. Through her gorgeous, brilliantly executed paintings, which involve flora, birds, and vintage ephemera, she beautifully illuminates the fissures that have formed between humans and nature. In this fascinating interview, Matsumoto shares her insights on […]
Interview with Artist and Author Kristen Drozdowski
by Aya Kusch
Kristen Drozdowski is the powerhouse designer and artist behind Worthwhile Paper, a brand of stationary that includes greeting cards, art prints, decks, and notebooks. She is also the author of the guided journal, You Are the Magic You Seek: A Journal for Looking Within, which inspires self-reflection through handwritten prompts and affirmations, and features vibrant […]
Explorations in Friendship & Witchcraft in The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington
by Aya Kusch
Long before Sephora started selling “Starter Witch Kits” and books with titles like Witches, Sluts, Feminists: Conjuring the Sex Positive became mainstream, the Mexican-British surrealist painter, Leonora Carrington, was conjuring her own magical realms with the help of paint and the written word. Her wild life was marked by adventure, rebellion, and an irrepressible desire to create. […]
The Understated Beauty of Windows in Windowology: New Architectural Views from Japan
by Aya Kusch
Gazing out of a window, we hardly notice how it puts a frame around our landscape. But windows shape our perception of the world in a myriad of subtle ways. They tell us where our horizon is, what stands out in our field of vision, and how light dissipates throughout the day. Windows are also […]
The Art of Poetry And Translation: How The Disappearing Ox Reimagines a Buddhist Parable
by Aya Kusch
The Disappearing Ox is available for $28 at Brilliantbooks.com In the 1990s, the artist Max Gimblett suggested a novel yet intriguing project to the poet Lewis Hyde; that they create a modern, American version of the twelfth-century Chinese parable known as the Oxherding series. Hyde agreed, and from there emerged an odyssey into the realm […]
10 Must-See Exhibitions at the Hamptons Virtual Art Fair
by Aya Kusch
This year, ShowHamptons launched their inaugural Hamptons Virtual Art Fair, hosted by the Paris-based designer Christofle. The fair features 90 international galleries and 105 booth displays from 11 US cities, displaying altogether over 2,000 pieces of artwork. Artworks are displayed in virtual reality booths in 2D and 3D, and visitors can virtually navigate the exhibition […]
