Thao: Ambition

Thao (aka Thao Nguyen, formerly of the ebullient Bay Area-based alt-folk act Thao & the Get Down Stay Down) has digitally released the self-produced rock single “Ambition,” which first appeared on a seven-inch from a 2021 tour. “‘Ambition’ is the first of a new batch,” Nguyen says of the compelling track, wherein the narrator questions how they will get free. “We play it in the …

Latinx Project’s “Building Radical Soil” Explores Sustainability in Collective Art

At NYU’s Latinx Project, Building Radical Soil is a group exhibition (on view now until 5 May) by nine artists who meditate on conservation methods throughout the Latin, African and Asian diaspora. Whether focusing on traditional or contemporary approaches to sustainability, the artists highlight how collective art-making acts as resistance against colonialism-induced climate change. Lina Puerta’s “Broccoli Crop Workers” is a tapestry that depicts figures representing …

Interview: Artist Josh Smith On His Process and The Large-Scale Abstractions in “Keyhole”

Understanding the artist's latest work from his Bushwick studio to Xavier Hufkens gallery in Brussels

Recently on view at Xavier Hufkens gallery in Brussels, Josh Smith’s Keyhole comprised a new collection of large-scale, colorful abstract paintings and figurative monotypes. One of the best-known contemporary painters of his generation, Smith has walked the line of representational art, text-based painting and abstraction. The artist divides his time between New York and Tennessee, and has a massive studio in NYC’s Bushwick, where he …