Link About It: This Week’s Picks

A graphic novel about LSD, landing on the moon with an AR app, sea versus space and more from around the web

The Elusive Smile in Art History It’s a common misconception that the reason subjects in portraits of yesteryear didn’t smile is because of unappealing looking teeth. In fact, the reason is quite logical: smiling for hours on end is awkward and straining for models. In an essay on the topic, writer Nicholas Jeeves says, “A smile is like a blush. It is a response, not …

Allora + Calzadilla’s “Graft” Outdoor Installation at the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art

Thousand of fallen flowers acknowledge what we will lose through climate change

Scattered in front of the Rem Koolhaas-designed Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, within the manicured sprawl of Moscow’s Gorky Park, 80,000 artificial flowers comprise the installation “Graft.” There are seven hand-painted yellow floral shapes in various states of blossoming and withering. The vision of Puerto Rico-based artists Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla, the installation references their concern over the loss of biodiversity in the Caribbean due …

The Overlooked Art of Norman Lewis as Explained by Tarin M Fuller, Director of His Estate

Following a recent acquisition by the Whitney Museum, the artist is finding a new audience 40 years after his death

Born in Harlem, in 1909, Norman Lewis led a life laden with art and activism. Unlike many of his peers, he chose to separate the two—even though they influenced one another. As an African-American artist (especially one active from 1930 until his death in 1979) it was expected that his art would document the plight and putrid treatment of black Americans—and that it make a direct …