Tragic Strip

By Tom Motley

MAY 2019 | Fiction

Tom Motley is a cartoonist, illustrator, and educator. His publications include Tragic Strip (a monthly strip in the Brooklyn Rail), The Golden Ass, The One Marvelous Thing, and contributions to the indie anthology Cartozia Tales. He teaches cartooning at the School of Visual Arts and illustration at Pratt.

Estefania Velez Rodriguez: Time’s Passage is probably an Illusion

By Robert R. Shane

SEPT 2021 | ArtSeen

We feel disorientation and ecstasy as we enter Estefania Velez Rodriguez’s large-scale landscapes in Time’s Passage is probably an Illusion. Illuminated by fluorescent oil and spray paint, the pattern-rich paintings strip away the surface of the natural world to reveal the inner life of nature and of the artist.

Julie Mehretu with Yasi Alipour

NOV 2021 | Critics Page

As inspiration, I’ll focus on three subjects that you have been mentioning in the past years: music, revolution, and failure. Starting with music, I want to hear your thoughts on Nina Simone’s “Flo Me La” (1960). You have a painting from 2017–2018 that carries the same title. The three utterances “Flo-Me-La” become the whole lyrics for Nina Simone.

Olga Viso

JUNE 2021 | Critics Page

Olga Viso is a curator, writer, and contemporary art historian based at Arizona State University's Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts. She was previously the director of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC. She is a scholar of contemporary and Latin American Art, with a focus on the contemporary art of Cuba.