Art Books We Loved in 2025
Also: the best Paris shows of the year, protest at the New School, Maureen McCabe's magical creatures, and Liz Collins's groundbreaking textiles.
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9 shortcuts
The simple rule: Nine shortcuts take longer and are less productive than simply doing the work the right way the first time. When we look for one-quick-tip and the lazy hack, we’re wasting time we could have spent on the direct path instead. When a shortcut becomes the best way
Download 1300 Still Images from the Animated Films of Hayao Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli
You may have seen every single one of Studio Ghibli’s animated films, going well beyond the Hayao Miyazaki-directed My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, and Kiki’s Delivery Service to the less widely known but also charmingly crafted likes of Ocean Waves, My Neighbors the
A Year in Reading: Inward Journeys
Navigating a world in flux demands some understanding of who you really are, and some of my favorite pieces from this year speak to that need.
The Earliest Known Customer Complaint Was Made 3,800 Years Ago: Read the Rant on an Ancient Babylonian Tablet
Image via Wikimedia Commons The site Fast Company published an article that describes the “Complaint Restraint project,” an initiative that aims to create a “positive life by eliminating negative statements.” It’s an admirable goal. Though most of us have a perverse love of
Hundreds Rally Against Sweeping Cuts at New School
Around 40% of full-time faculty were offered buyouts and programs are on the chopping block as the university faces a $48M deficit.
New evidence suggests that Neanderthals were making fire in the UK 400,000...
New evidence suggests that Neanderthals were making fire in the UK 400,000 years ago . The previous earliest date of human fire-making was a mere 50,000 years ago. 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
Beatitude: Poet John Keene’s Spell Against Despair
How do we live whole in a breaking world? It helps to bless what is simply for being. It helps to thank everything for its unbidden everythingness. And still we need help — help holding on to the beauty amid the brutality, help stripping the armors of certainty to be
Our Favorite Art Books of 2025
This year, we read too many incredible books to count — here are a few that stuck with us, including tomes on Marsha P. Johnson, Mary Cassatt in Paris, and Ruth Asawa and mothering.
Victorian-Era Mourning Objects From the V&A’s Collection
From the archives of London’s V&A Museum, a selection of items that were used by Victorian-era mourners to remember and pay tribute to loved ones who had died, including jewelry with human hair, black dresses, jet black jewelry, mourning cards, and postmortem photography.
Remembering Frank Gehry, Martin Parr, and Mel Leipzig
This week, we honor a sculptor of buildings, a photographer of the absurd, and the “Chekhov of Trenton.”
Luminous Paintings Conjure Change in Shuo Hao’s Antique Furniture Assemblages
For Shuo Hao, finding the proper place is at the heart of her practice. The Chinese artist, who is currently based in Paris, has long been interested in the ancient text Yijing and how it offers a system of understanding for a world perpetually in flux. The cosmological book
The 10 Best Paris Art Shows of 2025
Olga de Amaral’s sculptural tapestries, Otobong Nkanga’s multi-media oeuvre, Meriem Bennani’s footwear-as-soundscape, and more.
The trailer for It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley, a documentary film about...
The trailer for It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley , a documentary film about the late singer/songwriter. 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
In Maureen McCabe's Art, the Medium Is the Message
The artist takes a mystical, magical journey through America's supernatural past in a retrospective at the Benton Museum of Art.
Timothy Snyder: “What comes next? For the Nazis, the deportation and the...
Timothy Snyder : “What comes next? For the Nazis, the deportation and the pogrom of autumn 1938 were steps towards creating a centralised national police agency. In the US, something similar is unfolding with ICE.”
Size of Life, a visual comparison of living things from DNA to...
Size of Life , a visual comparison of living things from DNA to a quaking aspen clone. Lovely illustrations. 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
Liz Collins Explodes Cliches About Crafts
In her textile-based practice, she calls attention to what holds a piece together or the ways some works seem ready to come apart.
TCU School of Art Offers Fully Funded Graduate Study
MA and MFA students at this university in Fort Worth, Texas, are trained for impactful careers in contemporary art, museums, and the broader arts field.
Stacy Gillian Abe’s Vivid Paintings Nod to Memory, Craft, and Lineage
In 'Garden of Blue Whispers, Abe reclaims and reinterprets the historical relationship of indigo to the Black body. Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article
I hate how good this is: Radiohead sings Santa Claus Is Coming...
I hate how good this is: Radiohead sings Santa Claus Is Coming to Town (There I Ruined It). 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
2000 Words for Japanese Rain
From artist Miya Ando, Water of the Sky, A Dictionary of 2,000 Japanese Rain Words . Through a collection of 2,000 Japanese words, their English interpretations, and 100 drawings, Ando describes the breadth and diversity of rain’s many expressions: when it falls, how it falls,
Seonna Hong’s Tender Paintings Navigate Contradiction with Care
In 'Cognitive Dissonance,' Seonna Hong depicts tender moments of compassion and community amid desolation. Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Seonna
The loose flap of skin around the elbow is called the what...
The loose flap of skin around the elbow is called the what now?? 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
NYC Cultural Institutions Group Taps New Leaders
Stephanie Hill Wilchfort of the Museum of the City of New York and Atiba Edwards of the Brooklyn Children's Museum will lead the coalition of city-funded institutions.
