I was originally scheduled to interview Lukasz Jastrubczak in Poland last summer, but as I researched his background and projects I discovered that he was going to be in San Francisco in the fall on a residency at the Headlands Center for the Arts. Jastrubczak is a thoughtful artist, working his way through multiple concepts at once to make art that is both complex and[.....]

Isaac Julien’s Ten Thousand Waves is a nine-screen video installation interweaving three seemingly discrete narratives that explore the migratory journeys of people whose impetus for movement converges on the sole need to fulfil utopian desires for a better life. Set against the contrasting backgrounds of the blustery northwest coast of England, the rush hour in Shanghai and the misty bamboo forests and mountains of the[.....]

Comprising only a large installation at the Schirn Kunsthalle, Gabríela Friðriksdóttir’s Crepusculum – Latin for “twilight” or “dusk” – is a mixed-media, polyphonic, physical exploration of metaphysical structures that govern the human psyche, and speculates that an enigmatic and irrational system of signs, meanings and forms counterbalances the deceptively ordered exteriors of our existence. Above all, it is an experiential and tactile show that prioritises[.....]

Zoe Crosher’s haunting photographs—showcasing spots where both fictional and non-fictional characters disappeared—have been on display for the last month at Las Cienegas Projects in Los Angeles.  The show closes July 16th.  Crosher recently sat down with DS writer Carmen Winant to talk about the project and her work in general. Carmen Winant: Hi Zoe! Thanks for agreeing to talk with us.  In your latest series,[.....]

Javier Téllez engages subject matter that often makes people uncomfortable.  Delving into topics such as mental illness and institutional power, the artist critiques contemporary society by questioning passive or harmful notions of normalcy.  Téllez’s film Letter on the Blind, For the Use of Those Who See takes its name from an essay by Diderot and is inspired by a famous Indian parable. In the parable,[.....]

L.A. Expanded: Notes from the West Coast A weekly column by Catherine Wagley It makes a weird kind of sense that Elizabeth Taylor, who managed to move from sweetheart to sexpot to scandal then back to sweetheart more gracefully than any actress on record, would die the week of Tennessee Williams’ centennial. The playwright, not unlike the actress, had a remarkable knack for being glamorous[.....]

Flooded McDonald’s, by art collective Superflex, is currently on view at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington D.C.  For this recent film, Superflex painstakingly created a life-sized replica of a McDonald’s fast-food restaurant.  Their deliberate choice to employ one of the most recognizable brands in the world offers a familiar point-of-departure for the viewer, while also evoking related issues of consumerism and corporate[.....]