“Film has always been my gateway to a larger world,” says “official film nerd” Jessie Rodriguez, who crafts every detail of her stop-motion films by hand, right down to the hidden pull tabs that facilitate ...
Q+Art
Arts editor Morgan Laurens interviews artists from around the world.
Night Photographer Troy Paiva Documents the Decline of the American Empire [Interview]
Editor’s note: an earlier version of this post ran in 2022. We’re publishing this update in honor of our 2023 exhibition, Sugar Rush, which includes work from Troy Paiva. Long before photographer Troy Paiva visited ...
Mary Anne Carter Embraces Her Quirks With Candy Colors and Explosive Patterns [Interview]
“I’ve never been able to blend in,” says Mary Anne Carter, who bears a conspicuous port-wine stain on her left cheek, a maroon-colored splash that marked her face even as a baby. “[The birthmark] fast-tracked ...
Marcelina Gonzales Crafts Intimate Resin Works That Explore Identity, Culture, and Adolescence [Interview]
Editor’s note: an earlier version of this post ran in 2021. We’re publishing this update in honor of our 2023 exhibition, Sugar Rush, which includes work from Marcelina Gonzales. Marcelina Gonzales creates oil-tinted resin works ...
Kim Kyne’s Sugary Works Help the Existential Medicine Go Down [Interview]
Editor’s note: an earlier version of this post ran in 2021. We’re publishing this update in honor of our 2023 exhibition, Sugar Rush, which includes work from Kim Kyne. “A spoonful of sugar helps the ...
Jada Fabrizio Advocates for Animal Rights With a Series of Darkly Playful Photographs [Interview]
Editor’s note: an earlier version of this post ran in 2022. We’re publishing this update because we have exciting news about photographer Jada Fabrizio. Photographer Jada Fabrizio creates staged scenes populated with animal figures that ...
Environmental Artist April Flanders Facilitates a Conversation Between Art and Science [Interview]
Editor’s note: an earlier version of this post ran in 2022. We’re publishing this update because we have exciting news about installation artist April Flanders. April Flanders wants to facilitate a conversation between science and ...
Midwest Gothic: An Extremely Polite Conversation With Tim Rickett and Epiphany Knedler of MidwestNice Art [Interview]
It’s pop, not soda. But say “soda” within spitting distance of a Midwesterner and they’re more likely to hand you a can of Coke than correct your dialect to the preferred “pop.” The corn-eating flatlanders ...
Victoria Cassinova Opens Her Visual Diary for the World to See [Interview]
“I like to think of my work as a mix of the coherent and incoherent,” says LA-based artist Victoria Cassinova when she’s asked to describe her provocative figure paintings. “I like pairing a little bit ...
Abstract Expressionist Shaylen Broughton Goes With the Flow [Interview]
A decade ago an American artist walked along the canal-lined streets of Venice, paused to scoop up some salt water, and tucked it away for later. That artist is Shaylen Broughton, who used the canal ...
Filmmaker Andi Avery Challenges Mainstream Media’s Idea of Sex Work [Interview]
Filmmaker Andi Avery wants to confess a terrible secret. “I don’t really like watching movies,” they say when asked to share a favorite. “Living with depression and ADD means that feature-length films are often difficult ...
Visionary Filmmaker Elijah McKinnon Uses Dreaming as a Survival Tactic [Interview]
To Elijah McKinnon, dreaming is a survival tactic, a blueprint passed down through generations of the African diaspora. “For those who struggle with tapping into the divine, I challenge you to dream as big as ...
Mickayel Thurin Fosters Compassion With Emotionally Charged Portraits [Interview]
“When you have a panic attack, you feel like you’re dying,” says portrait artist Mickayel Thurin in a recent short documentary on her life and family. Posing as her own model for “The Panic Attack,” ...
Creating the Future: The Founders of Pedestal Focus on Black Joy [Interview]
“We’re creating the future,” say creative partners Celeste O’Connor and Mecca McDonald. “Get ahead or stay behind.” It’s sound advice from two artists whose joint work could be described as visionary. Co-founders of Brooklyn-based production ...
Korean American Illustrator Steven Shik Finds an Escape From Planned Obsolescence [Interview]
“They don’t make ‘em like they used to,” as the idiom goes. Change a light bulb, throw the old one away. Exhaust your iPhone with selfies, recipes, and text messages, then eagerly upgrade to the ...