Ken Scrudato

Right around the time that Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring were tagging their way to eventual acclaim in a still quite edgy downtown NYC, Xavier Prou was birthing what would come to be known as the “stencil graffiti” style on the streets of Paris, 4000 miles away. He took the name Blek Le Rat, and the usually reviled rodent became his signature, showing up on walls all over the City of Light.

August 24, 2022 By Ken Scrudato Marc Newson: Shop Takeover, installation view, 2022 Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd Courtesy Gagosian Dating back to the radical style revolutions of the 1960s, there has been no shortage of chatter about the lines being blurred between design and art.

August 22, 2022 By Ken Scrudato Photo by Tony Broussard Though Big Freedia has been performing since 1999, the last decade or so has represented a particularly fascinating trajectory for the outspoken Black queer New Orleans rapper. Indeed, in 2011 he/she appeared in an episode of HBO’s ‘Treme’, and the following year performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, just before a SXSW show that totally electrified the festival.