BlackBook

As we move farther into 2024, and closer to Election Day, habitual conversations around new legislation and the future of the United States are becoming  more recurrent. In New York, artists have been hosting a range of events geared towards raising awareness for upcoming political policies. Noise for Now is an organization hoping to make a difference in the conversation surrounding reproductive justice.

At a time when every painfully uninteresting detail of being a pop star is splayed all across social media, removing every last sense of mystery from a vocation originally built almost entirely on mystique, it decidedly intrigues that the French-American brother duo working under the fitting moniker Faux Real have managed to remain a curious enigma. This means, of course, that the music is left to speak for itself – though admittedly the clothes also do a lot of the talking.

An upcoming exhibition of the works of Christo and Jeanne-Claude at Aspen’s Hexton Gallery (opening August 1), as well as the current and impressively monumental survey of French duo Les Lalanne at London’s Claridge’s and Ben Brown Fine Arts both offer the unique chance to better understand the gender dynamics of working married couples in the arts. However, as of Christo’s passing in May of 2020, all four have already left behind this mortal existence.

In an eerily similar instance, French sculptor Claude Lalanne passed away in 2019 (aged 95), outliving her husband and working partner François-Xavier Lalanne by eleven years – while Franco Bulgarian sculptor Christo shuffled off this mortal coil the following year, having outlived his wife and working partner Jeanne-Claude…by eleven years.

Back before the COVID lockdowns went into effect, we received a text one day from a New York colleague visiting London that she had discovered her new favorite hotel – high praise, since this was a person who knew quite a lot about hotels. It was called The Ned – and though it was located in the not-exactly-bleeding-edge neighborhood of The City (the financial beating heart of Blighty’s capital), perpetually hip Shoreditch was just a short stroll away.

First world problems, yes – but we very much missed our beloved Italia during the long period of COVID-imposed travel restrictions. And while we would nevertheless recommend to anyone but the bravest of travelers to put off vacation plans for the rest of this summer (airports and prices are a nightmare), an early autumn visit to Tuscany would seem to be the most perfect revenge travel strategy we could think of.

That Pride Month 2022 coincided with the ascension of a very real threat to the basic human rights of the LGBTQ+ community in America has surely only imbued it with an even greater sense of determination and purpose. Indeed, with the striking down of Roe v.

From a more global perspective, it might have been just a curious little footnote that Karmalink was the first sci-fi film ever made in Cambodia. Still, if you consider what that means as a culture, they have essentially just entered the realm of science fiction cinema at a time when the genre almost can’t keep up with reality itself. Yet that’s not really so much the story here.

We admit to a certain degree of disappointment in ultimately realizing that we’re never going to see Idris Elba as James Bond. But the beloved actor / IRL superhero seems far too busy in his all around awesomeness to likely even think of adding a years-long stint as 007 to his resume.

All images: Installation image of “(In)tangible Futures: Women at the Forefront.” Courtesy West Chelsea Contemporary and the artists. In September of 2020, just as art dealers and the major art fairs were scrambling for quick-fix – but also hopefully long term successful – digital strategies, TheArtGorgeous.com published the timely story 9 Women Ruling the Digital Art World.