One of the less common forms, at least in recent years, for the most part peaking in the late-1980s with H.R. Giger’s work on the original Alien franchise and the Magic Eye book craze. Op Art gained attention through the work of and M.C. Esher. Not a typo on Pop Art, Op Art, short for…
Because of the Climate Crisis, we often think about nature and the environment on a large, often global scale. The question then asked is what can we, as cities, states, and nations, do to protect the earth and offset global warming. There is utility in this way of thinking. In fact, the Climate Crisis has…
The Philadelphia-based artist Maryann Held focuses on zoology and botanist themes. The highly detailed animals and plant life follows the classic look of scientific papers but with a twist. The dark, surreal background with brightly colored central focus, the animals, in her artwork are naturalistic but with a mythical finish to them. The artist has…
Few have the courage for warts and all honesty, most of humanity containing aspects in our complexity that we aren’t always proud of. A particular problem for those whose public image is part of their job. Some cultivate a ‘rebel’ image, but this is rarely organic or the whole picture, any more than those who…
Kris Huelgas (he/ him) is a Filipino-American poet living in Los Angeles, CA. Kris writes poetry about robots and dinosaurs. His work is published or forthcoming in Drunk Monkeys, Sweet Tooth Poetry, Alternative Milk Magazine, and others. Find him on Twitter and Instagram @krswellgs
Chrysalis by Anna Metcalfe “She has a power over the people who find her; once you’ve known her, it’s hard to go back to a time before.” While there is always an attraction to a manic, frantic, crisis-led novel, Chrysalis instead unfolds in a still, calm, and even slow manner. This works to maintain an…
At the first glance, Katy Telling’s pamphlet Bell Jar Barbie reads like a physical manifestation of a Valium-infused surrealist dream of a 1950s housewife. The twelve-page mini book is printed on a similar shade of pink as the Smith memo papers Plath wrote The Bell Jar and many of her poems, creating a magical-poetic synthesis between Telling’s experimental work…
The numerology of 9; I will not delve or glide down a winding road, though, the 36th year, is of some significance, and in the midst of a portion of experience. It is a portion because it has been less than 4 months following my lunar return, a birthday that equals 9, a number of…
It’s hard to describe John Fahey’s music. Three times now, I’ve tried to write this introduction by recounting the first time I heard his song, “Indian-Pacific Railroad Blues.” How it was the summer of 2021, how the pandemic lockdown confined me to my bedroom, how it was almost midnight, and my room felt like the…
One of the oldest known artistic forms, it can be a challenge for those practicing figurative art to do something that is really their own, there a certain sameness to the medium, the traditions and techniques for ‘proper’ portraiture set centuries ago. One artist breaking the mould is Vancouver-based painter Mandy Tsung. Often dreamlike and…
