Category: art

The Political Power of Punk: Dead Kennedys’ “Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables”

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been reading some books from the 33 1/3 series, specifically Nick Attfield’s on Dinosaur Jr.’s 1987 album You’re Living All Over Me and Michael Stewart Foley’s on Dead Kennedys’ 1980 album Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables. Each has been thoroughly engaging, and Attfield’s writing serves, in a lot ways, as a master class on writing about music while Foley’s does an … Read More The Political Power of Punk: Dead Kennedys’ “Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables”

The Importance of Art as Resistance and Existence

A few weeks ago, someone told me about the work of neurologist and psychologist Viktor Frankl and his time in a concentration camp duroing World War II. After the person told me about Frankl, I sought out his memoir Man’s Search for Meaning where he lays out his ideas surrounding logotherapy. Frankl explains that logotherapy, which derives from logos, the Greek word for “meaning,” “focuses on the meaning of … Read More The Importance of Art as Resistance and Existence

Why We Need Art!

A few weeks ago, as I was scrolling through my social media feed, someone commented on Chris Smith’s Devo, a documentary on the Akron, Ohio band. The post pointed out that watching the band’s early performances during the 1970s really solidified them within the lineage of punk. Taken together with their ideological positions and aesthetic, Devo embody punk. Inspired by the Dadaist and other twentieth … Read More Why We Need Art!

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Look at the Landscape Through Your Legs: How Our Imagination Shapes Our View of the World

In her posthumously published memoir Family of Earth: A Southern Mountain Childhood, Wilma Dykeman asks us to think about the ways that we process reality and the stories we hear and share. Dykeman wrote the manuscript in her twenties in the early 1940s. Early on, she details learning to walk and learning to speak, moments that most people do not remember at all. I know, … Read More Look at the Landscape Through Your Legs: How Our Imagination Shapes Our View of the World

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The Dangers of Art in Szymon Kudrański’s “Something Epic”

Since its debut earlier this year, I have really enjoyed Szymon Kudrański’s Something Epic. Specifically, I enjoy Kudrański’s exploration of the creation and role of art in lives, the ways that art informs us and tells us more about the world we inhabit. I’ve written multiple posts about Kudrański’s series, exploring the ways we use words and imagination to create worlds and the ways that our subconscious … Read More The Dangers of Art in Szymon Kudrański’s “Something Epic”