#so many of my untitleds are about eris

[separatist-apologist]

For the ask game...untitled document, dealers choice?

You got it!

Their officiant, dressed in white and gold, never got a chance to speak. “Don’t do this, Elain.”

It was slow motion, turning her head to look at Lucien. His brother lunged for his arm in the pew just behind, just nearly missing. Lucien dodged, stepping down the side aisle as he strode towards her.

Nesta quickly jogged the three steps from the altar to the floor, palms raised in warning. “Come no closer,” she whispered.

Lucien halted, eyes never leaving Elain’s face. She was shaking so hard she might have collapsed had Graysen not been holding her hand so tightly. Five hundred heads all stared at Lucien.

“Please,” she whispered.

“I tried to settle this between us,” he replied, his jaw set. “You have refused. What other recourse do I have?”

“A gentleman would walk away,” Nesta hissed. 

“What is the meaning of this? Are you making some claim to my wife?” Graysen, clearly outraged and outranked by Lucien in both title and peerage, waited for a response.

“Lucien,” she pleaded softly. “There is nothing–”

“I have had the lady,” he said, silencing her entirely. The whole room collectively gasped. Elain stumbled backward a step as if the lie itself had shoved her. Graysen turned to look, eyes wide. Elain knew why.

He’d come to her only days before and tried to complete the courtship between them, had sworn he meant to be faithful. Elain had stopped him, swearing to remain chaste right up until the moment they spoke their vows.

“What did you say?” Graysen whispered. Elain, too, was sure she hadn’t heard him. Sure Lucien would not make such a declaration in front of the whole of London. 

“Take it back,” Nesta demanded.

“I cannot,” Lucien replied. “Elain is compromise—”

She never heard the rest of what he said. Pulling her hand from Graysen’s grasp, Elain turned towards the steps, ears buzzing, her eyes unfocused.

Elain collapsed.

[mika-no-sekai-blog]

For WIP game I have too many questions lol

Obviously I can't wait for more Heal Me (love it sm) and will read anything Az.

It is between Mistress and the untitled Eris one. I love Lucien with Elain and if I'm being honest I love a man of mystery and Eris is that (I don't know, it's kinda like with Az, I know his life has secretly been tragic and I don't want to fix him I just want to comfort him).

So any snippet or info on the Untitled Eris x reader one?

Well Az stuff, I can't wait for writing that. My fingers itch for months because of it.

The Eris' one is also something I have on mind for quite a long time, but for now it exists in form of notes, short paragraphs and ideas, some more detailed than others to make things easier later. I'm excited to write for this one, too😏

Reader is from Hewn city, expecting to get married to one of the horrible lords there. But when her father gets proposal from new High Lord of Autumn himself, he can't and definitely won't say no. And so reader is sent to Autumn Court to be wed.

She heard the rumors about Eris, saw him several times in Hewn city and she doesn't expect him to be any different from males she grew up with. From the beginning Eris is cold to her and doesn't visit her chambers at all. However, he sends suggestions on how she should spend her time in form of commands. After a while reader finds out that all his 'commands' are meant to actually bring her joy and for the first time in her life she feels happy and free.

She becomes interested in her husband and wants to know him more. As they get closer, she falls from him. But then she finds out about his biggest secret and it changes her whole life.

[daycourtofficial]

WIP Game

Rules: make a new post with the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! And then tag as many people as you have WIP's

Thanks for tagging me: @pit-and-the-pen @mika-no-sekai-blog @thelov3lybookworm @shadowdaddies @prythianpages @azrielbrainrot @stormhearty @illyrianbitch I love you guys 🥰🥰

(I think that was everyone, however my notifications have been wild this weekend soo I’m so sorry if I missed anyone)

This obv isn’t all my drafts, but it’s some of my most current ones

1. Put her canine teeth in the side of my neck (Azriel x reader)

2. I will follow you into the dark (Azriel x reader)

3. Take a look at my girlfriend (Nesta x reader)

4. Untitled (Nesta x Cassian x Azriel x reader)

5. Not cooking for Az (placeholder title) (Az x reader)

6. A damning night for us all (Eris x Rhys’s sister!reader)

7. How everyone found out (Azriel x reader)

8. Never seen, never known (Azriel x reader)

9. An Autumn Courting (Eris x reader)

10. A Drunken Vanserra (Eris x reader)

11. The first chapter to a potential series that I’ve just titled ‘Nyx’ for now (Azriel x reader)

12. Eris being a hot water bottle (Eris x reader)

13. Let’s play restaurant (Eris x Rhys’s sister!reader)

14. ???? (Azris x reader)

15. Storyboarding a series (Azris x reader)

16. Storyboarding a murder mystery series (Azriel x reader)

17. Falling in love on the fourth floor part 12

And about 18 million drafts just titled ‘Eris’ in some form or another it’s a wee bit ridiculous I must say

Also I won’t be tagging anyone bc I’m pretty late to this game and I’ve seen a ton of people do it, but if you’ve been itching to do it, here’s your sign ☺️

[littlestartopaz]

WIP Ask Game

Tagged by @disillusioneddanny. Thanks for the tag!

RULES: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! and then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

So, since it's been a hot minute since I touched my WIPs, and there are a few I really would like to get back to, we're gonna post the ones I'm most interested in, by subject. I organize my stories in folders so that counts, right? Right. Anyway, in various stages of completion we have:

My Hero Academia

Digimon AU

Mchfau training camp invasion

The fine line between adoption and abduction

Stand Out Fit In

5+1 eri first moments

dcmk crossover

Loz au

Neo: The World Ends With You

Three minutes clapping, three years silence

One Piece

Room for One More

Stormlight Archive

Nothing harder than orange

Renarin in bridge 4

Solidarity

Untitled Document 2

DPxDC

Loss like a severed limb

Original Work - Grave Keeper

The Gravekeeper (original rewrite)

Julie's Revival

Tombstone name reveal

Undercover villain revival

Those of you who have been around for the last time I got tagged in one of these will recognize many of these WIPs, and some are new. For the original work, feel free to ask about it in general rather than a specific WIP. Asks will get a summary of the fic/project and maybe an excerpt if I have a section I like well enough to share.

I definitely don't have enough writer friends to make that many tags, so @lanternmoth @gothicrosediamond @aideyn you're being picked for tribute (no pressure, do it or don't at your leisure), as well as anyone else seeing this that wants to participate.

[imonthemoonitsmadeofcheese]

RULES: post the names of all the files in your WIP list, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send an ask with the title that most intrigues them and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it. And then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

Ok so… this is where we get into just how utterly chaotic my creative process is, but not in a way that results in oodles of files that have creative interesting names - quite the opposite in fact.

You see… I have currently have 16 files and the titles are:

Moonrat Moonrat 2 Moonrat 3 Moonrat 4 … all the way up to the current Moonrat 16

The reason for this is that I don't actually separate different stories into individual files until they end up on Ao3. It's all just one long running thing all squished together with a few spaces between 'chunks' that sometimes, but not always, end up being separate stories and/or chapters. And I'm a packrat (pack-moonrat?) and never throw anything away so if something is cut out it's usually shoved in a free spot at the bottom of everything else to be used in something else later.

When Google docs starts taking too long to load and spazzes on me with lag, that's when I start a new file.

Because my first drafts end up looking more like free-verse poetry than stories, with usually only between 1 and 5 words on a line, either in bits of un-attributed dialogue or point form ideas, it often goes on for a ridiculous number of pages, so these tend to be large documents. I also am really really bad at titles. Except in very rare situations, everything comes out as untitled brain vomit and then is titled very close to the end (sometimes mid Ao3 post when I realize 'oh yes, titles are a thing - oops') long after I've turned it into actual sentences with real grammar and such.

Basic unfinished idea-chunks that are ongoing include, but are not limited to:

30-some pages of the first Dawning story that is still unfinished (I ended up realizing I would not finish the writing challenge in time if I continued the inordinately long Dawning story I had begun so I wrote "Dawning Oasis" instead and will finish this one some other time)

the Drifter on a special secret mission for Eris in the Sepulcher lost sector in the Throne World

Eris finding a renegade Hive chapel dedicated to her on the Moon

the last chapter(s) of "Dance with Vengeance" (this has since been posted)

several false starts based upon lyrics to other Crane Wives songs for that one writing challenge I did (as opposed to the completed one with sad Drifter having nightmares called "Ashes, Ashes")

oodles of random snippets of dialogue

Drifter teaching Eris to cook and/or cooking and/or Eris eating various dishes

various iterations of Eris exhibiting telepathy and/or non-normative vision that I have rejected from current projects for consistency reasons which may end up in other things later

more Immaru bullying like in "Visitation" and "Wind Chimes" (he knows what he did)

lots more nightmares because, when I'm not writing fanfiction, that's one of my narrative specialities

several false starts for the sequel/enactment of the private gambit match discussed in "Hide and Seek"

bits pertaining to and/or including/referencing that one bog slug

Per the rules above, you are invited to ask/message about any/all of these (or, quite frankly, anything else - I do not bite unless we both agree that I wish to bite you and you wish to be bitten).

I have never done a thing like this before, nor have I ever tagged anyone else on tumblr before, so here's hoping I did this correctly. I was tagged by: @flowers-of-io and I am tagging: @redbutterflies-blueeyes @synnthamonsugar @bbyfacedx and @annieruok94

I would love to tag more people but I actually have quite the serious disconnect between who people are on Ao3 and who people are on here and I am very easily confused. If you look at this and go "But why did you not tag me? Do you not love me?" The answer is: "No I just have no fucking clue what I'm doing. Please say hello and tell me who you are on Ao3 so I can include you if I ever do a thing like this again."

That is all.

[imonthemoonitsmadeofcheese]

Oooh! Recommendations! I have some! Behold the Drifteris edition!

SFW-Unfinished:

I am at war on Ao3 with @redbutterflies-blueeyes and updates of my story, Mottephobia, are held for ransom until they update their story, Inspiral because I love that story so damn much. Eris in a sling running Gambit, Drifter detangling her hair, Eris empathically able to see the stark dichotomy of friendly, smiling Drifter vs the dark swirling mess of painful emotions just below the surface... It's fantastic.

LuminescenTT has a beautifully written, complex and enthralling Drifteris story, The Mystic and the Rat, which has been ongoing for some years now and they have, Ahamkara-like, recently returned to updating when I wished desperately for more story. It's lore-rich and emotionally-potent with vivid dreamscape interactions with Orin and Eris and undead dragons and Stasis castles and pyramid ships and the best depiction of the most potent manifested nightmare the Drifter could ever find himself up against: himself. It's. so. good.

Above all, I recommend these two - please please please go read and consider leaving them kudos and comments to convince them to post more! Join me in gnawing on the rim of the empty story-bowl begging "please... may I have more?" as we wait, squirming together in unrequited frustration, restless and insatiable in our yearning for the next update.

But wait... there's more!

SFW - Finished

Demiclar writes very beautiful things. Some of my favourites are hidden within December 2023 writing challenge where Eris is teaching Zavala how to use Stasis while the Drifter is lurking about being weird and very Drifter.

When I'm having you back by botaniq_100 is a delightfully sweet Drifteris AU that has an enchanting softness which lingers in the brain long after you stop reading it.

sharp_tooth_of_death writes breathless, chaotic, prose-poetry that skitters across the page. They gifted seldom selcouth to me. It is beautiful.

Already mentioned by others, but Swordstorm wrote a lovely Drifteris piece as a gift for me, An Untitled Triplet, and it is especially delightful. Please read it.

i was born hungry is a dream-like. shifting and ethereal piece by trains_arent_real which explores the Drifter's relationship with food in ways I haven't seen done elsewhere.

And I'm pretty sure most people know that @synnthamonsugar doesn't write Drifteris... except when she does... and All in the Process is of course a much beloved favourite of mine as a result.

I was also going to mention adrift_me, especially An anchor in the sea of screams, Despite everything, he waited, and Drown in you but then realized that is @a-driftamongopenstars, i.e. OP for this entire thread. No wonder the recommendations above mine ended up being so excellent!

NSFW recommendations below!

Many of these are very explicit. Feel free to skip if you are not interested in such things but I am an adult and I like adult things, and, especially, I often find mature/explicit things are not given the attention to craft and poetics and beauty that I find attractive and worthy of attention. So, when I find ones that are exquisite and beautiful in addition to being filled with happy fun sexy times, I feel they absolutely should be celebrated and shared. Just because you have sex in your story doesn't mean it can't also be art, and these absolutely are art:

Fourthdimnsion wrote chaste their kiss, wrought their shapes, a beautiful erotic Drifteris poem, as a gift for me and I love it. They also write fantastically Hivey Hive things.

Drifteris drabbles by moonshaunted is a fun exploration of a physical relationship between Eris and the Drifter, but it is the last piece in that series, Grey, which completely takes my breath away. I have serious writing envy over that one. I'm outright jealous that it's so beautiful. I want my words to be that haunting some day.

Ad somnium by claypidgey is a lovely exploration of Drifteris co-sleeping that I adore intensely and another work of theirs, Fade away is hive Eris vore that is bizarrely (to me, anyway) sweet and romantic and oddly touching. (Yes, I just recommended vore - it's good!)

I love everything bbyfacedx writes, but especially, little soldiers, a First Crota Fireteam piece, is the most aesthetically beautiful and emotionally touching five-person sex scene I have ever read. All other First Crota Fireteam pieces (explicit or not, SFW or not) are measured up against this one in my brain. So much of bbyfacedx's writing is just as beautiful and touching and fantastic, but in particular, they wrote a lovely gift for me: moonrat mixtape, which is just exquisite and sweet and beautiful and I love it intensely, especially the comparison of Drifter to a stray cat, which I feel is so very appropriate and true.

Motorboats' Thicker than water is, as was mentioned by @synnthamonsugar but not linked above, the hottest and most well-written Drifter/Eris/Elsie threesome I have ever encountered.

This last one is not Drifteris! Silver and gold by emthefirst is an extremely compelling and hot Drifter/OC 142k word piece that I devoured in one sitting the first time I read it because I just couldn't stop. If you enjoy Drifter being reeled in like a struggling fish into an emotionally intense, poly, very queer, and deliciously nonnormative relationship with a backdrop of fight scenes and violence and compelling plot, this one's for you. I can only hope to one day be able to sustain something resembling the level of tension and interest in my readers that I experienced reading this. It's fantastic.

Stopping now or this will become a novel of its own. Feel free to message me for more recommendations if you have specific likes/dislikes. Or to recommend things to me based upon what I wrote here. I also agree with so very many of the recommendations of the people in this thread before me (including the one that recommends my things *happydance* thank you!) <3<3<3

thinking about ao3 comment culture and you know what, although I love complaining about it and Have Things To Say, I also want to do something about it. so imma just make it a rule to comment on a few fics every week. feel free to throw me destiny fic recs, your own fics, or smth.

[wildlyglittering]

What are some of the Nessian things you have planned?

Ah thank you for sending this ask!

Well....

My Gift to You - a small angsty one shot going up today exploring Nesta’s feelings towards Rhys after ACOSF 

The Perils of Being Mr. Nesta Archeron - a nonsense ‘comedy’ one shot about how every male in Prythian can’t stop proposing to Nesta

Quintessence of Dust - a beast of a story which I’m still nowhere near finished editing (it needs so many re-writes) but is a multi part modern au ‘body swap’ between Nesta and Cassian where Nesta makes a wish on a star one night and doesn’t exactly expect it to come true in the way it does...

The War of the Thorned Roses - another multi part beast which I’m still outlining but is set an alternate Victorian Prythian where Nesta, Feyre and Elain are witches who have to hide that fact after Amarantha (another witch) cursed the Lords sons into beasts. Involves a manipulative Rhys, naive Feyre and a Nessian who are sleeping with each other to spy on the ‘other side.’

The Witch in the Wood - a one shot Cassian POV set in an alternative ye olde world where there are rumours of a hideous witch living outside his village - a witch who may now have his son in her grasp...

Untitled 1 - The events of ACOSF didn’t unfold the way they did in the book and now Eris and Nesta are married while Nesta and Cassian remain mated. Angsty one shot.

Untitled 2 - Nesta and Cassian continually meet each other in ‘the next life’ as they are reincarnated time and time again. They are drawn to each other only for events to end tragically. 

Plus I will be opening my inbox to prompts and requests and re-blogging some old stuff from 2018 while I get to grips with the above!!

*Squees* I’m so happy I got an ask!!

[themirthfulroadrunners]

Wish List, Untitled Dreams… Bucket List

           What do you call the set of dreams that you wish to do, or see, before your final croak? Well, we just knocked off a major one. While Debbie has always wanted to go to Maine, Wayne’s list contained New England in general. There remains, for both of us, places to go, things to do and see, but … this was a nice one.

           The drive up was long and arduous. We’d traveled I-40 through Tennessee enough to be inured to its beauty. This trip, we opted for a different route getting to our destination, cutting left at Nashville and heading up through Louisville, Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland, Albany, Pennsylvania, Vermont and New Hampshire. We were able to skirt some of them, but Cincinnati, Philadelphia, and Cleveland definitely get added to the cities we never want to see again – TOO MANY PEOPLE, TOO MANY VEHICLES!

           The corner of Pennsylvania we saw in between heavy rain showers was packed with vineyards, all loaded with grapes this September day. Upstate New York offered us a few viewings of the Erie Canal, more interesting to Wayne than Debbie. It turned really pretty once we hit the Catskills. They reminded us a lot of the most rugged of our Ozarks.

           On our second day we stopped early enough to hike the trail to Bash Bish Falls, a very nice break from 20 hours in the car. On the third travel day we went through parts of Massachusetts and Vermont, extending the trip with a little trekking through the lush green back roads of Vermont, and then into New Hampshire – they were delightful. We were both surprised at the undeveloped regions of Massachusetts, having stereotyped the area as mostly urban. Vermont and New Hampshire did not disappoint. The region is really quite mountainous -- well, okay -- hillyous.

           The Maine coast is spectacular – way better in person, of course, than our photos represent. It seems strange that not too long ago we watched waves crashing on very different types of rocks onto America’s west coast, and now …. And you wouldn’t believe the history in this state! 300 and 400 year-old buildings abound. Old, tiny graveyards on every other hill. One-room schools everywhere. Most are converted to modern use, or left somewhat intact for curious looky-loos like ourselves.

One thing we noticed about old farm houses, which were by far and away larger than all the old Arkansas homesteads, was the propensity to connect the house and barn, not with breezeways, but with entire houses – two-story outfits with gables, dormers … the works, all trimmed out like the original home. Depending on the setting, they connected in every geometric fashion feasible, some additions were beside the house, others behind.

We walked over the shortest suspension bridge in the world! Wiggly Bridge in York. Majestic old churches in abundance, some of them with marquee slogans and sayings to make a modern fundamentalist heart leap with joy. In fact, there are so many really quaint and cute churches, seemingly all built on the same theme (salt box?) but with varying degrees of trim and garnishment, that we had to stop taking pictures of every one we liked. We like ‘em all. With the number of churches we see, it puts us in mind of Mountain Home – five super-churches holding over a thousand each, and dozens of smaller ones, but only enough seats for half the population. The old Portland edifices are truly grand, as is the Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral in Lewiston, but no matter how tall, you can only put so many pews. We are wowed-out on the really cool churches, there are so many. In days past we’d photograph all of them, but in Maine, that’s all we’d be doing, and as Debbie continually cracks herself up by commenting – my iPhone might run out of film!

On to lighthouses (that Maine calls lights or light stations). There are at least 67 lights out there that either do, or did, direct ships. Some are dilapidated, others are converted to private residences – all are pretty cool to landlocked Arkansas people. (Although we did hike previous beachfront land in south central Arkansas.) Speaking of people, Wayne continues to use the old, somewhat archaic term Arkansawyer, while modern newscasters have managed to persuade the country of Arkansans. Uppidity, Wayne decrees. For Maine, Debbie coined Mainiacs while Wayne prefers Mainards. He would. We haven’t found many very rich in the Downeastern brogue, but of course all of them talk funny to some degree.

Bath Iron Works was impressive, as was the really cool town of Bath – but nobody was (taking a). We had pizza for lunch here, mostly because pizza seems to be the native favorite food if one judges by the high number of dining establishments with pizza in the title. The wood-fired variety we lunched on was superb. Wayne got a look from the waitress who asked how we liked it. “It was good but I like Pizza Hut better.” He got a similar look from his wife, too.

Boothbay Harbor is a tourist town to beat all. We only ran over 20 slow people and side-swiped 8-10 cars. Here’s a sign just outside town that help set the tone.

We got a treat in that leaves were turning a little early this year – Yay bang! We were also treated with roadside waterways all around this very moist state.

While we hiked some: parts of the Appalachian Trail, a steep mountain climb on a granite slope, and some beach walks, Debbie’s sprained ankle hampered her more than she liked. You can bounce off a rock, but bouncing off a hole in the trail isn’t quite the same. Wayne is just glad that Debbie isn’t a horse and that her leg didn’t break!

We experienced what we refer to as a Nor’easter with rain that lasted an hour, or so. The next day we saw its contribution … many trees had peaked up in the mountains and we were the benefactors.

Some years ago, we collected a lot of American town names (photos of their city signs) of foreign cities and nations: Paris, Moscow, Sweden, etc. We also garnished a buncha Bible names: Palmyra, Hebron, Bethlehem, and etc. We could add to both lists by the scores here in Maine and its environs.

           The last few days of our stay in Maine we travelled into the mountains. Yes mountains, since they project skyward with sudden thousands of feet elevation. Going west, you have to get to the Rockies to get higher. Eastward … Norway? We’re too early for the best leaf colors, but we were impressed with the offerings, nonetheless. Oh, and more Appalachian Trail and more waterfalls!

           Rangely boasts of being halfway between the Equator and the North Pole. With their lake and their fabulous mountain views, they deserve bragging rights on a number of levels, as does most of Maine. And speaking of lakes, Maine has ‘em. And ponds. And rivers. And a very jagged coastline. We’d wager that per acre of dry land, Maine has as much, or more coast, beach, and bank than any state in the Union (except maybe Hawaii).

           Why does Maine need the silent e anyway? But that’s the subject of another blog.

A pleasant, but impractical thought, is that we are halfway through our bucket list. Here’s some pictures.

[talbottolurie]

An American Project

I visited The Whitney Museum to see the Dawoud Bey exhibit titled Dawoud Bey: An American Project. The show was a retrospective, including work ranging from the mid-seventies to 2017. The work was generally large-format, with silver darkroom gelatin prints 4.5 feet in length. Bey’s earlier work and most recent work were silver-gelatin photographic prints. A handful of digital inkjet prints filled one room and huge-scale 20x24 polaroids, some arranged in mosaic-panoramas, filled another. The work generally focused on portraying the personality and character of underrepresented people and minorities.

Kerry and Cheryl 1993

Featuring experimental painter Kerry James Marshall and actor/director/playwright Cheryl Lynn Bruce, this two-polaroid panorama is an image that can only truly be experienced in person. Digital photographs do not do it justice. I think that this is a beautiful marriage between technique and subject. There is an intensity to Cheryl’s stare directly into the camera and a gentleness to Kerry’s gaze. The polaroid features incredible vibrancy, complemented by the bright paper backdrop. The detail produced by the giant-format images from the 240-lb 20x24 polaroid camera is stunning. The dynamic range is poor, as expected from a polaroid. However, Bey has worked intentionally with this. Cheryl’s all-black outfit disappears and creates a bold contrast against the backdrop and Kerry’s hand. It adds to the intensity and almost fearsomeness that Cheryl brings to the image. I also took a photograph of the beautiful, organic, almost psychedelic polaroid dye artifacts at the edges. It makes the image almost feel like it was painted onto the paper.

Untitled #23 (Near Lake Erie) from “Night Coming Tenderly, Black,” 2017

Again an image intended to be experienced as a print, Untitled #23 is part of a series invoking a viewer to put themselves in the shoes of a fugitive slave. The images are printed with very high contrast and are overexposed several stops under an enlarger. The series follows a sort of progression. Almost voyeuristic images of underground railroad safe houses, many near where I grew up along the Ohio River, attempt to recreate the eyes of an escaped slave running to freedom, represented by Lake Erie. The images are printed dark on glossy paper so that the viewer must stare until their eyes adjust in a day-for-night type effect. There is also, presumably, a subtext about empathizing with black people in creating images that are mostly black tones. This particular composition offers a “light at the end of the tunnel”. A final stop on the underground railroad. One can imagine climbing over that crest, following the sound of lapping waves below.

Dawoud Bey’s work was, as a whole, phenomenal. I enjoyed his street photography the most. His subjects were so incredibly comfortable with his photographing them, and he captured such character. Put simply: Bey is an incredible talent with an outstanding eye for naturalistic and dynamic composition.

I will offer a critique regarding the “Night Coming Tenderly” series. Nearly all of the images really captured me, and I thought his printing technique was very strong. But I felt that some of the images were not especially evocative if you pulled back the layer of technical trickery. Chaotic, overgrown honeysuckle with no subject or awkwardly framed lawns just felt like they did not stand on their own as well as his images of Lake Erie. To me, it felt like the technique took precedent over the content. In my opinion, that rarely works. Nonetheless, as a collection it was effective.

I think that Dawoud Bey has stunningly captured an important portrait of American history across all of his work. It was so wonderful to be back in a museum looking at real prints for the first time since Covid. I walked away from the exhibit feeling excited and inspired to make more work of my own. Although I was frustrated by NYU’s discontinuation of the free Whitney admission, I really recommend that anyone interested buy pay-what-you-can Friday tickets in advance and go see the work in person. The silver gelatin and the polaroid prints deserve to be seen physically.

Sam Smith

[lizardkingeliot]

What I’m Writing

tagged by @defilerwyrm <3

Do Dis: List all the things you’re currently working on in as much or little detail as you’d like, then tag some friends to see what they’re working on. This can be writing, art, vids, gifsets, whatever.

a handful of bone chapter 7. I swear I’m going to update this soon. I am.

The Lake Erie Fluff AU, tentatively titled Fresh Water. Basically an entirely too self-indulgent AU in which young Will and young Hannibal meet on the beach in my hometown.

An untitled Ranch AU set post-season 3. Will and Hannibal are living on a metaphor Ranch in Wyoming. Will has a garden and so many bad ideas. There may or may not be bondage and blood-spattered abattoirs. Mostly may.

An untitled Sci-fi AU where Will is a tentacled alien taken captive by Hannibal who transforms into the Wendigo during the full moon. There is so much weirdness going on here and I hope the muse allows me to finish it sooner rather than later because I need to share it with the world.

A season one AU where Will turns into a vampire instead of getting encephalitis. I believe I wrote a drabble during Halloween based on this premise. Will probably never get finished but it sure is amazing in my head.

A post-s3 fic tentatively titled Body of Water. Will and Hannibal are separated post-fall and believe the other dead for about a week. So much angst. So much. About 3/4 of the way finished but needs so much editing I’m terrified to even open the doc at this point.

Another untitled season one AU where Will stops working for Jack and falls into a pit of depression. Right now it’s just 10k worth of projecting my own problems onto poor Will...

So many other things... There’s a Reba/Molly au. A murder family au. This AU where Will is in high school and Hannibal is friends with Will’s dad and... you can guess where that one ends up. The second part of the Wendigo AU. The next installment of the Young Will AU. A fake married AU. So many AUs. So many things. I need help. Help. Me.

Tagging @granpappy-winchester @emungere @damnslippyplanet @unicornmagic @starkaryen @genufa @littlethingwithfeathers @strangestorys @avegetariancannibal andddd @louiselux

[nyfacurrent]

Introducing | NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship Program Recipients and Finalists

NYFA has awarded $623,000 to 89 New York State artists.

The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) has announced the recipients and finalists of the NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship program, which it has administered for the past 32 years with leadership support from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA). The organization has awarded a total of $623,000 to 89 artists throughout New York State in the following disciplines: Fiction, Folk/Traditional Arts, Interdisciplinary Work, Painting, and Video/Film. This year’s recipients range in age between 26 and 77. Fifteen finalists, who do not receive a cash award, but benefit from a range of other NYFA services, were also announced. A complete list of the Fellows and Finalists follows.

The NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship Program makes unrestricted cash grants of $7,000 to artists working in 15 disciplines, awarding five per year on a triennial basis. The program is highly competitive and this year’s recipients and finalists were selected by discipline-specific peer panels from an applicant pool of 3,071. Since it was launched in 1985, the program has awarded over $31 million to more than 4,500 artists.

“Artists deepen humanity and help us to understand the world and each other through their work,” said Michael L. Royce, Executive Director, NYFA. “We’re proud to collaborate with NYSCA to offer unrestricted grants to artists of all disciplines across New York State to support their artistic visions,” he added.

“We recognize that at the heart of the arts is the individual artist,” said Mara Manus, Executive Director of the New York State Council on the Arts. “These grants provide artists in a multitude of disciplines with financial support so they can take risks and flourish in their work, fueling the creative capital of New York.”

Sejal Shah, a Fellow in Fiction from Rochester, NY, reflected on the award saying: “Receiving the NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship means it is possible for me to teach less, worry (a little) less, and write more. It is allowing me to focus on the big picture and helps me to believe that what I am doing has value to someone other than me. As an artist, I feel freer to take risks with my work, to experiment, and to continue to write about gender, race, silence, and speech.”

Kim Brandt, a Fellow in Interdisciplinary Work from Queens, NY, shared the following about her fellowship: “Receiving a NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship is a real gift—both a vote of confidence and a sigh of relief. On a practical level, it supports a continued commitment to my work by easing the financial burdens of its costs. For a contained stretch of time, I can pay for studio space and materials, take time away from my jobs, and travel for a residency with less worry and reduced stress. Yet to have my work recognized and acknowledged by NYFA and their panelist of arts professionals, peers, and colleagues, to be included in a roster of previous awardees whose work I’ve long admired and respected—this is the deeply meaningful support that doesn't run out once the last penny is spent. This kind of support feeds and fuels long past the fellowship period, and its value is immeasurable and unlimited.”

Fellowship Recipients and Finalists by Discipline and County of Residence:

Fiction Fellows

Caitlin Cass (Erie) Diane Chang (Queens) Martin Cloutier (Kings) Dana Czapnik (New York) Nicole Dennis-Benn (Kings) Eric Gansworth (Niagara) Susanna Horng (New York) Naomi Jackson (Kings) Swati Khurana (New York) Lisa Ko (Kings) Marie Myung-Ok Lee (New York) Haifa Lakshmi Koleilat (Rockland) Lissette J. Norman (Richmond)** Bino A. Realuyo (Queens) Mike Scalise (Kings) Jennifer Sears (Kings) Sejal Shah (Monroe) Kelli Trapnell (Kings)

Fiction Finalists    

YZ Chin (New York) Adalena Kavanagh (Kings) Yahaira Lawrence (Westchester)       

Fiction Panelists  

Roohi Choudhry (Kings) Janet McNally (Erie) Anne Panning (Monroe) Edward Schwarzschild (Albany) Cathie Wright-Lewis (Kings)       

Folk/Traditional Arts Fellows

Douglas Barr (Richmond) Danielle Brown (Kings) Moris J Cañate (Queens) Helen Taylor Condon (St. Lawrence) William Crouse Sr. (Cattaraugus) Wafa Ghnaim (Kings) Zhong-hua Lu (Rensselaer) Potri Ranka Manis (Queens) Tashi D Sharzur (Techung) (Essex) Jake Shulman-Ment (Kings) Salieu Suso (Bronx)**

Folk/Traditional Finalists

Martin Macica (Saratoga) Halyna Shepko (Ulster) Alicia Svigals (New York)  

Folk/Traditional Panelists  

Mary Tooley Parker (Westchester) Blanka Amezkua (Bronx) Naomi Sturm (Richmond) Elinor Levy (Dutchess) Carrie Hill (Franklin)

Interdisciplinary Work Fellows

Noel W Anderson (Queens) Kim Brandt (Queens) A.K. Burns (Kings) Tyler Coburn (Kings) Ayana Evans (New York) Allison Janae Hamilton (New York) Kathy High (Rensselaer) Sue Jeong Ka (New York) Baseera Khan (New York) Mary Mattingly (Kings) Christie Neptune (Kings) Ernesto Pujol (Columbia) Elise Rasmussen (Kings) Aki Sasamoto (Kings) Kuldeep Singh (Kings) Tiffany Smith (Kings) Tattfoo Tan (Richmond)

Interdisciplinary Work Finalists  

Keren Benbenisty (New York) Kameelah Janan Rasheed (Kings) Aida Šehović (New York)    

Interdisciplinary Work Panelists

Matt Bua (Greene) David Court (Ulster) Glendalys Medina (New York) Rachel Fein-Smolinski (Onondaga) Jaimie Warren (Kings)       

Painting Fellows

Samira Abbassy (New York) Maria Berrio (Kings) Gabe Brown (Ulster) Tom Burckhardt (New York) Ginny Casey (Kings) Elizabeth Colomba (New York) Lisa Corinne Davis (Kings) Lydia Dona (New York) Donise English (Dutchess) Derek Fordjour (New York)* Clarity Haynes (Kings) Vera Iliatova (Kings) Julian Kreimer (Kings) Joel Longenecker (Dutchess) Kathryn Lynch (Kings) Sangram Majumdar (Kings) Tracy Miller (Kings) Patrick Neal (New York) David Opdyke (Queens) Paul Pagk (New York) Luisa Rabbia (Kings) Gretchen Scherer (Kings) Emily Mae Smith (Kings) Michael Stamm (Kings) Amy Talluto (Ulster) Leslie Wayne (New York) Deborah Zlotsky (Albany)

Painting Finalists

Jordan Casteel (New York) Clayton Schiff (Queens) Don Voisine (Kings)

Painting Panelists

Julia Whitney Barnes (Dutchess) Franklin Evans (New York) Elliot Green (Columbia) Sarah McCoubrey (Onondaga) Mie Yim (Kings)    

Video/Film Fellows

Abbesi Akhamie (Kings) Jessica Beshir (New York) Ira Eduardovna (Kings) Fernando Frias de la Parra (Kings) Brent Green (Ulster) Devin Horan (Kings) Haisi Hu (Kings) Hannah Jayanti (Kings) Steffani Jemison (Kings) Ekwa Msangi (Kings) Shayok Mukhopadhyay (Westchester) Iva Radivojevic (Kings) Jessie Jeffrey Dunn Rovinelli (Kings) Lynne Sachs (Kings) Fern Silva (Kings) Sasha Wortzel (Kings)      

Video/Film Finalists

Melanie Crean (Kings) Case Jernigan (Kings) Nikyatu Jusu (Kings)   

Video/Film Panelists

Justin Ambrosino (Richmond) Zia Anger (Columbia) Shirley Bruno (Kings) Megan Roberts (Tompkins) Bhawin Suchak (Albany)

*Deutsche Bank Fellow **Gregory Millard Fellows made with the support of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs

Click here for more information about the NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship Program.

Funding Support

NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowships are administered with leadership support from New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Additional funding is also provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA), Deutsche Bank, the Milton & Sally Avery Arts Foundation, and individual donors.

Images, from above: Maria Berrio (Fellow in Painting ‘18); In a Time of Drought, 2016, collage with Japanese papers and watercolor paint, 60”x72”; Haisi Hu (Fellow in Video/Film ‘18), New York After Rain, 2017, claymation and cel animation (still); Kim Brandt (Fellow in Interdisciplinary Work ‘18), Untitled, 2014, Performance, Presented at The Kitchen, NYC, Photo Credit: Paula Court; Tashi D Sharzur (Techung) (Fellow in Folk/Traditional Arts ‘18), Semshae, Heart Songs, Performance for Tibetan children, Tibet House, NYC, 2013, Photo Credit: Kurt Smith

[caveartfair]

40 Artists Share Their Favorite Shows of 2017

At the end of each year, critics and editors eagerly (and oh-so-authoritatively) weigh in on what they found to be the best work of the last 12 months. But why not go straight to the source, asking some of our favorite creatives what thrilled, moved, and inspired them in 2017? Here, without further ado, we present a year-end wrap-up that lets the artists decide what mattered.

Joe Reihsen

Neil Raitt, “Misty Rock,” at Anat Ebgi, and Friedrich Kunath, “Frutti di Mare,” at Blum & Poe, both in Los Angeles

Installation view of “Friedrich Kunath: Frutti di Mare,” 2017. © Friedrich Kunath. Photo by Joshua White/JWPictures.com. Courtesy of the artist and Blum & Poe, Los Angeles/New York/ Tokyo.

“I have to say it is hard to pin down a favorite show, but definitely the most stand-out opening night in Los Angeles this year was experiencing Raitt and Kunath across the street from one another. Both shows were completely immersive, creating lush, fictive landscapes for the romantic ideal of the painter—through the lens of an L.A. transplant. For Raitt, the idea of the American landscape is informed by growing up in Britain and seeing Bob Ross on TV, but the latest works in the show seem to reflect his recent move to Los Angeles. And I’ll quote Kunath for his take on his own exhibition: ‘If Arte and Merv Griffin co-produced a reality TV show, it might go something like this.’”

Jamie Felton

Milka Djordjevich’s ANTHEM, performed at Bob Baker Marionette Theatre as part of Los Angeles Exchange (LAX) Festival

“This piece bubbles to the top of my brain when I think of all the art I saw over 2017,” says Felton (whom Artsy picked out as an artist to watch at this year’s Untitled art fair in Miami Beach.) “It might have been the 1970s outfits, the theatrical lights, the intimate audience sitting around a small dance floor. It might have been the four beautiful dancers that hit every beat. The sweat and the glow on their glittered faces. ANTHEM embraces virtuosity and sass. It touches on ideas of labor, play, and feminine posturing. As a painter I think of images that can play with de-sexualizing the female body, and Milka has choreographed movements that embrace that idea. ANTHEM is cool, sexy, and pretty amazing. I feel lucky to have seen it.”

Sally Saul

David Hockney at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (through February 25th)

“David Hockney” at The Met, 2017. © The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

“Previously, I was on the neutral side regarding Hockney’s work, but this show changed that.

“The early work is bold in style and subject, especially considering homosexuality was illegal at the time. By the later 1960s his paintings have become refined, meticulous, and cool, but always with an underlying tension: beneath the equidistant lawn sprinklers are Van Gogh-like blades of grass; a totem pole mirrors the collector Marcia Weisman’s expression. Within the contemporary Los Angeles homes are a few odd, specific details and décor, clues to the inhabitants who hold their own in the large, illusionistic space. By contrast, the later paintings are freewheeling, bright, with several perspectives as if seen with many eyes, vertiginous. I loved the show.”

Dashiell Manley

“Calder | Miró Constellations” at Acquavella Galleries in New York (in collaboration with Pace Gallery)

“I didn't see many shows this year, but this one stuck with me. It was beautiful without having to be glamorous. The Miró works in particular vibrated in an otherworldly way and seemed to transcend a historical moment. There were ten thousand different ways to look at each one, or at all of them: from the sides, or with your eyes closed, trying to remember. It's everything I love about painting. When I was younger I’d see an exhibition that would challenge my idea of what art could be, and I would immediately retreat to the studio and work. I would also see shows that were just so good that their afterimage would paralyze my own production. This did both.”

Dan Herschlein

Vanessa Thill, “Bivouac,” at Bible in New York

Installation view of “Bivouac.” Courtesy of Bible Gallery.

“The artist suspended three ‘paintings’ made from things like cough syrup, shampoo, tobacco and resin from the ceiling of Bible, a black-painted basement in Chinatown. The works looked wet, like animal skins clumped with fat and wet leaves, and they had postures like the clothing hanging off a scarecrow's frame. There was an expectation that they would waver or ripple in the air but their rigid material made the way they hovered so still in the room feel supernatural, as if they were caught in a flashbulb. It was eerie and peaceful down there, everything I want from a show.”

Kenya (Robinson)

Sanford Biggers, “SELAH,” at Marianne Boesky Gallery in New York

“Growing up an unlikely Evangelical, our radio was almost always tuned to the Bible Broadcasting Network. An aural fixture of my memory, its ubiquity was only rivaled by the hum of our refrigerator. The weekday lineup featured this segment called ‘Take A Minute,’ and at the end of each of these 60-second devotionals, the host would chime brightly: ‘Selah! Meditate on this.’ It was a catchy phrase in both content and delivery that could easily be mimicked and turned for comedic effect—or served shady, if you were caught slipping on your good Christian bidness. Art is my religion now, the studio acting as my home church, but occasionally I can be convinced to visit another congregation. And so, Sanford Biggers’ ‘SELAH’ lured me. An aesthetic sermon of homespun conceptualism. Quilted motifs, sacred geometries, mutilated deities and tactile sequins, so measured in their presentation, that Biggers deftly coaxes the intellectual from the emotion of contemporary violence—upon which we must all meditate.”

Ryan Wallace

Matt Kenny, “Landscape Paintings” and “Landscape Paintings (Part 2)” at the National Exemplar in New York

Work by Matt Kenny in “Landscape paintings (PART 2).” Courtesy of The National Exemplar.

“In a year that championed sophomoric figuration, it was great to see Matt Kenny’s masterful representational paintings,” says Wallace, whose work will be on view this January at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) at Maine College of Art (MECA). “The first part of this show included an authentic, untitled Francis Picabia from 1903, and featured three copied paintings by Kenny (of a Pissarro, a Bonnard, a Cézanne; all given a “Picabia” signature at bottom right), as well as two naturalist paintings of One World Trade Center as viewed at a distance from the Meadowlands and Secaucus, New Jersey. In the Meadowlands painting, the building is re-animated as a cartoonish monster, while from Secaucus, the building is painted in true realism. It is easy to be seduced by the craft, but registering the throughline in all of Kenny’s projects is where the spoils lay. Here, it was a fun leap to consider a scenario without forged signatures, and with an agenda that was political rather than visual—in which the ‘fakes’ could be used to raise illicit funds, and the views rendered with such care in the Trade Center paintings could just as easily be snapshots from a reconnaissance mission, or from residences housing indoctrinated recruits just beyond city limits, like the ones discussed in Coercive Beliefs (2017), Kenny’s just-released first book: A 300-page nonfiction poem on the origins of Al Qaeda.”

Mira Dancy

Becky Kolsrud, “Allegorical Nudes” at JTT Gallery in New York

“This show featured a warm, electric blue—a flatly-handled, brilliantly-hued kind of ‘body of water’ or ‘wave’ throughout. This bombardment of blue created a warm electric buzz in the room, and gave buoyancy to her figures, a cast of repeating characters that stare out from the paintings in resolute, classical poses. In almost every painting, the blue of water threatens to wall-over or erase an unflinching figure. The body and the blue are equally constant and unpredictable—and each painting unravels a slightly different riddle. Kolsrud's protagonists are in jeopardy—but her strong, confident strokes of color, and inventive turns of logic, push the figures to the front. The wall of blue, the symbolic, destructive force of water, is held impossibly at bay by the confident and effortless rendering of a hand with red fingernails.”

Adrianne Rubenstein

Sally Saul, “Knit of Identity” at Rachel Uffner Gallery in New York

Installation view of Sally Saul, “Knit of Identity” at Rachel Uffner Gallery. Courtesy of the artist and Rachel Uffner Gallery.

“Sally’s work is a subtle commentary on social concerns, particularly having to do with the environment and women’s bodies,” says Rubenstein, whose paintings are on view at Reyes Projects in Birmingham, Michigan through January 20th. “Her ceramics are like a warm hug. They echo the sentiments I feel when progressive action is taken by my feminist heroes. At first glance her sculptures are homey and goofy even, they have a magical, disarming sensibility. Sally is getting attention for her work somewhat later in life, which to me is symbolic of tides turning. This exhibition helps to rewrite history a little bit, and it’s the kind of history I want to be a part of.”

Mitchell Anderson

Rico Scagliola & Michael Meier, “Together,” at Kunsthalle St. Gallen, Switzerland

“A hermitage hanging of giant photographs of the everyday transformed drunk bros at McDonalds, grotesque children, and unflattering couples into painterly portraits of the intense beauty of the human and urban form,” says Anderson, a Zurich-based artist whose work can be seen at Fri Art Kunsthalle Fribourg through the end of January. “The show’s titular video has engrossed me since August. In it, teenagers—filmed on a carnival ride—attempt to stay stable as their smallest gestures and gazes are slowed to reveal the ways in which they, and all of us, try so hard to effortlessly present ourselves to others. The sexual tension was transcendent.”

Eric Yahnker

Froggyland in Split, Croatia (permanent installation)

Installation view of Froggyland in Split, Croatia. Courtesy of Froggyland.

“In a year that found me traversing the globe to several world-class art destinations, no exhibition occupied my mind quite like Froggyland in Split, Croatia—an attraction that is exactly what it sounds like. Knowing a minor amount about taxidermy, stuffing, and posing frogs is tantamount to posing a freshly launched snot rocket—no small feat—and, yet, this place is chock full of century-old, drama-filled, mini-dioramas from the fanatic, mesmerizingly OCD melon of Hungarian taxidermist Ferenc Mere. A true masterpiece of outsider art, it represents nearly every aspect of early 20th-century Western life in exacting detail: the classroom, the courtroom, the gym, the circus, the billiards hall, the public plunge, the barbershop, the bedroom, and more. Unlike Jim Henson’s heartwarming, googly-eyed brand of anthropomorphism, all of Mere’s subjects must spend eternity staring blankly up at the sky (or the ceilings of their fingerprint-laden glass tombs)—perhaps praying for rapture for their finely lacquered, rock-hard amphibious souls.”

Jean-Michel Othoniel

Sophie Calle and Serena Carone, “Beau doublé, Monsieur le marquis!” at Le Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature in Paris (through February 11th)

“One of the strangest exhibitions that I saw this year was Sophie Calle’s exhibition with her guest, the artist Serena Carone, curated by Sonia Voss,” says Othoniel (who opens a solo at Perrotin New York in March of the coming year). “The exhibition is magical and Musée de la Chasse is the perfect space for such incredibly personal works, which consistently and brilliantly incorporate autobiographical and fictional narratives. For this show, Calle reinvented and reinterpreted much of her previous work, which often explores themes of hunting, of stalking, and she’s also created new works. At the same time, she incorporates and magically investigates the animal kingdom.”

Sophie Hirsh

Eamon Monaghan, “The Rube’s World,” at the Hand in Brooklyn, New York

Installation view of “The Rube's World.” Courtesy of The Hand Gallery.

“Monaghan is a rare breed of artist capable of accessing creativity in its most genuine form. He creates a captivating world that is both tender and full of longing, but also absurd and hilarious. His filmmaking process is meticulous and unique. His story develops hand in hand with the building of an extremely elaborate set consisting of endless detailed sculptures made from painted isolation foam. It’s a magical world that you don’t have to understand in order to be in awe of it. I am reminded how refreshing it is to be in the presence of something that just is. Monaghan’s work leaves you giddy, triggering the type of curiosity that inspired you to make art in the first place.”

David Colman

Damien Hirst, “Treasures From The Wreck of the Unbelievable,” at the Pinault Collection in Venice

“Art’s biggest irony of 2017? Damien Hirst made a brilliant show in Venice about an ancient shipwreck—a multilayered allegory about himself and all humanity—and everyone missed the boat. The art media got stuck at the entry-level outrage (the money it cost and made), blinding them to the show’s amazing and complex exploration of human morality and materialism, the real entry point of which was one of today’s more debatable binaries: good creator vs. bad collector. Conflating medieval demons with modern monsters, Hirst merged 27 of Dante’s circles of hell, purgatory and heaven with today’s 12-step addiction canon. The is the story of a man and a ship and a race that have all hit bottom, and the gaudy, gory glory of Hirst’s inventory celebrated everything that being human means—anger, love, desire, greed, faith, hope, lust, et. al.—fiercely, beautifully and candidly. Priceless.”

Katie Stout

Nicola L, “Works, 1968 to the Present,” at SculptureCenter in Queens, New York

“The artist has been a huge inspiration ever since the late, great Jim Walrod showed me his Nicola L female boudoir,” says Stout, whose sculptures are on view at Nina Johnson in Miami through early January. “She’s a full blown icon to me, so I was shocked to learn that this was the first comprehensive survey of her work. She started her career in art over 50 years ago and her skin suits and furniture based on the human form feels as fresh and relevant as I imagine they felt then.”

Josh Reames

Jacqueline Humphries at Greene Naftali Gallery in New York

Installation view of Jacqueline Humphries at Greene Naftali, New York, 2017. Courtesy of the artist and Greene Naftali, New York.

“After an intense year of sociopolitical upheaval, Humphries’s exhibition might be the first show I’ve been able to look at without wondering where the social commentary is,” says Reames. “I’ve had a lot of conversations over the past year about how artists have an obligation to be politically engaged, since being apolitical is a stance in itself. Somehow this show has taken me back to a place of being able to look at paintings for what they are instead of what they mean. The group of large square canvases were intensely detailed with alphanumeric keystrokes, stenciled on with thick oil paint, with the occasional bleed or gestural smear. They’re austere, elegantly brutal, and impressive. It’s the kind of show that made me jealous, wishing that I made those paintings; and ultimately excited to get back into the studio.”

Margo Wolowiec

“Post-Truth,” a symposium presented by Culture Lab Detroit

“During two panel discussions, artists, writers, and architects discussed the antagonisms of our current political climate and possibilities for the future, especially in the arts,” says Wolowiec, known for her hand woven, dyed textile works. “I love the challenge of critically dissecting a topic that is so new there aren’t yet cohesive dialogues to talk through it, requiring on the spot thinking and honest self-assessments. During the ‘Alternative Facts’ panel, moderator Juanita Moore asked, ‘Does the artist have a moral imperative to be politically engaged?’ Artist Martine Syms poignantly answered that not only is it a privilege to not be political, but institutions that exhibit presumably radical projects don’t always align their own politics along those same ambitions. Artist and educator Edgar Arceneaux simply answered ‘No.’ I loved both of these answers because it’s absolutely a privilege to not be political, and if your work is politicized by others in ways you don’t agree with, you have the right to direct that conversation elsewhere—or say ‘No,’ and leave it at that.”

Thomas Nozkowski

“World War I and the Visual Arts” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (through January 7th)

Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson, Returning to the Trenches, 1916. Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

“This exhibition, drawn largely from the Met’s own holdings, encompassed a wide range of responses to World War I,” says the painter (who opens his own solo exhibition at Pace Gallery in New York this coming January). “Not another eat-your-spinach, didactic kind of exhibition, the curators got this one exactly right by focusing on the quality of the individual works included. Folk art, vanguard art, industrial art, commercial art as well as traditional art are interwoven in a provocative and exciting way. Younger artists today, investing more and more of their efforts with social and political concerns, could find a wealth of options in this exhibition. Any opportunity to see Otto Dix’s fifty-one-piece aquatint and etching suite ‘Der Krieg’ is always welcome. I am still thinking about this show.”

Scarlett Bowman

Rose Wylie, “Quack Quack,” at the Serpentine Galleries in London

“Play, color, comic, nostalgic, texture, bold, narrative, clumsy, jubilant, pink, red, thick, haste,honest, modest, fearless, joy,spontaneous, cartoon, caricature, heraldic, coincidence, eyelashes, ducks, bats, planes, happy, primitive, memory, experience, sifting, love, joy, sports, news, celebrity, dogs, collage, football, composition, literature, form, curiosity, hope, landscape,memory, ice-skating,blonde, cinema, routine, scale, parks, filmmaking, imagery,discipline,girls, text, paint, canvas, smell, Hollywood, dreams,fashion, vast, uncompromised, boys,bold,irreverent, abstract, original, irrelevance, relevance, everyday, awkward, seasons.”

Beverly Fishman

“Elizabeth Murray: Painting in the ’80s” at Pace Gallery in New York (through January 13th)

Installation view of “Elizabeth Murray: Painting in the '80s.” Courtesy of PACE Gallery.

“It was so inspiring to see how brilliant, innovative, and totally surprising Murray’s work was when she was painting at the top of her game. Each canvas seemed like its own unique universe—a play on the still life genre with its connotations of domesticity, but blown up to the size of an enveloping world. She had total command of the shaped canvas. I was blown away by the way each dynamic painting slipped between representation and abstraction, as well as solid and void. And how funny and wild and bold they were. She played by her own rules, and how lucky we are to experience this.​”

Margaret Lee

“Unholding” at Artists Space in New York (through January 21st)

“I was fortunate enough to view this exhibition in conjunction with a conversation and book launch for No Reservation: New York Contemporary Native American Art Movement (2017), published by AMERINDA Inc., which gave me a new understanding of what it means to fight for aesthetic sovereignty while also maintaining community building within one’s ambitions,” says Lee, whose next show opens in January at Marlborough Contemporary in London. “In a time when activism and political engagement has become a necessity more than a passing interest, ‘Unholding’ presents an inspiring example of how to navigate the interconnectedness between the personal and political within contemporary artistic practices.”

Christopher K. Ho

Kwan Sheung Chi, “Blue is the New Black,” at Edouard Malingue Gallery in Hong Kong

Kwan Sheung Chi, “Blue is the New Black,” installation view at Edouard Malingue Gallery, Hong Kong, 2017. Courtesy of the artist and Edouard Malingue Gallery.

“Bewilderment is an ever-rarer response to contemporary art, in the shadow of over a century of Western avant-garde antics. Kwan Sheung Chi elicited such a response in this Hong Kong-born, Western-schooled viewer,” says Ho, whose next major project will open in October 2018 at the Bronx Museum of the Arts. “Imagine an elevator that opens onto a room crisscrossed with blue tape; two unmatched monitors mounted front-to-back inches apart respectively depicting a bust of David being bashed, and a hand silently gesturing in sync; an actual halfpipe, in Yves Klein Blue; and footage of a remake of Pierrot Le Fou’s closing scene, starring the artist’s young son. Kwan’s masterstroke is to make his Western references too obvious. An interpretive feint that belies intercultural operations as labyrinthine as the city’s colonial history and capitalist streets below, they insist: Look again, through your Hong Kong eyes.”

Marie Herwald Hermann

Biba Bell and Jessie Gold, Body Factory, in Detroit

“This two-dancer performance (scored by Ivan Berko) was a combo field-trip and performance during the hazy Detroit summer. We were met in a roofless structure and bussed out to a dilapidated theater some miles away. In here, Bell and Gold performed, moving in and out of sync, incorporating objects at times, and continually encroaching on audience’s space. The performance was both physical and tactile and the border between the audience and performers slowly broke down; the musical score turned into a DJ set, and the beer-drinking crowd slowly became part of the dance floor.”

Jennifer Coates

Jackie Saccoccio at 11R in New York

Installation view of work by Jackie Saccoccio in “Sharp Objects & Apocalypse Confetti” at 11R, New York. Photo by Charles Benton. Courtesy of 11R/Van Doren Waxter.

“This show blew my mind: Rapturous works on paper comprised of tangles of linear drips meant as portraits, and large-scale paintings where Saccoccio began to fill in the tiny empty spaces between her signature drips and pours that splayed in all directions. The portraits were like decaying psyches while the paintings, with titles like Place (Group), Time (Splinter), and Apocalypse Confetti, evoked the decay of digital information, buildings, civilization, the end of everything in a spastic rush of heightened beauty. Nuclear meltdown mixed with the most dramatic, saturated sunset in these images of ecstatic ruins.”

Sarah Meyohas

Richard Mosse, “Incoming,” at the Barbican Centre’s the Curve in London

“Mosse created ‘Incoming’ like the military targets enemies: using a camera that is formally classified as a weapon,” says Meyohas, who opened a large-scale exhibition at Red Bull Arts New York this year. “Long range surveillance of thermal radiation reveals a maelstrom of bodies. They are refugees. The camera textures them in black and white, an effect that is alien and anonymizing. The brilliance of the piece is that this spectral rendition actually serves to humanize. The epic drama looms before you across a trio of monolithic screens. ‘Incoming’ (created with cinematographer Trevor Tweeten and composer Ben Frost), felt more poignant than any other footage I had seen of the refugee crisis.”

Andrew Kuo

Peter Halley, “Ground Floor,” at Greene Naftali Gallery in New York

“In the wake of our changing experiences within the internet, Halley’s exhibition felt as urgent as ever. His cell paintings continue to discuss ideas of power, money, and flow, helping in our attempt to define neutrality and the mechanisms behind the things we’re shown. The nine new paintings, hung in a bright yellow room, looked like rotating prison bars painted in the far extremes of color, or maybe circuit boards that parse the information we see and don’t see.”

David Humphrey

Celeste Dupuy-Spencer at Marlborough Contemporary in New York

Celeste Dupuy-Spencer, Early Snow – Rhinecliff Hotel, 2017. Courtesy of the artist and Marlborough Contemporary, New York and London.

“Moving paint around to make pictures can be a complicated behavior,” says Humphrey, whose own pictures can be seen through early January at Real Estate Fine Art in Brooklyn. “Dupuy-Spencer’s mark-making has a warmth and jaunty muscularity that suggests she both cares about her subjects and is in awe of, if not disoriented by, their inscrutable reality. Painting can be a way to process feelings by spending time with people and events in their absence. Dupuy-Spencer conjures concerts, parties, and political demonstrations in a painterly equivalent of fiction’s free indirect style, where first and third person are blended. Dupuy-Spencer’s fictions tangle her voice into the bustling of life inside the Rhinecliff Hotel, a socializing crowd of family and friends on a porch, the ungroomed intimacy of a head rub. Her work reveals the weird and powerful ways we are defined, hurt, disappointed, and amazed by other people.”

Richard Tinkler

Jack Pierson at Regen Projects in Los Angeles and Maccarone in New York

“Often when Jack Pierson is talking about one of his photographs he will say that he likes it because it looks like the 1950s. I have a similar feeling about my paintings when they remind me of the 1970s. What I connect to in Jack’s work, both the photographs and the word sculptures, is what I see as a desire to rescue and preserve something of the past and to find a way to honestly communicate it in the present. At Maccarone in New York, Jack was showing photographs that were first shown in the early ’90s but were taken in the 1980s, and printed in a low-tech way—that welcomed hairs and scratches and uneven color—that made them seem as if they might have been found images. I can see how this connects to the recent word sculptures at Regen Projects in L.A. where found letters from old signs have been given new life as sculptures that are both poetic and formally rigorous. In both bodies of work something of the past is saved and transformed into a message for the present day.”

Franck Chalendard

Sadie Laska, “Nudes,” at Galerie Ceysson & Bénétière in Saint-Étienne, France

Installation view of Sadie Laska’s work in “Nudes” in Saint Étienne at Ceysson & Bénétière. Courtesy of the artist and Ceysson & Bénétière.

“In this exhibition, Sadie Laska keeps very little of the magazine images she initially projects on the canvas,” says abstract painter Chalendard, who also shows with the gallery. “What remains are simplified shapes and curves that our imagination can still associate with the female body. I quite like these paintings for everything that is accentuated and exaggerated: gestures, shapes, points of view. The sensuality and brutality expressed by these canvases go way beyond erotic imagery. Painting takes over with its expressive power.”

Kate Shepherd

“Epic Tales from Ancient India: Paintings from the San Diego Museum of Art,” at the Blanton Museum of Art in Austin, Texas

“It’s rare for me to see a show that requires so much careful scrutiny that I don’t ‘finish,’ and promise to return the next day. Classic Indian and Persian stories were explained on wall texts that served as user manuals for the paintings. On each work, segments of narrative coexisted to show a progression from the beginning, middle, and end of a story. Oddly, the sumptuous graphic embellishment and decorated borders typical of miniatures weren’t the primary appeal. Rather it was the lore expressed through repeated patterns of figures in movement and tiny expressive heads in profile, housed in what seemed to be proscenium stage architecture. The effort was worth it.”

Kurt Kauper

“Alice Neel, Uptown” at David Zwirner in New York, curated by Hilton Als

Alice Neel, Benjamin, 1976. © The Estate of Alice Neel. Courtesy of David Zwirner, New York/London and Victoria Miro, London.

Alice Neel, Woman, 1966. © The Estate of Alice Neel. Courtesy of David Zwirner, New York/London and Victoria Miro, London.

“Several paintings in the exhibition helped me realize what a brilliantly ironic painter Neel was,” says Kauper, whose own show of new paintings and drawings opens this January at Almine Rech in New York. “Not ironic in the way that term has been used—or misused—in recent discourse, but in the true sense of the word: an expression that seems to mean one thing, but communicates something entirely different. The awkward, almost hamfisted diffidence of each paintings’ initial visual utterance allows the viewer immediate access to the sitter, without having to pass through the authorial presence of the painter. But Neel’s unparalleled ability to make you believe that you’re sharing space with a real human being, and empathizing with them, is possible because of the profound mastery that reveals itself in her pitch-perfect evocations of specific light (glinting off flesh), perceptual color, place, and character. Nobody’s portraits are more authentically real, and it’s largely because of irony.”

Cindy Ji Hye Kim

Teto Elsiddique, “a distant fire” at 6BASE in the Bronx, New York

“The show featured a group of paintings that are basically frottage rubbings, using a unique printmaking technique Teto invented over the years. Objects are laid on an ad hoc air vacuum bed, and a thin sheet of plastic is put over them. The film gets air-sprayed over and it’s covered to be suctioned in the vacuum bed. He then takes the now air-sprayed sheets of film onto the canvas as a transfer. This process is repeated, with multiple images layered and transferred onto the canvas. As a friend I got to see each stage of his work process (from the sourcing of materials to the actual making) and it was meaningful to see, each painting containing the history of its own making.”

Tracy Thomason

“Hot Mud” at Spook Rock Farm in Hudson, New York

Installation view of Amy Brener’s work at Hot Mud Arts Fest. Courtesy of JAGprojects.

“In late July, the artist Colby Bird and I are on our way to a farm in Hudson, New York to finish installing his fleet of outdoor sculptures for this giant and rambling group show,” recalls Thomason. “It was curated by Jesse Greenberg on the family farm of Nick Payne. Our arms are literally full of melons to install on Colby’s hand-bent iron staffs to mark a sweet, but fleeting, occasion. Smelling like Backwoods DEET, we pull up to a barn where Amy Brener’s translucent corporeal sculpture is vaulted and draped so high and large that it exists as its very own cathedral. I like to believe this is what was meant to happen when you were told as a young girl to treat your body like a temple. The joy of life covers every inch of every fleck of straw and splashing stream during Hot Mud’s day and night. Pooneh Maghazehe's ceramic heads float in creeks; Nick Payne's sensitive scratches of pastel are placed atop late 19th century wallpaper. 2 a.m. rolls around with fires still roaring, microphones screeching, and I’m left possibly begging the largest question of them all: How did we end up here?”

John Miller and Aura Rosenberg

Trevor Paglen, “A Study of Invisible Images,” at Metro Pictures in New York

“The current status of photography is a question that few photographers bother to address. Paglen not only broached this question but also went on to offer a structural critique of photographic technology as an apparatus. He showed images that were either produced by Artificial Intelligence (AI) programs or that were interpreted by them. Since many of these were dye sublimation prints, we can nominally call them photographs. But if photographs reproduce reality—even if that’s the constructed realities of artists like Jeff Wall or Thomas Demand—these images are of a different order. They too ‘reproduce’ reality but it is a reality that AI software generates from selected data sets. These, in turn, synthesize a ‘worldview,’ so to speak.

“Technically, two AI programs were involved; one produced an image; the other analyzed it. These functioned as a feedback loop. For example, to produce an image of a vampire, the first program creates a composite image. The second reads it and notes that traits like ‘fangs’ are missing. The first then incorporates that information. Nonetheless, the results are still fragmentary and contingent and point to gaps in the artificial cognitive process.

“As machine learning develops, these differences will become increasingly less apparent. What’s most threatening, then, will be the perfect realization of otherwise ‘invisible’ images, because once this is achieved, who will be able to tell the difference?”

Ethan Greenbaum

“Philip Guston: Laughter in the Dark, Drawings from 1971 & 1975” at Hauser & Wirth in New York

Installation view, “Philip Guston: Laughter in the Dark, Drawings from 1971 & 1975,” Hauser & Wirth New York, 22nd Street. © The Estate of Philip Guston. Photo by Genevieve Hanson.  Courtesy of Hauser & Wirth.

“2017 was a year when I, like many people, was looking to art with a need sharpened by our ongoing political crisis. A show of rarely exhibited work by Philip Guston was one of the most haunting exhibitions I saw. It opened days before the election and featured a suite of satirical drawings centered on the life and career of Richard Nixon. Guston made ‘Poor Richard’, the first and largest group of work, in a few frenzied months following his highly criticized Marlborough Gallery show in 1970 (and the leaking of the Pentagon Papers). I imagine he was feeling both angry at the world and sorry for himself—the drawings look it. They are brutally hysterical, depicting the arc of Nixon’s life from parochial tot to resolutely confused young man. They culminate in his misadventures as a literal dick head.

“A lot of people have drawn comparisons between Nixon and Trump. The timing of this show made the association inevitable. There is an absurd horror in the drawings that visualizes our current disaster like very little I’ve seen before or since. It was cathartic, but also damning. The works don’t simply mock or criticize. As in his Klan paintings, Guston identifies with the villain. Nixon is shown as victim and perpetrator, child and monster. And he is rendered in ways that are clearly related to the artists’ self portraiture. This show was a challenge to me — or anyone else—who would imagine themselves independent from the worst of their culture.”

Ridley Howard

Yanique Norman, “Wasting Your Beautiful Mind: Coolidge Antiquitas (2nd Presidential Edition),” at Atlanta Contemporary

“The Atlanta Contemporary has been on a roll, hosting a number of great headliner shows this year. One surprise standout was Norman’s surreal vision of First Lady Grace Coolidge and her art collection. Installed in a closet-size auxiliary project space, electric green walls were lined with amorphous collages of Xerox, watercolor, gouache, and ink. Single photos of Coolidge posing in the Rose Garden or White House were hung low to the ground, and sprouted long strands of overlapping African-American faces, glued together with dizzying repetition. Hydra-Phoenix-goddess beings, they burst upward through the space with a majestic, kudzu-like energy. While referencing African busts and masks, the work felt personal, like an impossibly complicated dream about America’s past and future. It also made me think a lot about the subtext of American decorum, and the experiences of Michelle Obama.”

Lavar Munroe

“The Absent Museum” at WIELS Contemporary Art Centre in Brussels

“This exhibition in Brussels featured Luc Tuymans, Martin Kippenberger, Marlene Dumas, and Ellen Gallagher, to name a few,” says Munroe, whose own work was a stand-out at the Prospect.4 triennial this year. “There were several memorable moments, one being a sculptural installation of ‘Workers’ by Oscar Murillo. I was particularly drawn to this work because of its close correlation and association with the folk tradition of making Guy Fawkes statues in the Bahamas. There, the figures are strategically placed on street corners, and burnt on the night of Guy Fawkes Day, November 5. It was refreshing and thought-provoking to see similar figures within a museum space.”

Matthew Thurber

Katherine Bauer’s Cinematic Death Moon Return: The Forest Phase, Passage for the Datura Dreamer, at Fahrenheit 451 House in Catskill, New York

Katherine Bauer, Cinematic Death Moon Return: The Forest Phase, Passage for the Datura Dreamer, 2017. Courtesy of the artist and Microscope Gallery.

Katherine Bauer, Cinematic Death Moon Return: The Forest Phase, Passage for the Datura Dreamer, 2017. Courtesy of the artist and Microscope Gallery.

“The viewer peers into an amphitheater-like space, open to the elements, to see psychedelic datura plants reaching up to grab tendrils of 16mm film,” says Thurber (who earlier in the year clued Artsy readers into cartoonists the art world needs to know). “A huge projector reel hangs in a lunar close-up. As time passes in stop-motion frames, snow has piled up on a salvaged theater curtain, and dancers have wandered through this garden of cinematic resurrection. The sculpture is startling– as much for its web of symbols, which link film to environmental plunder and agricultural cycles, as for its mysterious embodiment.” The installation and event—incorporating plants favored by witches, colored lighting, performance elements, and both found and original film footage—is part of a larger cycle of work that Bauer is continuing to develop.

Nikki Maloof

Florine Stettheimer, “Painting Poetry,” at the Jewish Museum in New York

“I went to see this show along with a few lady painters not totally expecting to be knocked out, but it was one of those moments that catch you by surprise. Most of my encounters with Stettheimer’s work until this point were in reproduction. What struck me was her paint handling. It felt so alive and so timeless. My eyes caressed every detail of the surface—the way she sculpted the paint in areas with a knife and then etched into other areas, squiggling a thin line of a plant, or lovingly rendered her name. It was like a beautifully woven tapestry of paint. When I see a person’s paint-handling and I totally relate to it to this degree, I immediately remember why I’ve chosen this crazy path (or why it chose me). I feel the cosmic power that making bestows on us to connect with both the past and the future. It’s pure magic.”

from Artsy News

[wildlyglittering]

Updating my list - to keep myself on track more than anything :P 

My Gift to You - a small angsty one shot going up today exploring Nesta’s feelings towards Rhys after ACOSF - POSTED 

The Perils of Being Mr. Nesta Archeron - a nonsense ‘comedy’ one shot about how every male in Prythian can’t stop proposing to Nesta - POSTED

Quintessence of Dust - a beast of a story which I’m still nowhere near finished editing (it needs so many re-writes) but is a multi part modern au ‘body swap’ between Nesta and Cassian where Nesta makes a wish on a star one night and doesn’t exactly expect it to come true in the way it does… REWRITING THE BASTARD

The War of the Thorned Roses - another multi part beast which I’m still outlining but is set an alternate Victorian Prythian where Nesta, Feyre and Elain are witches who have to hide that fact after Amarantha (another witch) cursed the Lords sons into beasts. Involves a manipulative Rhys, naive Feyre and a Nessian who are sleeping with each other to spy on the ‘other side.’ OUTLINING

The Witch in the Wood - a one shot Cassian POV set in an alternative ye olde world where there are rumours of a hideous witch living outside his village - a witch who may now have his son in her grasp…WRITING. I’m at the sex scene now and jeez I am not good at sex scenes. 

Untitled 1 - The events of ACOSF didn’t unfold the way they did in the book and now Eris and Nesta are married while Nesta and Cassian remain mated. Angsty one shot. STILL TO WRITE

Untitled 2 - Nesta and Cassian continually meet each other in ‘the next life’ as they are reincarnated time and time again. They are drawn to each other only for events to end tragically. EDITING

What are some of the Nessian things you have planned?

Ah thank you for sending this ask!

Well....

My Gift to You - a small angsty one shot going up today exploring Nesta’s feelings towards Rhys after ACOSF 

The Perils of Being Mr. Nesta Archeron - a nonsense ‘comedy’ one shot about how every male in Prythian can’t stop proposing to Nesta

Quintessence of Dust - a beast of a story which I’m still nowhere near finished editing (it needs so many re-writes) but is a multi part modern au ‘body swap’ between Nesta and Cassian where Nesta makes a wish on a star one night and doesn’t exactly expect it to come true in the way it does...

The War of the Thorned Roses - another multi part beast which I’m still outlining but is set an alternate Victorian Prythian where Nesta, Feyre and Elain are witches who have to hide that fact after Amarantha (another witch) cursed the Lords sons into beasts. Involves a manipulative Rhys, naive Feyre and a Nessian who are sleeping with each other to spy on the ‘other side.’

The Witch in the Wood - a one shot Cassian POV set in an alternative ye olde world where there are rumours of a hideous witch living outside his village - a witch who may now have his son in her grasp...

Untitled 1 - The events of ACOSF didn’t unfold the way they did in the book and now Eris and Nesta are married while Nesta and Cassian remain mated. Angsty one shot.

Untitled 2 - Nesta and Cassian continually meet each other in ‘the next life’ as they are reincarnated time and time again. They are drawn to each other only for events to end tragically. 

Plus I will be opening my inbox to prompts and requests and re-blogging some old stuff from 2018 while I get to grips with the above!!

*Squees* I’m so happy I got an ask!!