Journal
Writing on photography, art history, and the ideas that move between them.
Not always timely. Not always about my own work.
A running record for anyone who wants to think alongside it.
2026
David Hockney wrote a book about the optical history of painting, called Secret Knowledge. The people calling his joiners 'unprecedented' this week clearly didn't read it.
Napoleon Dressed Pauline as Venus.
It Was Propaganda. What Are We Calling It Now?
At the 2026 Met Gala, fashion borrowed the visual grammar of classical antiquity. Art history suggests that borrowing is never politically neutral.
The Press Release Says "Neither Could Have Done This Alone."
That Claim Deserves Scrutiny.
Axiom Space and Prada say neither company could have built the lunar spacesuit's cooling garment alone. The Bauhaus made the same claim in 1919 and left a detailed record. This one does not.
Diane Arbus Called Her the Best in the World.
Critics Called Her "Cheesecake.”
Diane Arbus called Bunny Yeager the world's greatest pinup photographer. Cindy Sherman cited her as a major influence. The Warhol Museum built a Sherman exhibition and never mentioned her name.
The Critic Who Said LaChapelle Doesn't Belong Next to Warhol Was Half Right
David LaChapelle keeps comparing himself to Andy Warhol. The two are doing opposite things. The photographer whose method actually matches his has never been mentioned in the same sentence as him.
Mark Seliger Built a Studio Inside the Oscars for Eleven Years. I Miss It Already.
For eleven years, Mark Seliger built a portrait studio inside the Vanity Fair Oscars party. It vanished in 2025 and 2026, and nobody explained why.
Calivas Isn't Updating Ana Mendieta. She's Refusing Her.
Jenny Calivas's buried self-portraits get compared to Ana Mendieta in every review. The comparison gets the work backwards.
Karl Lagerfeld's Sketches Are a Legacy.
His iPods Are Just Stuff He Kept.
Sotheby's sells Karl Lagerfeld's sketches and 200 iPods as equal evidence of genius.
Collecting isn't creating.