The Raft of Medusa

The extraordinary story behind the Raft of Medusa, the painting of hope that can give us hope

The Universe in a Nutshell: A Simple Guide to Speculative Realism*

That a world exists independent of human thought is an assumption that has been notoriously hard to prove

Conservative Politics in the Ancient World

Conservative politics hasn’t changed much in the past two thousand years.

Marketing, Consciousness and Evil

Bill Hicks says, ‘If anyone here is in advertising or marketing, kill yourself.’ The audience laugh, but Hicks insists that the statement isn’t a joke.

Souzou 想像: Outsider Art from Japan

A kaleidoscopic journey through the minds of forty-six untrained artists, all of whom happen to be attendees of Japanese welfare centres.

Warhol’s Featureless Films

Of the many Warholisms, the one that rings most true in his film output is “the idea of waiting for something makes it more exciting”, since there’s never really any action to come.

Lichtenstein: mediocrity, ambition and innovation

From lurid abstracts to high postmodernism, Lichtenstein’s career demonstrates that persistence beats talent.

The Light Show, Hayward Gallery

Sensory investigations into the power of light

Unsilent Night: The Adoration of the Magi by Rubens

Rubens’s gigantic masterpiece loudly contradicts the folkloric silent night.

Goya, Witches and Reason

Partially naked warlocks wearing coned hats levitate in the night sky clutching a naked man struggling against them, two appear to be biting him. Immediately below them a man with his head covered in a blanket stumbles forward with his arms out, he holds his thumbs in his clenched fingers in a gesture of figo […]