Category Lifestyle

Dalí, Basquiat, Haring, and Hockney at Luna Luna

Save this storySave this storySave this storySave this story Jackson ArnThe New Yorker’s art critic You’re reading the Goings On newsletter, a guide to what we’re watching, listening to, and doing this week. Sign up to receive it in your…

Can Shostakovich Ever Escape Stalin’s Shadow?

Save this storySave this storySave this storySave this story Dmitri Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony, one of the mainstays of the twentieth-century orchestral repertory, ends with an unapologetic display of musical bombast. The coda consists of thirty-five triple-forte bars in the key…

Frank Auerbach’s Raw Truths

Save this storySave this storySave this storySave this story The name of Frank Auerbach, the British artist who died on November 11th, at the age of ninety-three, is not especially well known in the United States. MOMA holds five of…

The Fantasy of Cozy Tech

Save this storySave this storySave this storySave this story At a wide desk in a bedroom somewhere sits a figure, her back facing the camera, supported by an ergonomic white office chair. Her head is bracketed by puffy, white noise-cancelling…

Why Do We Talk This Way?

Save this storySave this storySave this storySave this story Just before the election, I went to see a play. It was staged for a small group, was about ninety minutes long, and was followed by a Q. & A. For…

Javier Mariscal’s “Desk with a View”

Save this storySave this storySave this storySave this story Most New Yorkers don’t spend their lives on the waterfront (except, of course, a lucky few), but we are frequently reminded that the city is surrounded by water when we catch…

Documentaries of Dissent

Save this storySave this storySave this storySave this story A reader comes to a piece of criticism with a basic assumption: the critic is writing about a work that the reader can eventually go and seek out herself. Reviews are…