Christian aesthetic What strikes you almost immediately when visiting the retrospective devoted to Tracey Emin (born in 1963)—the major London event of the season, on view at the Tate Modern through August 31—is that her artistic vision seems, in certain respects, to follow a Christian aesthetic. Sexual life and martyrdom   Such a statement would […]

Invention of a genre On December 6, 2025, the English photographer Martin Parr died at the age of 73. It is fair to say — and this is rare in contemporary photography — that he invented a genre of his own, with his garish, satirical images of contemporary society.I interviewed him six years ago on […]

All black Every color has its virtues. Black, when applied uniformly, unlike other hues, curiously gives relief to things. The great French figure of abstract painting, Pierre Soulages, understood this well when, at the end of his life, he created his “outrenoirs,” monochrome paintings worked through the depth of the material. Long before him, an […]

Big effects The Californian Doug Aitken is what is usually described, somewhat vaguely, as a “multidisciplinary artist.” His mode of operation, however, is anything but vague. He deftly deploys every means at his disposal—not only painting or sculpture—to express himself. Aitken is something of an entrepreneur in art. He likes big effects. In that sense, […]