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benadavis.bsky.social
Writer. Author of '9.5 Theses on Art and Class' and 'Art in the After-Culture.' My newsletter at https://substack.com/@benstoppable
31 posts 1,086 followers 68 following
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Lotta fun interviewing both Eileen Kinsella and Katie White about Gertrude Abercrombie, Surrealist painter and jazz salonnière... fascinating artist open.spotify.com/episode/6vN0...

submitted 21 hours ago • 0 comments

Huxley > Orwell. A truly validating essay. Fascinating perspective on the rise of ‘stupid-evil’ as a byproduct of culture, and vice versa. 🖤

submitted 5 days ago • 1 comment

My essay on the fantastic Caspar David Friedrich show at the Met, German Romanticism and the Age of Napoleon news.artnet.com/art-world-ar...

submitted 5 days ago • 2 comments

New 'Art Angle' episode on #CasparDavidFriedrich at the Met, and German Romanticism open.spotify.com/episode/3m4F...

submitted 15 days ago • 0 comments

𝐎𝐧 𝐁𝐞𝐧 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐬'𝐬 𝐒𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐥 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐨𝐫𝐲 1/5—Davis notices something awry in the aesthetic field, unhappy fusions, mostly squirrels: "The barrier between the serious and the stupid has broken down." He doesn't mean Duchamp's "urinal."      tinyurl.com/3vzm95uj #ArtTheory #academicsky @benadavis.bsky.social

submitted 15 days ago • 0 comments

Been thinking about this for more than a year; finally put it into words here. Kinda drawing together threads around Josh Kline, Skibidi Toilet, Lasagna Cat, M3gan, Pepe the Frog, 'Brave New World,' Ghostbusters, $TrumpCoin into some kind of theory... news.artnet.com/art-world-ar...

submitted 16 days ago • 10 comments

My newsletter digest of things I wrote/podcasts from Janurary 2025 substack.com/home/post/p-...

submitted 34 days ago • 0 comments

A shame that this book about art in the face of cataclysm and the contradictions of capitalism isn’t relevant to today… @benadavis.bsky.social

submitted 46 days ago • 1 comment

Last week's #ArtAngle episode on why art does (or does not) give you the #chills podcasts.apple.com/cy/podcast/w...

submitted 52 days ago • 0 comments

Davis is someone to read always. And where he lands in the final section of this piece is congruent with my view. But I don't think we need to enter the anti-woke wars (even to develop anti-anti-woke positions) to get there. Those wars are a distraction. They induce shallow analysis. A trap.

submitted 54 days ago • 0 comments

My own take on the "Harper's essay" and debates over art and politics at the beginning of the year news.artnet.com/art-world-ar...

submitted 54 days ago • 2 comments

My list of "Words of the Year" in #art news.artnet.com/art-world-ar...

submitted 71 days ago • 0 comments

Had a ball on the year-end episode of Artnet's Art Angle podcast!

submitted 76 days ago • 0 comments

Our review of the year in art—the market, politics, aesthetics, and technology—for the Art Angle, with @russeth.bsky.social and Kate Brown podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

submitted 77 days ago • 0 comments

The December 2024 list of the biggest artists in museums right now news.artnet.com/art-world/mu...

submitted 88 days ago • 0 comments

#TheArtAngle pod on #Orphism at the Guggenheim museum, mainly just on the mirage-like art history of Orphism though podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w...

submitted 106 days ago • 0 comments

In March I set up a newsletter. Last month I sent my first one. Today, I sent the second. Aesthetic Insecurity lacks urgency, has zero hot takes and breaks no news. It is the appendix of newsletters. buttondown.com/cmonstah/arc...

submitted 109 days ago • 8 comments

Loved interviewing #JonathanLethem about his new collection of art essays, particularly the parts on the communal Brooklyn of art coops that he grew up in, his brother's street art, and just his thoughts on what art writing should do in general podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w...

submitted 113 days ago • 1 comment

What even was Orphism, and what does Orphism mean now? My take on the Guggenheim's show. The show is good but also leaves me with some questions... news.artnet.com/art-world/or... #Orphism

submitted 115 days ago • 0 comments

Some thoughts on culture and the election news.artnet.com/art-world-ar...

submitted 116 days ago • 1 comment

Part 2 of this essay on "aesthetic chills," this time looking at some personal examples of museum moments news.artnet.com/art-world-ar... #chills #aestheticchills

submitted 131 days ago • 0 comments

I've been working on this essay for quite some time, on the phenomenon of "Aesthetic Chills"... I've gotten a lot about thinking about it, it's changed how I think about writing about art (I get into that more in the second part of the essay) news.artnet.com/art-world-ar... #chills #aestheticchills

submitted 134 days ago • 0 comments

What does "Cologne Cathedral" mean to TikTok? news.artnet.com/art-world/co... first pointed out by @ryanhatesthis.bsky.social on Garbage Day

submitted 137 days ago • 0 comments

My piece on the big Siena art show at the #metmuseum, such a lovely show with such a lot to think about news.artnet.com/art-world-ar...

submitted 138 days ago • 1 comment