August 11, 2022 • View in browser
Good morning. ⛅ This world is getting stranger by the day. Look, for example, at how old-school Democrats are now celebrating and sharing "Dark Brandon" internet memes that depict President Joe Biden as some menacing Manga character. We prepared an explainer for you about all that.
Also today, Lena Dunham has a new, but apparently different, "go lose your virginity" movie, Cecilia Vicuña is getting her long-overdue moment, an exhibition highlighting Sāmoa’s Fa’afafine third gender community at the Venice Biennale, and much more.
— Hakim Bishara, Senior Editor
Behold the Rise of “Dark Brandon”
Memes depicting a sinister, all-powerful Joe Biden alter ego are sweeping the internet, and the Democratic establishment is loving it. | Sarah Rose Sharp
SPONSORED
CCS Bard Summer Exhibitions Delve Into Video Art and Black Melancholia
Shows at the Hudson Valley’s Hessel Museum of Art feature artists Dara Birnbaum and Martine Syms, as well as new scholarship on Black melancholia as an artistic and critical practice. Learn more.
LATEST NEWS
Carole Caroompas in her studio, 2022 (photo by and courtesy Vincent Ramos)
Carole Caroompas, whose large-scale paintings challenged systems of dominance and identity constructs, dies at 76.
30 antiquities trafficked by the notorious British dealer Douglas Latchford are returned to Cambodia.
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LATEST IN ART
Cecilia Vicuña's Charismatic Vulnerability
Combining elements of Surrealism, Symbolism, and portraiture, Vicuña’s paintings are parables of personal and political awakening. | Louis Bury
Celebrating Sāmoa's Third Gender Through Radical Camp
With Paradise Camp, artist Yuki Kihara attempts to challenge and undermine colonial images of Sāmoa through a radical camp aesthetic. | Anna Souter
FILM & ANIMATION
Lena Dunham Puts a Twist on the “Lose Your Virginity” Film Genre
Featuring a delicate lead performance by Christine Froseth, this is a smart, sometimes purposefully discomfiting comedy about taking control of one’s sexuality. | Dan Schindel
Inu-Oh Infuses a Classical Japanese Tale With Rock ’n’ Roll
Masaaki Yuasa’s latest anime feature embodies a revolutionary spirit in its tale of outcasts breaking ground in medieval Japan. | Juan Barquin
IN MEMORIAM
Raymond Briggs (1934–2022)
British illustrator, graphic novelist, and author | New York Times
Carole Caroompas (1946–2022)
American painter and performance artist | Hyperallergic
Takahiko Iimura (1937–2022)
Japanese avant-garde filmmaker | Artnews
Issey Miyake (1938–2022)
Japanese fashion designer | CNN
