Jessica Zack
Jessica Zack is a Bay Area journalist who writes about books, film, and visual culture.
The Art of Participation
Lee Mingwei hopes that people will never be the same—in a good way—after interacting with his latest exhibition.
Beyond Point-and-Shoot
With The Gun Next Door, Judy Dater offers portraits of Bay Area gun owners that are equal parts troubling and beautiful.
What Good Looks Like
The world’s most rigorous environmental certification program for architects seeks to be more than a set of inspirational principles. If only achieving true sustainability wasn’t so difficult.
‘The Last Black Calligrapher in San Francisco’
Hunter Saxony III relies on centuries-old calligraphic techniques to create conceptual art that explores identity, justice, and mortality.
Old-World Sage
For four decades, Claudio Mariani has been restoring—or re-creating—furniture with design techniques that reach back centuries.
In Search of an ‘American Geography’
The Central Valley’s Matt Black spent six years and traveled more than 100,000 miles—often by bus—photographing the ubiquity of poverty across the United States.
The Marks We Make
Michael Light’s aerial photography finds beauty in the traces we leave on the western landscape.
This Must Be the Place
Andrea Zittel’s rectangular forms are right at home in the wide-open Mojave Desert.
Having His Cake and Eating It, Too
Wayne Thiebaud shook up the art world in 1962 with paintings that were joyous, confectionary, and uniquely Californian. On the eve of his 100th birthday, the artist says he’s “trying to learn to paint” and put a smile on people’s faces.
The Unexpected Beauty of Seaweed
Josie Iselin’s stunning new book, The Curious World of Seaweed, proves that it’s much more than a sushi wrap.
San Francisco Art Shows Reveal a Future
Two exhibitions in San Francisco ponder what’s on tap for the human race, from eco-friendly architecture and floating cities to intergalactic getups and jet packs.
Putting the Art in Artificial Intelligence
The robots have come for our art. A pair of shows explore what it means to be human in the age of artificial intelligence.
