An online journal about West Coast art
Read the Letter from the Editor to learn more about what you can expect from this space.
Reviews
Critical analyses of contemporary art
Mixed Feelings for Strange Fruit: Genevieve Gaignard at Vielmetter Los Angeles
A daring but imperfect exhibition challenges notions of racism and colorism.
Srijon Chowdhury’s “Groundhog Day” at SE Cooper Contemporary
A Portland-based painter conjures the otherworldly to meditate on the shrouded interiority of his subjects.
Unknowable Spaces: William Matheson’s “Dissipatio” at Nationale
Evocative oil paintings on jute canvas trouble the perception of figure-ground relationships.
Joke’s on Us: Hugo Montoya’s “Florida Man” at Et al.
Through found objects and wry humor, Hugo Montoya reveals problematic cultural stereotypes.
Compendium of Scars: Pained Vistas at Photographic Center Northwest
Eleven artists depict landscapes framed by conflict, trauma, and beauty.
The Importance of Meaningless Things: Sara Cwynar at ICA LA
At ICA LA, Cwynar probes what we can learn from our fickle taste and consumerism.
Sponsored Connections
Paid interviews with outstanding organizations in the West Coast art world
Sponsored Connection | Christine Miller: Syrup on Watermelon at Portland Art Museum Reviewed
Portland artist Christine Miller turns historical racist imagery into tools for Black liberation and love.
Sponsored Connection | Diedrick Brackens & D’Angelo Lovell Williams: The Quick at lumber room Reviewed
Two artists collaborate to explore kinship, multigenerational learning, and community.
Sponsored Connection: Maya Vivas / Ori Gallery
Ori Gallery (Portland, OR) offers artists the space they need to be creative.
Sponsored Connection: devynn emory
devynn emory invites people to engage with grief, death, and community.
Sponsored Connection: Nat Turner Project
Nat Turner Project (Portland, OR) is a fugitive, migratory space working to end the precarity of Black life.
Sponsored Connection: Converge 45
Converge 45 (Portland, OR) is building an organization where curators and artists can work together.
Interviews
Intimate conversations with artists about their life, work, and interests
Surreal Society: Marika Thunder Interviewed
Class, tradition, gender roles, race, and celebrity take center stage in Marika Thunder’s exhibition at de boer gallery in Los Angeles
Theaters for Frankensteins: Yuyang Zhang Interviewed
Yuyang Zhang’s paintings and digital collages offer cultural commentary through memes, Chinese-American culture, and dark humor.
Art of Glass: Emily Endo Interviewed
Through scientific discovery and mysticism, Emily Endo explores the possibility of glass.
A Condemned Building Gets a Last Breath of Life Through Sacramento Artists: Faith J. McKinnie, Liv Moe, Molly Stroud, and Genesis “The Mayor” Torres Interviewed
Four curators and thirty-five artists transform a soon-to-be demolished building in Sacramento’s rapidly gentrifying Ice Blocks district.
How Technology Feels: Rafael Lozano-Hemmer Interviewed
In a bilingual conversation, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Sofía Córdova question the human relationship with technology.
Finding Meaning in Forgotten Objects: Pamela Ramos Interviewed
Found objects give intimate clues to the lives of strangers, and are given new lives as artworks.
Love Letters
Micro essays on artists we can’t stop thinking about
Love Letter to Julie Green
An Oregon-based educator and artist inspires her students to find beauty in everything.
Love Letter to Kenjiro Nomura
A Seattle-based painter captures 1930s Seattle, Japanese Internment, grief, loss, and recovery—all with his brush.
Love Letter to Essie Somma
A painter challenges the traditional approach to classical painting through vice, intimacy, and the quotidian.
Love Letter to Jeannene Przyblyski
A Bay Area-based educator inspired students to look harder, ask deeper questions, and to take a stand.
Love Letter to Carlson Hatton
A Los Angeles-based painter’s ripples in time on canvas immerse his viewers in another world.
Love Letter to Jessie Homer French
Paintings for the end of the world made in the middle of nowhere.
Pairings
Art that makes us think of food and food that makes us think of art
Immersive Frida Kahlo & Starbucks Unicorn Frappuccino
What do blockbuster immersive art exhibits and junk food have in common?
Raúl Guerrero & Mexican food in the United States
Raúl Guerrero’s paintings of food celebrate the Mexican-American experience.
Nasim Hantezadeh and summer stone fruit
An LA-based artist’s biomorphic works on paper evoke the vocabulary of food.
Jim Shaw and The Apple Pan’s egg salad sandwich
The globby Americana of Jim Shaw paintings and an overstuffed egg salad sandwich.
Wayne Thiebaud & Ghia’s Le Spritz
Wayne Tiebaud’s distinctly Californian sense of lighting and the perfect non-alcoholic aperitif.
The Why
Stories about what inspires West Coast creatives
Aaron Shurin’s Poetic Punctuation
A writer discusses how an unlikely combination of punctuation changed his writing forever.
Tom Friedman’s 1000 Hours of Staring
How a blank piece of paper inspired Variable West’s founder to be an art critic and writer.
Write for us
We cover art in California, Oregon, and Washington, but encourage pitches from anywhere.
Check our Call for Pitches page to learn about all our formats.