By: Lucy Sante

The first time I met Jean-Michel Basquiat was in November or December 1978, at the Mudd Club. His hair was dyed orange and cut very short with a v-shaped widow’s peak in the front. He […]

By: Lucy Sante

What caused me to pick this item out of the trash heap was not its title — there are better editions of DeQuincey’s book out there (if none so pocket-sized) — but its publisher. Appeal […]

By: Joshua Glenn

Another postscript to Matthew Battles’ meditation on doodling. I originally wrote this item for Laylah Ali: 5 Responses to 5 Paintings, an exhibition brochure published by the Indianapolis Museum of Art in 2002. *** Late […]

By: Joshua Glenn

Here’s a postscript to Matthew Battles’ terrific meditation on doodling. In this scene, Gary Cooper gives us all permission to doodle and otherwise be “pixillated” — another word that features importantly in Mr. Deeds Goes […]

By: Lucy Sante

This was the view out my back window in New York City for more than ten years. That time (1979-1990) was the heyday of Wild Style, when graffiti truly became an artform, as is documented […]

By: Lucy Sante

Reminiscing about my early days in the used-paper trade, I find that I can become tender if not actually moist-eyed at the thought of the publications that were both produced and purchased by the raincoat […]

By: Lucy Sante

Just about as rare as if it had never been published at all, this may be the only extant copy of Dave Carluccio’s only book — typed, photocopied, folded, and stapled by its author in 1980 […]

By: Lucy Sante

THE SUBJECT, a recent immigrant approximately nine years of age, was asked to depict his mother. It was specified that he should present her in a particular context of his choosing: a setting or activity. […]

By: HILOBROW

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, this week, to the following high-, low-, no-, and hilobrow heroes. Click here for more HiLo Hero birthdays. JULY 26 If more people realized how steeped many aspects of modern life are in […]

By: Joshua Glenn

The most dangerous game?

By: Joshua Glenn

1996: An in-depth interview with Robert Thurman.

By: Lucy Sante

ASIDE FROM BRANDY and cigars, no product on the market is packaged quite as traditionally as cigarette papers. Nearly every item on your grocer’s shelf gets an image update every few years to make sure […]

By: HILOBROW

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, this week, to the following high-, low-, no-, and hilobrow heroes. Click here for more HiLo Hero birthdays. JULY 19 If CHESTER HIMES (1909-84) hadn’t found himself broke in France in the mid-1950s […]

By: Lucy Sante

THAT IS THE APT TITLE of the Columbia University fight song. It’s odd that I remember it, because I can’t have heard it more than once or twice — my time there was the absolute […]

By: HILOBROW

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, this week, to the following high-, low-, no-, and hilobrow heroes. Click here for more HiLo Hero birthdays. JULY 12 A New England scion twice kicked out of Harvard for nonconformity and “apathy,” […]