BOMB’s limited-edition tote bag is now available for purchase a la carte! Featuring a quote by the writer Caryl Phillips, BOMB’s XL tote bag includes a gusset and two handle sizes to make carrying books and art supplies a whole lot easier. Purchase yours today by following the link in our bio.
In celebration of Pride, BOMB has curated a selection of queer and trans film, visual art, poetry, and documentary from our archive. Decades of Pride offers a selection of interviews and original work by artists and writers from the ’80s to today, including Keith Haring, Barbara Hammer, Mickalene Thomas, Celine Sciamma, Theda Hammel, and more.
Find Decades of Pride at our link in bio!
For BOMB’s Behind the Cover series, @arleneshechet takes us on a tour of her upstate studio and the surrounding woods, which have inspired many of the sculptures now on view at @stormkingartcenter .
The “proudly impure” sculptor of wildly inventive forms brings bold color to big sculpture in her exhibition, “Girl Group.” In her interview from the Summer 2024 issue, Shechet discusses her process, the persistence of materials, and the qualities that make sculpture “ridiculously risky.” As she puts it, “I always want to leave some wildness in the material while I control it.”
To read her full conversation with Rebecca Smith, follow the link in our bio.
On the cover: Detail of Arlene Shechet, “May Morning: Together,” 2023, glazed ceramic and powder-coated steel, 23 × 11 × 14 inches. Photo by David Schulze. Courtesy of the artist and @pacegallery .
“We live in an age that is generating powerful technologies and scientific insights that enable fresh, even exhilarating opportunities but carry high risk to life. As artists, we often create experiences that embody this dilemma.” —Ellen K. Levy
In her conversation with @wayneporcaro , @eklevy1 speaks about her dynamic integration of science and art through augmented reality. Read the full interview at our link in bio.
“Ellen K. Levy: Seeing Through” is on view at the Tower Foyer Gallery at the University of Dundee in Dundee, Scotland, until June 29.
Ellen K. Levy, “Messenger (from the Re-Invention series),” 2019, acrylic and gel medium over print composed from redrafted patents and inventions, 60 × 40 inches. Courtesy of the artist.
From our new issue: explore interrogations of identity and culture in our summer issue with four articles now available on our website!
Learn about Jeffrey Gibson’s thoughts as he headed to the Venice Biennale — the first indigenous artist to be shown, Japanese filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s film on violence and ecology, Ryan Chapman’s novel on the elite discussing Elizabeth Holmes’ Theranos, and Dawn Lundy Martin’s new poetry. Visit our link in bio and head to our site.
Image 1: Installation view of Jeffrey Gibson’s the space in which to place me, 2024, as part of the space in which to place me, United States Pavilion, 60th International Art Exhibition—@labiennale , 2024. Photo by Timothy Schenck. Courtesy of the artist.
Image 2: Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist (NEOPA, 2023). Courtesy of @asideshowfilm and @janus_films .
Image 3: @chapmanchapman , The Audacity, @soho_press , 2024
Image 4: @dawnlundy , Instructions for The Lovers, 2024, @nightboat_books .
“The artist’s role is to imagine alternatives to the present... If my work is gonna go to a place where somebody’s probably not even ready to talk to me, what then does my work say on my behalf, as well as on the behalf of all the others like me who aren’t welcome in that space yet?” —Brandan “BMIKE” Odums
In a discussion with his mentor Elton Paul and mentee Cierra Wyche, @bmike2c reflects on the artist’s role in challenging societal norms and advocating for marginalized communities. Throughout their conversation, the group explores the intersection of creativity and activism, the power of mentorship, and the impact of community-driven art.
Read the full interview at our link in bio.
Image: BMIKE with his portrait of James Baldwin inside the Florida housing project in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans during Project BE. Courtesy of Brandan “BMIKE” Odums.
“In the past few years, I’ve often felt overwhelmed by the simultaneous tenacity and precarity of life. I want my sculptures to embody that tension.” —Alison Kudlow
In her conversation with @rose.nestler , @alisonkudlow discusses the fragile yet sharp materials she uses in her work, a duality reminiscent of the human body. Read the full interview at our link in bio.
”Alison Kudlow: Defensive Strategies for Tender Objects“ is on view at Deanna Evans Projects in New York City until June 22.
Alison Kudlow, ”Thoracic Surge,“ 2024, ceramic, glass, mother-of-pearl, bronze hardware, 20 × 22 × 6 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Deanna Evans Projects.
In “The Tale of a Wall” (@OtherPress ), the Palestinian poet Nasser Abu Srour writes of his imprisonment in Israel after a forced confession in 1993. As Amara Lakhous writes, Abu Srour’s memoir “not only recounts his own experiences and the broader Palestinian struggle from the Nakba to the first intifada but takes a surprising literary turn—the very prison wall depriving him of freedom becomes his companion and interlocutor, a source of stability amidst a chaotic existence.”
The chapter is followed by a discussion with Judith Gurewich, the book’s publisher. Follow the link in our bio to read the excerpt and conversation.
“I’m excited about how sculpture is ridiculously risky on every level,” says Arlene Shechet, whose work graces the cover of BOMB’s Summer 2024 issue. Speaking with Rebecca Smith, Shechet shares her motivations for bringing bold color to “big sculpture” and her method for creating unconventional forms: “I insist on working in real time with actual shapes and surrogates strapped together to sketch in true space. I have to feel it, dance with it, then ponder it over time.”
Before its release on June 15, take a look inside our new issue featuring interviews with Arlene Shechet, Dawoud Bey, Iván Argote, Hannah Beerman, and more. Follow the link in our bio to read more and subscribe.
