Escape into Life: Issue no. 19

Ray Caesar

This issue Scott Rothstein, an artist whose work has been shown in major museums including the Art Institute of Chicago and the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Art, joins the Escape into Life team as a writer. Rothstein has a passion for lesser-known non-western art forms, and expresses a unique concern for the welfare of Indian artists. In this issue, you’ll find his review on the work of Indian artist, Pushpa Kumari.

We also have a very special feature to introduce to our readers: the Escape into Life Explore page. You’ll find “Explore” at the top of the screen on the navigation bar. Here you can browse through the 1200 plus posts of artists, essays, poetry, and reviews broken down by category. On the left, you can limit your search to specific categories. All of the thumbnails are displayed, allowing one to preview large swaths of the site at one time.

The Cautionary Tale of Hunter S. Thompson . . . This incredibly popular essay written by Julie Andrijeski draws an interesting link between the work of Hunter S. Thompson and our own critical time for journalism. Her thesis is that Thompson brought a level of integrity to journalism because he sought to dissect the events around him in order to understand them on a personal level. He gave context to events, not only political and historical, but also subjective context. Our journalism today is threatened with losing both kinds.

The Poetry of Leslie McGrath . . . McGrath’s poetry possesses a very intimate voice, and she speaks from a reflective point of view. Winner of the 2004 Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry, her first collection of poetry, Opulent Hunger, Opulent Rage, was published in 2009.

In Dialogue with the Muse of Art History: Brett Whitely . . . Tony Thomas writes an illuminating retrospective on the Australian artist, Brett Whitely. We are led through the events and milestones in the artist’s career, as well as his descent into heroin addiction and subsequent death. Thomas believes that despite Whitely’s shortened career, he was still one of the great artists of the 20th century.

Pushpa Kumari and The Tulsi Drawing . . . Scott Rothstein gives an introduction to Indian artist Pushpa Kumari, who creates provocative works that retain a sense of the traditional. The second part of Rothstein’s review tells the story of each panel of The Tulsi Drawing.

What is Escape into Life?

Escape into Life hosts over 900 contemporary artist profiles, and is also an online arts journal with contributions from nearly 25 different writers. Many of our contributors—ranging from well-known published authors, university professors, and freelance journalists—continue to publish art reviews and art history essays month after month. In addition, our poetry editor selects a new poet to feature in the journal every issue.

The Escape into Life digest comes out about twice monthly and you can subscribe at the top of the website, next to the search bar.

As an organization, we seek to promote the arts in all its forms. Our next milestone is to merge the thriving online publication with a viable online art store.