Artistic processes are manifold, and hierarchizing the way we create is futile: but artist Oscar Santillon literally did climb to the top to make a recent work of art: he took a piece of England’s highest mountain. Said accomplishment will provide an incredibly impressive line on a resume, but it’s also angered Cumbria Tourism, who wants him to return it. Regardless of the ultimate decision about what happens to this inch of mountaintop, not many other people can put “Mountain Thief” on their list of qualifications. The only artistic feat that may be more impressive is an entire book of poems about Kanye West. Which exists, and is available for purchase on Amazon. Do with that what you will.
Moving on from Kanye and the most minute form of mountaintop removal, these evocative photographs of abandoned buildings all over NYC prove that this city — which is undeniably beautiful while alive and thrumming with life — also contains stunning, hidden spaces of emptiness, where it can age in quiet repose. When you’re done enjoying high quality ruin-porn, check out the work of Anne Betton, a photographer who seeks to put a “face to mental illness, or the work of Fox From, who took these majestic photographs of Siberian Huskies standing on top of a frozen lake.
Those of us who walked the slums of Shaolin know that Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version has recently hit its 20th anniversary. Open up Spotify and let Dirty’s dulcet tones provide a proper background for this essay filled with first-hand accounts of what it was like to know the Wu-Tang legend. Compliment it with this extremely thoughtful piece on what the music of Kendrick Lamar, Drake, and Kanye West respectively represents in both contemporary hip-hop and American racial politics.