Intimacy

Writer Rachel Kushner examines the lineage of common themes and recurrent imagery in July’s extraordinary body of work.

This First Proof contains the poems “Foreign Body” and “Species Fever.”

For several years, Thelma Garcia has been creating black-and-white sequences in which she photographs herself from across the room, performing daily routines like taking a shower or making the bed.

It was in 1981 and I was a sophomore in art school when I first encountered Chuck Close’s work at a show called Contemporary American Realism Since 1960. I was struck by how it didn’t resemble any of the other work in the show.

Tina Barney has spent years photographing the upper-class enclave of Watch Hill, Rhode Island. Here she discusses the limits of privacy, the ambiguity of entitlement and the intimate nature of nostalgia.

“You can’t be great when you value greatness, when greatness, rather than the fulfillment of your talent, is your aspiration.”