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What You Missed in Art This Week

What You Missed in Art This Week

Art Stories, Recommendations, and Science, Handpicked for You

July 24, 2025

I just read a flash fiction piece by Hiromi Kawakami in The New Yorker that opened like this:

“Wind is scary. It makes all kinds of sounds when it blows. Whooshing. Howling. Rattling. Roaring. Out-of-the-ordinary sounds. Out-of-the-ordinary things are scary.”

That last line, isn’t it true? Out-of-the-ordinary things are scary — because they’re out of our control. And giving up control, that’s the scariest part.

The very next thing I read?
A study on artists who intentionally let go of control as part of their creative process.

So, fair warning: this week’s newsletter leans a little literary, a little scientific.

Inside:

An art book pick
Research on how artists use unpredictability
A pink fantasy carriage parked in the middle of NYC
And a robot selling royal portraits for a million bucks

What a world 🙂 Let’s dig in.

Art Drop of the Week

Magic Grasshopper Will Land in Times Square

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Times Square gets frosted. Chicago-based artist Yvette Mayorga rolls a 30-foot, bubblegum-pink carriage into the heart of NYC. Magic Grasshopper looks like a joyride from a ‘90s dream: carousel horses with Hello Kitty backpacks, gold rims, and a smiley-face flag.

🦗 The name is a nod to Chapultepec, aka “hill of the grasshopper”, a sacred place in Mexico City. The mission is to move you, across borders, eras, and ways of seeing.

Catch Magic Grasshopper 24/7 in Times Square from October 15 until Dec 2.
You’ll never look at frosting the same way again. 😊

This Week’s Book Recommendation

Here’s a wonderful summer reading 🗺️ (thought-provoking, with many illustrations) from one of the most influential British artists alive. He shares his process, reflections, and unique way of seeing the world.

One question he asks: Is there even anything left to paint in today’s world? 💥

I’m not sure which modernist critic said that it wasn’t possible to do anything with landscape any more. But when people say things like that I’m always perverse enough to think, ‘Oh, I’m sure it is.’ I thought about it, then I decided that it couldn’t be true because every generation looks differently. Of course you can still paint landscape - it’s not been worn out.”

(David Hockney, p. 12)

“The American critic Clement Greenberg, who was very influential, announced, ‘It’s impossible today to paint a face.’ But De Kooning’s answer — ‘That’s right, and it’s impossible not to’ — always seemed to me to be wiser. I thought, if what Greenberg was saying was true, all the images of the visible world we’d have would be photographs. That can’t be right. It can’t be like that, that would be too boring. There must be something wrong with these arguments.”

(p. 47)

P.s. What are you reading this summer? Drop us a reply!

Science Corner: Creativity Levels, Hacked🎯

This time, let’s end this newsletter with some science-stuff. Psychologists Kaufman & Beghetto say that not all creativity is created equal, there are 4 levels:

Mini-c: Just you and your sketchbook. No audience needed.
Little-c: You made something new for you. Progress!
Pro-c: You’re a creative pro. Clients, collectors, shows.
Big-C: You’re Jackson Pollock or Beyoncé. Cultural icon level.

👀 Pro-c is where most working artists live. So, researchers tracked Pro-c level artists over 10+ years and found that:

Artists often mess with their art. They experiment with techniques, rethink concepts, and reflect deeply on their own work. Over time, this process shapes something powerful: a creative vision that guides their work for years, even decades.

But here’s the twist:
Mastery can backfire. Get too skilled, too polished, and you stop surprising yourself.

Yokochi and Okada (2021) found that emerging artists, still searching for their vision, often tweak surface-level stuff (like motifs, tools, or techniques) at random.

Expert artists, on the other hand, go deeper. They intentionally mess with:

🎯 Concepts
🛠️ Techniques
🧰 Tools
🎲 Their own sense of control

Because letting go of control sparks accidents.
And creative accidents = new ideas = fresh art.

So, if you're an emerging artist:
Play. Explore. Reflect.
Notice what keeps showing up in your work. That’s the beginning of your creative vision.
Start asking: What’s this really about? Even the smallest hunch can grow into something powerful.

If you're a pro:
Drop the safety net. Try things that might flop. Welcome surprise, and let a little chaos in.
You’re not alone. Research shows: this is exactly how the best keep growing. 🎨

“Out-of-the-ordinary things are scary,” like Kawakami said. But sometimes really necessary, too, like science just said.

Wishing you some wonderful out-of-the-ordinary moments, and inspiration. Thanks for reading 🙂 See you again next week!

xx, Helen