Think of everything you like about the art experience: That it is meditative, complex, subtle, challenging; that it’s a refuge from the superficial, the pedestrian, the mercantile. The Armory art fair that opened this week in New York, like any other art fair, represents the opposite of all that. It is to a museum visit what Sam’s Club is to Goumanyat. The only thing it is good for is shopping. And yet, the Armory lets you see more art, faster, than you could otherwise. Blake Gopnik is highlighting pieces that catch his eye from the current round of fairs, including a John Currin tapestry and neon fence encircling dealer Paul Kasmin’s space.
This Week's Best Longform Journalism
A community for longform journalism is bursting on Twitter, where fans collect and share their favorite stories and take them on the go using Instapaper and Read It Later. From Wired’s visit to an iPhone factory in China to Bernie Madoff’s shocking conversations with a New York magazine reporter, The Daily Beast picks our favorite long journalism from around the Web this week. Follow along through the hashtag #longreads, and visit Longreads.com and Longform.org for suggestions throughout the week.
With her seductively aloof gaze and warm onscreen presence, Emily Blunt easily captivates audiences and critics—as she does in her latest film The Adjustment Bureau out this Friday. After earning several awards on the indie circuit, as well as the praise of her The Devil Wears Prada co-star Meryl Streep (who called her one of the best young actresses she’s ever worked with), 28-year-old Blunt has finally reached leading lady status—yet is sitting at a critical juncture in her career. She talks to Marlow Stern about her recent flops, starting a family with The Office’s John Krasinski, and how Obama’s romanticism plays into her political opinions.