The "Dark Brandon" Rises

August 11, 2022 • View in browser

Good morning. ⛅ This world is getting stranger by the day. Look, for example, at how old-school Democrats are now celebrating and sharing "Dark Brandon" internet memes that depict President Joe Biden as some menacing Manga character. We prepared an explainer for you about all that.

Also today, Lena Dunham has a new, but apparently different, "go lose your virginity" movie, Cecilia Vicuña is getting her long-overdue moment, an exhibition highlighting Sāmoa’s Fa’afafine third gender community at the Venice Biennale, and much more.

— Hakim Bishara, Senior Editor

Behold the Rise of “Dark Brandon”

Memes depicting a sinister, all-powerful Joe Biden alter ego are sweeping the internet, and the Democratic establishment is loving it. | Sarah Rose Sharp

SPONSORED

CCS Bard Summer Exhibitions Delve Into Video Art and Black Melancholia

Shows at the Hudson Valley’s Hessel Museum of Art feature artists Dara Birnbaum and Martine Syms, as well as new scholarship on Black melancholia as an artistic and critical practice. Learn more.

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Carole Caroompas in her studio, 2022 (photo by and courtesy Vincent Ramos)

Carole Caroompas, whose large-scale paintings challenged systems of dominance and identity constructs, dies at 76.

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Cecilia Vicuña's Charismatic Vulnerability

Combining elements of Surrealism, Symbolism, and portraiture, Vicuña’s paintings are parables of personal and political awakening. | Louis Bury

Celebrating Sāmoa's Third Gender Through Radical Camp

With Paradise Camp, artist Yuki Kihara attempts to challenge and undermine colonial images of Sāmoa through a radical camp aesthetic. | Anna Souter

FILM & ANIMATION

Lena Dunham Puts a Twist on the “Lose Your Virginity” Film Genre

Featuring a delicate lead performance by Christine Froseth, this is a smart, sometimes purposefully discomfiting comedy about taking control of one’s sexuality. | Dan Schindel

Inu-Oh Infuses a Classical Japanese Tale With Rock ’n’ Roll

Masaaki Yuasa’s latest anime feature embodies a revolutionary spirit in its tale of outcasts breaking ground in medieval Japan. | Juan Barquin

IN MEMORIAM

Raymond Briggs (1934–2022)
British illustrator, graphic novelist, and author | New York Times

Carole Caroompas (1946–2022)
American painter and performance artist | Hyperallergic

Takahiko Iimura (1937–2022)
Japanese avant-garde filmmaker | Artnews

Issey Miyake (1938–2022)
Japanese fashion designer | CNN

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