Art is at once a product of culture and a creator of it. Our attitudes toward artists and artistic creation are currently ambivalent; society at large marginalizes artists but also reveres the few creators that float the multi-billion dollar art market. Critic Suzi Gablik investigates our attitudes t

Contemplative, Sincere, Sophisticated, Witty

If Lauryn Hill had allowed critics to choose her path, she would have left the Fugees after their 1993 debut, "Blunted on Reality" -- andthe best selling hip-hop album ever, "The Score," would never have been more than a dream. Hill stuck to her convictions and produced the Fugees' sophomore album, w

Lush, Pop, Religious, Sensual, Sincere

The name of the architectural offices of Vastu-Shilpa Consultants, "Sangath," translates into "moving together through participation." The workspace's appellation is telling, as is the title of the group itself; Vastu Shilpa means "design of environment." In case it's not already painfully obvious, t

Environmental architecture, Functional, Modernist architecture, Organic, Political, Pristine, Sincere

In 1999, when Ann Hui was asked how she'd been spending her time, she replied that she'd been teaching. Was she on the faculty at the London Film School (her alma mater), or perhaps at some prestigious American university? No. Surprisingly, Hui was not working in film at all -- instead, she was payin

Dramatic, Eclectic, Elegant, Epic, Mainland chinese (the 5th generation), Sincere