Substack Reads: Tiny hot dogs, art’s new It Girl, and the power of a good belly laugh
This week, we have musings on the power of a tiny hot dog and the health benefits of a good belly laugh. Plus, we meet the 20-something painter setting auction records and raising eyebrows at Sotheby’s. Another jam-packed issue of eclectic writing from across Substack—we hope you enjoy it!
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ART
The new “it girl” of fine art
Why has the art world gone mad for 20-something painter Anna Weyant? Dirt looks at the artist behind new auction records
—Colleen Kelsey in Dirt
Weyant has spoken at length about many of her inspirations, from Lifetime movies and Anna Nicole Smith to Dutch Golden Age painters like Gerrit van Honthorst and the expressive contours of artist Ellen Berkenblit. Cursory readings of her work focus on the idiosyncratic grotesqueries her figures have in common with pin-up-y classicist John Currin, or her relationship with her dealer, 77-year-old Larry Gagosian, whose gallery she signed with in May.
The painter has earned a staggering amount of attention in the past couple years, not simply for her luminous, unsettling tableaux but for their extreme, almost maddening accrual of market value. Shortly after her Gagosian representation was announced, Weyant’s Falling Woman (2020) and Summertime (2020) were sold at auction for $1.6 million and $1.5 million at Sotheby’s and Christie’s, respectively (the former, in what’s become subject to industry gossip, was consigned by Weyant’s previous dealer, Tim Blum). Initially estimated at $300,000 to $500,000, Loose Screw netted $1.5 million in the Christie’s 21st Century Evening Sale just a few weeks ago. Back in the summer of 2019, 56 Henry gallerist Ellie Rines sold Weyant’s drawings for $400 at a Hamptons art fair.
I should also say I’m a fan, converted by the impish trapdoors-iness of Weyant’s somber constructions and girlish avatars, which feel akin to the sly shapeshifters of Lisa Yuskavage. She understands the sick trick of not just the weirdness of being a girl, but the nightmarish dream logic of navigating the art world’s callous landscape. At her much-awaited inaugural show at Gagosian’s Madison Avenue space in New York, open until December 23, a still life of three silver pots on a cream tablecloth reveals, in their ultra-polished reflections, the silhouette of a Hitchcockian figure advancing menacingly while brandishing a kitchen knife. The title? She Drives Me Crazy.
HUMOR
Tiny hot dogs as a prayer for the world
When Haterade turned two this month, its writer, Liz Cook, threw a Tiny Hot Dog party in her living room. The joyful world of “cocktail weenies” and smoke sheaths is not to be denied its status as a valid response to the world
By all accounts, I should love the Nathan’s Famous hot-dog eating contest. It’s a spectacle of bad ideas, a carnival of culinary excess. It’s got bright colors and loud noises and men named “Joey Chestnut.” And I find it all completely depressing.
Have you ever watched a man unmake a hot dog with such joyless efficiency? He’s dipping his bun into a paper cup of water! He’s squeezing it into a bolus with his fist! He’s working his hardest to experience nothing—the most nothing!—and to experience it faster than anyone else.
When people bang on about “empty calories,” they’re almost always talking about processed convenience food—soda, candy, chips. But there are so many ways to be empty, so many ways to feel full.
Food for me has always been about pleasure and curiosity—let’s just say “experience” and cap it there. Don’t misunderstand me: I, too, wish to eat 40 hot dogs. But I'd prefer to take mine leisurely, over the course of an afternoon. More importantly, I’d prefer to take mine with toppings.
WELLNESS
The healing power of a good belly laugh
When was the last time you really laughed? Like, more than a chuckle—a howl? Writer Thao Thai looks at why the kind of laughter we need is hard to come by, and where we might still find it
—Thao Thai in Wallflower Chats
That old adage about laughter being the best medicine is no joke. There are documented health benefits to laughter, such as a reduction of stress, promotion of endorphins, and renewal of social connection. Articles sometimes encourage silly dance parties or improv comedy classes—the latter being an activity more likely to induce abject fear than LOLs in me.
But the thing I love about the kind of howling-in-your-seat laughter I’m talking about is that element of surprise. While I can get behind the practice of actively searching for joy in our daily lives, part of what makes a good laugh session so satisfying is its unplanned nature. It just … happens to you. For me, the best kinds of laughs are summoned by twin elves, Goofiness and Delight, sneaking up on you at the moment when you least expect them.
POLITICS
U.S., U.K., and Europe in the playoffs
Three of the biggest players in global diplomacy have hugely different approaches. The former U.K. Head of the Foreign Office’s human rights department, Alexandra Hall Hall, who has worked for all three, pitches them against one another in a new Substack for news exclusives
—alexandra hall hall 🇺🇦🌻 in Byline Supplement
A graphic illustration of this divide came when I was invited to observe a role-playing exercise with US national security officials, who wanted to learn more about how the EU approached foreign policy crises. The scenario they were given was a civil war in a fictional nation, where one party to the conflict had kidnapped a group of Greek peacekeepers. Each US official was assigned to represent a different EU member state and pretend they were meeting in European Council format to discuss their response. The US officials all quickly agreed that the right response would be to send in a special forces team to rescue the peacekeepers and military aircraft to bomb the headquarters of the guilty party. They looked to me for approval.
I told them I thought a real discussion in the European Council would be very different. The Greek representative would be outraged and call for European support. Every other European representative would express their solidarity with the Greeks and then come up with a variety of reasons why immediate military action would not be the right response. Some would argue that we needed more time to establish the facts. Others would argue we needed to avoid exacerbating the conflict, endangering the peacekeepers further, or getting drawn in ourselves.
Some would worry about the humanitarian situation. Others would argue we should consult the UN before deciding what to do. No one would volunteer their own forces for a rescue mission. The meeting would probably conclude with a strong statement condemning the kidnapping, demanding that the peacekeepers be released, and calling on all sides to act with restraint, but no actual action plan. The Greeks would be left steaming… and probably end up approaching the Americans for help.
CULTURE
Art as a form of protest
Historian Victoria Powell is interested in the role of art in the world. In this voiceover post, she considers the role of art from and by Iranian women amid violence
—Victoria Powell in The Gallery Companion
Back in early October, an anonymous Iranian artist poured red dye into the fountains in Fatemi Square in Tehran to make the pool of water look like blood. Before the authorities had a chance to drain it away, images of the red fountains were quickly shared on social media. It was one of the many small but eye-catching acts of protest that Iranian artists have been making over the past couple of months in response to the murder of Zhina Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman.
On a trip to Tehran, Amini was picked up by the so-called ‘morality police,’ the henchmen of the supreme leader of Iran, the chief cleric Ayatollah Khamenei, for female dress-code violations. All women are required by law to have their hair covered with a hijab in public in Iran. Although Amini was wearing a head covering, she wasn’t wearing it ‘properly,’ apparently. The police bundled her into a van, where she was beaten up. She fell into a coma, and died a couple of days later. The government claimed she died of a pre-existing condition.
[...] This is a tech-savvy generation alive to the power of images and videos and the networks they can use to spread them on social media. Within Iran, artists, musicians, and filmmakers have been creating work which is critical of the regime, sharing it widely to inspire others to join the fight or to keep going. Protestors have been performing art in the streets, chaining themselves to lampposts whilst bending down in submission. When the police started rounding them up, protesters padlocked mannequins to the lampposts instead.
The visuals in urban streets have shifted over the past couple of months, too. Stencils of Amini and other women killed in the uprising have been appearing all over walls. And stickers have been plastered over street signs with the names of young people who have been murdered. Posters of the two clerics who have been the supreme leaders since 1979, which you see everywhere on buildings, now have eyes bleeding with red paint.
DATA
Are meat-free alternatives really better for the environment?
Climate author Hannah Ritchie, who writes for Our World in Data, looks at the issue
—Hannah Ritchie in Sustainability – without the hot air
Eating less meat and dairy is one of the most effective things that someone can do to cut their carbon footprint.
Lots of consumers say that they’re trying. Polling data from the UK suggests that nearly half (44%) of consumers try to buy less meat “All the time” or “Fairly often.”
They could switch to plant protein food such as beans, peas, and lentils. But people eat meat for other reasons: for the taste, the texture, and their familiarity with particular meals.
Meat substitutes let people reduce the impact of their diet without radical changes to the meals that they eat. Swap a beef burger for an Impossible Burger®. Or chicken for Quorn© chicken pieces.
But are they really better for the climate? They’re usually processed, need energy from manufacturing, and include ingredients that have been shipped from overseas.
GRIEF
The gap of remembrance
Author Talia Lavin remembers Elinor Friedman Klein, a lady of midcentury glamour
—Talia Lavin in The Sword and the Sandwich
It’s rare that someone is so completely associated with a holiday, but I went to her house every year of my life for Thanksgiving bar two, when I was not in the United States; my father went to her house for Thanksgiving for sixty-one years; it was the only time of year I saw my father’s people. Her house was the best-smelling, warmest house; on the broad lawn the air was crisp; north of the city you could see the constellations.
The young cousins and I among them slept in a pile in the basement among stored paintings and books and a billiard table, until we grew up and gave way to another generation of cousins, sleeping, interlocked, on the same pallets. Hexagonal red tiles on the floor of the vast kitchen, the big black stove with a perpetual palaver of pans; the bric-a-brac artful; the dogs she chose as puppies for their big paws, who grew gray-furred and died and were mourned and replaced. The last one outlived her, and he lies with his paws up begging for a belly-scratch, black muzzle scattered with salt.
ILLUSTRATION
Life lessons
This week’s comic, from artist and illustrator Barry Lee
—Barry Lee (They/Them) in Barry Lee Art
Overheard in Chat
Alex Dimitrov announced he would share his new poem with subscribers via Chat, including some spicy material. Wendy MacNaughton of DrawTogether with WendyMac started an image thread for subscribers on her Grown-Ups Table to share gratitude zines they had made over the holidays. And Hunter Harris and subscribers to Hung Up are sharing the best (and worst) of their Spotify Wrapped playlists.
Subscribe to their Substacks and download the Substack app on iOS to join in!
Recently launched
Rock critic Greil Marcus brings his “Real Life Rock Top 10” column to Substack, along with “Ask Greil,” in his publication Greil Marcus / Letter in the Ether.
The award-winning host of the TV series French Food at Home, cookbook author Laura Calder, launched A Place At My Table on Substack to share her writings on food, hospitality, and high-quality living.
Substack Reads is a weekly roundup of writing, ideas, art, and audio from the world of Substack. Posts are recommended by staff and readers, and curated and edited from Substack’s U.K. outpost by Hannah Ray.
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Hoping to draw more attention to my newsletter Juicy History by commenting here, please. I’m a newbie and devoted to creating worthy stories based on historical publications. Please have a look at my archives. My next article is about the rarest Christmas ornament that has never been found, made about 1918.
Oh you haven’t already seen it. Matt Taibbi (on his own twitter) has started to release the corruption at Twitter regarding the Hunter Biden Laptop, courtesy of Elon Musk. No wonder the Left and the Democrats have been wanting Twitter and Elon investigated since he took over. That should be a massive read this week.