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2 weeks ago | 
criterion.com | Roger Durling
Essays— Apr 29, 2025 As you might imagine, paintings take a central role in visionary filmmaker Julian Schnabel’s Basquiat (1996)—his cinematic portrait of his fellow artist and friend Jean-Michel Basquiat, who died in 1988, at the age of twenty-seven, of a heroin overdose. Toward the end of the film, the character Albert Milo (a thinly veiled Schnabel surrogate) speaks about painting on a backdrop from a Kabuki theater in Japan.
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2 weeks ago | 
criterion.com | Roger Durling
Julian Schnabel’s tribute to his friend and fellow painter Jean-Michel Basquiat is less a conventional biopic than an impressionistic, sensory immersion into the much-mythologized downtown-Manhattan art world of the 1980s.
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1 month ago | 
independent.com | Roger Durling
Forty years ago, Phyllis de Picciotto went before the Santa Barbara City Council and asked for a grant to start the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, and she served as our artistic director for many years. Needless to say, we’ve always admired and respected her— and if it wasn’t for her chutzpah and vision, SBIFF wouldn’t be what it is today. We’re truly saddened to hear of her passing, and send our condolences to her husband, Stan Roden, and her family.
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2 months ago | 
independent.com | Roger Durling
Looking IN at the Life and Work of Hank PitcherIconic Painter Takes On The Miramar Affair in His Latest Exhibit at Santa Barbara’s Sullivan Goss GalleryBy Roger Durling | Photos by Ingrid BostromMarch 13, 2025Hank Pitcher in his studio. | Credit: Ingrid BostromSince I wrote a cover story about Hank Pitcher in 2017, one of the richest experiences of my life in Santa Barbara has unfolded — perhaps more satisfying than anything I’ve ever experienced during my tenure in our beloved city.
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Nov 13, 2024 | 
independent.com | Roger Durling
Santa Barbara’s Storied Art Gallery Celebrates 40 YearsPatricia Sullivan and Frank Goss’s Legacy Lives On in Nathan Vonk and His TeamBy Roger Durling | Photos by Ingrid BostromNovember 14, 2024Eight years ago, Nathan Vonk mortgaged his home to buy Sullivan Goss — a gamble that proved worthwhile as the gallery celebrates its 40th anniversary. | Credit: Ingrid BostromNathan Vonk invites me into his home at the corner of a busy intersection in downtown Santa Barbara.
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Aug 26, 2024 | 
independent.com | Josef Woodard |Samantha Durbin |Roger Durling |Tyler Hayden
This Labor Day Weekend, Santa Barbara will transform into a living gallery, as artists open their doors to the public for the 23rd annual Santa Barbara Studio Artists (SBSA) Open Studio Tour. From August 30 to September 2, art aficionados will have the unique opportunity to engage directly with Santa Barbara’s star artists and view up close the exceptional works that define the Santa Barbara art scene.
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Aug 19, 2024 | 
independent.com | Samantha Durbin |Roger Durling |Caitlin Scialla |Rebecca Horrigan
In an odd but pointed way, the new exhibition In the Making: Contemporary Art at SBMA eagerly seeks to invalidate and disprove a Gertrude Stein quote, strategically placed at the entrance to the show. Almost a century ago, in an age before modern art and museum culture had found a way to get along, Stein said, “You can be a museum or you can be modern, but you can’t be both.” Oh, no, you didn’t, say the institutional forces that be at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art.
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Aug 16, 2024 | 
independent.com | Roger Durling |Caitlin Scialla |Leslie Dinaberg |Gina Rodarte Quiroz
Paso Robles’ wine and hospitality scenes are popping, and an extraordinary experience I’ve sought out two hours north is Sensorio, where Bruce Munro’s light exhibits continue to dazzle locals and tourists. Their first collaboration with outside artists is their latest exhibit, DIMENSIONS by HYBYCOZO, which landed this summer. A friend introduced me to HYBYCOZO’s lights years ago when they were making smaller versions you could purchase for your home or office (you still can).
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Aug 8, 2024 | 
independent.com | Roger Durling
The Accidental Artist-ActivistBaret Boisson’s Vibrant Work Paints a Love Letter to the UniverseBy Roger Durling | August 8, 2024Artist Baret Boisson| Photo: Ingrid Bostrom“I never set out to be an artist, and I never studied art — ever,” exclaims the dazzling painter Baret Boisson, as she shows me around her home studio in Carpinteria. “I came upon it accidentally without any goals or expectations; I fell in love with the feeling of creating.
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Jul 11, 2024 | 
independent.com | Matt Kettmann |Lauren Chiou |Roger Durling |Jackson Friedman
Mr. Cartoon Designs Inaugural Title X Wine Bottle Renowned Tattoo and Graffiti Artist Collaborates on Santa Barbara-Grown Wine By Matt Kettmann Thu Jul 11, 2024 | 12:11pm Add to Favorites Artist Mr. Cartoon | Credit: Courtesy Before ever getting the nickname Mr. Cartoon, a young Mark Machado recognized that collectors of art tended to be fans of wine. He saw the two worlds intersect while attending events across Los Angeles with his print shop-owning parents, who regularly took their kids to...
