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Arts & Culture / Art & Artists

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Top 10 Biggest Roadside Foods in America

Where is the world’s biggest pistachio?

Cuban Emerald (Chlorostilbon ricordii), Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology, Collected from Andros Island, Bahamas, on January 22, 1988.

The Art of the Bird’s Nest

The architectural masterpieces of numerous bird species are the subject of Sharon Beals’ latest photo series—on display at the National Academy of Sciences

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Coming Soon: The Sifang Art Museum

A first look at the 15,000-square-foot space being built outside of Nanjing, China

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Why David Hockney Has a Love-Hate Relationship With Technology

A new retrospective highlights the artist’s two, seemingly opposite passions

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The Art That is Hidden in Plain Sight

A Milan-based artistic duo uses color to reveal a series of dreamlike panoramas concealed in white light

Valley of the Reclining Woman

Carl Warner’s Mountains Are Made of Elbows and Knees

The British photographer creates convincing landscapes—deserts and rocky scenes—by piecing together photos of nude models

Sprites over Red Willow County, Nebraska, on August 12, 2013

Scientists Capture Rare Photographs of Red Lightning

Graduate student Jason Ahrns and colleagues hunt the skies for sprites—fleeting streaks and bursts of color that can appear above thunderstorms

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These Ocean Waves Look Like Liquid Sculptures

Photographer Pierre Carreau captures waves mid-break, showing the surf’s delicate balance of power and fragility

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Sharks Made Out of Golf Bags? A Look at the Big Fish in Contemporary Art

Intrigued by the powerful hunters, artists have made tiger sharks, great whites and hammerheads the subjects of sculpture

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Landscape Through a Car Window, Darkly

A new exhibition presents 1970s photography that challenged the traditional American landscape

Bacterial Dragon (Paenibacillus dendritiformis), by Eshel Ben-Jacob

Colonies of Growing Bacteria Make Psychedelic Art

Israeli physicist Eshel Ben-Jacob uses bacteria as an art medium, shaping colonies in petri dishes into bold patterns

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Ten Years of Flying High with Air and Space Art

The Air and Space Museum showcases the art of air and space. Check out photos of some of the works here

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Nobel Prize Winners Are Put to the Task of Drawing Their Discoveries

Volker Steger photographs Nobel laureates posing with sketches of their breakthrough findings

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Asian-Latino Artwork “Pops Up” in Outdoor Museum

See works by Asian American and Latino artists, presented by the Smithsonian Asian-Latino Festival

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Iconic Photography by the Legendary Irving Penn Comes to the American Art Museum

The Modernist photographer pushed the boundaries of art and fashion

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The End of the World Might Just Look Like This

Artist Ron Miller presents several scenarios—most of them scientifically plausible—of landscapes imperiled and of Earth meeting its demise

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Inside the Alien’s Guide to the Ruins of Washington, D.C.

To us, the architecture of the Lincoln Memorial is an iconic callback to ancient Greece. But what would extraterrestrials make of it?

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What the Handwriting Says About the Artist

A new exhibition by the Archives of American Art examines the handwriting of more than 40 American artists

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When Lettuce Was a Sacred Sex Symbol

For nearly 3,000 years lettuce was associated with the Egyptian god of fertility, Min, for its resemblance to the phallus

Rina Banerjee’s “A world Lost…” is now on view in the Sackler Gallery pavilion.

“A world Lost…” Is the Stuff of Dreams and Nightmares

Rina Banerjee weaves personal and global history into her new Sackler Gallery installation, opening July 13

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