Roxane Gay and Debbie Millman on the myriad of contemporary artists creating groundbreaking artwork around the world.About this Event
Rizzoli Bookstore is delighted to partner with WePresent to celebrate the new monograph, Brilliant: Unexpected Art from Everywhere, a beautiful comprehensive survey of 60 artists and their work, creative processes, and inspirations, many of which have not been published until now. Roxane Gay, who penned the epilogue in Brilliant, will be in conversation with her wife, leading design critic, podcaster and writer Debbie Millman, about creativity and the theme of 'endings' which she explores in the book. The conversation will be followed by a signing.
PLEASE NOTE: RSVPs are encouraged but not required. Seating is limited and will be first come, first served. Doors open at 6:30 pm.
Can't attend? (please specify you would like it signed in the comments at checkout).
Original outpourings from 60 exceptional creative minds working in the arts and literature today, curated by a new kind of arts platform
Brilliant: Unexpected Art from Everywhere is a bold, visually rich celebration of today’s most exciting artists. Curated by WePresent, an award-winning digital arts and editorial platform telling unexpected stories of creativity from across the globe, many of these artworks have never before been published in print. They range from Mous Lamrabat’s color-saturated exploration of ’90s nostalgia in 2025 Senegal and Qatar, to behind-the-scenes looks at Riz Ahmed and Aneil Karia’s Oscar-winning short film The Long Goodbye and the making of FKA twigs’ electrifying music video Cellophane. Photographs by Quil Lemons, Micaiah Carter, and Renell Medrano, as well as a manifesto by Marina Abramović and an essay by Roxane Gay, were created especially for this book.
Themed around the concept of “discovery,” the featured works address a diverse range of topics, including cultural memory, immigration, the female gaze, physical transformation, and the internet. They are rendered in mediums from painting and drawing to photography, film, and music video. Each work is accompanied by a profile of the artist, providing both context and a broader look at their creative process.
These image-rich artist profiles are punctuated by literary essays and short fiction, and punchy graphic “manifestos” – guides from the likes of Ai Weiwei and Sheila Heti to living a fulfilling creative life.
Evidence that there are infinite ways to express oneself, and that brilliant, unexpected art is being created all around the world every day, Brilliant is an inspiring, untraditional art survey designed for a new generation of creators, collectors, and culture-seekers.
Featured creators include: Russell Tovey, Roxane Gay, Jarvis Cocker, Olivia Laing, Caleb Azumah Nelson, David Sedaris, Marina Abramović, Riz Ahmed, Annie Atkins, Isamaya Ffrench, Sheila Heti, Kneecap, Quil Lemons, Mous Lamrabat, Renell Medrano, Flo Ngala, Polly Nor, Moses Sumney, FKA twigs, Pussy Riot, Tillie Walden, Qualeasha Wood, and Ai Weiwei.
Roxane Gay’s writing appears in Best American Mystery Stories 2014, Best American Short Stories 2012, Best Sex Writing 2012, A Public Space, McSweeney’s, Tin House, Oxford American, American Short Fiction, Virginia Quarterly Review, and many others. She is a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times. She is the author of the books Ayiti, An Untamed State, The New York Times-bestselling Bad Feminist, the nationally bestselling Difficult Women and The New York Times-bestselling Hunger. She is also the author of World of Wakanda for Marvel. She has several books forthcoming and is also at work on television and film projects. She also has a newsletter, The Audacity, and once had a podcast, The Roxane Gay Agenda.
Named “one of the most creative people in business” by Fast Company, “one of the most influential designers working today” by GDUSA, and a “Woman of Influence” by Success magazine, Debbie Millman is also an author, artist, educator, designer, and podcast pioneer. She is the host of the Webby award-winning podcast Design Matters, one of the first and longest running podcasts in the world; Chair of the first-ever Masters in Branding Program at the School of Visual Arts, Editorial Director of PrintMag.com, co-publisher of TheRumpus.net and the author of eight books. Debbie is the recipient of a Cooper Hewitt National Design Award and a Lifetime Achievement award from AIGA, the Professional Association for Design. She is currently a Harvard Business School Executive Fellow.
Event venue
Rizzoli Bookstore, 1133 Broadway, New York, United States
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups — all the happenings, one place.