Culture + Criticism

Desire Lines: Essays on Art, Poetry and Culture
Guernica Editions, 2017

Desire Lines is a collection of essays on art, poetry and culture–both high and low–gathered from the astute critical work of Toronto writer Ewan Whyte. Topics range from the influence of Plato on the poetry of Anne Carson to the influence of the cultural revolution on the art of Ai Weiwei; from his thoughts on an extreme American/Canadian mind control cult to the cultural implications of the cadaver plasticization work of Gunter von Hagens and the influence of violence as creation in the art of Viktor Mitic. Spontaneous and contemporary, these are essays for those who like to re-think.

“Here cultural critic and essayist Ewan Whyte uses his uncanny and rare capacity to slip inside works of art and figure out what make them tick. In Desire Lines: Essays on Art, Poetry and Culture, a sweeping variety of essays on imagery, language and creativity, Whyte offers up maximum insight with a minimum of attitude. Both a poet and translator, Whyte is a relaxed, lucid, knowledgeable critic of poetry as well as visual art. Desire Lines culminates with his personal essay about childhood in a religious cult. His sympathy for those trapped within bizarre, sometimes sadistic demands (and for art made under severe cultural restrictions) underpins his generous critical views. Whyte triumphed by embracing the imagination—and this splendid collection is a triumph for the arts as a humane and gifted writer understands them.”

–Molly Peacock, author of The Paper Garden and The Analyst

Shifting Paradigms: Essays on Art and Poetry
Guernica Editions, 2021

Continuing from Desire Lines, Shifting Paradigms is a collection of essays on art, poetry, and culture–both high and low–gathered from the astute critical work of Toronto writer Ewan Whyte. Included: essays on Glenn Gould, Yayoi Kusama, Anish Kapoor, Janet Cardiff, Damien Hirst, Anne Carson, Peter Doig, and a number of other Canadian artists and poets.