{
  "id": 16920787,
  "title": "Our Fall Issue Cover: Elizabeth Glaessner’s Big Head",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/28/our-fall-issue-cover-elizabeth-glaessners-big-head",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-10-28T15:57:53.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Paris Review",
    "slug": "the-paris-review",
    "url": "https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2026/10/28/elizabeth-glaessner-big-head/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Elizabeth Glaessner, a Brooklyn-based artist, has her work featured on the cover of our Fall issue. Her painting, titled Big Head, measures nearly seven feet in size, but we shrank it down to cover dimensions of six inches by five for publication. We visited Glaessner at her studio in East Williamsburg to learn about her creative process and the inspiration behind the painting.\n\nThe idea for Big Head originated from a smaller drawing of a figure emerging from a mouth, rooted in childhood experiences involving fear and religion. Glaessner explored this theme through various works, including depictions of exorcisms and cleansing rituals, and eventually created Big Head by painting the smaller figure painting the larger head in a studio setting.\n\nGlaessner works in large-scale pieces and often repeats motifs, leaving multicolored prints beside her paintings. She paints the same images multiple times, sometimes one-handed, with one hand leaning against a wall. This repetition allows her to find freedom and new perspectives in the process.\n\nThe water theme in her paintings, featured in the show \"Running Water,\" symbolizes constant motion and the feeling of never escaping oneself. This idea is also reflected in the title Big Head, which juxtaposes a tiny person painting a giant head, hinting at themes of ego and the absurdity of the act.\n\nGlaessner listens to music while working, either ambient sounds or albums that help her get into the right mood for the painting. She also reads books, including No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai, which explores themes of alienation and humanity.",
  "summary": "“The title kind of teases the painting. It’s a tiny person painting a giant head, which sounds like it could be about the ego.”",
  "key_points": [
    "Elizabeth Glaessner’s painting Big Head featured on Fall issue cover",
    "Big Head measures nearly seven feet, shrunken to six by five inches for publication",
    "Artist’s work explores themes of ego, childhood fears, and repetitive creative process"
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}