An artist and carpenter who is the father of several young-adult children has shared a potent message with us. Like many Americans, he feels a combined sense of frustration, anger, and helplessness in the face of the various political, economic, and social forces that are shaping our current historical moment, including the actions of a coterie of headline-making individuals who, as recent news reports have clearly shown, are members of a mostly wealthy, global elite that effectively rules the world. Here, he lets off some steam in a heartfelt note that may well resonate with many readers.

Today, in the self-styled land of the free and home of the brave, the use of certain words has been banned by the henchmen of its ruling, fascist regime. Recently, the artist Paula Kucera created The Dictionary of Resistance, a limited-edition artist’s book containing many such words and phrases, which can no longer be used in federal-government documents, communications, or publications, or on the websites of the government’s various agencies. See our photo-filled report about this cleverly subversive new publication.

What we love about the collage artist Paul Plumadore’s work is that, like its creator, it’s all analog, all the time. No AI program can compete with the imagination of this former choreographer and modern-dance performer who, several decades ago, took up a pair of scissors — sometimes he even uses a scalpel — and a pot of glue and never looked back. Now, with his new “Species” series of bizarre images combining human and animal forms, he’s pushing his collage-making technique in a fascinating direction. See Edward M. Gómez’s art-filled feature article, published on the occasion of Plumadore’s current gallery exhibition in Pennsylvania.

The Scottish artist Jack McLean, who has lived and worked in Japan for more than 30 years, has developed a distinctive body of work whose imagery is inspired by biker culture, rock’n’roll attitude, and the enduring, mythical allure of the open road. Rebellion! Throw in some skeletons in leather jackets and the super-dry, offbeat humor of a freaky-funny performance artist and, as McLean’s new exhibition at JPS Gallery in Tokyo shows, he manages to conjure up an all-new subculture of his own.

In this journal-like report, Steven Hirsch looks back at his recent discovery of the strange, burned-wood pictures made by the self-taught artist Tancred Calhoun and offers some observations about the purposes they might have served for the relatively isolated man who created them.