- Moscow is filled with terrible sounding public art. Apparently there’s been a Soviet-esque shift towards the kitschy and dumbed-down as the global community has withdrawn from an increasingly hostile Russia. [The New Yorker]
- In other Russia news, performance artist Pyotr Pavlensky is refusing to accept a court’s closure of a criminal case against him. I have no idea what that means, but Pavlensky is known for anti-government performances such as sewing his mouth shut, nailing his balls to the Red Square, and setting fire to the Russian Security Services building’s door. [Artforum]
- Christie’s owner Francois Pinault is still really, really rich despite the auction house’s recent financial woes. So rich, he just signed a 50 year, $1 billion lease on a historic Parisian grain storage building by the Louvre at Bourse de Commerce to open a museum for his own collection. [Deutsche Welle]
- Oh. My. God. Allison Wint, a Michigan substitute art teacher, was just fired for using the word “vagina” while teaching a lesson about Georgia O’Keefe. Like, VAGINA is a dirty word? Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with “other America”? Now I’m on a quest to find an especially “dirty” NSFW GIF of the Hump Day to dedicate to Harper Creek Middle School principal Kim Thayer. [Detroit Free Press]
- The Glendale, California City Council is debating how to select residents for units in the $30 million Glendale Arts Colony affordable housing complex. Some believe priority should be given to artists already living in Glendale. As a resident of a similar development, I have to say I wish they had offered the units to neighborhood artists first. The new wave of residents ended up changing the character of the neighborhood and displacing a lot of the people who had been living here for years. [Los Angeles Times]
- Photographer Steve McCurry’s studio assistant, Bree DeStephano, has plead guilty to stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of artwork from her employer, including his famed “Afghan Girl” portrait. [artnet News]
- “L.A. is one of the most fraught, anxious places that I’ve ever spent time in,” Amanda Ross-Ho on how Los Angeles informs her work, gentrification, and more. [ART News]
Tagged as:
Afghan Girl,
Allison Wint,
Amanda Ross-Ho,
Bree DeStephano,
christie's,
François Pinault,
Georgia O'Keefe,
Glendale Arts Colony,
Harper Creek Middle School,
Kim Thayer,
los angeles,
Moscow,
paris,
Pyotr Pavlensky,
Russia,
Steve McCurry
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