Archive of Will Brand

AFC Editor-in-Chief Will Brand is a Brooklyn-based writer, programmer, and artist, who joined Art Fag City in the fall of 2010 after finishing his MSc in Art History at the University of Edinburgh. His main interests lie in net art and criticism, but he does a bit of everything around a blog (a sad consequence of web development skills). He’s also written for The L and CityArts, and his work has been republished in Junk Jet and on The Creators Project.

Will has written 126 article(s) for AFC.

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Will Brand

George W. Bush Has Painted 50 Dogs

by Will Brand on March 8, 2013
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Additional details have emerged about George W. Bush’s artmaking. He has painted 50 dogs (separately). His art tutor, who emphatically does not paint dogs (quote: “Oh my god, I don’t paint dogs!”), recorded an interview with the local Fox affiliate in Atlanta.

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The AFC Supplement to ArtINFO’s Power 100: Louise Blouin Power

by Will Brand on December 13, 2012
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Will Louise Blouin own us all by 2016? The Art Newspaper has been rumoring that Blouin, the owner of ArtINFO and seven other art pubs, is in negotiations to buy the Armory Fair, along with Art Platform Los Angeles and Volta. We believe it.

So we felt now was the appropriate time to kick off AFC’s addition to ArtINFO’s ten days of power slideshows from the Art and Auction’s Power 100 list. The editors of ArtINFO have grouped the listed into categories such as auction power, design power, collector power, power personalities, power dealers, power to watch, traditional power, power players, and power patrons. This is Louise Blouin Power.

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SEVEN: The Fair We Enjoy

by Will Brand on December 8, 2012
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There’s not much point in comparing SEVEN, the boothless, 7-gallery satellite fair in Miami’s Wynwood district, to Art Basel Miami Beach. It has no roving carts of champagne, no collectors’ lounge, and no dealers with hungry eyes sitting watch over their wares. When we visited for their party on Thursday, there was a distressing lack of Diddy. The attitude there—and we say this every year—is simply different.

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Takashi Murakami’s Facebook Profile Picture is Misunderstood in its Own Time

by Will Brand on December 5, 2012
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Takashi Murakami will paint your portrait, but not before serving you a steaming pile of bullshit.

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We Made An Android App So You Can Read Art News

by Will Brand on December 5, 2012
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Books and print magazines about art have many flaws. They don’t fit in your pockets. Their commenting communities are weak. Even the most acclaimed books fail to provide breaking news. Often, we choose books over far superior internet publications (like this one) for the simple reason that books work on the subway.

Today, the printed word dies: AFC has made an Android app.

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Art Fag City at The L Magazine: Are Video Games Art?

by Will Brand on December 5, 2012
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This week at The L Magazine, I finally end the discussion of whether video games are art by declaring: “Yeah, sure, okay.” Have something to add? Too late. But more importantly: why’s it such a big deal?

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Art Fag City at The L Magazine: Glassholes

by Will Brand on November 20, 2012
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This week at The L Magazine, I identify I new trend in art: Glass. It’s everywhere.

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Art Fag City at The L Magazine: History’s Fakest Photos

by Will Brand on November 7, 2012
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Faking It: Manipulated Photography Before Photoshop, now up at the Met, has obvious appeal. It’s the first major exhibition to examine manipulated photography, and manipulated photography—and learning to spot it—is fascinating to anyone with a pulse. To be honest, I didn’t think the exhibition could possibly come through on the promise of the topic. Curator Mia Fineman, though, has created an exhibition that manages to give a comprehensive history of manipulation, cast doubt over photography’s potential for authenticity, and provoke and reward close looking. You should go, and you should bring your mom, because she’ll get it too.

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Art Fag City at The L Magazine: Cybersquatting For Fame

by Will Brand on October 24, 2012
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This spring, wandering around the mini sculpture park at Frieze New York, I noticed a tiny canvas propped against the back of one of the expensive steel cubes. I don’t remember what was painted on it—based on that, I’ll guess geometric abstraction—but the attached business card indicated it was the work of some not-yet-famous artist seeking a bit of free publicity. I liked the spirit of the thing, but I still had work to do, and I figured walking around an art fair with a canvas under one arm wouldn’t please security. Still, there’s some wisdom in bringing your art to collectors, rather than waiting for them to come to you.

That’s something of the thinking of La Fin du Monde, an online show curated by Julien Levesque and Caroline Delieutraz up now at LaFIAC.com. The exhibition venue is a cybersquat, established in 2010, intended to catch visitors looking for FIAC, the major Paris-based art fair this weekend. Instead of the fair, they’ll find a clever, fairly encyclopedic exhibition of recent net art, ranging from established continental artists like Mouchette and Systaime to relatively fresh faces like Emilie Gervais and Sarah Weis.

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