From the category archives:
Massive Links
by Paddy Johnson on April 5, 2017
Image via: Gulliver’s Gate
- Come April 9th, the birthday of famous conceptual artist Marcel Duchamp, artnet is hoping Museums will let visitors in for free if they know the secret password, “R. Mutt”. MoMA won’t confirm if they are participating, so I guess there’s a glimmer of hope. [artnet News]
- Oooh, my favorite: Art world horoscopes! I think they hate Taurus’s over at Hyperallergic, though, because we’re always getting beaten down in our predictions. They’re calling this an Ana Mendieta month! Guys, you know she ended up dead, right? Meanwhile Sagittarius is slated to have a retrospective because this is the month they realize all their long term projects. [Hyperallergic]
- Artist Tony Conrad has a saying, “Life is too rich to finish everything.” That’s a positive spin on all the things we can’t get done. In this article by digital artist Cory Arcangel he discusses “Music and the Mind of the World”, a project Tony started in the 1970’s and continued for seven years, in which he recorded every encounter he had with a piano. When he was done, he had more than 200 hours of sound, which was impossible to publish. Well, thanks to digital technology, not any more. [ARTnews]
- In just over a week, “S-Town” has attracted 1.8 million subscribers to its podcast feed. It’s a blockbuster. If you haven’t tuned in to this, make a point of doing so. It’s an outlier in the genre of real crime because the writer, Brian Reed, isn’t a documentarian – he’s a storyteller. (It’s produced by Serial and This American Life.) As such the narrative weaves back and forth in time, employs and exploits metaphor, and is propelled by the contradictions and complexities of its subjects, not just the stuff that happens to them. It’s extraordinarily compelling, not to mention consuming. [The New York Times]
- The Canal street building that once housed the famed art supply store, Pearl Paint will be converted into apartments. More condos for the hood? [Curbed]
- A $40 million diorama called Gulliver’s Gate, recreates some of the world’s most-beloved places. It went on display yesterday and will be on view in Times Square. You have to buy tickets to see it. [Gothamist]
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by Michael Anthony Farley on April 4, 2017
- Those calling for the censorship of Dana Schutz’s “Open Casket” will be happy to know that the painting has been removed from view. They’ll likely be disappointed to know it’s for a logistical reason as boring as a water leak. The real story here seems to be that the museum’s brand-spanking-new downtown digs is taking on water. Cue the Titanic/iceberg jokes. [Hyperallergic]
- Melania Trump’s official White House portrait is here, and it kinda looks like she’s an out-of-focus hologram. The internet is having lots of fun with this one. [New York Magazine]
- A cast believed by some to be from a long-lost Degas mold will go on view in London. Meanwhile in Hong Kong, Sotheby’s just proved Basquiats are hot commodities no matter the continent. Expect to see more of his work heading to Asian private collections. [The Telegraph]
- Artist and blogger Greg Allen has started a Kickstarter project, OurGuernica, After Our Picasso. The purpose of this initiative: raising funds to commission an anonymous Chinese artist to paint Angela Merkel giving Ivanka Trump side-eye (photo above) in the style of former-president-now-painter George W. Bush. That’s a lot of layers to unpack for what is essentially a meme. [Artspace]
- This sounds like so much fun. The Museum of Sex has opened a fully-functional pop-up disco bar for their exhibition of Bill Bernstein’s New York nightlife photos. [The New York Times]
- According to Mark Hudson, the Tate Britain’s Queer British Art 1861-1967 “begs the question of whether we’re in for art that tells the story of homosexuality in Britain over the 150 years leading up to the legal landmark, or art by artists who just happen to be gay. Judging by the first room, devoted to the late 19th century Aesthetic Movement, the exhibition might have been better titled Screamingly Camp Art.” Sounds like a missed opportunity all-around. [The Telegraph]
- Bad news (for those of us prone to soul-crushing fair fatigue): Brooklyn is getting a Frieze Week art fair. The good news: it will be an off-shoot of SPRING/BREAK, focused on large-scale public installations and environments. SPRING/BREAK is one of the only fairs we can can handle more of. [artnet News]
- Snøhetta’s Lascaux IV Caves Museum in southern France is open and looks (as expected) like an anthropology museum from the future. Their treatment of the cave painting reproductions is a really interesting display strategy. For preservation reasons, you can’t visit the real thing, but the museum has managed hyper-accurate reproductions that never try to trick you into thinking they’re the originals. [Dezeen]
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by Michael Anthony Farley on April 3, 2017
- The (obviously) strange story of how these terrifying wax Star Trek figures came to the collection of The Hollywood Science Fiction Museum. [The Fresno Bee]
- A kinda-ugly Normal Rockwell painting has been reunited with a family after a theft 40 years ago. Sometimes the painting is known as “Boy Asleep with Hoe”. LOL. [CNN]
- Chairman Mao must be rolling in his grave. A Warhol portrait of the Communist dictator just sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong for $12.6 million. [Reuters]
- Renzo Piano has completed new ceramic-covered galleries for the collection and exhibition programs of the Fundación Botín in Santander, Spain. The center has a lot in common with Piano’s new Whitney museum, but looks much more elegant. [Dezeen]
- This is fascinating: a map of every borough’s oldest buildings and a little history blurb about each. Staten Island and Brooklyn have so many structures dating from the 1600s! [Curbed]
- Paul Moorhouse, the curator of Howard Hodgkin: Absent Friends at London’s National Portrait Gallery, on the late artist’s work. A good, brief read. [Apollo]
- Headline of the day: “City police save Light City art installation from a watery grave”. [The Baltimore Sun]
- Wow. The situation at the Met sounds like a mess. Thomas P. Campbell, the museum’s outgoing director, apparently had an “inappropriate relationship” with a female staff member in the museum’s digital department. And the board of directors seems to have very little control over the massive institution. We’ll be watching this one closesly. [The New York Times]
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by Paddy Johnson on March 30, 2017
- Joseph Keckler will be chatting with Lisa Levy between 2-3 pm on Radio Free Brooklyn about his work as an opera singer and the AFC Goth Opera benefit. Tune in. [Radio Free Brooklyn]
- The Artist Studio Affordability Project has spent years promoting the Small Business Jobs Survival Act, and New York’s City Council still can’t manage to pass a bill that is unilaterally in the interest of New York City residents. Kirsten Theodos helpfully breaks down all the bullshit arguments against this bill, and explains why it should be passed. [The Villager]
- The impossibility of managing entry into foreign countries aside, let’s see cities come up with zoning for Clouds Architecture Office latest proposal—a high rise suspended by an asteroid that circles the earth. Large drones could help people get in and out of the building, the firm says—or simply parachuting down. Um, sure. This is less a dream than it is a PR stunt, (which we have dutifully linked to). [Curbed]
- Contemporary art is more popular than ever in US Museums. Now, more than 50 percent of temporary exhibitions launched showcase contemporary art. That’s a significant shift—20 years ago, Impressionist shows ruled the land. [The Art Newspaper]
- An interview with Whitney Biennial curator Christopher Lew about the Dana Schutz controversy and the Biennial as a whole. [artnet News]
- More on the debate over the Fearless Girl sculpture that is placed facing a bull in the financial district. Critics, including Hyperallergic’s Jillian Steinhauer, think the sculpture makes a disingenuous statement. “If you’re talking about a financial company that has a history of fraud and screwing people over, a lot of those people are going to be women…If you think of feminism as a larger project of empowering women across all classes, not just women on Wall Street, it’s kind of bullshit for them to be putting up this front of, ‘Oh, we love women. We want women leaders.’” I guess, but I’d say this is better than what the alternative this criticism would seem to suggest—a sculpture depicting the exploitation of women by financial companies. No one is going to rubber stamp that, so they might as well lead by example. [Campaign Live]
- On Kawara’s One Million Years (Reading) will launch at the Venice Biennial this year. The piece involves a pair of people reading from a two-volume book by the late artist that lists, in chronological order, one million years into the future and one million years into the past. They need volunteers. [ARTnews]
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by Paddy Johnson and Michael Anthony Farley on March 28, 2017
- AHHH! Patrick Stewart in drag looks so much like Kellyanne Conway it’s freaking me out. Please tell me there’s an SNL appearance planned. [22 Words]
- I keep thinking we have to be done with the Dana Schutz Open Casket controversy and then something else comes out on the subject. Coco Fusco, hands down, pens the piece of authority on the subject. If you read anything today, make it this piece. [Hyperallergic]
- Those interested in applying for a residency at New INC can attend an info session tomorrow and Tuesday April 18th at NEW INC. You’ll want to go tomorrow, because on April 18th, you’ll be at our Goth Opera benefit! [Facebook]
- A performing arts center slated for development at Ground Zero could face a $100 million shortfall if federal officials retract the unspent funds the city received after Sept. 11. Basically, this nonsense is the result of government agencies fighting with each other. The Port Authority, which says it is owed $68 million by the Lower Manhattan Development Council (LMDC). The LMDC says it owes $45 million. Port Authority is refusing to hand over control for the site until they are paid. [Crains]
- Related: one of many lawsuits by the City Club of New York may have finally succeeded in derailing the Thomas-Heatherwick-designed Pier 55. This is kind of a bummer. Of all the architect’s upcoming controversial projects, this one was by far the best and least offensive, especially in a part of the city that could use some non-High-Line green space. One of the arguments against the park was that it would obscure the natural beauty of the waterfront… Manhattan’s obviously man-made waterfront, where it would be straddling the ruins of two man-made piers. What a ridiculous group of crotchety fun-spoilers. [Dezeen]
- One of the NEA’s most important functions is supplying insurance coverage to museum exhibitions. Without the Arts and Artifacts Indemnity Program, many cross-institutional exhibitions simply couldn’t happen. It’s saved museums an estimated $450 million but has only resulted in $4,700 in payouts from the federal government in the past 42 years. (For those curious, that’s less than one Melania Trump Hour, by our metrics). [Los Angeles Times]
- Apply for the 2017 Summer studio residency at Ortega y Gasset Projects. [Ortega y Gasset Projects]
- Cristo and Jeanne Claude aren’t the only ones who can bring fences into New York City for public art. Chinese activist and artist Ai Weiwei will build over 100 fences around the city for his installation project, “Good Fences Make Good Neighbors” this fall, thanks to a commission by the Public Art Fund. The work is inspired by the international migration crisis. [Gothamist]
- The first trailer has arrived for Burden, the upcoming documentary about Chris Burden. [Artspace]
- While the US has been plunged into a political drama out of a particularly boring episode of Game of Thrones, we have been neglecting Canadian political/news media scandals. Namely: #lacgate. Yesterday I clicked on the article “The Five Signs You’ve Written a Bad Column”, hoping for some journalism advice. Instead, I was introduced to the saga of columnist Leah McLaren, who wrote about her experience attempting to secretly breastfeed Conservative MP Michael Chong’s baby at a houseparty. This is so much weirder (probably) than whatever the fuck Devin Nunes was doing during his inexplicable missing time. [VICE]
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by Paddy Johnson and Michael Anthony Farley on March 27, 2017
Gallerist Lydia Pettit with her dog Ruby. By J.M. Giordano for City Paper.
- City Paper asked some of their writers and friends to pose for awkward portraits with their pets, by photographer J.M. Giordano. These are amazing. We would do this, but sadly no one at AFC has time for a puppy. [City Paper]
- Baltimore: if you’re interested in responding to an RFP for vacant buildings along Howard Street in the Bromo arts district, there are open houses and assistance available to artists and organizations. This area is full of artist-owned buildings (including Platform Gallery, where you can hang out with Ruby and Lydia, the awesome dog and human pictured above). Let’s keep it that way! [Bromo Arts and Entertainment]
- Do we give too much media attention to art vandals? That’s one of several motives Noah Charney hypothesizes in his fascinating look at why people attack artworks. So far we have no clue why a man slashed a Thomas Gainsborough painting at London’s National Gallery, but motives for past attacks have included religion (from Islamic fundamentalism to believing one is Jesus Christ reincarnated) and the desire for a media spotlight. [Salon]
- Robert Walsh is convinced the Met has been displaying a knockoff French medieval sculpture the museum acquired in the 1930s. The piece in question is a head, purportedly from a doorway at Notre Dame, but arrived in New York via a dealer notorious for trafficking in fakes. [New York Post]
- Whatever happened to Frida Kahlo’s “The Wounded Table”? The painting hasn’t been seen since an exhibition in Warsaw in 1955. Kahlo painted it during her brief divorce from Diego Rivera, after she found out he slept with her younger sister. When she exhibited it at Mexico City’s International Exhibition of Surrealism in 1940 she was concerned it wasn’t well-received. She ended up gifting it to a Russian ambassador six years later. Following the Warsaw show a decade later, the painting’s whereabouts remain a mystery. [The Daily Beast]
- Not to do with art, but in news from our dystopic country, as reported in Canada, Daniel Dale finds that Trump voters in Ohio are not bothered by the president’s lies. On the subject of Trump’s claim that Obama illegally wiretapped him, James Cassidy, an out of work construction worker said that they were obviously lies, but he liked that. “He’s ruffling every feather in Washington that he can ruffle. These guys are scrambling. So: yeah! I like it. I think it’s a good thing. I want to see them jump around a little bit.” [The Toronto Star]
- Brad Pitt has taken up sculpting to help him deal with his divorce woes. Word has it, he’s a quick learner. [Page Six]
- We’re having a hard time identifying the point of this article about gallery closures in artnet News. As far as we can tell, it’s an attempt to connect the closure of two middle tier art galleries in London to Andrea Rosen’s closure earlier this month. But are the two comparable? Rosen ran an upper tier gallery with two outlets in Chelsea and described what mostly seemed like personal reasons for closing. The other closures have to do with the effect art fairs have had on brick and morter locations. Speaking of which, did anyone else notice Nicole Klagsbrun at NADA this year? She closed up shop in New York a couple years ago, penning a fire-y letter about throwing the towel in on this business, and is now operating as a private dealer out of Chelsea. [artnet News]
- Hyun-Gi Kim has created a chair that moves fake blood around tubes, depending where you sit on it. This looks so gross. [Dezeen]
- “Fearless Girl,” a statue by Kristen Visbal that’s situated facing “Charging Bull” in the financial district will remain on view through February 18th, 2018. The new city permit extends the statue’s stay. The old permit was originally slated to expire April 2nd. The statue has been a lightening rod for critics, some of whom believe the piece represents a strong feminist statement, and others who believe it is a PR stunt rather than a “true” feminist statement. People will fight about anything. [Curbed]
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by Paddy Johnson and Michael Anthony Farley on March 24, 2017
- We can’t even keep up with all the Schutz controversy. A fake letter by Schutz saying piece should be taken down was circulated and then debunked. Now there are complaints that Hannah Black, the artist who wrote the letter demanding that the painting be removed and destroyed, isn’t black enough to have signed the protest letter, in which she removed the white signatures after critique, (thanks Facebook). Kara Walker, artist and a former professor of Schutz has weighed in on the controversy over Instagram and says the artwork should be seen. Howard Halle at Time Out shares that view. [The Internet]
- This is cute. Gillian Anderson and the Tate Modern have donated a trip to the museum with the actress/activist as a prize in a charity raffle. This is literally my dream friend-crush play date. [Givergy]
- Here’s one way to get a consolation prize from gentrification. When Paul Cocksedge was evicted from his long-time London studio to make way for a development, he excavated chunks of the concrete floor to make furniture. [Dezeen]
- Artist Corrina Mehiel, 34, has been found murdered in her temporary apartment in Washington, DC. She was living in the capital to work with Mel Chin on his current exhibition at The Corcoran. [The Washington Post]
- This is a must-have accessory for electronic music nerds. Avant garde musician Surachai is selling enamel pins with the electrical schematic symbol for “resistance” to raise money for the ACLU. [Bandcamp]
- The crowdfunding campaign to build a public sculpture honoring David Bowie has come to an end, way short of its £1 million goal. Honestly, though, London might’ve just dodged a bullet: designs for this never looked good. [Pitchfork]
- Here’s an interactive map of the New York City housing lotteries you can enter now for an affordable apartment. [Curbed]
- Or if you’re tired of renting, be my (Michael’s) forever neighbor. The Bromo Arts District in Baltimore is offering artists/collectives assistance with applications in response to an RFP for dilapidated buildings. If you’ve ever dreamed of owning your own live/work space, gallery, etc… this is a great opportunity. Those applications are due April 10th. [Bromo Arts District]
- Healthcare update: The bill failed to pass after the White House caved to the Freedom Caucus demands to that health care providers not need to support basic services like emergency room care, maternity care, and substance abuse, and “moderate’ GOPs peeled off. Now Trump is threatening the GOP that will be stuck with Obamacare (yay!) if they don’t pass the bill. But isn’t that obvious? [The New York Times]
- Art Basel Hong Kong sounds like it was interesting: “Better than that was earlier in the afternoon when a man wearing a purple mask and a G-string attached to a bloodied sanitary pad was encircled by a human lasso of suited security guards and then strong-armed out the door. According to Art Basel’s official statement, the fair takes no responsibility.” [ARTnews]
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by Paddy Johnson and Michael Anthony Farley on March 23, 2017
- The GOP house is set to vote on the new health insurance bill. Hardliners are pressing for the elimination federal requirements that health care companies provide basic benefits like maternity care, emergency services and wellness clinics. When I woke up this morning and read that I nearly cried. [The New York Times]
- Tom Finkelpearl writes about the negative impact eliminating the NEA and the NEH would have on New York. [ARTnews]
- More bad, related news for cities: Trump’s proposed budget is terrible for urban areas, particularly in the realm of transit. There goes any hope that the silver lining of a Trump presidency would be long-overdue infrastructure improvement (as was promised during the campaign). [The Transport Politic]
- The controversy around Dana Schutz’s “Open Casket” has been explosive. I responded yesterday, and Schutz given comments to a number of outlets. Artnet has a short interview with her worth a read. I particularly appreciate this sentiment, “I do think that it is better to try to engage something extremely uncomfortable, maybe impossible, and fail, than to not respond at all.” [artnet News]
- Tiger Strikes Asteroid has an open call for their Philadelphia location’s three-person show. Submissions are due May 1. [Tiger Strikes Asteroid]
- Franklin Sirmans argues that NEA funding is about more than a little direct financial support from the government—when the infamously cash-strapped agency vets and funds a program, it signals a level of validity that encourages others to support it. [PAMM mailer]
- As in anytime JJ Abrams decides to lend his vision to a cultural icon, we’re not sure how to feel about this one. He’s rebooting making a series about the life of RuPaul. Should we expect lots of CGI explosions and classic rock? Will RuPaul’s biting wit and word of wisdom be given the dumbing-down Star Trek’s dialogue received? [Rolling Stone]
- Shia LaBeouf, Nastja Säde Rönkkö, and Luke Turner’s livestream “He Will Not Divide Us” has been moved…overseas. Pro-Trump trolls from 4chan have tracked the piece all over the US and violently forced its removal. Now it will be shown at FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology) in Liverpool. Let’s hope the Brits have more common sense about this. [The Verge]
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by Michael Anthony Farley on March 21, 2017
- Bronx Commons, an affordable housing complex coming to the Bronx along with a performance space, was supposed to include set-aside apartments for aging musicians being priced out of the borough. Now, the developers are being told that policy might violate fair housing laws. This is a bad precedent for affordable artist housing. [Curbed]
- Artist James Bridle has designed a salt circle (like in witchcraft) to trap self-driving cars. This is so good. [The Creators Project]
- White Mule Framing Inc. is auctioning off pretty much everything they own. This includes vouchers for future framing work. The business has decided to move out of Manhattan due to rising rents and is auctioning off their inventory to raise money for a down payment on a forever home. That’s a pretty smart move. [32 Auctions]
- Looks like we’re going to have to check out Lynn Hershman Leeson’s work at Bridget Donahue. Photos from this show pique curiosity. [Contemporary Art Daily]
- A.E. Benenson considers Sean Raspet’s faux-food innovations as the conceptual grandchild of the Bauhaus’s optimism—a foil to a not-so-distant, cynical Silicon Valley dystopia. Paddy and I weren’t so happy with the non-food’s texture and chemical-y taste. We tried it at Frieze last year. To quote myself, the gel in a tube had “notes of past-due seafood kimchee with a squirt of toothpaste.” [Art in America]
- Pace announces it will open a second gallery in Hong Kong during the Art Basel Hong Kong art fair. [artnet News]
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by Michael Anthony Farley on March 20, 2017
Thomas Gainsborough, “Mr. and Mrs. William Hallett,” aka “The Morning Walk.”
- Marina Abramović, Laurie Anderson, Jasper Johns, and Cindy Sherman are among the artists who’ve signed a petition against the Trump administration’s proposed federal budget. Under Trump’s plan, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) would be totally defunded. [artnet News]
- This is scary. Artist Karen Fiorito has received multiple death threats since creating an anti-Trump billboard. It was commissioned by Phoenix art gallery La Melgosa, and alludes to Nazism. [The Independent]
- Also scary: German police now suspect a Belgian man killed Berlin-based artist Ewa Kowska in a sex game gone wrong. The artist’s body was found with multiple stab wounds, which the killer tried to cover up by setting fire to her apartment. [The Local]
- Oh man, I have to see this. Apparently the finale of Tracey Ullman’s Show features a wine-swigging “troubled artist” character inspired by Tracey Emin. [Mirror]
- The Lower East Side’s 100 Gates Project, which pairs artists and small businesses for murals on bodega shutters, is heading to East Harlem and Staten Island. Will the Instagrammers seeking street art selfie backdrops follow? [Curbed]
- For some reason, 63 year old Keith Gregory attacked a 1785 Thomas Gainsborough painting (above) with a sharp object in the National Gallery in London. [The New York Times]
- Kerr Houston’s writing about Penelope Umbrico make me like Penelope Umbrico. [BmoreArt]
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