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Thursday Links: I Can Show You the World

by Michael Anthony Farley on April 7, 2016

Still from Adam Green’s “Aladdin.”

Fan Binxing is the guy behind China’s loathed internet censorship. And he just had to use a VPN in front of a live audience of students during a presentation about internet safety. [Shanghaiist]

Dutch researchers have created a 3D printed, extremely convincing fake Rembrandt using newly developed software. Critic Jonathan Jones has such a vitriolic reaction to this that you’d swear they had invented a machine fueled by burning the works of old masters. [The Guardian]

London’s Maddox Gallery plans to show Ilma Gore’s portrait of Donald Trump with a micropenis after the artist faced censorship and threats in the U.S. [Artlyst]

An interview with Daniel Hug, the director of Art Cologne, touching on the conflict with Berlin Gallery Weekend and the controversial German patrimony laws. [artnet News]

The director of SUNY Purchase’s Neuberger Museum of Art will not be attending the opening of When Modern Was Contemporary: Selections from the Roy R. Neuberger Collection at the Mississippi Museum of Art in protest of that state’s new LGBTQ-discriminatory legislation. This comes on the heels of numerous businesses, events, and even governments pulling out of or boycotting North Carolina for similar legislation. [ART News]

“He also got some notes on perspective growing up in a modernist house in Westchester. There, he and his brother (who became an astrophysicist at NASA) were raised by a psychiatrist mother and a neurologist father, both atheist Jews. His mother volunteered at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and his father became a headache specialist in order to cure his own migraines.” You know how sometimes a piece of nonfiction sounds like an aside from the narrator of The Royal Tenenbaums? I think that’s why I love this piece on Adam Green by Michael Slenske. It’s an honest look at artwork that sounds a little bit amazing and a little bit stupid and mostly fun. [Blouin Artinfo]

To protest India’s caste system and discriminatory attitudes towards people with dark skin, artist PS Jaya has been painting herself black before leaving the house every day for 100 days. I do not recommend recreating this performance in the United States. [the quint]

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Tuesday Links: The Lemmy Awakens

by Paddy Johnson Michael Anthony Farley Rea McNamara on December 29, 2015

“Watching ‘The Force Awakens,’ I felt as though I was being shown a trailer for the next four movies in the series.” Michael Hiltzik’s Star Wars review is the one I wish I (Michael) had written. This is a great read that hits the nail exactly on the head in regards to pretty much every compliment and complaint one could throw at JJ Abrams and his Disney overlords. Except one: why would anyone “waste” having Lupita Nyong’o by casting her as a voice actress? Didn’t the prequels teach anyone that CGI characters are practically unwatchable? [Los Angeles Times]
After ten years in the making, The National Gallery Singapore is open. The massive museum combines two historic buildings under a glass atrium and rooftop garden and looks great. The program is what’s really interesting here though—the institution will be focused on rotating contemporary Southeast Asian art that’s contextualized with long-running and permanent exhibitions tracing Singapore’s own comparably brief art history, along with touring shows and collaborations with European museums. [Forbes]
Robert Wilson thinks Lady Gaga is a genius and the performance work of contemporaries like Marina Abramović won’t be seen in 50 years: “I don’t think the work is meant to be reproduced.” Setting aside wistfulness for the fleeting ephemerality of the NYC art happenings of yore, is a hilarious anecdote about Wilson’s dinner with Marlene Dietrich, and what we she taught him regarding “slow performing”. [The Guardian]
Michael Miller’s list of subjects he’s heard enough of in 2015. We agree with every item on this list, though I think we’ll be hearing about auctions, Instagram, and art fairs generally in the year to come. [ARTnews]
“Art in 2015 was an academic’s morose porridge of pious intellectual cliches.” God, I love reading British reviews. Here, Jonathan Jones rails against the moralizing (and typically visually dull) nature of do-gooder projects such as gardens or social practice. [The Guardian]
A Wisconsin man was arrested last week after throwing a beer bottle at a female bartender who changed the music in the bar from Black Sabbath to Christmas music. Even more pathetic: it was a bottle of Budweiser. [NBC Philadelphia]
Queen’s University now has the largest collection of Rembrandt paintings in Canada, thanks to the recent donation by alumnus Alfred and Isabel Bader of Portrait of a Man with Arms Akimbo, worth $80 million. [Toronto Star]
Subway story of the day: NYPD are looking for information on a man with “TEAM USA” tattooed on his forehead who masturbated for 30 minutes on the Manhattan-bound 2 train. [DNAinfo]
Cairo’s Townhouse Gallery and Rawabet Theater, two important nonprofit contemporary art spaces, were shuttered following an unexplained raid from the Egyptian Censorship Authority and other government agencies. Laptops and documents were seized from gallery staff. Blouin Artinfo’s Mostafa Heddaya says this “follows a spate of crackdowns on journalism, dissent, and freedom of expression in Egypt under the rule of military dictator Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.” [Mada Masr via Blouin Artinfo]

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Tuesday Links: Artists Under Arrest

by Paddy Johnson Michael Anthony Farley Corinna Kirsch on July 14, 2015

Oh, my!

Shepard Fairey is going to turn himself in to the Detroit police today. There is a warrant out for his arrest over accusations that the artist caused $9,000 worth of graffiti damage to properties in the city while visiting in May to paint a mural. The artist is flying from Los Angeles today and faces a maximum sentence of five years and up to $10,000 in fines. [USA Today]
Joe Gibbons, who robbed a bank in the name of performance art, has been sentenced to one year in prison. [The New York Times]
From the Frieze archives: Jonathan Jones considers “extraordinary” faces in art history—from da Vinci’s studies of the deformed, back to ancient Egyptian caricatures, up to Warhol’s nose-job paintings. [Frieze]
More on the Smithsonian/Bill Cosby debacle: the museum failed to disclose a $716,000 gift from the Cosbys—a sum that essentially covered the cost of exhibiting their collection. [ARTnews]
Jillian Steinhauer tracks the various protests from the Bronx community against No Longer Empty’s exhibition at the Old Bronx Borough Courthouse. We’ll give our take on the exhibition later this week, but it’s difficult to talk about the art when a sign like this hangs outside the entrance, positioning art as transitional. [Hyperallergic]
Filmmaker Laura Poitras is suing the U.S. government! [The Hill]
The Cuban government finally returned artist Tania Bruguera’s passport to her on July 10. [The Art Newspaper]
Perfect timing for Tania Bruguera’s stint as the first-ever artist in residence at the New York Office of Immigrant Affairs. [The New York Times]
A very, very thorough interview with Molly Crabapple that tracks her career as an artist and journalist. A must -ead. [The Great Discontent]
Peter Schjeldahl on the antics of the high-end art market: “Sensing that people will one day look back on this era as a freakish episode in cultural history, why not get a head start on viewing it that way? Detach and marvel. Meanwhile, art goes on making meaning for those who are rich only in the desire and leisure to engage with it.” [The New Yorker]
Artsy asks if deep budget cuts will stifle Britain’s next generation of artists. Short answer: Yes. [Artsy]
In Chicago, a sculpture by Ti-Rock More of Michael Brown’s body on the ground is generating controversy. Some claim the depiction of Brown “revictimizes” the 18-year-old who was slain by police last summer. [The Root]
In an interview, Michael Brown’s father calls the piece “disgusting.” [WGN-TV]

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Tuesday Links: Kanye West Praises George W. Bush’s Painting Skills

by Paddy Johnson on May 12, 2015

Photographs from Chris Burden’s “Shoot”

Oh lord. Kanye West’s commencement speech for the Art Institute of Chicago praises the painting skills of George W. Bush. [Stereogum]
Last night Pablo Picasso’s Les Femmes d’Alger (Version ‘O’) sold for $179.4 million including fees at Christie’s, making it the most expensive art work ever sold. Less than 30 minutes later, Alberto Giacometti’s sculpture L’homme au doigt (Pointing Man) $141.3 million with fees, making it the most expensive sculpture ever sold. Josh Baer had no significant observations from the sale past the fact that it was mostly new money purchasing the lots. [Baer Faxt]
Most of the obituaries we’ve read on Chris Burden have been long pieces dedicated to chronicling his work and his importance. But arguably the most heartfelt comes from this short reflection by Jonathan Jones, “I will always picture Chris Burden in those 1971 photographs, wounded and shocked. An artist sharing the pain of others. He was one of the true greats.” [The Guardian]
A list of “must see events” for the week that are almost entirely invitation only or ticketed. [Artnet News]
Nobody writes a better Venice Biennale review than Adrian Searle. He says that All the World’s Futures tells a story “of a world too complex to submit to any single critique or system.” It’s too much to unravel. [The Guardian]
And here’s an unusual review of the Biennale that takes it to task for being filled with too much angry and ugly work. [Artnet News]
Yesterday Matthew Apperson injured George Zimmerman—the man was acquitted of Trayvon Martin’s murder in 2013—in a shooting. Apperson’s lawyer says his client was acting in self-defense. [WFTV]
A devastating story about what caring for a loved one with cancer looks like. [Esquire]

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Tuesday Links: Juicy Basel Bickering + Farts

by Paddy Johnson on March 10, 2015

1979

A great profile of artist Laurie Simmons by Andrew Russeth, mostly for its thoroughness. She’s mad at Richard Prince for borrowing her work. She’s shy about using her Instagram account because she has too many followers. She calls her new portraits of women with open eyes painted on their closed lids “the opposite of portraits.” Read the whole thing. Her show opens this week at The Jewish Museum. Can’t wait to see it. [Artnews]
Whoa, juicy: Art Basel, the mega fair company, has sent a letter to its galleries complaining about the misleading business practices of the online art database Artsy. They were upset that CEO Carter Cleveland implied Basel had a paid relationship with the database in a recent issue of Fortune. [Artnet News]
More drivel from Jonathan Jones. Today at the Guardian, he tells readers that the Louvre Abu Dhabi should be celebrated despite migrant worker exploitation. Why? Because other architectural masterpieces were built upon slave labor and while nothing excuses slave labor this still to be completed Jean Nouvel building is a masterpiece. According to Jones it’s a cultural turning point—the building is a subversion of European imperialism and knowledge. How it’s a subversion, of course never gets explained. [The Guardian]
Kanye West talks Matrix, Picasso and ego. Hrag Vartanian over at Hyperallergic thinks it’s funny. I give it a shoulder shrug. [Gawker]
A new study on farts reveals that everyone farts and everyone cares, but not everyone cares to equal degree. [The Society Pages]
After being banned from Facebook for posting too many lewd pictures, art critic Jerry Saltz gets his page back. Commenter Robert Wysocki asks what it was like to be dead. Answer: They have a dental plan. So, not so bad, I guess? [Facebook]

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Monday Links: Not From Aggregate

by Corinna Kirsch on October 6, 2014

Photo courtesy of The Guardian.

Will technology save us, or kill us all? In her latest on artnet News, Paddy Johnson takes a close look at Daniel Levya’s show at Interstate Projects, where he has created a technological heaven and hell. The show sounds beautiful, with cathedral windows, plinths for iPads and demonic, flapping angel wings. [artnet News]
Speaking of Paddy, tonight she will critiquing the finalists at ArtPrize, one of (if not, the) world’s largest art prize. Over livestream, Johnson and fellow experts will be reviewing 3D and time-based juried finalists, whom, as it turns out, were chosen by a mix of public vote and experts including Hyperallergic’s Hrag Vartanian. Will she approve of his choices? Tune in tonight at 7 PM for some debate! [Artprize livestream]
Tomorrow night at Judson Church, a public memorial for Feature Inc. founder Hudson. [Feature Inc.]
Life advice from Gwenyth Paltrow. [Twitter]
Sadly, “good urbanism” has come to mean introducing giant piano stairs, traffic mimes, and LED-mottled public art and architecture projects. [Domus]
John Powers adds a bit more controversy to the claim that the Star Wars logo was inspired by fascism. [Star Wars Modern]
Behold—a slideshow! The Guardian has the 2014 Turner prize nominee exhibition covered with reviews, video, and photos. Jonathan Jones’s review uses the word “anus.” Hee hee. [The Guardian]
This fall’s Rhizome commissions will involve an artist-opera, a smart city, and Chelsea Manning. [Rhizome]
It’s Spooktober, so time to take a trip down the scary side of America’s Funniest Home Videos. [Memory Hole]
For an elementary version of how curators get things done, look no further than this infographic of a curator in a brown suit. It’s like the art happens where the curator is! [Business World Weekender via Arden Sherman]
What’s trending today on Imgur? A dog and goat who are pals. [Imgur]

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Friday Links: Utopia Is Dead, But a Bush Grows Back

by Henry Kaye and Whitney Kimball on August 22, 2014

Inspired by the new Fox reality show “Utopia”, Adam Sternbegh wonders if we’ve binged out on so much dystopia that we can’t handle the genre any more. (The actual show looks like a set up for something like “Sex House“). Seems unlikely, since sincere belief in Utopia right now makes you either a cult leader or a creepy Silicon Valley exec. But still, Sternbergh would still like to see the genre make a comeback. [New York Magazine]
Damien Hirst is exceptionally fancy. He has enough castles now to fill a slideshow. [artnet News]
George Lawler knew his father robbed a bank at gunpoint, but had no idea he was a muse for Andy Warhol. He found out only after reading a review of the recent show at the Queens Museum, 13 Most Wanted Men: Andy Warhol and the 1964 World’s Fair. This New York Times piece is basically just PR for the show, but there are some good quotes. Mainly, Lawler’s depressing realization at the end of the piece: “Wasn’t it Andy Warhol who said everyone will have their 15 minutes of fame? Here’s mine, I guess.” [The New York Times]
Clay Shirky on the inevitable death of print media: “The future of print remains what? Try to imagine a world where the future of print is unclear: Maybe 25 year olds will start demanding news from yesterday, delivered in an unshareable format once a day. Perhaps advertisers will decide ‘Click to buy’ is for wimps. Mobile phones: could be a fad. After all, anything could happen with print. Hard to tell, really. Meanwhile, back in the treasurer’s office, have a look at this chart.” [Medium]
Journalistic nightmare alert: Don Lemon’s Ferguson interview with Talib Kweli goes so so wrong at around 2 minutes in. [Gawker]
Astrophysicists can date paintings to the minute. Only the first sentence of this article is amusing. What follows is a lesson on the fluidity of art “movements.” We’d be snarky, but we’ve already given Jonathan Jones enough shit. [The Guardian]
Folksy drawings of whale revenge. [The Atlantic]
Speaking of whale revenge, a video of a fish eating a shark. [Gawker]
A thousandth nail in the coffin of Williamsburg culture. Mr. Brainwash is making murals for real estate development LCOR now, which, if you’ve ever seen Exit Through The Gift Shop, should come as no surprise. Inspiration seems to stem entirely from Starbucks decor. A plague on all your houses. [Buzz Buzz]
Jerry Saltz wants the bush to come back. A reference to Marilyn Minter’s campaign or just a general inclination? Either way, we can get behind it. [Twitter]
Christo is planning a large scale project on the Arkansas River in Colorado. Know what he wants to do to it? Cover it in fabric, six miles of fabric. [Artnet News]
Time to pay the piper, Internet. Twitter is on its way to Facebook-level suckage. “What Twitter is doing at the moment is testing us to see how much extra pain we’re willing to tolerate,” Vlad Savov observes of the paid-for content, promoted tweets, and profile redesigns. And then that’ll just be our lives forever. [The Verge]

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Tuesday Links: Down the Toilet

by Whitney Kimball Corinna Kirsch Andrew Wagner on July 15, 2014

Oh, shit. Go inside an exhibition about toilets with a turd on your head. [ARTWEEKLY]
Palestinian artist Khaled Jarrar, who is participating in the Here and Elsewhere show at the New Museum and a solo show at Whitebox Art Center, was denied exit by the Israeli government. [Hyperallergic]
Forge your way to success: John Myatt, a 69-year-old painter who served 12 months in prison for making counterfeit paintings, now has a solo show in London of obviously forged paintings. The price for a painting mimicking Monet? $66,000. [Artnet]
“It’s time to acknowledge and learn from the genius of Germany.” The Guardian’s Jonathan Jones may as well throw his U.K. citizenship out the window; he believes that Germans aren’t just better than the rest of the world at soccer, but art, too. At least he didn’t pledge his allegiance to the Übermensch. [The Guardian]
The Guggenheim is on a worldwide building rampage, and it’s agitating the host countries. After reports that Abu Dhabi is being built by slaves, polls have shown that a majority of Helsinki residents are opposed to shouldering all the costs of the $177 million museum in their city. [New York Times]
8-bit lovers, put this one on your calendar: the International Teletext Art Festival opens in Berlin on August 14. [Kill Screen]
It’s not often that you see the word “ass” in Artforum. I assume it’s not in their style guide, but here we go with Nathaniel Lee’s review of Emily Mae Smith’s show at Junior Projects where Lee asks, “Are we all really so obtuse and ass-hungry?” [Artforum]
The douchey Wall Street art speculator stereotype is real. Data shows that about a quarter of the world’s top art collectors are in the “investment” industry; thanks to Hyperallergic’s Claire Voon for the visual breakdown with pie charts. [Hyperallergic]
“[I]t’s not always easy to get flush Wall Streeters to art openings, particularly in Bushwick.” That’s a shame, since Claudia Maté’s show at Transfer Gallery is made about them. [Opening Ceremony]

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