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ISIS

Tuesday Links: Climate Change Spurs City Into Action—New Flood Map to Save Us All

by Paddy Johnson on October 18, 2016

Works from Alexandra Rubinstein‘s ongoing series ‘Thirsty’ in her studio at 540 President Street. Image by Benjamin Sutton at Hyperallergic

Oooooh. A photo essay from Gowanus Open Studios with huge browser sized images. I <3 this so much. [Hyperallergic]
It does not take long for forgeries to emerge once an artist has died. Leon Golub died in 2004 and already there are fakes surfacing. The news: Andrew J. Hall, an aggressive Wall Street trader, purchased 24 Leon Golub’s from a 68 year old art history professor and her 34 year old son, all of which have turned out to be forgeries. Hall paid only $676,250 for the works, which probably should have been a clue that something wasn’t right. [The New York Times]
We’re normally not fans of wow-y landscape photo memes, but we’re not immune to it either. These photographs by Tommy Clarke that resemble abstract expressionist works are surprisingly moving. Clarke takes the shots from a helicopter and has focused on Utah’s salt ponds. [Time]
A mostly useless list of places to stay in during Art Basel Miami due to their price. A link for our wealthy readers. [artnet News]
Public Advocate Letitia James has released her 100 worst landlords in NYC list. Rent from them at your own risk. [Advocate NYC]
New York City could be underwater in less than 100 years and the city’s doing everything it can to prepare. They’ve revised NYC’s flood maps! They’re planning to build a multi-billion dollar streetcar line along the waterfront. [Curbed]
Ancient Roman and Greek tombs in Libya are being looted by ISIS and sold to Italian mobsters in exchange for weapons. Eventually this work makes its way into museums, foundations, etc. [The Daily Beast]

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Monday Links: James Franco Calls AFC “Particularly Nasty”

by Paddy Johnson Michael Anthony Farley Rea McNamara on April 18, 2016

James Franco

It’s the 10th anniversary of the 2006 Youtube sensation “Shoes” by actor Liam Kyle Sullivan. Not sure the video tells us too much about the internet 10 years ago, though it is a good reminder that Peaches and more generally electroclash were widely popular. The music video, which is about a teenage character named “Kelly” who likes shoes and parties, still holds up. [The Onion AV Club]

Ann Freedman, former director of the scandal-ridden Knoedler Gallery, has given her side again, and what she reveals, is well, not much. Her much-anticipated testimony in the trial over the $8.3 million sale of a fake Rothko to Domenico and Eleanore De Sole was averted when the gallery and collectors settled out of court in February. Expectedly, Freedman confesses she didn’t know any of the works she sold were fakes, and while she says she’s sorry, adds “but let me be clear, this is [about] works of art. I didn’t slay anybody’s first-born. We have to have some perspective on suffering.” While six lawsuits have been settled against Knoedler for all the fakes they sold, four are still active. [Art Newspaper]

Finally, a listicle we can get behind: 10 Awful Public Art Pieces. [Houston Press]

The art market is ripe for abuse, say some. High quality global journalism requires investment. “There were huge steps towards greater transparency in the past 20 years,” says Clare McAndrew, author of the TEFAF Art Market report. “But in the past couple of years it has been going backwards.” Apparently, the trend of private sales at auction houses has created problems as has an unwillingness of private galleries to participate in surveys about purchasing. [FT.com via Art Market Monitor]

Jerry Saltz interviews James Franco. The crux of it seems to be that Franco has been unfairly persecuted in the art world because he’s an A-List actor who’s also an artist and scored his first show at a blue chip with conceptually weak work. The cruelties of the world continue: Jay Z was also unfairly persecuted, for shooting “Picasso Baby” at Pace filled with art world celeb cameos. What planet are these two on? There’s a tiny bit of talk about how Franco’s work wasn’t that strong, but come on. He remade Cindy Sherman photographs and showed them at Pace. Terrible. Franco says the gallery was embarrassed by the show, which HELLO. Of course they were. James Franco describes Art F City as “particularly nasty”. [NY Magazine]

Somewhat tangentially related, but Franco’s talent agency, WME | IMG, have bought a stake in in Frieze. The power-house agency, run by the inspiration for Entourage’s Ari Gold, will now sponsor the Frieze Tate Fund, providing the Tate with $213,000 for acquisitions. Beyond that, this all basically means you’ll see more celebrities at the fair previews, and the parties will be even more of a hassle to get into. [Artforum]

The Art Basel stabber says she attacked a fellow fair goer to prevent an ISIS attack. [The Observer]

Norwegian grocery baron/art collector Stein Erik Hagen is giving The Norwegian National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design free reign to pick out works from his $120 million collection. [Forbes]

The dreaded L Train shutdown could begin in 2019. [Curbed]

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Monday Links: Evade Taxes by Renting Your Own Art

by Paddy Johnson and Michael Anthony Farley on March 28, 2016

Forensic sketches by NYPD officer Matthew Klein

I think I’ve said this before, but it will never cease to amaze me how much reporting on the art world is indistinguishable from a Saturday Night Live Stefon sketch. On Art Basel Hong Kong parties: “…artists Wu Tsang and Boychild got inked at the henna station and wrapped up at the turban giveaway. On the invite, guests were told to wear ‘jodhpur blue or pink.’” [W Magazine]

Looking for the hottest party where art-world a-listers go to evade taxes and rent back their own collections? Then check out an “irrevocable trust.” To get in, just try to understand how any of these loopholes work. [The Wall Street Journal]

The number of full-time forensic artists is dwindling. This is a pretty interesting peek at how those police sketches get made. [NBC 10 Philadelphia]

A new exhibit at the German Historical Museum in Berlin features Holocaust-era artwork made by survivors. [NBC News]

Philadelphia collective Fjord is running an indiegogo campaign to launch their reopening. They’re one of the strongest spaces in the Philadelphia scene—connecting critics, artists, and curators from various cities so this is an important organization to support. [Indiegogo]

At least two art writers are getting into running—AFC’s Paddy Johnson and the L.A. Times Carolina Miranda. Unlike Johnson, who prefers to run the same four or five routes, though, Miranda has made a food adventure and feature story out of her runs. This requires being unafraid to sit in a public place after having spent more than an hour sweating. Anyway, she’s compiled some impressive food and sightseeing attractions around L.A. [The L.A. Times]

But if you’re going to mix running with eating, make sure your post-workout snack is actually food. Thousands of marathon runners mistakenly ate bars of fruit-scented soap in gift bags this weekend after thinking they were energy bars. [Death and Taxes]

ISIS/ISIL/Daesh/whatever has finally been driven out of Palmyra by Russian and Syrian troops. Now, historians and preservationists are trying to take stock of the mess they left behind. Thankfully, it looks like the damage to the city’s ancient Roman ruins wasn’t as bad as everyone feared. [The Art Newspaper]

The city’s housing inspectors are cracking down on artists in McKibbin lofts who have illegally subdivided apartments for Airbnb. [The New York Post].

The National Museum of African American History opens in Washington this September and there’s already controversy. In an exhibition devoted to pioneers in entertainment, Bill Cosby is included, but without mention of the dozens of women who say he sexually assaulted them. The historical narrative ends not with President Obama — an uplifting note — but rather the injustice and unrest that have defined the Black Lives Matter movement. [The New York Times]

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Thursday Links: The Met’s Divisive Font

by Paddy Johnson on February 18, 2016

America. pic.twitter.com/211oQK5qeU

— Bill de Blasio (@BilldeBlasio) February 17, 2016

The city’s free Wi-Fi hubs get a public launch this afternoon by Mayor Bill de Blasio. By July the city expects to install 510 hubs. Lets hope a bunch of them land in subway stations. [Curbed]

The Met has a new logo and the bloggers at Vulture do not like it. Too much emphasis on the “the”, writes Justin Davidson. We agree. [Vulture]

Cabaret Voltaire, birthplace of Dada, for sale for $13m. [The Art Newspaper]

3D print artifacts that ISIS destroyed. [The Observer]

The Armory has added a $1,000 per hour viewing room for galleries who want to show important works to clients. I’m guessing most galleries will purchase by the quarter hour if there’s no minimum. [artnet News]

Figuration is back, says Andrew Russeth at Artnews. Russeth is like the Bill Cunningham of art in the sense that he sees just about as much, has good taste and is easily able to identify trends. Read this story for the featured artists. They are great. [Artnews]

Two days ago Jeb Bush tweeted a picture of a gun with the words “America” below it. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, in a retort yesterday tweeted a picture of a pastrami sandwich and the words America below it. Point for de Blasio. [The New York Times]

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FOX News Attempted to Troll Me at ABMB

by Michael Anthony Farley on December 11, 2015

Last week, FOX News personality Jesse Watters visited Art Basel Miami Beach to troll the art world. The segment aired last night, after heavy redaction and blooper clips being used as filler. This is how I remember our conversation transpiring.

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Inside Paris Photo: The Art Fair Almost No One Saw

by Michael Anthony Farley on November 19, 2015

Following last week’s terrorist attacks, the art fair Paris Photo was forced to close. This week, the organizers launched an online simulacrum of the exhibition. Exploring the largely-empty fair is eerie, awkward, and uncannily poignant.

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Thursday Links: Brooklyn, 2019

by Paddy Johnson and Michael Anthony Farley on August 20, 2015

According to a report by City Realty, Brooklyn’s skyline is well on its way to looking like the one Bruce Willis inhabits inThe Fifth Element. Over the next four years, Brooklyn is expected to add a much-needed 22,000 new apartments. Many of those will be in huuuuuuge towers. Scroll through the renderings, which predict a chain of high rises that stretches from Greenpoint to Prospect Heights. But as commenters pointed out, the borough would need to add 70,000 units each year to meet demand, so don’t expect too much relief from escalating housing costs. [Curbed]

On Nicki Minaj, Ovid, and the long history of men fucking statues. [The Guardian]

Vodka! Art! Millenials! Liquor brand Absolut is the internet’s newest art dealer. Why? But mostly, can you even imagine their Miami parties come December? [artnet News]

ISIS doesn’t fuck around. Khaled al-Asaad, the director general of the Palmyra Directorate of Antiquities and Museums from 1963 to 2003, was beheaded Tuesday by the group in Palmyra. He was 82 years old, and executed for refusing to give up the location of artifacts that were relocated from the city’s archaeological site and museum when ISIS invaded the city. Typically these treasures end up on the black market and are used to fund the group’s terrorist activities. Not to state the obvious, but these are terrible, terrible people. [Hyperallergic]

Russia’s right-wing Christians don’t fuck around either. The conservative group calling themselves “God’s Will” attacked the exhibition Sculptures We Don’t See in Moscow, destroying artworks they claim violated Putin’s strict censorship laws which prohibit “offending religious feelings”. ISIS would probably love Russia. [Artforum]

Related: the interview we’ve all been waiting for. Brooklyn artist Mark Porter discusses his infamous sculpture of Baphomet, which the Church of Satan has been using to protest in support of the separation of church and state. [Observer]

Molly Soda’s well-known, but does it benefit the artists to market the show she curated for Stream Gallery as though it were a solo show? The gallery’s called it “Molly Soda’s Same.” Anyway, Hyperallergic mostly panned the work in the show, which is about seeing yourself in other people’s images. The work is described as complacent, underdeveloped and self-indulgent—and worst of all, out of date. “Without an evolutionary push forward, perhaps by including other methods of production or reproduction more evocative of life online, the show feels a couple years too late.” [Hyperallergic]

Speaking of the evolution of net artists, is Wi-Fi screwing up your sperm? Have no fear, new underwear can protect your junk. [Dezeen]

Doesn’t the headline “Congolese artist who died of malaria to have solo show at London art fair” sound like someone died of malaria in order to have a solo show at a London art fair? At any rate, the Africa-focused fair 1:54 will be displaying photographs of Kinshasa by the tragically-deceased artist Kiripi Katembo. [The Art Newspaper]

A gallon of Canadian maple syrup is worth more than a barrel of crude oil. So, uh, Stephen Harper… why aren’t you planting more trees instead of digging up more tar sands? [The New York Times]

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Monday Links: Spring Forward

by Paul Legault on March 9, 2015

Melissa Eder understands color.

The Björk stops here: “I Liked the Björk Show at MoMA, Haters,” writes Julianne Escobedo Shepherd. Rather than continuing to berate the show’s curator Klaus Biesenbach for filling MoMA with mannequins, Shepherd actually describes some of Björk’s newly commissioned work, specifically her 10-minute video, “Black Lake.” Not many people were able to sit down amongst the crowds of viewers and actually watch this footage of Björk emerging from the iridescent lava caves of Iceland. According to this reviewer, “Björk has given birth to herself.” [Jezebel]
“The 10 Most Talked About Art Essays for February 2015” are worth talking about. February’s officially over, so now’s a great time to look back and load up your Instapaper. Ben Davis draws our attention to some of the best art thinkpieces of the month, including “Towards a Theory of the Dick Pic” by Tracy Jeanne Rosenthal, in case it didn’t send the first time. [artnet]
“Radical Color,” a new online exhibit of photography curated by Jon Feinstein and hosted by Humble Arts Foundation is good enough to be somewhere besides just the internet. Actually, it’s simultaneously on view at Newspace Center for Photography in Portland. Photography is a physical backup of light. Why not back it up to the cloud? [HAFNY]
Zackary Drucker announces a funding campaign for the Flawless Sabrina Archive, and Vice profiles Mother Flawless Sabrina herself, “wend[ing] through the last fifty years of American history like a queer Forrest Gump.” And yes, she did know William Burroughs, Edie Sedgwick, and Jackie O. [Vice]
Islamic State militants can’t decide whether to smash or sell off all of the ancient Iraqi and Syrian artifacts they come across during a typical day of looting. Apparently their monetary value can be traded in for propaganda value, via an exchange called: smashing things. There’s this new video of some guy knocking a priceless mask off the wall with a sledgehammer. If you break it, you can’t buy it. [New York Times]
“How Iraqi are you?” asks Hayv Kahraman’s second solo show at Jack Shainman Gallery. Her paintings draw from Maqamat al Hariri, a 12th century text about 12th century everyday life in Iraq—that and photographs of herself. If you want to see ten Hayv Kahramans depicted holding hands in a circle, please do. [HuffPo]
How American are you? Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan are getting a Museum. Except it’s in some Brooklyn couple’s apartment hallway. [Blouin Art]

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Friday Links: Food Lovers, Iconoclasts, and Horoscope Haters

by Paddy Johnson and Corinna Kirsch on February 27, 2015

Hello-Kitty-Sushi-Rolls-Japanese-Kawaii-Food-Blog-Hello-Kitty

Artists Jennifer Catron and Paul Outlaw compete on the Food Network’s competitive cooking show Chopped. It airs next week. [Food Network via Jen Catron]
Weed the people have declared their opinions in Washington, D.C., where residents can now possess, transfer, or grow their own green stuff without getting in trouble with the law. Here’s a handy chart pointing out the finer details of what you can and can’t do. [WTOP]
Islamic State militants took sledgehammers to the Mosul Museum in Iraq. The museum was first seized in June, when IS took over Mosul. Yesterday, the ISIS media office published a video showing the destruction of statues. In it, a man says, “The monuments that you can see behind me are but statues and idols of people from previous centuries, which they used to worship instead of God.” Iconoclasm it is. [The New York Times]
I (Paddy) am outraged, outraged, at the inaccuracies in March’s Taurus art horoscope. According to the horoscope experts over at Hyperallergic I’m slated to give away house and home! [Hyperallergic]
I (Corinna) am outraged, virulently outraged, at the inaccuracies in March’s Virgo art horoscope. I’m set to have a “trying month,” but I’ll pull through thanks to my friends and colleagues. March is going to suck for me! [Hyperallergic]
Okay, who’s been following “the dress” fiasco? Some people see a dress colored white and gold, others see the dress as black and blue. The debate has steamrolled the internet—Buzzfeed announced yesterday that their post on the subject broke record traffic numbers on their site. What to make of the discord? Over here at the AFC offices we speculated that monitor calibration was the issue. (Last night I identified the dress color as blue and brown, a color combination nobody has debated, but today, on a different monitor, the dress looked white and gold.) Wired explains that the difference in perception has to do with the background color—your eye projects those colors on the dress. Then they printed the picture out. [Wired]
The Hello Kitty Cafe and Restaurant has nearly all its food shaped or stamped with Hello Kitty’s face on it. That is all. [Google]
According to the Artprice annual report, global art sales have increased by 300 percent over the last decade. [The Telegraph]
One of the stranger interviews you’ll read: Ali Wong is a curator and Wong Kit Yi is an artist. They share the same body. This is an interview with both. [Asympote]

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Tuesday Links: Best Newsletter in the Business

by Paddy Johnson and Whitney Kimball on November 11, 2014

The January 16, 1936 “Evening Star” stories which inspired Rachel Mason’s opera “The Lives of Hamilton Fish“

Last night, Sotheby’s sold a Rothko for $32.5 million. Josh Baer sends out the intel in his Baer Faxt Report almost immediately. [The Baer Faxt]
Baer also addressed art world rumors that a very expensive Giacometti went quietly unsold: “Also note that with Carol Vogel’s revelation in today’s Times that Steve Cohen bought last week’s Giacometti for $101 million it puts to rest conspiracy theories that the work wasn’t sold. But we wonder why sophisticated art world insiders thought that the publicly traded Sotheby’s could keep that work off their balance sheet???” [The Baer Faxt]
Baer also breaks news. “The estate of Lisa de Kooning has been sued for $1.5 million by the Byrd Hoffman Water Mill Foundation alleging breach of an “enforceable pledge.” This was sent out hours before the first report we could find on the subject. [The Baer Faxt]
A comparison to make your stomach turn: Omer Raz observes that ISIS PR campaigns make sinister twists on American pop culture: “Their videos resemble reality shows: each week someone is eliminated.” Raz points to “high-end horror videos” and parodied news reports and Presidential speeches creating a “mirror reflecting a distorted Hollywood”. [ArtSlant]
Somebody is posting a call for Philly drone pilots on Craigslist. The Declaration drops a hint about DroneCast, a Philly-based drone-based advertising company run by a 19-year-old. Certainly sounds like a candidate for the mystery poster. [The Declaration, via Dustin Slaughter]
After seeing a 1936 newspaper with double-obituaries on the front page, both for men named Hamilton Fish Mason, artist Rachel Mason spent eight years writing the script for a rock opera about their stories. One was a respected statesman and the other was a serial killer. Tune in to blogtalkradio at 4 PM Eastern Standard Time to hear her talk about that process. [BlogTalkRadio]
FIAC has cancelled their first ever March 27-29th Los Angeles fair. The reason cited: Not enough participating galleries. They released a statement yesterday announcing that the fair will now launch in 2016. [Artnet]
A series of misleading and inaccurate headlines about the programming at a social practice restaurant in Pittsburgh called Conflict Kitchen has led to death threats. [Hyperallergic]
It’s Veteran’s Day. [PSA]

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