There is something incongruous about the attendance of the lavishly dressed, moneyed elite at public concerts of Beethoven symphonies or concertos, given his music’s expression of such a revolutionary, democratic, humanitarian spirit. Such are the ironies that result when the historical specificity of art is denied or forgotten and all that is left is a vague feeling of aesthetic enjoyment. Still, even the pure aesthetic enjoyment is significant. – Dissent
Author: Douglas McLennan
Big Increase In Online Auction Sales During COVID
In 2019, global online art and collectibles sales topped $4.82 billion and are expected to soar in 2020—pacesetter auction houses Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips saw increases in online sales from Jan. 1 to June 28 of 436 percent over the previous year. The average price for digital sales grew by 207 percent to $23,612 as auction houses start to test collector appetite for buying fine art online, according to Barron’s, which has tracked the trend since the pandemic started. – The Daily Beast
The End Of Art History?
If we think of abstraction, as many did in the mid-20th century, as marking the endpoint of art’s history, coming after the figurative tradition is essentially exhausted or abandoned, then, by that logic, abstract art would have no history. – Hyperallergic
How COVID Has Changed Hollywood Auditions
As Hollywood begins to resume production, actors and casting directors are navigating a whole new world for auditions: Socially distanced studio layouts, elaborate self-tape setups and awkward Zoom meetings. – Los Angeles Times
La Boheme At The Drive-In
“We listened on car radios. Mine conked out halfway through. Someone else got a flat battery. Hearing through the window was fine. I saw the admirable second cast led by Nardus Williams and David Junghoon Kim as sympathetic and touching lovers, conducted by Martin Fitzpatrick. The event was well organised if, at £103 per car (plus congestion charge), costly. This was a brave experiment – a starting point, if not yet an arrival. The next venture will be better.” – The Guardian
A Sophisticated Livestream Of Dance
Such viewing from afar, once rare in concert dance, has become ordinary. But where most such performances these days are free and prerecorded, this one was ticketed and livestreamed. If you missed the show, you couldn’t catch it later, so it had immediacy. But, unlike most livestreams, this was not a static recording or a glitchy presentation over Zoom. Watching it felt more like watching a movie, immersive and absorbing, yet easily the most technically sophisticated live dance production I’ve seen since theaters closed. – The New York Times
Judge Blocks Trump’s Ban Of TikTok
The Commerce Department originally set Sept. 20 for the TikTok download ban, citing Trump’s declaration that the Chinese-controlled app represents a threat to U.S. national security. The agency delayed the deadline to Sept. 27, given Trump’s preliminary approval of owner ByteDance’s deal to transfer ownership to American firms including Oracle and Walmart. – Variety
Photorealist Painter Robert Bechtle, 88
Best known for his realistic oil paintings that captured snapshots of everyday life in the Bay Area, where he was a life-long resident, his work primarily featured automobile subjects, with occasional people. – ArtNet
Translators Versus Writers
If I don’t write this novel, no one else will. No one will know what hasn’t been written. If I don’t translate Calasso, someone else will quickly replace me. – New York Review of Books
How Language Has Changed During COVID
Most of the coronavirus-related changes that the editors have noted have to do with older, more obscure words and phrases being catapulted into common usage, such as reproduction number and social distancing. They’ve also documented the creation of new word blends based on previously existing vocabulary. – Fast Company