Many child actors who make it big in film at a young age – think Mark Hamill (the original Luke Skywalker) or “ET’s” Henry Thomas – soon face dwindling career choices and dead-ends. “It’s always miserable to be a child, but to become a child star in a big, big film must be like having the biggest party of your life and then never getting to leave your room again.” – The Age (Melbourne)
Author: Douglas McLennan
“CARDBOARD CUTOUTS BAWLING AT EACH OTHER”
London critics blasted the opening of “Notre Dame de Paris,” based on the 19th-century novel by Victor Hugo. “The story of the hunchback Quasimodo who falls for Esmeralda is set in 1482 but also has been updated with soldiers in riot gear, New Age travellers and refugees.” – Ottawa Citizen (CP)
NASA DE MEDICI
When you think of the US space agency, you think rockets, not art. But NASA has commissioned hundreds of artworks about space, and a number of them are currently touring the country. “Featured artists include Peter Max, Robert McCall, Robert Rauschenberg, Norman Rockwell, Andy Warhol and Jamie Wyeth. To give them creative fodder, NASA allows selected artists wide access to events, such as shuttle launches.” – Discover.com
LOOT AIN’T LEGIT
The International Council of Museums has condemned the Louvre’s recent decision to exhibit two 2,000-year-old terracotta figures which were looted from Nigeria and then illegally exported by a Brussels dealer. French president Jacques Chirac has intervened to plea with Nigeria’s president to legitimize the acquisition which he hopes will have a permanent home in the Louvre’s new non-European art gallery. – The Art Newspaper
A RIGHT TO BE NAKED?
A University of South Florida student labored on his art exhibition for much of the semester. He built a fiberglass cave in which he proposed to live in naked for the duration of the show. Uh-uh, said the gallery director – no one can stay overnight in the museum, and besides, we don’t like the nudity thing. The artist is crying censorship. – St. Petersburg Times
DULWICH DOOMED?
“The most architecturally venerated of London’s art galleries,” the 18th-century Dulwich Picture Gallery has recently undergone extensive restoration thanks to £5 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund. How did the revitalization affect Sir John Soane’s original collection? “It’s hard not to feel a twinge of regret, as Soane’s ghost has faded a little more with this new work. It feels normal, which it never was before.” – London Evening Standard
ROCK ON THE BLOCK
New York’s art deco landmark Rockefeller Center is up for sale for an estimated $2-2.5 billion. The property includes 12 historic buildings and is home to Christie’s and NBC. – Times of India (Reuters)
PORTRAITS TO THE STARS
In 1969, London’s National Portrait Gallery dropped its requirement that subjects must be dead for 10 years before being portrayed on gallery walls. Ever since, celebrities have been vying for space among the canvases. “With a television star preferred any day over a worthy politician, the gallery has veered towards the voyeurist appeal of a Madame Tussaud’s.” – New York Times
LOSE, LOSE
London’s Millennium Dome has been at the center of controversy since the day it was built. The latest stir: the Dome was given an extra £29 million from the National Lottery this week on condition that its chairman resign. He did, and then MPs protested the government’s earlier promise that no further public funds would be advanced to the Dome. – The Telegraph (UK)
MARKET-MAKERS
- In 1990, the now-defunct Japanese Itoman Corp. purchase some expensive artwork, “a move that caused huge damage to the trading firm” in part because the prices for the paintings were highly inflated. Last week the paintings were sold at auction and the low prices are probably deflated. The art market in Japan see its highs and lows. – Daily Yomiuri (Japan)