Matthew Westphal – Page 1004 – ArtsJournal Wayback

‘Mother!’ – What Does It Mean? Its Director And Stars Explain Hollywood’s Weirdest Movie In Years

Melena Ryzik talks to Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, and Darren Aronofsky. And no, they don’t agree on what the film means, or even necessarily what it’s about.

‘Mother!’ – Darren Aronofsky Tells How He Made This Strange Film (And Got Hollywood To Let Him Do It)

“Say what you will about Darren Aronofsky, but the guy knows how to get a reaction out of people. … We caught up with Aronofsky a few months before the film’s premiere, while its contents were still top secret, to talk about its allegorical meaning, its startlingly unusual use of Kristen Wiig, and the surprising difficulty of its postproduction process.” (Warning: spoilers included.)

Lillian Ross, Legendary New Yorker Reporter, Dead At 99

“[Her] innovative journalism appeared in the New Yorker magazine for eight consecutive decades, and whose profiles and articles were considered forebears of both the nonfiction novel and unsparing modern celebrity profile.”

How Mexico City’s Art World Is Doing After The Earthquake

“ARTnews has reached out to various museums, galleries, and arts organizations to better understand how they fared. This post is being continuously updated with details about how the earthquake has impacted the Mexican art world.”

‘We Got Ridiculously Lucky’: Florida Theatres Clean Up After Hurricane Irma

“While some theatres could not be contacted because phone and power service still were absent Tuesday, managers at some of the most seriously affected theatres considered themselves blessed that they avoided the severity of damage suffered by Houston’s Alley Theatre. Forecasters predicted much, much worse, especially in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach area, which was hammered but escaped with minimal damage.”

Does Philly Need Yet Another Performing Arts Venue? Actually, It Can Use This One

“The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts has started work on a 277-seat hall that, in addition to being a venue for PAFA’s own activities, will host concerts, lectures, and other events by PAFA’s partner arts groups … and will be offered as a rental space to others seeking a small state-of-the-art venue.” Peter Dobrin talks to people with several organizations who believe that there’s an empty niche for a hall that size.

World’s First Major Museum For Street Art Opens In Berlin

“There are certainly questions about whether the museum” – called Urban Nation – “marks the institutionalisation of an art movement valued for its anarchic spirit, where works are mainly painted at the dead of night, dodging the prying eyes of police and angry landlords. All the works in the museum’s opening show were created specifically for the gallery space, with some sculptures but mainly canvases.”

For All The Chaos In Venezuela, Its Cinema Is Thriving (For Now)

“La Soledad is the latest in a glut of Venezuelan films telling unflinching, complex stories of life in the troubled Andean nation. It might seem surprising, given the increasingly authoritarian regime of Nicolás Maduro, that these films have often benefitted from state funding. … A major reconfiguration came in 2005 with a reform to the country’s national cinematography law. This dictated quotas for the proportion of Venezuelan films in theatres, initiated a tax on cinemas and distributors to fund Venezuelan film-makers and granted tax exemptions for private-sector support of Venezuelan films. Since the new law came into effect, more and more Venezuelans have been going to cinemas: a record 4.2m did so in 2014.”

‘The Most Popular Art Exhibition Ever!’ Breaks Attendance Record

The show of work by Grayson Perry with that hyperbolic title was, by average daily visitors, the busiest show that London’s Serpentine Galleries have ever held, according to Serpentine management. (Reporter Gareth Harris cites a show from last summer that had higher numbers; a Serpentine spokeswoman gives reasons why that one doesn’t count.)

Author: Matthew Westphal