The French street artist, known for his mosaics that look like pixelated images from vintage video games, attached about a dozen works to the walls of centuries-old monasteries and temples in the small Himalayan kingdom. When even his fans on social media criticized him, he responded, “My practice tells a story, and I don’t know why I should deprive Bhutan from this story.” (The government has now removed the mosaics.)
Author: Matthew Westphal
Top Posts From AJBlogs 02.07.18
Present What You Do
The most important attribute of any arts organization is, of course, the art it presents. To many people, committing to community engagement raises images (and fears) of rapid, monumental, systemic change. While significant change may result eventually … there is much that can be done with little or no change to currently offered programming. … read more
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2018-02-06
Artists as speculators
A new working paper from Amy Whitaker and Roman Kräussl suggests a new model of finance for visual artists. … read more
AJBlog: For What It’s Worth Published 2018-02-07
The Guggenheim’s Potty Humor: What Art Is Flowing to Trump’s White House?
Nobody can have been shocked to learn that the White House had no interest in the Guggenheim Museum’s provocative offer to lend Maurizio Cattelan’s golden throne, instead of the van Gogh that the museum had requested. … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2018-02-07
On CDs, LPs, Henderson And Horvitz
In the 1950s when UCLA football coach Red Sanders said, “Winning isn’t everything. It’s the only thing,” he could not have known that his sports philosophy would be adapted to virtually every human endeavor. … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2018-02-07
Paul Robeson Was So Much More Than A Great Black Singer And Actor
He was a champion student athlete (and occasional football pro), an NYU- and Columbia-trained lawyer, London socialite, and linguist. (He was also, for a time, a nude artists’ model.) Many know that he was a civil rights firebrand, but he became a committed Communist and Sovietophile (he had fluent Russian) – until, far too late, he came to understand what life was like in the USSR, and it wrecked him.
‘No Orchestra Has Ever Come Close To The Ambition Of This Season’
That’s Mark Swed’s verdict on the 100th anniversary season of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. It begins late next September with a festival of Californian music and a parade-cum-street-fair running from Disney Hall to the Hollywood Bowl.
How The Gongs Puccini Had Custom-Made For ‘Turandot’ Ended Up In A Queens Warehouse
None of the Asian-style gongs that Puccini could find in 1920s Italy had just the sound – more precisely, the pitches – he wanted. So he had a set specially fabricated. Of course, Puccini died before the opera’s premiere, and the gongs slipped people’s minds afterward. But not everyone forgot.
Damien Hirst Writes About His Best Career Move: Breaking Into The Neighbor’s House
He made his first collages out of the incredible masses of stuff piled up by the hoarder next door.
Christopher Plummer Talks About Getting Award-Winning Roles In His 80s
“I’ve made over 100 motion pictures, and some of them were even good. It’s nice to be reborn every few decades, because then you can have another career. The nice part about awards and being nominated is the fact that it wakes everybody up again, and makes them realize you’re alive and kicking and available.”
Agnès Varda Sends Cardboard Cutouts Of Herself To Oscar Nominees’ Lunch
The 89-year-old French filmmaker, up for Best Documentary Feature for Faces Places, is the oldest Oscar nominee in history. She wasn’t able to get to Los Angeles for this event, but she charmed everyone there nevertheless: everyone wanted a selfie with her cutout. (By the way, the best headline for this story is from The Guardian: “Flat screen legend“.)
A Dance Company For Orthodox Jewish Men
“Dance and devotion have a long, rich relationship in Judaism. And dance continues to be used by some groups, including the Hasidim, as a form of ecstatic spiritual expression. For the members of Ka’et, all of whom identify as dati leumi, or religious Zionists (akin to modern Orthodox in America), dance also offered a way into prayer. As Rabbi Schwartz said, ‘I can’t fully express myself spiritually without connecting to my body.’ But putting that body on a theatrical stage, in front of an audience, was a bold and unusual move.”
New York’s Next Big Arts Center Isn’t Waiting For Its Building To Start Programming
“Titled ‘Prelude to the Shed’, the free event” – a 12-day festival this May – “will include a mix of art, dance and live music performances, including a work by the artist Tino Sehgal. plus talks and an experimental school. The events will all be housed in a temporary structure at 10th Avenue and 30th Street, a block away from The Shed’s $500m home at the centre of the Hudson Yards development.”