Self-styled “comedy terrorist” Aaron Barschak has been convicted of throwing paint on Jake Chapman at a gallery in London earlier this year. “The 37-year-old splattered red oil paint over Chapman and one of his artworks at the Modern Art Oxford gallery. Witnesses said Barschak gatecrashed a talk by the brothers on May 30 this year and hurled the paint at Chapman shouting ‘Viva Goya’. Barschak, from Golders Green, north London, told the police that he was making his own piece of art in the same way the Chapmans had adapted another artist’s work.”
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Canadian Copyright Bill Clears A Hurdle
A controversial piece of legislation which would extend the rights of Canadian copyright holders well into the 21st century has passed a vote in the House of Commons. Until the late 1990s, Canadian copyrights had no expiration date, but a 1997 overhaul allowed thousands of old documents and images to enter the public domain. The new bill is a partial rollback of that 1997 legislation, and is also being carefully watched by observers on all sides of the ongoing evolution of copyright law.
The World’s Most Overprotected Hunk Of Wood
19th-century violin virtuoso Nicolo Paganini had quite a life story, full of gambling, carousing, and concertizing, but the life of his instrument is nearly as fascinating on its own. The 260-year-old Guarneri, which is kept under heavy guard in Genoa and overseen by a committee, has been played by only a few select musicians since the death of Paganini, and when jazz fiddler Regina Carter was invited to try it out two years ago, purists threw a fit. Carter recorded an album on the famous violin, and this weekend, she’ll get a chance to perform on it live in New York. But only for 45 minutes. Because the commitee says so.
Naming Names In St. Louis
Sarah Bryan-Miller is not a popular individual with some St. Louis Symphony Orchestra musicians at the moment, due to her decision to break a little-known taboo in her reviews of the ensemble. Bryan-Miller is not known for overly caustic reviews, and doles out far more regular praise than some of her predecessors in the city, but last year, she made a decision to use her platform to address one of the problems that nearly every orchestra faces, but no one ever talks about. “There are several players [in the SLSO] who sometimes appear in the spotlight but are simply not up to the challenge. A couple of them are downright bad. And there’s no apparent end to the problem: In the absence of a music director, no one can fire an inadequate player. What to do? Last season, I reluctantly began naming names.”
Writing The New LA
Los Angeles’ literary scene is getting increasing attention. Indy writers there “don’t discuss six-figure advances and movie deals. Their artistic touchstones include pop music, art, drugs, sex, and what seems to be a prevalently southern California curiosity about murder. Most important, many of L.A.’s contingent of talented underground writers are influenced by, if not graduated from, the art programs at this city’s increasingly prestigious art schools – Cal Arts, Otis College of Art and Design, and the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. The writing coming from these programs is something like the art – there’s a tendency to use frank, bold, anti-intellectual forms to filter raw, sometimes lurid, content.”
Tough Times In The Northland
The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra is reporting a deficit for the just-concluded fiscal year of nearly $800,000, its first in a decade. The announcement comes on the heels of the signing of the SPCO’s new contract with its musicians, which trimmed six weeks from the orchestra’s season and slashed salaries by nearly 20%. The SPCO also laid off a third of its administrative staff last spring in a cost-cutting move, and has significantly scaled back or replaced some of the larger productions it had scheduled for this season.
Riopelle Sale Worries Historians
The estate of the late artist Jean-Paul Riopelle is “putting 40 of the abstract painter’s works up for sale at an auction in Montreal in November, and some art historians are concerned about the impact of the sale on the international reputation of the Montreal painter.”
Churching Up The Chick Lit
It’s no secret that evangelical Christianity has a strong hold on America these days, and religion in general is said to be of great importance to most Americans. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the publishing industry is looking for new ways to tap the market. One of the more successful strategies thus far has been the combining of tangentially religious subject matter with existing literary sub-genres, such as the post-feminist grouping known as “chick lit.” Think Bridget Jones without all the drinking and carousing.
Smithsonian To Close A&I Building Early
The Smithsonian’s Arts & Industries building, which long fuctioned as the institution’s main museum, will be closing for repairs several months ahead of schedule, and may not reopen until the end of the decade. “Constructed between 1879 and 1881, the building has a leaky and decaying roof, as well as other structural problems. A series of canopies in the main public areas now catch peeling paint and chips from the ceiling and roof.” Funds for the renovation have yet to be authorized by Congress, and no one seems quite sure when the money will be forthcoming.
The Conductor’s Fall
“The controversy surrounding the private life of one of the 20th century’s leading conductors, Sir Eugene Goossens, has resurfaced in Australia as legal action is threatened to stop the performance of a play about his life. The new play, The Devil is a Woman, by the Sydney-based writers Mandy Sayer and Louis Nowra, tells the story of the scandal that ruined Goossens… At Sydney airport in March 1956, customs officers intercepted his luggage and found more than 1,000 pornographic photographs, films and books, along with three rubber masks. The ensuing scandal destroyed Goossens’ career, marriage and reputation in a matter of weeks.”