Enormous finds of art in China over the past decade have flooded the art market. But along with the legitimate finds, fakes of every description and sophistication have also appeared to tempt the gullible. “Most of those fakes come through Hong Kong, China’s wildly capitalistic gateway to the world. Trying to quantify the trade in fakes is like trying to get your hands around an octopus. No one keeps records of the illegal trade.”
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The NYT And Art Coverage
How will cultural coverage change at the New York Times under its new Arts & Leisure section editor? “You have a special burden when you are writing about the arts because your subject is all about creativity and narrative skill and wit and style and deep meaning, so you have to incorporate all those elements in your coverage, whether it’s straight reporting or criticism or something in between. You have to be a little showbiz about it, and I don’t mean that in a cheap or superficial way. On the one hand you are certainly not going to be competing with your subject, but you shouldn’t pale beside it either.”
Disney Hall Will Seduce
The LA Philharmonic’s new Frank Gehry-designed concert hall is beginning to take final form. “Curvaceous and shiny as a Hollywood starlet, Disney Hall will have little trouble seducing the Philharmonic from the gloomy luxury of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion across the street. Despite its cheerful predictions, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, like other American orchestras, struggles for listeners and money. Its endowment of $57 million is precariously low for an institution of this size. Forty million dollars of a ‘quiet’ $100 million drive is said to be promised. Skeptics note the Disney’s near-death struggle for funds and believe the well may have run dry.”
Choosing A Plan For Ground Zero
A decision could come this week. Herbert Muschamp casts his vote: “Public officials will be criticized no matter what they decide. People protested the Eiffel Tower, too. If it were up to me, I would pick the pair of latticework towers proposed by the Think group. It is a work of genius, a towering affirmation of humanism in modern times. This is a work of abstraction. It does not impose literal meanings on the viewer. Yet implicitly it embodies the theme of metamorphosis.”
The Mystery Grammy Nominee
Just how did a singer by the name of Eartha get nominated for a Grammy for Best Female R&B Artist? “The raw numbers tell quite a story. The albums from which Aaliyah, Ashanti, Blige and Scott’s nominated songs were taken have sold a collective 7 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The total sales in SoundScan-surveyed outlets for Eartha’s album, ‘Sidebars’: 52. You didn’t hear her on radio, either. Her nominated song, ‘I’m Still Standing,’ did not appear among the top 1,000 songs played on R&B or adult R&B radio stations in 2002.”
Music Licensing Plan Could Kill Pub Performances?
A new music-licensing proposal for English pubs has musicians and pub owners protesting. “The bill is potentially fatal to the future of live entertainment of all kinds.” It’s described as “a central plank in the government’s drive to tackle anti-social behaviour. Overnight, live music ‘in any place’ will be illegal unless a licence or temporary entertainment notice from local authorities is obtained, with all its attendant costs and red tape. This means everything from Christmas festivities to impromptu music sessions in small, out-of-the-way pubs will be liable to penalties of up to £20,000 and six months’ imprisonment.”
Europe’s Best Contemporary Art Museum?
Here’s a vote for the Van Abbemuseum in the Netherlands, which just reopened after a renovation that took five years. “Thanks to the efforts of curators who followed the founder’s own predilection for visiting studios and hanging out with some of the best and most radical artists, the museum has one of Europe’s key collections of modern and contemporary art – several thousand works – from 1900 to the present day. It contains many familiar international names, from Joseph Beuys to Donald Judd, Gerhard Richter to Bruce Nauman. And it displays their works in particular contexts: Russian suprematism, Dutch plasticism, and among fellow artists that were collected with the individual sensibilities of a succession of curators. This is not a generic collection. It has character, and it is a museum of surprises.”
Libraries Ordering Fewer Harrys
Every time a new Harry Potter book comes out, kids flock to libraries to check out copies. That will be more difficult this summer. “Because of budget cuts, libraries are struggling to have enough Potter books. In New York City, for example, the number of ordered copies has dropped from 956 for the last release, ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,’ to 560 for the new one.”
Packard Foundation Cuts Back
Its endowment shrinking, the Packard Foundation is following other foundations and “is announcing today a more narrowly focused mission and a 2003 grants budget of $200 million. The organization gave out $616 million in grants in 2000 and $250 million last year. ‘There has been significant investment in time and energy to talk with grantees about how to move forward in what is a difficult funding environment for everyone’.”
UK Musicians Protest Licensing Plans
British musicians protested a proposed new licensing scheme for entertainment in small pubs. “Around 500 musicians wore gags in a demonstration against the government’s licencing bill, which they claim will silence live entertainment in Britain’s pubs and clubs.” The bill will require venues in England and Wales to obtain licences from their local council for any form of entertainment, with a maximum punishment for performing without permission of £20,000 or six months in jail. Protesters claim it will hit small acoustic bands, folk singers and even carol singers and nativity plays in church halls and could kill off traditions like Morris dancing.”