Category: visual

“The new public library in West Hollywood isn’t expected to officially open until October, but at least one component of the complex is already garnering public attention: a new group of [outdoor] murals created by street artists Shepard Fairey, Retna and Kenny Scharf.”

“The venerable Textile Museum is moving to the campus of George Washington University … This is the first move ever in its more than 80 years for the museum, an international destination above Dupont Circle.”

“Art exhibits are not generally thought of as opportunities to get our pulses racing and skin tingling. But newly published research suggests aesthetic appreciation is, in fact, a full-body experience.”

“A long-planned exhibition of nearly 70 pieces of Buddhist art from Pakistan will finally open at Asia Society on Aug. 9, after political intrigue in Pakistan and a breakdown in American-Pakistani relations delayed it for six months.”

Giverny head gardener James Priest: “Monet’s garden would not have had concrete paths, for instance. But they are a necessity today. You have to meander between the purist line and the practical one. Take the irises. They are all over his paintings. But look at them now. They are nubs. So, you need other flowers blooming to keep that Impressionist feeling along those paths.”

“With the growth of private museums, they have space to fill and the means to do so. They also want works with huge visual impact: contemporary art spaces, be they private or public, need to grip visitors, give them an ‘experience’ and send them away thinking ‘wow!’ Size is one of the ways of achieving this.”

“The Kronish House, one of a handful of Beverly Hills residences designed by Modernist architect Richard Neutra, appears headed for demolition.”

“Archaeologists unearthing a biblical ruin inside a Palestinian city in the West Bank are writing the latest chapter in a 100-year-old excavation that has been interrupted by two world wars and numerous rounds of Mideast upheaval.”

“Out of the doomed empire came some of the most provocative and brilliant art of the modern age, with Klimt and contemporaries such as Schiele investigating sexuality and the psyche years before the surrealists. The Habsburgs deserve to be remembered. They played a colossal role in the story of Europe, and its art.”

“Thanks to the indefatigable determination of the claimants, Rose Museum board members Jonathan Lee, Lois Foster, Meryl Rose and Gerald Fineberg, with the support of the Massachusetts Attorney General, Brandeis acknowledges that they cannot simply “close” a museum and sell off its art collection for monetary gain aimed at easing budgetary difficulties. It is astonishing that they thought they could do so in 2009.”