Category: visual

“Photographer Cedric Pollet travels the world, barking up trees for a living. Like this peeling orange-red madrone found on the west coast of North America … Or this manzanita, a small evergreen from California … Or this rainbow eucalyptus located in the Philippines …”

In two briefs filed Friday, the Tennessee attorney general said an alumna has “established a fund within the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee. The fund would pay the annual costs of displaying and maintaining the collection on Fisk’s campus. He also suggested the Tennessee State Museum as a potential site to display the collection.”

“Art Loop Open, the inaugural visual arts competition for which an initial 191 juried artists exhibited work in public locations in the Loop, announced noon Friday its 10 finalists based on public voting the week prior. But within hours, finalist and sculptural mixed-media artist Bernard Williams was disqualified for allegedly breaking the contest’s rules governing self-promotion.”

“The idea of selling at auction is incredibly seductive. The auction houses are extremely well organized, they make it their business to know all the trusts and estates lawyers. They’ve taken on this sort of quasi-official role in the art world — almost like a bank.”

In an event that Chinese remember to this day as one of the great humiliations of the Opium Wars, British and French forces in 1860 looted and completely destroyed Yuanmingyuan (“Garden of Perfect Brightness”), the Qing emperors’ fabuous complex of palaces and gardens. In the disaster’s 150th anniversary year, China is continuing a campaign to locate and demand the return of Yuanmingyuan’s looted treasures.

“[The] Obama administration is planning to expand its cultural diplomacy programs to include visual artists like painters and sculptors, who will be asked next year to create public art projects in 15 foreign countries. … The new program, known as smART Power, will be administered by the Bronx Museum of the Arts, which was selected from a dozen institutions to choose the artists.”

“Decisions taken by property developers to go ahead with the ‘Cheesegrater’ and the ‘Walkie Talkie’ towers in the City will see London’s skyline transformed … [by] the tallest and the most striking skyscrapers in the capital since Swiss Re’s Gherkin opened in 2004.”

“More than 100 Brillo boxes, said to be works by Andy Warhol, have been declared “copies” by the Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board after a three-year investigation.”

“Further studies, including infrared photography and X-rays, conducted last year inside the Florentine laboratory Opificio delle Pietre Dure, unearthed clear proof.”

“Much of it has gone already, burnt, bulldozed, blighted or left to rot. Pustular new towers erupt from the waterfront and skyline. Almost everything that’s left could go too, thanks to local government that could most charitably be described as supine.”