Category: visual

“At age 75, he’s trying to convince a swath of southern Colorado to let him temporarily suspend flat sections of silvery fabric over a 42-mile-long stretch of the area’s Arkansas River. For two weeks, people will be able to drive alongside this mirror-like ribbon or raft underneath it, he says.”

Once the largest church in Christendom and the mother-ship of medieval Benedictine priories, the monastery at Cluny was literally reduced to rubble after the French Revolution. Now the French government has restored the abbey – and created a virtual 3-D restoration of the entire complex.

“Polka dots hearken to the 1950s, summing up the best of Mad Men-era America: optimistic, prosperous, ostensibly prim, but also dizzyingly energetic … Yet the polka dot’s roots are in more earthy stuff: animal pelts, warriors, and disease. At different moments, polka dots have hinted at sexuality, superhuman powers, torture, and paranoia.”

“Signs of danger for the frescoes, which include Michelangelo’s “The Last Judgement” behind the altar and the nine scenes from the Book of Genesis he painted on the ceiling of the chapel, were detected this summer during a routine dusting.”

“The city’s bid to enlist the Los Angeles County Museum of Art as a key player in conserving the Watts Towers has hit a snag as LACMA seeks a guarantee that it won’t be held financially liable for any damage to the folk-art masterpiece that might result if its work on the towers were to go awry.”

“Works from the three leading players in this summer’s big art-photography controversy will be hung in a Los Angeles gallery on Saturday for a brief exhibition aimed at giving folks a chance to see what the hubbub is all about, and decide for themselves.”

“What do Marcel Duchamp’s readymades have to do with a Chinese mandarin’s robe? And what is the link between the crowns of African kings and a synagogue in South America? These are some of the questions raised by three contemporary artists who were asked by the Israel Museum in Jerusalem to select pieces from its vast collections to create their own special exhibitions.”

“Gold earrings made for an Assyrian queen, a sacred 4,000-year-old statue, and 540 other looted pieces of Iraq’s ancient history were formally returned to Iraq on Monday … [But] a previous shipment of 632 stolen pieces recovered in the US [went] missing after being delivered to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s office last year.”

“The proceeds released from the sale of the painting will enable us to realise our core aims of securing the restoration and long-term preservation of Belvoir Castle and Estate. Following the successful sale of ‘Ordination’, it is our hope that the four remaining paintings will go back on public display at the National Gallery in London.”

“Each year groups seeking space to build on the Mall [in Washington, D.C.] show up before the [National Capital Planning Commission] … But because there is only so much space and a concern about cluttering the Mall’s signature green expanses, the planning commission has to be good at saying no and at offering alternatives.”