Category: visual

“Charles Saatchi’s pledge to donate his gallery and modern art collection to the public is in jeopardy after talks with the Arts Council [England] broke down.”

“Shanghai architecture is framed by its French Concession, the Bund’s neoclassical edifices, and Pudong, China’s own interpretation of the future. Much of it draws reference from the architecture of Ladislav Hudec, a Slovak who arrived in Shanghai as a World War I refugee.”

Texas artist James Magee has been something of a recluse in El Paso. Fewer than a hundred people have probably seen The Hill, his magnum opus, a complex of buildings and sculptures on some 2,000 acres out in the West Texas desert. The Hill is a career summation that bears comparison with Donald Judd’s famous Marfa or Walter de Maria’s The Lightning Field in New Mexico.

“Nicholas Serota, director of all the Tate museums (a network that includes Tate Britain across the river in Milbank along with branches in Liverpool and St. Ives) and the mastermind behind the Tate Modern, insists that despite the rocky economy and the recent announcement of government cutbacks for arts financing, the Tate Modern must grow.”

“Art may be particularly attractive now because of the uncertainties of the stock markets, big currency fluctuations and the looming spectre of inflation in some major countries, and deflation in others.”

Just made public are charges “that no fewer than 15 works produced over the years by the self-styled enfant terrible have been allegedly ‘inspired’ by others.”

“History has yet to settle the verdict on this brilliant photographer whose work laid the foundation for motion pictures. Even in this belated moment of triumph, Eadweard Muybridge’s authorship is yet again being called into question for the third time since his series of landmark achievements.”

“They were confined in March and April to Ulster Correctional Facility, a medium-security prison 94 miles north of Sotheby’s York Avenue salesroom in New York. Doyle, now 53, had pleaded guilty to grand larceny related to the sale of a bronze Degas sculpture. Haggerty, 55, was convicted of vehicular assault, after a drunk-driving incident that caused serious injuries to two victims.”

“SAM estimates the loss of its lease with Washington Mutual on the downtown tower that adjoins the art museum will cost it about $25 million — a sum that includes the loss of rental revenue while the property is vacant.”

“There will be cuts to the arts and museums. They will not be singled out as easy to cut, but neither will they be overly protected. They will take their share of the pain.”