Category: visual

“For me the deep content of being on Work of Art was to see if art criticism could find new ways to expose itself to the world so that more of the world might expose itself to it.”

“A bill to prohibit cultural institutions from selling pieces from their collections to cover operating costs has all but died in the New York State Legislature, in the face of opposition from major cultural institutions like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the withdrawal of support from the bill’s Senate sponsor.”

The Manhattan contemporary art venue “could face the loss of its charter or referral to the state attorney general’s office following disclosure that its entire permanent collection of artwork was pledged as collateral for a loan needed to pay its mortgage.”

“Described today by eBay agent Auxion Junxion as the “authentic Banksy art wall ‘Canary in a Cage,’ ” the 8-foot-by-4-foot piece has an opening bid of $75,000. The piece was discovered amid the destruction of a courtyard in the derelict Packard Plant in Detroit in June.”

Everybody has an opinion about “Inception,” and mine comes in the form of a question: Why are the movie’s architectural settings, for the most part, so hackneyed?

Last week, Jerry Saltz announced (via his enormously popular Facebook page) an open call for “guest artists” to send in their own 100-word submissions. This being the art criticism business, Saltz stressed that “there’s no money in this for you whatsoever.”

“Rick Norsigian’s 10-year quest to prove that he turned up a trove of ‘lost’ Ansel Adams photo negatives at a Fresno garage sale now has a rival explanation advanced by Norsigian’s opponents: They were taken by a heretofore unknown photographer from the Fresno area named Earl Brooks.”

“After years of looking for a new downtown home, the Drawing Center has decided to stay put in its SoHo neighborhood. ‘The economy made us re-evaluate what scale of project we want,’ said [director] Brett Littman.”

“At the NGV, blockbusters cost between $3.5 million and $4.5m each. But unlike a Hollywood blockbuster which can underpin studio operations for a year, figures obtained by The Australian reveal the galleries generate mixed returns from their blockbuster exhibitions.”

“What we look for are pieces of work that are produced in an attempt to make some sort of artistic statement — but clearly something has gone wrong. There has to be something about it that makes you stop, and very often wonder why the artist continued down the path to produce what he or she did.”