Category: visual

“On sale will be the archive of the man credited with being the father of Western art history: Giorgio Vasari, whose Lives of the Artists chronicled the lives of the painters and sculptors of the Renaissance. The documents include 17 letters from Vasari’s friend, Michelangelo, together with correspondence from five Renaissance popes and the 16th-century ruler of Florence, Cosimo I de’ Medici.”

“Moving the Vancouver Art Gallery would empty out the heart of the city, make no economic sense, and do nothing to improve the situation for art, say a chorus of advocates from arts and urban-planning circles.”

A slideshow. “Everyone from the most high profile “starchitect” on down has seen their business affected by This New Reality. Here are some of the projects set to open their doors, break ground, or gain attention in 2010.”

“America fell out of love with super-tall skyscrapers years ago. Now it faces a commercial-property meltdown that’s more about delusional debt than the building frenzy seen in Shenzhen and Dubai.”

“Looking out at the madness of modern life in the early 20th century, Surrealism said, ‘Bring it on.’ … There was so much going on. The chaos of traffic and lights and humanity was constantly producing jarring images. Reality seemed to blur into a dream state and then back again. … By grabbing a moment from the flow of experience, [photography] gives it individual meaning. The throbbing life of Paris in the 1920s gets broken down into its bits, its isolated incidents.”

Forty carved figures from the tomb of John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, are currently touring the US. “With faces of portrait-like specificity, gesturing hands, and expressive body language, the mourners mix mystery with candor as they pray, chant, weep, wipe away tears, turn towards their neighbors, bear witness.”

“As state and federal officials hunt down the elusive Asian carp, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is looking at the financial and environmental costs of closing navigational locks in Chicago waterways and shutting down the Chicago River to boat traffic as many as four days a week.”

“Now that the plazas at Times and Herald squares are permanent, the next step is making them look worthy of the part, a process that began somewhat haltingly yesterday. … [W]hy isn’t the DOT taking more assertive steps in making the plazas attractive? Epoxy gravel is hardly the stuff of inspiring design.”

“Sunday’s opening [at the Detroit Institute of Arts] comes as several museums worldwide are broadening their collections. … In Detroit, the gallery of about 170 works of art from the Mediterranean region, the Middle East, Central Asia and India was several years in the making.”

“On one side are old-school graffiti writers who ‘tag’ or ‘bomb’ their names in as many places as possible and seldom, if ever, seek compensation for their work. On the other are street artists, who aim for a political or cultural resonance and also create portable pieces they can exhibit and sell.”