“Dubbed an ‘Amazon for the arts’ by its creators, the Web aggregator is satisfying consumer appetite for art-related gifts, and boosting museum revenue at a time when subsidies are heading lower.”
Category: visual
Richard Wright: Friendship With Turner Judge Irrelevant
“The 49-year-old painter from Glasgow said there was nothing ‘dubious’ about his relationship with Charles Esche, one of the four [Turner Prize] judges, and that there was no way he could have decided the result. Last week, critics claimed the pair’s friendship undermined the integrity of the £25,000 prize.”
Edmonton Gets A New Museum
“The $88-million gallery was redesigned by Los Angeles architect Randall Stout. It has double the exhibition space of the former gallery.”
The New Art Buyers
“An influx of collectors from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan are branching out to seek artists from the 20th century Western canon, such as Claude Monet, Paul Gauguin and Edgar Degas.”
Enormous Paper Sculptures Inspired By Germs And Booms
“Artist Charles Clary says he wants his constructions to appear ever-expanding – overwhelming exhibition spaces like replicating viruses or reverberating sound waves. … [He] layers colored paper to build up the variegated textures and sinewy shapes of his room-sized installations.”
Before El Greco Became El Greco
“The stunning 1983 discovery of the signature of Domenikos Theotokopoulos on an exquisite Byzantine icon dramatically enlarged our knowledge of the enigmatic painter far better known as El Greco.” An exhibition in New York considers El Greco’s artistic roots in the surprisingly multicultural milieu of late medieval Crete.
The World’s Most Stunning Quaker Meeting House
One wouldn’t expect to apply the word “stunning” to an architectural style so pointedly spare as that of the Quakers. But an 1832 meeting house known simply as The Temple, located about an hour north of Toronto, creates marvelous effects of light and sound with its three-tiered structure, dark green central columns and 70-degree staircase.
Remaking The UN (And Missed Opportunities)
“The project offered a chance to create a forum suited to a membership that has grown to 192 countries from 70 and must deal with an era of AIDS, crushing poverty, terrorism and war. What a pity that the UN aimed much lower. “
Pa. Academy Of Fine Arts Looks Forward To Floods Of Foot Traffic
The 205-year-old museum and art school sits directly across the street from the planned entrance to Philadelphia’s expanded Convention Center. Once the expansion is completed in early 2011, the Convention Center expects 1.5 million visitors a year – and the Academy is making plans to draw them in.
When Museums Have The Courage To Say ‘We’re Not Sure’
“In a bold move, two museums have built exhibitions around objects they think are previously unknown works by major artists, in one case Leonardo da Vinci and in the other Michelangelo. The shows open a window onto an aspect of museums the public rarely sees–the world of fathoming authorship and making judgments.”