Category: visual

“I don’t want to see any more public art on the plinth – no war heroes and no more modern art either. … [E]verything put there seems to become at best a scabrous distraction from, and at worst a conscious insult to, the great art in the nearby National Gallery.”

“The foundation, the largest private charitable fund in the world, is donating the money for the [National Museum of African American History and Culture’s] capital campaign and to support the design and construction of the museum, which is scheduled to open on the Mall in late 2015.” The museum is part of the Smithsonian Institution.

“The art world was abuzz in early September with word that a series of original works by famed Pop Art icon Andy Warhol had been stolen from the walls of noted art collector Richard L. Weisman’s Westside Los Angeles home. … Now, Weisman has said he is not going to pursue a payout from the company that insured the paintings.”

“Sotheby’s said it can’t disclose the specific criteria it uses in setting executive pay because that would give an unfair advantage to closely held rival Christie’s International. … Amid calls for more corporate transparency, Sotheby’s case illustrates the challenges of a publicly held company when it has a closely held rival.”

“[N]o one in Germany would usually think twice about seeing a garden gnome, given there are 25 million of them across the country. But a battery of 1,250 of them that appeared on a square in a Bavarian town has caused an outcry, not least because their arms are in a Nazi salute.”

Under the Boston Arts Commission’s PaintBox program, artists are painting over gray electrical boxes throughout the city with designs of their own. The $300 fee they receive “barely covers materials,” but “artists say they’re not doing the job for the money.”

The list of art borrowed by the White House “had been generally known since spring, but that story had appeared in the Wall Street Journal’s culture pages, not in its hard-right Op-Ed section, so the right wing paid scant attention. Now the Free Republic website was busily declaring ‘Fraud,’ with delightful blogger Beelzebubba gloating, ‘Freeper breaks the story.'”

In a hearing, a probate court judge also “denied a motion to dismiss the suit filed by museum benefactors Meryl Rose, Jonathan Lee and Lois Foster and set a June 2010 trial date.”

“Damien Hirst, who topped a list of the 100 most influential people in the art world last year, dropped to number 48 in the ranking published by ArtReview.”

“Hirst has chosen to put [dead animals in formaldehyde and such] all to one side and return to the craft of painting. The exhibition of his new work, which has opened at the Wallace Collection in London, has been scrutinised by numerous art critics.” A typical comment: “They’re thoroughly derivative. Their handling is weak. They’re extremely boring.”