Category: visual

“Since the architect Paul Rudolph’s death, in 1997, his reputation has undergone one of the most dramatic rehabilitations imaginable, and his brutalist, sometimes off-putting buildings … are now recognized as some of the most expressive American architecture of the twentieth century. They are also some of the most threatened.” The Paul Rudolph Foundation, alas, lacks the muscle to ride to the rescue.

“The Minnesota Museum of American Art in downtown St. Paul plans to box up its collection and temporarily close in January after years of financial and leadership trouble. Its board president David Kelly, a Minneapolis lawyer, said the institution hopes eventually to reopen in a new location although it has not identified a potential site or raised any money.”

“Even Damien Hirst may not be immune to the economic climate – many of the workers who produce his works found themselves out of a job this week, the Guardian has learned. On Thursday, up to 17 of the 22 people who make the pills for Hirst’s drug cabinet series were told their contracts were not being renewed.”

About 450 concerned Angelinos turned out to an event to support Los Angeles’ Museum of Contemporary Art.

“The museum, which houses manuscripts, textiles, ceramics and other works mostly assembled over the last 20 years, has emerged as one of the world’s most encyclopedic collections of Islamic art.”

“Ana Tzarev is a 72-year-old painter, and though almost nobody has heard of her, she is about to become the first person in New York – indeed, perhaps in the history of the art world – to have her work carry a price tag of a million dollars without first ever having sold a single piece of art.”

“Work on the architect’s 118-floor tower began last year. The skyscraper was sited on industrial land next to Moscow’s river, surrounded by old warehouses and Soviet-era apartment blocks. The skyscraper was meant to be the centrepiece of a new business district and a symbol of Russia’s resurgent economic might. Its cancellation is an embarrassment for the Kremlin.”

“It has finally happened: the Dubai bubble has burst. Architecture-spotters like myself have looked on in amazement, or rather incredulity, at the way the tiny emirate has continued to unveil ever grander construction projects – taller skyscrapers, huger hotels, vaster artificial islands – in apparent defiance of the global credit crunch. Now, that crunch has hit home.”

“A prominent New York and Miami art dealer was arrested Friday on charges of selling forged paintings bearing the names of famous artists including Henri Matisse, Marc Chagall and Tom Wesselmann.”

Traditionally, a building is an icon when it is a popularly-recognized symbol of something larger than itself — like the White House, the Eiffel Tower or the Empire State Building. Architectural icons are generally anointed by the public, and sometimes a long time after they are built. So why do developers think that they can create instant icons?