Category: visual

Thinking about buying art online? Be careful. “An FBI investigation recently resulted in indictments in a scheme to allegedly sell $5 million worth of fake art prints via eBay.”

“Context is all in popular culture. An individual person or object or event can’t be understood outside of the persons, objects, or events it forms a constellation with. And Miley Cyrus’s context is much of the problem. Disney has built a global institution out of relentless wholesomeness. If Hannah Montana were a Fox franchise, would we have heard a peep?”

“Art is not standard front page news, so astronomical prices, along with the death of the artist and, in Britain, a Turner Prize win, are one of the few ways that an artist can really hit the headlines. While the media increasingly confuse fame and notoriety with innovation and art historical importance, so many neophyte collectors seem to be happy ‘buying the price’, i.e. they conflate monetary worth with aesthetic and cultural value.”

“A ban on trading in any Iraqi artefacts would strip them of their commercial value, he said, and mean there was no longer any financial incentive to dig them out of the ground.”

“The compensation packages of museum directors continue to rise at an extraordinary rate. Whereas ten years ago the $200,000 salary level was hardly ever breached, the era of the $1 million annual compensation is soon upon the field. Mid-size museums in regional cities in the Midwest or South, for example, are luring directors with compensation packages in the $350,000 to $600,000 range.”

“Designed by U.S. architect Richard Meier, the museum has had its share of critics since it opened in 2006. The modernist glass, marble and steel structure was dismissed by critics as an eyesore and compared to a giant gas station or a pizzeria. It is the first modern building to rise in Rome’s historic centre since the days of Benito Mussolini. It cost $24 million and took 10 years to build.”

“It’s a place where activities converge that involve exhibitions, that involve objects, that involve performance, that involve spoken voice, that involve teaching and an increased education and delectation on behalf of the public. The Museum of Contemporary Art, I think, is perfectly positioned to be an exemplary model for a contemporary museum in the 21st Century.”

“Fame-loss is a mysterious thing. A rising reputation leaves plenty of evidence in its wake. Exhibitions are held. Reviews are written. Books are published… When a reputation sinks, though, it generally sinks without much trace. There may be a decisive turning-point. More often the process consists of negative events, a series of things that might have happened, and didn’t.”

“Manhole covers, pipes and wiring have already been targeted for theft in many cities, thanks to copper prices that have risen to about $4 a pound from $3.50 a year ago and $1.50 three years ago. In the prosperous Orange County city of Brea, home to a thriving public art program, big bronze sculptures are now on the hit list. The city has lost three such works in the past 18 months.”

“Jeremy Broadway’s fakes were so convincing that auctioneers Bonhams sold two pots that he claimed were by the great St Ives potter Leach and a Rie piece for almost £10,000.”