Category: visual

“Letterpress, which became obsolete in the 1980s with the rise of desktop publishing, is experiencing a resurgence as artists and consumers rediscover the allure of hand-set type.”

Senator Chuck Grassley has been going after the way art is donated to museums in America. “The idea that a wealthy collector can win a big tax deduction for giving away something that remains on his walls offends Mr. Grassley. ‘Call it what it is, a subsidy for millionaires to buy art. Where I come from the word giving doesn’t mean keeping’.”

L.A.’s Museum of Neon Art just over a month away from homelessness, with no prospects for a new home in sight. “At the end of January, a month after the downtown museum celebrates its 25th birthday, the lease runs out on MONA’s home of 10 years… The museum is caught in a bind common among bohemians in booming urban settings: With rents rising, lofts proliferating and redevelopment efforts underway downtown, the 400-member museum, which lives on a $200,000 yearly budget, can’t afford most buildings.”

Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art, with its striking cantilever overlooking Boston Harbor, may be the most architecturally significant building to be built in the Hub in a generation. “Four decades ago the completion of a City Hall in Brutalist concrete sent the city’s cultural guardians into a panic. Since then, with a few exceptions like the John Hancock Tower, the city’s architectural aspirations could generally be summed up in one word: brick.” But the ICA, which stands in a largely undeveloped area at the moment, will eventually be more than a stand-alone monument to creativity: “Viewed through a maze of new buildings, the structure could wield the force of a wonderful surprise.”

“Edward Hicks’s celebrated ‘Peaceable Kingdom’ paintings — parables of the animal kingdom inspired by the words of the prophet Isaiah — come up for sale every now and again. Each seems to have its own special story. On Jan. 19 Christie’s in New York is selling the last of 60 images in the series.” The seller, who is descended from Hicks himself, expects to realize $3 to $4 million.

“Art is making more money than ever before. This year, a new world record was set for the most expensive painting of all time – and broken a few months later. There is a frenzy in the market that encompasses everything from contemporary art to looted Greek and Roman antiquities. Unexpected discoveries fuel the fantasy that you or I can participate in this greedy sport, that valuable masterpieces lie in attics or cupboards, waiting to be recognised… There are only two questions about art we all recognise. But is it art? And if it is, what’s it worth?”

Bostonians have never been known for their cutting-edge taste when it comes to art. “But the new Institute of Contemporary Art is growing up into a museum that has the potential to be a player on the world stage. Boston’s aesthetic can grow up with it.”

“The Tate launches a major campaign today to purchase one of Turner’s late masterpieces, The Blue Rigi, a heartstopping view of Mount Rigi seen from Lake Lucerne in Switzerland, in which he captured the elusive moment when night fades into the pale light of dawn. The work is, according to the Tate, one of the finest watercolours painted. It needs to be, for Tate Britain must raise £4.95m to prevent it leaving the country. This would be the biggest sum it has ever paid for a single work of art.”

In the hours since German-born artist Tomma Abts was named the recipient of this year’s Turner Prize, British art critics have been lining up to praise the selection. But Germany’s leading critic begs to differ, saying in a blistering article that Abts’s paintings look like East German wallpaper samples.

“A proposed residential tower designed by Foster and Partners for New York’s Upper East Side has sparked conflict between neighbors, pitting preservationists against the local artists, designers, and gallery owners who hope to see the building constructed… Foster argued that such ambitious architecture isn’t out of place in the neighborhood, and pointed to the Carlyle, the Guggenheim Museum, and the Whitney Museum as examples.”