Category: visual

“These days, photo-based painting is as common as rain and just as inevitable, as younger artists such as Nick Mauss, Lucy McKenzie, and Wilhelm Sasnal take up the practice and exploit it. Yet it often complicates the public’s understanding of art and can easily put painters who use photographic aids, including computers and projectors, on the defensive. The question is: why? Why should a painting based on a photograph be considered a less legitimate work of art than one painted from observation or one that is simply abstract?”

A researcher has reported that the secret to Mona Lisa’s smile is “millions of invisible dots.” The expert “reported that the technique is somewhat similar to pointillism used by the French Neo-Impressionists in the late 19th century. Examples of this micro-division of tones exist since the ancient Romans. Leonardo took an existing techniques, but used it to the extreme, like nobody else.”

Christie’s has removed five beams from sale from a Cordoba mosque. “The church argued that the beams should not be sold as they have strong grounds to assert that the church retains ownership of the beams,” it said, adding that the law firm had threatened an injunction against Christie’s to prevent the sale.”

“In a surprise search Wednesday, Greek authorities seized 17 unregistered artifacts and a Byzantine icon from the vacation house of Marion True, the former J. Paul Getty Museum antiquities curator on trial in Rome on charges she trafficked in looted art. Among the objects seized, only a Hellenistic marble torso is thought to be archeologically significant.”

A shadowy group has threatened demolition and building contractors over projects they’re trying to build. “The group says it is dedicated to stopping modern housing developments and the destruction of historic buildings. It claims that ‘as a result of developers’ greed and planners’ indifference, the erosion of regional identity is at crisis point’.”

Canada is in the midst of a museum-building boom. “But too often, say some in the museum community, this country’s approach to its museums is like that of fathers who sire kids all over town but neglect to properly support them. Canada’s heritage collections and sites are in chronic crisis. No one is actively trying to obliterate them in the way that the Taliban blew up the Bamiyan Buddhas; rather, neglect and underfunding threaten to accomplish the same result, in slow motion.”

The reconstruction of New Orleans is a mess. But maybe that’s good for architecture, writes Chris Hawthorne. “Without Category 5 levees, wetlands restoration along the Gulf Coast or a forward-thinking planning strategy in place, homeowners who choose to rebuild will have to acknowledge the possibility of future flooding in every design decision. And if they approach the reconstruction process with that level of wariness — with their eyes wide open — they will be tapping into a rich architectural tradition in this city, odd as that may sound.”

Though it has been repaired, baghdad’s national Museum has not reopened. “Even with thousands of pieces still missing, the museum houses an extraordinary collection by any standard. What is lacking is the peace it needs to admit the public. ‘When a museum is reopened, it means that peace has come.’ For now, it is a hollow place, devoid of life, empty of discourse. This echoing museum at the heart of Baghdad – that is to say, at the heart of the American project in Iraq – is an image of hope frustrated.”

By nature, many of us are pack rats and want to collect souvenirs wherever we go. Museums are picking up on this in a big way; most have gift shops that swell the bottom line. But a number of museums are also commissioning artists and selling the artwork…

Peru is seeking to get artifacts from Machu Picchu housed at Yale, returned. “When Yale launched a major touring exhibition featuring the artifacts three years ago, the Peruvian government started negotiations to get them back. Yale offered to divide the items up and help Peru install its share in a museum near the site. Peruvian officials would not agree to any joint projects until Yale acknowledged that all of the objects belong to the Peruvian people. Yale refused.”