Category: visual

The director of the Hermitage warns “there is a real possibility that no Russian museum will lend works to UK or other European venues unless it receives ‘concrete guarantees’ from host governments that its collections will not be impounded, as a result of a long-running dispute between a Swiss businessman and the Russian government.”

Dubai, the second largest of the United Arab Emirates, is “the most spectacular and outlandish architectural experiment on the planet. The country is relentlessly, almost obsessively, building itself into significance. Under the auspices of the crown prince Sheikh Mohammed and the rest of the ruling Maktoum family, Dubai is being transformed from a blank canvas into an Islamic fusion of Singapore and Vegas.”

“In London the artists rule, but in New York the galleries do. Gallerists here seem to be almost patriarchal figures, and the art scene is really male-dominated here. In London it’s a lot more open to women. People here don’t seem to expect me to have a sense of humor.”

“This year, the fair will present 266 art galleries — representing works by more than 2,000 artists. It is the largest field of galleries presented by the fair since its inception in December 2002. ‘We’re probably close to 100 percent of the wish list of galleries we would like to have’.”

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is “about to destroy art. On Dec. 1, the museum will tear down its parking garage. The plan is to erect in its place a $60-million building for the display of contemporary art. The problem isn’t that LACMA is demolishing a garage so that it can add gallery space, the problem is that LACMA isn’t saving the art it commissioned for the garage.”

“Museums have taken great efforts to tend and build their permanent collections. Most own far more art than they could ever show at any given time. And yet these treasures hardly matter to a generation of art lovers reared on temporary exhibitions. Museums are looking for remedies. Not many have done what the Hirshhorn has done — put the entire exhibition schedule on pause, focusing solely on the permanent collection. A good number, however, are returning our attention to the great art they own.”

The Louvre is sending some of its art to Atlanta. “It will mark the first time in the Louvre’s 212-year history that the museum has agreed to share entire collections with another museum for an extended period. The arrangement breaks new ground in the international arts world and scores a diplomatic success among tense Franco-American relations.”

“In the rest of the world, cities clamour for iconic buildings, blockbuster museums and galleries, which they desperately hope will put them on the map. Our everyday surroundings, however, new houses and out-of-town shopping malls, streetscapes and utilities, are virtually untouched by architects, a saddening, immature blend of Noddy-houses and big sheds, anonymous boxes and ominous CCTV poles. In Switzerland there are few icons. Instead, the average is executed with thought and skill, and the whole is consequently raised to a sublime where even the signal boxes are designed by world-class architects.”

Christie’s is holding back the sale of some paintings sold at auction because it suspects a gallery of orchestrating a price fixing scheme. “We permitted certain bidding…because we were led to believe that the owners…were a divorcing couple. We now have reason to believe that this was not the case.”

The Warhol Foundation has appointed two former curators to join its authentication committee to judge the authenticity of works said to be by the late artist. “Since 2003, the board has been under fire from owners of rejected works and members of the artist’s circle who claim their knowledge of Warhol’s practice is ignored. The board has routinely denied the authenticity of silkscreens made without Warhol’s direct supervision, but his former associates argue that to reject such works contradicts Warhol’s practice of having works of art printed without his direct oversight.”