Category: visual

Forget about Best Art. What’s the worst art in Britain? The Guardian asks ten experts to pick ’em, and the accompanying images are evidenc…

Art thefts are on the rise in France, as the country threatens to become the most-looted in Europe, surpassing Italy. “There has been a huge spike in these kinds of cases recently, largely due to the wrong people realising that there are easy pickings to be had. Few law enforcement agencies prioritise art theft, despite it being linked to drugs, arms and people-trafficking and prostitution. It is only going to get worse.”

A New York gallery has been told by DC Comics to take down pictures depicting Batman and Robin kissing. “The colour pictures, which depict the superheroes in a number of homoerotic poses, were put on display in the gallery in February. Seven images from the collection were subsequently displayed on the Artnet site.”

New York City’s Percent for Art program “has become the largest public art program in the city since the Great Depression. There have been more than 200 projects completed in schools, parks, police precincts and branch libraries. Incrementally, usually without much fuss, they have enlarged the city’s visual topography.”

Fifteen major American museums are currently searching for directors. Should those directors be art scholars or CEO’s? “The current empty posts — as well as the evolving director’s role — put many high-profile institutions at a crossroads. To be sure, any candidate considered at a top museum will have at least some experience in both management and art scholarship, but the museum world remains divided over the appropriate balance.”

Are some making too much of the rich Getty Museum soliciting support in the community? “When they are talking about working with collectors to give fabulous collections a public home, how could one argue with that? That’s a worthy thing. Having collections of art in the public domain is something that every museum should be doing. The fact that these objects would be preserved and exhibited and interpreted would be a net gain.”

A couple of artists have made a career of copying some of Brit Art’s most famous works… in Lego. “After experimenting with a Lego take on Damien Hirst’s formaldehyde shark, the pair have now graduated to their own mini-exhibition of modern art at the Walker gallery in Liverpool. Among the interpretations on display are Tracey Emin’s knicker-strewn bed, Salvador Dalí’s surreal lobster phone, and a rendering of the Turner Prize-winning transvestite potter, Grayson Perry, in one of his trademark doll outfits.

Does the appointment of Michael Brand to run the Getty Museum signal a fresh start for the Getty, which ha had a very rough year? “Although it is unclear where Dr Brand will take the mammoth institution, there are indications that he wishes to shift the Getty’s gaze to the west and the south, and away from the traditional centres of world art to the east of Los Angeles.”

The curator of a Copenhagen museum has been charged with stealing more than 100 items from the museum. “He allegedly stole the items while working at the Danish Museum of Art and Design between 1999 and 2002. Small ‘pocket-sized’ porcelain, glass and metal items were taken, a museum spokeswoman said.”

Michael Brand seems like a good choice to lead the Getty Museum, writes Christopher Knight. But his charge coming into the job to raise money for projects for the richest museum in America is troubling…