“It’s fashion. It’s art. It’s advertising. It’s a political statement. It’s one of the most versatile pieces of clothing ever made. It’s a staple ingredient of 21st-century culture. Once upon a time, Julius Caesar said: “Veni, vidi, vici” (“I came, I saw, I conquered”). These days it’s: “Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt”.”
Category: visual
The New Seoul (At Expense Of The Old)
Seoul is being remade. “As newly built apartments soar to spectacular and costly heights, some of Seoul’s most distinctive neighborhoods and buildings were quietly shown the door this year, to make room for future visions of the city.”
Are Corporations Playing Censor?
An artist whose image for a London light projection was rejected by sponsors, says corporations are increasingly getting a censorship role in art. “The patrons of contemporary art, the Medicis of today, are the corporations. They give the impression of supporting dissident views and freedom of expression, but if there is any danger that your sponsored work encourages even a modicum of critical debate, you’re out the door. The sponsors are in it to ratchet up ‘the buying mood’. Censorship of culture is something one does not speak of in the free market – it brings back images of Lady Chatterley and the Lord Chamberlain. But in the visual arts it is an increasing determinant of what people are allowed to see in public spaces.”
Protecting The Nude Barbie
A US federal court has ruled that a Utah artist can make art depicting nude Barbies being menaced by kitchen appliances. “Noting the image of Barbie dolls is “ripe for social comment,” a three judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected toymaker Mattel Inc.’s appeal of a lower court ruling in favor of lampooning the popular doll.”
The Case Against PowerPoint
There seems to be a mounting backlash against PowerPoint as a means of conveying ideas. “Visual artists say Microsoft’s popular “slideware” — which makes it easy to incorporate animated graphics and other entertainment into presentations — lulls people into accepting pablum over ideas. Foes say PowerPoint’s ubiquity perverts everything from elementary school reports to NASA’s scientific theses into sales pitches with bullet points and stock art. One of the internet’s original developers, Vint Cerf, gets laughs from audiences by quipping, “power corrupts and PowerPoint corrupts absolutely”.”
MoMA’s New Curatorial Team
As New York’s Museum of Modern Art prepares for its new home, a new curatorial team is chosen. “Almost immediately after being chosen as the Modern’s chief curator of painting and sculpture in March, John Elderfield, 60, decided he wanted a certain kind of team to help him shape the institution’s future. Those chosen should be young(ish), he specified, yet steeped in both classical and contemporary modern art; risk-taking but also willing to collaborate; similar in outlook but different enough to challenge one another. Bold visionaries residing in solitary genius need not apply.”
Where’s The Art In Art History?
Roger Kimball doesn’t think much of the teaching of art history these days. “Today, the study of art history is more and more about subordinating art—to “theory,” to politics, to just about anything that allows one to dispense with the burden of experiencing art natively, on its own terms. This is accomplished primarily by enlisting art as an illustration of some extraneous, non-artistic, non-aesthetic narrative. Increasingly, art history is pressed into battle —a battle against racism, say, or the plight of women or on behalf of social justice. Whatever. The result is that art becomes an adjunct to an agenda: an alibi for … you can fill in the blank by consulting this week’s list of trendy causes. In a word, what we are witnessing is the triumph of political correctness in art history.”
LA’s Billion-Dollar Redeveopment Plan
Now that Disney Hall is open in Los Angeles, city leaders have their sights set on redeveloping more of the area. That could be a $1.2 billion collection of new buildings. “Planners envision a spectacular mixed-use project that would combine housing, shopping, dining and entertainment opportunities on both sides of Grand Avenue south of 1st Street.” The project has drawn top architects from around the world, say planners…
Not Many Great Art Thieves, But They’re Out There
Much of the great art in UK homes is vulnerable to theft, says an expert in recovering stolen art. “Stealing this kind of art is probably the dumbest thing a thief can do. There’s no resale market for it and trying to get any kind of ransom paid is not easy. But the great houses are available to these people and they are prepared to target them. They are not taking this art for some Mr Big, they are just taking it to have it – half the time they give it away to their friends – and the police are not very good at getting these paintings back.”
Building Plans Altering Landscape Made Famous By Cezanne
Plans to cut down trees and build 78 houses near a town west of Paris made famous by paintings by Paul Cezanne has amgered many. “While it is an exaggeration to claim, as some locals do, that the low, curving hill on the road to Claude Monet’s Giverny is the Ile de France’s answer to Aix’s Mont Sainte-Victoire, views of the village are as recognisable today from the opposite bank of the Seine as they were when Cézanne visited his childhood friend Emile Zola 120 years ago.”