Category: visual

• What influence does an artist’s studio have on his or her work? “For many, the studio is a sensitive issue; Tracey Emin also didn’t want to talk about hers let alone allow a stranger near such a ‘private place’. Lucian Freud has painted his studio with its sagging sofa and pile of paint rags into his pictures for years. Picasso once referred to his workplace as the ‘scaffold’, hinting that each time he approached the canvas it was like meeting the hangman; that any public execution of him as an artist would begin at the canvas.” – The Observer (UK)

London’s Millennium Dome managers have been covering up the scale of the facility’s disaster. Managers knew only 4-5 million people would attend this year while public estimates were 12 million. Public anger over the mismanagement of the dome intensified last week when the commission said it had given £47m to the NMEC to prevent it from going bankrupt. The grant followed a £43m donation only last month after public assurances in July that it would be ‘extremely difficult’ to give the dome more money.” – The Sunday Times (UK)

Pennsylvania’s Barnes Collection, which has one of the best Impressionist collections in the US, has blown through its $10 million endowment and has about six months left before it is completely out of money and has to close. “The Barnes cashed in the last of its endowment a year ago after running up a $5.3 million cash deficit in the last three years, tax filings show.” – Philadelphia Inquirer

Individual artists have discovered eBay as a way to bypass the gallery system. And they’re selling their work. “It appears that the practical lessons of Warhol have been absorbed: self promotion is as American as one of Jackson Pollock’s apple pies. What ebay artists have learned is to be pragmatic. They can get real and promote themselves or wait forever for a dealer to do it and create a classier veneer.” – ARTNewsroom.com

Paris’s “Biennale International des Antiquaires” is the Super Bowl of antiques fairs, and this year business is great as the fair convenes. “As antiques dealers, we are experiencing a fantastic era. We are witnessing Paris’s comeback on the big chessboard, which the international art market represents.” – New York Times

Archaeologists have found an enormous Maya palace built nearly 1,300 years ago in Guatemala. “Found at the site of Cancuén, which means ‘Place of Serpents’, on the Río Pasion in the Petén region, the three-story palace covers some 270,000 square feet has more than 170 rooms built around 11 courtyards. Its solid limestone masonry walls are six feet thick in places.” – Archaeology

The future of London’s troubled Millennium Dome hangs in the balance after yesterday’s announcement that it needs an additional £47 million to stay open until the end of the year. – The Guardian

In the you-can-rest-easier department, isn’t it nice to know that NATO is protecting our interests in culture as well as in the skies? “The aim of NATOarts is to advance the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s goals in the cultural realm. There was also a feeling that an organization such as NATO should take a more proactive role in the formation of international culture.” – New York Press

California’s Bay Area has 47 wall mural businesses. The region’s hot economy has piqued demand for murals to adorn buildings and they’re showing up everywhere. – San Francisco Chronicle

When casino mogul/art collector Steve Wynn sold the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas earlier this year, he got the buyer to agree to give him right of first refusal on the sale of the hotel’s artwork. A shareholder is suing Wynn’s company, saying Wynn will be unfairly enriched by the deal to the detriment of shareholders. – Las Vegas Sun