Category: visual

“This week, Banksy must surely be wondering if he has fueled the very machine of late-stage capitalism that he famously despises. … Two McDonald’s agencies had gotten in front of the meme by turning Banksy’s half-shredded image into an ode to french fries, but lots more homages have surfaced since then.”

A nationwide audit of 163 major collections has led to the identification of “83 paintings, 26 drawings and 13 Jewish ritual objects [as well as miscellaneous works] believed to have been taken from their owners between 1933 and 1945.”

“One of the most environmentally friendly office buildings ever conceived has been named the winner of the 2018 Stirling prize, beating off competition from a quirky brick nursery, a mud-walled cemetery and the extension of the Tate St Ives gallery.”

“The lower part of the painting, which depicts the Crucifixion (around 1555), was torn after the piece loosened due to weak wall fastenings [in a monastery at El Escorial in Spain]. Crucially, the figure of Christ was undamaged. ‘Detaching from the wall caused a considerable horizontal tear [across the canvas support],’ says an official statement.”

“S. Vijay Kumar, a shipping company executive based in Singapore, was instrumental in the return of a 12th-century Buddha stolen in India 57 years ago … [and] has dabbled in helping India recover its stolen antiques since 2007 … He speaks to The Art Newspaper about his investigations, which have led to the recovery of 28 such objects, with many more in the pipeline.”

If they were shelling out for love of the image alone, I would suggest picking up a replacement at Target, where a print version is currently on sale for $36.79, down from forty-six dollars. But, if they’re buying for investment, they might as well follow through. The picture’s destruction, like that of Tinguely’s machine, was halted before the job was complete, and there is already speculation that the work in damaged form will become even more valuable than it was before.

Essentially, Banksy likes to produce works that critique their own commodification. But he also seems to be increasingly critiquing the public’s attitudes toward art, and its complicity within the system of that commodification. The Dismaland project implicated the “tourists” for their enjoyment of the experience as much as it implicated Disney itself. With the Central Park experiment, the entire experience — the pop-up art stand and the art sold within it, as well as the night-and-day opposing responses from the public both before and after the reveal that Banksy was the perpetrator — became a piece of art. With these exhibitions, Banksy is also increasingly using his work to explore and critique the idea of virality, and how it influences the perceived value of a work in the minds of both the public and the artistic establishment.

In the wake of #OscarsSoWhite, #BlackLivesMatter, and discussions of gentrification and cultural appropriation, issues of museum diversity, or lack thereof, has become increasingly common.

“The pieces, which represent the diverse cultural heritage of a wide range of indigenous peoples throughout the ages, have traditionally been displayed in the galleries of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, but a milestone show at the Met is now seeking to situate Native American works within the broader narrative of American art.” The objects come from the collection of Charles and Valerie Diker, who required that they “be presented as American art rather than tribal art.”