Category: visual

“His beliefs are disappointing, of course, if maybe not the right frame for understanding Renoir’s paintings. But if God does in fact hate Renoir, at least he has a decent moral reason to do so. For the rest of us, his insipid, chintzy, gauzy paintings will simply have to do.”

“Putting down roots in tried-and-tested cities is partly a reflection of the fragile economic and political environment elsewhere. Trading is already a challenge in many developing countries, and recent economic turmoil has increased the risks for overseas businesses.”

Peter Schjeldahl: “On the merits of the case, I would have identified with the R.S.A.P. people at a time – a long time; decades – when I had left the first class of people who like Renoir and had yet to join the second. … In the second class of people who like Renoir are those who have stopped fortifying their self-esteem with pride in their sophistication.”

The response to ISIS’s destruction of the ancient city in Arabic media was rather muted compared to the horrified reaction in the Western world. Dina Matar explains.

Two years ago, the Global Center for Innovation at the State University of New York at Albany, “known for its work in bioengineering, encryption and nanotechnology, set about developing a way to infuse paintings, sculptures and other artworks with complex molecules of DNA created in the lab.”

“A proposal under consideration here called the Flussbad (‘river pool’) would clean up a filthy canal, part of the River Spree, that flows around the tourist-mobbed Museum Island. The plan would add new wetlands and some place the public can literally dive into. Despite detractors who picture Berlin’s cultural center being upstaged by the equivalent of one long, riotous water-filled bouncy castle, the idea, which has been around for a while, is gaining momentum.”

To see it, “you’ll need to make a 2½-hour train journey from Glasgow to the Highlands, drive 1km into the heart of a mountain and climb a flight of slippery steps on to a viewing platform before you can catch a glimpse: a 48ft x 12ft mural made of wood, plastic and gold leaf, sparkling away at the centre of a vast cave like some fairytale treasure. … Even the artist behind the work has never made the trek to see it in situ.”

“Artists need space to make art. But people with money wanted space for consumption, and they got the art. It’s like eating your enemy’s brain. You have everything — art and money.”

“Today the tombs are Fethiye’s main tourist attraction. Which begs the question: how did they get to be filled with so much trash before authorities ever even noticed or took action?”

“In this environment, the 43 have become more than just a number, they have become a symbol of everything that is wrong with Mexico’s corrupt ruling classes, a breaking point for a people who have had enough.”