Category: visual

“Few other places are in possession of so many treasures that are so poorly exhibited as Berlin. It’s as though cultural institutions here go out of their way to keep people from visiting.”

“The show … looks at why we love to watch cats—likely, it has to do with their contradictions: they are independent and yet often confined, indifferent yet, at times, quite willful.”

“This isn’t about borrowing art from an unsavory rich guy; it’s about hosting an exhibition that celebrates the family life and character — “the personal importance of family to the collectors cannot be overstated,” reads one exhibition text — of a married man who by his own admission acquired Quaaludes to give to women he wanted to have sex with.”

“Around 500 objects have been sel ected for loan (a small number will be on short-term loan) to the Zayed National Museum, which is expected to open in 2016 or 2017. … The most valuable item earmarked is an Assyrian relief from Nimrud, the Banquet Scene (645–635BC), which was revalued last year at £100m.”

“The 140,000-square-foot, 15-story Hermitage satellite, with a shrink-wrapped digital skin enclosing a porous, terraced interior, will be part of a mixed-use district developed on the grounds of the former ZiL auto plant, which manufactured limousines for Soviet leaders.”

“For an artist, going big can be the most seductive of ego trips. But it can also offer an opportunity to disappear from view. Some large-scale works are boastful, whereas others are shaped by the lightest of touches; they are as likely to oppress as to inspire. But whatever the medium and whatever the message, there is no doubt that, when it comes to art at least, size really does matter.”

“Public art has long had a home in Detroit, with its expansive vacated spaces and ambitious class of D.I.Y. makers. But lately, the back-lot murals, pop-up sculpture parks and boundary-crossing performances are increasing, as old-guard artists find new outlets and resources, and younger artists arrive overflowing with ideas.”

Manierre Dawson, “although not a household name, is increasingly recognized as the first American artist to work in a completely abstract mode. … He made his breakthrough to non-objective imagery prior to any exposure to modernist art. Instead, his innovation stemmed from his training and employment as a structural engineer.”

“There are countless instances of artists destroying their own work. If Louise Bourgeois disliked a small sculpture she’d been working on, she would simply shove it off the end of her kitchen table and watch it smash to smithereens.”