“As a museum that supports artists of all stripes, we accept the risk that accompanies this engagement even though we recognize some projects may not live up to our own expectations,” said MoMA Director Glenn Lowry. Amid the bad press, the Björk show is tapping into a broader vein of anxiety about the direction of the venerable art museum.
Category: visual
Seven Reasons The Contemporary Art World Is Insufferable Right Now
“Writing for certain art magazines and blogs allowed me a Gatsbyian entrance into the lives of the extraordinarily wealthy. I got to interview art collectors, gallery dealers, models, artists, and designers who probably spend more on handbags than I do on rent. I’ve sipped champagne in a Bentley and feasted on caviar in penthouse apartments. Though I disliked some of the art I was assigned to cover, as a grad student I couldn’t really be choosy about what I wrote about. I wanted to get published, and getting paid to write, no matter the topic, felt like a blessing.”
Artist Apologizes For Scary-Looking Lucille Ball Statue – Says He’ll Fix It
The level of invective directed at the work surprised him, Poulin said. He also acknowledged that when he created the sculpture, he struggled with the project, finding that he “came up short, and was not able to rise to the challenge.”
Why Are There So Many Bad Public Statues?
“The mystery is why these purportedly realistic statues keep appearing all over the world when so many are corny and bad. Modern art supposedly killed off this kind of vulgar realism. Picasso showed that a great sculpture can be a bull’s head made from a bike seat and handlebars. Why, then, continue casting shoddy simulacra of celebrities?”
Is “Placemaking” Nothing More Than The New Jargon?
Placemaking sounds good and everyone wants to jump on the bandwagon. Unfortunately, Placemaking, as promulgated by its chief advocate, the nonprofit Projects for Public Spaces, is largely bogus, even though PPS rather presumptuously claims it “has the potential to be one of the most transformative ideas of this century.”
Ronald Lauder: Still Much To Do In Returning Nazi-Looted Art
“Citing the statute of limitations to hold on to a painting that was forcibly taken by the Nazis is not just wrong—it is immoral. There should be no statute of limitations in the case of Nazi-looted art, just as there is no statute of limitations for genocide, because for almost every stolen painting, a felony murder was committed and a family was destroyed.”
American Museums Begin Returning Stolen Antiquities To India
“Several American museums have begun returning possibly stolen artifacts to India in response to a major federal investigation into the activities of Subhash Kapoor, a dealer identified by authorities as having once run the largest antiquities smuggling operation on American soil.”
UK Rejects Mediation On Parthenon Marbles
“British ministers said they believed the Greek call for “mediation” was intended simply to secure the return of the Marbles to Athens. Greece criticised British negativity. Greek Culture Minister Nicos Xydakis insisted the dispute was between nations, not museums.”
British Museum Director Neil MacGregor To Step Down
“Since taking the helm in 2002, MacGregor has overseen acclaimed exhibitions on topics including Ice Age society, ancient Pompeii and the Vikings.”
Pretentious? Sure. Expensive? Absolutely. But Here’s The Value In The Visual Art World
“Art school really is the only game in town for aspiring artists, and “more artists now come through art programs in the United States each year than were produced by the city-states of Florence and Venice during the entire fifteenth century.”