Category: visual

Monica Tan: “Once you’re in front of it, the shape is so large it fills your entire field of vision, until it seems to warp and wrap around your entire body. Without a thread between my body and the work, my bare flesh seems to be drinking all that peppy pink brightness in. … Everyone around me is gawping at the art, almost euphoric with delight.”

“The Nasher Prize for Sculpture will be presented to ‘a living artist in recognition of the art form.’ The inaugural winner will be announced in the fall and receive the award on April 2, 2016.”

“He began with a drive-in church designed by Richard Neutra located just three miles from Disneyland. Over time he added a telegenic cathedral by Philip Johnson and a shimmering, cylindrical ‘hospitality center,’ with an auditorium and cafe, by Richard Meier.

“Rothko’s work is pretty much all about the color, so the murals, in their faded condition, seemed to be dead … [and] it was impossible to restore them by conventional means. So a solution was borrowed from a technique known as ‘compensating illumination’ … Five digital projectors have been programmed to light the canvases so that the original colors reappear. At four o’clock every day, the projectors are turned off one by one, and the colors revert to (mostly) muddy blacks and grays. … As one observer put it, when the lights go off, comedy turns into tragedy.”

Nearly 10 million people a year pass through the Louvre, 7 million visit the British Museum, and 6 million go to the Met in New York. “The Louvre was conceived for 5 million people,” noted the president of the sprawling Paris museum, Jean-Luc Martinez. “For the past three years straight we’ve had more than 9 million.”

The National Palace Museum in Taipei organised the top three best-attended exhibitions in 2014.

“The figure raises questions about the growing influence of a small number of galleries in a rapidly consolidating art market—especially when they often offer logistical and financial support for exhibitions. At the same time, some wonder whether museums are doing enough to expose the public to art they would not otherwise see.”

That new Renzo Piano building along the High Line is three times the size of the old Whitney, and 50% more expensive to operate.

“When the King and Queen read that Dutch museums had volunteered to be investigated, they felt it would be useful for someone to research their works.” So the commissioned a review of the royal collections at the end of 2013; it’s complete, and they’re returning one Old Master canvas promptly.

“[Arthur] Danto, who was both a critic and a professor of philosophy, is celebrated for his accessible and affable prose. Despite this, Danto’s best-known essay, ‘The End of Art,’ continues to be cited more than it is understood. What was Danto’s argument? Is art really over? And if so, what are the implications for art history and art-making?” Tiernan Morgan & Lauren Purje explain – with pictures!