Category: visual

“As collectors, art connoisseurs and institutions eagerly gear up to travel to Cuba after President Obama’s decision to loosen the economic embargo, the art scene that awaits them is sui generis: a world whose artists are cut off from supplies and the Internet and, at the same time, celebrated by a coterie of international buyers whose curiosity and determination brought them to Cuba long before talk of a thaw.”

“Everyone wears a lot of hats. I also sweep the floor, take the garbage out and lay bug traps. I always thought when I reached this point that I’d wear pencil skirts and kitten heels and look fancy, but the reality is I spend a lot of time on the floor.”

“‘We’re on the verge of a cultural renaissance in the Valley,’ Sterling says. ‘It’s happening really fast, and people are getting behind it. If we were a city, we’d be the fifth-largest population base in the U.S. The Valley needs a world-class museum.'”

In the UK, “the MA’s cuts survey found that 52 per cent of museums experienced falling income last year, the most since 2011, with local authority-run museums and national institutions badly hit. Some museum directors are talking about further cuts of up to 35 per cent next year.”

“I’m working with what you would call a curator’s dollhouse of my own. We had a big decision to make about how to arrange the walls, especially of the third-floor galleries, because we have complete flexibility up there, 35,000 square feet and no columns, and there’s nothing dictating where the walls will go.”

“The market has been eating the art,” says Robert Storr, the dean of the Yale University School of Art. “There are still good dealers who understand the danger, and artists who can say no. But we’re in a perilous position and we need to talk about it.”

“While other art publications sing the praises of the rich and powerful, we like to look at those who are largely overlooked (or worse, exploited) in order to understand the real state of the art world and its discontents. So, here you have our annual assessment of those below the most powerful.”

“The Italian government is to spend €200,000 (£160,000) on a new plinth to support Michelangelo’s statue of David after hundreds of earth tremors shook Florence and the surrounding region in recent days.”

“Declining church attendance is playing a role, as is the growth of nondenominational congregations … that pine for a more modern aesthetic. … To attract business, some artisans are even steering clear of using the term ‘stained glass’ because it carries connotations of fusty old churches … [and are] targeting projects without religious overtones.”

“The key is to make objects slow or complicated to physically remove, while at the same time making it difficult to ascertain the way objects on display are secured, for those engaged in hostile surveillance.”