“The depiction of slavery using Lego serves to sanitize the endeavor. Difficult as it may be to confront, I don’t believe that the abject nature of slavery should be assuaged.”
Category: visual
You May Never See A Better Skewering Of The Contemporary Art Scene
This Portlandia sketch gets everything right, down to labels that can’t quite keep up with art and artists.
Vienna’s Jewish Museum Criticized For Not Returning Looted Art
“When the Jewish Museum of Vienna was founded in 1988 it was entrusted with safeguarding the art, books and Judaica that survived the Nazis’ attempt to exterminate their owners. But now, 25 years later, the museum has acknowledged it may be in possession of hundreds of items that were looted during the war and not returned to the families who lost them..”
Can Art And Artists Lead Revival In Tijuana?
Caught between the worldwide financial meltdown, ever tigher US border controls and Mexico’s violent drug wars, Tijuana has had a rough few years, with all-important revenue from tourism plummeting. But since 2010, crime has declined sharply and artists have been moving in, reviving (and repainting) derelict shopping areas, and helping the city become more than a purveyor of vice to Californians on benders.
3D-Printing Pen Lets You Draw Sculptures
“The 3Doodle pen, developed by US start-up WobbleWorks, works much like a handheld 3D printer. It contains a mains-powered heater that melts the plastic beads used in such printers. … Lift the nib in the air and a length of plastic exudes from the nib and solidifies, allowing you to create 3D objects by building up multiple wispy strands of plastic.”
UN Starts Rescue Fund For Timbuktu Treasured Damaged By Rebels
“Mali’s minister of culture, Bruno Maïga, said in an interview with The Art Newspaper that 2,000-3,000 manuscripts had been destroyed by rebels at the state-supported Ahmed Baba Institute of Higher Learning and Islamic Research in Timbuktu.”
Walters Museum Gets A New Director
Julia Marciari-Alexander is replacing Gary Vikan, who is stepping down after more than 27 years at the Walters, 18 of them as its director.
What Became Of This Billion-Dollar Art Collection?
“A Greek heiress is fighting a legal battle in Switzerland to find out what has become of a collection of Picasso, Van Gogh, Renoir, Monet, Cezanne and Degas art that she says should be part of her inheritance.”
Missing Banksy Mural Turns Up For Sale In Miami
“North Londoners are furious over a missing Banksy mural that was torn off a building in the Wood Green neighborhood of the city and has since resurfaced online at Fine Art Auctions Miami.”
Tracey Emin Becomes A Romantic
The creator, in her youth, of such notorious installations as My Bed and Everyone I Ever Slept With 1963-1995 is now creating neon works with titles like I Promise To Love You and You Touch My Soul. Emin “affectionately recalled an e-mail that her studio had received from newlyweds who had bought a digital neon work, priced at eighty dollars, and had projected it at their wedding.”