Category: visual

“The gallery’s reputation for championing serious artists with integrity made it a respected player in the years that Los Angeles art was gaining international prominence. Among the artists the gallery has shown are John Baldessari, Alexis Smith, William Leavitt, Claes Oldenburg, Roy Dowell and Lynda Benglis.”

“The painting, Extreme Unction, is from a famous series depicting the seven sacraments by the 17th-century French artist, which has been in an aristocratic English collection for more than two centuries, but has been on and off the market in recent years.”

The then-little-known sculptor completed the concrete-and-earthwork installation Shift in 1972 on what was, at the time, farmland 50 km north of Toronto. A developer now owns that land and would like to turn it into and exurb; though he insists he won’t harm the piece, he is appealing the protected heritage status conferred on Shift in 2009.

The problems with the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (called “the Telstras” after the sponsoring company) “in its present form are multiple. They reflect the travails of the indigenous art scene after its state-subsidised over-expansion and the abrupt collapse of its wider market in recent years. The model for the exhibition and awards is almost three decades old, and completely outdated.”

“As you approach, you realize it is made of metal. It’s a sculpture, made of welded and painted steel that looks like a two-dimensional cartoon drawing of a three-dimensional piece of paper … that is three-dimensional if you get close, but looks two-dimensional if you stay at the bottom of the hill …”

“The museum said it has signed a bilateral agreement with Rome’s Capitoline Museums to create a framework for the conservation and restoration of artworks as well as future exhibitions and long-term loans. The Capitoline Museums are a group of art and archaeological museums that date to the 15th century. They are among the oldest public art museums in the world.”

“In January it will close its current site on the northern edge of San Francisco. In the spring, it will open a new $220 million facility on Piers 15 and 17 along the Embarcadero … Exhibit space will triple, to 330,000 square feet, and the focus will expand: New exhibits will delve into the environment, microbiology and social psychology.”

“There’s been a huge increase in capital in the last few years, and most of it’s gone to the ruling class, the upper 1 percent. Art is actually not a very secure investment, but these folks have so much money that the thinking goes, ‘Why not park a few million dollars in fine art?’ “

“Museums should still be buying antiquities, and we shouldn’t shirk that responsibility, and I think it’s almost an ethical responsibility. We don’t want to drive these kinds of objects into private collections forever. Or to see all of them end up abroad.”

“The fun is just beginning, with the scaffolding rising for the piece, by the Japanese artist Tatzu Nishi, who plans to furnish the living room with couches, lamps and a coffee table for visitors, who will be able to commune face to face in homey comfort with the 13-foot tall explorer as he pokes up into the space from atop his lofty pedestal.”