The economic slump has spread through galleries and museums, and is now hitting individual artists who make their living selling paintings to the public. James Auer thinks that part of the problem is that most artists don’t actually buy any art themselves. “It’s very difficult to persuade someone to do something you haven’t done yourself. And that includes the act of acquiring a fairly costly artwork – and paying off the debt, if necessary, on the installment plan. Collecting fine art can be a creative act, too. Indeed, it’s the other, essential end of a vital continuum.”
Tag: 04.16.03
Rachmaninov – A Shrink-Wrapped Talent?
Did psychotherapy turn Rachmaninov from “a composer of ambitious discordances into a tinkler of popular tunes?” So maintains a new book. “It was a kind of unconscious Faustian pact, in which he was seduced into giving up his revolutionary rage in exchange for peace of mind and endless pleasanteries.”
Denver Museum May Get Permanent Home
“A Denver developer has offered to donate one-third of an acre in the Central Platte Valley to the Museum of Contemporary Art/Denver as the site for a $3.6 million to $4 million permanent home… If it is realized, the free-standing, 18,000- to 20,000-square-foot structure would be part of a proposed development that would include 60 units of affordable housing and 11 luxury townhomes.”
Fake Harry Potters Flood The Market
The fifth Harry Potter book is due out in June. But already the internet is flooded with fakes purporting to be the real thing. “There are quite a few fakes out there. It’s a growing problem because the internet is becoming more and more prevalent. We monitor it very closely. Sometimes they have JK’s name on it which is potentially very damaging. I find that quite annoying, we’ve got to take action. Sometimes they’re pornographic which is even more annoying because a lot of the fans are kids.”
Enron Art On The Block
A judge has authorized the sale of the Enron art collection. The company had a budget of $20 million for art, and reportedly spent $4 million. But “the collection is expected to bring $1.3 million to $1.8 million” at auction. “Enron creditors have filed 23,000 claims worth $400 billion.”
Rage Against The Machine
“They used words such as devastated, disaster, catastrophic, oblivion and bizarre. Canada’s TV actors, producers, directors and writers are clearly furious, but exactly what they can do about a massive cut in support money from the Canadian Television Fund is uncertain. ‘To suggest the Canadian television business is in peril is a hilarious understatement,’ [said one Canadian actor.] ‘This is a catastrophic collapse. We are in freefall.'”
Don’t Buy Iraqi Antiquities
World museum leaders suggest a moratorium on Iraqi antiquity sales as well as offering rewards for the return of art looted from Iraq’s museums. “I feel very strongly that we have to mobilize a reaction and make people aware that it’s not going to be easy to get the looted stuff out on the market.”
America’s Irish Affair
Americans have long been fascinated with Irish poetry and literature. “The latest sign of our interest is the awarding of this year’s Pulitzer Prize to Paul Muldoon, an excellent Irish poet now living in New Jersey. Why do we love the Irish so much? In large part it’s because these poets have portrayed an Ireland that seems glamorously different from our own modern, urban, technological society.”
What’s In A Voice?
Why do those radio announcers with melodious vocal timbre so often turn out to be singularly unattractive when you meet them in person? “While there is a clear connection among age and sex and the pitch of a person’s voice, there’s no connection between pitch of voice and height, weight or any other dimension of an individual’s size… However, there are ‘telltale’ signs of body size in the ‘shape’ or resonance of the voice.” A university study is examining the connections.
Peter Prier Preps A Pack Of Plucky Perflers
Every professional requires proper training, and luthiers, the mysterious perfectionists who construct the violins, violas, and cellos used by the world’s musicians, are no exception. But your average university doesn’t offer a major in fingerboard shaving, or even a seminar in perfling. So where do budding luthiers turn for instruction in their craft? A surprising percentage turn to the teaching shop of a single man. In fact, the proliferation of American luthiers is largely due to the efforts of one Peter Prier, of Salt Lake City.