Who says that buildings that don’t cost a lot have to be architecturally uninteresting? “Samuel Mockbee creates homes for the poor that are cheap, practical – and unconventionally beautiful. ‘Architecture is a social art. It has to function in an ethical, moral way to help people’.” – Time Magazine
Tag: 10.02.00
I’LL TRADE YOU TWO HOCKNEYS FOR A BASQUIAT
Artist trading cards are a growing phenomenon internationally. The cards are traded like Pokemon or baseball cards, but feature different artists. “Like the Dada movement of the early 20th century, trading cards are a way of breaking down the hierarchy of the art world. – CBC
MASTER FORGER SENTENCED
Last week, after a remarkable trial a French judge sentenced a man called by French police “the most sophisticated and prolific master-forger in the history of European art” to one year in prison. “The extraordinary progress of the 57-year-old Geert Jan Jansen from the School of Fine Art in Amsterdam to a small-town courtroom 50 miles from Paris, is a story of two false names, seven fake bank accounts and up to 1,500 fake works of art.” – The Age (Melbourne) (Telegraph)
EATEN ALIVE
Floods and water aren’t the only menace to Venice’s art. The woodworm has struck in a serious way. “The nuisance, attributed to warm, humid weather, is devouring not only ancient books and precious paintings but also the beams and panels of some of the city’s most beautiful churches, local officials said yesterday.” – The Times (UK)
THE POLITICS OF PROTEST ART
“Much as most people in the art world are loath to admit it, their activities are strongly influenced by the state of the economy. In boom times, there tends to be a revival of painting and other decorative media, and a proliferation of vacuous or ideologically rebarbative objects meant to hang or sit in the living rooms of patrons. All large exhibitions – and even the rearrangement of works in public collections – now require sponsors, which means that art that is not attractive to sponsors is rarely seen.” – New Statesman
NEW TWIST ON THE OLD
“Many classical architects give the impression that the world stopped in 1830, or that it should have done. So the rotunda that Lord Sainsbury has just completed at his home at Preston Candover in Hampshire is something of a surprise.” – The Telegraph (UK)
BALANCHINE BEYOND NEW YORK
“Can Balanchine’s ballets have a viable life elsewhere? The recent Balanchine Celebration at the Kennedy Center answered that question with a yes of Joycean force.” – New York Magazine
E-BOOK ‘EM
Publishers anxiously at an e-book conference watch Napster case for clues to how publishers can protect themselves. “Keynote speaker Dick Brass, vice president of technology development at Microsoft, predicted that although 50 percent of all new books will be electronic in form within 10 years, widespread piracy could cripple the market.” – Wired
THE ART OF THE QUICK TURN-AROUND
Prices soared at contemporary art auctions this summer, and aggressive dealers seized the opportunity to turn the market upside down: “Gallery owners complain that the extravagant prices achieved recently at auction have prompted speculators to buy artists’ latest works in galleries, then flip them at Sotheby’s, Christie’s, or Phillips for a quick profit, inflating the fragile careers of artists the galleries have painstakingly nurtured.” – New York Magazine