Tag: 12.20.00

A couple of embarrassing art switcheroos have recently been pulled off. “First, a $7 million Monet went missing from the National Museum in Poznan, Poland, and a badly painted copy on cardboard was left in its stead. Then, monks at St Josaphat’s Monastery in Lattingtown, Long Island, found themselves short of two rare 16th- and 17th-century English tapestry chairs – the earlier of which Henry VIII once reputedly sat on. – New Statesman

The British Museum’s new Great Court portico has been getting raves from the critics. Except this one: “It is an inexcusable eyesore. At first glance it is so alien that to mistake it for some form of plastic substitute can be forgiven; at second glance, so clumsily are its blocks cut, so chipped their corners, so fudged and filled the junctions of the blocks and column drums that the material must be stone, the masons’ craft and workmanship unacceptably flawed. The fault is beyond remedy and chucking buckets of slurry at it – which might help in the open air – is not an option.” – London Evening Standard

“The art crowd from New York, L.A., San Francisco, New Orleans, and the rest of the planet, has descended like locusts for the seventh Havana Bienal. Drooling over disintegrating facades and tail-finned vehicular carapaces, they’re oblivious to local anxieties of grinding to an irreplaceable halt. Amid palms, surf, deprivations, and faded billboards in praise of Socialismo, the permanent revolution has become an eternal fiesta. The people party and clean their wounds with antifreeze on this entropic island that seems both more spirited and more hopeless than any Soviet satellite state ever was. You get the feeling that they humor Fidel’s oppressions as if he were their dotty uncle. But in the artworld, a weird delusion of normalcy holds sway.” – Village Voice

What do corporations look to when deciding what art they want to buy to display in their buildings? “All the companies have pressing practical concerns: that the sculpture should not obstruct their buildings and brand names, that is should not impinge on parking space, and that it should be resilient enough to withstand the iconoclastic attentions of the local residents.” – New Statesman

The Mall at the US Capitol is running out of space for historical monuments and markers. So a commission has released a list of possible other places in the capital. “It is considered a blueprint for Washington’s third century, much as the Pierre L’Enfant plan helped dictate the shape of the city at its founding and the McMillan Commission enhanced and enlarged L’Enfant’s work in the 1900s.” – Chicago Sun-Times

It’s been a rough year for the Vancouver Art Gallery. The museum’s director resigned under storms of protest from the city’s artists that he was forced out by a board that had overstepped. Now the city is looking to a new director, plucked from LA’s Museum of Contemporary Art. – The Globe & Mail (Canada)