In today’s landscape, prizes are no longer a nice little extra, or a back pat that arrives at the end of a long and successful career. They’re a serious part of the machinery. - ArtsHub
The DePaul Art Museum announcement came two months after the university laid off 114 full-time and part-time staff. Administrators referenced financial troubles due to a significant drop in international graduate student enrollment, increased demand for financial aid and the rising costs of benefits. - WBEZ
The statue of the father of the USSR was pulled down by demonstrators during the Euromaidan demonstrations in 2013; the pedestal has stood empty ever since. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has officially proposed that a bust of Ivan Mazepa, who led the Cossack state from 1687 to 1709, should go in that spot. - ARTnews
“When audience levels have plateaued at many traditional museums, the ability of entertainment companies styled as arts institutions to siphon away visitors poses a new challenge to the industry.” As one think-tank director said, “The culture has diverged, and museums could have done more to seem relevant to people.” - The New York Times
Investigators since 2017 have seized more than 120 artifacts from the Met ranging in value from $20,000 to $26 million, plus hundreds of smaller items, such as rare pottery fragments, belt clasps, ax heads, safety pins and goddess figurines, according to an inventory by the office of Manhattan district attorney Alvin L. Bragg. - The New York Times
“The Culture Ministry announced in May that it had acquired the fresco panels, dating from the 4th century, from members of the Torlonia family, one of Italy’s ancient noble families whose vast collection of antiquity has long been kept out of the public domain.” - AP
As Claude Design catches on among Anthropic users, a generic-design aesthetic is emerging that’s as noticeable as text-based A.I. tics such as overenthusiastic em-dash usage or “not X . . . but Y” constructions. - The New Yorker
Duchamp left behind a legacy that people either love or loathe. He is known as the father of conceptual art, but his so-called ideas were mostly idle notions, provocations, speculations. Opinion divides on whether he snuffed out or emancipated art. - The Atlantic
Layers of overpaint have been removed from a 17th-century painting, confirming that it was painted by Rembrandt and revealing that a turban on one of the figures had been replaced with a traditional Dutch soft cap. - The Guardian
Dharug artist Billy Bain: “You know, the beach was and still is an Aboriginal space, but in popular culture it has been represented as a very white space.” Bain has set out to change that. - The Guardian (UK)
Uman: “I love working on the floor. I start with a mood, a color, and I determine the size of the canvas or linen. … I always wanted the color to go straight onto the canvas, and that will probably be a problem for restorers in the future.” - The New York Times
“‘In general, at the studios, they systematized the production design, so that it was fast,’ Kanjo said, describing the rigid process as militaristic. ‘Five artists at a time work day after day to get these things done.’” - Los Angeles Times (MSN)
Said one hastily removed artist, "They assured me many times — as recently as two days before the article in the New York Times came out — that there would be no public announcement. … It’s a callous breach of trust.” - Hyperallergic
The Maryhill Museum of Art, on the Washington State side of the Columbia River Gorge, is 150 miles upriver from Portland. Its permanent collection is eclectic, to put it mildly. So how does it get exhibitions, or even help revitalize its own collection? - Oregon ArtsWatch
Courtenay Finn is currently chief curator and director of programs at the Orange County Museum of Art, which merged with the University of California, Irvine last year. She has previously served as the chief curator at moCa Cleveland in Ohio, senior curator at the Aspen Art Museum in Colorado, and curator at Art in General in New York.
