Mendonça, Grammy winner and social media sensation, was killed in a small plane crash in Minas Gerais. "Her legions of fans found power in her song lyrics, which implored women to reject bad and abusive relationships." - The New York Times
Consuelo Císcar is accused of using €3.4m in public funds to buy 98 works of art by the late artist Gerardo Rueda that she knew were forged. Císcar was in charge of the museum between 2004 and 2014. - The New York Times
"Not so long ago, Christian Rosa was a buzzy young artist on the rise. Now he's facing a series of charges related to alleged forgeries and on the run from the FBI. How did it come to this?" - Vanity Fair
In 1980, brain surgery left him with no memory, but he painstakingly relearned the instrument, and his own past, and went on to three more decades of innovative musicianship. - The New York Times
Where Close’s work ultimately lands in the canon of American art will serve as the art world’s first test case for how an artist who faced sexual harassment allegations in life will be remembered in death. - Artnet
In 2020 he was indicted on multiple charges of wire fraud and identity theft and fled to Vanuatu in the South Pacific, where he was ultimately arrested; deemed a flight risk, he's been in custody in New York ever since. - Artnet
"One of the most celebrated pianists of the second half of the 20th century, … The Guardian once wrote of him, 'few pianists alive convey the sheer joy and exhilaration of being masters of their craft more vividly and uncomplicatedly than Nelson Freire.'" - Limelight
The show in many ways shatters the norms of techno-illusion. A two-minute deep fake is one thing. The dead dancing for us is another. - Washington Post
Ai’s trajectory is impossible to understand without knowing about his late father, Ai Qing. Regarded as one of China’s greatest poets, Ai Qing was a leftwing hero, having been imprisoned in 1932 for his links to communism. - The Guardian
The director half of the Merchant Ivory filmmaking duo (and the oldest person ever to win an Oscar) says he and Ismail Merchant weren't public about their coupledom because of Merchant's Indian family but had little problem in their industry. (Ivory's also unusually frank about sex.) - The Guardian
He became a comedian’s comedian—venerated by other comedians, especially those old enough to know that they wouldn’t be doing what they were doing if it weren’t for him—but he never quite kept up with the shifting times. - Slate
It was via Butler's 1977 film Pumping Iron that the charismatic Austrian bodybuilder came to the world's attention. Notable among Butler's other docs were Going Upriver, about John Kerry as Vietnam vet-turned-peace activist, and The Lord God Bird, about the last ivory-billed woodpeckers. - MSN (The Washington Post)
The scope of Morgan’s outreach was both personal and institutional, both public and below the radar. He made the Oakland Symphony a meeting ground and collaborative partner for all kinds of local musical organizations. - San Francisco Chronicle
