"During a recent inventory audit, researchers at the Oldenburg State Library (in Germany) found on the title page of the book (the) small drawing. ... Measuring just 16.5 by 6 centimeters (6.5 by 2.4 inches), the illustration depicts a pair of cherubs perched atop fantastical sea creatures." - Artnet
While the recent destruction of statues in the contemporary West ostensibly relates to a racial reckoning, it nonetheless stands in a long lineage of iconoclasm, and one can understand its meaning only when viewed alongside its predecessors. - American Affairs Journal
Since the 1978 movie Dawn of the Dead, we have been using “the apocalyptic scale, the language and imagery of civilizational collapse” to describe malls. And yet: a 2021 study found that last year, the number of mall visitors was actually 5 percent higher than before the pandemic. - The Atlantic
The Chicano generation of artists and activists that emerged in the late 1960s knew that self-empowerment requires historical knowledge. The same goes for art, which propagates and adapts from other art. Systematic study of usable, relevant Chicano art history is now underway in Riverside. - Los Angeles Times
"Museum officials from Sudan are calling for the repatriation of cultural artifacts and human remains that were stolen by British soldiers and other colonizers in the late 19th century. Many of the items in question were taken as trophies after the Battle of Omdurman in 1898." - Artnet
She’s taking over from Sasha Suda, who has been at the gallery’s helm for three years but is leaving for the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Angela Cassie previously served as the gallery’s chief strategy and inclusion officer. - Toronto Star
Cannupa Hanska Luger’s theory is that it has to do with their trauma of becoming American, which meant severing all ties to their own ancestral lands — a trauma that has left them with a longing for what Luger calls a “deep time connection” to the land they now inhabit, which is, of course, someone else’s ancestral land. - The New...
Under the headline "Monet Is Next Dead Artist To Mint Money," a correspondent explains the finances of this very successful business. - Bloomberg Businessweek
Ashur, on the banks of the Tigris, was the first capital of the Assyrian Empire, and big parts of its city gate and ziggurat temple still stand. But with Iraq facing ongoing drought, authorities want to finish the Makhoul Dam first planned by Saddam Hussein 20 years ago. - ARTnews
"The Lavender Bay home of Wendy Whiteley will be sold after her death and her collection of Brett Whiteley artworks donated to the Art Gallery of New South Wales in an 'extraordinary' cultural gift to the state of NSW." - The Sydney Morning Herald
Beneath Twitter's reputation as a shitposter's heaven, art lovers often prefer it to platforms that promote other forms of content (like Instagram), and artists use it as a portfolio and work-in-progress platform to showcase everything from drawings and pixel art to vector-based illustration and video game development. - Wired
In theory, artists can indicate that a file containing their work, whether it is digital art or a reproduction of a physical piece, belongs exclusively to them by registering it with a time stamp on a blockchain, a tamper-resistant database. - The Globe & Mail (Canada)
Do art auction houses have a responsibility not to sell stolen goods? This case would seem to say there's no such responsibility. And the statute of limitations has passed. But the researchers are still on the case. - The New York Times
Or rather, the fashion of re-fashioning old things into new, what one might call the "use it up, wear it out, make it do" style, is back. And not just because of inflation, either. - The Observer (UK)
Can Los Angeles media ever represent the entire city - or even some of Black L.A.? "I remember begging news outlets to come and cover what we were doing for the kids. But the only time they would respond was when it was something that was negative." - Los Angeles Times
