ArtsJournal: Arts, Culture, Ideas

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Archaeologists Uncover Unknown 4,000-Year-Old City In Iraq

"The discovery was made in the area of Tell al-Duhaila, which is home to more than 1,200 archaeological sites, including the Great Ziggurat of Ur site from the Sumerian era." - Al-Monitor

Is This Or Is This Not A Goya? The Prado Can’t Make Up Its Mind

The Madrid museum decided back in 2008 that The Colossus was painted by an apprentice rather than the master himself. Now curators are hedging their bets, describing the work as "attributed to Goya" rather than reauthenticating it outright. - Artnet

Why It’s So Easy To Ridicule The Art World

The contemporary art world is, more often than not, represented as a ridiculous shell game in which empty provocation is propped up by canny marketing and rampant financial speculation. - ARTnews

The Italians Who Dangle From Ropes To Repair Historic Sites

"EdiliziAcrobatica's team has rock-climbed up and abseiled down some of Italy's most significant historic monuments. … Suspended from ropes, the acrobatic technicians can perform a whole range of tasks, from the waterproofing of roofing to welding." - Apollo

Pornhub Is Now Offering Virtual Museum Tours

The website has launched "Classic Nudes", a curated selection of NSFW art at the Louvre, the Met, the Prado, etc. View the works online or in person with your phone; adult actor Asa Akira is your audio guide. The promo video features none other than Jeff Koons's ex, Cicciolina. (second item) - Artlyst

Security Guards Curate Baltimore Museum Show

“I was struck and moved by the extraordinarily personal, cogent arguments that each officer made for their selection, which was so different from the intellectual and filtered approach that a trained curator would take.” - The Art Newspaper

Robots Are Now Sculpting In Carrara Marble

AI software isn't designing the sculptures in the Italian quarry town (yet), but it is controlling precision machines that do the strenuous grinding and chiseling of rock that used to wear out human sculptors' bodies. - The New York Times

Jerry Saltz Turns Down $250K Substack Offer To Stay At New York Mag

The Pulitzer-winning art critic said tweeted, "I think it's fishy to always be barking to your readers to subscribe. … I like being in my huge department store @Nymag where people find me who have no idea who I am … or even thought about art before." - Twitter

At Last, Bringing A Native Perspective To The Met

Patricia Marroquin Norby (Purépecha) lives to "show you how a 19th-century ceramic, textile, carving or painting is made and how it is connected to the contemporary works." - The New York Times

An Indigenous Perspective On Frida Kahlo

Basically: "Kahlo, born to an affluent German father and mestiza mother (Spanish and Purépecha), adopted the popular fetishization and sanitization of the Tehuana favored by the cosmopolitan bourgeois, intellectual, and artistic circles of Mexico City." - Hyperallergic

Is This 51,000-Year-Old Giant Deer Bone Carving Art?

Depends on whom you ask. "Dr. Terberger prefers to call it a complex decoration, perhaps a precursor to art." - The New York Times

Taking Photographic Inspiration From Ovid

The Metamorphoses is the classic work on nature and change, in both of which we've all been immersed for months. - The New York Times

Man Arrested For Trying To Peddle Fake Basquiats And Harings

The FBI said, "Mr. Pereda conned art buyers, hoping his victims wouldn’t see the difference between real art and a forgery." - The New York Times

Hunter Biden’s Gallerist Will Keep Buyers’ Identities Secret, Even From The Artist

Both the dealer himself and the White House say this will prevent even the appearance of influence-buying by purchasers of paintings by the President's son. Transparency advocates say it's exactly the wrong move. - The Washington Post on MSN

Owner Sues French State For Right To Sell Leonardo Sketch Abroad

Once the drawing was identified as a da Vinci, the Culture Ministry put an export ban on it and offered to buy it for €10 million. The current owner has an independent valuation of €15 million. He won't sell for less; the government won't pay more. - Artnet

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