ArtsJournal: Arts, Culture, Ideas

VISUAL

A World Map With No Borders, Only Animals

The artist started work on this during lockdown in July, 2020. "Three years, approximately 2,602 working hours and 1,642 animal species later, “Wild World” is a hand-drawn map of our planet that both inspires and celebrates wonder." - The New York Times

A Melbourne Gallery Drops An Artist Because Of Words In His Artwork

The words "Nazi" and "Israel" appeared next to each other in performance artist Mike Parr's work, says his longtime gallery owner, Anna Schwartz. Parr also said that "Israel is an apartheid state and a tragedy for Jews everywhere." - The Guardian (UK)

The Noguchi Museum Board Picks A Director Who Was There At The Beginning

Amy Hau "set up first archives and built the collection records for more than 3,500 works, including sculptures in stone, metal, wood and clay, drawings, models and designs." - The New York Times

The Architects Who Believe In Reduce And Reuse, But For Buildings

"The French architects Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal are famous for their belief in keeping existing buildings whenever possible, no matter how unpromising or unloved they may be." - The Guardian (UK)

Rediscovering Surrealist Painter Leonor Fini

Why was Fini, who was part of the first major surrealist exhibitions, ignored for so long? André Breton, of course. He "would not have a woman be a Surrealist. In his view, women were muses." - NPR

Sometimes, You Just Need A Dutch Master In Order To Chill

"It was embarrassing to want excitement, but never more than when looking at a Ruisdael did I realize how wholly I was a creature of the age of entertainment." - The Guardian (UK)

The Latest Turner Prize Winner Blames Margaret Thatcher For Cuts To The Arts

But that's just inaccurate, and misses the point. "There are plenty of people, elected and non-elected, who are far more deserving of our ire when it comes to the arts right now." - The Observer (UK)

The Best Book Covers Of 2023

Right, don't judge a book by its cover, but go ahead and judge the covers. - The New York Times

Artforum, Noticeably Slimmer, Tries To Regroup After The Israel-Hamas Letter And The Top Editor’s Firing

"A skeleton crew of editors needed to take a hacksaw through the December issue of Artforum magazine. There were only a few weeks between the sudden firing of its editor-in-chief and a print deadline for the glossy’s annual 'Year in Review' issue." - The New York Times

Monet, Art Brands And Money

 The art market is international and barely regulated; its products are easily transportable, squirrelled away in freeports or swiftly turned into cash. Grifters, fakers and thieves naturally abound. - London Review of Books

A Greatly Diminished ArtForum Magazine Hits Newsstands After Boycott

At least six members of the editorial team resigned and nearly 600 writers signed letters boycotting the magazine and its sister publications like ARTnews and Art in America. - The New York Times

The $15,000 Rembrandt That Just Sold For $14 Million

When Christie's auctioned off Adoration of the Kings (1628) in Amsterdam two years ago, the house attributed it to "the circle of Rembrandt" and valued it at between €10,000 and €15,000; an anonymous buyer purchased it for €860,000 and subsequently consigned it to Sotheby's, which authenticated the painting as Rembrandt. - CNN

Virginia Museum Of Fine Arts Is Repatriating 44 Ancient Artifacts Confirmed As Looted

"New York authorities will facilitate the return of the objects to officials of their origin countries" — Italy, Egypt, and Turkey. "The works include a bronze statue of an Etruscan warrior dated from the 5th Century B.C.E., a terracotta Italian wine flask from 330 B.C.E. and an ancient Egyptian cosmetics vessel." - ARTnews

Art Basel — Where The Super-Rich Buy Art

I’d understood that rich people could buy lots of art, but I hadn’t realized until this moment that my definitions of rich and lots were off by many orders of magnitude. “Clients ask me, ‘Are we collectors?’ And I say, ‘Has the word warehouse entered your vocabulary?’” - The Atlantic

The Point Of Decorating Buildings

What is the function of all that bric-a-brac? they would ask. Why all the fuss when a flush door with a thin steel frame would do just as well? Why carve words when a ready-made embossed plastic plaque is available? Isn’t it all just a waste of money? - The American Scholar

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