ArtsJournal: Arts, Culture, Ideas

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The Chicago Artist Who Believes Art Can Help Communities, And Individual Artists, Heal

For vanessa german, “one of the threads that connects her varied interests is a belief that art can restore our capacities to love ourselves and our communities — but only after we confront traumas and injustices.” - The New York Times

All The News That Was Fit To Inscribe In Babylon

It wasn’t good news - or rather, it wasn’t good astronomical divination. “The futures foretold were almost uniformly bad news for the empire, though some signaled destruction for Babylon’s enemies.” - Artnet

How Michelangelo’s Dome Has Survived For Centuries

He had some (postmortem) secret weapons at St. Peter’s Basilica: A team of mathematicians … and the Pope. - Hyperallergic

But What Exactly Is Banksy Doing In London?

When’s the big reveal after the surprise five animal appearances this week? Is the artist protesting far-right rioters, climate change, or … what? - The Guardian (UK)

Banksy Confirms A Fifth London Piece This Week

This one, hungry pelicans playing with fish, is appropriately located above one of London’s famous chip shops. - Euro News

This Guy Poured Water On 6,000-Year-Old Cave Art So He Could Get A Better Pic For Facebook

"The cave paintings (in the Sierra Sur de Jaén mountain range) were made on limestone, which contains water-soluble salts. When water is poured on the paintings, these salts dissolve and then come to the surface when the water evaporates, leaving a crust that causes 'irreparable damage' to the paintings." - CNN

Banksy’s Fourth London Piece Is Stolen Nearly As Soon As It Goes Up

The image of a howling wolf was on a satellite dish on top of a store on Rye Lane. Two men with a ladder and masks quickly snagged the satellite dish and ran off with it. - BBC

Climate-Protesting Art Vandals Who Attacked A Klimt Give Up And Disband

"'We no longer see any prospect of success,' the group (Last Generation Austria) said in a statement. The group regularly made headlines over the past two years blocking streets and pouring black liquid over a screen protecting Gustav Klimt's masterpiece Death And Life in Vienna's Leopold Museum." - AFP (Barron's)

The Courtauld Gets A Gift To Focus On British Art

A British art center, “initially due to be located at the gallery’s current campus in Vernon Square in central London, will later be moved a couple of miles south next to the Thames in purpose-designed premises at Somerset House.” - ARTnews

Whitney Museum Goes In-House For Curators Of 2026 Whitney Biennial

Marcela Guerrero and Drew Sawyer are both staff curators at the Whitney; Guerrero is the museum's first curator devoted specifically to Latinx art, while Sawyer's field of expertise is photography. - ARTnews

A Second Animal-Themed Banksy Emerges In London

This one is "two elephants reaching towards each other from blocked-out windows” in Chelsea. - The Guardian (UK)

Banksy’s Newest In London Is A Black Goat

Why? It’s a mystery. “A Banksy fan who raced to the artwork’s location as soon as it was revealed on social media said she thinks it’s a commentary on humans destroying the natural world.” - ARTnews

Lots Of Legal Drama Around Mysterious African Art Collection In Houston

The collection of 1,400 objects belongs to broker Sam Njunuri, who's been ordered to sell part of it to pay $990,000 in damages to two former tenants and used bankruptcy proceedings to avoid paying before. What's more, the objects' provenance is unclear, and taxpayers' money has been used to store them. - ARTnews

Another Spanish Church Restoration Goes Wrong

This isn't as bad as "Beast Jesus," but the repainting at the Ermita de Nuestra Señora del Mirón in the city of Soria has some people very upset. One might or might not object to the white-with-coral-trim walls, but the real disaster is on the faces of some little cherubs. - The Guardian

Irony-Impaired Florida Man Pleads Guilty To Bombing Satirical Sculpture of Lenin And Mao

The artwork by the Gao Brothers, titled Miss Mao Trying to Poise Herself at the Top of Lenin’s Head, was brought to San Antonio in March 2022. That November, Christopher Rodriguez detonated two canisters of explosives at its base, thinking it was a glorification of Communism. - San Antonio Report

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