ArtsJournal: Arts, Culture, Ideas

VISUAL

When The Writer Attempts To Do The Thing

Nicholson Baker is a professional writer who has become an amateur artist. It is hard to get good at one art form, harder still to make a living from it and hardest of all to get good at another. - The Wall Street Journal

Kennicott: When George Washington (The Statue) Is Repurposed For Political Protest

What is most striking is the symbolic incorporation of the statue into the wider messaging of the protest... The students have dressed up Washington like the school mascot, adding new political symbols to existing ones. - Washington Post

Some Members Of The Bauhaus Were Nazis – And One Designed The Auschwitz Crematoriums

"The Bauhaus, in its American imagining, became a place of heroism, even martyrdom. Nazism was, by definition, something done to the school, not by it.” The reality is, depressingly, quite different. - The Guardian (UK)

The Power Of Student Protest Art

Those dismissing the protests as incoherent "should stand back and consider the iconography. … The students may be making inconvenient or even irrational requests of the institution and the country at large, but they are framing those demands as part of a continuum of American values." - Washington Post

Why Seattle’s Bellevue Art Museum Is Emergency Fundraising Again

Interviews show that “dogged by debt, over-optimistic financial forecasting, leadership turnover and overreliance on a small group of funders, the museum patched holes by creating new ones.” And, among small nonprofit museums, it’s far from alone. - Seattle Times

How Frank Stella Kept Abstract Expressionism Alive

"Today, in our era of figuration and socially conscious painting, Stella’s 60-year devotion to abstract art might sound academic or even antediluvian. By his own admission, he did not see art as an efficient vehicle for improving society or combating injustice." - The New York Times

Is Los Angeles Ready For Meow Wolf?

“'We are undefinable in so many ways, and it makes people think, ‘It’s just entertainment,’’ says Meow Wolf curator Han Santana-Sayles, 31, sitting in her newly rented Pasadena home. 'But I truly believe we are a wild art experiment.’” - Los Angeles Times

In Surprise Action, Activists Take Over Whitney To Decry Museum Funders’ Ties To Israeli Military

"During the Whitney’s 'Free Friday Night' event, which offers pay-what you-wish admission between 7pm and 10pm, around 100 activists distributed custom-printed imitation brochures using the museum’s stylized branding to draw attention to its funders and sponsors and their ties to 'genocide and dispossession.'” - Hyperallergic

So Nicolas Poussin’s ‘Birth Of Venus’ Probably Isn’t Venus

“What makes such debates unusually exciting in the case of Poussin is not only the Frenchman’s unrivaled reputation for philosophical richness but also … that the leading Poussin authority in the 20th century was (a) in charge of Queen Elizabeth II’s art collection and (b) a Soviet spy." - Washington Post

London’s National Gallery May Get A Rethink For Its Third Century

That’s right, it’s 200 years old - and its director welcomes the opportunity to reconsider how to present art to a public that, occasionally, greets that art with hammers or paint. - The Art Newspaper

The Glass-Fronted Architecture Of The Proposed New NFL Stadium In Chicago

Perhaps unsurprisingly, “the design and necessity of the new stadium have faced objections from the community. It has an estimated to cost over $4.2 billion, with … approximately $1.5 billion, be drawn from state taxpayers." - Dezeen

Ghana Puts Crown Jewels, Looted By Britain, On Display

“'This is a day for Asante. A day for the Black African continent. The spirit we share is back,’ said Asante King Otumfuo Osei Tutu II.” Of course, Britain has only “loaned back” the looted items for three years. - BBC

Why Are So Many Mid-Century Modern Houses Being Torn Down? Blame Americans’ Lust For McMansions

"Historic houses across the United States are targeted for teardowns every week, often under cover of night with little to no warning. Increasingly, preservationists say, these demolitions are not driven by changing tastes but rather by (the) ravenous desire for larger and larger homes." - The Washington Post (MSN)

A Bigger, Better Light Show Is Coming Back To San Francisco’s Bay Bridge

"The team responsible for the beloved Bay Lights art installation, which dimmed 14 months ago, announced on Thursday that it secured over $10 million in funding to illuminate a 1.8-mile section of the bridge. … The revived installation will boast 50,000 LEDs, doubling the count from the original." - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)

Wall Street’s “Fearless Girl” Sculpture Lawsuit Settles

The 250-pound bronze statue was commissioned by State Street Global Advisors to express its support for gender diversity in the corporate world. State Street sued the artist, Kristen Visbal, in 2019, alleging that she had committed breach of contract and trademark infringement by selling replicas of the sculpture. - The New York Times

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