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Homage To A Mentor And A Muse

Kambui Olojimi, an artist from the Brooklyn neighborhood Bedford-Stuyvesant, addresses his childhood and his block, and the idea of collective memory, in his work - especially in 177 portraits of the block president, Ms. Arline. "Initiated in grief, the series is a mourning practice that has carried Mr. Olujimi through the political and social turmoil of the last few...

The Black Photographers Who Changed The World’s Understanding Of Black Life

The Kamoinge Workshop was "a collective of black photographers who formed in 1963 to document black culture in Harlem, and beyond, from live jazz concerts to portraits of Malcolm X, Miles Davis and Grace Jones, as well as the civil rights movement and anti-war protests." - The Guardian (UK)

The Depopulated Paris Of Young Edward Hopper Feels Like A Mirror Of Our Pandemic Times

It's desolate, empty streets; bridges with no tourists; the sidewalks near the Seine silent. What wouldn't we give now for the American diners of Hopper's later career, even if they're dysfunctional - at least there are multiple people in them. - Washington Post

Remember The Art Of Multiples? They’re Back

Art isn't only for the One Percenters, even if that one percent can afford to buy a ton of multiples to go along with their laser-focused unique pieces. Despite how their allure faded after the 1970s, "Multiples have retained just enough of their 'provocative and disorienting message,' as Celant’s essay put it, to make them a good fit for...

The Artists Secretly Creating Miniature Buildings For Street Mice Across England And Europe

The collective that makes the buildings - they call themselves AnonyMouse - are, they said through an interlocutor, "a loosely connected network of mice and men, originating in the town of Mälmo, in southern Sweden." - BBC

Why Has Post-War Britain Been Obsessed With Portraiture?

Seriously, Britain, what's up? "The best-known artists are the ones who wedded their style to 'human clay.'  America, on the other, hand has seen Pop Art, Minimalism, and Color Field painting challenge their predecessor, Abstract Expressionism, which had challenged Regionalism and Conceptual Art; the proverbial 'Death of Painting' challenge all of painting; and marginalized artists challenge all of these...

The Damages To Art In The Capitol Building

Insurrectionists' "time in the building is now represented by the damage they left behind. A 19th-century marble bust of former President Zachary Taylor was flecked with what appeared to be blood. A picture frame was left lying on the floor, the image gone. The photos and videos, some of them taken inside by the rioters themselves, were startling." -...

Medieval Silver Hoard Unearthed In Polish Village

Archaeologists from the Polish Academy of Sciences discovered a ceramic vessel containing well over 6,000 coins and rings as well as silver bullion near a village in central Poland, not far from the site of the country's largest-ever treasure find in 1935. Researchers believe that this hoard may have been the dowry of a 12th-century Kievan princess who married...

Venice’s Mayor Wants Museums To Stay Closed, And Half The Town is Furious

"The decision by Luigi Brugnaro, the mayor of Venice, to extend the closure of the city's 11 civic museums — including the Doge's Palace, the Museo Correr, Ca' Rezzonico, Ca' Pesaro and Palazzo Fortuny — until 1 April, the beginning of the tourist season, has provoked a culture war in Venice and beyond. Italy's museums have been closed since...

What New Anti-Money-Laundering Rules Will Mean For The U.S. Art And Antiquities Market

One of the provisions added to the National Defense Authorization Act for 2021 makes antiquities dealers subject to the Bank Secrecy Act. One of the key rules requires identifying the individuals behind LLCs — meaning that it will be much harder to buy and sell items anonymously. There's a strong likelihood that the law will be applied to the...

How The UK Art World Will Change Post-Brexit

The symbolic implications of the UK leaving the European Union has hit the art world hard. But the deal will also have a concrete impact on the way the it does business. - Artnet

Parisian Billionaire’s Museum Is, At Last, Ready To Open

"At 84, the billionaire François Pinault will finally realise a 20-year plan to build a private museum for his contemporary art collection in Paris. France's third-richest man is poised to open the Bourse de Commerce-Pinault Collection just two blocks away from the Musée du Louvre on 23 January — as long as pandemic restrictions allow." - The Art Newspaper

Orbán Gov’t In Hungary Fans Rightist Backlash Against Black Lives Matter Artwork

"Commentators on pro-government television chatshows threatened to pull the statue down if it was erected, and compared it to putting up a monument to Adolf Hitler. Others laughed that it was an absurdity given there are few black people in Budapest. … Notably, most pro-government coverage neglected to note that the statue will only be a two-week installation,...

The Organization Working To Reimagine Public Monuments

The goal is to assess the country’s landscape of public memory in a time when our shared identity as Americans feels strained, if not broken. Then we can begin to understand where we go from here, says Monument Lab cofounder and director Paul Farber. - Philadelphia Inquirer

The Art World’s 12 Biggest 2020 Controversies

Museums and galleries faced financial challenges that threatened their very existence, as Black Lives Matter uprisings forced a reckoning with the art world’s structural racism and controversial monuments that celebrate shameful histories around the globe. - Artnet

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