Archives for January 2011

Opening shot from Museum of Modern Art's new acquisitionAs I discovered firsthand when I visited the New Museum recently to view two different versions of "A Fire in My Belly," the question we should be asking about the David Wojnarovicz video that was removed from the National Portrait Gallery's "Hide/Seek" show is not merely Whose "Belly" Is It?. (I've argued that the clip … [Read more...] about MoMA Gets “Fire” in Its Belly; NPG Hosts “Hide/Seek,” the Symposium

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts As promised in Tuesday's post about the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts' ditzy deaccessions, I'm publishing images in the lefthand column, below, of the four of the five works recently sold by the Academy. (The fifth is the William Merritt Chase pictured in Tuesday's above-linked post.) In the righthand column are five of the works … [Read more...] about PAFA’s Folly: Art Sales v. Acquisitions

Ai Weiwei's Shanghai studio, as designed by the artist, before it was wreckedWhat Chinese government authorities had ominously promised has now occurred: The Shanghai studio of Beijing-based dissident artist Ai Weiwei was demolished yesterday, as reported by NY Times reporter Edward Wong, who described Ai as a "protean artist."The Times piece is accompanied by a woeful photo of … [Read more...] about Sorry Sight: Ai Weiwei’s Shanghai Studio Demolished

More evidence that Smithsonian Secretary G. Wayne Clough needs to quickly and publicly get out in front of the "Hide/Seek" "censorship" crisis comes in the Huffington Post arts section, with a piece posted yesterday by one of the lenders to that show, hedge fund specialist-turned-art finance advisor Jim Hedges. Following the lead of artist AA Bronson (who has now retained an … [Read more...] about Jim Hedges Talks to Clough, Rescinds Demand for Return of “Hide/Seek” Loan

Sold: William Merritt Chase, "Autumn Still Life," left Bought: Odili Donald Odita, "Future Perfect," 2010, right Janet Landay, executive director of the Association of Art Museum Directors, has precipitously bestowed the professional organization's seal of approval on the ongoing deaccession program at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia. I think AAMD … [Read more...] about PAFA’s Ditzy Deaccessions: What It Gained vs. What It Lost

Alan Gilbert, music director, New York PhilharmonicLet's remain off-topic today, while I continue to exercise my musical muscles (normally neglected on this art-centric blog).On Saturday night, I attended the same NY Philharmonic program (on a different day) that NY Times chief music critic Anthony Tommasini rhapsodized about in his recent review. Reading his rave, after … [Read more...] about Alan Gilbert’s Mozart: “Lean and Lithe” or Flaccid and Flat-Footed?

From the program: The star of Green Day with the stars of "American Idiot," the Broadway musicalPrimarily an art blogger, I don't usually write about theater that I attend. But by coincidence, NY Times theater critic Charles Isherwood today reappraises the nearly nine-month-old production that riveted me this weekend---Green Day's American Idiot. It's a musical based on a … [Read more...] about Punk Flunks: Why “American Idiot” Needs Billie Joe Armstrong to Pull a Crowd

Now you can! The press conference on the plans for The Broad, has occurred, and more information is now available on the Broad Art Foundation's website about the project. If you have claustrophobia, please take the elevator, rather than the escalator-tunnel leading up to the vast skylit gallery space. I've experienced the architectural gambit of "compression and release," … [Read more...] about Wanna Fly Through Eli Broad’s Planned LA Museum?

Rendering of The Broad, the planned new LA museum for Eli Broad's art collection Dubbed "The Broad" (as distinguished from the Broad Contemporary Art Museum at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art), Eli Broad's new 120,000-square-foot contemporary art showcase in downtown LA, designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro for the mega-collector's 2,000-object art collection, will … [Read more...] about Road to “The Broad”: Design Announced for Eli’s LA Museum UPDATED

James RombergerRobin Cembalest, ARTnews magazine's executive editor, has posted online today a detailed opinion piece on the National Portrait Gallery's "Hide/Seek" controversy (to appear in the magazine's February issue), adding her voice to those of us who have called for Smithsonian Secretary G. Wayne Clough to come out of hiding and seek a forum for public discussion of … [Read more...] about Whose “Belly” Is It? Romberger, Wojnarowicz’s Creative Collaborator, Speaks Out CORRECTED

Lindsay Pollock In what seems sure to augur a shift of emphasis at Art in America magazine, Lindsay Pollock, a cultural news reporter since 2005 for Bloomberg, today assumes the editor-in-chief spot at Art in America magazine---an appointment announced just yesterday. Lindsay, author of a biography of dealer Edith Halpert, is an accomplished journalist, albeit in a narrow … [Read more...] about Lindsay Pollock Named “Art in America’s” New Editor-in-Chief UPDATED

Happy Together: My Qin Dynasty friend in the Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum near Xi'an, ChinaI did manage to make it to China, but because of my personal losses, 2010 was a tough year for me. It was still a reasonably good year for CultureGrrl, however: This was the first time that the total number of "unique visitors" to the blog for a full calendar year topped (by a … [Read more...] about The Year in CultureGrrl, 2010 Edition