| | The First Art Newspaper on the Net | | Established in 1996 | Monday, December 18, 2023 |
| | | Steve Tobin's "Everything Grows" on view at Shanghai Station 1907 | |
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Stephen Tobin in the studio.
SHANGHAI.- He gave up becoming a physicist and, turning around, exploded into the realm of new visual science. In the brief personal introduction of Steve Tobin, the most intriguing story is his selection as the research assistant to Nobel Prize-winning physicist Campbell Laird. This seemingly unrelated experience to art is, however, a crucial turning point in the 66-year life journey of the artist. It laid a profound interdisciplinary theoretical foundation for his innovative "visual science." Mathematics serves as the foundation of science, providing a precise and logically strong means of expression that helps scientists better understand and explain natural phenomena. Simultaneously, it aided Steve Tobin in establishing his own artistic language and working methods. For Tobin, mathematics is not just a tool; it is the foundational methodology. ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day Installation view of Ay-O: Hong Hong Hong, 2023 Photo: Lok Cheng Image courtesy of M+, Hong Kong.
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| 2 men bilked wine investors out of $99 million in Ponzi scheme, U.S. says | | Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival announces highlights of 28th edition coming in May 2024 | | Celebrating 15 years, Asia Week New York 2024 welcomes its annual gathering of Asian art enthusiasts |
Shelves stocked with wine at a store in New York, Jan. 20, 2011. (Marilynn K. Yee/The New York Times)
by Erin Nolan
NEW YORK, NY.- In an elaborate Ponzi scheme that lasted nearly two years, two British men persuaded investors to put up nearly $100 million in loans to wealthy wine collectors, according to federal prosecutors. But those collectors never existed, prosecutors said, and neither did the extensive reserves of valuable wine that the men promised would secure the loans. Stephen Burton, one of the men who prosecutors said ran the scheme, pleaded not guilty Saturday to charges of wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy in federal court in Brooklyn. Burton, 58, had been extradited to the United States from Morocco, where he was arrested last year after he was caught trying to enter the country using a fake Zimbabwean passport, according to prosecutors. James Wellesley, 56, is accused of conspiring with Burton. He was arrested last year and remains in extradition proceedings in Britain, ... More | |
Kiri Dalena, Erased Slogans, 2023. Courtesy of the artist. (Original image from the Lopez Memorial Museum and Library Archives).
TORONTO.- Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival today announced highlights of the 28th edition of its annual citywide event spanning the month of May 2024. Established and emerging artists will present lens-based works in exhibitions, public art installations, and commissioned projects at museums, galleries, and public spaces across Toronto. The 2024 Core Exhibitions and Public Art Installations present lens-based and mixed-media works by artists and photographers exploring topics including anti-colonial practices, community-building, Afro-futurism, crip liberation, ceremony and revolution, and personal and collective memory, addressing violent gaps in historical archives. Gelare Khoshgozaran is an undisciplinary artist and filmmaker whose work engages with the legacies of imperial violence manifested in war, militarization and borders. They use film and video to construct peripheral narratives that seek to redefine existing ... More | |
Hosoda Eishi, Standing Beauty with a Letter in her Hand. Hanging scroll: ink, color, and gold pigment on silk, 30½ x 9¾ in. (77.5 x 24.8 cm); Kansei era, circa 1793−95. Signed: Eishi zu Sealed: Kakei. Courtesy: Sebastian Izzard LLC Asian Arts.
NEW YORK, NY.- The Asia Week New York Association announced the participation of twenty-eight esteemed international galleries and six leading auction houses Bonhams, Christies, Doyle, Heritage Auctions, iGavel, and Sothebysin the 2024 edition of Asia Week New York. Marking its 15th year in celebrating Asian art and culture, the exhibitions, and auctions will run from March 14th through March 22nd. This year, Asia Week New York welcomes back Carlton Rochell Asian Art and 19th Century Print Shop, both from New York; BachmannEckenstein from Switzerland; London dealer Francesca Galloway; and newcomer Alisan Fine Arts from Hong Kong. They and the other participating galleries and auction houses will present a breathtaking array of treasures featuring the rarest and finest examples of Asian porcelain, jewelry, textiles, paintings, ... More |
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| The Boston Tea Party turns 250: Does tossing the tea still earn sympathy? | | That $4 thrift shop painting finally does sell for big bucks | | A Prince exhibition, curated by teens who don't especially like Prince |
A vial of tea reputedly brewed from remnants recovered after the Boston Tea Party is on view at the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum in Boston on Dec. 12, 2023. (Sophie Park/The New York Times)
by Jennifer Schuessler
BOSTON, MASS.- On Saturday, just as they do every day, a group of costumed people will storm aboard three replicas of 18th-century wooden ships docked in Boston and enthusiastically throw a bunch of tea into the harbor. But this time, those who gather at the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum to reenact the most famous riot in American history will not be everyday tourists. And they will have plenty of reinforcements. Before the dumping, hundreds of Bostonians will gather at the Old South Meeting House to restage the raucous gathering on Dec. 16, 1773, of citizens outraged by what they saw as illegitimate taxes and other oppressive measures imposed by the British. Outside, they will be joined by thousands for a fife-and-drum-fired rolling rally to the wharf, where costumed reenactors will dump nearly 2,000 ... More | |
The rare N.C. Wyeth oil panel illustration that a woman purchased for $4 in 2017 at a thrift store in New Hampshire has sold at auction for $191,000 including fees. (via Press Bonhams via The New York Times)
by Matt Stevens
NEW YORK, NY.- The saga of the $4 thrift shop painting has a happy ending after all. On Thursday, the rare N.C. Wyeth illustration that Tracy Donahue found years ago for a bargain at a Savers was handed over to a representative of Heritage Auctions at a public library in Keene, New Hampshire. The representative, Aviva Lehmann, had read an article in The New York Times about how Donahue and her husband, Tom, had been disappointed to learn that the bidder who agreed to pay $191,000 at an auction in September then failed to cough up the cash. I had a visceral reaction, Lehmann said. She resolved to sell it, had a particular private collector in mind and closed the deal one recent morning at 3 a.m. when that same collector, without prompting, sent her a message out of the blue. ... More | |
Posters at an exhibit of Prince memorabilia curated by students from four New Jersey schools, at a gallery space in downtown Newark, N.J., Nov. 29, 2023. (Naomi Lewkowicz/The New York Times)
by Tammy LaGorce
NEWARK, NJ.- At a large gallery space in downtown Newark, where the art exhibition Remembering the Purple One: A Tribute to Prince Rogers Nelson has just been extended to Dec. 31, the writing is on the wall: This is not a show put together by Prince fans. I wouldnt listen to Princes music, reads large purple text under a set of three 1980s-era portraits of the artist. Several docents freely admit they dont understand his music or his style. Its not because Princes music appealed to a younger generation just the opposite. The curators are high school students born long after Princes 1984 album Purple Rain was released and many of them did not know much about the artist until now. That has not prevented the show, which includes 300 artifacts on loan for the first time from a private collector, from drawing ... More |
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| Jordan Casteel elected to Board of Trustees of The Metropolitan Museum of Art | | Trump is selling pieces of his mug shot suit | | Richard Hunt, sculptor who transformed public spaces, dies at 88 |
Jordan Casteel is a New York-based artist. Photo: David Schulze.
NEW YORK, NY.- Jordan Casteel has been elected to The Board of Trustees of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Board of Trustees of The Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced today that it has elected five new members: Gerrard Bushell, Jordan Casteel, Yan Huo, Pablo Legorreta, and Steve Stoute. The election took place at the December 11, 2023 meeting of the Board and was announced by Candace K. Beinecke and Hamilton (Tony) E. James, Co-Chairs of the Museums Board of Trustees. Dr. Bushell, Ms. Casteel, and Mr. Stoute will serve as Borough Trustees; Mr. Huo and Mr. Legorreta will serve as Elective Trustees. We are pleased to welcome five dynamic individuals to our Board, said Board of Trustees Co-Chairs Beinecke and James. Each of these trustees bring distinct skills and perspectives, and we are thrilled to work with them in their new capacity at The Met. Jordan Casteel is a New York-based artist. She received her BA from Agnes Scott College in Studio Art ... More | |
In an image provided by NFT INT shows, the mug shot edition is just the latest in a series of NFT cards released on the site portraying former President Donald Trump. (NFT INT via The New York Times)
by Vanessa Friedman
NEW YORK, NY.- When Donald Trump walked into a Georgia courthouse on Aug. 24 to be booked as part of his fourth criminal indictment, becoming the first former president (and only current presidential candidate) to have a mug shot taken, the picture seemed destined to become a symbol of this fraught, unprecedented moment in American history. As has become increasingly clear, however, Trump and his team have come to see the mug shot in a different way. Specifically, as the source material for a new strain of political pop culture mythmaking and memorabilia. Almost overnight they splashed the image, with Trumps signature glower, across mugs, T-shirts and posters in their campaign store, using it and all it represents as a key component of their fundraising. Then, this week, NFT INT, the official licensee of the Trump ... More | |
Portrait of Richard Hunt, 2020. Photo © Sandro Miller.
by Mitch Smith
CHICAGO, IL.- Richard Hunt, a prolific sculptor whose towering metalwork became a mainstay of American public art, and whose 70-year career drew the attention of presidents from Lyndon Johnson to Barack Obama, died Saturday at his home in Chicago. He was 88. The death was confirmed by Hunts studio and by his biographer, Jon Ott. A cause was not released. Hunt, a son of Chicagos South Side, was 19 years old in 1955 when he attended the open-casket funeral of Emmett Till, a young Black Chicagoan who grew up near Hunt and who was tortured and killed while visiting Mississippi. That searing experience helped shape the artists career and nudged him to experiment with welding and with forging discarded materials into art. His work drew early acclaim. Two years after Emmetts funeral, while Hunt was still a student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Modern Art purchased one of his sculptures, a steel work called Arachne. In 1964, ... More |
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| Solo exhibition of Ay-O spotlights the inimitable work of the 'rainbow artist' | | Disney is a language. Do we still speak it? | | Best art books of 2023 |
Ay-O, Homage to Rousseau, 1987. Screenprint. Courtesy of the artist © Ay-O Image courtesy of M+, Hong Kong.
HONG KONG.- M+ unveiled the new exhibition Ay-O: Hong Hong Hong, highlighting the practice of Japanese artist Ay-O (b. 1931, Japan), widely known as the rainbow artist, which opened to the public on Friday, 15 December 2023 in the Cissy Pui-Lai Pao and Shinichiro Watari Galleries. This exhibition inaugurates M+s new Pao-Watari Exhibition Series, focusing on significant and yet underexamined figures and moments in the history of art and visual culture of Asia. It is also the first solo exhibition of the artists works in Hong Kong. The presentation features nearly fifty works by Ay-O from the 1950s to the 2000s, alongside a selection of works by his Fluxus collaborators and counterparts. Born in 1931 as Iijima Takao, Japanese artist Ay-O adopted the unusual alias, which consists of two kanji characters meaning cloud and vomit. Ay-O grew up during the Second World War, and its immediate aftermath influ ... More | |
As Disney celebrates its 100th anniversary, its dominance as a generation-spanning cultural force no longer seems certain. (Ben Wiseman/The New York Times)
by Alissa Wilkinson
NEW YORK, NY.- President Dwight Eisenhower once praised Walt Disney for his genius as a creator of folklore. When Disney died in 1966, the line made it into his New York Times obituary, evidence of its accuracy. Folklore, defined broadly, is an oral tradition that stretches across generations. It tells people who they are, how they got here and how they should live in the future. The company Disney created appointed itself keeper of these traditions for Americans, spinning up fresh tales and (more often) deftly repackaging old ones to appeal to a new century. It started with Mickey Mouse, but as his company turns 100, Disneys legacy advanced in hundreds of films and shorts and shows, mass-produced tie-in merchandise, marvelous technical ... More | |
Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction. Edited by Lynne Cooke (University of Chicago Press)
by Holland Cotter, Jason Farago and Walker Mimms
NEW YORK, NY.- Have art books, will travel. And this years prime selections clock up a lot of visual, historical and personal mileage. We get an up-close tour through the Vermeer extravaganza that became the focus of international pilgrimage in 2023. Contemporary American artist Wade Guyton leads us, with a volume of his own drawings, through a lifetime fascination with the work of Ãdouard Manet. And at last we have the much-anticipated autobiographical account actually an anti-memoir of the long, continuing and indispensable career of one of our most influential and personable art writers. This major looker of an exhibition catalog loosens up the warp and weft of conventional views of modern art all those tight-knotted hierarchical categories (high versus low, art versus craft) on which ... More |
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RVA Community Makers 2023
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Intesa Sanpoalo Gallerie d'Italia in Vicenza opens 'Faustina's Braids: Hairstyles, Women, and Power in the Renaissance'
VICENZA.- Intesa Sanpaolo is presenting Faustina's Braids: Hairstyles, Women, and Power in the Renaissance, an exhibition curated by Howard Burns, Vincenzo Farinella, and Mauro Mussolin. Gatherings works from national and international museums, as well as from the Intesa Sanpaolo collection, the exhibition addresses a fundamental aspect of Renaissance art, culture, society, and antiquarian studies: women's hairstyles. Aiming at offering an insight into the fascinating and complex world of hairstyles in the 15th and 16th centuries, the exhibition features a selection of approximately 70 works, such as busts from imperial to Renaissance ones as well as paintings, sculptures, ancient coins, modern medals, ... More
Daylight to release 'Dammed: Birth to Death of the Colorado River' by Debbie Bentley
NEW YORK, NY.- The main stem of the Colorado River flows from the Colorado Rocky Mountains to the Mexico border. And while it provides water for almost 40 million people and irrigates 5.5 million acres of farmland throughout the American West, it is also one of the most over-allocated, highly controlled, and endangered rivers. Through extensive research of the historical as well as current day contextual factors and implications, photographer Debbie Bentley presents a comprehensive documentation of the river, its 16 dams, the reservoirs, and people in its path in her new book, Dammed: Birth to Death of the Colorado River (Daylight Books), January 16, 2024). Bentley began this project while working on a series exploring the Salton Sea, the largest lake in California. The Sea was formed in the early 20th century during a failed attempt ... More
'Apollo 13' and 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' join National Film Registry
NEW YORK, NY.- It was a year for the underdogs. Two films that initially received mixed receptions but that later came to be considered groundbreaking in their own way Spike Lees satire of blackface in cinema, Bamboozled (2000), and Tim Burtons stop-motion animated Disney musical The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) are among the motion pictures that have been selected for preservation this year in the Library of Congresss National Film Registry. Also being added are Apollo 13 (1995), the Ron Howard space drama about the quest to save American astronauts after the failed 1970 lunar landing, and Twelve Years a Slave (2013), the Steve McQueen-helmed narrative that won three Academy Awards, including best picture. The library on Wednesday announced all 25 films, dating from 1921 to 2013, ... More
Probably the best movie I've ever seen about book publishing
NEW YORK, NY.- In my nearly three decades as an editor, author and former editor of The New York Times Book Review, a shorthand has often been used to describe contemporary authors the Latino poet, the Indigenous novelist, the Black writer. Often this extends to a reductive way of viewing their work: This book is by an X person telling an X story. After a presentation to the Book Review in which a publicist referred to yet another book as unapologetically gay, a gay editor on staff said in jest, I wish for once they would talk about an apologetically gay novel. But his quip made a point. Why is identity so often used as code to describe a particular kind of novel? Just who is this meant to satisfy? Writer and director Cord Jefferson has given a lot of thought to these questions. Back in 2014, Jefferson, then a journalist, wrote a widely read post o ... More
'The Zone of Interest' review: The Holocaust, reduced to background noise
NEW YORK, NY.- What is the point of The Zone of Interest? Ive seen Jonathan Glazers movie twice, and each time Ive returned to this question, something that I rarely feel compelled to ask. Movies exist because someone needs or wants to make art, tell a story, drive home a point, defend a cause, expose a wrong or simply make money. All that is clear from whats onscreen is Glazer has made a hollow, self-aggrandizing art-film exercise set in Auschwitz during the Holocaust. Written and directed by Glazer, the movie is loosely based on the 2014 novel by Martin Amis with the same title. Heavily researched Amis lists numerous resources in the emotional afterword the book is narrated by three men, including a fictionalized character based on Rudolf Höss, the SS commandant who for several years ran Auschwitz. ... More
Laguna Art Museum announces museum staff expansion
LAGUNA BEACH, CALIF.- Laguna Art Museum announced Crystal Tosello as the new Development Manager and Carl E. Smith taking on the role of Exhibition & Graphic Designer, each bringing a unique blend of talent, dedication and a profound love for the arts to the organizations staff. "As we continue to strategically develop our team, Laguna Art Museum is actively enriching our community with art and education. Our team's talent and dedication to the arts will help propel our mission to new heights, said Julie Perlin Lee, Executive Director of the Laguna Art Museum. Development Manager, Crystal Tosello, has years of experience supporting nonprofits through fundraising, donor relations, communications and marketing. Prior to joining the museum, Tosello served as the Director of Development at Grandmas House of Hope. ... More
West Palm Beach debuts new sculpture that confronts racist past
WEST PALM BEACH, FLA.- The Mayors Office of the City of West Palm Beach and ArtLife West Palm Beach announce a new large-scale, site-specific public art commission by mixed-media artist Nekisha Durrett titled, Genius Loci. The sculpture, which is inspired by the form of a RCA gramophone, symbolizes the physical manifestation of music as well as amplifying voices that have been systematically marginalized by history. Located in Heart & Soul Park in West Palm Beach, Genius Loci meaning spirit of a place is inspired by the former Sunset Lounge, a famed jazz club dubbed "Cotton Club of the South," and the history of The Styx, the Black community in Palm Beach that was burned to the ground in 1910. The Heart & Soul Park and the Sunset Lounge were redeveloped and are currently owned by the West Palm Beach Community ... More
Hong Kong Palace Museum unveils exhibition of figure paintings of the Ming Dynasty
HONG KONG.- The Hong Kong Palace Museum unveiled its new exhibition The Hong Kong Jockey Club Series: Stories UntoldFigure Paintings of the Ming Dynasty from the Palace Museum. The exhibition is jointly organised by the HKPM and the Palace Museum, and solely sponsored by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust (the Trust). As the second major Palace Museum painting and calligraphy exhibition presented by HKPM, and the first major exhibition of ancient Chinese figure paintings in Hong Kong in recent years, the exhibition showcases the stellar artistic achievements of renowned Ming dynasty painters during mid-14th century to mid-17th century, and paints a vivid picture of the history, culture and life of the Ming dynasty. A total of 81 sets of exquisite works by around 60 Ming dynasty painters, among which 14 ... More
In New York City's Central Park, pets are remembered with a secret Christmas tree
NEW YORK, NY.- Hidden in a corner of Central Park there lives a tree that if you walk by at just the right time of the year will share with you its secret identity as the Pet Memorial Christmas Tree. The tree glitters with hundreds of laminated photos, notes, ornaments and memorials to deceased pets. Theres Milo, commemorated as A Good Boy, and the Al Dente Brothers, who are forever loved. Theres Sherman, the Eastern box turtle, Geo the fish and Miss Parker, the fearless, independent, and amusing Central Park squirrel. Decorated every year by the Keeper of the Tree and volunteers, the tree is a public expression of love on display between Thanksgiving and Three Kings Day in January. Then, the keeper saves each memento, to be put up again the next holiday season. Dozens of new keepsakes for the tree arrived Saturday, ... More
A Tuscan retreat where 'Literature is the Primary Value'
TUSCANY.- If the baronessa Beatrice Monti della Corte has found a secret to life, it is stories. At the Santa Maddalena writers residency at her rambling estate in rural Tuscany, Monti has hosted some of the foremost storytellers of our time Zadie Smith, Michael Cunningham, Colm TóibÃn, Teju Cole, Sally Rooney, Olga Tokarczuk, Michael Ondaatje, Edmund White and a couple hundred others. Although authors appreciate her hushed writing rooms with olive grove vistas, her company is the principal draw. The only things Beatrice wont talk about, Smith said, are things that are boring. At 97, Monti is animated and unstoppable. She runs Santa Maddalena as her personal passion project, accepting no applications and choosing writers according to her instincts, in consultation with her network of friends, publishers and other authors. ... More
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PhotoGalleries
Gabriele Münter
TARWUK
Awol Erizku
Leo Villareal
Flashback On a day like today, Italian sculptor and painter Mimmo Paladino was born December 18, 1948. Paladino was born in Paduli, Campania, on December 18, 1948, but grew up and trained in Benevento. He now lives in Rome and Milan, but still has a studio in the little town near Benevento. In this image: Mimmo Paladino, Mattinate (Puglia Suite) No. 7, 2011. Watercolour with collage. Paper and image 58.0 x 77.0 cm.
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