| | The First Art Newspaper on the Net | | Established in 1996 | Saturday, February 10, 2024 |
| | | When 'Giants' roam the museum halls | |
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A visitor to Giants takes a photo of Jamel Shabazzs Fly Girl, Brownsville, Brooklyn, NYC, 1980; and Rude Boy, Brooklyn, NYC, 1981 at the opening night party for Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys at the Brooklyn Museum in New York on Feb. 6, 2024. The Brooklyn Museum exhibits art works collected by the musical superstars and makes a show of the collectors, too. (Rebecca Smeyne/The New York Times)
by Will Heinrich
NEW YORK, NY.- Right in the middle of the exhibition Giants: Art From the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys, which opens Saturday at the Brooklyn Museum, is Kehinde Wileys 25-foot-long 2008 painting Femme Piquée par un Serpent. Showing a Black man in snappy but casual dress reclined in a distinctively twisted position, with a background of Wileys signature flowers, it borrows both title and pose from an 1847 marble sculpture by Auguste Clésinger. What you think of it really depends on what youre asking for. If you view the painting as a Venti-size iteration of Wileys ongoing project, his decadeslong attack on the paucity of Black faces in Western museums and art history, its one-note but hard to argue with. Brightly colored and thoughtfully composed, its visually appealing, and even today, when its no longer so uncommon to see Black figures on museum walls, catching sight of one this big still elicits a thrill. On the othe ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day The Städel Museum presents an exhibition of works by the French artist Honoré Daumier (1808 - 1879) to mark the 125th anniversary of the Städelscher Museums-Verein. Photo: Städel Museum - Norbert Miguletz.
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| EXPO CHICAGO announces 2024 participating exhibitors | | For Paul McCartney, the past becomes present | | A top artist's foundation gets a new director |
EXPO CHICAGO Opening Night 8. Photo by Justin Barbin.
CHICAGO, IL.- EXPO CHICAGO reveals the participating exhibitors for the 2024 edition, taking place April 11 14, 2024 at Navy Piers Festival Hall (600 E. Grand Ave). The upcoming fair will be the first edition as part of Frieze, welcoming more than 170 leading galleries from 29 countries and 75 cities to Chicago. We are pleased to present the 2024 edition of EXPO CHICAGO, the first since joining Frieze, said Kristell Chadé, Executive Director of Frieze Fairs. Building on a strong foundation, Frieze has collaborated with EXPO CHICAGO to showcase an elevated experience for visitors and exhibitors alike. Through its robust international network of galleries and collectors, Frieze is committed to supporting EXPO CHICAGOs continued success. The fair contributes greatly to Chicagos rich cultural community, and its longstanding connection to the city makes it an important convening moment for arts ... More | |
Paul McCartney. Self-portrait, London, 1963. Pigmented inkjet print. © 1964 Paul McCartney under exclusive license to MPL Archive LLP.
by Lucie Young
NEW YORK, NY.- They are now a collectors trove Paul McCartneys own photos, shot 60 years ago, when the Beatles took Europe and America by storm: images of screaming fans (one carrying a live monkey); a girl in a yellow bikini; airport workers playing air guitar; and unguarded moments grabbed from trains, planes and automobiles. McCartney, now 81, doesnt like to sit still and reminisce about the past, so he chatted while driving home from his recording studio in Sussex, England. My American friends call these small, one-way lanes gun barrels, he said, warning his interviewer that at any moment the signal might die (it did). It took two days to complete a coherent conversation about the breakthrough period when the Beatles went viral, captured in the traveling exhibition ... More | |
Courtney J. Martin, 2024. Photo: Mara Lavitt.
by Ted Loos
NEW YORK, NY.- The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation is going to Yale University for its next leader. The foundation plans to announce this week that it has picked Courtney J. Martin, the director of the Yale Center for British Art, as its next executive director. She will begin her new job this spring. Courtney is a dynamic and tested leader in the arts, Michael Straus, chair of the Rauschenberg Foundations board, said in an interview. She has the qualities we think of when we think of the foundation flexibility, openness and willingness to take chances. The Rauschenberg Foundation reported more than $657 million in total assets for 2022, making it among the largest such artist foundations in the country, said Christine J. Vincent, the managing director of the Aspen Institutes Artist Endowed Foundations Initiative. Those substantial resources appealed to Martin. Funding in the arts has dwindled ... More |
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| Seiji Ozawa, captivating conductor, is dead at 88 | | Almine Rech Gstaad to present Ha Chong-Hyun's fifth solo exhibition with the gallery | | Japanese contemporary artist Shota Suzuki on the Stand at TEFAF Maastricht 2024 |
Seiji Ojawa conducts the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in New York on Oct. 15, 1997. Ozawa, the high-spirited Japanese conductor who took the Western classical music world by storm in the 1960s and 70s and was music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1973 to 2002, died on Feb. 6, 2024 in Tokyo. He was 88. (Chang W. Lee/New York Times )
NEW YORK, NY.- Seiji Ozawa, the high-spirited Japanese conductor who took the Western classical music world by storm in the 1960s and 70s and was music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1973 to 2002, died Feb. 6 in Tokyo. He was 88. The cause was heart failure, said a spokesperson for the Seiji Ozawa International Academy Switzerland, which announced his death in a news release. Ozawa had recently experienced health problems. He never fully rebounded from surgery for esophageal cancer in early 2010, or from back problems that were made worse during his recovery. He was also hospitalized with heart valve disease in later years. Ozawa was the most ... More | |
Ha Chong-Hyun, Conjunction 23-40, 2023. Oil on hemp cloth, 130 x 97 cm, 51 x 38 in. © Ha Chong-Hyun - Courtesy of the Artist and Almine Rech.
GSTAAD.- Almine Rech Gstaad is soon to present Ha Chong-Hyuns fifth solo exhibition with the gallery, on view from February 12 to March 15, 2024. A major figure of Korean abstract painting, Ha Chong-Hyun (b. 1935) is a founding member of the avant-garde movement Dansaekhwa (whose name means monochrome painting) that came about in the early '70s in Korea. He has played an essential role in the international reconsideration of the history of abstraction and modernity. Within this new generation of artists, his formal explorations, primarily guided by material and volume, the surface of the canvas, and the frame, profoundly transformed the nature of Korean art, while also converging with movements or groups of Western artists with similar concerns, at least in the radicalness that characterized the time, such as Supports ... More | |
Prosper dEpinay (1836-1914), Françoise de la Rochefocauld. Polychrome terracotta.
LONDON.- Stuart Lochhead Sculpture has been a standout exhibitor at recent editions of TEFAF Maastricht with incredible objects selling to world-class museums. For the fairs 2024 edition, the London- based sculpture dealer has announced the addition of a curated display of previously unseen works by Shota Suzuki directly from his Kyoto atelier. Shota Suzukis delicate metal sculptures depict wildflowers, plants and leaves he finds himself surrounded by. Capturing their likeness with striking precision, his compositions evoke the flow of time, their colouring a subtle indication of the season and of the plants lifecycle. A cherry flower in bloom, a dandelion whose seeds are blown away by the wind: his intricate creations reveal the infinite possibilities of hard metals meeting with the delicateness of flowers. In the words of the artist, The concept of my work is to use the colours of metals to form a shifting landscape ... More |
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| New digital art space comes to Windermere | | New platform, Fine Art Donations, launches, connecting artwork donations with museums | | Luminato Festival Toronto announces new artistic director |
Microworld, Windermere Jetty Museum. Photo credit Genetic Moo.
WINDERMERE.- A new interactive digital display comes to Windermere Jetty Museum. Microworld is an immersive, digital ecosystem that responds to sound and movement in real time, inviting visitors to engage with art and the environment. Opening 10 February 2024, Microworld is a unique experience designed for curious minds of all ages, including families, adults, science enthusiasts and those fascinated by the natural world. Audiences are invited to play, explore, experiment, create, collaborate and learn. The world of bustling micro-creatures will invite audiences to reflect on the biodiversity and ecology of Lake Windermere. You can interact with digital creatures and explore how they are impacted by your presence, or you can watch them in action. Microworld is an inclusive interactive display. As soon as you walk into a Microworld, you start affecting it. Microworld is the latest evolution in digital art exhibitions where curiosity com ... More | |
Seymour Meyer, Untitled (Maquette), c. 1980. Painted plaster, 22H x 6 W in.
NEW YORK, NY.- Fine Art Donations is thrilled to launch as a brand new donations platform serving the art world. New York-based founders Jeffrey B. Gold, Douglas Gold, and Clanci Jo Conover have drawn on years of experiencing working with arts businesses and nonprofits to provide this unique solution to collectors and museums. Through the website, donors can list artwork they are interested in giving to a museum, and museums can browse our selection of available works with the option of accepting them into their collections. When donating artwork, collectors have to find the right institution looking to add work to their collection, which can be a tricky process. Collectors can simply upload images and details for their artwork to post the work for donation on our platform. Then, our list of museum contacts can review these listings, and accept works of art for their institutions. Initial listings feature 20th century oil ... More | |
Accomplished arts curator Olivia Ansell to present her inaugural festival program in June 2025.
TORONTO.- Following an extensive local and global search, Luminato Festival Toronto is delighted to announce the appointment of Olivia Ansell as the new Artistic Director of the renowned annual international arts and culture festival. Ansell, the current Festival Director of Sydney Festival and former Head of Contemporary Performance for Sydney Opera House, brings extensive experience and a unique viewpoint to this role leading the artistic and curatorial vision of the Toronto-based festival. Led by CEO and city-builder Celia Smith, Luminato eagerly anticipates Olivias move to Canada. Ansell will curate her inaugural program for the festivals 19th year in 2025. I am filled with immense excitement and enthusiasm to welcome Olivia Ansell as our Artistic Director, says Celia Smith, CEO of Luminato Festival Toronto. Ansell's dedication to cultural storytelling, audience engagement, and animating ... More |
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| Playing soccer in $1.50 sandals that even Gucci wants to copy | | Final destination: Taft Museum of Art presents 'African Modernism in America' | | Debut solo exhibition by David Tucker explores artist's father's encounter with dementia |
Young soccer players play wearing lêkê in one of the city's Maracanas, the sandy soccer pitches named in homage to the famed soccer stadium in Rio de Janeiro, in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, on Jan. 27, 2024. In Ivory Coast, where a major tournament has drawn the continents best teams, a plastic sandal is the preferred gear for pickup games and almost everything else. (Joao Silva/The New York Times)
ABIDJAN.- The wealthy pros of Ivory Coasts national soccer team were resting in their luxury hotel last week, preparing for a match in Africas biggest tournament, when Yaya Camara sprinted onto a dusty lot and began fizzing one pass after another to his friends. Over and over, he corralled the games underinflated ball and then sent it away again with his favorite soccer shoes: worn plastic sandals long derided as the sneaker of the poor, but that he and his friends wear as a badge of honor. Shiny soccer cleats like his idols? No thanks, said Camara, a lean 18-year-old midfielder, as he wiped sweat from his brow. How did the pros start playing when they were kids ... More | |
Ibrahim El-Salahi (born 1930, Sudan), Vision of the Tomb, 1965 Oil on canvas, 36 x 36 in. Collection of The Africa Center, New York, 2008.2.1.
CINCINNATI, OHIO.- The Taft Museum of Art is the final stop on the nationwide tour of African Modernism in America (February 10May 19, 2024), co-organized by the American Federation of Arts (AFA) and the Fisk University Galleries. It is the first major traveling exhibition to examine the complex relationships between modern African artists and American patrons, artists, and cultural organizations amid the tumultuous interlocking histories of the civil rights movement in the United States, the decolonization of Africa, and the global Cold War. The exhibition includes nearly 80 dynamic and vivid works of art created in Africa during the 1950s and 60s. African Modernism in America features works by nearly 50 artists that exemplify the connections between the new art that emerged in Africa during the mid-20th century and ... More | |
Reconstruction No.3, 2021. Oil paint, life-size.
LONDON.- Gallery46 has debuted a solo exhibition of London-based painter, David Tucke, where it will continue until February 22nd. Entitled Dad, the presentation explores the artists encounter with dementia in relation to his fathers Alzheimers disease, which he experienced closely while he lived with and cared for him over a three-year period. Most people will have encountered this illness directly or tangentially, and Tuckers work offers something which is on one level intensely personal, but also universal, revealing through portraiture of his father and himself the effects Alzheimers can take both on the sufferer and their loved ones. The exhibition is the culmination of four years work. When he began, the focus was solely on his father, who passed away in 2022, one week after his seventy-eighth birthday, having first shown signs of the illness aged only sixty-one. However, it developed into somethi ... More |
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How the back of an iconic painting reveals the life it lived
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It never gets old. The Sanremo Music Festival, in black and white (1951-1976)
TURIN.- Intesa Sanpaolo is now showing It never gets old. The Sanremo Music Festival, in black and white (1951-1976), an exhibition curated by Aldo Grasso and which is now on view at Gallerie dItalia, Turin since 1 February until 12 May 2024. Realised under the patronage of the Piedmont Region and the City of Turin, the exhibition presents 85 photographs from the Intesa Sanpaolo Publifoto Archive which document the history of Sanremo Music Festival, the most iconic and famous Italian festival, providing a powerful lens into the countrys popular culture and the history of its National television channel, RAI. Showcasing only a few images of the artists' performances on stage, the exhibition highlights photographs of the "off-stage" moments of the famous Italian Music Festival: the singers rehearsals, the artists' catwalks around the small Ligurian town of Sanremo, the prestigious attendees autographs, as well ... More
'Pia Camil: Fuego Amigo' opening at Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil in Mexico City
MEXICO CITY.- Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil is presenting Fuego amigo (Friendly fire), Pia Camil's first survey exhibition at a Mexican institution. Fuego amigo presents work from 2001 to the present, and showcases over 48 works in various media from drawing and sculpture to installation and performance. As curator Mauricio Marcin states: "Fuego amigo proposes a circular revision without a beginning. The main structure is held together by the remains of her studio's fire emulating the alchemic practice of lead transforming into gold. Prior to installation, the museum gallery was being renovated and the 'bare' plywood walls appeared behind the white walls. It was then decided to stop the remodeling and reveal what lies beneath, exposing the process of transformation. The work therefore is showcased on bare walls and self-standing modules made from repurposed and burnt wood. ... More
Announcing new artist representation: Imelda Cajipe Endaya, Keka Enriquez, and Catalina Africa
NEW YORK, NY.- Silverlens proudly announces its representation of artists Imelda Cajipe Endaya, Keka Enriquez, and Catalina Africa. Committed to showcasing Southeast Asian artists, Silverlens remains steadfast in its mission to enhance global awareness and facilitate access to the narratives and histories of these pivotal artists and the region overall. In 2024, Endaya will unveil a solo exhibition at Silverlens Manila and debut at Art Basel Hong Kong. Both Africa and Enriquez will participate in Silverlens Art Fair Philippines presentation, while Enriquez will also showcase an accompanying exhibition at Silverlens New York. As the gallery turns 20 years old in Manila, we continue to represent who we feel are excellent visual voices from the Philippines and her diaspora. We have had deep respect for Imelda Cajipe Endayas work for decades and are excited that we can bring her work to new audiences. said Silverlens ... More
Review: In 'Russian Troll Farm,' you can't stop the memes
NEW YORK, NY.- No one misses the early days and dark theaters of the COVID pandemic, but the emergency workaround of streaming content was good for a few things anyway. People who formerly could not afford admission suddenly could, since much of it was free, and artists from anywhere could now be seen everywhere, with just a Wi-Fi connection. Thats how I first encountered Russian Troll Farm, a play by Sarah Gancher intended for the stage but that had its debut, in 2020, as an online co-production of three far-flung institutions: TheaterWorks Hartford, TheaterSquared in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and the Brooklyn-based Civilians. At the time, I found its subject and form beautifully realized and ideally matched the subject being online interference in the 2016 presidential election by a Russian internet agency. This is digitally native theater, I wrote, not just a play plopped into a Zoom box. Now the box has been ripped open, and a fully staged live work ... More
Dick Waterman, promoter and photographer of the blues, dies at 88
NEW YORK, NY.- Dick Waterman, a beacon in the world of blues who as a promoter, talent manager and photographer helped revive the careers of a generation of storied purveyors of that bedrock American art form while lyrically documenting their journeys with his camera, died Jan. 26 in Oxford, Mississippi. He was 88. His niece Theodora Saal said the cause was heart failure. A native of Massachusetts, he had lived in Oxford for nearly four decades. Through his company, Avalon Productions, which was considered the first management and booking agency devoted primarily to Black blues artists, Waterman provided overdue exposure and income to early blues luminaries like Mississippi John Hurt, Son House and Skip James. He also shepherded the careers of a younger blues cohort, including Buddy Guy and Otis Rush, as well as one young white artist, singer-songwriter and future Grammy Award winner Bonnie Raitt. Dick Waterman just may be the mos ... More
Review: Vikingur Olafsson's 'Goldbergs' mesmerize Carnegie Hall
NEW YORK, NY.- On Wednesday night at Carnegie Hall, pianist Vikingur Olafssons performance of Johann Sebastian Bachs Goldberg Variations had everyone in a trance including him. Playing from memory in his debut on Carnegies main stage, he swayed in a gentle reverie and hunched over the piano so intently that he almost touched his forehead to the keys. After the final movement, audience members applauded robustly as they got up to stand shoulder to shoulder. But hardly anyone moved to leave. The Goldbergs, which Bach prepared for the souls delight of music lovers according to the scores title page, employ a circular logic. A graceful aria in the style of a sarabande goes through 30 variations. Each movement has two sections, and each section repeats once. Every third variation is a canon itself a looping form and the whole, massive work closes with the same aria that started it. The variations, all but three in the s ... More
Si Spiegel, war hero who modernized Christmas trees, dies at 99
NEW YORK, NY.- Before he became known as the father of artificial Christmas trees, Si Spiegel was a valiant Army aviator. In the closing days of World War II, he was piloting his B-17 Flying Fortress in an armada of 1,500 Allied bombers that pummeled Berlin. Struck by anti-aircraft flak, two of the planes four engines lost power as Spiegel reversed course to return to England. Rather than bail out over Germany and risk being captured as a prisoner of war especially given that he was Jewish Spiegel managed to crash-land in Soviet-occupied Poland. After being stuck there for weeks, he improvised a daring escape, using parts of his own plane to jury-rig another B-17 that had crashed nearby, then flying to a U.S. base in Italy. Spiegel, who died at 99 on Jan. 21 at his home in Manhattan, was among the last surviving American B-17 pilots of World War II, his granddaughter Maya Ono said. But Spiegel, a machinist by training, has another legacy: He was considered a pioneer of the mass-pr ... More
'Bark of Millions' review: Children of the revolution
NEW YORK, NY.- Somewhere close to the four-hour mark in Bark of Millions, the polychromatic cavalcade of splendor that is Taylor Mac and Matt Rays new rock opera, I finally realized why the woman in front of me had been reading on her phone throughout the performance. And why she had looked at me like I was way out of line when I couldnt bear the glowing screen any longer, leaned forward and implored her to stop. The words on her phone were excerpts from the shows lyrics, a free digital version of the printed fan deck on sale at concessions. More than 50 songs in, she was grasping at that text in an attempt to follow along. Because the great frustration of Bark of Millions, which continues through Saturday at the Brooklyn Academy of Musics Harvey Theater, is that there are far too many songs in which the music drowns out the lyrics, making the meaning a bafflement. (Sound design is by Brendan Aanes.) In those moments, time decelerates. If Bark of ... More
Gold, silver and ... iron? Olympic Medals Will Have Piece of Eiffel Tower.
PARIS.- Athletes who win medals at the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics in Paris wont win just gold, silver or bronze. Their medals will also include a piece of iron wrought-iron, to be exact, from the Eiffel Tower. Organizers of the Games said Thursday that each of the 5,084 medals created for the Paris events will be decorated on one side with a hexagon-shaped piece of iron recovered from the French capitals iconic landmark. This exceptional object had to meet another very strong symbol of our country and our capital, Tony Estanguet, president of the Paris 2024 organizing committee, said at an event to unveil the medals design in Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris where several Olympic events will be held. Estanguet said the iron used in the medals will be recycled fragments from the Eiffel Towers original 1889 construction that had been sitting unused in a warehouse after renovation work. Stripped of their brown paint and polish ... More
Finding fresh talent for fancy watches
NEW YORK, NY.- Watches make up only a small fraction of sales for LVMH, the biggest luxury goods empire in the world. The group is far better known for Louis Vuitton leather handbags and Moët Champagne. But lately, with Swiss watch exports reaching record highs and growing interest in fancy timepieces from a new generation of wealthy global consumers, LVMH is showing heightened focus on its fine watchmaking business, which includes TAG Heuer, Hublot and Zenith. Last week, Miami hosted LVMH Watch Week. On Tuesday, a glittering new prize was unveiled at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, the soaring glass museum designed by Frank Gehry to house the art collection of Bernard Arnault, the LVMH chief who is also the richest person in the world (this week anyway). The bash Tuesday night was a celebration to announce the winner of the first edition of the Louis Vuitton Watch Prize for Independent Creatives. Five finalists were vying for a 150,000-euro prize and a yearlong mentorship from the luxury house, rewards ... More
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PhotoGalleries
Gabriele Münter
TARWUK
Awol Erizku
Leo Villareal
Flashback On a day like today, French illustrator and painter Honoré Daumier died February 10, 1879. Honoré-Victorin Daumier (February 26, 1808 - February 10, 1879) was a French printmaker, caricaturist, painter, and sculptor, whose many works offer commentary on social and political life in France in the 19th century. In this image: Honore Daumier, Lunch in the Country, c. 1867-1868. Oil on panel, 26 x 34 cm. National Museum of Wales, Cardiff. Photo © National Museum of Wales.
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