| | The First Art Newspaper on the Net | | Established in 1996 | Sunday, December 13, 2020 |
| | | Mexico's 'tower of skulls' yields more ancient remains | |
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Some of the remains could be of people who were killed in ritual sacrifices to appease the gods, according to experts quoted in a statement released by the National Anthropology and History Institute. Photo Melitón Tapia / INAH.
MEXICO CITY (AFP).- Mexican archaeologists said Friday they had found remains of 119 more people, including women and several children, in a centuries-old Aztec "tower of skulls" in the heart of the capital. The new discovery was announced after an eastern section of the Huei Tzompantli was uncovered along with the outer facade, five years after the northeastern side was found. Archaeologists believe that many of the skulls belonged to captured enemy warriors and that the tower was intended as a warning to rivals of the Aztec empire, which was overthrown by Spanish conquistadors in 1521. Some of the remains could be of people who were killed in ritual sacrifices to appease the gods, according to experts quoted in a statement released by the National Anthropology and History Institute. "Although we cannot determine how many of these individuals were warriors, perhaps some were captives set aside for sacrificial ceremonies," archaeologist Barrera Rodriguez said. The tower, 4.7 meters (15.4 feet) ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day Conservators of the Israel Antiquities Authority restore ancient frescoes at the arches corridor leading to the Herodium palace built by Herod the Great between 23-15 BCE in the Judaean desert, southeast of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, on November 23, 2020. Israeli authorities unveiled new structures within King Herod's palace-fortress Herodium, which the tyrannical Roman era leader turned into his burial plot. The Herodium falls in an area of the occupied West Bank where Israel exercises full military and civilian control. The Judean desert complex, which lies near Bethlehem in the southern occupied West Bank, was built by the Roman-appointed king, known as much for his brutal tyranny as for his magnificent building projects, who ruled Judaea from 37 to 4BC. Menahem KAHANA / AFP
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| Say you want to build a monolith | | Cherry: An inmaterial and sensory work by James Turrell on view at Museo Picasso Malaga | | James Cohan opens an exhibition of new sculptures by Yinka Shonibare CBE |
A woman looks on December 10, 2020 at a metal monolith that has popped up on a riverbank of the Vistula in the Polish capital Warsaw, the latest in a string of similar objects that have recently appeared in Europe and the US. Wojtek RADWANSKI / AFP.
by Alan Yuhas
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Stuck inside, looking at social media on your phone, bored with whats on streaming, it could start to seem like a good idea. A monolith, you might reason, could add a glimmer of mystery to your local wilderness, might make people laugh, or at least distract them with a literal shiny object. Theyve appeared in Utah, California and Romania. Theres a 3-foot one in downtown Fayetteville, North Carolina, and one on a beach of Englands Isle of Wight. Of course, there are plenty of reasons not to build a monolith. Like legality: Trespassing on private land aside, its also illegal to install structures without authorization in many places, including on Utahs millions of acres of federally managed public land, where ... More | |
James Turrell's Cherry, 1998 at MPM © Museo Picasso Málaga.
MALAGA.- For over fifty years, US artist James Turrell (Los Ãngeles, 1943) has worked directly with light and space to create artworks that attract viewers, questioning them about how vision works. Trained in perceptive psychology, mathematics, art history and fine arts, Turrell is also an expert pilot who has been fascinated by light since his Quaker childhood. He started to experiment with it as a medium and an artistic object in the mid-1960s, in Southern California. Turrell states that he uses light as a material with which to influence or affect the medium, which is perception and that, instead of making something about light I wanted it to be light. He has an outstanding ability to create environments in which space, movement and light either natural or artificial - are the creative materials that produce the artistic experience. In 1976, James Turrell began to work on a group of works he called Space Division Constructions. The rooms are divided into to dis ... More | |
Yinka Shonibare CBE, Fire Kid (Girl), 2020. Fibreglass mannequin, Dutch wax printed cotton textile, globe, brass, steel baseplate, artificial tree, detachable branch, detachable hands with book, 55 7/8 x 39 3/4 x 37 3/8 in. 142 x 101 x 95 cm. © Yinka Shonibare CBE 2020. Image courtesy the artist and James Cohan, New York. Photo by Stephen White.
NEW YORK, NY.- James Cohan is presenting Earth Kids, an exhibition of new sculptures by Yinka Shonibare CBE, on view from December 4 through January 23 at the gallerys Lower East Side location at 291 Grand Street. This is the artists seventh solo exhibition at James Cohan. Yinka Shonibare CBE mines the past to speak of the present. Rachel Kent, Chief Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, explains that Shonibare engages with, history and its legacy for future generations, of how we live in the present, and of cycles or patterns that repeat across time despite their often destructive consequences. In this way he pricks the consciences of those who encounter his art, using beauty and seduction ... More |
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| The mixed message of earth-friendly design | | Charley Pride, country music's first Black superstar, dies at 86 | | Exhibition brings into dialogue works by Auguste Rodin and Hans Arp |
Broken Nature at the Museum of Modern Art offers up a trove of "restorative" projects. Does buying more elegant objects help heal the planet? Triennale di Milano; Gianluca di Ioia via The New York Times.
by Blake Gopnik
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- The design store of the Museum of Modern Art sits on the south side of 53rd Street in Manhattan, just up from the ritzy shops of Fifth Avenue. It is dedicated to adding more fabulous objects to the vast supply of goods our households and planet are bursting with. MoMA itself sits across the road, where the windows of one of its galleries look out on the store. That streetside gallery, just about retail-size, is now hosting Broken Nature, an exhibition dedicated to the concept of restorative design objects and projects that hope to heal a world so damaged by humans that it is becoming less livable by the year. Its a great topic, but theres a problem that Broken Nature cant seem to escape, maybe because it vexes just about all of green design: A visitor crossing from MoMA store to exhibition, and then back from show to ... More | |
Pride was not the first Black artist to record country music, but none of his predecessors had anywhere near the degree of success he enjoyed.
by Bryan Pietsch
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Charley Pride, a son of sharecroppers who rose to become country musics first Black superstar with hits including Kiss an Angel Good Mornin and Is Anybody Goin to San Antone, died Saturday in hospice care in Dallas. He was 86. Jeremy Westby, a publicist for Pride, said the cause was complications of COVID-19. Pride was not the first Black artist to record country music, but none of his predecessors had anywhere near the degree of success he enjoyed. In 1971, just four years after his first hit records, he won the Country Music Associations entertainer of the year award the genres highest honor. Pride was born on March 18, 1934, in Sledge, Mississippi, to Tessie Stewart Pride and Mack Pride Sr. He served in the Army before working at a smelting plant and trying to make it as a baseball player. In 1963, he went to Nashville, Tennessee, and began his recording career. ... More | |
Hans Arp, Vase, Pregnant Amphora, 1953. Painted wood, 120 x 95 cm. Private collection c/o Di Donna Galleries, New York © 2020, ProLitteris, Zurich.
BASEL.- For the first time, a museum exhibition brings into dialogue Auguste Rodin (18401917) and Hans Arp (18861966), pairing the groundbreaking work of late 19th-century sculptures great reformer with the influential work of a major protagonist of 20th century abstract sculpture. Both artists displayed exceptional artistic inventiveness and enthusiasm for experimentation. Their works left a deep imprint on their times and retain their full relevance to this day. The sculptural milestones created by Auguste Rodin and Hans Arp provide remarkable illustrations of fundamental aspects in the development of modern sculpture. Rodin introduced transformational ideas and new artistic possibilities, which Arp later took up, developed, reinterpreted or contrasted in his biomorphic shapes. Even though we cannot be certain that Rodin and Arp ever met in person, their works display great artistic kinship and many shared references, as well as marked differences, which makes the confronta ... More |
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| German cultural leaders warn against ban on Israel sanctions movement | | Denver Art Museum acquires site-specific installations by Shantell Martin | | Karl Willers appointed Chief Curator at Taubman Museum of Art |
The Humboldt Forum, a new Berlin Museum, on Dec. 9, 2020. The museum's director was among the open letters 32 signatories. Felix Bruggemann/The New York Times.
BERLIN (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- For months, the leaders of dozens of Germanys most prominent cultural institutions met in secret, swapping stories of self-censorship, of hours spent worrying about the social media histories of artists or scholars they wanted to invite to their programs, and fears for their futures, if they slipped up. Their concern? That they or their institutions could face charges of anti-Semitism over links real or perceived to the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel, widely known as BDS. Thats what happened earlier this year to a prominent Cameroonian philosopher, who was disinvited from addressing a high-profile arts festival in Germany for drawing parallels between the situation of Palestinians and apartheid in South Africa in ... More | |
Shantell Martin. Photo: Matt Doyle.
DENVER, CO.- The Denver Art Museum today announced the acquisition of two complementary, site-specific installations by internationally renowned artist Shantell Martin, currently on view at the DAM in the exhibition Shantell Martin: Words and Lines . The museum also announced the extension of the popular exhibition (originally slated to close January 31, 2021) until May 31, 2021. Acquired with funds from the DAMs Volunteer Acquisitions Endowment Fund, the two works are now part of the DAMs collection of modern and contemporary art. The Denver Art Museum is thrilled to purchase Martins two site-specific installations for the permanent collection, to ensure that the museum will be able to share them with current and future visitors, said Christoph Heinrich, Frederick and Jan Mayer Director of the DAM. These works have become visitor favorites and Im thrilled to add Shantell Martin and her work to ou ... More | |
Most recently and since 2010, Willers served as director of the Nassau County Museum of Art on New Yorks Long Island. Photo: Amy Pearman.
ROANOKE, VA.- The Taubman Museum of Art announced the appointment of Karl Emil Willers, Ph.D., as the organizations new chief curator and deputy director of exhibitions and community engagement. The community is invited to meet Dr. Willers through a live, virtual Zoom webinar Friday, Jan. 8, 2021, at 12:30 p.m. The conversation is free and open to the public, but registration is required. Registration is available online here. Willers comes to Roanoke with extensive experience as a museum curator and administrator, advanced scholarship in American and European art since the late 18th century, and thorough not-for-profit business training. His academic qualifications include a Ph.D. in art history from Yale University and M.B.A. in nonprofit organizations from Yale School of Management. Most recently and ... More |
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| XU ZHEN® presents his first major solo Australian exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia | | High Museum presents rarely displayed Persian art | | Flamenco artist's show 'a balm' for pandemic-weary souls |
XU ZHEN®, In Just a Blink of an Eye 2005. Performance. Courtesy the artist.
CANBERRA.- International contemporary artist XU ZHEN® famous for his large-scale works exploring the collision of cultures is presenting his first major solo Australian exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia. Curated by the National Gallery of Australia in partnership with the White Rabbit Collection, Sydney, XU ZHEN®: ETERNITY VS EVOLUTION showcases the artists work from early videos to more recent monumental sculptures. The exhibition also celebrates the international debut of Hello 2018-19 a Corinthian column-like snake that watches and follows visitors as they move through the gallery. The exhibition is made up of 14 works, as well as a series of performances of In Just a Blink of an Eye 2005/2020 in August. A leader among Chinas younger generation of artists, XU ZHEN®s eclectic works examines the role of art and culture in the distribution of global power. A leading artist of hi ... More | |
Jar, Iran, 6th century, hammered silver-gilt, chased repoussé, and gilded mercury, the Hossein Afshar Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
ATLANTA, GA.- This winter, the High Museum of Art presents Bestowing Beauty: Masterpieces from Persian Lands (Dec. 12, 2020-April 18, 2021), an exhibition of nearly 100 works exemplifying the rich artistic traditions of Iranian civilization from the 6th to the 19th century. Organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Bestowing Beauty features works rarely publicly displayed from one of the most significant private collections of Persian art, the Hossein Afshar Collection. The works span a range of media, including carpets, textiles, manuscripts, paintings, ceramics, lacquer, metalwork and jeweled objects. Highlights include exquisite miniature paintings from the Shahnama, the Iranian national epic; a range of historically significant ceramics; precious inlaid metal wares; finely woven silk fabrics; and a monumental silk carpet from the height of Safavid ... More | |
Spanish flamenco dancer Joaquin Cortes (L) poses after an interview with AFP on December 10, 2020 in Madrid. PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU / AFP.
MADRID (AFP).- Music and dance as a healing balm for pandemic-weary souls is what Spain's Joaquin Cortes had in mind for his new show that opens this Christmas ahead of a global tour. After a year away from the stage, the legendary flamenco artist who has been dancing for nearly four decades, returns to the spotlight on December 23 when his new show debuts at Madrid's WiZink auditorium. "Culture is both necessary and vital for everyone, and dance and music are medicine for the soul," he told AFP between rehearsals in the Spanish capital. Acutely aware of the damage caused to the arts by the pandemic which has cancelled countless shows, tours and concerts, Cortes wants his new act to encourage people back into theatres. The idea is to show that "it's safe, that people have to get out and watch shows," said the 51-year-old who was ... More |
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Pre-eminent Asian Artists Lead Paris Contemporary Sale
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Bryn Terfel returns to the Metropolitan Opera. (Sort of.)
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- The airy studio where Bryn Terfel practices is set a good few yards from the house in Penarth, Wales, that he shares with his wife and two young children. Given his thunderous bass-baritone voice, which has roared through the great roles of Mozart, Puccini, Verdi and Wagner at opera houses around the world over the past 30 years, this is probably essential to family sanity. A few days before a holiday recital that will be streamed live by the Metropolitan Opera on Saturday from Brecon Cathedral, about 40 miles north of Penarth, Terfel, 55, was seated at his piano in the room for a video call. Behind him was an antique poster advertising a Paris-Wales train route, and another for a production of Verdis Falstaff in Milan, in which he played the jovial title role. But the opposite wall, he indicated as he turned ... More
Stack's Bowers Galleries to sell $25 million coin collection of Larry H. Miller
SANTA ANA, CA.- Stacks Bowers Galleries will present the sale of the spectacular collection built by Utah businessman and Utah Jazz owner Larry H. Miller to be held on Thursday, December 17, 2020 at 4 PM ET. Assembled quietly over many decades, the Larry H. Miller Collection comprises an astounding array of rarities that are found only in the most legendary cabinets in U.S. numismatics. Now being offered publicly for the first time by Stacks Bowers Galleries, the Miller Collection is sure to join the ranks of such revered names as Garrett, Norweb, Eliasberg, Pogue, and other luminaries. Highlights from the Larry H. Miller Collection include such rarities such as: 1804 Draped Bust Silver Dollar. Class I Original. Proof-65 (PCGS). Ex Stickney-Eliasberg.: Est Value $3 million and up 1794 Flowing Hair Silver Dollar. MS-62 (NGC). Ex ... More
Black ballerina, playing a swan, says she was told to color her skin
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Chloé Lopes Gomes had done her hair and makeup and fixed the feathered swan headdress in place before the rehearsal in February. Then, she later recounted, she repeatedly dipped a wet sponge into a pot of white pancake makeup, applying it carefully to her face, neck and upper body. Lopes Gomes, who is French, is the only Black female dancer at the Staatsballett Berlin, and just a few days earlier, she said in an interview, one of the companys ballet mistresses had told her to use the white makeup to color her skin for Swan Lake. I felt humiliated, Lopes Gomes said in an interview. But what could I say? Until fairly recently, it has been common practice in ballet companies for the female dancers in ballets like Swan Lake, Giselle and La Bayadère to apply a whitening makeup ... More
Praise, criticism as South Koreans react to death of director Kim Ki-duk
SEOUL (AFP).- There were mixed reactions Saturday in South Korea to the death of acclaimed director Kim Ki-duk, whose cinematic legacy was tarnished by allegations of sexual assault. Kim, who won global fame with his bold portrayal of extreme violence and human brutality, died nine days shy of his 60th birthday in Latvia on Friday. He faced a number of sexual assault and abuse allegations from actresses who worked in his films as well as other staffers in recent years, all of which he denied. "'Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring' directed by Kim is a masterpiece. I wish him peace in heaven," wrote one user on Naver, South Korea's biggest web portal. "I have watched many of his films. May he rest in peace," said another user. But many on social media criticised the controversial director, pointing to the abuse allegations against ... More
Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery opens a solo exhibition of works by Joy Curtis
NEW YORK, NY.- Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery is presenting Joy Curtiss new solo exhibition, Skeleton Woman. This show comprises anthropomorphic sculptures created from hand-dyed canvas, commercially printed fabrics, and cast bronze. Each works multivarious elements carry meaning from their sources and cultural histories, pointing to an agricultural and colonial framework built on extractive capitalism and subjugation. By using an array of history-laden materials, Curtis creates visual fables that point to a wish for reckoning and healing in Western culture. Her practice involves research on the origins of commercial fabrics from Dutch wax cloth and indigo to the original dyes used to make the American flag. She layers and juxtaposes decisively contemporary cloths (spandex printed to resemble blue jeans or snakeskin) with others she has dyed ... More
Three new members appointed to the Toledo Museum of Art Board of Directors
TOLEDO, OH.- The Toledo Museum of Art announced the appointment of three new members to its board of directors. Joining the board are Dr. Romules Durant, CEO and superintendent of Toledo Public Schools; Lisa McDuffie, president and CEO of the YWCA of Northwest Ohio; and Brian Chambers, chairman and chief executive officer of Owens Corning. New directors are elected following a rigorous internal process managed by a nominating subcommittee of the Museums Leadership & Governance committee of the board. Each new member will serve a five-year term with the opportunity for a second term of the same length. TMA board members oversee the Museums strategy and financial health, contributing their time and expertise to the whole board as well as several committees. Randy Oostra, president and CEO of ProMedica Health System and ... More
Eva Chimento joins Telluride Gallery of Fine Art as Director
TELLURIDE, CO.- The Telluride Gallery of Fine Art announced the appointment of former Los Angeles gallerist Eva Chimento as its new Director. Chimentos first major exhibition as Director of the gallery will be the upcoming Ed Moses Saving the Best for Last, the only 2020 solo show of the iconic L.A. painter who passed away two years ago. In addition, Allison Cannella joins as Gallery Associate from New York where she was a member of the David Zwirner sales team and founding member and curatorial advisor of The Immigrant Artist Biennial. Partner Ashley Hayward, daughter of abstract minimalist James Hayward, acquired the thirty five year old Telluride gallery in 2017 along with partner Michael Goldberg. The two expanded the gallerys direction to include both post-war modern and contemporary art with a special focus on contemporary artists from ... More
signs and symbols opens a photography exhibition by Jen DeNike and Pola Sieverding
NEW YORK, NY.- signs and symbols is presenting we tell ourselves stories in order to live, a two-person lens-based photography exhibition by Jen DeNike and Pola Sieverding. The exhibition reflects on storytelling; the artists lens becomes the ink that captures her fantastic stage and experiences in time. We tell ourselves stories in order to live... We look for the sermon in the suicide, for the social or moral lesson in the murder of five. We interpret what we see, select the most workable of the multiple choices. We live entirely, especially if we are writers, by the imposition of a narrative line upon disparate images, by the "ideas" with which we have learned to freeze the shifting phantasmagoria which is our actual experience. Joan Didion, The White Album, 1979. She tells herself stories in order to sort through her complex emotions, her realities, ... More
Two UC Santa Barbara scholars record a CD using ancient Japanese instruments
SANTA BARBARA, CA.- Lots of people have picked up a hobby or tried to learn a skill during the pandemic. Fabio Rambelli and Rory Lindsay recorded a digital album with ancient instruments used in Gagaku, the 1,000-year-old music of Japans Imperial Court. Esoteric? Sure. But Rambelli, a UC Santa Barbara professor of religious studies and of East Asian cultures, and International Shinto Foundation Chair in Shinto Studies, and Lindsay, a visiting scholar in the Department of Religious Studies, were more than up for the task. Rambelli plays the shō, a reed instrument thats been used in Japan since the 8th century, while Lindsay has been playing a variety of stringed instruments since he was a young teenager. For the recording Lindsay learned to play the biwa, a lute-like instrument that came to Japan from China around the time the shō arrived. The album ... More
Maureen Paley opens the second solo exhibition at the gallery by Lawrence Abu Hamdan
LONDON.- Maureen Paley is presenting the second solo exhibition at the gallery by Lawrence Abu Hamdan. The exhibition includes a newly realised installation of the video work Once Removed (2019) which was first shown in Sharjah Biennial 14, UAE (2019)(commissioned by Sharjah Art Foundation) and was also included in the Biennale of Sydney, Australia earlier this year. This is the first time it is being shown in the UK. As well, the exhibition presents pieces from his most recent project, For the Otherwise Unaccounted (2020) that consists of a series of thermographic prints that investigate the idea of birthmarks corresponding to reincarnation. This exhibition presents the first iterations of a new body of work he is developing that investigates reincarnation, not as a scientific fact, but as a medium for justice. This dual-channel video ... More
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PhotoGalleries
Anne Truitt Sound
Islamic Metalwork
Klaas Rommelaere
Helen Muspratt
Flashback On a day like today, Russian-French painter Wassily Kandinsky died December 13, 1944. Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky (16 December [O.S. 4 December] 1866 - 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter and art theorist. He is credited with painting one of the first recognised purely abstract works.Born in Moscow, Kandinsky spent his childhood in Odessa, where he graduated at Grekov Odessa Art school. He enrolled at the University of Moscow, studying law and economics. Successful in his profession---he was offered a professorship (chair of Roman Law) at the University of Dorpat---Kandinsky began painting studies (life-drawing, sketching and anatomy) at the age of 30. From left to right: Wassily Kandinsky, Bild mit weissen Linien (Painting with White Lines), oil on canvas, 1913. Joan Miró, Femme et oiseaux, gouache and oil wash on paper, 1940. Alberto Giacometti, Grande figure, bronze, cast by the Alexis Rudier foundry in Paris in 1947. Courtesy SothebyÂs.
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