Ai Weiwei as Easter egg … if only he was that easy to find. (via twitpic.com/4omni9)
This week’s selection is a grab bag of links about Picasso, the camera obscura, wondrous product designs, museum acquisitions, Mummers in Newfoundland and criticism and time.
Curators Diana Widmaier Picasso, art historian and granddaughter of Pablo Picasso and Marie-Thérèse, and Picasso biographer John Richardson, discuss organizing the Gagosian Gallery’s new exhibition, Picasso and Marie-Thérèse: L’amour fou, on the Leonard Lopate show (18:56) on WNYC.
Claudia La Rocco pens an interesting article for the Brooklyn Rail titled, “Some Thoughts, Possibly Related, on Time, Criticism, and the Nature of Consciousness.” I really liked this passage:
People often ask me to describe what it is I do for a living. When I reply that I see a lot of art and write about it, the two most common responses I get from these people are, “Oh, how glamorous!” and “I could never be a critic, because I’m not good at being mean.”
… Last year, for example, I saw roughly 170 performances of dance, theater and live visual art, or some combination of the three.
I’d guess that’s about 20,400 minutes spent traveling to and from the theater, typically by subway and often by myself, and maybe 12,750 minutes at the performances themselves. And there were about 2550 minutes of just waiting for the show to begin. Nothing ever starts on time in New York. But I like those minutes — they’re rich and floating, full and empty all at once.
If you ever wondered how to make a camera obscura, this National Geographic video should clarify things.
The Los Angeles Museum of Art on Fire blog has an interesting post this week about LACMA’s lost opportunity to be at the forefront of street art. The institution commissioned murals by Margaret Kilgallen and Barry McGee for their parking garage in 2000 but then destroyed them five years later before the pair became world renowned.
I wish all museums blogged their acquisitions like LACMA does. Here they announce acquisitions by Christian Marclay, Ai Weiwei, Craig Kaufman, Donald Judd’s prototype desk, and numerous other historic objects from Japan, Mexico and Peru. They also followed up with more detailed posts like this one for the Judd desk or this one for Ai’s “Untitled (Divine Proportion)” (2006). A+ in my book.
An article from the Guardian talks to “combative art critic, radical writer and consistent challenger of institutional power” John Berger of Ways of Seeing fame. His new book, Bento’s Sketchbook, is described by the article as a “collaboration with Spinoza.”
30 bizarre and creative examples of package design on You The Designer.
And finally, Johan Hallberg-Campbell’s photos of Mummers in Newfoundland look like giant rag dolls come to life.
Required Reading is published every Sunday morning at 7am-ish EST, and it is comprised of a short list of art-related links (10 or less) to long-form articles, videos, blog posts or photo essays worth a second look.
The Latest
Bobby Wilson Combats Indigenous Stereotypes Through Humor
The artist-performer’s career undulates, ever so gracefully, across multiple mediums and registers of generational pain, healing laughter, and Indigenous joy.
Rare 19th-Century Silhouette Album’s Secrets Unlocked
Traveling portrait artist William Bache’s album depicts famous figures like Thomas Jefferson as well as people whose identity was previously unknown.
Nevada Museum of Art Presents Adaline Kent: The Click of Authenticity
For the first time in nearly 60 years, the innovative yet under-recognized artist is the subject of a retrospective exhibition. On view in Reno, Nevada.
Artists Show What They Can Do With a Google Phone’s Camera
Works by 20 photographers are now on view in Manhattan for the seventh season and 100th project coming out of the Google Creator Labs.
Met Museum Kicked Me Out for Praying to My Ancestral Gods
My danced prayer to looted Cambodian antiquities was too much for the New York museum.
The Public Theater in NYC Presents Plays for the Plague Year
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks’s theatrical concert chronicles the 2020 lockdown and the hope and perseverance that emerged from it.
A Museum Guard’s Ode to the Healing Power of Art
In All the Beauty in the World, Patrick Bringley revisits the many ways that art meets life, and life art, and how death is often the bridge between them.
UK Extends Export Ban on Coveted “Portrait of Omai”
London’s National Portrait Gallery was given a few months to acquire the work, which depicts the first Polynesian visitor to the UK.
Mondays at Pratt Institute: Weekly Openings of Work by Graduating Artists
Free and open to the public, Pratt Shows celebrate the school’s graduating students. MFA and BFA work on view this spring in Brooklyn, New York.
The Sculptor Making Art With Loved Ones’ Ashes
Inspired by the three-year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic, Julian Stair’s exhibition honors the lives of eight people with cinerary jars.
Art Institute of Chicago Under Scrutiny Over Sacred Nepali Necklace
The 17th-century object remains on display at the Chicago museum despite Nepal’s calls for repatriation.
LSU School of Art Grants Highest MFA Stipends in the Southern US
With funded assistantships, full tuition waivers, and generous stipends, Louisiana State University helps students lay the groundwork for a successful lifelong art practice.
Art Problems: How Do I Get a Public Art Commission?
Want to leave a mark on your city or town, but don’t know where to start? Paddy Johnson has some tips.
Rose B. Simpson Embeds Ancestral Histories in Clay
She has taken clay and used it to recall its ancestral roots in Pueblo culture and address the present history of postcolonial recovery and ongoing trauma.