Required Reading

The newest addition to the UK’s Walker Art Gallery is a statue of a Priest vandalised by Banksy. According to liverpoolmuseums.org.uk: “The renowned graffiti artist has sawn off the face of an 18th Century replica stone bust and glued on a selection of bathroom tiles. The resulting ‘pixellated’ portrait is entitled ‘Cardinal Sin’ and is believed to be a comment on the abuse scandal in the Church and its subsequent cover-up.” (image via wtfarthistory.com)

This week, new Banksy, artists/writers design money, early Christian art, talking to Gabriel Orozco, catalogue raisonnés, modern art toilets, globalizing art history, design criticism and political photo trends.

Have you seen all the new Banksys in the UK? If not, check the image above and then this, this and this out.

The Guardian asked artists and writers, including Tracey Emin, Jonathan Franzen, Margaret Atwood, Jeanette Winterson and Naomi Klein, to invent new currencies and banknotes for a changed world. The “No Dollars” designed by Stephen Barnwell won the Occupy Movement’s protest currency competition.

Did you know that the motif of the Good Shepherd provided the first popular images of Christian art? The California Literary Review has an article about the Transition to Christianity: Art of Late Antiquity, 3rd – 7th Century AD exhibition at the Onassis Cultural Center in Manhattan that has interesting nuggets of info about the early flowering of Christian art.

The Paris Review visits Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco in his studio. The artist gives us some insight into his own artistic anxieties:

Sometimes it’s very hard for an artist to see the connection among their works clearly. When you are making work you are not trying to repeat yourself, but to revolutionize yourself. One of the reasons I don’t want to have a studio with a formal set of tools or assistants is because I don’t want to always have the same operation. I like the idea of waking up in the morning and asking myself, What I want to do today? Do I want to ride my bike? Do I want to do nothing? Do I want to read?

The Getty Iris blog tries to get all “hip” by drawing a comparison with a 14th medieval depiction of St. John the Evangelist with 20th C. movie star Marilyn Monroe.

This is an interesting question, “Is compiling a catalogue raisonné a ‘scholarly undertaking independent of the market’?” There are arguments for and against the notion.

Did you know about the “Toilet of Modern Art” in Vienna? Mark Sheerin explains.

Some thoughts on the globalization of art history and what it may mean. The article meanders a bit and the author should probably be shot for this line alone, “the long march of Western art from the Greek kouros to Jeff Koons.” Interesting nonetheless, though why doesn’t he mention efforts by the Chinese to create an alternate art history and the impact of nationalism in general in the field?

A design journal that championed the emerging field of design criticism closes but some people reflect on the nature of criticism and design. As Teal Triggs observes:

At a time when everybody is a critic, it is more urgent than ever to ask what criticism is for.

BagNotesNews chimes in about 2011 political photography trends.

Required Reading is published every Sunday morning-ish, 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.