This week, Damien Hirst’s global spot challenge, TJ Clark on Leonardo, Cairo’s art scene, Green & Knight on PST, de Kooning conversation, Queer theory, vandalism as art criticism, imagining a drunk gay Jenny Holzer twitterfeed and an Abby Road spoof.
The Damien Hirst Spot Challenge has been stirring online debate. The issue came up because Hirst has conceived his eight city (New York, London, Paris, Los Angeles, Rome, Athens, Geneva and Hong Kong) show of spot paintings as “a single exhibition in multiple locations.”
So blogger Greg Allen tackles the question, “How can anyone actually see all the shows if they’re supposed to be seen as a single exhibition?” Blogger Felix Salmon has done some of the math and figured it would cost a billionaire art collector roughly 100K to see all the shows. BrooklynManhattan-based hipster Jennifer Bostic thinks she and a friend can do it for something closer to 13K — though now I’m told her tally is far less than that now.
What do you get when you complete the “challenge”? A signed Hirst print that is dedicated to you.
Over at the London Review of Books, TJ Clark discusses the Leonardo show at the National Gallery in London. And does a fascinating and extensive comparison of the Paris and (some would argue less accomplished) London versions of “Virgin on the Rocks.”
A documentary on the art scene in Cairo after the revolution.
Tyler Green has a podcast with Christopher Knight on the Pacific Standard Time exhibition series in California.
I’m completely bored of de Kooning talk at this point but this conversation at the Brooklyn Rail with the curator and others is worthwhile nonetheless.
Is Queer Theory over? The Chronicle of Higher Education takes stock. And this paragraph resonates with today:
Almost 20 years later, the resonance with the Occupy Wall Street movement is unmistakable. Like Occupy Wall Street, queer theory worked by magnetizing attention, at the right moment, to problems that existed before it, and which it could not fix. Like OWS, it maintained a skeptical distance from legitimate political processes in order to cast light on their distortions. Like OWS, its moment in the spotlight was only a strobelike illumination of a lingering state of affairs, in which a lot of people felt that we would all be happier keeping that damn light off, thank you very much.
Bob Duggan asks if vandalism is the new art criticism, which is something I joked about last year with artist Man Bartlett over Twitter. Duggan’s article is all over the place, but he seems to have tracked down the infamous “Still painting lap dancer” to Facebook and guesses she may be an artist looking for publicity. Possibility? Yes.
This week, blogger Choire Sicha imagined a “drunk gay Jenny Holzer” Twitter account. And boy, do we hope this happens. His first test tweet is:
WEEKENDS ARE BULLSHIT.
Writer Emily Gould offers her own FTW:
SPENDING THE ENTIRE “WEEKEND” WORKING COMES AS NO SURPRISE
This may be the best Beatles/Abby Road spoof ever.
Required Reading is published every Sunday morning-ish, and it is comprised of a short list of art-related links 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.
Haggerty Museum of Art Presents Tomás Saraceno in Dialogue With Dr. Somesh Roy
The artist and researcher will explore soot’s effects on climate change and public health in this online conversation.
McKnight Visual Artist Fellows Discussion Series at the Minneapolis Institute of Art
The series features 2021 Fellows David Bowen, Mara Duvra, Rotem Tamir, Ben Moren, and Dyani White Hawk in conversation with renowned curators and critics.
Artists Show What They Can Do With a Google Phone’s Camera
Works by 21 photographers are now on view in Manhattan for the seventh season and 100th project coming out of the Google Pixel Creator Labs.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.