Leon Neyfakh of The New York Observer takes aim at the shit that floats in the art world and boy does he make his case. In “Bullshit Artists,” he quotes curator Robert Storr, who is also the dean of Yale School of Art, on numerous occasions and I’ve never heard Storr sound more insightful …
Hrag Vartanian
Hrag Vartanian is editor-in-chief and co-founder of Hyperallergic.
Posted inArt
The Emergence of Real Pop Art: Jeffrey Deitch & Street Art
As the reality of Deitch’s appointment to MOCA sinks in, let’s take a step back and look at his role as a street art advocate. Was he the prophet for the scene or just one of many fans? And where could this all lead?
Posted inOpinion
According to David Byrne, Klaus Biesenbach Says Lady Gaga Is Not An Artist
David Byrne wrote, “At a recent art world dinner Biesenbach mentioned to me that he’d crossed paths with Lady Gaga, who said that she felt she was a performance artist — or an artist of some sort. Biesenbach responded that she was not ” … oh, snap!
Posted inNews
Controversial “African Renaissance” Statue Rises in Senegal
On April 3, the West African nation of Senegal has officially unveiled one of the strangest statues in the history of Africa. Costing $28 million and built by North Korean labourers, the 160-foot “African Renaissance” statue is made of copper and has been embroiled in controversy since it was announced in 2006.
Posted inNews
Droog Design Invites Designers to Re-interpret Corporate Refuse
Sure the economy is still crappy, but Netherlands-based Droog design has found another way to be creative. In the past several months they have been bidding on liquidation auction items from bankrupt companies and they have invited 14 designers to re-interpret them.
Posted inNews
The Destroyed Bamiyan Buddha Inspires An Exhibition
While it became a worldwide symbol of the cruel Taliban regime and its intolerance towards difference, the destroyed colossal Buddha of Afghanistan’s Bamiyan valley has inspired a small exhibition which opened last Saturday at Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum.
Posted inNews
Australian Museum Rejects Bequest With Strings Attached
According to The Australian, the National Gallery of Victoria in Australia has rejected a $400,000 bequest because it came with strings attached. The Murdoch-owned newspaper also used the opportunity to point out that the donors are communists.
Posted inOpinion
Complex Cultural Politics of Indian, now Qatari, Painter M. F. Husain
Indian painter Maqbool Fida Husain has accept Qatari citizenship but the issues around his story are complex. Often depicted as a straight-forward case of censorship, reporters often gloss over the fact that the painter, often called the “Picasso of India,” has chosen to live in a nation that censors far more than India.
Posted inNews
Police in Zimbabwe Shut Down Art Exhibit Exploring Violence
Last Friday, artist Owen Maseko was arrested by police for an exhibition at the National Gallery in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. This is the second exhibition closed by Zimbabwean authorities. Earlier that same week, a photo exhibition in Harare by Okay Machisa was shut down.
Posted inNews
Protesters Hijack Paris Metro Billboards
The French went to the polls on Sunday, March 21, and photographer Sean Hicks captured images of posters by leftist protesters, who hijacked the illuminated billboards of the Strasbourg Saint-Denis Metro station in Paris just before election day.
Posted inOpinion
Best of Richard Flood/Prairie Dogs … Redux
Our post this morning about the New Museum’s Richard Flood and his bizarre blogging-related remarks caused a frenzy of commentary and activity online. Check out the best from Twitter, our commenters, Jerry Saltz’s Facebook page, and the prairie dogs (aka bloggers) themselves!
We’ve decided to summarize some of the funniest and most clever things people have written (in no particular order) about the post written by the talented Lisa Radon. The comments have been edited for clarity.
Posted inArt
Send In The Clowns: Jim Torok at Pierogi
If you walked into the backroom exhibition space at Pierogi you might be forgiven for thinking you had just walked into a children’s room decorated by Werner Herzog and John Waters, by which I mean it is a sordid, moody, desperate, joyous, and campy. No really.
