Art
The Artist's Real Intentions: A Comic Strip
Artist Lauren Purje has a humorous — and spot on — take on what many artists may possibly intend.
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Art
At the Intersection of Art and Factory Work
LOS ANGELES — The image of the Chinese manufacturing plant is quickly becoming a 21st century icon of production, just as the car plants of Fordism were in the 20th century and Victorian coal mines were during the Industrial Revolution. They're frequently portrayed as sites of high efficiency, but r
Art
Are Residencies Relevant? An Exploration in Nature
Often the role of an artist is simply to disrupt and create a perceptual shift. This past April, I was invited to participate in a residency program where the studios were on the outskirts of a small town, scattered among a forest. The residency promoted its relationship between artists, nature and
Opinion
Shanghai's Skyscrapers in Mist
LOS ANGELES — I'm a sucker for skyscraper photos. Ever since I first set foot in downtown Los Angeles and then Manhattan, I've loved looking up at buildings. Tall ones, fancy ones — almost every major city has at least one interesting one, and in a place like China, there are more tall buildings tha
News
Octogenarian Restorer Says the Priest Knew What She Was Doing
The caper of the octogenarian restorer continues! And it keeps getting better and better … we'll call this episode: The Priest Knew!
News
Why Doesn't the UK Want Charles Saatchi's Art Collection?
Well, here's a conundrum you don't face everyday: famed art collector Charles Saatchi wants to donate his collection of contemporary work to his home country, the UK, but they don't seem to want it. (First-world problems!)
Art
Art Rx
This week, a handful of openings and open studios, the Ai Weiwei documentary, old-timey fun at Coney Island and free pet portraits.
Opinion
Exclusive: Octogenarian Restorer Strikes Again!
Remember the infamous 80 year old who "restored" the 19th C. fresco in a Spanish church? Some may think it's a joke, but we think she's a genius. We invited The Punk Restorer™ — we thought she needed rebranding — to shuck away her attempts to restore minor works and tackle masterpieces instead.
Art
Unexpected Sounds of Protest
Sharon Hayes can be a difficult artist to like. Her work often centers around "speech acts," which the wall text in her current exhibition at the Whitney defines as "when speech functions not only as communication but as action." Just beyond that text is an example: a barren area containing only a b
News
Some Italian Americans Call Columbus Project "Disrespectful"
Some of us are really excited about the Public Art Fund's upcoming project Discovering Columbus, for which Japanese artist Tatzu Nishi will construct a living room around the statue of Christopher Columbus in Columbus Circle. A living room six stories above the street, mind you, bringing visitors no
Art
Midwestern Futurism: The Endangered Legacy of an Avant-garde Architect
"Architect Bruce Goff, one of the few US architects whom Frank Lloyd Wright considers creative, scorns houses that are ‘boxes with little holes'.” So starts a 1951 Life Magazine article on the Ford House in Aurora, Illinois, one of Goff's many astounding and imaginative designs that are some of the
Opinion
Lessons in Radical Art Restoration: What Not to Do 101
In what can only be described as an art conservation nightmare, a 19th C. church fresco in the town of Borja, Spain, by painter Elías García Martínez has been radically "restored" by an octogenarian neighbor.