For the 10 people who haven’t seen this video yet, I’ve decided to finally post it since I keep receiving emails and messages about it. Enjoy.
Damien Hirst
Damien Hirst’s Power to Piss People Off
Like most art writers and enthusiasts, I rolled my eyes when I first heard about Damien Hirst’s spotted global Gagosian invasion. Then I started thinking maybe the artist’s real artistic strength comes from his unquestionable power to piss people off.
Required Reading
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.
Required Reading
This week, lies on the web, how retrospective worthy is Damien Hirst, reported values at auctions, micro arts patronage, the value of handmade and lots more.
The Precious Gems Art History Forgot
Imagine strolling through clean, bright halls, surrounded by immaculate display cases filled with baubles and trinkets, the steam-polished precious metals and gems coruscating in the glare of spotlights. Hear your feet clacking on the white floors, stopping to look closer at the jewelry on display, but not close enough to stir the ire of the security guard peering over your shoulder. Imagine wanting everything you see, from diamond diadems to neon-tubed necklaces. No, you’re not in Tiffany’s or Cartier, you’re in the Museum of Arts and Design, gazing at their new show, Picasso to Koons: The Artist as Jeweler.
A Collector’s Passion for All Things British
PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND — Ever since Pollock splattered his ego onto a canvas in the 1950s, a decided geographical shift across the Atlantic occurred — Europe lost its ruling power as center of the art world and New York stepped into it shoes as the new authoritative hub of contemporary art. Yet, the new exhibition at The Museum of Art at the Rhode Island School of Design, Made in the UK: Contemporary Art from the Richard Brown Baker Collection reminds that there was some pretty fantastic art being made just on the other side of the Atlantic. The exhibition displays work by British artist from the past 60 years, including exemplary works of Britain’s contributions to decidedly international art movements like Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art and Op Art.
T-shirts Are the New Galleries: Top 10 Artist Tees
The artist t-shirt is a development we’ve known here at Hyperallergic for some time, but we thought it’d be good to let our readers explore it further. The blurry line demarcating art and fashion is obfuscated when artists have a hand in designing clothes. Is it just a cheap ploy to stock the gift shop full of more merchandise? Probably. But bearing an artist’s creation in your personal presentation potentially imbues clothing with a lot of meaning.
Required Reading
This week’s Required Reading … Banksy on UK phone-tapping scandal, Hirst-a-palooza at Gagosian Galleries worldwide, affordable Warhols, what do you do with a stolen art work, Sam Maloof, Hans Hoffmann as art teacher, how the “Mona Lisa”‘s became famous and the problem with “minorities.”
Least Relevant Award Goes to the Hamptons
The Hamptons have been heating up lately. While all the collectors are out of the city, and Chelsea seems relatively empty, Long Island is teeming with people. Despite being is probably one of the only places in the world where you can find a Richard Serra on someone’s front lawn the ultra-rich beach town is also a Mecca for grandma art.
Damien Hirst Curates an Art World Satire [CORRECTION]
Damien Hirst has been through it all, hosting his own auctions, running a personal factory of assistants and opening art-themed restaurants. But a new venture has him using his talents for the big screen — Hirst will be “curating” art for a big-budget London movie lampooning Hirst’s generation-defining group, the Young British Artists (YBAs).
WTF is… the Secondary Market?
Throughout the course of NYC’s art fair week, I overheard questions over what art work was being sold, and who it was being sold to. Of course, art fairs exist to sell work, and the work on display is there to be sold. But where do these works come from? This is where the secondary market comes in. Though most galleries simply sell work from the studios of the artists they represent, the secondary market deals in works that have already been sold, at least once. Fairs like the Armory’s Modern section focus heavily on secondary market works, as do auction houses like Christie’s and Sotheby’s.
WTF is ModernARTization at Davos?
Davos, Switzerland — ModernARTization: Art and Philanthropy Changing Societies. Yes, it’s a mouthful, and I also don’t know what it means, and the presentation didn’t help. Organizer and philanthropist, Victor Pinchuk, hosted a gathering at the Morosani Schweizerhof Hotel in Davos, Switzerland to discuss how philanthropy can change and educate societies through art. I walked away with the impression that the rich were patting themselves on the back.