From the category archives:
Massive Links
by Michael Anthony Farley on July 17, 2017
Frida Davidsson, winner of Art Battle Los Angeles. Image via @fridadavidssonart Instagram, [h/t artnet News]
- There’s now a booming outlet for fanfic, including stories “portraying a near future where the Trump administration has criminalized selfies, radicalizing Kim Kardashian as a freedom fighter for women’s rights.” The Toronto startup Wattpad has moved the online subculture closer to the mainstream publishing world, and former AFC editor Rea McNamara has written a fascinating profile on the subculture and its transition. [NOW]
- Designer Raul Lopez has deconstructed the uniforms of corporate America into genderless cubist forms and they’re amazing. [Vogue]
- The Broad’s upcoming exhibition Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors is expected to be a huge blockbuster when it opens on October 21. The museum announced yesterday that they’ll be pre-selling all 50,000 tickets for the show online on September 1st at noon. I’d be worried about servers crashing from that volume of traffic. [Los Angeles Times]
- In other L.A. news, Art Battle just took place in the Arts District and it sounds like it was terrible. It’s a live painting competition, which involved lots of paintings of pop culture things, dollar signs, hearts, and someone named “Art Barbie”. [artnet News]
- Wow. Add this to the bucket list: the late French sculptor Niki de Saint Phalle left behind a 14 acre sculpture park in Tuscany inspired by Gaudi’s Park Güell. Her “Tarot Garden” is populated by giant goddess figures and a feminist takes on the tarot deck. This looks really cool. [Artsy]
- Hong Kong high school students just set a world record for a display of 1,214 3D-printed sculptures of buildings from the city’s skyline. It kinda looks like a Won Ju Lim installation! (The 3D printing marathon was organized to celebrate the anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to mainland Chinese rule… which has been a less than great thing so far for the city’s pro-democracy activists, but that’s another story). [South China Morning Post]
- Congrats to Cindy Cheng, winner of the 2017 Sondheim Prize of $25,000. (As a curator, I’ve worked with Cheng before and can vouch that she totally deserves it!) Here, Angela N. Carroll, Bret McCabe, and Cara Ober discuss all the finalists. [BmoreArt]
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by Paddy Johnson and Michael Anthony Farley on July 14, 2017
- Thieves have made off with seven out of ten 1968 Warhol soup can paintings on display at the Springfield Art Museum in Missouri. The burglars made off with beef, black bean, chicken noodle, vegetable, green pea and onion cans, and tomato soup. Curiously, they left behind the pepper pot, the cream of mushroom and the consomme (beef) cans. The FBI is now investigating, and I hope they get to the bottom of why the thieves are so picky about their soup flavors. Gluten sensitivity? [The Wichita Eagle]
- A video of scenes in films inspired by paintings. Who knew that infamous shot of Scarlett Johansson’s butt in Lost in Translation was inspired by a John Kacere? [Facebook]
- AFC has long been fans of the Discovery Channel’s Shark Week, but this year’s antics may be the best ever. Michael Phelps, winner of 23 Olympic gold medals and holder of 39 world records will race a great white shark! Don’t get too excited—they couldn’t engineer a side by side race—but apparently there was cause at some point for a hammerhead shark to be about six inches from the swimmer’s face. Anyway, tune in July 23rd for this feat of marketing genius. [Yahoo News]
- Envy read: check out this art collector’s home in Beverly Hills. A fun game is trying to identify the artworks in the slideshow. I love that someone heinously wealthy has a Barbara Kreuger that says “Don’t be a jerk”. [Dezeen]
- Beyonce finally announced the existence of her twins yesterday over instagram. Of course, the announcement came in the form of a photo by artist Awol Erizku. He produced the pregnancy announcement photo as well, but this one is more complicated and the better photograph. She’s draped in pink and blue indicating the gender of the twins Carter and Rumi on a Rococo type set adorned with flowers. Naturally, she looks amazing. [Jezebel]
- Hollywood actors can be such jerks. When Kevin Broccoli (yes, that’s his real name) announced his two-man play “James Franco and me” he thought the actor might mention it or come to see it. Instead the writer received a cease and desist letter. Now that the show is coming to New York it’s had to be renamed “______ and Me”. Also, Broccoli, who played the “me” in the play will no longer be playing himself. So, basically the whole thing has been compromised. Apparently the dispute is not over. We’re rooting for Broccoli. [The New York Times]
- This is a sad, weird story. Barney Smith’s Toilet Seat Art Museum in San Antonio, which contains 1,200 toilet seats decorated by the artist, is being auctioned off. Smith is aging and can’t keep the museum open due to dementia. His family is hoping his life’s work goes to a good home. This seems like something the American Visionary Art Museum should acquire. [MySA]
- Roberta Smith takes on the unenviable task of seeing the sprawling Condo New York network of visiting galleries. This is more of an events listing than it is a review, but useful nonetheless as it identifies highlights. This looks good, and we hope it becomes an annual event. [The New York Times]
- A Los Angeles woman destroyed $200,000 worth of artwork at the gallery The 14th Factory by backing up while taking a selfie. Some claim this is a publicity stunt by the artist, Simon Birch, whose exhibition was the scene of the crime. [Metro]
- John Gerrard’s recent show at Simon Preston Gallery features a hyper-realistic computer simulation of a frog floating on a space station. It’s a commission from the Wellcome Trust, which encourages discourse between medicine and art. The story of the piece is really interesting—it was generated by video game codes, with some artistic liberties taken in regards to the physics of it all. [artnet News]
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by Paddy Johnson and Michael Anthony Farley on July 13, 2017
- A sign that really rich people are getting richer: the public spaces in their new condos are decorated with art by the latest up and comers. These are the kind of stories that make me want to poke my eyes out. (Who cares if rich people buy things and why do they always have to buy the same things?) [Artsy]
- A round-up of the nation’s “best” glamping opportunities. I had no idea Glamping was so expensive. Keep in mind you’re basically sleeping in a tent but one that rents for as much as $1500 a night. In New York, that price comes with an increased chance of getting lyme disease. [Curbed]
- The Tate Modern has put together a show of black American art made in 70’s, 80’s and 90’s and it’s now making waves. [Reuters]
- Something about this Joel Mesler confessions column reminds me of The Awl’s “The 40-Year Old Reversion” a story about privileged Park Slope mothers who do drugs, drink too much and cheat on their husbands. Mesler is looking back at a life riddled with anxiety, compulsive spending and regular blackout drunk binges, but then, as now, he does so through the lens of an upper middle classer. His problems are and were real, but are also clearly cushioned by cash, and it’s hard not to begrudge that. (It’s worth noting that the Reversion story is infinitely better, because it attempts to get beyond the experience of one person.) [ARTnews]
- Amazon has filed a patent for underwater storage and fulfillment facilities. I’m a little skeptical that this plan is anything more than a PR stunt. They claim the facilities would help counteract “inefficient use of space”, because, um, what? It seems like management of an underwater space involves far more logistics in terms of getting stuff in and out of the depot. We’d like a Jeremy Bailey response to this please. [Dezeen]
- Google’s doodle today honors Eiko Ishioka, on what would’ve been her birthday. The late Japanese visual artist has won a Grammy and an Oscar in her career as an art director and costume designer. [Al Jazeera]
- Las Vegas is still waiting for its much-delayed art museum. In the meantime, galleries have taken to staging large-scale exhibitions as pop-ups in warehouse spaces. Now, the team behind the city’s forthcoming Art Museum at Symphony Park are trying to make some permanent gallery spaces out of old warehouses. [Las Vegas Weekly].
- As galleries continue to drop like flies in New York and London, gallerists are looking to alternate models. Some are doing nomadic programming in other galleries and splitting costs/proceeds, some are doing pop-ups, online businesses, house shows, and even using a boat as an exhibition space. [The Art Newspaper]
- Someone beheaded a statue of the Hawaiian sea goddess on the grounds of the Pacific Tsunami Museum in Hilo. The sculpture by Fred Soriano is valued at $15,000 and the artist says it can be restored if the head is recovered from the thieves. [Ledger Enquirer]
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by Paddy Johnson on July 12, 2017
- Thomas Campbell, having been forced out of his position of Director due to budget woes and inappropriate romantic relationships, tells the Art Newspaper he left because he’d done everything right and there was nothing left to do. Sure buddy. [The Art Newspaper]
- Some art doesn’t stand the test of time. A good example: Aire D’attente an artistic revitalization of an abandoned lot that grew flax, barley, and hemp. Police destroyed it after erroneously concluding it was a pot farm. [Hyperallergic]
- Iowa City has a new 175 foot mural featuring fruits and vegetables. [Press Citizen]
- Oooh, a Kusama infinity room of pumpkins! The Dallas Museum of Art has acquired it. [Dallas News]
- Seattle’s Mount Analogue is hosting an inflatable art show. [Seattle Weekly]
- Are you fucking kidding me? There’s an invite-only app that allows some New Yorkers to change the spire colors of skyscrapers. There’s also now a black market for the app where invites sell for $100 each. This is so dumb. [Curbed]
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by Michael Anthony Farley on July 11, 2017
Paul Fusco, from Robert Kennedy Funeral Train, USA (1968) © Paul Fusco/Magnum Photos. Courtesy International Center of Photography
- Paul Fusco’s photograph of mourners watching Robert F. Kennedy’s funeral train, now on view in Magnum Manifesto at the International Center of Photography, is Christian Viveros-Fauné’s must-see pick in New York right now. [Art Agency, Partners]
- The NYT profiles Carter Burden Gallery, which only shows artists who are at least sixty years old. [The New York Times]
- Brad Troemel is calling out Russian designer Vika Gazinskaya on social media. Her Spring 2018 collection, shown recently at Paris Fashion Week, appears to blatantly plagiarize his paintings. Gazinskaya has since admitted that Troemel inspired her work, but had not credited the references because she didn’t know his name. [ARTnews]
- Heather Dewey-Hagborg upcoming show at Fridman Gallery sounds really creepy. The artist worked with Chelsea Manning while the latter was imprisoned. Photographs of Manning were prohibited, so to construct a “portrait”, Dewey-Hagborg extrapolated possible faces from a DNA sample. These are the results of that process. [U.S. News]
- Whoa. South African artist Zanele Muholi filmed her Airbnb host throwing her friend, filmmaker Sibahle Nkumbi, down the stairs of an apartment building in Amsterdam. Nkumbi ended up in the hospital. The man is being charged with attempted manslaughter.[artnet News]
- Cringe-inducing relational aesthetics idea of the century: Kristian von Hornsleth has attached GPS tracking units to homeless people in London, who can then be “bought” as “human Tamagotchi” and tracked by collectors for £25,000. Why are people so awful? [The Sun]
- Xenia Rubinos’ “Mexican Chef” is the danceable social justice jam of the Summer. [YouTube]
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by Paddy Johnson on July 10, 2017
This is what the SF MoMA robot thinks clouds look like. The photograph is by Paul Strand
- The Art Southampton and Art Hampton fairs won’t be running this summer. Don’t worry though, in their place…other fairs will run. Good grief – can’t art fairs ever take a vacation? In good news, Bill Powers is organizing a fair called “Upstairs” which will be held in a barn in Amagansett. That’s definitely an upgrade on the standard fair experience the other Hampton fairs offered. [artnet News]
- Arthur Jafa, an artist represented by Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, created the video for the title track on JAY Z’s new album 4:44. [ARTnews]
- Betty Parsons was a great, well known dealer but also an under recognized artist. John Yau reviews her show at Alexander Gray Associates and raves about it. [Hyperallergic]
- New York is exploring a type of zoning called “managed retreat” in flood prone parts of Staten Island. These neighborhoods were gravely damaged during Sandy and now the government wants to keep some of those areas empty for safety purposes – hence the experimentation with managed retreat. [Curbed]
- Here’s a breath of fresh air – art runs led by Marnie Kunz that aren’t being contextualized as some sort of relational aesthetics bullshit. (Yes, these projects exist and they are across-the-board dumb.) [Runner’s World]
- Museums will do anything to demonstrate engagement in their collection. To wit, SF MoMA has a next text message program where you text them “Send me ___” (you fill in the blank) and they send you back a picture from their collection that reflects that. Their robot could use some help. I asked for fluffy clouds and I got a message back telling me they didn’t have any images like that. Then I asked for a picture of “clouds” and got a picture of an oil refinery. Text 572-51 for pictures you didn’t ask for. [Lifehacker]
- Brooklyn Artist Works Primarily With Steamed Milk. [Hard Times]
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by Paddy Johnson and Michael Anthony Farley on July 7, 2017
- People finding “Accidental Wes Anderson” locations is the best new internet trend. [My Modern Met]
- Housing lotteries open this week for two new affordable housing buildings in Williamsburg, where rents start at $589/month. Definitely worth the long-shot of applying. Worth noting the affordable units in the Bronx start at $880. [Curbed]
- Basically every British cultural institution (and plenty of mainland European ones) have signed a letter urging the UK government to not fuck them over in Brexit plans. [Dezeen]
- The VGA, or Video Game Art Gallery, will be Chicago’s first art space dedicated to video game based artists’ projects. [DNAinfo]
- The Green family (of Hobby Lobby wealth and infamy) has been ordered to pay $3 million in fines for smuggling artifacts from the Middle East to their businesses. This might cast a shadow over their forthcoming (and already dubious) Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC. [The Washington Post]. ←— assholes
- Aman Mojadidi’s ‘Once Upon a Place’, in which obsolete phone booths have been installed in Times Square with the stories of immigrants, was conceived of before the Trump regime. Now, it’s taken on new relevance, obviously. [ARTnews]
- The “Is it art?” cliche just never runs out of steam. A Wired article explores a terrible art project that involves sticking some pictures into executable code and seeing what it does to the faces. Apparently said code is AI but how it works is never explained. The work looks like a souped up version of Datamoshing, which the new media community long ago discarded as too limited in its formula to ever produce good art. [Wired]
- I dunno how to feel about Mia Fineman’s Talking Pictures: Camera Phone Conversations Between Artists. It’s a good idea for a show, and we know that mostly because other artists have been doing it. [The New York Times]
- Cherokee writer America Meredith weighs in on the surreal case of Jimmie Durham’s fake Native ancestry. It’s an interesting, nuanced read. [artnet News]
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by Paddy Johnson and Michael Anthony Farley on July 6, 2017
- Whoa. Artist Joanie Lemercier has developed a projection mapping technique that allows for true 3-D video to be projected into space, far better than existing hologram technology. [Facebook]
- As the G20 Conference approaches 1000 art zombies took over the city of Hamburg Germany to protest political apathy. Apparently they eventually broke out of their clay, shedding their zombie personas and political malaise. I (Paddy) appreciate the message but geez this is dumb. Is it too much to ask for a bit more creativity when coming up with these performances? [artnet News]
- China’s internet freedoms crackdown gets worse. Now it’s illegal to depict homosexuality, drug use, or prostitution online. [Artforum]
- Hobby Lobby, the right-wing craft supply chain, has been ordered to return thousands of looted artifacts to the Middle East. The evangelical Christian owners had been using the corporation to smuggle antiquities into the United States. [The New York Times]
- The Calder show gets a good review from Andrea Scott who seems especially appreciative of the show’s curation. Art handlers have been hired to “activate” the mobile sculptures three times a day but thanks to some careful selections the exhibition isn’t a circus. [The New Yorker]
- 62 new units of affordable housing in the Bronx are being offered up in the housing lottery. The application deadline is September 1. Those units range in pricing from $884 per month to $1740. [Curbed]
- Maybe there’s no other city in the world where an art gallery based out of a car makes as much sense as in Los Angeles. That space, Gallery 1993, is one of many inhabiting unconventional spots across LA—from trucks to elevators. [The Guardian]
- The Hepworth Wakefield art gallery in West Yorkshire, UK has been named the 2017 Art Fund museum of the year. I (Michael) have never even heard of this museum! We’ve apparently gotta check it out. [The Guardian]
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by Michael Anthony Farley on July 5, 2017
- Haha. A sand sculpture of Chris Christie’s infamous beach outing appeared at the Jersey Shore yesterday. [NBC4 Washington]
- In other “portraits of awful leaders turned land art” news, artist Dario Gambarin has plowed a massive portrait of Vladimir Putin into a wheat field ahead of the G20 Summit. It’s creepy. [WSLS]
- The new Botín arts center is a rarity in Spain—an institution built with private wealth rather than public funds. Some are hoping the project, bankrolled by the family behind Santander bank, can weather economic ups and downs better than museums that must answer to politics. [The New York Times]
- Immigration lawyers are concerned that artists’ visas are being denied under Trump’s calls for increased border secrecy. [WBUR]
- Oh no! Platform Gallery is closing! [Facebook]
- An actually worthwhile listicle: “11 Young Art Dealers Who Are Revitalizing Their Art Scenes”. Congrats to our buddies at Springsteen! [artnet News]
- Alvin Tran’s project at the Inside Out Museum in Beijing sounds good. It features choreography about self-aware robots inspired by Westworld. [Blouin Artinfo]
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by Michael Anthony Farley on July 3, 2017
- Edward Williams has been collecting racist memorabilia and art for years. Now, that collection lives at Theaster Gates’ Stony Island Art Bank in Chicago. [Chicago Tribune]
- David Gray has been using Melbourne’s anti-terrorism bollards as art spaces, installing mini-works and shows on the obtrusive concrete blocks around the city. [BuzzFeed]
- Is Jimmie Durham “The Art World’s Rachel Dolezal”? Them’s fighting words, but it appears Durham has been lying about being Cherokee for years, and built a career out of Native American imagery. [artnet News]
- The real estate industry is attempting to rebrand South Harlem as “SoHa”. Cringe-worthy. Now, politicians are trying to legislate against the nickname. It’s awful, but this doesn’t really seem like an issue for congressmen and senators to be dealing with. [Curbed]
- A United Nations initiative has been using the video game Minecraft to teach urban planning and architecture to women in slums. So cool. [Dezeen]
- Saint Petersburg’s new-ish Street Art Museum has to do a delicate dance with censorship and politics in Russia. [New Republic]
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