Thursday, March 31, 2005
Surrealism USA
National Academy: February 17 - May 8, 2005
Charles Rain
The Magic Hand, 1949
Oil on masonite, 16 x 13 ¾ in.
Henry W. Grady
Surrealism USA is comprised of approximately 120 paintings, sculptures and works on paper and examines the history of Surrealism in the United States between 1930 and 1950. Included are key figures of the European movement such as Max Ernst, Salvador Dali, and Yves Tanguy, who are represented in the exhibition with works they made while in exile in the United States. Also included are their stateside counterparts David Smith, Kay Sage, Dorothea Tanning, Alexander Calder, Joseph Cornell and others. This is the first exhibition since 1977 specifically devoted to Surrealism in America. ...
http://www.nationalacademy.org
Renoir painting stolen from Paris auction house
Tete de Jeune Fille
A painting by the French impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir, valued at about 200,000 euros ($A335,650), has been stolen from the famous auction house Tajan in Paris. The auction house informed the police of the missing painting on Tuesday. The theft of the artwork, entitled Tête de fillette (Head of a little girl), happened while it was displayed in a room of the auction house and not by breaking and entering the premises as police first reported. ...
An exhibition of paintings by Grace Kotze
"Untitled", Oil on Canvase, 2005
Grace Kotze is a Durban based artist, and will present an exhibition of large-scale and smaller oil paintings. Kotze studied at the Technickon Natal, and received a Higher Diploma in Fine Art. She works as an artist and muralist, and has completed numerous large-scale commissions for private and corporate clients. This is her second solo exhibition. The exhibition is an exploration of the emotive qualities of landscapes and the human form and three broad areas of content are apparent in her work. Landscape, the human body and “heavenly” formations (stars and nebula) are constant references. Formally the artist breaks up structured spaces on the surface of her works through a variety of ‘chance’ mark makings, against tighter and more controlled and representational areas in the work. ...
"Cars and Hearts"; "Tarts"; "Cheap Shots: Toy Camera Photography"
Family Car
The Lisa Coscino Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of it's new exhibitions. The Main Gallery will feature the work of Frank Romero in a show entitled "Cars and Hearts", the Mid Gallery will feature the work of Sharon Dabney in a show entitled "Tarts" and the in the Back Gallery we will be presenting a group show entitled "Cheap Shots: Toy Camera Photography". The exhibitions open on Friday, April 1st and will continue through May7th. There will be a reception on Friday, April 1st from 6-8pm. The Gallery is located at 216 Grand Avenue in Pacific Grove. ...
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Museum of New Art combines the works of 4 solo shows
By Joy Hakanson Colby / The Detroit News
By any name, the Museum of New Art (MONA) is an art gallery known for creative exhibits and a director who likes to tweak the public's sensibilities. The place lives up to its reputation on both counts with the current offerings. Four solo shows under the MONA umbrella are spread over two floors of the Oakland Art Center. Photographers John Cynar and the mysterious Stig Eklund share one second floor space. Painter Ed Sarkis holds forth across the hall. Downstairs in a gallery earmarked for emerging artists is an installation by Audra Wolowiec. ...
Gilbert Stuart
National Gallery of Art: March 27-July 31, 2005
Gilbert Stuart The Skater (Portrait of William Grant), 1782 Andrew W. Mellon Collection 1950.18.1
The exhibition presents 91 exceptional works by Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828), the most successful portraitist of early America demonstrating his tremendous natural talent and wit in the representation of likeness and character. Stuart is known for his portraits of some of the most famous men and women of his era in America. After mastering the techniques of late 18th-century English portraiture during extended stays in London and Dublin, Stuart returned in 1793 to America, where he spent the rest of his life. Residence in the major cities of the republic--New York, Philadelphia, Washington, and Boston--resulted in a body of work notable for its historical importance and its elegant, refined beauty. ...http://www.nga.gov
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Between Rembrandt and Vermeer… there was Ter Borch.
The Detroit Institute of Arts: February 27 - May 22, 2005
Enjoy an intimate look at 17th-century Dutch life in nearly fifty exquisite master works by Gerard ter Borch. Transforming the mundane into the magnificent, Ter Borch painted his world with elegance and grace. His scenes of everyday life travel through time, allowing us to see ourselves in these rare masterpieces.
Gerard ter Borch (1617–81) remains one of the most beloved painters of the 17th-century Dutch "Golden Age." Although he began his career representing rustic genre scenes, he shifted his interests to portraiture and refined scenes from everyday life. Ter Borch focused on subjects set in formal aristocratic interiors. He was an acute observer of the world around him and developed a unique ability to render the shimmering effects of fabric, especially the satin dresses worn by the elegantly dressed women who populate his genre subjects. Although his subjects outwardly seem realistic, they project a sense of mystery. What really transpires in his paintings remains unknown and hauntingly provocative. Herein lies the enduring appeal of Ter Borch, an artist who, like Vermeer, brings Dutch genre painting to its highest level of perfection. ... http://edu.dia.orgTwo Hundred Years of American Drawings and Watercolors
Hood Museum of Art: March 29 - May 29, 2005
Mapping the Pacific Coast: Coronado to Lewis and Clark, The Quivira Collection
Nevada Museum of Art: February 11, 2005 - April 17, 2005
Cornelis de Jode, Quiviræ Regnũ, Antwerp, 1593.
Mapping the Pacific Coast documents the mapping of the West Coast of North America before the Lewis and Clark Expedition as illustrated by a selection of maps, books and illustrations dating from 1544 to 1802. Organized by the Sonoma County Museum and generously sponsored by Quivira Estate Vineyards and Winery and the Tonopalo Private Residence Club. ...http://www.nevadaart.org
Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China
Seattle Art Museum: Feb 10, 2005–May 1, 2005
Liu Zheng China, born 1969 Two Rich Men on New Year's Eve, Beijing, 1999 Gelatin silver print 14 1/2 x 14 1/2 inches Collection Joy of Giving Something, Inc.
This groundbreaking exhibition of work by forty Chinese artists-many of whom have never before exhibited in the United States-reveals the extraordinary cultural, political and socioeconomic transformations reshaping modern China. Between Past and Future provides the first comprehensive examination of contemporary photography from China produced since the mid-1990s. Photography is undergoing a renaissance in China among both distinguished and emerging artists. Between Past and Future includes major works by both groups. Many take as their starting point traditional Chinese painting, appropriating well-known images or making reference to icons of Chinese art history. The exhibition includes works that are ambitious in scale and experimental in form or medium, reflecting the rise of popular culture and new technologies, but also the ongoing desire to document the effects of rapid modernization on Chinese identity, cities and landscapes. Introducing a remarkable body of photographic work to American audiences, Between Past and Future also provides insight into the dynamics of Chinese culture at the beginning of the twenty-first century. http://www.seattleartmuseum.orgFriday, March 25, 2005
Pilar Correia 'The Alice Series'
The Modern Artists Gallery: 22nd March - 16th April
'Alice, Humpty-Dumpty and the Red Queen" oil on linen 127cm x 87cm 50" x 34" Arts Council OWNART 'interest free buying scheme' is available to purchase work from the Modern Artists Gallery.
"Humpty-Dumpty is one of the characters in this series of paintings who embodies the madness of a lyric universe and he is therefore the one I identify most with, he is literally my self portrait in the shape of an egg." Pilar Correia 2005 http://www.modernartistsgallery.comDalí
Philadelphia Museum of Art: February 16 - May 15
The Philadelphia Museum of Art is privileged to be the only American venue to host the major centennial retrospective exhibition devoted to Salvador Dalí (1904-1989). This exhibition, timed to coincide with the celebration of the 2004 centenary of the artist’s birth, considers all aspects of the artist’s long and controversial career. On view is a vast array of Dalí’s highly influential Surrealist paintings, as well as his early Cubist-inspired works and later experiments with optical illusions and perspective, as in Still Life - Fast Moving of 1956. This thorough reevaluation of Dalí’s remarkable contribution to modern and contemporary art is augmented by examples of his work in other fields, including theater design, filmmaking, and literature. Over 200 works of art are on view, many of which are being shown in the United States for the first time. ...
http://www.philamuseum.orgEgon Schiele
Van Gogh Museum: 25.03.05 - 19.06.05
On 25 March 2005 the Van Gogh Museum will open a remarkable exhibition of
work by the Viennese Expressionist Egon Schiele (1890-1918). Around twenty
paintings and eighty watercolours will be shown. This is the first Schiele retrospective
in the Netherlands.
Originally profoundly influenced by Gustav Klimt, Schiele soon began to forge his wn path. His expressive style had little to do with traditional aesthetic ideas, evolving instead from his desire to express personal emotion. Apart from the prevailing erotic motifs, his oeuvre is also remarkable for his many impressive portraits. He was less concerned with recording their superficial likeness than with revealing their innermost emotions. ...
http://www.vangoghmuseum.nlThursday, March 24, 2005
Art Ireland Summer Collection 2005
What a Tangled Web
What a Tangled Web
While viewers of net art are used to layered reading and articles enhanced by visual and interactive components, Vectors, a new online journal published by The USC Annenberg Center for Communication in Los Angeles, is one of the first to introduce complex interactions into academic writing. While each of the eight projects presented in the inaugural issue of Vectors has a unique look and approach to the subject of Evidence, all are linked--graphically and conceptually--through numerous thematic threads. These threads are explored in the 'Vector Space,' an interactive section of the journal where viewers can draw lines on the screen to illuminate where the various contributions intersect. There are numerous ways to enter into, explore, and visualize Vector's and although those who would rather download a text may be disappointed, those enthusiastic about expanding forms and of academic discourse will find Vectors a winding and welcome addition. - Jody Zellen
Need Talent to Exhibit in Museums? Not This Prankster
By RANDY KENNEDY
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Pharaoh, the Cult of the Sun in Ancient Egypt
Painters, sculptors create art of warriors
‘Faces of the Fallen’ tribute exhibit opens Wednesday at Arlington
Paintings for the exhibit "Faces of the Fallen; America's Artists Honor America's Heroes" are seen Tuesday at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. The exhibit features more than 1,300 portraits of soldiers killed in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. The art will be on display until Sept. 5.
http://www.msnbc.msn.comTop Billionaire Art Collectors
Amelie von Wulffen
Centre Pompidou - March 2 2005 - May 2 2005
Amélie von Wulffen, Sans titre (Ein Grossvater), 2004
© Courtesy Galerie Crone, Berlin
Amelie von Wulffen, an artist from Berlin, is one of the most remarkable figures on the young German art scene. She explores the collective memory through her vast works on paper, in which she combines photography, painting and drawing. The exhibition includes a selection of her recent works, some of which have been specially created for Paris.
http://www.cnac-gp.fr
Mona Hatoum
Museum of Contemporary Art (Sydney): 23 March - 29 May 2005
Born in Lebanon, London-based artist Mona Hatoum was travelling in London when war broke out in her homeland and she was unable to return. An emerging artist at the time, her practice was greatly informed by this imposed state of exile and this influence has continued throughout her 30 year career. This major retrospective includes Hatoum’s key works Light Sentence and Corps Etranger (Foreign Bodies). Throughout all her works is an investigation of the body in relation to identity. Born out of war and exile, Mona Hatoum’s work is about the private emotional response to these broader events—transformed by her artistic practice into something that is ultimately very intimate. Spanning the political and the personal, Mona Hatoum’s work is timely and current, from her early performance work and its documentation in film and photography, to more recent installation and sculptural works.
Antonio Riello - Flaktürme down
KUNSTHALLE wien project space, March 23th - April 10th, 2005
Antonio Riello, „Flaktürme down“ © Antonio Riello, 2004
The game of antagonisms appeals greatly to Italian artist Antonio Riello. He challenges his chosen themes by using conscious discrepancies between material and subject, form and content. For the exhibition ‘Flaktürme down’ at the project space, Riello has constructed scale models (1-20) of four of Vienna’s six World War II flak towers – those of the Augarten and Arenberg Park – from 1,000 kilos of sugar cubes. Visitors to the exhibition are given carte blanche to demolish this sweet variant on fascist war achitecture and take chunks home as mementos. Two generations after National Socialism, these monumental utilitarian structures remain fixtures of Vienna’s peace-time urban landscape, but by dismantling their sugary guise piece by piece, they will be reduced to the pitiful fate of mere souvenirs.Antonio Riello born 1958 lives and works in Maróstica (Italy) and Amsterdam.
Curator: Gerald Matt http://www.kunsthallewien.atTuesday, March 22, 2005
Neo-Impressionism From Seurat to Paul Klee
Musée d’Orsay - From March 15, 2005 to July 10, 2005
Paul Signac Voiles et pins (Sails and Pine Trees) 1896 Oil on canvas 81 x 52cm Private collection (c) ADAGP, Paris 2005
The Musée d'Orsay celebrates Neo-Impressionism with events that pay homage to the artists who founded the movement, re-establishing those painters who have long since fallen out of the public eye, to their rightful place. The exhibition Neo-Impressionism, From Seurat to Paul Klee demonstrates the diversity of approaches arising from Seurat and his friends' technique and highlights the fundamental role they played in the birth of 20thcentury painting. The circuit is organised around a series of sections underlining the Neo-impressionist's formal innovations: two-dimensionality, geometry, rhythm, arabesques, light and colour.http://www.musee-orsay.fr
American Maverick Wins Pritzker Prize
By ROBIN POGREBIN
Diamond Ranch High School in Pomona, Calif., whose principal architect was Thom Mayne of the Santa Monica firm Morphosis.
Thom Mayne, who has been called the bad boy and angry young man of Los Angeles architecture, will be named today as the winner of this year's Pritzker Architecture Prize, considered the profession's highest honor. Mr. Mayne, 61, is the first American to win the prize in 14 years. "I've been such an outsider my whole life," he said in a telephone interview from his office at Morphosis, his firm in Santa Monica, Calif. "It's just kind of startling." http://www.nytimes.comPossible Michelangelo Self-Portrait Found
By Rossella Lorenzi, Discovery News
The Sculpture of Michelangelo
A unique bas-relief, which might be the first known self-portrait of Michelangelo, has emerged from a private collection, art historians announced in Florence this week. The sculpture, a white marble round work attached to a flat piece of marble, with a diameter of 14 inches depicting a bearded man, was lent by a noble Tuscan family to the Museo Ideale in the Tuscan town of Vinci for a study on the relationship between Michelangelo and Leonardo. http://dsc.discovery.comA Cruel Race to Loot the Splendor That Was Angkor
By JANE PERLEZ
Monks at Angkor Wat, one of the temples where antiquities of the 9th to 15th centuries have been looted.
SIEM REAP, Cambodia - Hidden among stands of bamboo far from the throngs of tourists who clamber over the grand temples of Angkor, a series of bas-reliefs in rose and gray sandstone stand in solitary splendor. The gods and demons and half-human, half-animal figures revered by the Angkor civilization were carved at Mount Kulen by anonymous artists and, like countless other artworks, disappeared into nature when the empire collapsed 500 years ago. Advertisement Now, like much else at Angkor, the carvings are symbols not only of the mystique of the past but also of the greed of the present. In the past six months, a head of one of the figures was gouged from the rock, said Sin Sokhorn, a Cambodian guide who often comes to the site by motorcycle. A scar in the rock marked the place where looters had hacked at the statue, leaving a crumpled, headless torso. The head was probably on display in an antiquities shop in Bangkok or in a European city with a handsome price tag, he mused. Or, he suggested, it could be in a private collection of Angkor art, secure from prying eyes. "We need protection from the looters, but where are we to get it?" asked Mr. Sin Sokhorn as he showed the bas-reliefs. ...http://www.nytimes.com
Edited on: Tuesday, March 22, 2005 2:18 PM
Categories: Architecture, Sculpture
Beyond Cultural Labeling, Beyond Art Versus Craft
By MARGO JEFFERSON
"Snail Trail Quilt" by Mary Maxtion. Vibrant and, more important, abstract, quilts like this one now have the imprimatur of high art.
Once upon a time (not long ago), what people called primitive art was rarely seen in major museums. Now we see a fair amount, and it has acquired the standard museum perks: handsome exhibitions, critical raves, academic studies and eager audiences. It is called non-Western art. And this is not a squeamish politically correct term. It is a bland, functional one, just like "Western art." Both kinds can be organized according to continent, country, ethnic group, period or style. The word "primitive" trumped all such categories. It didn't mean ancient or civilized. It meant primal, instinctual and ahistorical. ...
Monday, March 21, 2005
Common Places
Common Places
The Dutch cahier Open, from the publishers NAi, describes itself simply as a publication about art and the public domain. The conciseness of the description defies the enormity of the political, economic, technological, and legal threads of the public domain discussion. In this format, adopted within the last year, Open represents a laudable effort to creatively address the question of 'public space' in the context of intensifying pressures of control and stadardization. Each issue works off of a chosen theme and balances the theoretical discussion with documentation of web-based art projects, installations and other assorted images. The most recent issue, Open 7: (No)Memory, is a reflection on the condition of collective memory in contemporary culture as it relates to and is transmitted by new methods of digital archiving, the creation of alternative sites of compiling and storing information and the implications of ownership in the context of theses new and old formats. For example, media theorist Geert Lovink's interview with Tjebbe van Tijen regarding his Ars Memoria System, provides an account of an individual labor to gather and organize information within idiosyncratic methods and a vigorous effort to reclaim material and information for public use. Unique in its stated focus, Open provides a new resource for those inventively trying to rearticulate the commons in the digital world. - David Senior
You Call That Art?
Observers, Artists, Critics Rank Children's Paintings With the Masters
by John Stossel
How Does '80s Art Look Now?
A new retrospective of work by Jean-Michel Basquiat raises the question, How much of value did that big decade leave behind?By RICHARD LACAYO
Occupying Space
Generali Foundation Collection, Haus der Kunst, Munich - 9 March through 16 May 2005
'Amici - A Celebration of Friendship'
at the Artist's Room, Dunedin from March 20 - April 10 2005.
'Kiss on the Cheek' dimensions: 122 x 91 cm
Amici (Italian for Friends) is a collection of paintings that Bay of Plenty artist Bryce Brown has been mentally putting together for the last three years. Bryce chose the Italian word as the title as he feels it sums up the positive moods and inter-relationship of the figures in his paintings. Whether the subjects are in groups couples or alone, the viewer is lured into wondering what each character is thinking. ... http://www.theartistsroom.co.nz/CELIA PAUL: CONTEMPORARY PAINTINGS, WATERCOLOURS AND PRINTS
Graves Art Gallery: 19 March to 11 June 2005
Celia Paul, Steve and the Sublime, 1997
An exhibition of work by a remarkable and highly original figurative painter. The exhibition, curated in association with Marlborough Fine Art, London surveys Celia Paul’s artistic achievement during the last 15 years and includes major paintings, watercolours and prints. The exhibition follows on from Celia’s exhibitions, Stillness at Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal in 2004, with some recent explorative additions. Celia Paul's paintings and drawings are intimate portraits of people she knows well and invariably depict a single model or group. She mainly paints those closest to her, including her mother, son, 4 sisters as well as herself. ... http://www.sheffieldgalleries.org.ukSunday, March 20, 2005
For Art Lovers Short on Cash, a Giving Tree Takes Root
By LILY KOPPEL
Around the corner from the Whitney Museum of American Art, on East 74th Street, there is a signpost plastered with the museum's chartreuse admission stickers. Though many of them are old, the top layer is often ripe for the picking, and as a result some people use them to gain admission to an institution where the top ticket price is $12. "I try to use it whenever I go," said Jacques Vidal, a 22-year-old painter and sculptor who lives in Ridgewood, Queens. "Or sometimes people who look like-minded walk out and hand you their sticker. I guess my big thing with it is that there are plenty of people who can pay and I'm not one of them." ...
http://www.nytimes.com
The Art of Female Monasticism in the Middle Ages
CROWN and VEIL
Crown from the Cathedral Treasury Essen, end of 10th century, Domschatz Essen
The exhibition »Crown and Veil« is the first exhibition dedicated to all forms of female religiosity from the early Middle Ages until the Reformation in the sixteenth century. Approximately five hundred outstanding objects from 150 international collections will be on exhibit for three months, among them many ensembles that will be reunited for the first time since the dissolution of the monasteries from which they originate. The exhibition results from a cooperation of the Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bonn and the Ruhrlandmuseum in Essen. It has been prepared by an international team of experts over many years. The exhibition will take place simultaneously at two sites. At the Ruhrlandmuseum Essen the scope will be pan-European, with the emphasis on monasteries and foundations from 500 to 1200. At the Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bonn the focus will be on the religious orders of the later Middle Ages (1200 - 1500) in all their variety. The exhibition was jointly developed by both institutions in conjunction with an international team of scholars. ... http://www.krone-und-schleier.deJacob Hashimoto - Superabundant Atmosphere
Rice Gallery: 17 March - 17 April 2005
Rice Gallery presents Superabundant Atmosphere, a new installation by Jacob Hashimoto. On view from March 17 – April 17, the installation will include 9,000 tiny, shimmering white “kites,” each handmade from silk glued over a tied bamboo frame. During the installation process, Hashimoto and five assistants will string the kites together and suspend them from the gallery ceiling, creating an enormous sculptural cloud rising upward and outward from the rear of the gallery. The opening celebration for Superabundant Atmosphere will take place on Thursday, March 17, from 5:30 to 7:30 pm and will feature remarks by Jacob Hashimoto at 6:00 pm. Complimentary beverages including soft drinks and wine, and ale from St. Arnold Brewery will be available. The event is free and open to the public. ...
http://ricegallery.org
"Human Territory", works by Tang Guo.
Shanghart Gallery: March 19 - March 31, 2005
In March, Shanghart Gallery will present “Human Territory”, the latest photographic works by Tang Guo, in H Space. The name “Human Territory” comes from the poem “Drinking” by Tao Yuan Ming, which says, “I reside in the human territory, free of the earthly noise”. During 2003/04, Tang spent almost 2 years to take these pictures in some countryside residences in southern Anhui. The images are some public areas in those aged residences, such as yards and living rooms, without specific persons, objects or events. As mentioned by Mr. Tang, he doesn’t want to express any special implications by these pictures. It is only his perceptions on time, and he is trying to fix and extend time by the realistic media of photography. ...
Saturday, March 19, 2005
AIA Honor Awards 2005
by ArchitectureWeek
Outstanding architecture has once again been given a spotlight with the announcement of the 2005 AIA Honor Awards. With a geographic range from Vancouver to Rome, and a range of types from urban highrises to rural hay barns, these works demonstrate distinctive and imaginative responses to place and function.
Thomas W. Ventulett, III, FAIA, chair of the American Institute of Architects jury spoke about the diversity represented by these award-winning buildings. "The recipient projects varied dramatically in program, complexity, scale, site, and typology," he said. "Yet each presented a sensitive and inventive response to its distinct location and special program. Whether a barn or a great urban library, a house or a beautiful church... each illustrated a spirit and ingenuity that inspires both the user and the viewer." ...
http://www.architectureweek.com
Dutch family claims painting from Montreal museum
MONTREAL - The heirs of a Dutch art dealer are trying to recover a painting hanging in the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. They say it was part of a collection looted by Nazis. The museum says the work, called The Deification of Aeneas, will remain on its walls until it can be determined whether it was sold legitimately. The museum bought the 17th-century painting by French artist Charles Le Brun in 1953 in New York. It was once part of a collection owned by Dutch art dealer Jacques Goudstikker, who died in 1940 while fleeing to England. His collection of more than 1,000 paintings was looted by the Nazis. ...
http://www.cbc.ca
'absurd, silly and undignified'
AMERICAN IMPRESSIONISM : AN ARCADIAN VISION PAINTINGS FROM THE AKRON ART MUSEUM
FRESNO METROPOLITAN MUSEUM: MARCH 12 - MAY 22
American Impressionism: An Arcadian Vision, Paintings from the Akron Art Museum examines American art at the end of the nineteenth century, when many American artists retreated from the realities of the early modern era - with its burgeoning industry and crowded cities - and envisioned instead an American Eden. They painted tranquil landscapes and dreamy portraits of women, aiming to fulfill the widely held belief that art should delight the senses and elevate the spirit. ...
http://www.fresnomet.org
Friday, March 18, 2005
Thirty Francisco de Goya Etchings Disappear in Helsinki
Francisco de Goya, May the rope break, 1815-20. Etching and aquatint, 175 x 220 mm.
HELSINKI, FINLAND.- Around 30 etchings by Spanish painter Francisco de Goya have disappeared from the storage rooms of the National Gallery of Finland in Helsinki, museum officials announced today. Officials do not know if the works were stolen or were stored in an unknown place while the museum was under renovation. Museum workers noticed the disappearance of the works after an inventory ...
http://www.artdaily.comJEFF WYCKOFF - Codex El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula
31GRAND: March 18 – April 17, 2005
Why Art Needs a Hole in the Head
Since 2000, the online journal Drunken Boat has been describing wayward
contours through an intermedia landscape at least as strange as the one evoked by the 'Bateau ivre' of French poet Arthur Rimbaud. Issue #7 is dedicated to the neurological condition 'aphasia' and those whom it afflicts and inspires. It is the Drunken Boat's editors' contention that aphasia, a result of the brain's inability to match sensory input and linguistic expression, has the potential to realign the way we think about creativity. There is an ensemble of approaches to the subject, sometimes tangential, at times personal and head-on, from poets, essayists, film-makers, sound artists, and an opera singer. Sound files, text works, images and videos abound. Digital artist Christina McPhee's Aphasia + Parrhesia figures a link between neural nets and the internet via the cyborg body and the metaphor of access to/denial of speech. Drunken Boat's excursus into the murky terrain of brain disorder eschews pathos and 'idiot savant' triumphalism alike. Instead, it opens up the sealed circuit of silence and fear to a rich and skewed speech at the borders of the possible. - Marina Vishmidt
French art in Warsaw
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York acquires Gilman Photo Collection
Thursday, March 17, 2005
Picasso's Toros
Norton Simon Museum (Pasadena, California): Picasso's Toros - March 11 - July 18, 2005
The Bull, 1945 Pablo Picasso, Spanish, 1881-1973 Lithograph, 4th state, 1 of 18 Artist Reserved Proofs Norton Simon Art Foundation © 2004 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
The bull is a recurring and meaningful motif in Picasso’s painting and graphic work. In the winter of 1945, the artist once again took up this subject as he created a suite of prints. The exhibition, Picasso’s Toros, presents eleven states from a series of lithographs executed between December 1945 and January 1946. During these months, Picasso experimented with the lithographic process and its capacity for artistic expression. The suite of lithographs illustrates the fascinating manner in which Picasso simplified and reduced the figure of the bull to the point of abstraction. Additional prints by Picasso, documenting the strong appeal of this image and its symbolism, will be included. Approximately 15 works on paper will be on display in this intimate exhibition that documents the artist’s long-lived fascination with the subject and imagery of the toro.
Web Site: http://www.nortonsimon.org
The Aztec Empire
Guggenheim Bilbao: The Aztec Empire - 19 March - 18 September, 2005
The Renaissance, an intellectual movement in the sciences and the arts of 15th-century Europe, had its counterpart in ancient Mexico, where two powerful indigenous states flourished: the Aztec empire and its neighbor and traditional enemy, the Tarascan empire. In Aztec territory, the Aztecs interpreted their presence in the universe by means of an extraordinary anthropomorphic sculptural iconography; this occurred simultaneously with the expansion of a pan-Mesoamerican artistic style that led to understanding between the peoples that shared a common visual language. Re-creating this period, The Aztec Empire features the largest number of art objects in an international exhibition made by the peoples coexisting in the final stage of Mesoamerican development, in what archaeologists call the Late Postclassic, lasting from the 13th to the 16th centuries of our era. ...
Visit: http://www.guggenheim-bilbao.es
Calling All Net Artists!
Calling All Net Artists!>Are you an artist looking for fine financial fertilizer this growing season? Time is running out to apply for a 2005-2006 Rhizome.org Net Art Commission. Construct a web-based proposal explaining your project and submit it to Rhizome by March 23 (that's next Wednesday!). Winners will be selected by May 1 by a jury of new media experts (Rachel Greene, Francis Hwang, Eduardo Kac, Melinda Rackham, and Jemima Rellie), as well as by the Rhizome.org community through a democratic, online voting system. Visit Rhizome.org to learn more about how to assemble a proposal, submit it, and view the recently completed 2004-2005 commissions! - Rhizome.org
Romanesque France at the time of the First Capetians (987-1152)
LOUVRE: 10 March 2005 - 6 June 2005
Bourgogne 12th-century Saint Michael striking down the dragon RF 1427 Paris, musée du Louvre © RMN/ C. Jean
This exhibition, bringing together three hundred works, is the first major comprehensive treatment of Romanesque art in France. An exceptional grouping of reliquary statues, illuminated manuscripts executed at the most celebrated scriptoria, precious objects and ivories from treasure vaults, capitals, and reliefs attests to the extraordinary diversity of artistic manifestations in France from the mid-10th to the mid-12th centuries. Exhibition from the Objets d'Art Department, Louvre Museum. Curator : Danielle Gaborit-Chopin.
http://www.louvre.fr/louvrea.htm
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Is Munch's Art Screaming or Listening?
By DOUG MELLGREN, Associated Press Writer
Edvard Munch's masterpiece, 'The Scream,' is seen in this undated image. 'The Scream,' has become a world icon of human anxiety, appearing on everything from popular T-shirts to blowup dolls, and causing endless debate among art experts. But what exactly is the surreal figure doing in the painting, with hands pressed to its head and open mouth: Screaming, or hearing a scream? (AP Photo/Scanpix) http://news.yahoo.com
Relatively Remote
>Once upon a time, it took 5 weeks to travel from New Zealand to Europe; today, our remoteness has a different quality. On Saturday, March 19th, New Zealand artists are invited to ponder the impact of geographical isolation in the wired world at re:mote, a one-day experimental festival exploring remoteness and technology. Organized by r a d i o q u a l i a and ((ethermap, re:mote features artists and commentators from London, Newcastle, Helsinki, Rotterdam and Sydney presenting via live video stream, alongside presenters from around New Zealand and keynote speaker Tetsuo Kogawa (Tokyo). Participants will analyse how digital technologies can augment collaborations across geographical and cultural distances, and ask questions like 'Is remote a relative concept?' As New Zealanders have a lived understanding of remoteness, it's appropriate that we host this event--the first in a series that is planned to travel around the world. - Helen Varley Jamieson.
Toulouse-Lautrec and Montmarte
Exhibitions - National Gallery of Art (Washington)
Artists' fascination with the decadent spirit and glamour of bohemian life in the Parisian district of Montmartre at the turn of the 20th century is the focus of this major exhibition of more than 250 works primarily by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901). Paintings, drawings, posters, prints, sculptures, zinc silhouettes from the Chat Noir shadow play, and printed matter, such as illustrated invitations, song sheets, advertisements, and admission tickets, will be presented alongside depictions of similar subjects by fellow artists, including Toulouse-Lautrec's predecessors Edgar Degas and Edouard Manet; his contemporaries Pierre Bonnard, Vincent van Gogh, and Pablo Picasso; and poster artist Jules Chéret. ...
See details: http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/toulouseinfo.shtm
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
Will Christo resurrect Colorado project?
Artist duo likely to revisit "Over the River" project to cover the Arkansas River
A sketch of Christo’s “Over the River” project, which would cover a stretch of the Arkansas River between Cañon City and Salida.
Read in: http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~34034~2759315,00.html#
Art-buying for beginners
By Lottie MoggachBy Lottie Moggach
I have been given a legacy of £500, and I want to use it for something “proper”. I want to buy a piece of art. There are very few things in life that are both fashionable and sensible. It seems that, right now, buying art is one of them. Research by Barclays Capital suggests that fine art generates returns of 10.9 per cent, compared with 8.1 per cent for property and 4.7 per cent for stocks. Art, the report concludes, “has an advantage over other hard assets because it can be enjoyed, and confers status, or ‘wall power’”. So, I have a mission: as much “wall power” as I can get for £500. My first port of call is that of any lazy bargain hunter - eBay. At the rock bottom end of the price list are an awful lot of paintings of dogs and tulips. Indeed, should I so wish, my budget could get me 50 portraits of golden Labradors; but I suspect my walls would then be petrifying, rather than powerful. At the £500 mark, there are more exotic animals; a family of elephants drinking by a lake; a tiger with a soul-piercing gaze.....
Read Full Article: http://news.ft.com/cms/s/af9ba41c-93da-11d9-9d6e-00000e2511c8.html
Multicultural Art Exhibition in New Zealand
CrossOver - art connecting our colourful capital
18-28 March, Academy of Fine Arts Gallery 18-28 March, Academy of Fine Arts Gallery
10.00am - 5.00pm daily (including Easter)
CrossOver is an exhibition featuring works by artists and craftspeople from Wellington’s many different ethnic groups.
Organised by Wellington City Council to coincide with Race Relations Day 2005, CrossOver showcases both emerging and more established artists whose work reflects cross-cultural or intercultural themes. Works are available for sale. Free entry.
http://www.wellington.govt.nzMonday, March 14, 2005
Caravaggio: The Final Years, National Gallery
23 February - 22 May 2005
Caravaggio (1571 - 1610) was at the height of his fame as the most original and powerful painter of his day, when in May 1606, he killed a man in a duel. With a capital sentence on his head, he was forced to flee Rome, never to return.
During the remaining four years of his life, Caravaggio's art underwent a dramatic transformation as he moved restlessly from Naples to Malta to Sicily. He continued to use intensely observed realism and dramatic lighting to endow his paintings with a compelling sense of actuality. However, the mood of the pictures became more introspective as he probed the human condition more acutely and with greater sympathy than ever before.
This exhibition concentrates on this relatively little known period in Caravaggio's career. It brings together paintings from the remote centres in which he worked so that his profound late style can be fully appreciated for the first time. The exhibition has been organized by the National Gallery and the Soprintendenza Speciale per il Polo Museale di Napoli.
World’s biggest art collector arrested in Qatar
Sheikh Saud Al-Thani, cousin of the Emir of Qatar, is being investigated for alleged misuse of public funds
By Georgina Adam
LONDON. The Art Newspaper can reveal that the world’s biggest art collector, Sheikh Saud Al-Thani of Qatar, has been arrested and is now under investigation for alleged misuse of public funds. ...
Sunday, March 13, 2005
Jean-Michel Basquiat
This image provided by the Brooklyn Museum is the 1982 work 'Boy and Dog in a Johnnypump,' by the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. By his early 20s, Basquiat was internationally renowned for his art, counting the likes of Andy Warhol among friends. At 27, he was dead, his career cut down by a heroin overdose. An exhibit of his work opened Friday at the Brooklyn Museum and runs through June 5 before traveling to Los Angeles and Houston. The show, on two floors, contains over 100 of the artist's vividly colored paintings and drawings. (AP Photo/Brooklyn Museum)
Portraits by Jan de Bray Opens at National Gallery of Art
Jan de Bray, A Couple Represented as Ulysses and Penelope, 1668. oil on canvas, 109.9 x 165.1 cm (43 1/4 x 65); 139.7 x 195.6 x 12.7 cm (55 x 77 x 5). Collection of The Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky.
WASHINGTON, D.C.- 17th-century Dutch artist Jan de Bray’s portrayal of contemporary individuals as historical figures is examined for the first time in Jan de Bray and the Classical Tradition, on view March 13 through August 14, 2005, at the National Gallery of Art, West Building. De Bray (c.1627-1697) was one of the foremost Dutch artists working in the classical tradition, a style of ... More
Seductive Codes
>Can code be sexy? Can the deep intimacies of code lead to personal trauma of the most exhilarating kind? Igor Stromajer (Slovenia), creator of the Intima Virtual Base, is convinced that code is the very manifestation of what our human imagination pursues in the state of desire, and has developed an extensive body of work based on his research into 'tactical emotional states' and 'traumatic low-tech strategies.' Military tactics are in fact a common theme throughout many of the works on the site, and the careful maneuvering of the code in a project such as Ballettikka Internettikka Part Two is likely to induce a traumatic state, if not in the human experiencing it then at least in the computer processing it. Stomajer's intoxication with code is not purely Dionysian, but the asceticism he claims for his own is only relative to the high technological complexities populating the rest of the net art world. Visit www.intima.org to experience his particular brand of low-tech solutions for inducing radical emotions. - Ophra Wolf
Saturday, March 12, 2005
Geeky in Pink
>Considering that a lady (Ada Lovelace) was at the back end of the first computer program, there has always been a certain hope that computing would shake up the Man vs. Machine conundrum. Instead it spawned a new brand of male: the geek. The latest project to place this fellow in its crosshairs is linux virgin which, though it launches officially today, received so many hits in its preview stage that it has already crashed its host server twice. Created by and starring Columbia M.F.A. students Klara Hobza and Trish Maud, linux virgin's five-clip miniseries features 'Mistress Koyo' schooling young 'Karla Grundick' in how to build a computer with a linux operating system. Montages of the girls tinkering with computer parts and fooling with circuitry make for a pseudo-steamy spoof of traditional geekdom. And (as if teasing weren't enough), our stereotypically loveless geek has been type-cast in the role of voyeur as 'Roy' (Ronnie Bass) their peeping tom neighbor who stares with rapt, motionless attention into a video camera pointed at them. Poor Roy, he may be the face of computer programming but it looks like the girls are having much more fun. - Lauren Cornell
Painting by Ones And Zeros
>'Daria,' a project by Brian Lee Yung Rowe, is something like what you would get if the evil computer Skynet from the Terminator movies mated with Bob Ross. Daria is a new category in relation to media creation: the 'art(ist)'; both creation and creator, 'she' is a fully-operating artistic personality--complete with her own style that varies based on her moods, and her own personal needs (what would any 'artistic personality' be without arm-twisting demands for sponsorship?). Daria's website keeps a catalogue of her works, and visitors can commision new art pieces from her, imputing the title of the work they want and waiting as she culls material from the internet and pieces it together before their eyes. The results are psychedelic landscapes captioned with often nonsensical bits of text. While Daria's portfolio to date doesn't exactly give the human artistic community any reason to fear a Skynet-style coup anytime soon, the complex web of programming resources that go into making up Daria's intelligence is enough to give an exciting new twist to the idea of 'painting by numbers!' - Ben Davis