In The Phoenix Sharon Steel writes about “Pull My Finger,� a new group show at the Allston Skirt Gallery, curated by artist Joe Zane: �Artists? They just live for slinging crap � it�s like some kind of unlimited paint supply that�s handy, cheap, and gets them controversy bonus points. Where […]
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Paintings in the National Gallery: national heritage, art-historical legacy or status symbols?
Chris Bryant reports in The Times: �The news that seven major artworks on loan to the National Gallery, London, might be sold and may leave the country has a depressing air of inevitability. They are magnificent pieces. Titian�s Portrait of a Young is a serene early portrait, less fleshy than […]
Georges de La Tour�s long forgotten nocturnes exhibited in UK
Laura Cumming in The Guardian: �It scarcely seems possible that there could be any old masters left to rediscover, yet so it is with the French painter Georges de La Tour, a figure almost as shadowy as his near contemporary Vermeer but much longer hidden from the public�.In its typically […]
At the Boston MFA artists grapple with war
Ken Johnson writes in The Boston Globe: �As the war in Iraq grinds on toward no very clear end, collective reaction to it by contemporary American artists remains muted and uncertain. Two exhibitions responding to the war — one directly and the other indirectly — are now on view in […]
At the Hammer Museum, Gary Garrels assembles a distinctly Angeleno strain of contemporary visual language
Doug Harvey in the LA Weekly: �One of the most pronounced symptoms of the wide-scale institutionalization of artistic practice has been the rise of curatorial studies as an academic category and the subsequent escalation of the curator�s role and visibility � sometimes to the point of supplanting the place of […]
Churches draw on the spiritual inspiration of contemporary artists
Valerie Gladstone points out in the NYTimes Travel section: “As a wave of contemporary art installations is being unveiled in cathedrals, churches and chapels across Europe, religious spaces are once again becoming showcases for many artists. In the last year alone, the abstract Spanish artist Miguel Barcel� completed a ceramic […]
Karen Kilimnik’s Philadelphia salon
Dorothy Spears in the NYTimes: “When Robert Wuilfe, curator of Landmarks Contemporary Projects in Philadelphia, learned of Karen Kilimnik’s interest in creating a site-specific installation at the 18th-century Powel mansion he had difficulty containing his enthusiasm. Ms. Kilimnik�s reconstructions of 18th-century salons, featuring portraits of contemporary celebrities like Paris Hilton, […]
Mass-produced paintings at Urban Outfitters for $39.99
Cassandra Neyenesch in The Brooklyn Rail: “Mass-produced canvases for sale at Urban Outfitters, though of course decorative, offer a pointed commentary about the way art is produced and thought about and the consumer�s relationship to it.” Read more.
Venice Biennale: serious and smart
Kim Levin in The Brooklyn Rail: “So many skulls, tibia, ribcages, soldiers in uniform, mortally wounded dolls, and flocks of birds morphing into missiles or warplanes (the way skulls and bones morphed into picks and shovels during the Black Plague) haven�t been seen together in the art world since, well, […]
Painter Tony Shore awarded Baltimore’s $25,000 Sondheim Prize
Baltimore Sun art critic Glenn McNatt reports that Tony Shore, whose portraits of family and friends painted on black velvet capture the poignant and gritty flavor of working class life in the city, frequently broke into sobs during his acceptance speech. ‘This award is an amazing thing for Baltimore, Shore […]
