| | The First Art Newspaper on the Net | | Established in 1996 | Thursday, August 5, 2021 |
| | | 50 years of taking photography seriously | |
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An installation in Light Years: The Photographer's Gallery at 50, a series of exhibitions celebrating the anniversary of the London instution in London, Aug. 3, 2021. When the Photographers Gallery opened in London in 1971, few saw the medium as suitable for exhibitions. Today, everyone does. Tom Jamieson/The New York Times.
by Alex Marshall
LONDON (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- In 1968, Sue Davies was working as a secretary at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in the British capital when a colleague got sick, and she found herself left to finish off a photography show they had been working on. The exhibition, held the following year and focused on images of women, was a hit. Visitors lined up down the block to get in, and Davies asked the institutes founders if they would consider showing more photography. The response, she said, was not what she had wanted: They had only commissioned the last show, they told her, because they were offered the pictures for free. That made Davies lose her temper, she later told The British Journal of Photography. So she made a decision: If museums didnt want photography in their spaces, she would start her own. Three years later, in January 1971, Davies opened the Photographers' Gallery in a former tearoom in the West End of London. It was the citys first exhibition space dedicated to photography; its aim, D ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day Liu Wei Nudita White Cube Bermondsey 9 July - 5 September 2021.
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| Dissident artist leaves Hong Kong for Taiwan | | Materials scientists to examine mysterious copper artworks | | Louise Fishman, who gave abstract expressionism a new tone, dies at 82 |
We'll Meet Again by Kacey Wong.
HONG KONG (AFP).- One of Hong Kong's best known artists confirmed on Tuesday that he had moved to Taiwan in search of "100 percent freedom" from the government's crackdown on dissent. Kacey Wong's departure is the latest blow to Hong Kong's reputation as a regional haven for the arts and free speech as government critics face growing scrutiny from authorities. Wong, 51, posted a black-and-white video on Facebook in which he sung a rendition of Vera Lynn's wistful ode "We'll Meet Again". "Leaving is not easy, staying is also difficult," he wrote. In an interview with the Hong Kong Free Press website, Wong confirmed he had fled Hong Kong for political reasons, citing the diminishing space for artistic freedom since China imposed a national security law that criminalised much dissent. The Cornell-educated artist is known for his contemporary visual arts focusing on social activism and politics. In one 2018 performance art piece called "Th ... More | |
"Our Lady of Copocabana," Unidentified artist, La Paz (possibly), Bolivia, 18th century. Oil and gold on embossed, chased and engraved copper with inlaid mica. Copper: 8.5625 x 6.625 x .25 in. Collection of Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation. Photo: Jamie Stukenberg.
EVANSTON, ILL.- Northwestern University materials scientists will examine eight mysterious Bolivian copper artworks from the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation to help piece together the artworks unknown origins. The Center for the Scientific Studies in the Arts a joint venture of Northwestern and the Art Institute of Chicago selected the Thoma Foundations works to undergo scientific analysis, with potential to provide insights into the artworks origins and materials and techniques used in their creation. The Thoma Foundations collections contain more than 175 works from the Spanish Americas, primarily 17th- to 19th-century paintings from South America and the Caribbean. Among the collection are eight oil paintings on ... More | |
Louise Fishman with her painting A Stranger, in New York in 2000. Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times.
by Neil Genzlinger
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Louise Fishman, a widely exhibited artist who imbued her abstract expressionist paintings and other works with elements of feminism and gay and Jewish identity, died July 26 in the New York City borough of Manhattan. She was 82. Her spouse, Ingrid Nyeboe, said the cause was complications of an ablation, a heart procedure. Fishman continually explored new themes and techniques, usually giving her own spin to the male-dominated genre of abstract expressionism. She was influenced early in her career by the first-generation abstract expressionists, men from the Jackson Pollock era, but by the mid-1960s she began to immerse herself in the gay and feminist movements, joining protest organizations like WITCH the Womens International Terrorist Conspiracy From Hell and sharing ... More |
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| Pilar Corrias Eastcastle Street opens 'Twenty Thousand Years of Fire and Snow' by Sedrick Chisom | | Kunsthalle Basel opens Matthew Angelo Harrison's first solo exhibition in Europe | | White Cube opens an exhibition of new works by Liu Wei |
Sedrick Chisom, The Drunk Cooldown Rhythms Capitulated By a Deserter of The Southern Cross on Intimate Terms with Catastrophe, 2020. Courtesy of the artist and Pilar Corrias, London.
LONDON.- Pilar Corrias is presenting an exhibition of new work by Sedrick Chisom, running 15 July 21 August 2021 at the Eastcastle Street gallery. This is the artists first solo exhibition in the UK, showing paintings and drawings portraying a post-apocalyptic America. Sitting within the Afrofuturist tradition, Chisoms imagined future is a mystical, speculative narrative which considers the histories of racism and otherness. In Chisoms world all people of colour have elected to leave earth, while the remaining white people have become subject to a disease which is altering the pigmentation of their skin. These remaining peoples are divided into two opposing groups, one a set of military alliances who bear resemblances to American Civil War soldiers as well as contemporary alt-right groups. They are grappling to assert their superior ... More | |
Matthew Angelo Harrison, installation view, Proto, Kunsthalle Basel, 2021, view on, The Red People, 2021. Photo: Philipp Hänger / Kunsthalle Basel.
BASEL.- Like dragonflies in amber, Matthew Angelo Harrisons polished blocks of transparent resin are time capsules of a sort. They populate the artists first solo exhibition in Europefeaturing all new work and his most ambitious project to datewhere the personal and ancestral collide with the historical and political. Luminous prisms of varying opacity (some tinted, some clear) encase wooden African effigies, ceremonial masks, long-handled spears, or, in a single spectacular case, a nearly five-meter-high totem with a head at its base. Hailing from the cultures of Bambara, Dogon, Makonde, Senufo, and others, most are attributed to unknown makers and were bought by the artist from European secondary market dealers selling on the internet. The digital trade routes that these objects traveledcontemporary versions of those that once carried enslaved ... More | |
Liu Wei, Nudita at White Cube Bermondsey 9 July - 5 September 2021. © Liu Wei. Photo © White Cube (Ollie Hammick).
LONDON.- White Cube is presenting Nudità , an exhibition of new works by Liu Wei. Taking his title from an essay by the Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben, Liu conceives the exhibition as a summary of enquiries into the state of society at this particular, and pivotal, moment in history. Featuring new installation, sculpture and painting made during the past year, the exhibition expands upon the artists recent solo exhibition at Long Museum, Shanghai and responds to the global emergency engendered by the pandemic. The exhibition posits the question: Given the current condition of the world, what possibilities might exist for human beings to live together as a collective body? Using this question to frame his own reflections on the pandemic, Liu connects Agambens theories of nudity to the current emptied state of the urban landscape and our increased physical distance from one another. ... More |
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| Research shows over two thirds believe culture on high streets makes for a better place to live | | Alps app tracks treasures melting glaciers expose | | Baltimore Museum of Art appoints five new members to its board of trustees |
Theatre Royal Plymouth. Photo: Steve Haywood. Image courtesy Theatre Royal Plymouth.
LONDON.- Research published today by Arts Council England shows that 69% of people think having cultural spaces such as theatres, museums, libraries and music venues on their high street makes their local area a better place to live. When people were asked what they would like to see more of on their high streets, culture was the joint most popular answer, alongside shops and ahead of pubs, bars and restaurants. The findings show particularly strong support for culture in the North and Midlands, where 68% of people said culture made them feel proud of where they lived, compared to a national average of 60%. With year-on-year high street footfall declining by 43.4% in 2020, the report also gives several examples of how cultural venues can bring visitors back to village, town and city centres, helping to boost local economies and prevent high street decline. The research found, for example, that the redevelopment of the Storyhouse theatre, cinema and ... More | |
The southwestern Wallis region said Tuesday the IceWatcher mobile phone application should help mountaineers collect and store glacial finds as quickly as possible.
by Christophe Vogt
GENEVA (AFP).- Mountaineers who stumble across archaeological relics revealed by retreating glaciers in the Swiss Alps can now use a new app to log the location and help preserve their findings. The southwestern Wallis region said Tuesday the IceWatcher mobile phone application should help them collect and store glacial finds as quickly as possible. Wallis contains several important glaciers, including the Aletsch, the largest in the Alps. Due to global warming, glaciers are releasing relics of up to thousands of years, the Wallis cantonal authorities said in a statement. "Preserved and isolated by ice, these elements are particularly fragile as soon as they are released. "The cold preserves certain organic material in a remarkable way, but once out of this protective ... More | |
John Waters is a film director, artist, writer, actor, and journalist who was born, raised, and still lives in Baltimore. Photo: Gorman.
BALTIMORE, MD.- The Baltimore Museum of Art announced today the addition of five new trustees to its board: Michael Ealy, Nupur Parekh Flynn, Lori N. Johnson, Anne L. Stone, and John Waters. These new trustees join Clair Zamoiski Segal, the BMAs Board Chair, Christopher Bedford, the Dorothy Wagner Wallis Director, and 36 other active trustees in leading the BMA and ensuring its long-term success. The board is responsible for the governance and oversight of the museum and fostering ongoing support for the BMAs ambitious mission and vision. I am very excited to welcome the five new trustees, whose variety of skills and experiences across the fields of art, education, entertainment, marketing, and management will assist us as we continue to find ways to better serve our community and fulfill the Baltimore Museum of Arts mission, said Zamoiski Segal. I have no doubt that this new cohort of trustees will enhance ... More |
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| Exhibition considers a rosy outlook for the year ahead after an uncertain past year of gloom | | Sydney Contemporary announces new dates for 2021 | | Is travel next in the fight over who profits from Native American culture? |
Claire McConaughy, Wild Roses Dancing in the Summer, 2021. Oil on canvas, 48 x 36 in.
NEW YORK, NY.- Mizuma & Kips announced the opening of A Daze of Roses curated by Robert Curcio, curcioprojects, considers a rosy outlook for the year ahead after an uncertain past year of gloom. The dozen plus one, emerging and mid-career artists address themes relating to an experience, a meaning, or a form of a rose - a flower, a color, an optimistic feeling, a turn of phrase of Gertrude Stein's quote or a blushing cheek. A sense of time when everything will come up roses is captured in the face of Gregory de la Habas homeless smiling Gabriel who came to the East Village, NYC, on March 16th just as the city was closing, hoping to hug the Statue of Liberty. Hidden faces within a painted veil of roses and flowers, Claudine Anrather connects to the subtle life of a rose, its fragrance, its delicate beauty, and fast decay are all experiences shared for but a moment. Judy Mannarinos ceramic embellishments of mixed ... More | |
Sydney Contemporary 2019. Image courtesy of Sydney Contemporary, Photo: Zan Wimberley.
SYDNEY.- Sydney Contemporary, Australasias premier art fair, has today announced that the sixth edition of the Fair will be presented from 11 - 14 November 2021 at Carriageworks in Redfern, Sydney. The Fair, which was initially scheduled to be presented in September, has been rescheduled in light of the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions for Greater Sydney. Sydney Contemporary 2021 marks one of the first physical art fairs in Australia since 2019 and will present over 80 galleries from Australia and New Zealand featuring work by more than 450 artists hailing from over 40 countries. The Fair represents the largest concentration of art sales annually in Australasia. Sydney Contemporary Founder Tim Etchells said, With the help of our longstanding venue partner Carriageworks, are grateful for the opportunity to reschedule this years edition of Sydney Contemporary to November. Carriageworks is a very ... More | |
A Wigwam Motel in Holbrook, Ariz., on July 22, 2021. Ash Ponders/The New York Times.
by Karen Schwartz
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- John Gunderman believed his vision for a campground with 70 tepees, 12 hogans and 43 Conestoga wagons in the Arizona desert off Route 66 would invoke nostalgia that transcends to every generation. Others disagreed. We find the use of Indigenous/Native American culture for commercial profit to be extremely disturbing and dehumanizing toward us and our sovereign tribal relatives, Sharon Doctor, chairwoman of Coconino Countys Indigenous Peoples Advisory Council, wrote to the county board of supervisors about the proposed Historic 2 Guns Luxury Glamping Resort. Gunderman was asking for a zoning change to develop about 250 acres outside Flagstaff, and for months refused to budge on the Native American themes used in his design. ... More |
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Displaying a masterpiece at a food bank | National Gallery
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Looking for St. Mark's Square? You may find yourself in a shipyard instead
VENICE (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Vittoria Comparone had never been to Venice. So for her coming honeymoon, she booked a dream cruise including a majestic approach to the city past St. Marks Square, the Doges Palace and all the astonishing, photogenic treasures along the Giudecca Canal. At dawn on Saturday, the 2,500-passenger ship, the MSC Orchestra, glided toward its designated Venice stop, and Comparone, 28, and her husband, both from Caserta in southern Italy, stepped onto their cabins balcony. Under a glorious salmon-hued sky, the couple took in the view. Towering cranes bent over a vast shipyard. A peppermint-striped thermoelectric cooling tower loomed over walls wrapped in barbed wire. Signs in the distance advertised the main cultural attraction, the Shipbuilding Museum. Its not exactly as charming as Venice, Comparone said. A navigating ... More
Abrons Arts Center's fall season celebrates trailblazers
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Abrons Arts Centers lineup for the fall season is a salute to groundbreakers and innovators in the arts, public housing and emerging technology. As we emerge from isolation, we wanted to focus on work thats still been happening and developing in different ways during the pandemic, said Craig Peterson, the centers executive artistic director. Because it deserves an audience. Several of the productions scheduled at the 300-seat playhouse for the coming season were booked before the pandemic and postponed because of it, said Peterson, who curated the season in collaboration with Ali Rosa-Salas, the recently appointed artistic director of the center. Lots of them got displaced when we stopped live performance, he said. But we never stopped supporting artists and always intended to present them. The center has scheduled a concert, ... More
Trying to reinvent improv theater
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- When the Upright Citizens Brigade permanently closed its New York operations last year, the news hit Corin Wells like a death in the family. She moved to the city because of UCB and invested time and money, evolving from a student to a teacher. In the uncertain early months of the pandemic, the theater represented an anchor to the past and hope for the future. When I got the email, I cried, she said in a video call. I didnt have anything to go back to. Then a sense of betrayal sank in, one shared by many improvisers, particularly since UCB had held on to its theater in Los Angeles, where its founders are mostly based. We were the bastard child, Wells said. Decisions were being made for us that did not serve us, almost like taxation without representation. In recent years, UCB had moved its popular Del Close Festival from New York ... More
Five of the ten top lots in Neue Auctions' Summer Estates auction were silver
BEACHWOOD, OH.- Silver ruled the roost in Neue Auctions online-only Summer Estates auction held July 24th, as five of the top ten lots were silver. The sales top seller was a Whiting sterling flatware service in the Lily pattern, 112 pieces, with various monograms on most pieces and no monograms on 16 pieces, weighing a total of 129.90 oz. troy. The service brought $9,225. The auction featured more than just silver. Also sold was fine art glass, lighting, modern and antique furniture, fine carpets, porcelains, glassware, garden sculptures and planters, fine jewelry and decorative objects for the home. Online bidding was via Liveauctioneers.com, Invaluable.com and BidSquare.com. Telephone and absentee bids were also accepted. It was an eclectic sale, with items ranging from a 2.5 carat solitaire diamond ring prong set in 14kt white gold ($8,610); to an Okkintok squared ... More
Big screen is back at Locarno Film Festival
GENEVA (AFP).- The Locarno Film Festival opens Wednesday, with thousands set to return to the open-air giant screen in the idyllic Swiss town after last year's edition was forced online by the pandemic. Founded in 1946, Locarno is one of the world's longest-running annual film festivals and focuses on auteur cinema. Held on the shores of Lake Maggiore, in the Italian-speaking Ticino region of southern Switzerland, films are screened in Locarno's central square before up to 8,000 people -- a feature of Swiss national life depicted on the country's 20-franc banknotes. However, the 2020 festival could not be staged in the usual way due to the Covid-19 crisis and so switched to a hybrid format, with films and content made available online. "Last summer the Piazza Grande was a sorry sight, with no chairs, no people, no thrilling atmosphere in the evening," said the festival's president ... More
Flames surround island monastery as fires rage in Greece
ATHENS (AFP).- At least 150 houses were destroyed by a raging fire that surrounded a monastery and a dozen villages on the Greek island of Evia Wednesday, one of over 100 blazes burning in the country. Firefighters were also battling a blaze near Athens, while the mayor of Olympia, the birthplace of the Olympic Games, pleaded for help as flames threatened the site. The blazes erupted as Greece is in the grip of a heatwave. "We're waging a battle of the titans!" deputy minister for civil protection Nikos Hardalias told journalists. "The hardest is still to come." On Evia, the huge flames leaping up from the forest could be seen from the sea. Firefighters said it was a difficult blaze to control on an island of rolling hills with little visibility. Three monks from Saint David Monastery had refused to leave, they added, but everyone had been evacuated from nearby villages. "We're suffocating ... More
Willie Winfield, angelic-voiced doo-wop singer, is dead at 91
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Willie Winfield, whose silken lead vocals with the Harptones in the 1950s made him a favorite of doo-wop connoisseurs, even though the group never achieved wide mainstream commercial success, died July 27 in a hospital in Brooklyn. He was 91. The cause was cardiac arrest, his daughter Tina Winfield said. Willie Winfields angelic voice was first heard in the early days of rock n roll, and he continued to sing when doo-wop groups turned into nostalgia acts in the 1970s. He toured with various incarnations of the Harptones until he retired in 2019, when he was 89. He had one of the best voices around, Dick Fox, a producer who booked the Harptones dozens of times on his live oldies shows, said in a phone interview. His voice was unique, and it lasted his whole life. He never lost the higher register. During the 1950s, Winfield and the ... More
Sotheby's Wine expands 'Own Label Collection' with six new wines
NEW YORK, NY.- Sothebys Wine announced the addition of six new wines to the Sothebys Own Label Collection, a thoughtfully curated selection of Sotheby's branded bottles, expanding from the existing 13 bottles to 19 bottles. The retail business that emerged from the storied auction house tapped into its decades of expertise and a rich network of relationships with respected growers to curate this enhanced line up. The new varietals include: Rosé Champagne, Provence Rosé, Pinot Grigio, Côtes du Rhône, Chianti Rúfina Riserva, and a Tuscan red blend. Prices range from $16.95 to $39.95. All Sothebys Own Label Collection wines are now available for purchase exclusively at sothebyswine.com and via the brands flagship retail store at 1334 York Avenue in New York. These outstanding new wines will be available in our Hong Kong retail location later this fall, in addition to the ... More
Queer art, ephemera & historical material at Swann Galleries August 19
NEW YORK, NY.- Swann Galleriess third annual auction dedicated to the art, material culture, and history of the LGBTQ+ community will be held on Thursday, August 19, bringing to market both familiar artists as well as fresh, unusual and infrequently seen material. Among the art highlights are several original works by Tom of Finland, including two preparatory drawings and a completed color pencil work, HomeSecured, 1982 ($60,000-90,000); four oil paintings by Hugh Steers are led by Gold Fringe, 1993 ($30,000-50,000); a run of works by Paul Cadmus including a Prisma-color crayon drawing, Male Nude (MN155), 1979 ($20,000-30,000); three drawings by Gerda Wegener, as well as material by Keith Haring, Andy Warhol and David Wojnarowicz. A significant section of important fine photographs will feature works by the mediums most significant practitioners. Diane ... More
Paul Robinson aka LUAP launches new installation on New Bond Street
LONDON.- British artist LUAP unveils new multidisciplinary installation in the heart of Londons Mayfair. In Nature & Nurture The Pink Bear he brings together some of his works enduring themes, such as mental health, the climate and isolation, bringing them to the street for all to see. Across all mediums, LUAP dynamically fuses adventure and art through his paintings and photography, drawing from his own experiences. His adult-size Pink Bear suit follows him up mountains, surreal landscapes, cities and remote spots in far-away places, juxtaposing them in stark contrast with his central figure The Pink Bear. Over the last 18 months, he has created several installations, artworks and murals on the streets, making art accessible throughout this period of transformation and change. From large painted murals, digital display takeovers, vinyl wraps and immersive installations, a new world is created ... More
Review: Mostly Mozart returns to Lincoln Center, quietly
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- The Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, the headliner ensemble of Lincoln Centers summertime music series, is the latest group to return to live performance in New York. But unlike some organizations, it sneaked back into action quietly. Early Monday evening, Louis Langrée, the orchestras music director, led 13 players in a Mozart masterpiece, the Gran Partita Serenade for Winds in B flat. The informal performance a surprise pop-up, produced with little promotion took place on the inviting artificial lawn with which Lincoln Center has covered its plaza. The concert, and other offerings in the centers Restart Stages venture this summer, was conceived at a time when arts institutions were being especially careful to avoid attracting oversize crowds because of fears of the virus spreading. Those concerns, of course, linger. But I ... More
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PhotoGalleries
French Impressionism from MFA
Aston Hall
Yukinori Yanagi
The Interior
Flashback On a day like today, Canadian painter Tom Thomson was born August 05, 1877. Thomas John "Tom" Thomson (August 5, 1877 - July 8, 1917) was an influential Canadian artist of the early 20th century. He directly influenced a group of Canadian painters that would come to be known as the Group of Seven, and though he died before they formally formed, he is sometimes incorrectly credited as being a member of the group itself. Thomson died under mysterious circumstances, which added to his mystique. In this image: This newly discovered Tom Thomson oil on board recently sold for $126,500.
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