Museum of Fine Arts, Boston I just found a spunky rebuttal to the much-discussed article by the Times’ Robin Pogrebin about the recent era of museum overbuilding. Pogrebin’s article is referenced in yesterday’s post, and anyone who has read her piece should also read through Lee Rosenbaum’s article on CultureGrrl, Not Dead Yet: Museum Building […]
Smorgasbord
I suddenly found myself with a basketful of things to share, so here is a potpourri of links to explore in more depth: The great Jerry Saltz, who has been a tireless champion for gender equality in the visual arts, has done his best with the 2010 Whitney Biennial: 52 percent women! Regina Hackett at […]
Cracking the Nut
Ert, by Tomma Abts, 2003. 48cm x 38cm. Boros Collection, Berlin Timing can be a bitch. One of the most poignant examples for me is the 2008 publication, Seven Days in the Art World by Sarah Thornton. The “sociologist of culture” (self-titled perhaps?) spent five years assembling her book about the red hot, way cool, […]
All That is Other and Beyond Us
Oaks tree in Cumbria Alain de Botton writes both fiction and nonfiction. His books are engaging, clever and just downright fun. Although I’ve never read any of his three novels (not sure why that is) I have every one of his nonfiction publications. His titles make picking up his books irresistible (IMHO), with names like […]
Books About Color
For anyone who is susceptible to the energetics of color (my hand is up), reading about it can also be intoxicating. Here are a few great books for those who revel in this inexplicably mysterious and lush bennie of life on this planet: *** Written by a journalist who travels the world exploring the original […]
Life as a Foreign Language
How is it that one day life is orderly and you are content, a little cynical perhaps but on the whole just so, and then without warning you find the solid floor is a trapdoor and you are now in another place whose geography is uncertain and whose customs are strange? Travelers at least have […]
We Are What We Eat (Hear, See, Learn)
Bill McKibben has been a longstanding writer about the environment and sustainability. His first book, The End of Nature, was published in the late 80’s. That was followed by The Age of Missing Information, published in 1992. Missing Information explores the differences in the quality of the experience of 24 hours spent watching television versus […]
Turner Prize Goes Wright
Richard Wright (Photograph: Linda Nylind) The Turner Prize has no equivalent in the United States. This annual award to a U.K.-based visual artist is like awarding just one Oscar for “Best Artist in All the Land”. The build up, the anticipation, the dissenters, the enthusiasts—it is a yearly cycle that I observe with interest from […]
Still Enchanting After All These Years
Looking south from Cordova NM The view from Carson NM I’m back from five days in New Mexico. Born in the desert and more at home in that landscape than anywhere else, I have been in a deep need for that stark horizontality, for the vistas that read both minimally and maximally, for the understated […]
Art on the Installment Plan
David Pike, pictured with his favourite piece by Paul Denham, enjoys buying art despite living in a caravan. (Photo: North News & Pictures) I just learned about Own Art from an article in the Telegraph. Here’s an excerpt that explains the gist of the program: Set up in 2004 by the Arts Council, Own Art […]