Sheldon Solow, a New York real estate tycoon who had one of the best private colelctions of 20th-century art, died last month. Auction houses in crisis since the pandemic began wonder if the collection will go on the market – or become a private museum. – The New York Times
Author: ArtsJournal2
Honestly, Why *Are* Film Shoots Allowed When Outdoor Dining Isn’t?
There’s a reason (beyond who’s paying whom), but it’s not easy for restaurant owners dealing with another shutdown and little relief to enjoy seeing film shoots near their closed dining facilities. On sets, it’s all about tracking, tracing, and control. – LAist
Sick Of ‘Nutcracker’ Streams?
Try the contemporary dance version of A Christmas Carol. Yes, Ebeneezer can dance. – Dance Magazine
Awards Season Has Begun, And In LA, Steve McQueen Won Best Film For His A Five-Film Anthology
The LA Film Critics Association also awarded Best Director to Chloe Zhao for Nomadland with Frances McDormand, and Russia’s stark post-WWII tale Beanpole won Best Foreign Film. The rest of the winners – and it’s an interesting list – are at the link. – Los Angeles Times
In Canada, A True Brouhaha About Yet Another Well-Funded Artist’s Claim Of Indigenous Identity
Michelle Latimer is the co-creator and director of Canada’s Trickster, a TV series that has won acclaim as an adaptation of an Indigenous writer’s trilogy. But Latimer’s claimed identity has come into serious question. She said she had “prematurely claimed a link without first doing the proper research to back up her belief.” – CBC
It Took A Netflix Movie To Shed Light On Playwright August Wilson’s Vision
Well, not in the theatre world, obviously – but in the wider world, Netflix carries some pretty solid cultural cachet. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is the first of Wilson’s plays to be adapted for the streaming behemoth. Its director says Wilson’s play is all too relevant in 2020. “It would be lovely one day if it was a lovely piece of nostalgia about the difficult complicated racial equation of 1927. But that’s not going to happen for a while.” – NPR
Finding Early Fame, And Then Retrenching To Take Control
Gemma Arterton’s first fame came from being a Bond girl in Quantum of Solace, not long after she started a professional acting career. That’s a lot of sexism and social media control for a young actor to deal with. But things have changed. “In the past few years she has been noticeably vocal on inequality in the industry and she was instrumental in getting the Time’s Up campaign organised on the Bafta red carpet in London in 2018. ‘I’m a doer,’ she says. ‘I’m quite good at getting things done.'” – The Observer (UK)
Pantos Are Off, But A Christmas Carol Is Saving Some British Theatres
Sure, the U.S. is Christmas Carol‘d out – but the longtime American theatre Christmas standby is also serving its home country. In Bury St. Edmunds, the play is outside, in the center of town. Says the director, who is no doubt right about the ghosts of Christmas, “Certain effects really suit a winter evening.” – BBC
Pop Culture Absolutely Failed Us In 2020
Perhaps it’s too overwhelming to contemplate on any pop level, but also, the lack of a sufficient representation of our time is weird. “Months into this altered reality, pop culture has remained stunted, vaguely gesturing at our shared reality without having contributions of substance. There have been surprisingly few works in music, TV, or films that help us process what we are going through. This is not for lack of content.” – BuzzFeed
Catie Lazarus, Who Made A Comedic Career Out Of Interviewing Everyone, 44
Lazarus landed into the public eye during another highly unfunny time – just after the Great Recession. She “probed the minds of celebrities and created her own late-night comedy universe on her longstanding self-produced live New York talk show, Employee of the Month.” – The New York Times