Category: visual

“I think the message here is that, if you do see a piece of graffiti art out there, leave it, leave it for the public,” Maas said in a manner reminiscent of a not-angry-but-disappointed dad. “I’m not lecturing you. I’m just saying, without that certificate, it’s just very difficult to sell. With it, it might be worth £20,000. Without it, you’re nowhere.” – Artnet

“Far from representing a reduction in exhibition space, LACMA’s new building designed by Peter Zumthor, the David Geffen Galleries, is the final piece of a two decades-long expansion plan that effectively doubles the museum’s gallery space and replaces its ailing, nonfunctional facilities.” – New York Review of Books

Joe Sacco is famous in certain circles for his comics journalism books that recount complex tales in places readers might not know well. And accuracy – even in a cartoon-like book – is key. His new book might be his most detailed. “It’s about indigenous people who say that the land owns them and they are part of the land. So in a way, drawing them as accurately as possible, drawing their clothing, drawing their tents, their dogsleds correctly, and drawing the land itself in detail was kind of my way of honoring their own vision.” – Slate

But, plot twist: Did those gifts ever exist in the first place? The “chairwoman of the board of trustees, said in an email that the museum has no record of a $50 million pledge or any pledges totaling that amount.” – Washington Post

We know the power of “For sale: Baby shoes, never worn,” for instance, but also: “What particular sadness (or happiness) may be found in this worn heel or that frayed cuff? In the coat that is so pristine, we can only deduce that its owner gave it just a single outing?” – The Observer (UK)

What does a new book filled with photos of men loving other men illustrate? “Seeing ourselves in the past is as much about being certain of our present and, dare I say, our future.” – Hyperallergic

To be fair, the Hammer Museum show hasn’t officially opened. Still: “At Bloom & Plume Coffee in Historic Filipinotown: Customers linger on the sidewalk awaiting shots of espresso and oat milk lattes to go, as the K-pop girl group Blackpink spills from the café’s speakers. Unbeknownst to many of the customers moving through morning routines, they are attending one of the city’s most anticipated art events of 2020.” – Los Angeles Times

The question: How can public art affect, and reflect, communities and the time we live in? The answer, by artist Abigail DeVille, is a reinvention. “The piece summons ‘a long line of freedom fighters who have been protesting to exist in this nation from the very beginning.'” – The New York Times

Clair Zamoiski Segal asserts that “there is nothing short-sighted nor nefarious about deaccessioning. It is a regular practice, undertaken by every art museum in the United States. Assertions otherwise are simply a means of inflaming controversy and serve only to maintain the status quo of museums as repositories of riches serving the elite alone.” – ARTnews

“The market generally loves deaccessioned works; museum provenance adds the lustre of validation, and consequently monetary value. But will there just be too many of these works on the block in the coming months? … And, with an inevitably smaller market due to the [COVID] crisis, can prices be sustained?” – The Art Newspaper