Category: visual

There is no time for being artsy or coy, one might argue, when so many people are dying. This project also reveals a certain degree of modesty on Weems’ part — almost no one who drives past the billboards will know that an artist is responsible, as her name only appears in small letters at the bottom of each frame. – Dallas Morning News

MSCHF, the group responsible for stunts like Finger on the App and MasterWiki, is bringing attention to the failures of the American healthcare system with Medical Bill Art. Three real medical bills were rendered into oil paintings and sold for the amount of money owed via the art market. The work is aptly called 3 Medical Bills. – Mashable

“Most grad students in art history dream of discovering an unknown work by whatever great artist they are studying. Louis Shadwick has achieved just the opposite.” – The New York Times

In 2019, global online art and collectibles sales topped $4.82 billion and are expected to soar in 2020—pacesetter auction houses Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips saw increases in online sales from Jan. 1 to June 28 of 436 percent over the previous year. The average price for digital sales grew by 207 percent to $23,612 as auction houses start to test collector appetite for buying fine art online, according to Barron’s, which has tracked the trend since the pandemic started. – The Daily Beast

If we think of abstraction, as many did in the mid-20th century, as marking the endpoint of art’s history, coming after the figurative tradition is essentially exhausted or abandoned, then, by that logic, abstract art would have no history. – Hyperallergic

Never mind that Guston, who was Jewish and died in 1980, had a powerful record, going back to his youth, of anti-racist actions and imagery. Never mind that two of today’s leading African American artists, including Glenn Ligon and Trenton Doyle Hancock, have contributed essays to the catalogue (Ligon even praising Guston in his essay as “woke”). And never mind that it’s absurd to require artists to pass such litmus tests in the first place. – Washington Post

“What an honour it is to be the first Indigenous winner of the Archibald prize,” he said. “It only took 99 years. I’m so proud to be the first but I also have to acknowledge all the Indigenous finalists and Indigenous sitters for this year and past years.” – The Guardian

“What those who criticize this decision do not understand is that in the past few months the context in the U.S. has fundamentally, profoundly changed on issues of incendiary and toxic racist imagery in art, regardless of the virtue or intention of the artist who created it.” – The New York Times

On Monday, the National Gallery quietly posted a joint statement signed by directors of all four museums set to host the show: Kaywin Feldman (National Gallery), Frances Morris (Tate Modern), Matthew Teitelbaum (MFA Boston), and Gary Tinterow (MFA Houston). The statement said the exhibition was being pushed “until a time at which we think that the powerful message of social and racial justice that is at the center of Philip Guston’s work can be more clearly interpreted.” – ARTnews

How? Michael Kimmelman takes a tour of 42nd Street in New York City to understand how the street became what it is. – The New York Times