Category: visual

“Kusama’s enormous popularity stems not just from the transformative experience of her photogenic art or its digital reach, but from her compelling personal narrative as well [as her] cultural brand as Pop Art’s eccentric auntie. … But it is also the result of a supporting structure that brings together [psychiatric] hospital, studio, fabricators, and galleries to surround her like an exoskeleton.” – ARTnews

Michael Kimmelman: “With one in four American adults living with disabilities, designing for accessibility and diversity should hardly be considered a chore or just a compliance issue. It’s an opportunity, both economic and creative, but one that requires a shift in mind-set.” – The New York Times

“Dubbed Frick Madison, the space will serve as a temporary home for the historic collection while the grounds of the Henry Clay Frick House on Manhattan’s Upper East Side undergo an extensive renovation and expansion.” As for displaying the art from the grand old mansion in Marcel Breuer’s 20th-century hulk, Frick director Ian Wardropper said, “We’ve learned that you can’t fight Brutalism.” – Artnet

Written by two former employees and one current staff member and signed by almost 70 others, the petition alleges sexual and racial harassment at the federally funded institution and calls for broad changes to make it a more diverse, equitable and transparent institution. – Washington Post

The one-story, three-bedroom cottage was built in 1913 as a temporary home for Wright’s lawyer, Sherman Booth. Booth developed a cluster of Wright houses, including one for himself, in the Ravine Bluffs section of Glencoe. – Chicago Tribune

There aren’t many in England, even in the capital city – and it took two years to raise the funds for this one. “Price’s latest statue will be one of very few in Britain of black female subjects. Those in London already include a prominent one of Crimean war nurse Mary Seacole outside St Thomas’s hospital and one of a woman and child in Stockwell Gardens, south London.” – The Observer (UK)

The graduating MFA class of 2020 at the Oregon College of Art and Craft has, to put it mildly, been through some things. But they may be the only graduating MFA class in the country to have had a thesis show this year. – Oregon ArtsWatch

London: “Emptied out by coronavirus during lockdown, the City was the perfect place for socially distanced, government-mandated walks. And beneath its streets are the bodies of innumerable plague victims. One in particular haunts me. Holbein died in London, almost certainly of plague, in 1543. The long shadow of bubonic plague permeates his art, in its danse macabre of corpses and skeletons. It seemed appropriate to seek out this master of pestilence in a time of pandemic.” – The Guardian (UK)

Bloodletting was a normal treatment at the time, but not the best practice for someone who probably had pneumonia, or so a new study says. – The Guardian (UK)

Museums will not open on Monday, or anytime soon, says Governor Cuomo. “We’re not going to have any indoor activity in malls or cultural institutions. … We’ll continue to monitor that situation, and when the facts change, we will let you know.” The worry? Viral spread by tourists from the South and West of the U.S., where cases are increasing at a massive rate. – The New York Times