Category: visual

While much of the criticism that has been directed at NCAS’s proposal thus far (from the American Institute of Architects, from the profession at large, and from more or less the entire critical establishment) only threatens to elevate the group’s standing—reigniting a tiresome 1980s Style War, pitting pop historicists against high-minded modernists—it has tended to obscure some of the creepier implications of the incipient decree. The classicists may think they’re about to score a coup. In truth, they are setting themselves up to be consumed by a political project at odds even with their own, admittedly backward-looking agenda. – Art in America

Weird, right? While the painting is definitely authentic, police are still trying to puzzle out the odd story of how it ended up there and who really did it. It’s complicated. – The Daily Beast

“I walk into the wrong entrance at the large industrial building hosting the Spring/Break Art Show. ‘Sorry!’ a young cheery Englishwoman at a desk tells me. ‘This is a dumpling-associates popup!’ I don’t think I’ve ever heard a more beautiful sentence.” – Hyperallergic

For instance, David Hockney’s “splash” paintings created an idea of Los Angeles that was cool and secluded. Artist Ramiro Gomez imagines what was going on behind the scenes in No Splash – and other scenes of “cool” LA. “He creates these paintings more as questions than as heavy, social statements, using the words ‘subtle anger’ to explain his motivation. ‘I try to stay away from didactic work,’ he says. ‘I leave that to the activists. I’m trying to find the middle ground.'” – The Guardian (UK)

In a reversal of fortune story that seems nigh-on impossible given certain trends in federal government, Caroline Baumann “was forced to resign as director of the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in Manhattan last week following an investigation by the Smithsonian’s inspector general into potential problems regarding the procurement of the dress and the wedding space.” – The New York Times

A ton of Philadelphia jazz history – including John Coltrane’s house – is in danger of disappearing. Property neglect, loss of institutional memory, gentrification by Temple University and unprotected development threaten several foundational spots in the city – but steps could be taken, were there someone to take them. – The Philadelphia Inquirer

Was it a dispute between art workers and ultra rich owners, a lack of attendance – or so much more? The shut-down “raises questions about the public benefit of private museums run by wealthy art collectors as foundations. Such establishments, often viewed by skeptics as vanity projects or tax shelters, have mushroomed in recent years.” – Los Angeles Times

Jordan Casteel paints portraits – huge portraits. And that means something to her subjects. “‘I knew I wanted to use this opportunity to place my mom and I in the art historical canon,’ said Emmanuel Amoakohene, one of Ms. Casteel’s students, who posed with his mother in 2019. The scale of the radiant, seven-foot canvas, he said, ‘makes me feel like I matter.'” – The New York Times

Yikes: “A picture shared on social media showed ‘BCC wankers’ scrawled across the artwork, which shows a young girl firing a slingshot filled with flowers.” – The Guardian (UK)

Just last year in L.A., the Marciano and the Main Museum ended operations, and the year before that, the Pasadena Museum of Californian Art. In recent years there have been similar closings in Paris, London, Vienna, Moscow, Cape Town, Beijing, and Chengdu. Georgina Adams identifies three reasons for these failures — funding, disengagement, and generational change — that boil down to the same thing: the danger of relying on a single founder-donor. – The Art Newspaper