“Is bibliophilia a religious impulse? You can’t walk into Sotheby’s exhibition space in Manhattan right now and not sense the devotion or be swept up in its passions and particularities. The 2,400-square-foot opening gallery is lined with shelves — 10 high — reaching to the ceiling, not packed tight, but with occasional books open to view.” All of them are written in Hebrew.
Tag: 02.12.09
The New Radical Chic: Fairey’s Establishment Defenders
Shepard “Fairey’s arrest has spawned a debate on the concept of public art, at least art that is imposed on the public by self-important phonies who regard property rights the way some pols and rich folks do taxes: rules that should apply to everybody but them. … [T]he people who defend taggers as ‘artists’ have the same mindset as the Manhattan socialites who defended self-described revolutionaries in the 1960s. Tom Wolfe coined a term for these fools: Radical Chic.”
Need A Sonnet For Your Beloved? Online Cyranos For Hire!
The Internet has helped a surprising number of poets to peddle their tailor-made verse, even if the income isn’t lucrative. “This is probably one of the easiest ways to make money from poetry, and you still can’t survive on it.”
Beijing, Taiwan May Collaborate On Imperial Art Collection
“Divided for 60 years by war and political turbulence, the imperial art collection of China is now the focus of negotiations that could lead to at least a few of the works being exhibited together again. The director of the National Palace Museum [in Taipei, Taiwan], the repository of the cream of the 1,000-year collection, plans to travel on Saturday to Beijing, the first official visit by a director of that museum to the mainland since the Nationalists lost China’s civil war to the Communists in 1949 and retreated to Taiwan.”
Met Casts New Stars In Chic Revivals, And The Seams Show
“At the Metropolitan Opera in recent seasons, great emphasis has been placed on the recruitment of new stage directors and on showcasing particular singers. So what happens when the special new productions with cutting-edge directors are revived with different stars? Recently, the Met … demonstrated the pitfalls of this mix-and-match approach.”
China To Designer’s Estate: Return Qing Dynasty Sculptures
“China’s government today urged the estate of the late French designer Yves Saint Laurent to return two Qing Dynasty bronze sculptures scheduled for a Feb. 25 auction by Christie’s International in Paris. The two animal-heads — a rabbit and a rat — were severed from a water fountain at Beijing’s imperial Summer Palace when British and French troops plundered and burned the palace in October 1860.”
Bankers, Michael Moore Wants Your Help For Bailout Film
“Filmmaker Michael Moore, who says the Wall Street bailout is ‘the biggest swindle in American history,’ is asking bankers to help him make a movie proving it.” So should they? One crisis-management professional says no, advising bankers to “counter potential fallout from Moore’s venture by assembling a rescue program to buy houses going into foreclosure and give them back to their owners.”
Zach Feuer Gallery Cuts Its Artist Roster Nearly In Half
“Zach Feuer, the New York dealer with a knack for turning young art-school grads into stars, has dropped eight artists — nearly half of his roster. ‘I didn’t want to be big in this economy,’ said Feuer, 30. ‘Now is the time to have a lower overhead and be small and lean.'”
Sydney Dance Co. Pins Hopes On New Director
“The pressure is on [Rafael] Bonachela to create a blockbuster season. He was appointed in November, more than a year after Tanja Liedtke was killed in a pedestrian accident as she was about to take up the reins at the company.”