Ronald Coles “reportedly sold artworks to investors for their personal retirement portfolios. Under Australian tax law, people who invest in art for superannuation purposes cannot keep the artworks with their personal assets. This meant that Mr Coles retained the works he sold to investors, and displayed them at galleries, social functions, sporting events and celebrity homes. Mr Coles also allegedly sold some paintings without investors’ knowledge or permission, and without passing on the proceeds.”
Tag: 03.16.09
Charleston Symphony Musicians Get Only Part Of Their Pay
“Players of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra did not get full pay on Friday. The symphony’s bank account depleted, management and musicians spent hours last week discussing their predicament and negotiating a solution, according to some involved.”
A Competition To Reinvent Stockholm
“The competition’s greatest value is as a measure of just how far many European governments have come in addressing failed urban policies of the past. The designs all seek to breathe new life into the dead zones created unwittingly by Modernist and postwar planners. Americans can only hope that such ingenuity will prod us toward a similar re-evaluation in the near future.”
Human-Powered Art?
“A leading contemporary Russian artist says he has perfected a technique to boil human corpses into crude oil from which he will create permanent sculptures, and he has already signed up willing volunteers.”
Humans – Programmed To Make Mistakes
“The very way we think, see and remember sets us up for mistakes. We are subconsciously biased, quick to judge by appearances and overconfident of our own abilities. Most of us believe we are above average at everything – a statistical impossibility that leads to slip-ups.”
When Times Get Tough, The Artists Get Going
“Tough times for arts organisations do not always mean tough times for artists. Times like these remind me that so much of what I find interesting in the arts is the product of the downside of the economic cycle. Smart artists, smart policy-makers and smart audiences should quickly realise that good cultural policy – like most forms of government policy – is a product of the economic cycle.”