“Something much more subtle than a classic boom-bust cycle is going on. The art world is punishing the overly prolific, those artists who responded (in retrospect, perhaps too hastily) to stiff demand by upping supply.” And with demand going soft, auction houses and galleries are tending to avoid younger artists in favor of the tried-and-true.
Tag: 05.10.09
Richard & Judy Show Cancelled, But Book Club Will Live On
The venerable British morning talk show, whose Oprah-like Book Club is a very big deal for the UK’s publishing industry, will go off the air in July, due to poor ratings on the for-pay digital channel to which it moved last fall. But production company Cactus TV says it’s in “advanced talks” with “media partners” to keep the Book Club going.
SF Ballet’s Tina LeBlanc Ends A 25-Year Career
“Her longstanding partner fell to his knees in devoted homage before Tina LeBlanc during the extended, celebratory curtain calls, and one could sense the entire audience collectively joining in that spirit, as San Francisco Ballet said farewell to this most distinctive, exuberantly American ballerina Saturday night.”
Is The Recession Turning New Yorkers Into Minnesotans?
“[M]oney primes people to be ‘self-insulating,’ … or prone to burrow deep within themselves, whether for self-protection or self-aggrandizement. And where else in the country are people such a powerful amalgam of self-involvement and motivation? […] The city that once revolved around the dollar has been temporarily tapped off its axis … How does a city in withdrawal behave?”
Daniel Barenboim, Perpetual-Motion Mensch
Justin Davidson: “There are many people – and Daniel Barenboim is probably among them – who consider Daniel Barenboim the world’s most significant classical musician. The conductor and pianist projects three distinct impressions: that he is used to being the most distinguished person in the room; that he has something at once profound and self-evident to say; and that, having said it, he has to leave urgently.”
The Curse Of Balanchine
Sarah Kaufman: “We are cursed with George Balanchine, cursed with an overload of his ballets as well as with the ubiquity of the sinewy style he favored, his preference for plotless works on a naked stage, his taste for fast, skinny, emotionally guarded dancers.”
The Power Of Hatred (On Reality TV)
Virginia Heffernan: “Early reality shows borrowed plots from fiction: the end of innocence (The Real World), the dawn of romantic love (The Bachelor), the perils of greed (Joe Millionaire). By contrast, later-generation reality producers have recognized that capricious animosity, even when it seizes an otherwise unremarkable mind, is an exceptionally efficient source of dialogue, character and suspense.”
‘The Donald’s Top Flops’ (As The NY Post Might Say)
Blair Kamin: “[T]he just-completed spire atop the 92-story Trump International Hotel & Tower, the tallest American skyscraper since the 1974 completion of Sears Tower … [is] a one-star piece of skyline stagecraft, a Kmart accessory for an Hermès suit.”
Why Is The Pittsburgh Symphony Going To China?
“Consider that China produces more instruments than any other place on Earth, more than 40 major orchestras have sprouted across the country and some of the great stars of the industry now hail from China, including pianist Lang Lang and composer Tan Dun.”
Australian Ballet – Losing Money, But Surviving
“Shrinking investments left the company with a net loss of $1,940,404 for last year, but a strong box office, successful international tour and strategic cost-cutting have enabled the company to post an operating surplus of $861,020. The report, published yesterday, shows the company cut operating costs by more than $1 million last year.”