In the past decade enough good and unusual films have been made in Ireland that critics and scholars are studying the “genre.” But such academic study so often misses the point, writes one critic, that it’s laughable. – The Sunday Times (UK) 06/04/00
Tag: 06.04.00
PHOTOGRAPHER WINS
A day after the Supreme Court declined to stop them, 150 people posed nude under New York’s Williamsburg Bridge for a photographer. – ABC News
AN ARCHITECTURAL LEGACY
After a decade of high-profile projects, Norman Foster is the pre-eminent British architect of the day. But how will history judge his work? – The Telegraph
BRIDGES TO THE FUTURE
A new wave of interesting public architecture being built in London shows up the embarrassing efforts of the ’70s and ’80s. – The Sunday Times (UK)
THE ONLINE ART-BUYER
So who would buy art online without seeing it in person? The buyer who is intimidated by the gallery “scene” and the traditional culture around buying art. “I like going to galleries, but I’ve found that if you don’t have thousands of dollars to spend, the attitude is they won’t give you the time of day.” – San Jose Mercury News
A GLORIOUS MESS
“The show, now at the Guggenheim Museum, is called ‘1900 – Art at the Crossroads,’ which it isn’t, really. It’s more like ‘Art on Tumble Dry,’ which is to say art as the usual mess, any year you could pick. The curators have not only dragged out 1900’s frolicking nymphs, adored virgins, symbolist tombs and gloomy peasants painted and sculpted by people you never heard of; no, the outrage is that they’re hung next to Cezanne, Picasso, Munch, Sargent, on and on, as if they were all equals. – Washington Post
THE SISTINE CHAPEL AND HOCKEY
Self-taught artist John Mahnic has spent some 2,900 hours over eight years recreating paintings of the Sistine Chapel – but where Michelangelo used Biblical figures, Mahnic’s is an homage to hockey. “The masterpiece shows 162 recognizable hockey players emerging from temple columns. Whereas Michelangelo’s most famous scene depicts God’s forefinger touching that of the newly created Adam, Mahnic reprises this image showing hockey hero Bobby Orr falling toward the celestial digit after scoring the winning goal in the 1970 Stanley Cup final.” – National Post (Canada)
JOHN ADAMS RETURNS TO LONDON
John Adams has become one of America’s most popular, widely performers and accomplished composers. “Outgrowing the hypnotic drone of minimalism, he has taken on the classical tradition and annexed its august forms. It’s native bravado, not arrogance, which makes Adams measure himself against Verdi or compare his own dramaturgy with Shakespeare’s. – The Observer (UK)
MASUR’S LEGACY TO THE NEW YORK PHIL
There’s been so much talk recently about who will be the New York Philharmonic’s next music director, Kurt Masur, the NYP’s current leader has been a bit forgotten. That’s a mistake. The 72-year-old Mr. Masur, who has done so much to restore the orchestra to a lofty international standard of performance since taking it over in 1991, is to remain in place for two more seasons. – New York Times
A LEGEND IN THE MAKING?
Einojuhani Rautavaara – not exactly a name that rolls trippingly from the tongue. But the Finnish composer is rated by some as “one of the greatest living composers” working today. The Philadelphia commissioned a new symphony and premiered it in Helsinki last week. It got a polite, but not ecstatic reception. – Philadelphia Inquirer