art blog since 2009
He may be one of the fifteenth century’s best known scientists and empiricists, but Leonardo has become synymous with mystery and obscurantism. The smoke which blurs the features of his most famous painting, also coils around the edges of these burnt-brown anatomy drawings and the plans he made elsewhere for real world inventions. So today …
November 11, 2011
Once again I’ve whittled down the infinite reaches of the world wide web into ten or so convenient destinations just for you: Not entirely art related but this does feature some highly creative metaphors: John Lichfield writes about the Eurozone crisis in the Independent (via @tds153) Also in the Independent, gallerist Richard Cork tells us …
November 7, 2011
Why it should be pleasant to imagine aliens are invading planet earth is not clear. But the only clear result of a recent hoax broadcast from BBC Radio Merseyside was listening enjoyment. The Halloween transmission may have confused a few people, but it was nothing like the famous Orson Welles stunt of 1938. There are …
November 4, 2011
Resisting the temptation to do a Halloween special, here are a bunch of largely unfrightening links. Enjoy: As the art world’s most eminent reflect on where they stand in the Power 100 in Art Review, Hyperallergic completes the picture with the Powerless 20. Funny it is too. Carsten Höller’s show at the New Museum sound …
October 31, 2011
As a novel set in an art gallery, Old Masters might be of some interest to readers of this blog. Viennese readers especially, since it is set in the Kunsthistorisches Museum. Thomas Bernhard narrows things down even further by setting the entire thing in the vicinity of a single painting: White-bearded Man by Tintoretto. But …
October 28, 2011
Quick art quiz question: who said in 2009: “I spend 90% of my energy on bloggingâ€? It wasn’t Jonathan Jones, who posts daily on art for the Guardian. Nor was it a professional US art blogger from Hyperallergic, C-Monster, Art Fag City or ArtInfo. It was in fact Ai Weiwei, just named Art Review’s most powerful …
October 26, 2011
In solidarity with occupy Sotheby’s, etc, criticismism has been occupying GoogleReader to bring you another bunch of links: It could always be worse. So suggests Der Spiegel who report on the publication of a database of Nazi appproved art. Being dubious about the Museum of Everything, I liked this Jonathan Griffin piece which raises questions. …
October 24, 2011
Amidst the bright, shiny things one could take home from Frieze to put on your wall was this: a structure of mud, daring collectors to take it back to their bright, shiny homes. Hand made from adobe bricks and modelled on an original in the highlands of Peru, this sculpture brought the outside world into …
October 21, 2011
Post-Frieze comedown fodder: Too much has been written about the fair this year, I know. But this sharp analysis by critic JJ Charlesworth makes a lot of sense. Non-native English speakers only need to know 1500 words and ‘globish‘ is one of them. The Guardian also reports from a talk at Frieze. If you’re not …
October 17, 2011
As a structuralist who wrote about wrestling, wine and fashion, it can seem Roland Barthes is one of the less abstruse theorists you might come across in an artwork. And now Nick Davies has added a layer of either difficulty or simplicity by translating the Frenchman’s 1975 work, The Pleasure of the Text, into mobile …
October 14, 2011