A passport from the fictional “All African People’s Consulate” at the 60th Venice Biennale, in Venice, Italy, April 12, 2024. The artist Dread Scott, an American godfather of activism, opened the fictional consulate along the Grand Canal during the biennale as a challenge to the notion that Europeans can decide when and where Africans can move. (Matteo de Mayda/The New York Times)
NEW YORK, NY.- Nobody would accuse activist-artist Dread Scott of being a diplomat. He would rather dismantle power structures than sustain them. But the “All African People’s Consulate” he has created as a conceptual artwork along the Grand Canal during the 60th Venice Biennale has quickly become a solid gathering place for the Black community in a city that hasn’t always been hospitable ... More
Norbert Bisky, Tracer, 2024. Oil on canvas, 150 x 120 cm. Photo: Bernd Borchardt.
NEW YORK, NY.- For his first exhibition at Templon New York, German artist Norbert Bisky unveils an explosive show made up of oil paintings on canvas and paper as well as a large installation exploring the question of play in human societies. Born in 1970 in GDR, Norbert Bisky has spent the last 25 years delving into the notion ... More
Bruce Gamage Jr. at his antique shop in Rockland, Maine, April 11, 2024. (Cig Harvey/The New York Times)
ROCKLAND, ME.- Whenever a worthy cause needs help in Rockland, Maine, this town of 7,000 overlooking Penobscot Bay, people reach out to Bruce Gamage Jr., an auctioneer who runs an antiques shop downtown. Regularly, he drops what he’s doing to drum up bidding at charity auctions organized for, say, the historical society or an injured child, ... More
Law Roach, the stylist whose celebrity clients include Zendaya, in New York on April 22, 2024. (Justin J Wee/The New York Times)
NEW YORK, NY.- Last March, Law Roach seemed to be at the peak of his career as a celebrity stylist. He had won the first stylist of the year award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America, and was working with Zendaya, Celine Dion, Anya Taylor-Joy and Anne Hathaway, among ... More
GRENOBLE.-The musée de Grenoble presents, in collaboration with the Centre Pompidou, an exhibition dedicated to Joan Miró. Bringing together more than 130 artworks, the exhibition titled Miró. Un ... More
LONDON.- This spring, Christie’s will present almost 250 works of art collected and enjoyed by the scion of Three Dealing Dynasties: London, Paris, Geneva, who have been at the centre of the international art market for almost a century, to be offered for sale on 23 May 2024. Renowned in their ... More
BROOKLYN, NY.- As The Beatles captured the hearts of millions, Paul McCartney captured it all on his Pentax film camera. Paul McCartney Photographs 1963–64: Eyes of the Storm takes visitors inside the 1963–64 frenzy of Beatlemania, as the band’s first U.S. tour skyrocketed them to global ... More
HONG KONG.- On 28 May, Christie’s will present the auction debut of Andy Warhol’s rare masterpiece Flowers, the largest of the artist’s famed Flowers series to appear at auction in Asia, as a leading highlight of the 20th and 21st Century Art Evening Sales in Hong Kong. The work is one of only twelve 82 inch Flowers paintings recorded and ... More
Olinda Tupinambá, Equilíbrio [Balance], 2020. Video installation composed of soil and seeds. Courtesy of the artist.
VENICE.- When Glicéria Tupinambá, an Indigenous Brazilian artist, first visited the Quai Branly Museum in Paris, she had an encounter that would change her life. It was 2018 and museum officials had invited Glicéria — a member of the Tupinambá people — to see a mantle, or feathered cape, that her ancestors had made hundreds of years ... More
Former Asia Society President Robert Oxnam at his home in New York, on Sept. 28, 2005. (Heidi Schumann/The New York Times)
NEW YORK, NY.- Robert B. Oxnam, an eminent China scholar who learned through psychotherapy that his years of erratic behavior could be explained by the torment of having multiple personalities, died April 18 at his home in Greenport, New York, on the North Fork of Long Island. He was 81. His wife, Vishakha Desai, said the cause ... More
Joel Conarroe who was called the “hub of the New York literary wheel.” (University of Pennsylvania via The New York Times)
NEW YORK, NY.- Joel Conarroe, a celebrated arts administrator and professor who headed the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation for nearly two decades and served as a friend and confidant to a pride of literary lions, including his close friend Philip Roth, died Sunday in the New ... More
The photographer Stanley Stellar, who has documented gay New York, at his home and studio in TriBeCa, April 17, 2024. (Elliott Jerome Brown Jr./The New York Times)
NEW YORK, NY.- Stanley Stellar was on Canal Street one Sunday morning in 1976 when a young man with a killer body passed by. Like many New York street photographers, Stellar is curious, bordering on nosy, and he can, when necessary, be a whiz at masking flirtation as flattery to put straight guys ... More
Rodolpho Parigi is part of a new generation of Brazilian artists who emerged in the early 2000s.
NEW YORK, NY.- For centuries, painters have envisioned ways to grasp life’s fleeting qualities through their art. The ancient word used to refer to a painter was Zoographos, which stresses the graphic depiction of the living, naming the one who “draws life”. There is no better illustration of such a defying challenge than the anecdote that ... More
Quote No architecture is so haughty as that which is simple. John Ruskin
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'Accepting the Job' is first major solo show by Constant Dullaart at OFFICE IMPART BERLIN.- Constant Dullaart is a Dutch conceptual artist known for his critical explorations of the intersections of art, technology and digital culture. His works often reflect the complexity of the digital world and question the concepts of originality, authorship and authenticity in the age of digital reproducibility. Through a playful approach and creative interventions, Dullaart challenges the viewer to question the boundaries between the virtual and the real. 'Accepting the Job‘ is the first major solo show by Constant Dullaart at OFFICE IMPART. The show deals with evolution of failure in technology and it includes selected works from the last ten years until today. The central installation and performance Captains Log (humanised) consists of a set of drums and the voice of Captain Picard. Translated into gibberish is an early manifesto by Constant Dullaart from 2013 about the ... More
Kerstin Thompson Architects to design new dining destination for National Gallery of Australia PARKES.-The National Gallery of Australia has appointed Kerstin Thompson Architects (KTA) to design a new café and dining destination for visitors, to be opened by July 2025. Located at the main entrance, the new National Gallery Café will open onto the Australian Garden with views of James Turrell’s remarkable Skyspace Within without 2010, offering a range of dining options for visitors to the National Gallery and the local cultural precinct. Selected via an open tender process, KTA demonstrated the vision and experience to partner with the National Gallery, backed by an impressive portfolio of architectural projects spanning heritage-listed sites and cultural institutions. Director Dr Nick Mitzevich said, ‘The National Gallery is thrilled to have KTA on board to deliver a new dining destination here at the National Gallery.’ ... More
Noisy, gaudy and spiritual: Young pilgrims embrace an ancient goddess TAIPEI.- In a din of firecrackers, cymbals and horns, a team of devotees carried the shrouded wooden statue of a serene-faced woman, holding her aloft on a brightly decorated litter as they navigated through tens of thousands of onlookers. As the carriers nudged forward, hundreds of people were lined up ahead of them, kneeling on the road and waiting for the moment when the statue would pass over their heads. Some wept after it did; many smiled and snapped selfies. “I love Mazu, and Mazu loves me,” the crowd shouted. Mazu, sometimes known as the Goddess of the Sea, is the most widely venerated of dozens of folk deities that many people in Taiwan turn to for solace, guidance and good fortune. The huge annual processions to honor her are noisy and gaudy. And yet for many, they are also deeply spiritual events, acts of faith showing that ... More
The Huntington appoints Diva Zumaya Associate Curator of European Art SAN MARINO, CALIF.-The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens announced today the appointment of Diva Zumaya as the new associate curator of European art. Zumaya comes to The Huntington from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), where she currently holds the position of associate curator of European painting and sculpture. She will join The Huntington on June 3. “We are delighted to welcome Diva to The Huntington, where she will be a passionate advocate for our world-class collection of European art,” said Christina Nielsen, The Huntington’s Hannah and Russel Kully Director of the Art Museum. “Her highly collaborative and multivocal curatorial approach, along with her interest in connecting our historic holdings with contemporary experiences, will be key as we continue to reimagine how we ... More
Ahlers & Ogletree to offer the Dobson Collection, May 16th in Atlanta ATLANTA, GA.- Some of the brightest stars in the fine art galaxy – names such as Marc Chagall, Raoul Dufy, David Hockney, Pablo Picasso, Ludwig Bemelmans, Carlos Nadal and Georges Braque – will be represented, sometimes multiple times, at the auction of the Bridget and Jerome Dobson collection slated for Thursday, May 16th, by Ahlers & Ogletree, online and live at the Atlanta gallery. “Since the 1970s, the dynamic duo of Bridget and Jerome Dobson has written award-winning episodes of several iconic daytime TV soap operas, including General Hospital, Guiding Light, As the World Turns and Santa Barbara,” said Robert Ahlers of Ahlers & Ogletree. “Between writing sessions, the couple collected incredible art on their travels around the world. Now, it will all be sold at auction.” The auction’s undisputed headliner is the French/Russian ... More
Eurovision fans are hungry for news. These superfans are here to help. LONDON.- Magnus Bormark, a longtime rock guitarist in Norway, said his band had gotten used to releasing music with little publicity. So nothing prepared him for the onslaught of attention since the band, Gåte, was selected to represent Norway at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. The phones have not stopped ringing, Bormark said — not just with calls from reporters from mainstream media outlets, but also from the independent bloggers, YouTubers and podcast hosts who provide Eurovision superfans with nonstop coverage of Eurovision gossip, backstage drama and news about the contest. Casual Eurovision observers may tune in once a year to watch the competition, in which acts representing 37 countries compete in the world’s most watched cultural event. But for true fans, Eurovision is a year-round celebration of pop music, and since the winner ... More
How rebel 'Star Wars' fans saved the original movies NEW YORK, NY.- Han shot first. As we celebrate the most hallowed of holidays — May the Fourth, also known as “Star Wars Day” because, you know, “may the Force be with you” — let us all agree that a long time ago, in a galaxy that now feels very far away indeed, Han shot Greedo first. No amount of special editions or George Lucas declarations will change that, even if, uh, Lucas actually did change that scene. If you seek the originals, these aren’t the films you’re looking for. A rebellion began in 1997, when Lucasfilm first released altered “special editions” of the first trilogy, adding new or revised scenes, computer-generated effects and expanded worlds. Ever since, fans have clamored for high-definition releases of the unaltered movies. Lucas has resisted and has continued altering them, insisting he is fulfilling his vision for the films, ... More
Sam Ash music stores to close after 100 years in business NEW YORK, NY.- Sam Ash, the family-owned chain of music stores that supplied countless beginners and working musicians with guitars, drums and other instruments, is closing all of its locations after 100 years in business, it announced this week. Derek Ash, whose great-grandparents, Sam and Rose Ash, opened the first Sam Ash store in the Brownsville section of New York City’s Brooklyn borough in 1924, said the company’s 42 locations could not compete in the era of online shopping. In March, Sam Ash announced it was closing 18 locations, with the hope of buying the company time to survive, Ash said. But he said that closing all the stores ended up being a “necessity.” “A lot of this has been the move to online shopping,” Ash, the company’s chief marketing officer, said in an interview. “There are so many choices, and to maintain a store with that much selection is very difficult.” ... More
Kelli O'Hara's ties to opera, from 'The Gilded Age' to the Met stage NEW YORK, NY.- On the HBO costume drama “The Gilded Age,” Kelli O’Hara plays a New York grande dame forced to choose sides in an opera war: remain at the old guard’s Academy of Music or defect to the Metropolitan Opera being built by the nouveau riche they had excluded. When her character, Aurora Fane, joins a throng of socialites surveying the nearly completed Met, the camera lingers on her face, upraised in awe. O’Hara herself is far more familiar with the Met, at least in its current incarnation. In addition to being a Tony-winning star of Broadway musicals and an Emmy nominee, she has been singing at the Met for nearly a decade and is back now for a revival of “The Hours,” starring opposite Renée Fleming and Joyce DiDonato, opera legends both. Still, the Met’s grand auditorium, which holds 4,000 people, inspires the same wonder in O’Hara as it does in Aurora. Although Au ... More
Esther, a new art fair with Northern European style NEW YORK, NY.- The art world is not traditionally friendly to newcomers. That’s why, for its inaugural edition, the art fair Esther put out a welcome mat. Literally. The newest addition to Frieze Week is taking over the New York Estonian House, a beaux-arts town house at 243 E. 34th St., through Saturday. In a nod to what visitors can expect from the congenial event, artist August Krogan-Roley, the husband of the fair’s co-founder Margot Samel, assembled a colorful doormat with the fair’s name and installed it out front. Esther is part of a growing contingent of alternative art fairs, including Basel Social Club in Switzerland and Supper Club in Hong Kong, born out of a desire among dealers to collaborate rather than compete. While galleries participating in corporate events such as Frieze or Art Basel shell out tens of thousands of dollars to rent a space the size ... More
The actor who played Jar Jar Binks is proud of his 'Star Wars' legacy LOS ANGELES, CA.- Ahmed Best is a futurist, an educator, a martial artist, a writer-director and the actor behind Jar Jar Binks, the most hated character in the “Star Wars” universe. Long-eared Jar Jar is a bipedal amphibianlike creature with an ungainly walk and a winning attitude. The groundbreaking, computer-generated goofball debuted in the first installment of George Lucas’ prequel trilogy, “Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace,” and instantly set off widespread criticism from both fans and the news media. “It took almost a mortal toll on me. It was too much,” Best recently recalled. “It was the first time in my life where I couldn’t see the future. I didn’t see any hope. Here I was at 26 years old, living my dream, and my dream was over.” Now 50, Best is the picture of panache who could easily be mistaken for an off-duty rock star. He arrived at our ... More
From Agnes Pelton to Rembrandt Peale: The 2024 American Art Signature Auction.
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On a day like today, Russian painter and architect Viktor Hartmann was born
May 05, 1834. Viktor Alexandrovich Hartmann (5 May 1834, Saint Petersburg - 4 August 1873, Kireyevo near Moscow) was a Russian architect and painter. He was associated with the Abramtsevo Colony, purchased and preserved beginning in 1870 by Savva Mamontov, and the Russian Revival. In this image: The Paris Catacombs
