| | The First Art Newspaper on the Net |   | Established in 1996 | Monday, May 31, 2021 |
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| | Send in the bugs. The Michelangelos need cleaning. | |
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Monica Bietti, a former director of the Medici Chapels Museum, who worked to clean and restore the chapel, points to Michelangelos allegorical sculpture of Night at the Medici Chapel in Florence, Italy, May 24, 2021. Last fall, with the chapel operating on reduced hours because of COVID-19, scientists and restorers completed a secret experiment: They unleashed grime-eating bacteria on the artists masterpiece marbles. Gianni Cipriano/The New York Times.
by Jason Horowitz
FLORENCE (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- As early as 1595, descriptions of stains and discoloration began to appear in accounts of a sarcophagus in the graceful chapel that Michelangelo created as the final resting place of the Medicis. In the ensuing centuries, plasters that were used to incessantly copy the masterpieces he sculpted atop the tombs left discoloring residues. His ornate white walls dimmed. Nearly a decade of restorations removed most of the blemishes, but the grime on the tomb and other stubborn stains required special, and clandestine, attention. In the months leading up to Italys COVID-19 epidemic and then in some of the darkest days of its second wave as the virus raged outside, restorers and scientists quietly unleashed microbes with good taste and an enormous appetite on the marbles, intentionally turning the chapel into a bacterial smorgasbord. It was top secret, said Daniela Manna, one of the art restorers. On a recent morning, she reclined like Michelangelos allegorical s ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day Peter Freeman, Inc., is presenting a retrospective of Alex Hay's work, with new dates of 6 March - 11 June 2021. Originally planned for April 2020, what was the occasion of the artistâs 90th birthday last year, this is the artist's sixth exhibition with the gallery, and his first retrospective anywhere since the New York Cultural Center's 1971 Alex Hay: Recorded and Performed Activities since 1962. The exhibition includes paintings, sculpture, and drawings from 1963 to 2020, with loans from the Archives of American Art, The Lowe Art Museum, Weatherspoon Art Museum, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
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| Alex Hay, comeback painter | | Dayton Art Institute opens exhibition "Changing Times: Art of the 1960s" | | Exhibition of color photographs by a variety of artists opens at Janet Borden Inc. | 
Installation view.
by Roberta Smith
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- A half-century on, Alex Hays giant paint-and-canvas homages to items usually found in stationery stores continue to amuse and amaze. His 1965 painting Legal Pad lives up to its title, with the pale yellow of the paper and the pale blue of the delicate horizontal lines running edge to edge. It might almost be the real thing, except that, at nearly 8 feet tall, it looms. Its combination of precise realism and outsize scale encapsulates the conundrum of Hays art: It is both commanding and modest, stately and slightly comic. Legal Pad is among 40 paintings and drawings in Alex Hay: Past Work and Cats, 1963-2020 at Peter Freeman Inc., which also include much-enlarged versions of a mailing label, a cargo tag hanging from its length of twine, some door-size brown paper bags and a page torn from a stenographers pad. It is the first survey of Hays six-decade career and another museum-quality ... More | | 
James Rosenquist (American, 19332017), F-111 (Leo Castelli Gallery poster), 1965. Offset lithograph. Collection of the Dayton Art Institute © 2021 James Rosenquist Foundation, Inc. / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
DAYTON, OH.- The Dayton Art Institute is taking museum visitors back to the 1960s with its first Special Exhibition of 2021! Changing Times: Art of the 1960s is now open and on view through September 12. This DAI-exclusive exhibition presents a look at the art of one of the most transformative and often turbulent decades the world has ever experienced. The 1960s was a decade of remarkable change. It was a period of space exploration, the Vietnam War, national sovereignty from colonial rule for many nations and intense social activismincluding civil rights, womens equality and gay liberation. The growth in popular and youth culture also brought about seismic shifts in fashion, hairstyles and music. Likewise, the visual arts reflected the changing times and were equally varied and vibrant. ... More | | 
Neil Winokur's Glass of Water is a powerful evocation of both humor and obvious simplicity in blue.
BROOKLYN, NY.- Janet Borden Inc. is presenting Color, an exhibition of color photographs by a variety of gallery artists. There are certain qualities unique to color photography, and each of these artists is addressing at least one. The color makes these photographs particularly enticing, and different from other work. Starting with Hanno Otten's spectacular large Colorblock, each image is dependent on the impact of the color. Generally, photographs selected for their information, their message, their narrative; Otten's light studies (Lichtbilde) are abstract large swaths of color delivering a punchy impression without a story. Jan Groover's extraordinary still life has a Morandi-like simplicity, based on its colors. Groover has painted the bottles a matte gray to diffuse the color. The composition also has a Morandi-like complexity, with implied planes making various bottles more prominent. Alfred Leslie's masterful pixel study of a woman' ... More |
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| National Endowment for the Arts funding would rise under Biden plan | | Christie's London to offer The L'Wren Scott Collection | | The Morgan opens 'Drawings by the Bibiena Family', marking their first U.S. exhibition in over thirty years | 
During the Trump years, the agencys budget grew by about $17 million, to $167.5 million in 2021.
by Graham Bowley
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- After four years when the National Endowment for the Arts lived under the threat of elimination, President Joe Biden on Friday proposed a 20% increase in the budget for the agency to $201 million. If approved by Congress for the 2022 fiscal year, it would be the largest increase in dollar terms in the organizations history, the agency said. The proposal in Bidens inaugural $6 trillion budget is a sharp turnaround from the years under President Donald Trump when, year after year, Trump proposed eliminating funding for the agency, as well as the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which supports public television and radio outlets around the country. Still, it must survive congressional scrutiny. Though Trumps budgets called for the elimination of the agency every year, its funding actually expanded a bit over the course of his term ... More | | 
The top lots in the sale are two bespoke stage jackets which LWren Scott custom-designed especially for her partner Mick Jagger. Estimate £20,000-30,000 each. © Christie's Images Ltd 2021.
LONDON.- Christies London announces The LWren Scott Collection, an online sale taking place from 9 June to 1 July 2021. The collection sale comprises 55 curated lots designed by the renowned fashion designer LWren Scott between 2006 and 2014, and this auction celebrates her legacy as a highly respected couturier and stylist. The proceeds from the sale will be donated to further funding the LWren Scott MA Fashion Scholarship at Central Saint Martins, UAL, a scholarship set up in memory of LWren by Mick Jagger in 2015 in order to annually support a student reach their potential in the highly competitive environment of fashion. The 55 lot sale showcases a selection of the most intricate and beautiful LWren Scott pieces, worn by LWren and by a number of the most celebrated faces in fashion, film and music. LWrens designs were recognised as one of the ultimate labels for red carpet and event ... More | | 
Giuseppe Galli Bibiena, Courtyard of a Palace, a Design for the Stage, ca. 171020. Pen and brown ink, gray wash, and blue watercolor, over graphite; 308 Ã 210 mm. Promised Gift of Jules Fisher, digital images courtesy of The Morgan Library & Museum, photography by Janny Chiu.
NEW YORK, NY.- The Morgan Library & Museum is presenting Architecture, Theater, and Fantasy: Bibiena Drawings from the Jules Fisher Collection, on view May 28 through September 12, 2021. The exhibition explores the elaborate stage design drawings produced by the Bibiena family and collected by the internationally acclaimed lighting designer Jules Fisher. It marks the first exhibition dedicated to Bibiena drawings in the United States in more than thirty years. For nearly a century, members of three generations of the Bibiena family were the most highly sought theater designers in Europe. Their revolutionary stage designs were used for operas, festivals, and courtly performances across Europe: from their native Italy to cities as far afield as Vienna, Prague, Stockholm, Saint Petersburg, and Lisbon. While some of these ... More |
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| Exhibition at Livie Fine Art presents ten works by New York painter Austin Eddy | | 'Churchill and his Artistic Allies', selling exhibition opens this week at Christie's London | | Mexico accuses major clothing brands of cultural appropriation | 
Austin Eddy, Seeuferweg, Sonnenuntergang. 2021. Oil, flashe, paper on canvas. 152.4 x 88.9 cm.
ZURICH.- For his first solo exhibition at Livie Fine Art, the New York painter Austin Eddy presents a walk along the shore. The ten works on display in Seeuferweg were inspired by the landscape in the artists native New Englandfrom Maine to upstate New Yorkas well as his home in Brooklyn, and abroad, in France and Switzerland. But while geographical specificity is key to these works (inspired as they are by Americas homegrown philosophy: transcendentalism) it is also beside the point. Instead of charting a cartography of memory, Eddy paints a course through time. Along the way, there are birds. Swans, ducks, seagullsEddy presents these waterfowl as a faux-naif assortment of shapes. Semicircle wings, isosceles beaks, dots for eyes, the birds are less feathered than formal iterations. And yet, theyve got such personality. As they twist their necks to better regard themselves (and us) they become our mirrors ... More | | 
Sir Winston Churchill, Chartwell Landscape with Sheep (circa 1946: estimate: £2,000,000-3,000,000). © Christie's Images Ltd 2021.
LONDON.- Churchill and his Artistic Allies is an exhibition of works by Sir Winston Churchill and the three artists who were most influential in his development as a painter: Sir John Lavery, Sir William Nicholson and Walter Richard Sickert. Churchill first picked up a paintbrush in June 1915, aged 40, initially as a means of diversion and escapism from the pressures of politics, following his resignation as First Lord of the Admiralty after the unsuccessful Dardanelles campaign. Encouraged firstly by Hazel Lavery, the wife of Sir John Lavery, painting proved to be one of the greatest pleasures of Churchills life, a passion which he was to pursue with unyielding enthusiasm until his passing in 1965. Sir John Lavery was perhaps the most significant influence on Churchills painting. It was with Lavery that he began his education as an artist, painting side by side ... More | | 
Mexican artisans of the Otomi ethnic group gather in San Nicolas village, in Tenango de Doria, Hidalgo state, Mexico, on June 18, 2019. Pedro PARDO / AFP.
MEXICO CITY (AFP).- Mexico has blasted major clothing brands Zara, Anthropologie and Patowl for using patterns and other elements of Mexican indigenous textiles in their collections without permission, the ministry of culture said Friday. The ministry has sent letters to the three labels asking them to publicly clarify on what grounds "the collective property" of indigenous peoples of the southern state of Oaxaca had been privatized, and to indicate how they intended to compensate the communities affected. Minister Alejandra Frausto told the brands not to undermine the cultures' "identity and economy", and called for changes that put indigenous designers from Mexico's 56 ethnic groups on an equal footing with major labels. The protection of their rights, "which have historically been invisible", was an ethical principle that had to be addressed at a local and global level, she added. ... More |
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| Galerie Templon opens an exhibition of works by Chiharu Shiota | | Southern Utah Museum of Art hosts thought-provoking solo exhibition by Stewart Seidman | | Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen opens two parallel exhibitions dedicated to Isa Genzken | 
Installation view. Photo: Isabelle Arthuis.
BRUSSELS.- Like many artists confronted to the global lockdown, Chiharu Shiota has found her thoughts turning to domestic spaces and the family cocoon. Living Inside features a group of new works, both intimate and delicate, exploring the notion of home and the fragmentation of our daily reality. Celebrated around the world for her spectacular installations made of woven thread, the Japanese artist suddenly had to call a halt to her constant travels, staying put for the first time in over 15 years. In isolation in Berlin where she has been living for many years, she has experienced this momentary stop as an echo to many of her familiar themes: immobility, silence, seclusion and the uncertainty of destiny. An artist who has long been haunted by the question of the invisible ties between beings, illness and transcendence, she reveals in this new exhibition a novel approach to sculpture. Using doll's houses, ... More | | 
Installation view.
CEDAR CITY, UT.- Southern Utah Museum of Art, on the campus of Southern Utah University, is presenting a solo exhibition featuring the work of Stewart Seidman in Observations: People and Stories Visualized by Stewart Seidman, through Saturday, July 10. When exploring Observations, visitors will find that people are at the forefront of Seidmans work. There are more than 70 stories found through his paintings and accompanying object labels, which were written by Seidman. Those stories revolve around the human condition from politics to music to cultural icons most will recognize. It is all there, waiting for visitors to contemplate and create conversation. "My work is more of a journalist social commentary' of what I see, hear, observe, and think is important to portray," Seidman explained of his body of work. "Whether its a place, an event (current or historic), a national figure, sports, politics, music, art, or literature, these a ... More | | 
Isa Genzken, Works from 1973 to 1983 © Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen 2021. Photo: Achim Kukulies.
DUSSELDORF.- With two parallel exhibitions dedicated to Isa Genzken (b. 1948), the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein Westfalen offers a special look at the work of one of the most important contemporary women artists worldwide. The focus is on two work phases from her career spanning five decades. On the lower floor of K21, the emphasis is on her visionary early worka period that has never before been honored to this extent in any other exhibition. In parallel, current works from the last decade are on view on the bel étage. This exciting compilation draws attention to developments within the oeuvre, as well as to Isa Genzkens attitude towards the world. It testifies to her ability to continually reinvent herself artistically, to appropriate new materials and techniques, and to respond precisely to the circumstances of her time. ... More |
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| More News |
 Fort Gansevoort announces representation of The Estate of Winfred RembertNEW YORK, NY.- Adam Shopkorn, co-founder of Fort Gansevoort announced the gallerys representation of The Estate of Winfred Rembert. Working in close collaboration with the artists family, Fort Gansevoort will present its first exhibition of Remberts work at its New York City space in September, 2021. Born in Americus, Georgia, in 1945, Winfred Rembert grew up in nearby Cuthbert, a rural railroad town located in the southwest region of the state, once at the center of the Deep Souths plantation economy. As a teen, Rembert was deeply influenced by the American Civil Rights Movement, and his active participation led to confrontations with law enforcement. In 1965, he was arrested and, in 1967, still incarcerated while awaiting charges, Rembert escaped from jail. His ensuing capture and near-lynching, as well as the subsequent hard labor and imprisonment he ... More  Ryan Lee announces representation of Camille BillopsNEW YORK, NY.- Ryan Lee announced its representation of the estate of Camille Billops. Born in Los Angeles, California in 1933, Billops established her career in New York City. Initially encouraged to come to New York by her good friend Vivian Browne, she came into her own within the converging contexts of the 1960s civil rights movement and New Yorks emerging black artists movement. She became an active member of the Soho artist scene in the late 1960s until her death in 2019, and the Soho loft that she shared with her husband, the theatre historian James V. Hatch, became a gathering place for prominent artists and intellectuals, many of whom were themselves civil rights and feminist activists. These include, among many others, artists David Hammon, Howardena Pindell, Faith Ringgold, Jacob Lawrence, Emma Amos, and Clifford R. Joseph; playwright George ... More  Major exhibition celebrating the 2 Tone music sensation opens at Herbert Art Gallery & MuseumLONDON.- The first ever major exhibition in the UK devoted solely to the 2 Tone music sensation opened at Herbert Art Gallery & Museum on Friday, 28 May. This unmissable, immersive experience focuses on bands, such as The Specials, The Selecter, Madness, The Beat and The Bodysnatchers, as well as looking at 2 Tones continuing influence on music, fashion, politics, and culture. 2 Tone: Lives and Legacies explores the formation of the record label and examines its philosophy, political and social message, design and impact on the music charts of the day. The exhibition also includes several major - never before seen - loans from the founder of the 2 Tone label and The Specials, Jerry Dammers. Many fans know that a key feature of the 2 Tone movement was its strong visual identity, created by Dammers as part of his plan to form a new movement with its own distinctive look ... More  Chi Modu, photographer who defined 1990s hip-hop, dies at 54NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- The Notorious B.I.G., stoic and resplendent in front of the twin towers. Tupac Shakur, eyes closed and arms in the air, tendrils of smoke wafting up from his lips. Eazy-E, perched atop his lowrider, using it as a throne. Mobb Deep, huddled with friends on the rooftop of a Queensbridge housing project. Nas, reflective in his childhood bedroom. Members of the Wu-Tang Clan, gathered in a circle and staring down at the camera, sharpness in their eyes. For the essential rap stars of the 1990s, odds are that their defining images the ones imprinted for decades on the popular consciousness were all taken by one person: Chi Modu. In the early and mid-1990s, working primarily for The Source magazine, at the time the definitive digest of hip-hops commercial and creative ascendance, Modu was the go-to photographer. An empathetic documentarian ... More  The National Gallery of Canada releases Transform Together, its first ever strategic planOTTAWA.- After a year of introspection and through the collaborative work of 60 members of the National Gallery of Canada team, Transform Together, the Gallerys first ever Strategic Plan was released to the public. The document outlines the deep changes the National Gallery of Canada aspires to make over the coming 5 years. The 5 Strategic Pillars of the new plan underline the Gallerys commitment to: Strengthen community connections through transformative art experiences Build a collection and program that inspires human connection Empower, support, and build a diverse and collaborative team Centre Indigenous ways of knowing and being Invest in operational resilience and sustainability Visitors to the National Gallery of Canada will see us living into the new Strategic Plan when we reopen, said Dr. Sasha Suda, Director and CEO of the National Gallery of Canada. A ... More  As the Hamptons booms, a new world of luxury problemsNEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- It was 4 p.m. last Friday and a 30-something New Yorker whod just flown into the East Hampton airport was seated on a bench outside the terminal, typing into his laptop, a pair of orange Hermes bags to his side. Nearby was a guy in his 50s, wearing a black T-shirt, board shorts and a Patek Philippe sports watch. Helicopters descended one after another, depositing visitors and well-off Manhattanites who had turned this summer playground into their full-time home last year. Many arrived via Blade, an Uber for the skies that usually costs around $795 a seat. Goyard totes were in abundance, as were nannies and goldendoodles, the current must-have dog breed among the Hamptons social set. (Their fare on Blade is $95.) Some were picked up by suited drivers in Suburban SUVs. Others had spouses waiting for them in Jeep Rubicons. Virtually ... More  Modernism opens major new exhibition of Gottfried Helnwein's workSAN FRANCISCO, CA.- Nearly two centuries after the great Spanish artist Francesco Goya made the series of prints known as The Disasters of War, eternally preserving the atrocities he witnessed during six years of conflict between Spain and France, Gottfried Helnwein set out to create a new version. Beginning in 2008, Helnwein sought to show that cruelty is not history, and also to shift the focus from battlefield hardships to the inner life of children. I want to see whats going on through the childs eyes, he says. With that psychological shift came an important permutation in meaning, from graphic accusations of crimes against humanity to metaphors for the potential of innocence. Helnwein is still painting Disasters, surpassing the ten-year span that Goya worked on his print sequence. The seventy-ninth painting, completed earlier this year, is featured in Eyes That Knew No Shade of Sin ... More  Gavin MacLeod, 'Mary Tyler Moore' and 'Love Boat' actor, dies at 90NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Gavin MacLeod, who tasted stardom after years as a journeyman actor when he landed roles on two of the most successful television series of the 1970s and 80s as news writer Murray Slaughter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Capt. Merrill Stubing on The Love Boat died Saturday at his home in Palm Desert, California. He was 90. His nephew Mark See confirmed the death. He said that the cause was unknown but that MacLeod had recently had health issues. When MacLeod was invited to audition for the pilot of The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1970, he was almost 40, a recovering alcoholic and still looking for a breakthrough role after more than a dozen years as a working actor with a string of modest stage, film and television credits notably on the sitcom McHales Navy but little name recognition. The audition was for the ... More  Christie's announces highlights included in the 'Watches Online - New York' saleNEW YORK, NY.- Christie's New York online auction will feature an attractive and lively offering of timepieces with unique designs, icons and complications. Amongst the highlights, the sale will propose unmissable Patek Philippe pieces, including Andy Warhols Calatrava. The Patek Philippe Calatrava, ref 570, 18k yellow gold wristwatch, retailed by Hausmann & Co, and owned by the pop art icon and watch collector Andy Warhol is a lead lot of this online sale, alongside a very rare and highly craved Cartier Crash, made famous by its curved asymmetrical case; a highly attractive iconic Patek Philippe Nautilus, reference 3800, steel with blue dial and diamonds indexes, designed by legendary Gerald Genta; and contemporary Patek Philippe references such as the references 5970J and 3990E, featuring the celebrated combination of perpetual calendar and chronograph complications. ... More  Lesley Vance presents a new group of abstract oil paintings and watercolours at Xavier HufkensBRUSSELS.- In Slipstream, her fourth solo exhibition with Xavier Hufkens, American artist Lesley Vance (b. 1977) presents a new group of abstract oil paintings and watercolours in which colour and form acquire a heightened sense of movement and depth. A series of large-scale canvases signal a shift in scale and, with it, an expanded approach to exploring the materiality of colour. Vances oeuvre has a temporal dimension, since the artist not only works within the pictorial space but also across time: she often elaborates her constellations of free-flowing lines and loops over the course of months. During this period, an initially active sequence of gestures develops into a matrix of interrelated shapes and, crucially, a vigorous interplay between light and shadow, foreground and background. Taking the conventional definition of slipstream as an assisting force that draws something ... More  The David Roche Foundation celebrates 5 years, 26,000 visitors and a new exhibitionNORTH ADELAIDE.- The David Roche Foundation House Museum which has the finest private collection of decorative art in Australia with more than 3,000 works, marks its 5th anniversary on 3 June and is celebrating more than 26,000 visitors and a changing exhibition program that has moved from Japan to Russia, and quilts to clocks. As part of the month-long anniversary celebrations through June, the museum will host a special display of items from David Roches personal collection before the opening of a new exhibition Embroidery: Oppression to Expression which opens 17 June. TDRF is also launching its first Membership programme for those who love the museum and visit often to access special events and discounts. Five years ago on 3 June, 2016 The David Roche Foundation House Museum was officially opened by former Prime Minister, Paul Keating. ... More  John Davis, a voice behind Milli Vanilli, dies at 66NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- John Davis, one of the real voices behind lip-syncing pop duo Milli Vanilli, died in Nuremberg, Germany, on Monday. He was 66. His daughter, Jasmin, who confirmed the news of his death on Facebook, said he had COVID-19. While living in Germany in the 1980s, Davis started unknowingly singing for the group after he met Frank Farian, a German music producer. Farian asked Davis to work on a project, but he did not disclose that his voice would be used for others to lip-sync, Davis told "The Hustle" podcast on an episode posted in April. Only later would he discover that his voice was being used by Fabrice Morvan, one-half of Milli Vanilli, with Rob Pilatus. The truth is, I signed a contract with Frank Farian before I even knew who Milli Vanilli was, Davis said. One evening, I was sitting at home watching my TV, and I saw Fab singing Girl Im ... More |
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Flashback On a day like today, American artist Ellsworth Kelly was born May 31, 1923. Ellsworth Kelly (May 31, 1923 - December 27, 2015) was an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker associated with hard-edge painting, Color Field painting and minimalism. His works demonstrate unassuming techniques emphasizing line, color and form, similar to the work of John McLaughlin and Kenneth Noland. Kelly often employed bright colors. He lived and worked in Spencertown, New York. In this image: A woman walks past the work 'White Relief with Black III' by the artist Ellsworth Kelly during a press conference at the Haus der Kunst (House of Arts) in Munich.
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