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| Danish artist loaned $84,000 by museum keeps cash, says it's art | | The world's deadliest bird was raised by people 18,000 years ago | | The Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition celebrates the joy of creating art | 
Jens Haaning, Take the Money and Run, 2021. Photo: Niels Fabæk, Kunsten Museum of Modern Art Aalborg.
COPENHAGEN.- A Danish museum loaned an artist 534,000 kroner ($84,000) in cash to recreate old artworks of his using the banknotes, but he ended up pocketing the money and sending blank canvasses with a new title: "Take the Money and Run". Jens Haaning, a Danish artist, was commissioned by the Kunsten Museum in the western city of Aalborg to reproduce two works using the cash -- Danish kroner and euros -- to represent the annual salary in Denmark and Austria. But the museum's director Lasse Andersson told AFP that "two days before the opening of the exhibition we got an email from Jens telling us he won't be showing the works we agreed on". The artist was true to his word, sending two blank canvasses. Andersson said he laughed out loud and decided to show the works anyway in the museum's modern art exhibition that opened on September 24. He said they have a "humoristic approach ... More | | 
A captive, modern adult cassowary. Photo: Andy Mack.
by Asher Elbein
NEW YORK, NY.- The southern cassowary is often called the worlds most dangerous bird. While shy and secretive in the forests of its native New Guinea and Northern Australia, it can be aggressive in captivity. In 2019, kicks from a captive cassowary mortally wounded a Florida man. They dont take kindly to attempts to hunt them, either: In 1926, a cassowary attacked by an Australian teenager kicked him in the neck with its 4-inch, velociraptorlike talons, slitting his throat. Not a bird its advisable to spend too much time in close quarters with, in other words. But as early as 18,000 years ago, people in New Guinea may have reared cassowary chicks to near-adulthood potentially the earliest known example of humans managing avian breeding. This is thousands of years before domestication of the chicken, said Kristina Douglass, an archaeologist at ... More | | 
Installation view of the Summer Exhibition 2021 at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, 22 September 2021 2 January 2022. Photo: © Royal Academy of Arts, London / David Parry.
LONDON.- The Royal Academy is presenting this years Summer Exhibition, which has been delayed until the autumn for the second time in its long history due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The 253rd Summer Exhibition is a unique celebration of contemporary art and architecture, providing a vital platform and support for the artistic community. Yinka Shonibare RA is the co-ordinator of the Summer Exhibition 2021 and, working with the rest of the Summer Exhibition Committee, explores the theme of Reclaiming Magic to celebrate the joy of creating art. Shonibare said This exhibition seeks a return to the visceral aspects and the sheer joy of art making. It will celebrate the transformative powers of the magical in art and transcend the Western canon which formed the foundations of the Royal Academy, seeking to ... More |
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| National Academy of Design elects eight artists and architects as National Academicians in 2021 | | Christie's Asian Art Week totals $43.7 million | | Italian women artists celebrated in groundbreaking exhibition at the Wadsworth Atheneum | 
Joanna Pousette-Dart. Photo: Courtesy the artist and Lisson Gallery.
NEW YORK, NY.- The National Academy of Design announced that it will induct eight new National Academicians at a ceremony on October 27, 2021. Recognized for their contributions to contemporary American art and architecture, this years group of newly elected National Academicians include architect Andrew Freear and artists Joanne Greenbaum, Peter Halley, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Rashid Johnson, Julie Mehretu, Joanna Pousette-Dart, and Gary Simmons. The annual nomination and election of National Academicians dates back to the National Academys founding as Americas first artist-led arts organization in 1825. New Academicians are nominated and elected by the current members of the National Academy and join a community of no more than 450 artists and architects across the country who represent the breadth of cultural practice in the United States. Joining a group of Academicians who are at the center of the National Academ ... More | | 
Two Massive Parcel-gilt Bronze Figures of Deities, Late Ming Dynasty, 16th-17th century. Price realized: $1,158,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2021.
NEW YORK, NY.- Christies Asian Art Week New York achieved a total of $43,701,125 with 84% sold by lot and 147% hammer above low estimate. There was global participation with bidders from 38 countries across five continents. During the week seven records were achieved and seven lots exceeded $1M across all sales. The top lot of Asian Art Week New York was Jehangir Sabavala, The Embarkation from South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art which sold for $1,590,000 and achieved a new world auction record for the artist. Additional notable results included a woodblock print by Katsushika Hokusai, The Great Wave, which achieved $687,500; two massive parcel-gilt bronze figures of deities from the Late Ming dynasty, 16th-17th century, which realized $1,158,000; a large bronze figure of Shri Devi which sold for $387,500; and Rabindranath Tagore, Untitled (Couple), which sold for ... More | | 
Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith and Her Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes, c. 162325. Oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of Mr. Leslie H. Green.
HARTFORD, CONN.- The first exhibition solely dedicated to Italian women artists at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, By Her ÂHand: Artemisia Gentileschi and Women Artists in Italy, 15001800 explores how women succeeded in the male-dominated art world of the time. From the group of eighteen artists presented, Artemisia Gentileschi (15931654 or later), takes center stage with outstanding portraits and images of heroines. This exhibition recognizes and celebrates the vital contributions of women to the history of art in Italy through rarely seen works, recent scholarship, and introductions to virtually unknown artists. By Her Hand will be on view September 30, 2021January 9, 2022 at the Wadsworth. Sofonisba Anguissola, Artemisia Gentileschi, and Rosalba Carriera, among others, created pathbreaking works of art, simultaneously subverting expectations and challenging norms ... More |
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| Tarzan, Frankenstein and H.P. Lovecraft star in auction of horror, science fiction and fantasy literature firsts | | Fairfield University Art Museum fall exhibitions focus on racial and social justice | | Jem Finer illuminates London's only lighthouse for first time in 150 years | 
The auction comes out swinging with the debut of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan of the Apes, often called the author's greatest and most enduring literary creation.
DALLAS, TX.- Tarzan's first swing, Frankenstein's first steps and The Vampyre's first bite. These are but some of the highlights from one of the most extraordinary collections of horror and fantasy works ever to appear at auction. On Oct. 14, Heritage Auctions will present The Gary Munson Collection of Horror and Fantasy Rare Books, which brims with myriad genre-defining works, ranging from the debut of Edgar Rice Burroughs' King of the Jungle to the very first appearances of some of literature's most terrifying creatures. The Munson collection is a comprehensive lesson in fiction, comprised of the best of supernatural, horror, mystery and science fiction from the inception of each genre to each field's most iconic figures. This collection represents not only the best of these genres, but the history of each laid out in a vast array of ... More | | 
Roberto Lugo, Vengo dal Ghetto: AOC, 2020, glazed ceramic. Photography by Dominico Episcopo courtesy of Wexler Gallery.
FAIRFIELD, CONN.- Fairfield University Art Museum announces three Fall 2021 exhibitions Carrie Mae Weems: The Usual Suspects, Roberto Lugo: New Ceramics, and Robert Gerhardt: Mic Check. These three exhibitions on view from September 18 to December 18, focus on issues of racial justice, racism, police reform, and Black history in the United States. Carrie Mae Weems: The Usual Suspects is being presented in the museums Walsh Gallery, while two concurrent exhibitions Roberto Lugo: New Ceramics and Robert Gerhardt: Mic Check are being presented in the Museums Bellarmine Hall Galleries. The Usual Suspects includes recent photographic and video works questioning stereotypes that associate Black bodies with criminality. The exhibition is comprised of three associated works, two of which, All the Boys and The Usual Suspects, examine the racial ... More | | 
Sonic Ray. Courtesy of Artangel. Photograph: Ibrahim Serra-Mohammed and Ascension Films.
LONDON.- The lantern room of Londons only lighthouse will be illuminated for the first time since the late 19th century from Thursday 30 September by Sonic Ray, a major new light and sound installation across the River Thames. Produced by Artangel, Sonic Ray celebrates the 1,000 year-long musical composition Longplayer created by artist and composer Jem Finer. Originally scheduled for 2020, Sonic Ray was commissioned to mark the 20th anniversary of Longplayer, which began playing from the lighthouse at Trinity Buoy Wharf at midday on 31 December 1999 and will continue to play without repetition until 2,999 when it completes its cycle as the longest piece of music in history. From the lighthouse, a powerful laser is beamed across the river to North Greenwich, encoding and transmitting the sound of Longplayer to a new temporary listening post aboard Richard Wilsons nautical sculpture Slice of Reality. A short ... More |
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| Christo Nature/Environments on view at Galerie Gmurzynska | | Ayyam Gallery opens a solo exhibition of works by Abdul Karim Majdal Al-Beik | | Laguna Art Museum announces Victoria Gerard as Deputy Director | 
Christo, Surrounded Islands (Project for Biscayne Bay, Greater Miami, Florida) #51.
NEW YORK, NY.- Galerie Gmurzynska is presenting a selection of works by Christo (1935-2020) in celebration of the city of New York and the late artists relationship to it, as well as other significant sites in the United States during the half-century that Christo lived and worked in America. Nature/Environments, which will be on view from now through December 31, includes works from 1968-2013, spanning decades of both the citys history as well as Christos career. This exhibition runs in conjunction with Nature/Environments at Galerie Gmurzynska Zurich, which showcases Christos European works. These exhibitions are an homage to the late masters upcoming L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped, to be shown in Paris September 18 - October 3, 2021. It was Christos wish that this remarkable project, originally devised in 1961, be carried out posthumously. The exhibition at Galerie Gmurzynska ... More | | 
Abdul-Karim Majdal Al-Beik, Scarecrows, 2012 (detail). Mixed Media on canvas, 180 x 180 cm.
DUBAI.- Ayyam Gallery is presenting Nota Bene, a solo exhibition featuring works by Abdul Karim Majdal Al-Beik. 'The walls alone know our secrets,' wrote Imad Mustafa, a poet and one of Al-Beik's closest friends. This nota bene is just one of many composed by Al-Beik. "If walls are the canvases of madmen, then these madmen are my teachers," he once wrote. Walls are people's palimpsest and the daubed drops of paint, their ink. Through the plaster and paint, Al-Beik tells us society's stories. Al-Beik's creativity reflects wisdom and sensibility beyond his years. The artist notices how each wall possesses a different character that, over time, changes shape, texture, and color thanks to the sun and the rain. Al-Beik and his work register time, climate, and environment, life's inevitables. Al-Beik infuses each canvas with the essence of his surroundings, revealing in the individuality each piece offers. ... More | | 
Prior to joining Laguna Art Museum, Gerard served as the Vice President of Programs and Collections at the Bowers Museum.
LAGUNA BEACH, CA.- Laguna Art Museum has announced Victoria Gerard as Deputy Director. Gerard brings 15 years of experience in museum management, program and exhibition development, and research. Prior to joining Laguna Art Museum, Gerard served as the Vice President of Programs and Collections at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, California where she organized a diverse schedule of special exhibitions, established partnerships with museums and organizations around the world and oversaw work related to the museums permanent collection. Gerard built partnerships with parents, schools and adult service organizations to offer a range of virtual and onsite learning opportunities that expanded the cultural knowledge and understanding of people of all ages while also responding to critical community needs. She also spearheaded ... More |
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Brilliant & Black: Bringing Out the Best in People with Lorraine West
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| More News |
 Dr. Constance Rice elected Board Chair of Seattle Art MuseumSEATTLE, WA.- The Seattle Art Museum announced today that Dr. Constance W. Rice has been elected Chair of the museums board of trustees, effective September 21, 2021. A celebrated leader and activist, Dr. Rice has served on the museums board since 1995. She succeeds Stewart Landefeld, who has served as Chair since 2015. The Board Chair oversees the museums leadership and budget and represents the museum as an ambassador of its mission to connect art to life. Before her election to Chair, Dr. Rice has served on the boards Executive, Governance, and Education & Community Engagement Committees, serving as co-chair of the latter since 2010. She also served on the Equity Task Force, an ad-hoc staff and board committee that met from August 2020January 2021 to develop recommendations for the institution going forward. Its an honor to step into ... More  Early Printed Books at Swann Galleries October 14NEW YORK, NY.- The Thursday, October 14 sale of Early Printed Books at Swann Galleries features travel, medicine, and science publications, and offers a chance for rare book buyers to travel through time and around the world to shop for historically and culturally significant works and objects. The auction presents a curated selection of Renaissance and early modern printing, including scholarly editions of Greek and Latin classics; manuscripts and early printing; a curated selection of medical works; and books that document global contributions to our shared culture. Incunabula and early printing will feature Sebastian Brants popular satirical allegory with 112 short pieces meant to mock the church, ruling classes, scholars and more Stultifera Navis, Nuremberg, 1497 ($15,000-20,000); a first edition of Robert Estiennes Alphabetum Graecum, Paris, 1543, printed with Claude ... More  Weatherspoon Art Museum welcomes Destiny Hemphill as Coordinating Curator of Community EngagementGREENSBORO, NC.- The Weatherspoon Art Museum at UNC Greensboro announced the appointment of Destiny Hemphill as its coordinating curator of community engagement, a newly created position at the museum supported by a grant from the Terra Foundation for American Art. Hemphill comes to the Weatherspoon from North Carolina A&T State University, where she was an instructor of creative writing. While at NC A&T, she facilitated student encounters with creative texts, visual art, film, and music and helped students use art to build a critical lexicon that expanded their sense of what is possible in the world. A recent graduate of a research-intensive MFA program, Hemphill has rigorously investigated the sociohistorical conditions of art and its complicated existing narratives, and she has worked to recover subjugated narratives. As coordinating curator of community ... More  Vintage film poster auction stars Bond... James BondLONDON.- Bond is back - and not just on the big screen. To coincide with the belated launch of No Time to Die international auctioneers Lyon & Turnbull, in partnership with poster specialists Tomkinson Churcher, are to offer a fine selection of vintage 007 posters as part of an auction of Vintage & Film Posters live online on 19 October. A total of 15 Bond posters come under the hammer, many of them classics of the genre. Any poster relating to Sean Connerys first four Bond films is hugely desirable. Highlights include a British quad sized sheet for Thunderball (1965) by Robert McGinnis, the artist responsible for some of the most memorable Connery Bond designs. It is estimated at £6,000-8,000 as is the poster for Goldfinger (1964) to the classic gold lady design by Robert Brownjohn. Bond's unique relationship with Aston Martin is also evident in a rare promotional black ... More  The Green-Wood Cemetery presents a participatory art installation by Candy Chang and James A. ReevesBROOKLYN, NY.- The Green-Wood Cemetery is presenting After the End, a participatory art installation that provides visitors with an opportunity to publicly share about their personal losses. Created by artists Candy Chang and James A. Reeves, the installation is located inside Green-Woods Historic Chapel. Describe your loss. This simple prompt is being asked of each visitor to After the End, a new site-specific installation in Green-Woods Historic Chapel. Influenced in equal parts by religious ceremonies and science fiction, Chang and Reeves have created a ritual to contemplate loss in all forms: the loss of loved ones, relationships, health, and worlds we once knewas well as the practices that have helped us endure. Visitors are invited to anonymously share their experience on a scroll and place it upon an illuminated altar. Each response becomes a devotional candle, and ... More  Japan manga artist Takao Saito, 'Golgo 13' creator, dies aged 84TOKYO.- Manga artist Takao Saito, who created the most prolific Japanese comic-book series of all time "Golgo 13", has died aged 84, his publisher said Wednesday. "Golgo 13", the tale of a legendary professional hitman, was first printed in 1968 and has been adapted into anime series, video games and two live-action films. The assassin Golgo, also known Duke Togo, is of unknown nationality and carries out his hits around the world, with current affairs often inspiring its plotlines. Its 201st edition came out in July this year, breaking the Guinness world record for the most volumes ever published of a single manga series. Saito, who wrote and illustrated the series, died on Friday of pancreatic cancer, according to Shogakukan, the publisher of the anthology magazine "Big Comic" in which "Golgo 13" is serialised. "We offer our heartfelt respect to Mr Saito's achievement and offer our deep ... More  China clamps down on pop culture in bid to 'control' youthBEIJING.- From reality TV to online gaming and even pop fandom, China's leadership has launched a crackdown on youth culture in what experts say is a bid to ramp up "ideological control". In a series of sweeping measures, Beijing has moved to check what it considers the excesses of modern entertainment, and urged social media platforms to promote patriotic content. Authorities say they are targeting unhealthy values and "abnormal aesthetics", but the moves are a bid to check outside influences and snuff any resistance to the Communist Party, analysts say. The changes represent a "very concerted effort at ramping up of ideological control," Cara Wallis, a scholar of media studies at Texas A&M University, told AFP. Colourful and often outlandish entertainment formats have mushroomed in China over the past decade, including boot ... More  A pristine portfolio containing Andy Warhol's Endangered Species to be offered at auctionDALLAS, TX.- Marilyn Monroe. Soup cans. Cows and Mao. Coke bottles and the banana. Those are the images with which we associate Andy Warhol pop culture, pop drinks, Pop Art. The famous, the consumable, the disposable rendered without disdain. "Modernism had been pretty contemptuous of the aim to satisfy taste, much less popular taste," punk-rocker Richard Hell wrote for Gagosian in 2019, "and Warhol was the first modern high artist to contradict that contempt." Far less mainstream, but no less important, are the works he did in the early 1980s that make up the Endangered Species portfolio, a pristine example of which anchors Heritage Auctions' Oct. 19 Prints & Multiples Signature® Auction. The sale itself features a virtual who's-who of post-war and contemporary artists, ranging from Pablo Picasso (represented here by 1950's Grand Vase Aux Femmes Nues) ... More  Bob Moore, an architect of the Nashville Sound, dies at 88NEW YORK, NY.- Bob Moore, an architect of the Nashville Sound of the 1950s and 60s who played bass on thousands of popular recordings, including Elvis Presleys Return to Sender and Patsy Clines Crazy, died Sept. 22 at a hospital in Nashville. He was 88. His death was confirmed by his wife, Kittra Bernstein Moore, who did not cite a cause. As a mainstay of the loose aggregation of first-call Nashville session professionals known as the A-Team, Moore played on many of the landmark country hits of his day, among them Tammy Wynettes Stand By Your Man, Loretta Lynns Coal Miners Daughter and George Jones He Stopped Loving Her Today. All were No. 1 country singles, and each typified the intuitive, uncluttered style of playing that came to characterize the less-is-more Nashville Sound. Moore, who mainly played the upright bass, also contributed the ... More  Sue Thompson, who sang of 'Norman' and 'Sad Movies,' dies at 96NEW YORK, NY.- Sue Thompson, who after more than a decade of moderate success as a country singer found pop stardom in the early 1960s with hook-laden novelty hits like Sad Movies (Make Me Cry) and Norman, died Thursday at the home of her daughter and caregiver, Julie Jennings, in Pahrump, Nevada. She was 96. Her son, Greg Penny, said the cause was complications of Alzheimers disease. With a clear, somewhat girlish voice that brought sass to humorous ditties but could also be used to good effect on a ballad, Thompson was part of a wave of female vocalists, such as Connie Francis and Brenda Lee, who had hits in the late 1950s and early 60s. Her breakthrough came when she was paired with songwriter John D. Loudermilk, who wrote her first big hit, Sad Movies, a done-me-wrong tune about a woman who goes to a movie alone when her boyfriend says he has ... More  Exhibition presents U.S. debut of The Critical Dictionary of Southeast Asia by Ho Tzu NyenDALLAS, TX.- The Crow Museum of Asian Art of The University of Texas at Dallas is presenting the U.S. premiere of The Critical Dictionary of Southeast Asia by internationally renowned artist Ho Tzu Nyen featuring an enthralling, constantly evolving moving-image installation. The exhibition opened Sept. 25, 2021, and continues through Jan. 30, 2022 at the museums location in the Dallas Arts District, 2010 Flora St. The Critical Dictionary of Southeast Asia is part of an ongoing project that grows, generates and provides critical insight into the pluralistic definitions of the territories under the term Southeast Asia. Born out of recognition for how sweeping the term Southeast Asia is, the project considers what makes up an area not unified by language, religion or political power. This is the moment to premiere this work in the United States. At a time in which interpretations can ... More  International group exhibits collaborative works by 28 artists across multiple disciplinesNEW YORK, NY.- The Austrian Cultural Forum New York and Undercurrent are presenting un/mute, an international group exhibition of collaborative works by 28 artists across multiple disciplines. On view at the Austrian Cultural Forum New York and Undercurrent, this multi-media exhibition is the culmination of an 18-month-long project that was launched in 2020 to provide European and NYC-based artists an opportunity for critical exchange and collaboration during the COVID-19 global pandemic. What do communication and collaboration mean in a time of uncertainty and isolation? How is the artistic process impacted by going fully remote? In un/mute, artists from 10 countries were paired to explore these questions. We recognize that effective communication requires active engagement of all the senses and an openness to diversity, interpretation and ... More |
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PhotoGalleries 
Alison Elizabeth Taylor 
Tacita Dean 
Met Gala 2021 
RIBA National Award winners 2021
Flashback On a day like today, film star James Dean died in a road accident September 30, 1955. James Byron Dean (February 8, 1931 - September 30, 1955) was an American film actor. He is a cultural icon, best embodied in the title of his most celebrated film, Rebel Without a Cause (1955), in which he starred as troubled Los Angeles teenager Jim Stark. The other two roles that defined his stardom were as loner Cal Trask in East of Eden (1955), and as the surly ranch hand, Jett Rink, in Giant (1956). Dean's enduring fame and popularity rests on his performances in only these three films, all leading roles. His premature death in a car crash cemented his legendary status. In this image: Actor James Dean is seen in a scene from the Warner Bros. 1956 epic, "Giant." Years after the making of the movie, teenagers are still trying for the cool that was James Dean, the poster boy for the tortured netherworld between child and adult.
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