The First Art Newspaper on the Net   Established in 1996 Wednesday, June 23, 2021
Gray
 
How do you move a 30-ton Diego Rivera fresco? Very carefully.

“Pan American Unity,” a 30-ton, 74-foot-wide-by-22-foot mural by Diego Rivera, undergoes installation at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, May 16, 2021, where it will be on view starting Monday, June 28. A four-year, multimillion-dollar undertaking involving mechanical engineers, architects, art historians and handlers, fresco experts and riggers from the U.S. and Mexico will allow more people to see the monumental 10-panel fresco, long tucked away in the lobby of a theater at City College of San Francisco. Cayce Clifford/The New York Times.

by Carol Pogash


SAN FRANCISCO (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- For decades the monumental 10-panel fresco by Diego Rivera depicting a continent linked by creativity has been mounted in the lobby of a theater at City College of San Francisco. There, somewhat tucked away from the art world, it has been cared for as a labor of love by a de facto guardian who has long dreamed of finding a way to allow more people to experience it. Now, after a four-year, multimillion-dollar undertaking involving mechanical engineers, architects, art historians, fresco experts, art handlers and riggers from the United States and Mexico, the 30-ton, 74-foot-wide-by-22-foot mural has been carefully extracted and moved across town to San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, where it will go on display June 28. “Diego was building a metaphoric bridge between the Mexican culture and the tech culture of the United States,” said Will Maynez, the former lab manager of the physics department at City College, who became the unlikely guardian ... More



The Best Photos of the Day
Best Photos of the Day
Artemis Gallery will hold a VARIETY SALE | Ancient & Ethnographic Art sale on Thu, Jun 24, 2021 9:00 AM GMT-5. The sale features classical antiquities, ancient and ethnographic art. Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Etruscan, Near Eastern, Asian, Pre-Columbian, Native American, African / Tribal, Oceanic, Spanish Colonial, Russian, Fossils, Fine Art, more! In this image: Colima Pottery Figure in Bed. Estimate $550 - $825.






Rubell Museum re-opens two Yayoi Kusama Infinity Rooms   Tuckered out: Early Antarctic explorers underfed their dogs   Dallas Museum of Art acquires its first Basquiat work


Yayoi Kusama, INFINITY MIRRORED ROOM – LET’S SURVIVE FOREVER, 2017. Photo credit Chi Lam, courtesy of the Rubell Museum.

MIAMI, FLA.- Beginning June 23, visitors can experience the Rubell Museum’s two Infinity Rooms by Yayoi Kusama for the first time since March 2020. These celebrated fully immersive works create a kaleidoscopic effect that transports visitors to an alternate, limitless universe. Where the Lights in My Heart Go, 2016 and INFINITY MIRRORED ROOM – LET’S SURVIVE FOREVER, 2017 are the only Infinity Rooms on view in the Southeastern United States. The Rubell Museum is also featuring Kusama’s mesmerizing, monumental Narcissus Garden, (1966 – ). Composed of 700 stainless steel spheres, the work flows 200 feet along the museum’s central hall, creating an everchanging river of reflection that beckons and visually teases visitors as they walk through and along it. “Kusama’s Infinity Rooms take us to new galaxies,” said Mera Rubell. “We are honored to be the only museum in the country with three of her major ... More
 

Dr Jill Haley, the study's lead author, holds a Spratt's dog cake fragment from Canterbury Museum's collection.

CHRISTCHURCH.- It’s one of the iconic images of early Antarctic exploration: the heroic explorer sledging across the icy wastes towed by his trusty team of canine companions. But new research analysing a century-old dog biscuit suggests the animals in this picture were probably marching on half-empty stomachs: early British Antarctic expeditions underfed their dogs. In a paper just published in Polar Record, researchers from Canterbury Museum, Lincoln University and University of Otago in New Zealand analysed the history and contents of Spratt’s dog cakes, the chow of choice for the canine members of early Antarctic expeditions. Lead author, Canterbury Museum Curator Human History Dr Jill Haley, has researched the lives of dogs in Antarctica and curated the Museum’s 2018 exhibition Dogs in Antarctica: Tales from the Pack. “The early explorers valued their dogs, not just for pulling sledges but for their companionship in ... More
 

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Sam F, 1985 (detail), oil on door, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Samuel N. and Helga A. Feldman, 2019.31, © Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Licensed by Artestar, New York.

DALLAS, TX.- The Dallas Museum of Art announced the acquisition of Sam F (1985) by Jean-Michel Basquiat, the first work by the iconic American artist to enter the Museum’s collection. Gifted to the DMA by the late Samuel and Helga Feldman, the painting was created at the Feldman residence during the artist’s visit to Dallas in 1985. The expressionistic portrait of Samuel exhibits Basquiat’s characteristic use of dense, meaning-laden text and imagery drawn from multiple sources, including pop culture figures, music and literature, and art historical iconography, among others. Basquiat often painted on salvaged materials, and Sam F is painted in oil on a door from the Dallas apartment building in which he was staying. Sam F will be exhibited at the DMA on the main concourse beginning July 4, 2021, until February 2022. The 24-year-old ... More


Ivan Morley's third solo exhibition with Bortolami Gallery opens in New York   A century of music: Guernsey's blockbuster 1,000 lot auction   Seattle Art Museum embarks on transformation of American art galleries


Ivan Morley, Study for a Public Painting, 2021. Thread and watercolor on canvas, 60 1/4 x 45 in (153 x 114.3 cm)

NEW YORK, NY.- Bortolami Gallery is presenting Hyperion, Ivan Morley’s third solo exhibition with the gallery. Morley's distinct, vivid compositions are sewn in embroidery thread with watercolor on canvas or painted on glass that is slicked with water-based lubricant, peeled away with the aid of razors, and transferred to panel in one giant, layered skin of sumptuous oils. The embroidered works are like lavish tapestries modeled in a chiaroscuro of near-like color palettes. Their chromatic combinations surprise, evoking the ethos and immediacy of gestural painting despite their slow and methodical creation by sewing machine. Morley dampens the thread to stretch the canvas, causing the watercolor underneath to bleed up through the surface. This effectively softens the edges in the work, transforming tapestry into painting and further blurring distinctions of figuration and abstraction – more specifically, the bits of text and reco ... More
 

Jason Becker’s Blue Hurricane Guitar + Jason’s Red Leather Jacket. A guitar phenom in the 1980’s, Jason contracted a debilitating disease. Proceeds from the sale of his items will fund his medical needs.

NEW YORK, NY.- What do iconic items from the legendary Woodstock Festival, Van Halen, Clapton, Bo Diddley and Lynyrd Skynyrd’s guitars, Paul Butterfield and James Cotton’s Blues harmonicas, Chick Corea and Elton John's pianos, Miles Davis’ test pressings, Billie Holliday’s Gown, John Lennon's artwork, the front doors of the Chelsea Hotel, over 500 vintage violins, banjos, ukuleles and mandolins, and about a zillion other very cool things have in common? They all will be sold in Guernsey’s mostly unreserved, joyful “A Century of Music Auction” upcoming July 14 & 15. Items can be viewed at Guernseys.com, liveauctioneers.com and invaluable.com. In 1952, a 12 year old boy from rural Tennessee spotted a stunning Gibson Les Paul Goldtop guitar in the window of a local shop. Determined to own it, he cut lawns, cleaned attics and did anything necessary to get the $5 a month needed to make the payments. After moving nort ... More
 

Two-year project initiates groundbreaking model for inclusive exhibition planning at the museum. Photo: Stephanie Fink.

SEATTLE, WA.- The Seattle Art Museum has embarked on a two-year project to transform its American art galleries in an unprecedented collaboration among SAM curators and staff, artists, and advisors from the Seattle community. Funded primarily by a $1 million grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the project deepens the museum’s commitment to inclusive exhibition-planning practices with a shared-authorship model that reflects and responds to community knowledge. The reimagined galleries will debut in October 2022. The project is led by Theresa Papanikolas, Ann M. Barwick Curator of American Art, in partnership with Barbara Brotherton, Curator of Native American Art. Beginning summer 2021, they will interrogate and recontextualize the collection with artists Nicholas Galanin, Wendy Red Star, and Inye Wokoma, all of whom will also create new commissioned work in response to the collection; two emerging museum professionals in paid ... More


UNTITLED, ART Miami Beach returns for 10th edition this December with four guest curators   San Antonio Museum of Art acquires contemporary works by Texas artists   Reflex Amsterdam opens new space with a sculpture by KAWS


Estrellita Brodsky. Photo: Hans-Neumann.

MIAMI, FLA.- UNTITLED, ART returns in real life to Miami Beach this December to celebrate its 10th edition. Under the guidance of Artistic Director Omar López-Chahoud, the 2021 presentation will feature an expanded curatorial platform with four guest curators: Natasha Becker and Miguel A. López, who will curate two sectors of the fair, and a collaboration between Estrellita Brodsky and José Falconi, who are developing a group exhibition. Brought together for their diverse perspectives and regional expertise, the curators will nurture dialogue between participating galleries and artists to generate a more global and inclusive conversation during a critical moment that marks the return of physical art fairs. Natasha Becker and Miguel A. López will be responsible for the curated sectors of the fair, selecting galleries to participate based on their submitted applications and alignment to respective curatorial themes. Under the title “Sout ... More
 

Jon Lee (American, born South Korea, 1968), O1701, 2017 (detail) . Woodcut, 17 × 12 in. (43.2 × 30.5 cm), each.

SAN ANTONIO, TX.- The San Antonio Museum of Art announced today that it has acquired eight artworks by seven San Antonio-based artists, including Jennifer Ling Datchuk, Jenelle Esparza, Joe Harjo, Jon Lee, Ethel Shipton, Chris Sauter, and Liz Ward. The acquisitions are part of the Museum’s Initiative to Acquire Art by Contemporary San Antonio Artists, which was developed to enhance the Museum’s commitment to support the city’s visual artists by acquiring works for its collection. The artists were chosen with the support of an Advisory Committee comprised of San Antonio-based visual artists, professors, collectors, arts leaders, and Museum staff and Trustees, who have also made recommendations for additional artists whose work could be purchased in the future. The Committee was Co-Chaired by ... More
 

KAWS, Along the Way, on view at Reflex, the Residence. Edition of 3, Afrormosia wood, 245 x 195.5 x 135.3 cm. Photo: Petra and Erik Hesmerg. © KAWS.

AMSTERDAM.- Reflex Amsterdam opened its second space Reflex, the Residence with a sculpture by KAWS 'Along the Way'. The gallery's second location in Amsterdam is conceived as a multifunctional space to promote the creation, research, and contemplation of art, and is a one-of-a-kind endeavour in the Dutch gallery landscape. The gallery sketches its new venue as "a space to expand the current activities of the gallery, a place of creation and experiment, a house of art." Formally a residential home, the space has been repurposed to suit a range of needs. Outfitted with a high ceiling that supersedes two stories, it allows for a breathtaking spatial experience of three-dimensional art and large-scale paintings in a residential setting, making it a natural location for the gallery's private showroom away from its white cube ... More


New exhibition features reimagined "Mexican" zodiac   Largest selection from celebrated California artist headed to Heritage Auctions   Waxing lyrical: Madame Tussauds to open museum in Dubai


George Rodriguez and Gabriela Ramírez Michel; La Peyotera (Mono), 2021; Ceramic, wax, fiber.

BELLINGHAM, WA.- The Whatcom Museum announced the opening of the exhibition “El Zodíaco Familiar.” Championed by Seattle-based ceramic artist George Rodriguez, the exhibition features new works by Rodriguez and thirteen collaborating artists and opened June 19 at the Museum’s Lightcatcher building. It will be on view through October 24, 2021.
Rodriguez’s large scale ceramic sculptures are a blend of traditional folk art and contemporary fine art and craft. Hand built and often at human scale, he enhances his figures with various surface patterns, colors and glazes. For this exhibition, Rodriguez embarks on a collaborative iteration of the Chinese Zodiac. In an homage to its origins in Chinese folklore, Rodriguez has reimagined the classic zodiac animals as analogous creatures of Mexican origin, bridging cultures and creating new narratives. “El Zodíaco Familiar”—the fifth iteration of Rodriguez’s Mexic ... More
 

James Lovera (American, 1920-2015), Bowl, circa 1995. Porcelain, 4-1/4 x 17-5/8 inches. Estimate: $1,800 - $2,400.

DALLAS, TX.- In the never-ending pursuit of greatness, some try to expand their repertoires to the point that they can not help but be acknowledged for the sheer scope of their accomplishments. Others, like ceramicist James Lovera, take the alternate approach: find a talent and perfect it – mix in variations, as needed, but continue to execute at an unsurpassed level. The California-born artist developed and perfected what is now considered his signature style of bowl, 19 of which will be featured in Heritage Auctions’ Design Auction July 15. Likely the largest selection of Lovera’s work ever brought to a single auction, the lots all come from a single collection, from a consignor who got each of them directly from the artist. “James Lovera is exceedingly important, and perhaps a little bit underrecognized, within the market from the American post-war Ceramics ... More
 

A wax likeness of British pop icon David Bowie is placed in front of a record store near the building where he lived in the 1970s in Berlin's Schoeneberg district, as part of a publicity stunt for Madame Tussaud's new exhibition "Berlin 100", chronicling Berlin history from the 1920s, in Berlin on June 1, 2021. John MACDOUGALL / AFP.

LONDON (AFP).- London's renowned wax-work museum Madame Tussauds will open its first outpost in the Arab world in Dubai later this year, the group's owner Merlin Entertainments said Tuesday. The brand, which began life in London where it boasts 250 wax sculptures that draw millions of visitors annually, also has smaller branches in the United States, Europe and Asia. "Today, Merlin Entertainments Ltd, the second largest attraction operator in the world, has officially announced the opening of the world-famous wax attraction, Madame Tussauds in Dubai," the company said in a statement. "The iconic attraction is set to open its doors later this year," it said. The Dubai branch would display 60 sculptures ... More




Emily Mae Smith ‘Waiting Room’ | New York | Spring 2021



More News

David Livingstone Birthplace to reopen this summer following regeneration
BLANTYRE.- The David Livingstone Birthplace in South Lanarkshire announced an opening date of Wednesday 28 July 2021. Home to one of Scotland’s most famous explorers, the Museum will reopen to the public following a £9.1m regeneration plan. Located on the site of the former Blantyre Works Mill, on the banks of the River Clyde, the Birthplace includes a brand-new exhibition space in the historic Shuttle Row tenements where David Livingstone was born and raised; a newly refurbished shop and café, new children’s play park, and 11 hectares of free to access parkland. The regeneration, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Scottish Government and Historic Environment Scotland, has transformed this small independent museum and its grounds into a world-class visitor attraction. When the Museum reopens on 28 ... More

From bleached corals to overtourism: UN World Heritage sites in danger
PARIS (AFP).- From Australia's Great Barrier Reef to the city of Budapest and the watery wonderland that is Venice, several beauty spots risk losing their treasured UN World Heritage status because of environmental damage, excess development or overtourism. In a draft report released ahead of a key meeting next month, the UN's Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recommended Monday a major revamp of the heritage list. Here are some of the sites that risk losing their treasured Heritage Site status, a move that could seriously dent their tourist appeal. Stretching 2,300 kilometres (1,400 miles) along Australia's northeast coast, the world's largest coral reef system, a huge draw for tourists, has been battered by global warming. In the past five years rising ocean temperatures have caused three episodes of mass ... More

Grande dame of Paris emporiums reopens after 16-year facelift
PARIS (AFP).- Parisians will once again be able to stroll the gilded aisles of the Samaritaine department store starting Wednesday, after 16 years of painstaking work to restore the Art Deco and Art Nouveau landmark to its former glory. Luxury conglomerate LVMH shut the 151-year-old emporium overlooking the Seine river in 2005, when safety inspectors discovered widespread risks including antiquated wiring. Once a retail anchor for the historic core of the capital between the Louvre and Notre-Dame, by then it was losing money and customers no longer interested in its pitch: "You can find everything at La Samaritaine." "It was dying," the store's chief Jean-Jacques Guiony told journalists on Monday, when President Emmanuel Macron visited for the restored site's inauguration. Macron, touring alongside Bernard Arnault, LVMH's chief and one of the world's richest ... More

Christie's Watches Online: The New York Edition achieves $2.37 million
NEW YORK, NY.- Christie’s Watches Online: The New York Edition (8 – 22 June) achieved a total of $2,372,125 with 82% sold by lot, 100% sold by value, and 112% hammer above low estimate. There was global participation with bidders from 30 countries and over 33% new registrants. Leading the sale were contemporary Patek references featuring the celebrated combination of perpetual calendar and chronograph complications, including a reference 3990EP in platinum set with diamonds that realized $200,000; and a reference 5970J in yellow gold, which sold for $175,000. Also highlighting the auction was 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, which sold for over three times its estimate achieving $150,000. Additionally, strong prices were ... More

Springfield Art Museum acquires work from emerging Missouri artist Glyneisha Johnson
SPRINGFIELD, MO.- The Springfield Art Museum is pleased to announce the acquisition of Missouri artist Glyneisha Johnson’s mixed media collage Cruisin’ Together, currently on view in the special exhibition Four by Four (4x4): 2020 Midwest Invitational Exhibition. Since 2014, the 4x4 exhibition has recognized and encouraged artists working in all media who reside in the four-state region of Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Kansas. Johnson’s work is on view along with bodies of work by Rebecca Drolen (Arkansas), Rebecca Hackemann (Kansas), and Crystal Z Campbell (Oklahoma). Johnson joins previous 4x4 featured artists Shawn Bitters, Sage Dawson, Rebecca Hackemann, Anne Austin Pearce, and Emily Wood in having work acquired to the Museum’s permanent collection. Johnson is a poly-disciplinary artist, educator, community organizer, ... More

Egyptian 'enigma' goes on trial for Louvre machete attack
PARIS (AFP).- The trial of an Egyptian who attacked soldiers at the Louvre museum with machetes, shouting "Allah u Akbar" (God is greatest) opened Monday with a description of his "atypical" and enigmatic profile. Abdalla El Hamahmi, aged 33, is charged with "attempted terrorist murders" and associating with "terrorist criminals". The married father who did commercial work for a Dubai-based company, faces life in jail for the attack on February 3, 2017. He launched himself at four soldiers in the shopping precinct at the Paris museum, wounding one in the head, before they shot him. No one claimed responsibility for the assault, which followed the series of jihadist outrages that left more than 250 dead in France from 2015. However, El Hamahmi's final tweet before being seriously injured quoted Islamic State group former spokesman Abu Mohammad Al Adnani. ... More

High Museum announces new board members
ATLANTA, GA.- The High Museum of Art announced today the appointment of five new board members to serve three-year terms: Yolanda Frinks, Lillian Cousins Giornelli, Mark Hanson, Kevin Lee and Melissa Proctor. Daniel W. Boone III was named a life trustee. “We are thrilled to add these leaders to our board,” said Rand Suffolk, the High’s Nancy and Holcombe T. Green, Jr., director. “They each bring a unique perspective on our community as well as the Museum’s potential to impact our city in positive ways. We look forward to their increased involvement as we shape the future of the High.” Suffolk added, “We’re also delighted to recognize Daniel W. Boone III as a life trustee. This designation honors Dan’s longstanding service as a board member and his significant contributions to the Museum as a donor; including endowing ... More

An architect with an eye on the environment
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- As climate change accelerates, one of the many contributing factors is the built environment — that is, the structures people have created over eons, including buildings and infrastructure like bridges and roads. Increasingly — although perhaps not quite fast enough — people are thinking about how to do less harm and how to build more sustainably, how to help the environment rather than destroy it. One of those people is architect Kunle Adeyemi, who has built his career on the principle that, in fact, the two can exist together seamlessly. Born in Kaduna, in northern Nigeria, Adeyemi, 45, is known for his sustainable projects — the Black Rhino Academy, in Karatu, Tanzania, and African Water Cities, an ecosystem of built environments in large and developing waterfront urban destinations that are ... More

Tony awards announce first three recipients
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- The Tony Awards, long delayed by the pandemic, announced on Tuesday the first recipients, honoring the Broadway Advocacy Coalition, an organization started five years ago by a group of actors and others as a tool to work toward dismantling racism through theater and storytelling. The other recipients were “David Byrne’s American Utopia,” an intricately choreographed concert by the Talking Heads singer, and “Freestyle Love Supreme,” a mostly improvised hip-hop musical that was created, in part, by Lin-Manuel Miranda. These honors, called special Tony Awards, were presented to three recipients that the Tony administration committee thought deserving of recognition even though they did not fall into any of the competition categories, according to a news release. The recipients were announced ... More

South African opera star furious over Paris airport grilling
PARIS (AFP).- South African opera star Pretty Yende on Tuesday accused French customs agents of treating her with "outrageous racial discrimination" at Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport, a claim strongly contested by police and airport sources. "Police brutality is real for someone who looks like me," the soprano, who is black, wrote on her Instagram account a day after arriving for a string of performances in Paris. Yende, 36, said she was "traumatized" after being "stripped and searched like a criminal offender" at the airport. "I am one of the very very lucky ones to be alive to see the day today even with ill-treatment and outrageous racial discrimination and psychological torture and very offensive racial comments in a country that I've given so much of my heart and virtue to," she wrote. Yende did not say why she was pulled aside ... More

Stunning images from the Euro '96 football tournament go on display at the National Football Museum
MANCHESTER.- Still Gleaming: Euro ‘96 in Pictures coincides with the rescheduled UEFA Euro 2020 which is being held across the continent for the first time in the competition's 60-year history. The exhibition of 18 Mirrorpix photographs captures an almost glorious summer in 1996 when football came home to grounds across England. There’s big goals, iconic celebrations, despair of shootout defeats, and the buzz of the tournament, on and off the pitch. The exhibition portrays the excitement and drama of England’s run to the semi-final and ultimate heartache as the Three Lions crashed out with Gareth Southgate’s penalty miss against Germany at Wembley. This was an era of Shearer, Sheringham, Gazza’s dentist chair celebration, and defensive heroics by Stuart Pearce and David Seaman. Baddiel and Skinner’s Three Lions reverberated ... More


PhotoGalleries

Chicago Comics: 1960s to Now

Richard Estes

JR: Chronicles

WOOD WORKS: Raw, Cut, Carved, Covered


Flashback
On a day like today, American painter Clyfford Still died
June 23, 1980. Clyfford Still (November 30, 1904 - June 23, 1980) was an American painter, and one of the leading figures in the first generation of Abstract Expressionists, who developed a new, powerful approach to painting in the years immediately following World War II. In this image: Designed by Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works Architecture, the new building reflects the Clyfford Still.Museum's mission to preserve, present, and celebrate the work of the artist.

  
© 1996 - 2021
Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez