In the two years since he became chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, Rocco Landesman has been trying to make the case that art is an effective linchpin to economic development. Now in a broad effort to build on that thesis, he has helped to enlist an unusual consortium of foundations, corporations and federal agencies that will use cultural enterprises to anchor and enliven 34 projects around the country, from a struggling city block in Detroit to a vacant school in East Harlem.
Seoul turning ex-army command into Art Museum
SEOUL, South Korea – For many, the stark structure built by the Japanese and then taken over by South Korea’s military is a reminder of a painful colonial past and the torture allegedly overseen there later during decades of authoritarian governments.
But rather than bulldozing the Defense Security Command building, South Korea’s capital is trying to make peace with its difficult history by transforming the building into a branch of the National Museum of Contemporary Art.
Out of Place at Tate Modern
Hrair Sarkissian, Untitled (In Between series), 2007
Level 2 Gallery is a small exhibition space that keeps me coming back to Tate Modern in London. Its entrance is hidden by one of the exits of the Tate and if you don’t know of its existence you’ve probably passed by it on your way from the shop to the Millennium Bridge without noticing.
The gallery is now showing Out of Place, an exhibition in which four artists explore the relationship between political forces and personal/collective histories by looking at urban space, architectural structures and the condition of displacement.
Curator Nicholas Cullinan of Tate Modern, London will be on hand for State of the Art/Art of the State an exhibition organized by the Cameron Art Museum. This exhibition focuses on contemporary art by artists currently living in, or native to, the state of North Carolina.
Musée d’Orsay in Paris Presents Edouard Manet: The Man Who Invented Modernity
PARIS.- Musée d’Orsay presents Manet, the Man who invented Modernity, on view from April 5 through July 3, 2011. There has been no exhibition exclusively devoted to Manet in France since 1983, where Françoise Cachin and Charles S. Moffett produced a memorable retrospective. In the ensuing twenty-five years, however, there has been much valuable research and fruitful reflection. A rejection of formalism and a return to history, personal as well as collective, characterise the best of this work, whether documenting Manet’s life story or analysing his work, its exhibitions and perceptions. In the mean time, our understanding of French painting from the period 1840 to 1880 became more refined and freed from over-Manicheistic interpretations. From these two developments, in which the musée d’Orsay continues to be involved, a new image of Manet and his generation has appeared.
35,000 Pound Yellow Teddy Bear by Artist Urs Fischer to Brighten New York City
NEW YORK (REUTERS).- London has Paddington Bear but New York now has a giant yellow teddy bear, a great sculptural masterpiece that could sell for more than $9 million at auction in May, Christie’s said on Saturday.
A 23-foot (7-meter) high, bronze teddy bear slumped under a black bedside lamp will be on display for five months in midtown Manhattan from next week and be a highlight of the Post-War & Contemporary sale on May 11.
Facebook pulls Andy Warhol’s school paintings from NY Academy of Art page
Facebook pulls andy warhol
Facebook is in the doghouse again – and this time it is none other than the New York Academy of Art taking them to task for their online censoriousness.
The dispute has rumbled onward in the Academy’s official blog since the end of January, when Facebook notified the administrator of the Academy’s official Facebook page that the social network was removing a drawing by Steven Assael – on the grounds that it violated terms and conditions.
Click here to find out more!
This was followed by a block on the Academy uploading ANY image for seven days – presumably on the grounds that they were known repeat offenders.
The fact that this work is currently in an exhibition curated by the Academy and shown at the Eden Rock Gallery in St Barths was no defence. It included nudity – and that was that.
President Barack Obama Lauds Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipients
WASHINGTON (AP).- President Barack Obama recognized one former president and 14 artists, athletes, civil rights activists, humanitarians and others Tuesday with the Presidential Medal of Freedom for contributions to society that he said speak to “who we are as a people.”
This year’s recipients “reveal the best of who we are and who we aspire to be,” Obama said at a White House ceremony.
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the nation’s highest civilian honor. It is given in recognition of contributions to U.S. national security, world peace, culture or other significant public or private endeavors. Tuesday’s medals were the second set Obama has awarded.
The Orient Expressed: Japan’s Influence on Western Art at the Mississippi Museum of Art
JACKSON, MISS.- The Mississippi Museum of Art presents The Orient Expressed: Japan’s Influence on Western Art, 1854–1918, the eleventh exhibition in The Annie Laurie Swaim Hearin Memorial Exhibition Series. On view February 19 through July 17, 2011, the exhibition is organized by the Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, and curated by Gabriel P. Weisberg, Ph.D., Professor of Art History at the University of Minnesota.
Established in 1989 to honor the memory of Annie Laurie Swaim Hearin, one of the Museum’s most dedicated patrons and volunteers, the Hearin series showcases exhibitions of world-class art, attracting visitors to Jackson from across Mississippi, the Southeast, and beyond.
Google’s New Art Project
Capturing works of art for the Google Art Project
Google’s new art project, a collaboration with art museums around the world to enable viewing of their collections via the internet. It started off as a ’20% project’ – the time set aside for Google engineers to work on their own ideas.
Google says it’s worked with 17 art museums including, Altes Nationalgalerie, The Freer Gallery of Art Smithsonian, National Gallery (London), The Frick Collection, Gemäldegalerie, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, MoMA, Museo Reina Sofia, Museo Thyseen – Bornemisza, Museum Kampa, Palace of Versailles, Rijksmuseum, The State Hermitage Museum, State Tretyakov Gallery, Tate, Uffizi and Van Gogh Museum.
The website allows viewing of famous artworks, all done in 360 degree ‘Street View’-style tours of individual galleries. A special ‘trolley’ was used to capture 360 degree images of the interior of various galleries, which were then stitched together to enable navigation. There are over 385 rooms within the featured museums to view.
Each image of artwork is take in what Google calls “super high resolution”, which has more pixels than the human eye can even see.“Enabling the viewer to study details of the brushwork and patina beyond that possible with the naked eye.”
The ‘Create an Artwork Collection’ feature allows users to save views of any of the artworks and build their own personalised collection which can be shared with other users.
Real-life Da Vinci Code?: Historians discover tiny numbers and letters in the eyes of the Mona Lisa
Lovers of the famous Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece Mona Lisa have been wondering about the secret behind those sly eyes for hundreds of years, but few if any ever thought they could contain an actual code.
The Mona Lisa was at the center of a new mystery yesterday after art detectives took a fresh look at the masterpiece – and noticed something in her eyes.