art

Stories 401 - 420 | << Prev   Next >>

Brandeis Shuts Museum, Will Sell 6,000 Works

Art world shocked as university closes renowned institution

(Newser) - Facing severe budget shortfalls, Brandeis University will close its well-regarded modern art museum and sell off the entire 6,000-work collection, reports the Boston Globe. The move has shocked the art world and drawn heavy criticism from museum and university professionals. "This is not a happy day in the...

How Obama Can Rebuild the Arts

America can re-establish serious arts support with these 'first steps'

(Newser) - Despite the economic crisis, Barack Obama’s ascension to the White House is triggering a wave of optimism in the art community, David A. Ross writes in the Art Newspaper. He prescribes 10 “first steps” the president can take to re-establish serious support for arts in the United...

What Makes Joel the Worst Singer Ever?
What Makes Joel the
Worst Singer Ever?
OPINION
Jan 24, 2009 3:33 PM CST

What Makes Joel the Worst Singer Ever?

Contempt, phoniness drives 'really bad art'

(Newser) - Billy Joel serves up his own brand of schlock-rock, but why is it so uniquely bad? Critic Ron Rosenbaum easily pans the piano man—"anodyne, sappy, superficial, derivative, fraudulently rebellious"—but what he hates most is the “unearned contempt" in Joel's tunes. It's usually for “the...

China Knockoff Craze Gains Steam, Courage

Shanzhai culture shifts from brand names to national symbols

(Newser) - An internet variety showed parodying the annual lunar new year gala on Chinese central TV is just the most publicized knockoff generated by the country’s rebellious shanzhai culture, the Wall Street Journal reports. Once mainly the province of counterfeit name brands (think HiPhone), the web now is awash with...

Arts Need a New Deal, Too
 Arts Need a New Deal, Too 
OPINION
Jan 21, 2009 7:40 PM CST

Arts Need a New Deal, Too

Cultural anthropologist suggests President Obama appoint arts cabinet

(Newser) - Fifty years after FDR’s Public Works Art Project paid and promoted American talent, President Obama has people dreaming of a new deal for arts, cultural anthropologist Patricia Williams Lessane writes in Ebony. While division spawned the Harlem Renaissance, Lessane is hopeful an arts resurgence would be “born out...

Tough-as-Nails Pooty-Poot Is Also an Artiste

Russian PM's painting fetches $1.15M at charity auction

(Newser) - Vladimir Putin has a murky past with the KGB, a black belt in judo, and the public image of a tough guy, so when the Russian PM tried his hand at fine art, patrons sat up. Putin painted a scene of snowfall seen through a window for a charity auction...

Thank Portrait for Obama's Success: Hope Artist

LA graphic designer says image boosted power of art

(Newser) - The iconic Hope image of Barack Obama helped get the Illinois senator elected president, says the graphic designer who created the image. “It has exceeded my expectations almost from the get-go,” Shepard Fairey told Smithsonian magazine, adding that Obama’s “unique” look was an inspiration for him...

Art World Still Divided on Wyeth

Some call him modern; others, 'corny Americana'

(Newser) - Andrew Wyeth divided the art community throughout his life, and little seems to have changed with his passing yesterday. While many in the field call him one of the most important 20th-century American artists, others insist his mode of realism makes him more of an illustrator than a serious painter,...

Painter Andrew Wyeth Dead at 91
 Painter Andrew 
 Wyeth Dead at 91 
obituary
Jan 16, 2009 9:56 AM CST

Painter Andrew Wyeth Dead at 91

'Polarizing' Pennsylvanian known for 'Christina's World'

(Newser) - Andrew Wyeth, a painter both celebrated and scorned in the art community, has died at 91 at his home outside Philadelphia. In his paintings, the “polarizing” figure depicted a rural America of fallow fields, faded colors, and weather-beaten people, writes Michael Kimmelman in the New York Times. He was...

Christie's Cuts Jobs as Art Sales Slump

250-year-old auction house downsizes to stay afloat

(Newser) - Following months of bad results in America and Europe, Christie's is reorganizing to cut costs, including "significant staff reductions," the auction house said yesterday. While at the start of 2008 the art world seemed immune to the economic downturn, the decade-long boom in art prices busted this fall....

Artist Cooks Up Rachael Ray Nude Portrait

Alex Gardega will use paprika to paint

(Newser) - The wait is over: You may soon be able to see Rachael Ray naked. Artist Alex Gardega is painting a 6-foot nude portrait of the TV personality, the New York Post reports. Fittingly, the “art-world rebel”—who says modern art “needs a savior … to bring painting...

Hollywood, Lay Off the 'Burbs
 Hollywood, Lay Off the 'Burbs 
analysis
Dec 28, 2008 2:00 PM CST

Hollywood, Lay Off the 'Burbs

Hating on the suburbs is the cheapest, easiest move in art

(Newser) - Revolutionary Road, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, “is the latest entry in a long stream of art that portrays the American suburbs as the physical correlative to spiritual and mental death,” Lee Siegel writes in the Washington Post. Everyone from Allen Ginsberg to Sylvia Plath has given...

Are Video Games Art?
 Are Video Games Art? 
OPINION
Dec 28, 2008 8:14 AM CST

Are Video Games Art?

Outselling theater, music, and movies, but still not taken seriously

(Newser) - Video games are going gangbusters financially, but they're still generally relegated to "lowbrow" entertainment by the culturati. Some critics, however, are finally giving video games their due and deeming them art. "The best games are already beautiful, and I can see no reason why the look of video...

Met Unveils X-Rated Renaissance

New exhibition includes 16th-century porn alongside masterpieces

(Newser) - Art and Love in Renaissance Italy, a new exhibition at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, comes with a warning to spectators: parental discretion advised. Mixed in with decorous portraits of noblemen are 16th-century pornographic images, dirty books, and other obscene artifacts. For Wall Street Journal critic James Gardner,...

Hirst Is Art World's Lehman
 Hirst Is Art World's Lehman 
OPINION
Dec 22, 2008 12:21 PM CST

Hirst Is Art World's Lehman

September mega-sale coincided with investment bank's collapse

(Newser) - With the collapse of Lehman Brothers having opened an “anxious new era” in financial circles and among consumers at large, the auction that brought artist Damien Hirst $166 million on Sept. 15—the very day Lehman went bust—clearly marks the division, Martin Gayford writes for Bloomberg. By year’...

Want Free Art? Get A Tattoo
 Want Free Art? Get A Tattoo 
Dec 20, 2008 2:10 PM CST

Want Free Art? Get A Tattoo

Canadian artists trade artworks for flesh space

(Newser) - A growing number of Canadian artists are giving away art to fans who are willing to wear it permanently, the Globe & Mail reports. The art buffs get free prints and a tattoo, while artists put their work out there on human flesh. "When I say 'this is by...

Troubled LA Museum Wins $30M Bailout

MoCA warms to Eli Broad amid reports that director has resigned

(Newser) - LA's troubled Museum of Contemporary Art is moving toward a bailout deal with Eli Broad, reports the Los Angeles Times. The billionaire real estate investor and art collector offered MoCA a $30 million donation contingent on improved performance, which board members favored over a merger with the Los Angeles County...

Louvre May Have Found New Leonardo Sketches

Three drawings found on back of painting

(Newser) - Curators from the Louvre have discovered three sketches on the back of Leonardo da Vinci’s oil painting "Virgin And Child With St Anne" that may be by the master himself, the AFP reports. Museum workers noticed two barely visible sketches, of a horse’s head and a human...

They're Naked, and Not Going to Take It Anymore

Paris' nude life models strike—in the buff—to demand better pay

(Newser) - Paris is notorious for constant protests by striking workers, but yesterday the French capital witnessed an uncommon work action: dozens of nude life models who braved freezing temperatures—naked—to demand a pay increase. As the Guardian reports, the models took to the street and re-created Delacroix's Liberty Leading ...

Spain Probes Guggenheim's 'Troubled' Finances

Fraud, mismanagement, profligacy call Bilbao museum into question

(Newser) - A decade ago the Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim Museum put the sleepy Basque city of Bilbao on the international art map. But in recent months the institution has been tarnished by an embezzlement scam, overspending on middling artworks, and a $9.4 million loss in a botched currency deal. Now, reports...

Stories 401 - 420 | << Prev   Next >>