[ A storm regarding art and its relation to political activism has erupted at the Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA), resulting in the May 19th resignation of curator Chris Gilbert, who ran the museum’s Matrix film program for less than a year. Before taking the position at BAM/PFA, Gilbert was curator at the Baltimore Museum of Art, where he…
China’s most famous portrait of Chairman Mao Zedong is to be auctioned off by the country’s state-controlled auction house in Beijing. Commissioned in 1950 to celebrate the first anniversary of the People’s Republic of China, Zhang Zhenshi’s oil painting of Mao became a world famous image. The portrait of the communist leader was published in poster form, with untold millions…
If he had not been struck down by assassins on Friday, May 19th, 1965 – Malcolm X would be celebrating his 81st birthday with us today. [ Malcolm X Speaks for Us – Linoleum cut by Elizabeth Catlett, 1969. ] In 1969 African-American painter, printmaker and sculptor, Elizabeth Catlett, paid tribute to the slain freedom fighter with her linoleum cut,…
The May 9th feeding frenzy at Christie’s auction house in New York signifies a new level of absurdity for the art world. The New York Times dubbed it the evening when “Minimalism went mainstream.” Walter Robinson, writing for artnet.com, politely referred to it as “irrational market exuberance,” and noted the otherworldly nature of it all, “A galvanized metal box, roughly…
Francois Pinault is the billionaire who owns the Gucci fashion group, Yves St Laurent, the Chateau Latour vineyard and the auction house, Christie’s. He is the 74th richest man in the world, and it’s only fitting that a business oligarch be allowed to help shape the face of contemporary art, after all, culture is just another commodity in today’s monopolized,…
The censorship of two recent art exhibits in the United States points not only to widening threats against free speech, but also to a deep crisis and malaise within the art world. As reported on May 3, 2006 on “Democracy Now,” a current affairs news show on leftwing Pacifica Radio, Brandeis University in Massachusetts closed an exhibit of Palestinian art:…
On April 24, 2006, architect Frank Gehry unveiled his plans for the $750 million dollar re-design of downtown Los Angeles, an undertaking that is the first of a three phase $1.8 billion “improvement” project to be overseen by real estate tycoons, The Related Companies of California. Construction is slated to begin this coming December. Mr. Gehry envisions “developing” a three…
[Bedroom Scene #4. Eric Fischl 2004. Oil on Linen. ] There seems to be an upsurge of interest in painting these days, but let’s be clear – what type of painting and to what end? Artist Eric Fischl gave a lecture at the University of Pennsylvania on April 11th, titled, The Death of Painting from van Gogh to Chris Burden….
