News
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12/07/2011
At least 70 Occupy SF protesters were arrested after San Francisco police raided the encampment at Justin Herman Plaza early Wednesday.
from the SF Examiner: "Police in riot gear dismantled the camp after protesters were told to clear the plazajust after 1 a.m. Two people were arrested for aggravated assault, but the majority of arrests were for blocking Market Street, San Francisco police Chief Greg Suhr said...“This area was declared a public health hazard,” Suhr told reporters. “It needs to be rehabilitated.
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12/06/2011
The national artists's advocacy organization United States Artists (USA) has announced the recipients of fifty, $50,000 USA Fellowship grants for artistic excellence, including seven winners in visual arts.
from ARTINFO: "The winners are Chicago sculpture and video artist Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, New York conceptual artist Lorraine O’Grady, assemblage artist John Outterbridge, and conceptual artist Allen Ruppersberg from L.A., New York video and performance artist Carolee Schneemann, Kansas painter and theater artist Roger Shimomura, and Tennessee photographer Mike Smith."
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12/06/2011
Martin Boyce has won the Turner Prize, the U.K.’s top contemporary-art award, beating contenders known for crafting artworks out of plastic sheeting, lipstick and overhead projectors.
from Bloomberg: "Boyce -- whose sculptural installations use furniture, lighting and design -- took his award from photographer Mario Testino in a televised ceremony at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead, northern England. 'The Turner Prize has done so much for art,' Boyce told Channel 4, which broadcast the ceremony live. 'It’s brought art to an audience, and it’s just an honor to be part of that.'"
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12/05/2011
A European hedge-fund executive is suing a New York art gallery that he says closed its doors one day after he accused it of selling him a phony Jackson Pollock painting for $17 million.
from the New York Post: "Pierre Lagrange’s suit charges that the Knoedler Gallery and its former president, Ann Freedman, duped him into believing the canvas, “Untitled, 1950,” had come from “a private collector who had inherited it." But Lagrange — a Belgian-born Londoner who recently made headlines by splitting from his wife and revealing he’s gay — says recent testing by a “preeminent materials-analysis and consulting firm” revealed that it couldn’t have been painted by the famed abstract expressionist dubbed “Jack the Dripper.”"
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12/02/2011
Gary Tinterow, an executive at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, has been chosen to be the new director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
from the Wall Street Journal: "Tinterow served as curator of European paintings at the Met for 20 years before becoming curator in charge of the newly formed department of 19th century, modern and contemporary art in 2004. He became chairman of that department in 2008. He succeeds Peter C. Marzio, who died in December 2010 after a battle with cancer."
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12/02/2011
The Miami Art Museum will be renamed the Jorge M. Pérez Art Museum of Miami-Dade County after a $35 million gift from the developer.
from the Miami Herald: "The donation includes $5 million that Pérez has already pledged and partially paid; an additional $15 million for the capital campaign and $15 million worth of Latin American art to be chosen by the museum. 'My reaction is stunned gratitude,' said museum director Thom Collins. 'Stunned because this campaign was kicked off in a very, very rosy economy and this project was kicked off in a rosy economy. This is not a very rosy economy.'”
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12/01/2011
A Rio museum canceled a January exhibition of pictures by renowned US photographer Nan Goldin because it includes nude scenes, sex and drugs.
from the Associated Press: "The Oi Futuro museum scrapped the show after deciding some of the thousands of pictures were inappropriate, but Rio's Museum of Modern Art (MAM-Rio) has agreed to host the exhibition instead from February 11 to April 8...Among pictures found to be objectionable are some in the 'Ballad of Sexual Dependency,' a slideshow chronicling the struggle for intimacy and understanding between friends and lovers collectively described by Goldin as her "'tribe.'"
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11/30/2011
The Mid-Market Art Project (MMAP), in conjunction with the San Francisco Art Institute, is seeking artists to submit art project proposals to take place in the mid-market neighborhood of San Francisco in March 2012.
from the SFAI Web site: "The goal of MMAP is to facilitate a conversation about arts’ interactions with a neighborhood community that is currently undergoing cultural development. Three chosen artists will display their work on site in the mid-market neighborhood in March 2012, will be included in a post-project show in a San Francisco gallery, and will be featured in a printed project publication, as well as on the MMAP website."
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11/30/2011
The Indianapolis Museum of Art has announced a call for proposals for 2012 residency on Andrea Zittel's Indianapolis Island.
from the IMA Web site: "The Indianapolis Museum of Art is issuing a call for proposals for a summer 2012 six-week residency on Andrea Zittel's Indianapolis Island within the IMA's 100 Acres: The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art and Nature Park. Graduate and undergraduate students and emerging professionals in the fields of art, design, architecture and performing arts are encouraged to apply to customize and reside on Indianapolis Island. Proposals are due Friday, January 13, 2012."
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11/29/2011
Art & Auction’s ninth annual Power 100 issue names Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, daughter of the Emir of Qatar, the most powerful person in the art world.
from Bloomberg: "This is the first year the magazine has broken out a ranked list from its annual issue on 100 movers and shakers, grouped into categories such as auctions, dealers and curators. Sheikha Al-Mayassa is the chairwoman of the Qatar Museums Authority, an organization overseeing the country’s ambitious cultural initiatives. 'Sheikha Al-Mayassa has the resources of an entire country at her disposal,' said Benjamin Genocchio, a vice president at Louise Blouin Media and editor in chief of Art & Auction. 'They have hired Ed Dolman to be their personal shopper. And the budget has no limit.'"
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11/29/2011
The wife of Ai Weiwei was taken from the Chinese artist's studio by police Tuesday and was questioned for three hours.
from CNN: "Four policemen took Lu Qing from the Beijing studio to a nearby police station, [Ai] said. She was released by police after questioning and is now a 'criminal suspect,' he said. They have not told her what crimes she is accused of. 'I think the authorities are trying to threaten me through her,' [Ai] said, speculating that Lu's arrest was related to her plans to visit Taiwan for an exhibition of her husband's work. She has now been told to stay in Beijing."
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11/28/2011
A group within the Occupy Wall Street movement is in discussions to find a multi-purpose, indoor arts space.
from The Art Newspaper: "The Arts and Culture committee of the New York City General Assembly, the protest group behind the movement, is planning to use shared office space on Wall Street with other Occupy groups, and is considering another offer from the arts blog Hyperallergic to borrow space in its Brooklyn offices, among other options. The space will be used for 'studio space, rehearsals, concerts, storage, performances, exhibitions, teach-ins, film screenings, art classes for children, sleeping, etc.'"
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11/28/2011
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation has announced six finalists for its 2012 Hugo Boss Prize.
from the New York Times: "The $100,000 prize, named for the German men’s wear company that sponsors it, is given every two years to an individual who has made an important contribution in contemporary art. In addition to cash, the winner is awarded an exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. The finalists are: Trisha Donnelly, Rashid Johnson, Monika Sosnowska, Danh Vo, Tris Vonna-Michell, and Qiu Zhijie.
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11/23/2011
Shepard Fairey has created a modified version of his famous "Hope" poster that calls for President Obama to support the Occupy Wall Street movement.
from the Los Angeles Times: "Fairey unveiled the new poster on his website late last week. The image substitutes Obama's face with a figure wearing the Guy Fawkes protest mask that has become a sartorial symbol of the Occupy rallies. 'This image represents my support for the Occupy movement, a grassroots movement spawned to stand up against corruption, imbalance of power, and failure of our democracy to represent and help average Americans,' the artist wrote on his site."
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11/23/2011
French artist Laure Prouvost has won the Max Mara art prize for women for her film and installation work.
from the BBC: "Prouvost, who has exhibited at galleries including Tate Britain and the ICA, was born in Lille but lives and works in London. Chair of the judges, Iwona Blazwick, described Prouvost's short films as "gripping". Prouvost's prize is a six-month residency in Italy, split between the British School in Rome and the Pistoletto Foundation in Biella."
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11/22/2011
The Auckland Triennial has announced that Hou Hanru will be the lead curator for for its fifth edition.
from Artforum: "Hou has curated the Lyon Biennale, the Istanbul Biennale, and the Venice Biennale. The Auckland Triennial was founded in 2000 and features contemporary artists. Hou explained, 'I’m looking forward to being a part of this unique exhibition experience, and I am excited to be in New Zealand.'"
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11/21/2011
Police have begun investigating Ai Weiwei's assistant for allegedly spreading pornography online.
from the Washington Post: "Police called in videographer Zhao Zhao, one of Ai’s assistants, for questioning on Thursday. Zhao said police asked him about an artistic photo he took last year of Ai and four women, who were all nude, titled “One Tiger, Eight Breasts.” The investigation appears to revive an accusation leveled against Ai when he was detained in April. Reports then said Ai was being investigated for tax evasion, bigamy and for spreading pornography online."
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11/18/2011
Following a highly competitive process, ACAC-SF and Art Practical are delighted to announce that Ellen Tani is the recipient of the 2011 ACAC Writing Fellowship.
Key to the selection of Tani was her shotgun review of Resistant Archaeology at the Mary Porter Sesnon Gallery in Santa Cruz. Tani, who is a graduate student in the Department of Art & Art History at Stanford University, will receive a $1,000 honorarium in support of her contributions as a writer for Art Practical. Tani will be commissioned to extend her shotgun review to a full-length review to be published by Art Practical on December 8, 2011. Between now and October 20, 2012, she will contribute six reviews to Art Practical, with the potential to write a feature-length article and to collaborate with the internationally regarded podcast Bad at Sports on an interview.
The other five finalists for this year’s fellowship include: Michele Carlson, Liz Glass, Joshua Kim, Charlotte Miller, and Jeffrey Songco. Their shotgun reviews have also been published in Issue 3.5 of Art Practical.
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11/18/2011
The National Endowment for the Arts announced $22.5 million in grants Thursday; California organizations received $4.3 million, or a fifth of the total.
from the Los Angeles Times: "Nationally there was just one six-figure grant — $100,000 to New York City’s New Dramatists for its Playwrights Lab program to foster new plays. In the four previous grant rounds since fall 2009, the top grants had reached $140,000 or $150,000. Since then, the NEA has seen its annual budget cut 7.5%, returning to its 2008-09 level of $155 million. The average grant for arts organizations announced Thursday was $26,177, down from $27,848 in the four previous rounds."
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11/17/2011
Dissident artist Ai Weiwei's latest provocative piece was handed to him by the Chinese government: a $2.4 million tax bill that he says is a trumped-up effort to silence him.
from the Associated Press: "To Ai, who has created installations around the world but had been able to show little of his work domestically, it is all art — right down to the scathing commentaries against him in the official Global Times newspaper. State media normally decline to acknowledge his existence. 'This has become a social performance and there are so many people involved. Even the Global Times. They are also playing a role in this,' Ai said. 'This has generated such energy which has never happened in the history of China.'"
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