News | Art Practical

Chicken art ruffles feathers

2012-02-22T18:18:29+00:00

from the Kansas City Star: "She hopes the Warhol Foundation-funded project, 'The Story of Chickens: A Revolution' will establish a connection between residents and the food they eat. Some, however, are clucking their tongues: 'When people in other states think of Kansas, they will think that we don’t teach evolution in our schools and we do those gruesome, public slaughters of chickens and call it art,' said one local. 'This is just backward.'"

Street art helps with pollution

2012-02-22T18:13:52+00:00

from the Huffington Post: "Manila is one of the five most polluted cities in the world, and a paint company recently decided to try a unique approach to combatting airborne toxins. The paint, called Boysen KNOxOUT, is made up of modified titanium dioxide molecules that neutralize noxious gases when they are exposed to sunlight."

UC Berkeley loses sculpture

2012-02-21T18:18:21+00:00

from the New York Times: "The university’s embarrassing loss eventually enabled the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, a large museum and research center in San Marino, Calif., to acquire its first major work by an African-American artist."

Art for college funds

2012-02-21T16:39:42+00:00

from My Northwest: "While many of the Washington State Art Commission's more than 4,000 pieces of art are on public display - at universities and state agencies, for example - Senator Karen Keiser, D-Kent said many are never seen. 'So I'm attempting to create a new way to look at our art collection: As an asset to be used,' Keiser said. 'Rather than just sit on a collection that isn't being seen, let's pick and choose those pieces that might be very worthwhile to auction.'"

New Bay Bridge

2012-02-20T19:32:07+00:00

from the New York Times: "The new eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge has several elements to help it withstand a major earthquake. The central feature of the span is a 2,047-foot-long single-tower self-anchored suspension bridge of a asymmetrical design."

Greek culture minister offers resignation

2012-02-17T16:38:21+00:00

from Bloomberg: "Yeroulanos went to the museum in southern Greece this morning to assess the situation after submitting his resignation to Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, a ministry spokesman said in a phone interview given on condition of anonymity. There was no response from the prime minister’s office on whether the resignation was accepted."

New rubin foundation

2012-02-16T16:43:13+00:00

from the Wall Street Journal: "Philanthropist and art collector Shelley Rubin has created a new foundation to support artists that fuse art and social action to reach a broad audience...The foundation's inaugural grant of $30,000 will go to New York-based No Longer Empty, a group that brings free public art exhibitions to vacant spaces and pairs unknown artists with established artists."

Koolhaus to design performance art center

2012-02-16T16:33:58+00:00

from New York Magazine: "The Serbian art superstar will seek to raise $8 million to pay for the project, she revealed Tuesday night to a group of art collectors at a panel at Manhattan's tony Core Club, and the museum will be devoted to performance art pieces of "six hours minimum." Some of them will go on for days."

Silicon Valley arts investment

2012-02-15T18:34:32+00:00

from the Peninsula Press, via SF Gate: "'Silicon Valley is the epicenter for thought about change,” Joel Slayton [founder of Zero1] said at Friday’s conference...Silicon Valley has a higher concentration of arts-centric businesses than the national average, according to the 2012 Silicon Valley Index, an annual look at the region’s economic and social health. But the Valley isn’t ahead by much, Friday’s panelists pointed out. And in general, Silicon Valley has a higher concentration of businesses than the national average, so when residents take that into account, the arts statistic looks even less impressive."

Basquiat invisible ink

2012-02-15T17:11:05+00:00

from the Associated Press via the Washington Post: "Sotheby’s experts uncovered the secret this month as they were examining “Orange Sports Figure,” which goes on sale Wednesday. The vibrant image of an abstract crowned figure is estimated to be worth between 3 million pounds and 4 million pounds ($4.7 million and $6.3 million). Basquiat, a graffiti artist who became a 1980s art star, signed relatively few of his canvasses. But Sotheby’s said ultraviolet light revealed the artist’s name and the date 1982 beneath the work’s layers of acrylic and spray paint."