North America

“Detroit Needs Money. Can A ‘Grand Bargain’ Save The City’s Art?”

“Detroit Needs Money. Can A ‘Grand Bargain’ Save The City’s Art?”

by Elizabeth Blair via “NPR”

“Can wealthy art lovers help save Detroit’s pension funds — and one of its museums?

The city is struggling to find ways to emerge from bankruptcy. One idea: sell the city’s art to save the pensions of city retirees. The Detroit Institute of Arts, or DIA, has faced serious financial difficulties over the years, and yet it holds the city’s most valuable assets: a world-class art collection that includes works by Van Gogh, Rembrandt and Matisse. Estimates vary, but Christie’s recently appraised these works at more than $850 million.

Because some of those masterpieces were bought with city funds, they could be auctioned off to pay creditors. “It’s the only source of money that exists in the city of Detroit,” philanthropist Paul Schaap says flatly.  . . . .”

 

Robert Reid’s Miniature

“The Miniature” by Robert Reid Currently Housed at the Detroit Institute of Arts

“Art Exhibits for the Selfie Set”

“Art Exhibits for the Selfie Set”

by Richard Morgan via “Wall Street Journal“

“Carmelle Fernandez came down to Chelsea from the north Bronx with her cousin to stand in front of a pair of 18-feet-tall wooden characters. She asked a fellow visitor to Mary Boone Gallery to photograph them in similar poses as the sculptures—a shot destined for Instagram, Ms. Fernandez, a 30-year-old office assistant, said.

“It just makes you feel like you’re part of it,” she said. “It’s just fun. I think a lot of people take these photos. It’s hard not to.”

The exhibit, of sculptures and paintings by the artist KAWS, isn’t . . . .”

Out of curiosity, how long until the selfies themselves are considered works of art? I fully expect an exhibition to appear within the next 1-2 years focusing on the “best selfies” or “selfies that tell a story” theme.   It is a surprisingly important part of modern culture–the obsession with oneself and one’s own interaction with the world as opposed to merely appreciating the works and experiences of others. That being said, this is a great way to involve otherwise un-interested audiences in the arts.

“The Confidence, and the Art, Looked Real”

“The Confidence, and the Art, Looked Real”

by Patricia Cohen via “New York Times”

“To many people, the art dealer Jose Carlos Bergantiños Diaz seemed like an enviable man.  He came to the United States from Spain with his Mexican inamorata, Glafira Rosales, some 30 years ago, barely a dollar in his pocket, and only a few words of English at his command. Soon, he was living life on a grand stage. He bought a fine house in a wealthy New York suburb, opened an art gallery with Ms. Rosales and maintained auction accounts at Christie’s and Sotheby’s.He boasted of a friendship with Andy Warhol, an audience with the pope and his daughter’s violin performance at the Clinton White House. He created a charity that helped the poor and the sick in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, and won awards for his humanitarianism.

Behind the curtain, though, federal prosecutors say, Mr. Bergantiños was engaged in a very different sort of enterprise, a daring forgery swindle that fooled the art world and led collectors to spend more than $80 million on dozens of phony masterworks. The marketing of these forgeries, many of them sold through the offices of what was once New York’s oldest gallery, Knoedler & Company, has been among the most stunning art market scandals of the last decade. . . .”

I’ll just bet he’s out of the country; I can’t imagine having the cahoney’s to pull something like this off. And it begs the question of how well Knoedler & Co. were investigating the works they processed. Where are the provenance records, the testing process results, etc.? Were those forged as well, or were they not included in the sale? In this day and age, how were so many forged items passed of?

When the Rights of Artists Meet the Rights of Ecologists

“Tone Deaf? Musician claims feds destroyed rare flutes at airport”

by Judson Berger via “Fox News“

“Everyone’s a critic. 

A Canadian musician claims that U.S. Customs officials seized and destroyed 11 rare flutes as he passed through New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport last week. The reason? Concerns they were an ecological threat. 

The charge from Boujemaa Razgui, who is based in the U.S., has drawn widespread attention — in the U.S., in Canada, and particularly in the music community.  . . . “

The government disputes the claims, arguing that they merely destroyed random bamboo stalks, but that isn’t really the point. The real questioned the situation begs is when the Artist’s right goes too far.  Personally, I think that if the story proves true, the government officials were out of line.  However, what’s your opinion?  Given how far artist’s rights have been allowed to extend in the past, where should the line be drawn?  Art denigrating religious beliefs has been permitted.  Racist and fairly Vulgar works have been permitted. Is a minor potential threat to ecology more heinous? What’s your opinion?