2000s

“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?

Couple Donates $70 Million Collection to Philadelphia Museum of Art

“Couple Donates $70 Million Collection to Philadelphia Museum of Art”

by Victor Fiorillo via PhillyMag

“On Thursday, Art Museum CEO Timothy Rub announced that the museum has acquired one of the country’s most important collections of contemporary art from Keith and Katherine Sachs. Keith Sachs, a museum trustee since 1988, is the former CEO of Horsham-based Saxco International, a distributor of wine and liquor bottles.

The collection of 97 works spans the last 60 years and includes pieces by American masters Ellsworth Kelly and Jasper Johns, as well as dozens of other artists. The collection features paintings, both indoor and outdoor sculpture, large-format photography, and video art.

Here’s what Rub had to say:

The Sachs Collection reinforces and expands the scope of the Museum’s holdings of contemporary art and will enable us to present to our audiences a more comprehensive view of the art of the past half century.  . . . .”

 

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?

“Art Worthy of a Hard Look”

Art Worthy of a Hard Look

by Karen Wilkin via “Wall Street Journal“


“The most memorable exhibitions of 2013 ranged from close examinations of a single aspect of an artist’s oeuvre to broad overviews. Some placed familiar works in informative contexts. Others were surprising. Some were all of this, all at once. All demanded that we look hard and rewarded that attention by enlarging our understanding. . . ”

 

Modern Art: “Man Walks All Day to Create Massive Snow Patterns”

“Man Walks All Day to Create Massive Snow Patterns”

by Pinar via “My Modern Met“

“English artist Simon Beck never ceases to amaze us with his large-scale murals of geometric patterns in snow. Each visually breathtaking piece, which Beck manually creates by walking through the snow and leaving behind his track prints, adds a surreal element to its natural landscape. Walking countless miles on end, the dedicated artist manages to produce startlingly symmetrical and elaborate designs on the soft, white bed of snow that covers acres upon acres of land.

Beck’s ability to not only trek through the slippery surface and icy temperatures but to also keep track of his steps is absolutely remarkable. The beautifully plotted details of the artist’s work complement the untouched expanse of snow and ice capped mountains that surround them each year. With the next winter season just around the corner, we’re excited to see Beck’s next series of artistic snow exhibitions. In the meantime, check out some of his work from earlier this year, just before the snow melted away. . . . .”