Monday, August 22, 2011
In Case of Emergency - Smash Glass and Grab the Rubens
Fascinating article in the Washington Post about how the curator of the National Gallery deals with choosing works for a disaster scenario. Since 1979 works have been stored in special emergency boxes. This requires the curator, Andrew Robison, to rank the works according to importance. Here’s how he decides:
“To merit inclusion in the box, each work gets a thorough going-over by Robison’s team. The first criterion is aesthetic: Is it pleasing to the eye, well-made in both concept and execution? Next, historic: does it say enough about when it was made and who made it? Of all the moments of human history to which art can transport us, is this one worth remembering? And then he has a more nebulous but convincing factor that Robison merely calls “power.” Of all the things that could be demonstrated with lines on paper, does this — through imagery alone — have a pronounced psychological impact? Does it change minds, just by viewing it?”
Admittedly, this is a subjective task, which begs the question - what criteria would you choose?
Monday, August 15, 2011
Record Museum Attendance for Graffiti Exhibition
Over 200,000 people attended the L.A. Museum of Contemporary Arts’s “Art in the Street” exhibition last month. According to an article in the NY Times it’s the highest attendance of an exhibition in the museum’s history. It would be interesting to see the average age of the attendants. I’m guessing there was a large showing of 20-somethings who were raised with graffiti/street art movement that began with Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Both those artists, along with contemporary favorites like Banksy, had works in the show. Because a large part of street art relies on documenting the work, many celebrated filmmakers were also included in the event. It seems a controversial art form is finally getting its day in the sun.
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