Art Wank

cultural. bloody. hero!

http://www.ayearinmuseums.com/

One man aims to visit every museum in London in one year.

The lot of the struggling artist: Lucian Freud

We do a couple of day trips every now and again. William’s got his wonderful private jet, and we make use of that. In the spring we went to Paris for the Pompidou opening and then on to Madrid for the Prado, which was closed on the Monday, but it was arranged that we could go in and walk around on our own. William sets up things like that. You drive on the runway right to the plane, nip down to Madrid, look at some paintings for an hour or two, have a fantastic lunch, then zip back on the plane and you’re home by teatime. It’s not too disruptive.

• Lucian Freud on William Acquavella, in Tom Vanderbilt, ‘The Master and the Artist’, Wall Street Journal, 24 March 2011. http://tinyurl.com/6fmmnco
  

The case for core funding

Theatres, museums and orchestras say they need core funding on either a three, four or five year contact, to enable them to plan and run their businesses. Any additional money provided by philanthropic gifts or a one-off lottery grant is extremely helpful, but doesn’t compare. It is the difference between an employee earning a wage and then receiving the occasional bonus, you can plan your life around one, but not the other.

• Will Gompertz, ‘The Arts on a Budget’, Gomp/arts, BBC News, 24 March 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/willgompertz/2011/03/the_arts_on_a_budget.html

AW: Just to prove that we don’t only cite stupid quotes, here is Will Gompertz putting the case for government arts funding better than anyone else can. Go Will!

Ballet Bullies?

The head of Russia’s world-famous Bolshoi Theatre ballet troupe has resigned after erotic photographs purporting to be him appeared on the internet.

• Rebekah Cavanagh, ‘Bolshoi Ballet Boss Quits Over Porn Scandal’, Sky News online, 17 March 2011. http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Bolshoi-Ballet-Director-Gennady-Yanin-Quits-After-Erotic-Photographs-Of-Him-Appear-On-The-Internet/Article/201103315954094?f=rss

AW: This appears to be a smear-campaign that the Russian Media have speculated may have been conducted by his colleagues to oust him.

AW Track changes: Michael Joo

• Michael Joo, ‘Sculpture Interrogated/ Deflected’, 2011. http://www.othercriteria.com/blog/2011/03/08/sculpture-interrogateddeflected/ with AW track changes.

AW: we’ve proof read Michael Joo’s statement about his sculpture and made some comments in track changes.

Slap down for Koons

As virtually any clown can attest, no one owns the idea of making a balloon dog, and the shape created by twisting a balloon into a dog-like form is part of the public domain.

• Jedediah Wakefield, lawyer, quoted in Cat Weaver, ‘Is a Cease and Desist About Irony, Hypocrisy or Legal Strategy?’, 10 March 2011, Hyperallergic, < http://hyperallergic.com/20398/cease-and-desist-strategy/>.

AW: For context. Jeff Koons’s lawyers (Jones Day) sent a cease-and-desist letter to Park Life, a San Francisco shop and gallery, to try to prevent them from selling balloon dog bookends, claiming that they were too similar to Koons’s sculptures. Jedediah Wakefield, of Fenwick and West, took on Park Life’s case pro bono and Koons’s lawyers soon dropped the case. As Jamie Alexander of Park Life wrote on his blog: ‘isn’t his ENTIRE FUCKING CAREER based on co-opting other peoples’ work????’

The last word on light bulbs. Or is it?

I don’t think any of the judges feel this is the dernier cri in terms of what will be done with the low-energy light bulb

• Will Self, Brit Insurance design of the year award jury member, ‘Plumen Lightbulb wins Brit Insurance Design of the Year 2011’, <http://www.designsoftheyear.com/2011/03/15/plumen-lightbulb-wins-brit-insurance-design-of-the-year-2011/>

AW: Presumably Will Self is using the term ‘dernier cri’ in the sense of the last word rather than the latest thing. Because obviously this is the latest thing in light bulbs, but hopefully not the last word on light bulb design and technology. I mean… that would be a travesty, right!