Tag Archives: hirst

Another dozen good pieces on artists from Richard Serra to Robert Mapplethorpe

Posted on April 24, 2024 | Comments Off on Another dozen good pieces on artists from Richard Serra to Robert Mapplethorpe


Here’s 12 good pieces on artists that capture a range of feeling, from sadness to gladness and more.

Sadness: the great Richard Serra passed away recently. So too did Patti Astor, head of the Fun Gallery in the 80s. Her obit is here. Deeply sad is this sobering piece on art being made in  Ukraine during the current war.

Badness: The Tate continues to struggle with racist elements in a famous Whistler mural. This story talks about how they brought in artist Keith Piper to help with that. You be the judge of all that.

Also bad: a story of how Jeff Koons squashed a review he didn’t like. Bad in his own way and so very Damien Hirst:  Hirst shark that sold for about 8m is fourth 2017 work dated to 1990s here. Not bad, but controversial is Gerhard Richter’s most divisive work returning. to Auschwitz.

Gladness: things that made me glad are these prints by Lucy Cooper. These great photos by my friend Jared Bramblett, seen here also fill me with gladness. Also great is this story of David Hampton, an 98 year old artist who think making art keeps you alive. He makes a good case.

Longing: Written during the pandemic, this piece on Jason Polan as a flaneur was worth revisiting…there’s so much longing in that piece. (Image above from that piece.)

Boadciousness: not my word, but I think it applies in this piece on ex-Vogue editor Edward Enninful and his thoughts on  Robert Mapplethorpe.

 

 

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Jeff Koons is going to the moon! Also Katz, Bacon, Guston and Taueber-Arp

Posted on September 4, 2022 | Comments Off on Jeff Koons is going to the moon! Also Katz, Bacon, Guston and Taueber-Arp

Jeff Koons is going to the Moon, according to the NYTimes. Which knowing Koons, is not that surprising. He’s doing more things that are fascinating as well. Read that Times piece for all the details.

I love this work by  George Shaw. They make me think of Christopher Pratt in some ways. Worth a look. Also worth a look are the  Visual Diaries of Pep Carro.  Fascinating.

Here’s two good pieces on Sophie Taeuber-Arp. One is from the perspective of a reviewer and one from the perspective of a viewer. In both cases, they are raising the question of why did the curators not bring forth the African and other influences that infuse her work? I was unaware of that, and I think anyone who loves the work of ST-A would benefit from knowing that.

Here’s a good piece on “The Brilliantly Nightmarish Art & Troubled Life” of Painter Francis Bacon. I put quotes around that because I felt that was over the top. But yes.

This, on Alex Katz is good. I find it hard to believe anyone thinks he is anything other than great, but there are such people. And such people inspire him in an interesting way.

A good critique on curators who would put blinders on gallery visitors witnessing the later work of Philip Guston.

You may not know this artist, but I love his work: Pavement Picasso…on the trail of London’s chewing gum artist.

On the lost work of gay artists of the AIDS era. Sad but worthwhile.

Flaming heck! Damien Hirst is setting his art on fire. A public service, no doubt.

Finally, the Rosalind Hobley Flower Cyanotypes are gorgeous (see below). See Collosal for more.

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On art and artists being bad. From Gormley, to Hirst and more

Posted on August 10, 2022 | Comments Off on On art and artists being bad. From Gormley, to Hirst and more


So Antony Gormley is in the news for his  “phallic” statue which students are worried about. This is not the first time he’s made statues associated with sex, as this piece shows: Sex on the beach? This could be made into a story about artist freedom and prudishness, but I think the easier case could be made for communities being forced to deal with ridiculous sculptures of oversexed middle aged artists. It’s like the artist is an exhibitionist and what he flashes his stuff, tries to make it about you being a prude. Anyway, stuff like this makes me grumpy. Stick the goddamn stuff in a garden or something. Sculptures like Gormley and Serra who subject the public to their difficult work are jerks.

That’s Sex. Moving on to Death, Damien Hirst recently got into trouble for a work that consisted of killing flies. He really should avoid dead things and stick to what he is good at: money. Here he is burning his art to show art as currency. When it comes to money, that’s where his true talent lies. Stick to that, Damien.

Speaking of money and greed, you can read about how a company is trying to trademark a colour. Just what we need. We can thank Anish Kapoor for fostering that bad idea. Thanks, Anish.

How about some art and racism? Here’s a story of how art critics perpetuated racism with their reviews. And here’s a piece on a white artist stealing the work of a black photographer. Not surprising; still awful.

Then there is sexism, such as this: The female body under the female gaze poses a monster problem

Finally there is ridiculousness: artist asks $10,000 for McDonald’s burger ingredient flung to the ceiling.

Art can do many good things for us. But not everything about art is good, as these pieces show.

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