Current Affairs 6.04
Unheard tape of Francis Bacon shredding Jasper Johns and Andy Warhol is revealed
A tape has been revealed in which Francis Bacon calls John’s painting False Start ‘ridiculous’ and Warhol’s works ‘very bad’. He goes on to say: “It is such a ridiculous thing”. “The whole thing, it is nothing. It is just a series of a number of diagonal scratches going in different directions in red and blue.”
Read the full article at:
Indonesian Tourist Attraction is a complete rip off of Chris Burden, Yayoi Kusama, and Museum of Ice Cream
A new tourism park in Indonesia, seen to be a destination for selfies, has copied a series of widely recognized contemporary artworks. It features installations nearly identical to immersive works by Chris Burden and Yayoi Kusama. Users on social media have since called out the attraction for blatant plagiarism and lack of creativity.
Read more at:
Bean There, Done That: Houston Gets a Precursor of Chicago’s Shiny Anish Kapoor
“The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) unveiled a new outdoor sculpture on Monday, a monumental reflective piece by Anish Kapoor that immediately brings to mind his iconic “Cloud Gate” in Chicago, more widely known as “The Bean.”
Read more at:
Studio Face, April 6th- May 12th, Charlie Smith London, 336 Old Street, 2nd Floor
Keira Bennet presents Studio Face, at Charlie Smith London. She aims to adopt the tenets of early modernism and paint the experience of everyday life. She begins with personal experience and the feelings that come with it, showing abstractions of everyday experience.
A Brancusi has disappeared from plain sight in a Parisian Cemetery
The Cimetière du Montparnasse, Paris is at risk of losing one of two of its most distinctive occupants. “The Kiss” by Constantin Brancusi, 1909 has crowned Tatiana Rachewskaïa’s tomb for more than a century. It has been on view just inside the cemetery’s Rue Émile-Richard entrance since the very end of 1910 or early 1911. But, for at least six months now, the sculpture has been covered up and mysteriously concealed from public view.
Read more at:
Why are less Brits visiting museums?
Analysis undertaken by The Art Newspaper works in conjunction with the government’s own figures to show that museums have seen “a steady decline in visitors since 2014”. The figures suggest that whilst there is little change in the number international tourists, on whom museums are highly dependent, it is Brits who are visiting less and less.
Find out why at:
A new Fourth Plinth!
As many of you will have undoubtedly noticed, there is a new work sitting atop the fourth plinth of neighbouring Trafalgar Square: Michael Rakowitz’s ‘The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist’. “The work recreates an Assyrian winged bull with a human head, known as a lamassu, created in the ancient Mesopotamian city of Nineveh in 700 BCE but destroyed by Islamic State in 2015.”
Find out more at:
No Move for the Mona Lisa
As we previously reported, French culture minister Françoise Nyssen suggested that there was a chance Da Vinci’s world-renowned Mona Lisa would be going on tour. The idea, intended by the minister, “as a way to fight ‘cultural segregation’” has, however, been thwarted by the Louvre.
Find out why at:
Richard Serra: Rifts
The London Gagosian will proudly display the work of acclaimed minimalist Richard Serra from April 6th – May 25th.
Find out more at:
Are Damien Hirst’s ‘Veil Paintings’ an original idea?
Damien Hirst’s ‘Veil Paintings’, currently on show at Gagosian Beverly Hills, were said to be an exploration of colour, and heavily influenced by the Abstract Expressionists, as well as Post-Impressionists, but now some are claiming they are a rip off of Aboriginal Australian artist Emily Kame Kngwarreye.
Find out more at:
