The Easel

25th February 2020

Steve McQueen tells us about the lesser-known details behind his films

Leah Sinclair | Dazed | 13th February 2020

Having won both the Turner Prize and an Oscar (12 Years a Slave), McQueen is a maestro of film. His retrospective in London has been acclaimed – “a brass-knuckled punch of reality in the face of everyday complacency”. Better than most reviews, which seem not to have the knack of discussing the moving image, is McQueen’s own commentary. “I don’t know what the truth is. I just want to be naked and things to be raw.”

Warhol by Blake Gopnik, review: a monumental portrait of the art souperstar

Mick Brown | The Telegraph | 15th February 2020

A new biography of Warhol is out, based on open access to his archives. Old debates are revived – the most important artist of the 20th century, or just “a creepy commercial artist who got lucky“? The big picture ideas coming out of the book also sound familiar: “there was an emotional vacancy in Warhol … [he] remains, as he doubtless would have wished, essentially, brilliantly, unknowable.” (This link may help with navigating the Telegraph paywall)

Hammer Museum’s ‘Paul McCarthy: Head Space’ draws a revelatory picture of L.A. artist

Christopher Knight | LA Times | 13th February 2020

McCarthy’s own gallery describes his oeuvre as “anarchic”. So where should a retrospective focus? Hammer Museum chooses drawing, a constant in his long career. Surrealism and Expressionism were formative influences. Unifying McCarthy’s diverse output is his constant attention to one key theme: “overwhelming physical, psychological and emotional toxicity within a culture that elevates beastly male power above all else”.

EU Brings Greek Demand for Elgin Marbles Into Brexit Talks

Ian Wishart | Bloomberg | 19th February 2020

The EU wants its trade negotiations with Britain to be contingent on repatriation of “unlawfully removed cultural objects”. That’s code for Greece wanting Britain to return marble carvings that had, for 2000 years, adorned the Acropolis. British officials are dismissive of this move, perhaps confident that possession is 9/10th of the law. An interesting podcast is here.

Shifting sands: An art exhibition, a desert landscape and an insight into Saudi society

Stephanie d’Arc Taylor | The Independant | 5th February 2020

Saudi Arabia doesn’t do things by halves. It plans to develop an area the size of Belgium into an arts hub and conservation area. A key event will be Desert X AlUla, an exhibition of “grand-scale art” in the striking desert landscape. Can a society that restricts freedom of expression foster a vibrant arts community? “[Y]es, but only up to a point. [The work] is often visually spectacular but feels ultimately insubstantial.”

‘Just Plain Ugly’: Proposed Executive Order Takes Aim At Modern Architecture

Elizabeth Blair | NPR | 13th February 2020

Political leaders have long expressed particular architectural preferences. Perhaps President Trump is one of them. Critical of Brutalist and Modernist styles, a proposed Executive Order requires new Federal buildings to use Classical designs. That means lots of Greek columns. Architects of all stripes are outraged. Sneers one writer, “a return to the cultural aspirations of Camelot.” Background on the issue is here.

Dhaka Art Summit 2020

John McDonald | Sydney Morning Herald | 13th February 2020

Bangladeshi artists joke that, with local philanthropic support scarce, they only see each other when invited to Europe. Dhaka Art Summit is trying to change that. Unlike an art fair, DAS is “entirely non-commercial”, focused on building links across artists of the region. Naturally, the show has a bias toward local artists. Says the curator “The immense amount of local traction is what enables the summit to be what it is.”

18th February 2020

Easel Essay: A Cook’s tour of the 2019 Turner Prize(s)

Morgan Meis | The-Easel | 18th February 2020

The four shortlist nominees for the 2019 Turner Prize requested that the prize be shared equally “in the name of commonality”. “Excited” by this request, London’s Tate complied. More than a few critics are furious. For some it’s the political nature of the art involved. For others, it’s the political correctness of sharing the prize, one describing it “a virtue signal for the snowflake era”.

Amidst the furor, Morgan Meis has managed to remain calm. “To be honest, the debate bores me. I have no problem with the 2019 Turner artists sharing the award. But the unintended consequence of this decision has been that no one talks much about the art.” His short review puts that to rights.

On View at the Getty, 17 Ancient Gems That Are Mini Masterpieces

Marlena Donohue | 1stdibs | 2nd February 2020

Last year the Getty acquired 17 engraved gems – intaglios. Now on display, these small objects are “some of the greatest and most famous of all classical gems”. Products of royal workshops of the Greek and Roman empires, their survival is itself miraculous. Some are individually famous with dazzling provenances that go back centuries. “Not simply … fab antique bling [but] tiny Rosetta stones, providing a way to “read” the past”.

21st century paintings is essential viewing at Whitechapel Gallery

Jackie Wullschlager | ft.com | 14th February 2020

The ‘painting is dead’ mantra is seemingly used to help market this show. It’s an unneeded distraction from what is “an ambitious attempt to define the zeitgeist”. Political commentary is frequent, sometimes deft and other times “smug”. The influence of Peter Doig is widely seen. This writer is impressed, calling it a “gripping” show, notwithstanding some grouching about artists left out. (If you cannot get through the FT paywall, an alternative review is here)

Christian Boltanski

Alexis Dahan | The Brooklyn Rail | 9th February 2020

Even though Boltanski’s family dodged the Holocaust, death is central to his art. It bothers him that people die without recognition. He often works with the ephemera of life – recordings of heartbeats, obituary photos, lost property. Much of his art tries to “create legends and mythology … It’s not about the object it’s about being aware of its existence.”

“Painting Edo” — Lessons About Art and the Good Society

Franklin Einspruch | The arts fuse | 14th February 2020

The Edo rulers didn’t just unify Japan. Their suspicion of external influence brought a greater focus on the country’s own art. A profusion of art styles emerged, some traditional, others (such as Hokusai and his followers) more highly decorative. European art was a muted influence. By 1868 when Edo rule collapsed, there was a modern Japan and, with it, recognizably modern Japanese art. An interesting video (3 min) is here.

Why “Flipping” Art Is so Controversial

Alina Cohen | Artsy | 7th February 2020

A slender argument against flipping? Flipping, the practice of buying and quickly selling art, allegedly destabilises the market for an artist’s work. Whether true or not, this is not the full picture. Price instability often reflects a poorly informed market – due in part to the art market’s chronically opaque practices. Further, the promotion of art as an “asset” has attracted more investors. And what investors do is buy and sell.

An Arch and a Gulf: When Public Art Falls Short of Social Reality

Ken Lum | Momus | 24th January 2020

We all support the idea of public art, right? Well, when it works. There are undoubted successes – Maya Lin’s Vietnam Memorial, Kapoor’s “bean” in Chicago – but plenty of failures too. Public art is an “instrument” for the public good, but what exactly is that and how do we measure it? Aesthetics? Foot traffic? A “renewed sense of place”? If the ingredients for success are so elusive, why fund only from the public purse?

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