VISUAL

Meet The Last Of The Signpainters For The Markets Of Naples

“Announcing the clementines, artichokes and other goods on offer are cheerful, hand-painted signs in sun-bright lettering. Quotidian but also quintessential, the signs have become emblems of Naples’s vibrancy. … Pasquale De Stefano is, by consensus, the last living numeraio — or number painter — in Naples.” - The New York Times

Buckminster Fuller Sculpture Collapses Following Snowstorm

The piece, installed outdoors at the LongHouse Reserve on the South Fork of eastern Long Island, is one of only five existing versions of Fuller’s Fly’s Eye Dome. The roof of the fiberglass structure caved in under the weight of the heavy snow which fell in late February. - Artnet

Site Of Cancelled Pompidou Center Jersey City May Become Affordable Housing

“Jersey City Mayor James Solomon, who took office in January” and killed the project shortly afterward, “announced Monday that the city would work with Kushner Real Estate Group on new plans for the Artwalk Towers development.” - Gothamist

Painting Unseen For 65 Years Authenticated As Rembrandt

The artwork, Vision of Zacharias in the Temple, has been in private hands since 1961, a year after art historians declared it not to be by Rembrandt. After two years of examination with state-of-the-art equipment, experts at Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum have now reversed that earlier assessment. - AP

Indianapolis Museum Of Art Has Closed Its High-Tech Immersive Art Space

The museum opened the 30,000-square-foot space, called the Lume, in 2021 with a 150-projector installation emblazoning images of Van Gogh’s paintings across the walls and floor. - The Indianapolis Star (Yahoo!)

The Louvre Scandals And A French President’s Legacy

France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, is at risk of losing what could be a legacy-defining cultural project: a $1 billion-plus refurbishment of the Louvre, which would include moving the Mona Lisa, the museum’s most famous painting, to its own room and building a new entrance. - The New York Times

Native Artist Hand-Stitches ‘Bead Bomb’ Projects Onto Utility Poles In LA

”At the edge of a Home Depot parking lot where federal immigration agents have violently detained vendors and others,” a utility pole “carries a band of color with a fluorescent sheath ... made up of 10,000 pony beads spelling a message in block letters: ‘FUCK ICE.’” - Los Angeles Public Press

The Vatican Has Removed ‘A Chalky White Film Of Salt’ Coating The Last Judgement

That is to say, people’s sweat had gotten all over Michelangelo’s masterpiece, and now it’s being cleaned off while the sweat accumulates on a screen. - Associated Press

The Los Angeles Olympics Logo Needs To Settle Itself Down

“If you're going through all the trouble to create what I assume will be hundreds of logos by the time the games roll around, why would you not brand LA28 using 'LA' as a customized emblem? Why is it only the 'A' that changes out?” The answer may surprise you. - Torched LA

The Snow Sculptures Of New York’s Latest Storm

“Collaboration was key. What came first? The snow baby sitting on the bench or the lounging mermaid beside him? Did the same person who built the snow pyramid also build the snow sphinx?” - The New York Times

And Just Like That, 144 Year After Construction Began, Sagrada Familia’s Central Tower Is Finished

“Construction is expected to continue for a decade or so, but The Guardian called it ‘nevertheless a day full of emotion for a city that has lived with Gaudí’s unfinished work for generations.’” - ART News

Cambodia Gets Back Dozens Historic Artifacts Allegedly Looted In British Art Dealer’s Scheme

“The artifacts were described as dating from the pre-Angkorian period through the height of the Angkor Empire, including ‘monumental sandstone sculptures, refined bronze works, and significant ritual objects.”’ - Yahoo (AP)

The Kentucky Optical Shop Owner Who Was Also One Of The Twentieth Century’s Best, Strangest Photographers

“Often dark (literally and figuratively), surreal, sometimes playful and at other times sinister, his pictures stunned and sometimes perplexed viewers with their wild, poetic strangeness.” - Undermain Arts

Sorry, “Guerilla Teaching” Isn’t Allowed In Smithsonian Galleries

He was at the Portrait Gallery as an educator but also as co-founder of Citizen Historians for the Smithsonian, a group that last year spent thousands of hours documenting every corner of the Smithsonian, to track any changes made as Trump administration officials assert control over the content of the museums. - Washington Post

Pompeii Gets a Digital Makeover: Now With Less Ash

Forget the petrified citizens – new 3D renderings show Pompeii as the thriving metropolis it was before Vesuvius crashed the party. Because apparently we needed CGI to remind us that ancient Romans actually lived there. — Aeon

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