Philadelphia artist Ryan Trecartin, just 28, has hit the jackpot this year. Several days ago, he won the inaugural Wolgin Prize, $150,000 awarded by the Tyler School of Art at Temple University and claimed as the largest prize to a visual artist in a juried competition. The Temple Times has the story here. On Thursday night, he won the "Calvin Klein Collection New Artist of the Year Award" at Rob Pruitt's First Annual Art Awards at the Guggenheim. And earlier this year, he won a fellowship awarded by the Pew Charitable … [Read more...]

It'll never happen here, and it probably shouldn't. But as the publishing business teeters ever closer to failure, with profit margins shrinking and sales declining, it's interesting to look at the situation in Germany. The Wall Street Journal has the stories in today's paper. First, there's one about Wal-Mart, Amazon.com and Target putting a limit on bulk sales customers may buy of the deeply discounted books they're now selling. At Wal-Mart, it's two copies; Amazon, three, and Target, five. They suspect small booksellers of … [Read more...]

Yesterday's Lexington, Ky. Herald-Leader printed one of those occasional stories about an art find that cheers the spirit and keeps many people buying old paintings. This one isn't anywhere near as good as the recent disclosure that a small picture of a young girl (right), purchased for less than $20,000, may be a Leonardo.    But still. In this case, a doctor -- against the advice of his wife -- decided to plunk down $900 for a landscape he saw in an antiques store. It was dirty, and when he had it cleaned, … [Read more...]

At last, the White House is ready to take on classical music in its series of music events. Next Wednesday, following the pattern it set with jazz (also here) and then with country music (also here), Michelle Obama will convene a student workshop at 2:25 in the afternoon, followed by an evening concert attended by the President -- and probably the girls. So who's performing? The stars, in the evening, are violinist Joshua Bell, guitarist Sharon Isbin, cellist Alisa Weilerstein (left) and pianist Awadagin Pratt. They will also perform at … [Read more...]

Andy's in the basement, and Cy Twombly is on top, in a room designed specially for him. Fitting, I suppose, given Warhol's condition. Just kidding. On my way back to New York from Salzburg last week, I stopped for a day (well, most of a day) in Munich, where among other things I made a visit to its newest art attraction: The Brandhorst Museum. Situated near the three Pinokotheks -- Alte, Neue and Moderne -- it's where I learned about the above arrangement. The Brandhorst opened last May, and adds a hefty collection of some … [Read more...]

Just in case you all want to chat online about art, but don't have time -- per my post on Oct. 19 about the Guggenheim Forum -- I went back to the website to see what this iteration, which was about spirituality in art, had yielded. The Forum/chat was triggered by the Kandinsky retrospective now on view, prompted by his belief that art "belongs to the spiritual life." A transcript of the one-hour chat, which took place on Oct. 22, is posted on the Guggenheim's website (here). This chat, hosted by Krista … [Read more...]

Is Iran, under fire for its nuclear activites, trying a little cultural diplomacy? Last week, the country opened a "Permanent Art Gallery" in Rotterdam, Holland, according to a couple of press reports. Also known as "Iran Art," it is showing contemporary paintings, miniatures, graphic arts and calligraphy by about 40 artists. They include Iraj Eskandari, Reza Khodadai, and Gizella Sinaii. The opening ceremony was attended by M. Hosseini, deputy ambassador to the Netherlands, and Mahmud Shaluii, director of the Culture and … [Read more...]

I AM BACK FROM MY TRIP TO AUSTRIA, AND A QUICK STOP IN MUNICH, AND AM STARTING TO CATCH UP ON DEVELOPMENTS IN THE CULTURAL WORLD. I'LL BE POSTING SOON. PLEASE CHECK BACK.   … [Read more...]

Before sitting down to comment on Rocco Landesman's plan to take a whistle-stop tour of arts places and arts spaces across the U.S., I thought I'd better read the whole speech he gave to Grantmakers in the Arts on Wednesday. I'm glad I did -- his buoyant tone was obvious even to readers, not just listeners, and I was glad to hear it.  More important, there was lots more in the NEA chief's first big speech demanding comment than the tour itself. A few observations: 1) Landesman lived up to his reputation … [Read more...]

Forgive me if this has gotten around: as I mention above, I'm in Europe, at meetings, and therefore not seeing much news. But I've received word that The New Republic is starting a new section on its website called The Book. As TNR literary editor Leon Wieseltier wrote in his explanation of it, "the plan was to rush in and fill the vacuum in book criticism that is being left by the carnage in American newspapers" -- only better. The Book plans to run a review most days, as well as to aggregate book criticism from … [Read more...]