Have murals finally matured in the UK? "Powerful street murals can enhance a sense of place and local identity, and reach audiences who may not frequent more formal settings. ... This kind of art also has a vulnerability not found in museums or galleries." - The Guardian (UK)
Having gotten $69 million for the digital artwork that started NFT madness (which he predicted would be a bubble), the artist formally named Mike Winkelmann has set up a workshop where he's making physical sculpture as well as stuff for screens and generally getting serious about art. - New York Magazine
The lions were removed for their spa treatment on June 14, having been outside for 128 years, Art Institute objects conservator Rachel Sabino told the Tribune at the time. It was their “first deep cleaning in decades,” Sabino said. - Chicago Tribune (MSN)
The position has been vacant since April of 2021, which Tom Loughman resigned, but the search for a new director really began in November of last year, after the Wadsworth announced a major change in its leadership structure. - Hartford Courant
"Ukraine's churches are the hardest hit of all heritage sites in the war-torn country, new data suggests. But a coalition of priests and religious leaders are working together —overcoming ideological divisions and historic allegiances — to document the damage caused to Ukraine's most precious places of worship." - The Art Newspaper
"Picasso, deeply apolitical, had shown little interest in the Spanish Civil War. ... Nor had he ever done a public mural, let alone one about a bombed city. And the work was so disdained when it was first shown that it very nearly didn't make it." - MSN (The Atlantic)
He was the first Indian artist who successfully combined Indian iconography and subjects with Western techniques and styles. His art influenced Indian literature, music, films, advertising and textiles, and even India's largest selling comic book series. - BBC
The 2018 Chaos Machine by the artist collective Distributed Gallery is an early example of a blockchain sculpture where the use of randomness and algorithmic code also classifies it as generative art. - The Art Newspaper
Greg Lundgren said that he heard “loud and clear” that the exhibition was not the way to have a conversation “around art, wealth and the future cultural landscape of our city” and that “big tech should not be viewed as the underwriters of our future health and vibrancy.” - Geekwire
Archaeologists have announced that they've discovered rock layers from the quarry whose granite was used to build the Byzantine Emperor Constantine's original church in the 4th century CE. Some loose pieces from the church's original mosaics have also been found. - Hyperallergic
The 17th-century Shah Mosque in Isfahan, widely considered one of the country's most beautiful buildings, has suffered damage to the tiling and shape of its dome, likely due to the weight of the scaffolding erected around it for the restoration project. - Yahoo! (AFP)
A proposed change to the ornate Main Reading Room at the Library of Congress that critics say would remove the symbolic and functional heart of the 1897 Beaux-Arts masterpiece has landed the library on the D.C. Preservation League’s 2022 list of Most Endangered Places. - Washington Post
The Forbidden City Cultural Relics Museum, which opened in 2020 in a restored Yangtze River-front warehouse complex in Chongqing, had a large number of roof tiles slide off, leading to the collapse of one of the museum's several buildings. - Artnet
