The museum has reported one of its worst attendance figures ever, with around 2.7 million visitors—a 72% drop compared to 9.6 million in 2019. - The Art Newspaper
Whether or not these fever-dream images show the actual point of insurrection or are, more likely, the inevitable byproduct of twenty-first century-rioters armed with smartphones and social-media accounts, their power shouldn’t be underestimated. These pictures will now constitute a powerful folklore for a whole subculture of whacked-out, anti-establishment far-righters, the latest chapter in alt-right visual storytelling which includes the equally absurd Pepe The Frog. - Art Review
Can the arts return after more vaccinations and herd immunity? The investors certainly think so. "While traditional museums are discussing closures and mergers, the for-profit industry around experiential or immersive art is investing hundreds of millions of dollars into a business that currently has no audience in the U.S. because of the pandemic. It’s a gambit that has surprised market watchers." - The New York Times
When artists drop collections on Instagram, they often sell out in a matter of minutes. Beadwork takes time; there's no way to mass-produce, and that's part of the value. For artist Jaymie Campbell, Anishinaabe, from Curve Lake First Nation near Ontario, "the amount she puts into every piece means it isn’t possible to fully scale up to meet demand, and that’s OK. Each earring or pendant is 'a piece of me, and my family and my story.'" - The New York Times
Kambui Olojimi, an artist from the Brooklyn neighborhood Bedford-Stuyvesant, addresses his childhood and his block, and the idea of collective memory, in his work - especially in 177 portraits of the block president, Ms. Arline. "Initiated in grief, the series is a mourning practice that has carried Mr. Olujimi through the political and social turmoil of the last few years, opening new artistic directions for him. But it is also an experiment in memory work — an effort to convey something of the soul of a local community, through repetition and variations on an icon." - The New York Times
The Kamoinge Workshop was "a collective of black photographers who formed in 1963 to document black culture in Harlem, and beyond, from live jazz concerts to portraits of Malcolm X, Miles Davis and Grace Jones, as well as the civil rights movement and anti-war protests." - The Guardian (UK)
It's desolate, empty streets; bridges with no tourists; the sidewalks near the Seine silent. What wouldn't we give now for the American diners of Hopper's later career, even if they're dysfunctional - at least there are multiple people in them. - Washington Post
Art isn't only for the One Percenters, even if that one percent can afford to buy a ton of multiples to go along with their laser-focused unique pieces. Despite how their allure faded after the 1970s, "Multiples have retained just enough of their 'provocative and disorienting message,' as Celant’s essay put it, to make them a good fit for today’s progressive causes." But they can be still more than that. - The New York Times
The collective that makes the buildings - they call themselves AnonyMouse - are, they said through an interlocutor, "a loosely connected network of mice and men, originating in the town of Mälmo, in southern Sweden." - BBC
Seriously, Britain, what's up? "The best-known artists are the ones who wedded their style to 'human clay.' America, on the other, hand has seen Pop Art, Minimalism, and Color Field painting challenge their predecessor, Abstract Expressionism, which had challenged Regionalism and Conceptual Art; the proverbial 'Death of Painting' challenge all of painting; and marginalized artists challenge all of these implicitly conservative narratives focusing on the end of history, art, and painting." - Hyperallergic
Insurrectionists' "time in the building is now represented by the damage they left behind. A 19th-century marble bust of former President Zachary Taylor was flecked with what appeared to be blood. A picture frame was left lying on the floor, the image gone. The photos and videos, some of them taken inside by the rioters themselves, were startling." - The New York Times
Archaeologists from the Polish Academy of Sciences discovered a ceramic vessel containing well over 6,000 coins and rings as well as silver bullion near a village in central Poland, not far from the site of the country's largest-ever treasure find in 1935. Researchers believe that this hoard may have been the dowry of a 12th-century Kievan princess who married an important Polish noble. - New York Observer
"The decision by Luigi Brugnaro, the mayor of Venice, to extend the closure of the city's 11 civic museums — including the Doge's Palace, the Museo Correr, Ca' Rezzonico, Ca' Pesaro and Palazzo Fortuny — until 1 April, the beginning of the tourist season, has provoked a culture war in Venice and beyond. Italy's museums have been closed since 5 November under national government restrictions, which are currently due to lift on 15 January" — unless, of course, COVID cases spike yet again. - The Art Newspaper
One of the provisions added to the National Defense Authorization Act for 2021 makes antiquities dealers subject to the Bank Secrecy Act. One of the key rules requires identifying the individuals behind LLCs — meaning that it will be much harder to buy and sell items anonymously. There's a strong likelihood that the law will be applied to the larger art market in the next few years. - Artnet
The symbolic implications of the UK leaving the European Union has hit the art world hard. But the deal will also have a concrete impact on the way the it does business. - Artnet
