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VISUAL

The Art Of Protesting Amnesty For The Jan. 6 Insurrectionists

The Wall of Shame is a 50ft-long, 10ft-tall outdoor mural featuring the pardoned Trump supporters, colour-coded to distinguish their actions: violent rioters appear in red, those who damaged property are shown in blue, and the remaining individuals are depicted in white. The combined effect resembles a Star and Stripes that has imploded. - The Guardian

Barcelona’s Museum Of Forbidden Art Closes After Protests

The museum featured more than 200 works that had been censored for political, social or religious reasons. Some pieces depicted controversial figures, including dictator Francisco Franco inside a fridge, Spain’s former king Juan Carlos I in a sexual scene with a Bolivian activist, and Saddam Hussein tied up and floating in a glass tank. - Artdependence

When Iconic Buildings No Longer With Us Are Built Again

Across the world and throughout time, structures have been deliberately erased and later resurrected as replicas – often as a nod to new (or resurgent) political and ideological undercurrents. - Aeon

Why This French Town Trademarked Cezanne

Aix’s tourist office has taken the liberty of trademarking his full name and the phrase “Cézanne chez lui,” meaning “Cézanne at home.” - Artnet

Another College In Debt Is Selling Off Its Art Collection

“James Gaddy, the vice president of administration at Albright (College in Reading, PA, said) ‘we needed to stop bleeding.’ He confirmed that over the last two years, the college has racked up a $20 million deficit, … adding that the college’s 2,300-strong art collection was ‘not core to our mission.’” - ARTnews

Inside The CIA’s Art Collection

What these paintings represent about the CIA’s relationship to the art world, though, is more complicated. On these walls, the intersection between US art and politics is especially busy. - Hyperallergic

Tate Modern Is 25 Years Old. It’s Just Launched An Ambitious Endowment Campaign. Good Idea?

The gallery’s reserves have dropped sharply – from £22.6m in 2022–23 to £10.9m at the end of 2024. Government support is also in decline: the grant-in-aid the Tate received in 2023–24 was £50.8m, down from £54.2m the previous year. - Apollo

Chaco Canyon Is Under Serious Threat From The Federal Government

“Chaco Culture, which includes Chaco Canyon National Historical Park and Aztec Ruins National Monument, was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. The network of archaeological sites once operated as a major center of the Chacoan culture ... between the years 850 and 1250.” - Hyperallergic

After Epically Bobbling A Venice Biennale Selection, Creative Australia CEO Faces Calls To Resign

An external review “recommended a review into Creative Australia’s governance processes, better training for future board members, and the urgent appointment of a board member with deep visual arts expertise.” Many in the visual arts community want to go a whole lot farther. - The Guardian (UK)

Gallery Powerhouse Blum Will Lay Off Staff And Close, Citing Market Downturn

Founded as Blum and Poe in 1994 in Santa Monica, Calif., by Tim Blum and Jeff Poe, the gallery represents some of the most high profile, and expensive, artists working today, including Yoshitomo Nara and Mark Grotjahn, whose artworks have traded for more than $10 million. - Artnet

The Benin Bronzes: Who Created Them, Who Has Had Them When, Who’s Returning Them To Whom Now And Why

The Netherlands turned over 119 objects to the Nigerian government, while the MFA Boston gave their two directly to the Oba of Benin. “As these two repatriations underscore, questions linger about who should rightfully receive them — the state or the Oba — as well as what restitution looks like in practice.” - Artnet

Peter Phillips, 86, Britain’s Pioneer Of Pop Art

“He became one of the originators of the British Pop art movement in the 1950s and ’60s. … Phillips layered mundane images of consumer culture and mass entertainment into his vibrantly colored paintings, often with a playful twist.” - ARTnews

Paris’s Asian Art Museum Sued For “Tibet Erasure”

“Four pro-Tibetan groups in France have filed a legal complaint against Paris’s state-run Musée Guimet, accusing it of attempting to erase Tibet’s cultural identity by renaming its Nepal-Tibet gallery to ‘Himalayan world’ and removing references to ‘Tibetan art.’” - Artnet

The Last Of The Vatican’s Raphael Rooms Has Now Been Restored

“A decadelong project to clean and restore the largest of the four … spectacularly frescoed reception rooms of the Apostolic Palace … uncovered a novel mural painting technique that the superstar Renaissance painter and architect began but never completed.” - AP

Director of São Paulo’s Museu Afro Brasil Out After Less Than Two Years

Hélio Menezes is no longer the director of the Museu Afro Brasil, a key São Paulo institution founded by sculptor Emanoel Araújo that is known for its support of Afro-Brazilian artists, who have long been neglected by mainstream institutions in the country. - ARTnews

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