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Rep. Scott Garrett (R., NJ), chairman of Republican Study Committee's Budget and Spending Task ForceAs we eagerly await President Obama's "State of the Union" address tonight, wondering whether the arts will merit a passing mention, it's gratifying to know that former Secretary of State Colin Powell, in a recent discussion with Candy Crowley on CNN, added his voice to those of … [Read more...] about Zero for NEA, NEH, PBS? Colin Powell Prefers Military Cuts

Smithsonian Secretary G. Wayne Clough appears to be changing his story.Mike Boehm of the LA Times reports that during a brief interview after the public Los Angeles forum addressed by Clough yesterday, the Smithsonian's head stated (in Boehm's words) that he "didn't consider [the removal of David Wojnarovicz's video from the "Hide/Seek" exhibition] an act of censorship because … [Read more...] about Clough’s LA Flip-Flop on the Removal of “Hide/Seek” Video UPDATED

Harry PhilbrickThe Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts announced today that it has finally named a director for its museum, which recently embarked on a dubious deaccession spree. Harry Philbrick, director of the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum. Ridgefield, CT, since 1996 (who last September announced he would be leaving that post by the end of 2010) will assume his new … [Read more...] about Philly Philbrick: New Director for Pennsylvania Academy’s Museum

When David Met Jonathan: Behind them, at December's New York Public Library symposium, is a photo of Walt Whitman, left, and his lover, Peter Doyle, whose relationship started the two curators talking about the show that eventually became "Hide/Seek." I really did try to give David Ward, co-curator of the National Portrait Gallery's hot-button "Hide/Seek" show, a chance to … [Read more...] about MeTube: David Ward on the Genesis of “Hide/Seek” (and on Wojnarovicz)

Smithsonian Secretary G. Wayne Clough in his office on Tuesday, with Frederick Waugh's "Southwesterly Gale, St. Ives," 1907, Smithsonian American Art MuseumEveryone knows that Smithsonian Secretary G. Wayne Clough on Tuesday broke his personal embargo on "Hide/Seek" media interviews by speaking to the Washington Post and the NY Times. What you probably didn't know (until now) … [Read more...] about My Huffington Post Interview with Smithsonian Secretary G. Wayne Clough

Does this new Guggenheim have less than a snowball's chance in Helsinki? (Above, left to right: Janne Gallen-Kallela-Sirén, director, Helsinki Art Museum; Tuula Haatainen, deputy mayor, Helsinki; Richard "Strong-Arm" Armstrong, director, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation; Jussi Pajunen, mayor, Helsinki; Ari Wiseman, deputy director, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation) Back in May … [Read more...] about Guggenheim Helsinki: Might Antarctica Be Next?

"Masterpiece" Turned Merchandise: William Merritt Chase, "Autumn Still Life" In my May 1990 article for ARTnews magazine---"How Permanent is the Permanent Collection?"---I coined the term "off-the-wall deaccessions" to describe disposals of works important enough to the selling institutions to have been recently shown on their own walls. The Pennsylvania Academy of the … [Read more...] about PAFA’s Folly: “Off-the-Wall” Deaccessions

Now up on HuffPost Arts is Form Foils Function, in which I reach a more forceful, focused conclusion, based upon my prior CultureGrrl musings, about Diller Scofidio + Renfro's perplexing plans for the new museum that Eli Broad intends to build in Downtown LA for his 2,000-piece contemporary collection.Despite my criticism of the design, I have to take issue with Nicolai … [Read more...] about Do-Over for The Broad? My Huffington Post Piece on Eli’s Planned LA Museum

Opening shot from Museum of Modern Art's new acquisitionAs I discovered firsthand when I visited the New Museum recently to view two different versions of "A Fire in My Belly," the question we should be asking about the David Wojnarovicz video that was removed from the National Portrait Gallery's "Hide/Seek" show is not merely Whose "Belly" Is It?. (I've argued that the clip … [Read more...] about MoMA Gets “Fire” in Its Belly; NPG Hosts “Hide/Seek,” the Symposium

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts As promised in Tuesday's post about the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts' ditzy deaccessions, I'm publishing images in the lefthand column, below, of the four of the five works recently sold by the Academy. (The fifth is the William Merritt Chase pictured in Tuesday's above-linked post.) In the righthand column are five of the works … [Read more...] about PAFA’s Folly: Art Sales v. Acquisitions

Ai Weiwei's Shanghai studio, as designed by the artist, before it was wreckedWhat Chinese government authorities had ominously promised has now occurred: The Shanghai studio of Beijing-based dissident artist Ai Weiwei was demolished yesterday, as reported by NY Times reporter Edward Wong, who described Ai as a "protean artist."The Times piece is accompanied by a woeful photo of … [Read more...] about Sorry Sight: Ai Weiwei’s Shanghai Studio Demolished

More evidence that Smithsonian Secretary G. Wayne Clough needs to quickly and publicly get out in front of the "Hide/Seek" "censorship" crisis comes in the Huffington Post arts section, with a piece posted yesterday by one of the lenders to that show, hedge fund specialist-turned-art finance advisor Jim Hedges. Following the lead of artist AA Bronson (who has now retained an … [Read more...] about Jim Hedges Talks to Clough, Rescinds Demand for Return of “Hide/Seek” Loan

Sold: William Merritt Chase, "Autumn Still Life," left Bought: Odili Donald Odita, "Future Perfect," 2010, right Janet Landay, executive director of the Association of Art Museum Directors, has precipitously bestowed the professional organization's seal of approval on the ongoing deaccession program at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia. I think AAMD … [Read more...] about PAFA’s Ditzy Deaccessions: What It Gained vs. What It Lost

Alan Gilbert, music director, New York PhilharmonicLet's remain off-topic today, while I continue to exercise my musical muscles (normally neglected on this art-centric blog).On Saturday night, I attended the same NY Philharmonic program (on a different day) that NY Times chief music critic Anthony Tommasini rhapsodized about in his recent review. Reading his rave, after … [Read more...] about Alan Gilbert’s Mozart: “Lean and Lithe” or Flaccid and Flat-Footed?

From the program: The star of Green Day with the stars of "American Idiot," the Broadway musicalPrimarily an art blogger, I don't usually write about theater that I attend. But by coincidence, NY Times theater critic Charles Isherwood today reappraises the nearly nine-month-old production that riveted me this weekend---Green Day's American Idiot. It's a musical based on a … [Read more...] about Punk Flunks: Why “American Idiot” Needs Billie Joe Armstrong to Pull a Crowd