Lee Rosenbaum's cultural commentary

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

Now you can! The press conference on the plans for The Broad, has occurred, and more information is now available on the Broad Art Foundation's website about the project. If you have claustrophobia, please take the elevator, rather than the escalator-tunnel leading up to the vast skylit gallery space. I've experienced the architectural gambit of "compression and release," … [Read more...] about Wanna Fly Through Eli Broad’s Planned LA Museum?

Rendering of The Broad, the planned new LA museum for Eli Broad's art collection Dubbed "The Broad" (as distinguished from the Broad Contemporary Art Museum at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art), Eli Broad's new 120,000-square-foot contemporary art showcase in downtown LA, designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro for the mega-collector's 2,000-object art collection, will … [Read more...] about Road to “The Broad”: Design Announced for Eli’s LA Museum UPDATED

James RombergerRobin Cembalest, ARTnews magazine's executive editor, has posted online today a detailed opinion piece on the National Portrait Gallery's "Hide/Seek" controversy (to appear in the magazine's February issue), adding her voice to those of us who have called for Smithsonian Secretary G. Wayne Clough to come out of hiding and seek a forum for public discussion of … [Read more...] about Whose “Belly” Is It? Romberger, Wojnarowicz’s Creative Collaborator, Speaks Out CORRECTED

Lindsay Pollock In what seems sure to augur a shift of emphasis at Art in America magazine, Lindsay Pollock, a cultural news reporter since 2005 for Bloomberg, today assumes the editor-in-chief spot at Art in America magazine---an appointment announced just yesterday. Lindsay, author of a biography of dealer Edith Halpert, is an accomplished journalist, albeit in a narrow … [Read more...] about Lindsay Pollock Named “Art in America’s” New Editor-in-Chief UPDATED

Happy Together: My Qin Dynasty friend in the Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum near Xi'an, ChinaI did manage to make it to China, but because of my personal losses, 2010 was a tough year for me. It was still a reasonably good year for CultureGrrl, however: This was the first time that the total number of "unique visitors" to the blog for a full calendar year topped (by a … [Read more...] about The Year in CultureGrrl, 2010 Edition

Light Fright: Great view of Washington's horse. Not-so-great view of George.(This photo was taken without flash.)With all this talk lately about Museums 2.0 and "apps," I've been inspired to inaugurate CultureGrrl 2.0 with a new technological innovation. (Well, it's new for me, anyway, but I'm a late adopter.) I'm also pleased to note that Arianna Huffington's much discussed … [Read more...] about Reinstalled Art at “New” BMFA: My Irreverent Slideshow (and video)

William IveyBill Ivey, director of Vanderbilt University's Curb Center for Art, Enterprise and Public Policy and chairman, from 1998 to 2001, of the National Endowment for the Arts, defends my criticized take on the "Hide/Seek" show at the National Portrait Gallery:I believe that the display of value-challenging art in publically-funded environments can never be executed … [Read more...] about BlogBack: Bill Ivey, Former NEA Chairman, on the “Hide/Seek” Flap (plus NPG’s “unlisted” video)

Arianna HuffingtonArianna Huffington's art-related post on her eponymous news-and-commentary website has been lighting up links around the art blogosphere, partly because people are pleasantly surprised that this new-media titan cares enough about museums to write about them.In her post, Museums 2.0: What Happens When Great Art Meets New Media?, Arianna argues:The danger of … [Read more...] about Huffington’s Post: Are “Museums 2.0” a No-Go? UPDATED TWICE

Cézanne, "Madame Cézanne in the Conservatory," 1891, Metropolitan Museum of ArtThe journalistic benefits and pitfalls of the NY Times' de facto status as house organ for the Metropolitan Museum have recently been demonstrated not only by what the newspaper has published (yet another Met-related scoop, thanks to privileged treatment from the museum) but also, much more … [Read more...] about Hits and Misses: NY Times as House Organ for the Met

I was sufficiently excited by the NY Times' front-page treatment last Monday of the Metropolitan Museum's second recently "rediscovered" Velázquez to rush right over to see it the next day.The rest of the world, apparently, was in no such hurry:Velázquez, "Philip IV," probably 1624, installed to the left of the glass door In fact, aside from handing the story to Carol Vogel of … [Read more...] about Met’s Lackluster Velázquez Rediscovery: “Exceptionally High Quality”?