If It's Really Art, It Doesn't Fit In A Cliche Blake Gopnik has had it up to here with silly cliches about what art is or isn't. In fact, he has a top ten list of the silliest pigeonholes critics and pundits try to force art into. Included are such gems as "Good Art Is The Mirror Of Its Times," "Good Art Is Abstract," and "Good Art Is Finely Crafted." Says Gopnik of that last cliche, "a cuckoo clock is finely crafted." Washington Post 03/23/03
Posted: 03/23/2003 9:32 am
Madness And The Arts "Charles Dickens fought recurrent bouts of depression with hyperactivity. Hemingway, Sylvia Plath and Virginia Woolf took their own lives. Dylan Thomas drank himself into an early grave. Percy Bysshe Shelley suffered from recurring nightmares and hallucination and died at 30. William Blake heard voices. All artistic geniuses, definitely. All more or less mad." A new Toronto festival examines the connection between madness and artistic genius, from both clinical and cultural perspectives. The Globe & Mail (Canada) 03/22/03
Posted: 03/23/2003 8:16 am
Art Amidst The Guilt With soldiers dying 6,000 miles away, it's easy for those of us at home to descend into a spiral of 'arts guilt.' How dare we (pick one) read a novel/listen to a pop song/attend a play when matters of such import are afoot in the world? "Guilt isn't really guilt; it's recognition of ambiguity. It's realizing that we don't always know the right thing to do, that sometimes we'll end up doing the wrong thing, but that our desire to have the arts in our lives - to keep before us the simple pleasure of appreciating the audacity of creativity - can't be a bad thing, no matter how dark the skies grow in Baghdad, or, God forbid, Boise." Chicago Tribune 03/23/03
Posted: 03/23/2003 7:53 am
California's Perpetual Museum-In-Progress The California African American Museum reopens this week after a $3.8 million renovation. This is good news, but the state's budget crisis has once again put the museum at risk. The CAAM was created 25 years ago, but it has never really had the opportunity to become financially stable, since a heavy reliance on wildly fluctuating state funding has kept it subserviant to the whims of politicians. The latest round of state cuts will see the museum's budget shrink by 35%, and the CAAM is scrambling to find ways to make up the difference. Los Angeles Times 03/23/03
Posted: 03/23/2003 9:03 am
Uncovering Vermeer Jan Vermeer is one of the great enigmas of the art world, and the dearth of real information about his life has only increased the popularity of his work in recent years. A new documentary attempts to tie together the scraps of biographical interest which have been unearthed over the years, and creates a more complete portrait of the Dutch master than any seen before. And while Vermeer's work tends to reflect quiet contentment, the filmmaker "argues that the artist imagined on canvas a vision of tranquility which eluded him in life." The Telegraph (UK) 03/22/03
Posted: 03/23/2003 8:56 am
Bringing Art To The Hinterlands "Masterpieces from the Tate collection, including The Rock Drill - an icon of 20th century sculpture by Sir Jacob Epstein which expresses his revulsion at the carnage of the first world war - will be loaned to regional museums through a scheme funded by a £440,000 heritage lottery grant announced yesterday... The loans project, launched in 2000 on a modest budget, has been a spectacular success and resulted in some exhibitions in the regions - notably one on Constable in Sheffield - which were more admired by critics than major exhibitions at Tate Britain." The Guardian (UK) 03/21/03
Posted: 03/23/2003 8:35 am
Cops And Robbers And Broken Statues "Fragments of an ancient Roman statue of Apollo, illegally excavated several years ago near the Italian capital, were recovered in London, police said this week." The fragments were actually discovered in February, but the find was not announced until this week. Authorities had been searching for the artifacts for six years, and had pursued the thieves through at least four European nations. Two people have been arrested in connection with the discovery. The Globe & Mail (AP) 03/23/03
Posted: 03/23/2003 8:30 am
Why Wait For The Sky To Fall? Some striking Houston Symphony musicians have apparently abandoned all hope that their orchestra will continue to be a viable employment option. The HSO strike is now more than two weeks old, and there are no signs that a settlement is near. Four musicians have already won jobs elsewhere, and many more are taking every audition that comes along. A few are retiring, and some are leaving the area to become freelance musicians in friendlier artistic climes. The departing musicians have good things to say about their years in the HSO, but nothing but hopeless resignation regarding the current dispute. Houston Chronicle 03/22/03
Posted: 03/23/2003 8:47 am
Who Says There Are No New Protest Songs? If critics are having trouble finding musical protests against the U.S. invasion of Iraq, it's probably because they're looking in the wrong corner of the music industry. Once the province of folkies with acoustic guitars, political outrage has become the province of rock music, and artists from the Beastie Boys to Sheryl Crow are issuing quick hits against the military action. A web site even offers the chance to download protest songs by major artists free of charge. Chicago Tribune 03/23/03
Posted: 03/23/2003 7:45 am
Saving Up For A Really Good Ring Putting on a production of Wagner's Ring Cycle is the operatic equivalent of staging four major Broadway musicals and four symphony orchestra concerts simultaneously. That kind of excess costs money, and if you aren't the Metropolitan Opera (and these days, who is?) you'd better have a plan for serious fundraising. In Australia, the State Opera of Adelaide is putting the finishing touches on an innovative campaign to bring a Ring Cycle there in 2004. Rather than merely soliciting donations from opera lovers, organizers offered donors the chance to 'sponsor' a specific role in the opera, a member of the creative team, or even the conductor. Adelaide Advertiser 03/18/03
Posted: 03/23/2003 7:15 am
Winnipeg Sym Can't Make Payroll The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, which has been facing a severe cash crunch for many months, announced this weekend that it would not be able to make its Friday payroll. The orchestra is $800,000 in the hole for the current season, and may not be able to continue presenting concerts without a quick influx of donated cash. A $250,000 loan from the federal government has been approved, but the WSO won't get the money until it raises another $750,000 on its own. "The orchestra began the season with a $1.8-million accumulated deficit. Even if it gets the money it needs to finish the season, it expects to almost double the deficit to $3.3 million." Ottawa Citizen (CP) 03/21/03
Posted: 03/23/2003 7:03 am
- Winnipeg Musicians Will Play For Free The musicians of the cash-strapped Winnipeg Symphony have announced that they will continue to woprk, at least for the time being, despite not receiving paychecks on Friday. "You have to separate the issues," according to a spokesman for the musicians. "There's a long-term relationship with the audience... and the business issues." Canada.com (CP) 03/21/03
Posted: 03/23/2003 7:02 am
How Much Bailout Is Too Much For The ENO? "The beleaguered English National Opera is worth saving 'but not at any cost', the Arts Council of England has said at a meeting discussing ENO's cash troubles." The issue of whether the ENO 'deserves' a bailout is a delicate one, but some council members have been disgusted by revelations of finanial mismanagement and continuing fiscal irresponsibility at the company. At the very least, any bailout package from the Arts Council is likely to include stipulations that the ENO clean up its act, and provide evidence that it is doing so. BBC 03/21/03
Posted: 03/23/2003 6:56 am
- Previously: English National Opera Settles With Chorus The chorus of the English National Opera has called off a threatened strike after making a deal with the company for layoffs. "Around one-sixth of the choristers have agreed to take voluntary redundancy, leaving a permanent chorus of 50." BBC 03/20/03
From Cowboy City To Culture City? Calgary may be having trouble holding on to its symphony orchestra, but there is no question that the arts are coming of age in the metropolis known to most Canadians as Cowboy City. "After decades of oil-fuelled prosperity, there is a growing feeling that Calgary's continued success will depend on its ability to become a different kind of city, one that fosters the development of arts [and] culture." Calgary Herald 03/23/03
Posted: 03/23/2003 7:40 am
Harvey's Way Harvey Weinstein is not a popular man in Hollywood. The Miramax cheif is known far and wide in the industry for being completely ruthless, infuriatingly single-minded, and unconcerned with such niceties as rules and taboos. He has been accused of trading favors and even cash for Oscar votes, but no one can deny that the strategy has worked. However, some in the business contend that Weinstein's constant overreaching and bullying PR campains on behalf of mediocre flicks are costing his studio's best films the recognition they deserve. Philadelphia Inquirer 03/23/03
Posted: 03/23/2003 9:23 am
Saatchi's New Showcase Collector and professional recluse Charles Saatchi will open a spectacular new public home for his vast collection of contemporary British art later this year, and early indications are that it will immediately become one of the UK's hottest art destinations. Its proximity to the Tate Modern is also sparking rumors of a not-so-friendly rivalry. But for every visitor who comes for the art, another will come to see if the gallery holds any revelations about the gruff and mysterious Saatchi himself. The Observer (UK) 03/23/03
Posted: 03/23/2003 8:38 am
The Paradox Of John Kim Bell John Kim Bell is a successful conductor, an outspoken advocate for the arts, and a Mohawk from aboriginal Quebec. You would think he'd be a role model in the First Nation community, but in fact, the opposite is true. Bell has a habit of being publicly critical of native leadership, and has sparred with national activists on the issues surrounding aboriginal rights. Adding to the controversy is the fact that Bell often makes sweeping pronouncements about what it will take to lift Canada's native people out of an endless cycle of poverty, contradicting and criticizing native leaders as if he himself had grown up on a reservation and clawed his way to respectability, which he didn't. The Globe & Mail (Canada) 03/23/03
Posted: 03/23/2003 8:20 am
Don't Look Back - Someone Could Be Gaining On You Since the advent of movies and the beginning of a culturally dominant film culture, theater aficionados have taken comfort in the old saw that the worst stage play is still better written, better acted, and better conceived than the best Hollywood dreck. But, says, Ed Siegel, that may no longer be the case. "This year should be a wake-up call for theater professionals and patrons alike. By any standards, this has been an extraordinary year in filmmaking and a yawningly ordinary one in theater." Boston Globe 03/23/03
Posted: 03/23/2003 7:26 am
Broadway Expecting War Woes "A battered Broadway's spring season officially begins March 27 with the arrival of Urban Cowboy, a musical based on the John Travolta-Debra Winger movie. And it could also be the start of even more uncertainty for Broadway theater if the war continues into April and beyond... Most in the industry expect some immediate negative impact, just as there was during the 1991 Gulf War. Already, a revival of August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, which had been struggling at the box office, will fold April 6, after a short, two-month run and a loss of $2.5 million." Baltimore Sun (AP) 03/21/03
Posted: 03/23/2003 7:23 am
Should Movies Be An Escape? "They've pulled a dirty trick. They've snuck art into your entertainment." So says Chris Vognar, in response to moviegoers' complaints that today's big-budget films are just too darn serious and depressing. After all, we go to the movies to escape from reality, right? Movies are supposed to delight and thrill us, not (shudder) make us examine our own humanity! If we wanted to think, we'd read a book! But it does seem to be the serious, introspective films which are winning awards these days. So is the film world out of touch with the public, or is the public out of touch with what makes a good film? Dallas Morning News 03/23/03
Posted: 03/23/2003 8:03 am
Why Should The Oscars Be Toned Down? "If someone had planned to honor the best works in classical music or the visual arts this weekend, it's unlikely anyone would complain that celebrating such art is in bad taste when a war is being fought. Yet movies are perhaps the greatest American popular art form as well as one of this country's most influential, lucrative exports, and the Academy Awards ceremony ostensibly exists to recognize what's best in the field. So the problem is... ?" Chicago Tribune 03/23/03
Posted: 03/23/2003 7:51 am
So You Wanna Be A Choreographer There's a lot more to creating a dance than just throwing on some music and making up steps. Choreography is a finely adjusted blend of research, flair, and precision, and the thought of creating a scriptable dance is an awfully daunting one for those who have never seen it done. But if you'd like to give it a try, famed choreographer Mark Morris would be happy to tell you how he does it. The New York Times 03/23/03
Posted: 03/23/2003 9:17 am
