Art, Innovation, & The Mysteries Of The Brain Why do some artists continue innovating and broadening their horizons throughout their careers, while others stall out after a big hit or two, and spend their declining years living off the fumes of that momentary success? "Everyone can name artists who thrive beyond what is considered their prime: Bach, Rembrandt, Hitchcock, Stravinsky, Matisse painting from his wheelchair. But equally there are those who feel that at a certain point packing it in is the graceful thing to do." The reasons behind such artistic progression may go deeper than one might imagine: in fact, it may have much to do with the way the human brain evolves over the course of a lifetime. The Globe & Mail (Canada) 06/04/05
Posted: 06/05/2005 10:54 am
Rembrandt Soup For The Gullible Soul These days, it seems as if self-help books can turn anything on Earth into an inspirational get-up-and-go speech. "And now the popularization of artists and museums has yielded something else to feel ambivalent about: the first art-focused self-help book, 'How Rembrandt Reveals Your Beautiful, Imperfect Self: Life Lessons From the Master.' [Roger] Housden's book is largely focused on Rembrandt's renowned self-portraits, in which he charted the changes in his visage from cocky youthful promise to destitute old age. The gist is that despite Rembrandt's all-too-human flaws, he at least had the courage to repeatedly face himself in the mirror - and we can learn from this example." Hey! You in the back! Quit rolling your eyes! Housden is actually (we think) serious. The New York Times 06/05/05
Posted: 06/05/2005 10:29 am
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Marilyn's $78,000 Rose A painting by Marilyn Monroe has sold at auction for $78,000. "The 1962 painting of a red rose was initially inscribed to President Kennedy, but she never gave it to him." The winning bidder runs a Rhode Island gallery. BBC 06/05/05
Posted: 06/05/2005 10:17 am
Everyone Wants To See That Smile It's no secret that the Mona Lisa is the biggest art draw on the planet, with 90% of the Louvre's visitors coming specifically to see the famous DaVinci portrait. Now, the painting has a snazzy new home, and the crowds are bigger than ever... Toronto Star 06/04/05
Posted: 06/05/2005 9:27 am
Two More Leaving Walker Two more top officials at the Minneapolis-based Walker Art Center have resigned to take other jobs, leaving the museum - one of the flagships of the Twin Cities' arts scene - with something like a leadership vacuum months after opening a massive addition. "Major building programs often trigger staff turnover, experts said, but it is rare for so many important players to depart simultaneously, especially when the project has gotten national rave reviews, as the Walker has." Minneapolis Star Tribune 06/04/05
Posted: 06/05/2005 8:17 am
- Previously: Walker COO Resigns Abruptly Weeks after opening a major expansion, Minneapolis's Walker Art Center has accepted the resignation of its chief operating officer, who oversaw the year-long construction project. "[Ann] Bitter's surprise departure comes at an awkward moment in the Walker's development. Its addition by the Swiss firm Herzog & de Meuron has received rave reviews, but the building's experimental architecture and mid-construction design changes forced the museum to cut costs by leaving the offices unfinished. Completing the offices and an adjacent sculpture garden are expected to cost up to $5 million more." Minneapolis Star Tribune 05/27/05
Newly Discovered Munch Work Unveiled "The Bremen Kunsthalle art museum on Friday put on display a previously unknown painting by Norwegian master Edvard Munch, depicting a naked girl appearing to be threatened by a vision of the faces of three men... The painting was discovered while restoration work was being done on the Munch painting 'The Dead Mother'... The symbolist-style painting, measuring 90 by 100 centimetres, is estimated by art experts to date to around 1898." Expatica (Netherlands) 06/03/05
Posted: 06/05/2005 8:03 am
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Bringing Back Horowitz, Digitally "Old recordings of great performers are often marred by scratches and surface noise, or by sound badly filtered through primitive microphones. [But a new technology] is offering the same music with the immediacy of live performance and the acoustical advantages of a contemporary piano." The innovator is Dr. John Q. Walker, and his invention is the Disklavier, which has so far mainly been used to allow live performances to be simultaneously reproduced far away on an automated piano. But Walker's latest project is the digitization of recordings by old masters of the instrument, which can then be newly "performed" by the specially equipped pianos. The New York Times 06/05/05
Posted: 06/05/2005 10:22 am
Choosing Music Over Tact Striking orchestras put conductors in a difficult position - the guy on the podium has a lot more in common with the musicians than the managers, but as the face of the organization, he can't really afford to take sides. Traditionally, conductors stay out of labor disputes altogether, lest they burn bridges on either side. So when the striking musicians in Montreal placed a call to conductor William Henry Curry and asked him to lead them in a free concert to build community support for their cause, Curry had to think long and hard. But he accepted, even though he knew full well that his participation would likely cost him any chance of an official guest conducting invitation in the future. Raleigh News & Observer 06/05/05
Posted: 06/05/2005 9:57 am
Vänskä In Minnesota For The Long Haul Finnish conductor Osmo Vänskä has signed a four-year contract extension with the Minnesota Orchestra, which will keep him in Minneapolis through the 2010-11 season. In his two years as music director, Vänskä has considerably expanded the orchestra's national and international reputation, leading it on a high-profile tour of Europe and embarking on a project to record the complete cycle of Beethoven symphonies. Vänskä's name has recently been popping up on the wish lists of other top orchestras in more glamorous cities, which spurred the Minnesota management to pursue the extension. Minneapolis Star Tribune 06/04/05
Posted: 06/05/2005 8:26 am
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Politics Before Progress London has finally embarked on a redesign of its beleagured South Bank Arts Centre. But no sooner had progress started to be made than an ugly battle between the Centre's chief executive and the local government overseers spilled over into the press. Now, it seems as if everyone in the city is choosing up sides, and the controversy is badly overshadowing what should be a collaborative project. The Observer (UK) 06/05/05
Posted: 06/05/2005 10:38 am
The L.A. You Don't Know Mention 'culture' and 'Los Angeles' in the same sentence, and you'll likely hear a few snickers. After all, this is Hollywood's town, a city of car-crazy transplants with no real interest in the high arts, right? Wrong, says Donald Rosenberg. The myth of a cultureless L.A. probably wasn't ever true, and it certainly isn't true now. America's second-largest city is buzzing with culture, and is fast becoming one of the country's centers of artistic innovation. The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) 06/05/05
Posted: 06/05/2005 10:07 am
It's Still Fiction, Right? There may not be a bigger cultural controversy in the world today than the furor surrounding Dan Brown's novel, The DaVinci Code, and the cottage industry that has grown up around it. Thus far, the book and its fans have not been fazed by the criticisms of, among others, the Catholic Church, but opponents may finally have scored their first victory, as Westminster Abbey denies permission for a film version of the book to be shot inside. St. Paul Pioneer Press 06/04/05
Posted: 06/05/2005 9:05 am
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Vilar's Tragic Fall "Maybe he will ultimately be cleared of all charges, but for now [Alberto] Vilar appears to be perp-walking straight into that grand and storied American pantheon of Alleged Super Rich Frauds. The back story is always the same -- the start-with-nothing origins, the struggle to conspicuous wealth, the strenuous social-climbing and then the spectacular run of damning headlines as creditors and feds close in... Vilar's unique twist on this stock character is a love for classical music and opera that veered toward the obsessive, and a thirst for public recognition that only opera houses around the world could slake.... If prosecutors are correct, he was Robin Hood for the 'La Boheme' set, stealing from the rich to give to the Met." Washington Post 06/04/05
Posted: 06/05/2005 9:35 am
- Vilar Gets Reduced Bail, With Help From His Friends Unable to make the $10 million bail set by a Manhattan judge, disgraced philanthropist Alberto Vilar and his attorneys begged the court to consider accepting a lesser sum raised by the defendant's friends and family. After some wrangling, Vilar was released on the promise of a $4 million bond. Vilar will also be required to turn over his extensive art collection to the court, and some friends are putting their own multi-million-dollar homes up as collateral. The judge in the case agreed to reduce bail once it became clear that prosecutors would need a significant amount of time to sort through all the documents in the case. The New York Times 06/04/05
Posted: 06/05/2005 8:40 am
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Tony Night Lacking Brits "When Broadway hands out the 59th annual Tony Awards tonight at Radio City Music Hall, one contingent will be conspicuously absent: the British. Well, OK, that's not entirely true." There are British actors nominated in several categories, but all are considered long shots to win. In fact, Broadway has taken a distinctly American turn this year, and Brits are finding themselves shut out of the top roles for the first time in decades. The Observer (UK) 06/05/05
Posted: 06/05/2005 10:45 am
It's Nice That You Like Us, But Honestly, We Don't Care That Much Minneapolis/St. Paul is America's 15th-largest metropolitan area, with virtually none of the national buzz and star-driven glitz that hews to cities like Chicago, Boston, and San Francisco. So how is it that the Twin Cities theatre scene has been racking up so many national awards and accolades in recent years? Part of the answer can be found in Minnesota's nearly unmatched public and private support for the arts, but there's more to it than that. In fact, much of the Twin Cities' theatrical success may lie in the local scene's almost total lack of interest in sucking up to New York. St. Paul Pioneer Press 06/05/05
Posted: 06/05/2005 9:40 am
Davidson Goes Out On A Strident Note Gordon Davidson could have ended his legendary career with Los Angeles's Center Theater Group with Shakespeare or some other classic. But that really wouldn't have been in keeping with the Davidson the theatre world has come to know. So it shouldn't be any real surprise that Davidson's swan song will be the highly controversial, politically charged drama, Stuff Happens, which purports to examine the decisions that led the U.S. and U.K. into war in Iraq. The New York Times 06/04/05
Posted: 06/05/2005 8:44 am
Nothin' Says Fringe Like Feet And Tongues The Minnesota Fringe Festival is in its twelfth year of existence, and boasts of being the largest such fest in America. Naturally, organizers felt it was time for a new logo that reflects such a reputation. And naturally, the logo sports a giant pair of lips. And a giant tongue. And a tiny foot. And, um... okay, does anyone know what the hell this thing is supposed to be? St. Paul Pioneer Press 06/03/05
Posted: 06/05/2005 8:35 am
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More Books, Less Interest The continuing decline of reading for pleasure in America is well documented, but doesn't seem to have been matched by a decline of available reading material - quite the contrary, in fact. "The number of new titles published last year, 195,000, increased by 14 percent over 2003, according to a new report... The biggest chunk of the increase was in adult fiction." But with fewer adults than ever buying and reading new fiction, the strategy on the part of publishers seems more than anything like a desperate attempt to throw as many titles as possible against the wall, and hope that one or two might stick. Boston Globe 06/04/05
Posted: 06/05/2005 8:09 am
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TV: New (sort of), Improved (debatable), and Stalking You The 500-channel universe is old news. Video-on-demand? Been there, done that. TiVO is standard viewing equipment for at least a chunk of the populace. And could television be on the verge of yet another major paradigm shift? You'd better believe it: "Once upon a time, you found TV. Now TV will find you. We're already watching in elevators, bars, airports, banks, dentist chairs, on street corners. Soon, more of us will be watching on cellphones, in cars, on newfangled wireless gadgets, and if this keeps up, on a tiny matrix implanted into our bionic retinas." Toronto Star 06/04/05
Posted: 06/05/2005 9:31 am
Layoffs At TV Museum The New York-based Museum of Television and Radio has accepted the resignation of its president and laid off a dozen employees as it attempts to cope with fiscal problems that have plagued the institution for the past several years. The New York Times 06/04/05
Posted: 06/05/2005 9:02 am
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Boal's Last Dance "Tomorrow afternoon, [Peter Boal] will dance his last performance with the company before moving with his family to Seattle to become artistic director of the Pacific Northwest Ballet... Even today, as he moves into his 40's, Mr. Boal looks ready to soar at any moment. His dancing is purely, effortlessly classical, the line of his well-proportioned body seeming to fall easily into place. He made up for a body that was relatively short and slight for hefting ballerinas into midair with calm elegance and courtesy as a partner... Some of the best and certainly the most interesting dancers have been men and women who had to overcome shortcomings, often of 'imperfect' ballet bodies or of training that started later than the ideal. To work harder to reach perfection is to understand the art more thoroughly and to hunger for it in a way unknown to those for whom dancing comes easily." The New York Times 06/04/05
Posted: 06/05/2005 8:58 am
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