Spray the Ketchup, Fling the Lettuce
Groucho Marx meets Dr. Frankenstein in the hilarious multimedia extravaganzas of John Bock, whose improbable props include mayonnaise, cigarette butts, and artificial blood. Read More
Also in this Issue
Global Warming
An influx of newly wealthy buyers from China, Russia, and the Middle East is heating up prices for art from their home countries—and gradually branching out into the Impressionist, modern, and contemporary markets
Eileen Kinsella
The ‘Born Collector’
Nasser D. Khalili, who put together the world’s most comprehensive collection of Islamic artifacts—more than 20,000 items—wrote his first (published) book at the age of 14, memorized labels in the British Museum, and sometimes bought a hundred objects a day
Martin Gayford
To Catch Art Thieves
As senior investigator of the FBI’s Art Crime Team, Robert Wittman has staged dramatic stakeouts, posed as a diamond courier, and shielded a Brueghel with his body
Kelly Devine Thomas
Departments
Art Talk
Dan Brown, Henri Loyrette, Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Hollis Witherspoon, Delia Brown, Betty Woodman, Philippe de Montebello, Betye Saar, Alison Saar, Lezley Saar, Robert Rosenblum
National News
New York Antiquities: The talks begin; Spotlight Jack Cowart: In search of the “unknown Roy”; Spotlight Ann Philbin: Thinking big at a small museum; Collectors on collecting: Looking for that “eureka moment”; Gordon Parks: A pioneer in many fields
International News
Spotlight Zahi Hawass: Descendant of pharaohs Madrid Reina Sofía director under scrutiny Berlin Sierra pulls synagogue piece Lima Peru pushes Machu Picchu claim
Art Market
New York ADAA: A “focused group of collectors”; Big crowds, big sales at piers London Roberts goes shopping
Studio
Breaking Laws and Mirrors: From illegally painted landscapes to 3-D oils, Ellen Harvey plays with the conventions of realism
Ann Landi
Looking at Art
The Interpretation of Screams: A century after its creation, Munch’s iconic masterpiece has been ripped off, riffed on, blown up, and made to stand for a litany of political and social causes
Kelly Devine Thomas
Prints
Vija Celmins and Eliot Weinberger: Space is the place; Lesley Dill: Getting metaphysical; Joseph Raffael: Magic ponds
Deidre Stein Greben
Books
Still Looking: Essays on American Art By John Updike • Light Matters: Writing on Photography By Vicki Goldberg • Art Law: The Guide for Collectors, Investors, Dealers, and Artists By Ralph E. Lerner and Judith Bresler • Museum Photographs By Thomas Struth • Joan Snyder By Hayden Herrera • The Lost Painting: The Quest for a Caravaggio Masterpiece By Jonathan Harr
Critic’s Pick
Felix Schramm: Sheetrock and studs
Marc Spiegler
Reviews
INTERNATIONAL London William Feaver and William Packer; “British Art” Paris Rirkrit Tiravanija Berlin Hanne Darboven Düsseldorf Beverly Semmes
NEW YORK Whitney Biennial; “Goya’s Last Works”; “Klee and America”; Edvard Munch; Hiroshi Sugimoto; “The Downtown Show”; Gregory Gillespie; “Jack Pierson: Early Works”; Robert Adams; “David Hammons: The Unauthorized Retrospective”; Merlin James; Nick Waplington; John Szarkowski; Hedda Sterne; Jan Groover; “Faking Death”; “Threads of Memory”; “Charles Biederman: Works from the Thirties”; “Information”; Alexandre Arrechea; Andrew and Elizabeth Neel; Silas Shabelewska
NATIONAL Boston David Hockney St. Louis “Impressionist Camera” North Miami, Florida Malcolm Morley Miami William Kentridge Naples, Florida Linda Stein and Mark Chatterley Chicago Robert Richenburg San Francisco Larry Schwarm Greenwich, Connecticut “Landscapes” Washington, D.C. “Whippersnappers” Seattle Denzil Hurley Los Angeles Richard Artschwager; “Courbet and the Modern Landscape”; Peter Shelton; “After Cézanne”; Enrique Martínez Celaya; Gajin Fujita and Pablo Vargas Lugo; “Art of Engagement”; George Condo and Nigel Cooke; James Doolin; Nathan Mabry