COURTESY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
News
A proposal for a museum dedicated to Judy Chicago is causing quite a stir in the New Mexican town of Belen, where the artist lives. One resident, John K. Thompson, said, “I love fine art, but I would never want to see a vagina hanging on my wall…A lot of her art is very sexual, more fitting for some liberal city far from here.” [The New York Times]
An 1898 film has been identified as the earliest footage of a kiss between an African-American couple, and it has been added to the National Film Registry at the Library of Congress. Allyson Nadia Field, an associate professor in the department of cinema and media studies at the University of Chicago who researched the film, said, “It is really striking to me, as a historian who works on race and cinema, to think that this kind of artifact could have existed in 1898. It’s really a remarkable artifact and discovery.” [University of Chicago]
It has been confirmed that New York-based photographer Lu Guang, who went missing in November and is best known for his images of poverty and pollution, was arrested by police in China. The circumstances around his detention remain unclear. [The New York Times]
Lives
Danish painter Troels Wörsel has died at age 68. He represented Denmark at the 52nd Venice Biennale in 2007, and his work can be found in collections at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and elsewhere. [Art Review]
A tribute to lithographer Irwin Hollander, who died last month at age 90. [The New York Times]
Exhibitions
Next year, MK Gallery in the United Kingdom will put on a Paula Rego retrospective. The show, which is titled “Obedience and Defiance,” will travel to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh and the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin. [The Art Newspaper]
Here’s a Q&A with artist Monster Chetwynd, who created the giant, glowing slugs currently on view outside the Tate Britain in London. She said of the works, “Going for something ugly to undercut the saccharine is a good artistic formula. I aim to get at something more genuine.” [The Guardian]
Film
The trailer for MAPPLETHORPE, which opens in March 2019, is out now. [Youtube]
And more
A piece about Roberto Benavidez’s piñata sculptures, which were originally inspired by the creatures in Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights. His most recent “Illuminated Piñata” series was informed by a14th-century manuscript called the Luttrel Psalter. “There was incredible resistance to just the word ‘piñata’ being used in a higher art form. I love presenting them as piñatas because I love the tension that it brings,” the artist said. [Atlas Obscura]
Art critic Carter Ratcliff weighs in on recent protests against Warren Kanders, vice-chairman of the Whitney Museum’s board, and Whitney director Adam Weinberg’s response. [Hyperallergic]
An excerpt from Sir Ken Robinson’s book You, Your Child, and School: Navigate Your Way to the Best Education explores the benefits of arts education for students and schools alike. [KQED]