COURTESY THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART
Bye-Bye Basel
As Miami Art Week heads into the weekend, see all that ARTnews has covered there so far. And keep up with the rest—it’s not over yet! [ARTnews]
“Street art is on the rise at fairs—but does it undermine the point?” [The Art Newspaper]
Vox turned its explanatory eye toward Miami and came up with this: “Parties, private jets, and multimillion-dollar paintings: Art Basel, explained.” [Vox]
The Cut, the fashion vertical from New York magazine, took a sartorial turn with this: “The Best, Most Stylish Moments at Art Basel Miami Beach.” (Hello, Cardi B!) [The Cut]
Times
The critics of the New York Times wrote about the year in art and chose their favorite shows of 2018. [The New York Times]
Shrewd reviewer Jason Farago liked William Kentridge’s The Head and the Load, a performance work at the Park Avenue Armory that addresses the history of Africans who fought in World War I. The piece is deemed “a fiercely beautiful historical pageant of music, movement, and shadow play that reanimates these lost African combatants.” [The New York Times]
Persevere
The Guardian has a story of Cuban artists fearing a crackdown after the arrest of Tania Bruguera for “planning protests over Decree 349, a ‘dystopian’ new law that will forbid artists to practice without a government license.” [The Guardian]
A team of Italian biologists, architects, and engineers studying the decay of aging art by way of bacteria and fungi looked at a 17th-century painting and “identified potentially troublesome populations of Staphylococcus, Aspergillus, Penicillium, Cladosporium, and Alternaria—and a probiotic strategy that could restore the painting’s health.” [Popular Science]
Tributes
The Smithsonian announced that it will open its first gallery focused on the U.S. Latino experience, in the National Museum of American History. Opening in 2021 on the museum’s first floor, the Molina Family Latino Gallery will feature bilingual exhibits exploring the history and contributions of American Latinos. [The Washington Post]
Robert Rainwater, a curator and historian who significantly expanded the New York Public Library’s collection of modern and contemporary prints and artist books, has died at the age of 75. [Artforum]
Misc.
Bomb did a studio visit with artist Sydney Shen and found some fun stuff (spiders included). [Bomb]
Pete Shelley of the British punk band Buzzcocks died at the age of 63. [BBC]